conversations

So, I've been a lazy-ish blogger lately, I hope you don't mind?  I posted this photo to instagram a few weeks back and admitted that I filled up all of these notebooks in two months! Can you believe that?

When I started blogging a few years back it was a fun exciting way for me to have conversations with myself and with all of you.  Typing, writing stories, taking photos - it's all a way for me to talk things out in my head.  Surprisingly, I still had a hard time figuring out what to put on my canvas.  I've always known I had stories I wanted to share and things I wanted to say, but I couldn't figure out how to put it all together.  It was like I was anxiously staring at a disheveled heap of puzzle pieces.  I was sure it all fit together... somehow.

I've had a little bit of a break-through the past few months.  I owe a lot of it to the book, "The Artists Way", and to my friends Amy Hackworth and Mindy Gledhill that got me hooked.  It forced me to generate a lot of material and to work through some really difficult emotional road blocks.  Piece by piece, I've started to assemble the puzzle.  It's an exhilarating, empowering feeling!  I know I have a lot of work to do and I know the puzzle isn't solved yet.  It probably never will be.  But I am grateful for some clarity that has come into my life lately.

Meanwhile, I have still been having some great conversations.  Unfortunately, and selfishly, I've been having them with myself.  In my notebooks, in my sketchbooks, in my quiet time, and in song writing too.  I am excited to deliver all of these conversations to you in paintings and songs and beautiful meaningful art.


So, let's begin with my new website....

caitlinconnolly.com

I Can't Make You Love Me

My favorite.  Ever.

Why?  The lyrics.  The song.  The guitar solo at the end.  My brothers voice.  The memories.  I tear up when I watch this.  You probably won't, and that's okay, but just know that I love this.

>> Watch the full episode here 
>> Did you know that Fictionist can harlem shake?  This is hilarious. 

sketch

I love seeing a sketch come to life!

Sometimes the painting becomes a large replica of the sketch with a high dose of color and other times the painting surprises the sketch entirely.  This one was pretty darn close.

I have been having a great time in my studio.  I have one or two dozen panel boards lying around with half started ideas waiting to be brought to life.  I've been putting myself in high gear lately because I have a handful of overlapping shows to get ready for.  I'm participating with the onehundred group tonight, in the 35x35 show, and a joint show with J. Kirk Richards in April!  Could a girl ask for anything more?  Don't think so.

do you believe in love?

Sorry I haven't blogged lately, here... let me make it up to you.



And you thought Edward Cullen was creepy?

it's the journey, not the arrival

Happy New Year, my friends!

As I think back on 2012 I realize it was truly a very challenging year for me.  The kind of challenge that forces you to break open your heart, pull out all the pieces, and then figure out how to put it back together.  2012 was a year of waiting, lots of waiting, and learning difficult life lessons while I did so.

2011, on the other hand, was a great year!  (or perhaps it's been long enough ago I don't remember how hard that year was?)  2011 was the birth of so many exciting things.  Fictionist was in Rolling Stone magazine multiple times and they got signed to Atlantic Records!  Our friends and neighbors were cheering us on, I mean, we were even cheering us on - it was great!  I fell deeply in love with art.  I started to create sketches and paintings that I felt connected to and something deep down inside me said "this is really important".  2011 was full of new beginnings and the birth of a promising future.  Yes, there were still challenges, but challenges smothered in frosting and topped with colorful sprinkles.  Yum.

2012 was different, it was quiet and slow.  I was loving creating but I found myself in a very difficult emotional place.  I had worked through the first huge creative hump without realizing a much bigger and scarier challenge that lay ahead of me.  The second hump involved lots of heart breaking and rearranging, as mentioned previously, among other challenges.  Hum and the band worked tirelessly on their album and, because of the nature of the business, the progress is slow.  Good.  And slow.  Of course, all potential momentum is waiting around the arrival of the album, and so we wait.

As we waited I grew anxious.  Concerned.  Nervous.  The waiting brewed my anxieties and turned them to fear.  I so desperately wanted to arrive and I think I believed the arrival would squelch my fears.  After a number of months of unhappiness I learned a valuable lesson.  And not a lesson like that one time when I read quote on a paper cup that really made me think ah!, but the kind of lesson that could only be learned through tears shed, a heart rearranged, and realizing you just grew a bit older.

Life is about the journey and not the arrival.  True happiness should lie in the journey, and if it does, then moments of arriving, or not arriving, can come and go as they please.  After all,  the duration of the journey far outweighs the fleeting moments of arrival, so happiness reserved for those moments is an un-lived life saving itself for disappointment and illusions of happiness.

I know, because I've been there.

As I begin a new year I choose to be happy today - because regardless of what happens in the future, today is just as good as tomorrow, and tomorrow is as good as the next.

I wish all of you a incredibly joyful today, tomorrow, and rest of the year and I hope that you will find joy in every unpredictable step of your journey.

With love,
hue

art shows

You guys!  I am alive.  Are you alive?  How does anybody survive December??  It was such a busy and great month!

I showed four small pieces at the Kayo Gallery in downtown SLC during December.  Hum, you know, the cute one with the hair, had been out of town for a handful of days and surprised me during Gallery Stroll!  I was just a little bit happy.

Kayo Gallery is a hip little place that I've grown to love the past few years and I feel honored to have my art on their walls!  Also, every time I say the name of the gallery I just really want to say "kay- YO!" like I'm in the movie "Bring it On" or "Save the Last Dance" or some kind of cheerleader meets gangster movie where white girls get hip.

Then, on 12-12-12, I got to share my artwork at an über hip house show.  So here's the thing.  I showed my artwork next to Brian Kershisnik's and a living room away from Cassandra Barney's.  These two lovely people are artists I've admired from a distance for years.  I can remember the first painting of each of theirs that moved me in a deep place in my heart that I didn't know existed.  I had to pinch myself a few times to know that it wasn't all just a dream.  Also in the photo, the talented (and new friend of mine) Andrew Ballsteadt, and Cassandra's daughter Fiona brought the house down with her tasty illustrations.

Just a little sad I can't do it all over again on 13-13-13...

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

This year Hum and I decided to record a Christmas video in lieu of sending out a Christmas card.  So, from our house to yours, may your holidays be bright and wonderful.  Merry Christmas!


xox,
Hue and Hum

>> We would be thrilled and honored if you shared this on your blog or with your friends!
>> Fiest likes this song too.
>> And so does Sufjan.

selling some things, giving away other things

You guys!  Happy Thanksgiving (past) and Merry (just around the corner) Christmas!  I had so much to be thankful for last week.  My family, my husband, our dog, our home, our friends, our passions, our faith, all of you, and - the list goes on.  My heart is full.  

Also, I'm thankful that it 'tis the time to share our Christmas Album again!  I just stocked my Esty store, so feel free to drop by and pick one up!  (It is also available on itunes, but yes, thanks for asking, we do make more money via Etsy.)  

Also, join me on instagram as I launch my first portrait giveaway!  Learn the how-to by joining me - @ladyhue.  (Thanks to the overwhelming support, love, and great response already!)

>> Hum and I started watching Nashville since I had multiple people tell me we'd like it.  They were right.  Tammy Taylor and some good song writing?  Win, win.

>> I love Jimmy's Hashtag game.  The thanksgiving song hashtags were especially hilarious.  I mean, "let's giblet on?"  Oh come on.

>> I've been feeling especially inspired by reading "The Artists Way" as of late.  Morning pages are my new best friend.

two

 Guess who turned two today!?

We bought Albus on a whim nearly two years ago.  Although it seemed like a crazy idea at the time, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.  Albus filled a little hole in my heart and brings a little extra happiness to my life.  He's a spoiled little rat.  Yes, I let him sleep in our bed.  And when I say in, I mean that very literally - he nudges his way under the sheets when it gets too cold.  I often find myself wandering the pet aisle at ____ super store analyzing which toy he'd like to tear apart the best.  I buy pumpkin puree in the large cans just so I have extra to scoop in his bowl.  And even though his favorite activity is to bark out the front window, I still love my little teddy bear of a dog.

>> And of much greater importance - my dad turned 55 this week!  Go dad!  Sorry everyone, but I got the best dad in the whole world.
>> Remember when Albus turned one and looked dapper in his bowtie?
>> I bust up laughing every time I watch Albus in this video.

dorkestra

Hum and I spent last Saturday at my oldest brother, Andrew's house.  Andrew found this house for sale last year and, what!?  Yes.  It has a pipe organ in it.  We're not sure if he bought the house because really liked it or if he just wanted a pipe organ.  Also?  My brother is an amazing arranger.  He writes choral music and his brain does this weird thing where he can hear multiple harmonies at once, think in multiple instruments, cleffs, voicings, and somehow make it all come together in perfect harmony.  If you read between the lines of what I just said then you understand what I'm really trying to say is, my brother is one smart cookie.

Because my oldest brother, Andrew, and my next oldest brother, Stuart, like each other so much, they've been wanting to collaborate for quite some time.  Andrew has been dreaming about composing some orchestra meets rock band arrangements of Fictionist songs and last weekend (oh, you know what I'm about to say) those dreams became a reality.

We filed in strings, brass, winds, and Fictionist members into his music room and tried his arrangements.  At one point the orchestra was playing a melody while Jacob (on trumpet) and Hum (on electric) were soloing over it, and I'm not going to lie, I got a little teary.  Then there was the other moment when Stuart was Chris Cornell screaming over the string section into the mic.  That was memorable too.  I have a weakness for beautifully strange music and these arrangements were just that.

This rehearsal was a trial and error practice to see if the whole thing was a good idea or a bad idea.  I'm not sure what will happen next or what the timeline is like, but I can tell you I loved it, I want a lot more of it, and I think it was a really, really good idea.  Also, it was fun to play my flute that has been (sorry mom...) collecting a lot of dust lately.

>> Teenage flashback: I don't know about your high school, but playing in the orchestra at East High was so not a cool thing to do.  But because I'm a nerd I did play in my high school orchestra.  A few friend and I even bought matching pink shirts and printed "dorkestra"on the front in our graphics class  that we then wore around school with ironic pride. ("No, I do not own a pair of lucky jeans... but look at this cool pink tshirt I have... eh? eh?").
>> Do you remember how much I love the Elbow + Abbey Road orchestra youtube video?  (A lot)  I'm biased... but in my opinion, Saturday was even cooler.
>> Speaking of beautiful arrangements... are there any Eric Whitacre fans out there?  I love this song, and this one, and this one.

>> PROVO-ITES!  Come see me THIS WEEKEND!  I'll be doing live portraits while supporting my favorite Utah Valley craft fair - the Bijou Market. (Pssst... bring a few photos to leave with me while you shop)

>> If you can't make it to the Bijou Market but you're hoping to order a portrait for the holidays, don't worry!  I'll start an online batch in a week or two.  Make sure you join this email list so you can be first in line.  Also, join me on instagram (@ladyhue) for a giveaway.

do the hair roll

I'm a simple hair-do kind of person, and this is my favorite go-to do.  I've had a couple of people ask for a how-to, so here it is!

Section off a u-shape portion.

Do a little rat-a-tat-tat.

Wrap it around your finger and tuck the ends inside like so.

Use a few bobby pins to hold 'er down.

And just like that.  Bada bing bada boom.  Instagram me if you try it!  I wanna see you do the hair roll. (@ladyhue)

>> I first saw this hair-do on the cute Karmin a year or so ago.  Love it, stole it. 

>> My fav pinterest hair-do's
>> Since I took these photos I painted my bathroom green.  We call it the green latrine.  It's kind of va va voom with a little dash of oh yeah.  I'll share some photos another day.

Spooky scary

There are many things on our resume that I could blog about today, like perhaps the fact that Hum was in the movie The Sandlot when he was 8 (he bought a pair of roller blades with the money he earned), or perhaps the fact that I sang a song called Kindess Begins with Me on the LDS Primary childrens CD when I was 6 (listen to the mp3 to hear my diva vocal slide at the end - no regrest, you know?).  But today I think I will boast about the time that we were extras in Tracey Jordan's hit novelty party song, Werewolf Bar Mitzvah.

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah spooky scary... boys becoming men... men becoming wolves...



Have you ever played the game two truths and a lie?  Well, we're playing it now...
Happy Halloween everyone!

>> Remember when Albus was Albus last year?  Good times man, good times.
>> We'll be watching Jurassic Park with some of my siblings tonight to celebrate the holiday.  How did you celebrate?