I don’t often stray far from family, but this week, I’m ripping off the velcro from my comfy cave, and hopping a plane to NEW YORK CITY!

Brooklyn-based artist Lori Nelson  and I did an art trade after connecting via Instagram (I’ll write more on art trades soon).  Her work is intoxicating, and I love the retro/tech combination.  Nothing more I love more in art than that balance between innocence and pollution or sweet and creepy, and her work is hauntingly beautiful.  I love it!

After the trade, she asked if I’d be interested in submitting some work for an upcoming art show she was curating in New York.  That sounded quite fancy and grown-up, so I told her in all honesty that I had never done a gallery show.  I’m not really a gallery “artist,” I’m more an illustrator.  I had no idea what I was doing.  Just so she knew.

Was she interested in showing the collaborations I do with Myla?  From what I understand of the world, the idea of a gallery show is to actually SELL artwork, right?  (I mean, I’m really asking, because I’m not at all sure.)  So far, I have not been able to part with nearly ANY of the collaborations we’ve done, hoarding them selfishly in my own personal collection for when she’s older.  I’ve turned down quite a few gallery requests to show our collaborations simply because I don’t want to sell them (and because I don’t really know how that whole gallery world works).

Or did she want some of my creepy little monsters dolls?  Or maybe something new and different entirely?

To my happiness, she said she’d like if I showed a little of everything, and that she’d make note that the collaborations were for display only.  Woohoo!

And since I usually don’t stray far from home, I was a little hesitant to go to the actual opening, but my husband assured me that he’d have the household and kid situation completely under control, and hold down the fort while I romp around New York for a few days.  And Myla (although she REEEEEALLY wanted to go with me) agreed to hang out and do fun stuff with her awesome Daddy while I go…especially if I were to maybe bring her back “something cute and soft…maybe with a face.”

So that’s what’s going on.

December 11th, I’ll be at the Mark Miller Gallery in New York City for opening night from 6-9 pm!  I’ll be signing copies of our “Share With Me” book, and enjoying all the oddities there.

So here’s what I’ll be showing:

A couple of originals of the earlier collaborations between me and Myla, and a more recent one, which is (according to the munchkin) a “Goat-Bear…”

I have some odd little fancy ladies with (literally) fierce ‘dos.  I quite liked the idea of maybe a symbiotic relationship between some strange beast, wherein you house it in your hair, and it keeps an eye (and quite actually, it’s whole BODY) on you.  (Also, they just make me smile.)

And a couple of the little Dream Creepers from my Etsy Shop.

NY page Bedford + Bowery did a post on the show to spread the word, so if you’re anywhere in the area, PLEASE come see us!

And one last thing:  have you ever heard of an art drop?  You can read about an artist who does Art Drops here and about World Art Drop Day (which I missed this past year) here.  I follow several artists on Instagram who do random art drops when they travel, or whenever they just feel like having a little fun.  Basically, it involves me hiding little pieces of art while on my trip, posting photos as to where I’ve stashed it, and if someone finds it, they get to keep it.  I think it’s such a fun idea, to share random art with people for no other reason than the pure joy of (hopefully) making someone smile.

I had been working on some little ornament ideas for some friends and coworkers based off of our illustrations, and had basically taken three of the business cards we had and sculpted in relief right on top of them.

Then I molded them and cast them in resin, and painted them up.  They looked a bit wonky to me, but I still found them quite fun.  So I promptly drilled holes in their heads and made ornaments.

And I’ll be dropping a few of them along my trip!  So if you’re up for a fun challenge, and are anywhere near LaGuardia Airport and NYC next week, please stay tuned on FB, Instagram, and Twitter for my posts and art drop updates…

Hope to see you and all the other lovely creatures there!