A BIG Announcement: See Cailey...Write?

Wow, wow, wow I have some exciting news to share and you all have no idea how long I've been waiting and how badly I've wanted to break the news!

I keep hinting about it on Instagram, posting pictures of fish drawings, and papers covered in editing notes, with captions vaguely referring to some project I'm working on... But I think I've done a good job of keeping it mostly on the down-low.

Do you know how hard it is to be excited about something for almost a whole year and not talk about it?

I did tell a few friends, and they got more than their share of all-caps hype texts along the way... Thanks for the encouragement and the all-caps responses!

Okay, have I built this up enough?

Have I given you a proper taste of what I've felt all year? Yes?

Am I just being mean now? Yeah?

Okay, okay. Drum roll please...

I'm publishing a poetry chapbook!

Stars & Seas will be released in the beginning of November! 

More information, such as where to purchase, will be coming soon as I finalize details.

Over the past year I've written, edited, and illustrated over 40 pages of poetry. Wrestled with Microsoft Word, googled countless questions about formatting and self-publishing, and read books on space travel and deep-sea exploration...

Illustration for "Song of the Ginkgo Tree," page 33

• Did you know space smells like burning metal? At least, according to NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent almost an entire year living in the International Space Station. He shared his experience in Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery, published last year. 

• Did you know the deepest known point in the ocean is Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench? It's about 36,000 feet deep!

• Did you know that just this year, PhD candidate David Nadlinger of the University of Oxford won an award for his photograph of an atom? It looks like a tiny blue dot, not unlike the famous Pale Blue Dot in space, also known as our own humble Earth, photographed by Voyager 1 in 1990. 

• Did you know a group of jellyfish is called a bloom?

These are a few of the things I've learned along the way, and they've all slipped into my poems in one way or another. This book compares space and the ocean, using imagery from those two realms to connect with and illustrate my experiences with anxiety and depression.

"Self Portrait," 2017. The Stars & Seas cover image!

Stars & Seas is about my first panic attack, which I experienced a couple years ago.

It's about my ongoing struggle to figure out how much of who I am is actually me, and how much is the anxiety which I've only recently realized I've probably had my whole life.

It's about the passing of my grandpa in April 2017.

It's about trying to be an artist when the art just isn't coming to me.

It's about coming to terms with faith and fear. 

Creating Stars & Seas has been an extremely therapeutic journey, and finally publishing and sharing it with all of you is a big, exciting, and scary final step. It's been a labor of both love and catharsis.

I hope you enjoy this book, either to take a peek into the life of the mental health-challenged, to hopefully find something you can relate to and find comfort in, or just to read some half-decent poetry about space-jellyfish. 

I love you all and I can't wait to share this with you! Like I said, I'll soon have more information regarding cost, where you can purchase, and other ways to support me...

-Cailey

Expanding CaileysArt

Cailey! What is that new blue Storenvy badge on your sidebar, below your Etsy badge?

Great question! My friends, I have just expanded my business and now have a shop at Storenvy. Like Etsy, my shop name is CaileysArt, and if you ask me, it totally rocks.

What is Storenvy?
Like Etsy, Storenvy is an online marketplace consisting of many individual shops. However, it is smaller and less well-known than Etsy. Storenvy works in a very similar way to Etsy; you can browse product categories, or search for a specific item or shop.

Why Storenvy? 
II chose to open a shop at Storenvy for several reasons. First, it is free. While Etsy charges $0.20 for each listing, there is no fee for listing an item on Storenvy. This means that while I'm expanding my selling platform, I'm not creating any extra expenses for myself. As a college student with a minimum-wage job, that's pretty awesome, because twenty cents per listing adds up pretty quickly. Second, as I mentioned above, Storenvy is not as popular as Etsy. While this means less people visit, it also means less competition within the site. I'm hoping this will work to my advantage, but in that sense, it's a big experiment.

Are you closing your Etsy shop?
No, I am not closing my Etsy shop. I intend to stick around Etsy for a long while, never fear! Etsy is my first love when it comes to online marketplaces. And with all the work I've already done to promote myself there, it makes no sense to switch platforms.

Will you sell different items in the two shops? 
Not exactly. At this point, my plan is to only sell journals on Storenvy, but they're the same journals available at Etsy. I am slowly adding items to it, so it won't be long before all the journals I sell on Etsy are also at Storenvy. I may eventually have some items exclusively at Storenvy, but right now, everything available there is also available on Etsy.

So that's it, dear readers. I'm expanding my business without expanding my costs, and that is a fantastic thing. I'm feeling a nice level of realistic optimism about this entire CaileysArt adventure.

Thankful for you, the internet, and the many opportunities to make money on the internet (but mostly thankful for you, my friends!),
-Cailey

See My Journal

At last, some long-awaited photos from my art journal adventure! And what an adventure it has been. Not just from a journal standpoint, but just looking back over the past two weeks. I jumped from a very relaxed summer to a sometimes breakneck speed here at school. Between classes, homework, friends, and work, it's hard to make time for blogging! I have managed to draw quite bit since school started, and I'm in the process of writing a blog post about that. Exciting stuff. But for now, be content with this quick update on my art journal:

So those are a few pages from my journal. I shall continue with this experiment, but I think when I finish I'll go back to my usual style, except for maybe the occasional art page. I enjoy sitting down with my journal and writing everything I can think of, no matter how many pages it takes. It's also a lot more difficult to write in places outside of my dorm room. I'm accustomed to taking my journal everywhere with me, and writing as needed throughout the day, but the need for art supplies prevents that. I miss the freedom. I have to put a lot more thought into what I write and when I write. I can't just pick up a pen and write for pages and pages, because in most cases, the writing should be added after the art-ing.You can't do much painting and gluing on a page already covered in writing. However, it's not all bad. I do enjoy adding color to emphasize feeling, and on that last picture, it was cool to sketch those floating lanterns instead of merely writing about the experience. 

Remember, if you've done any art pages in your journal, snap a picture and share it on my facebook page or add the hashtag #seemyjournal. 

-Cailey

My Art Journal

Recently I've been thinking a lot of about art journals.

What is an art journal, you ask?

Like art, art journals are difficult to define. Most involve turning the pages of a regular notebook or journal into collages, combining art with traditional journal- or diary-keeping. There are some really amazing examples of art journals online if you want to hop over to your favorite search engine and look them up. Most art journals involve gluing things on the pages, painting, drawing, even embroidering them, and incorporating writing into these collages.

As you know, I'm an artist. I love art. And specifically, I love making collages. I mean, I really know my way around glue and scraps of paper and whatnot. Take my journal habit into consideration, and you'd think an art journal would seem like the most natural thing in the world for me, right?

Wrong.

I've read blog posts on art journals, explored them on Pinterest, and played around with the idea of creating an art journal for about a year now, but I still have yet to enter that world. I don't know how to start! And when it comes to art, especially my own, my slight perfectionism kicks in full-blast. I want the "perfect" art journal! As if such a thing could possibly be determined.

I think my problem is that I've thought about it too much. I've built this up in my mind until it's become a sort of far-off, barely-achievable journaling ideal. It's silly, really. Why should I feel so nervous about combining these two favorite things of mine?

However, that's all about to change. I've just finished my latest journal, and I've decided my next one will be a art journal.

I won't stress about it, I won't put hours upon hours of effort into each page, I won't strive for perfection. I'll simply open my journaling world a little more and let art explode all over the pages.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because I want to share my art journal with you. My plan is to photograph my process and share this art journal with you. Each week I'll share pictures from the past week. And if you want, you're all more than welcome to join me! In fact, the more the merrier. Take pictures of your own art journal pages and then share them on my Facebook page or post them to Instagram with the hashtag #SeeMyJournal.  Let's make some art journals together!

For my first page, I glued on a couple scraps of paper and a page torn from an old book, added some red paint, and doodled a bit in the corner. I'll add more when it dries, and later I'll come back to it and write, but this is my start:

Need some ideas? Check out these sites for inspiration:

Journaling Journeys

Artists Journals

Art Journaling 101

Need a journal to get started in? Check out my shop, CaileysArt!
Don't forget to post pictures from your art journal on my Facebook page or on Instagram! #SeeMyJournal
-Cailey

3 Reasons to Keep a Diary, No. 4

Once again, I return to that recurring question:

Why write a journal?

I've shared some evidence for health benefits, talked about successful people who journaled, and shared some silly reasons. And today I want to to talk about Superman.

Notice I said I want to talk about Superman... But I'm actually going to talk about kryptonite. 

   by  andertoons 

Kryptonite, if you don't know, is Superman's weakness. Whenever he's around this fictional element from his home planet, his strength and abilities are weakened. Not only does it affect Superman, but it also affects humans. In some cases it harms humans, but in other cases humans are actually strengthened.

I'm sure you know you have weaknesses. And no, I'm not talking about a little sweet tooth or a love for kittens. I'm talking about a legitimate weakness, something that keeps you from living your life to the fullest. A fault, something that puts you at a disadvantage, an Achilles heel.

One thing that journaling has helped me with is discovering and understanding my weaknesses. For example, I'm a people-pleaser, and I hate real confrontation. While I live with the mantra and intention of being true to myself and not caring what others think, I've discovered that deep-down, I'll willingly sell myself out in order to keep the peace and please others. 

If I have a problem with a friend, I'll write out exactly how I feel and exactly what I want to say to them to stand up for myself and do the right thing. But when the opportunity arises for me to say what I need to say, I back out. I choose not to say it, and I go into damage-control mode instead.

I ignore my own feelings and my own needs in order to prevent confrontation, and I allow the other person to be comfortable while I am miserable. 

Notice what I said there: my fear of confrontation allows others to remain comfortable. As in, it puts the other person at an advantage. And when it's a matter of right and wrong and I chicken out of being bold for the right thing, it causes harm to those on the other side. Like kryptonite, folks. It poisons one, strengthens the other, and kills the third. 

Since I've realized my desperate need to please others and my desperate fear of confrontation, I've been able to work on those problems. More and more, I've been able to be bold and stand up for the right thing. Yes, I still struggle with confrontation, and I'd much rather have everyone just be friends. I love when everything is all rainbows and unicorns and puffy white clouds!

Through journaling, I've also been able to outline my strengths and what makes me unique. I've discovered that my weakness can also be a strength when it comes to volunteering and serving others. And more than that, I've been able to work on my strengths in more inconsequential ways like trying to not care what others think about my clothing or my likes and dislikes. I've been able to focus on who I really am, and what God can do through the real me, without worrying as much about whether people think my love of poetry is weird or my "hairy potter" tee is too obscure.

So for a quick recap, what can journaling help you do?
1. Discover Kryptonite (weaknesses)
2. Overcome Kryptonite (weaknesses)
3. Discover Strengths

Thoughts, concerns, quips, stories, questions, random facts about Superman? Comment below!
-Cailey

Disclaimer: There are many different kinds of kryptonite that all have different effects on Superman and his human counterparts, and I'm not getting into that. I'm just giving the general explanation in order to illustrate my point, so if you're a comic book junky and you're offended by my lack of detail, I apologize. Just be impressed by the skill with which I relate superheros and writing a diary.

Haitian Collage

Around this time four years ago, I was headed to Haiti for a week-long service trip. If you take a look at my Etsy Shop, you might find that Haiti is a common theme in my work. And if you were to look at my sketchbooks, especially the ones I used around that time, you'll find it was even more common. That week has a very real and lasting impact on my life.

And recently, I added yet another piece to my Haitian collection: 

I love this little collage. Each part of it has meaning, thought it's not a big piece, just 8"x12". I feel like that's fitting, as I didn't spend a large amount of time there, but every minute was meaningful. To start with, the bright, cool colors remind of the guava milkshake I had there, and the cool air on the mountaintop from where I saw the whole city of Port-au-Prince. 

One of the things I did soon after the trip was make a little 4"x5" painting of a mango tree that I sketched several times through the week. I've kept the little painting around, but honestly, it was too small to really do anything with. I never looked for one, but I don't even know if I could find a ready-made frame that small; I'd have to get one custom-made. So when I decided to make a Haitian-themed collage, I knew just what to include. 

With a flat-head screwdriver I removed the staples attaching the canvas to its wooden support, flattened it with a heavy book, and then included it in the collage. 

What's with the house, you ask? The house, my friends, was inspired by a Haitian painting my aunt gave me. She spent a whole summer in Haiti a while back, and over the past few years she's passed several of her Haitian things on to me, including the painting. I traced the outline of Haiti and inside it copied some elements of the painting:

And finally, the blue stripes. It looks like I painted them, right? Well, fun fact, they're actually parts of a little blue and clear striped plastic bag I got some of my souvenirs in, which I glued on the white cardboard. 

In 2010 I was just beginning to keep a semi-regular journal; I wrote in it about twice a week. I really wish I had written every day while in Haiti; the fact that I did not makes me sad. But I did take a small sketchbook with me, and I carried it around a lot. Between that and my pictures, airplane boarding passes, and other odds and ends from the trip, I still managed to document about every minute of it. But friends, please learn from my mistakes! If you've got any upcoming travel plans, especially international travel, and especially to a third-world country, and especially if it's a mission trip, please make journaling a daily habit before you go! You'll thank yourself later, and it'll save you a lot of pain because you won't be kicking yourself over not keeping a journal for years afterward.

As I said, my mission trip to Haiti is a recurring theme in my artwork. Why? Because it was such an eye-opening experience for me. And that's what art should be about, I think. A good art piece, in my opinion, should express something either very emotional, very profound, or both. My time in Haiti had a profound impact on my life, and so that impact is reflected in much of the art I make.

Have you got any insights on international travel, Haiti, or art? Please share your thoughts in the comments!
-Cailey

21 Days to Journal Bliss

Keeping a journal sounds great. 

It sounds great for moody teenagers, and people with no social life. But I'm too busy for that! I have things to do, places to go, people to see! I can't be bothered with carrying a silly notebook around and writing down all my feelings!

Don't be silly. I bet you're just nervous. The idea of adding yet another thing to your already-overflowing to-do list is pretty painful, and the thought of spilling your life onto paper every day is pretty daunting. I get it. 

But it's not as difficult as it sounds. 

Believe me, I've been in your position. It sounded great, but I couldn't be bothered to write once a week, let alone every day! Don't worry, dear reader, there is hope. 

First, I'm taking off the pressure: it doesn't have to be daily. Believe it or not, the world will not explode if you miss a day. I know, that's a real shocker.

Second: To help you get started, I've created a list of journal prompts just for you. Feel free to bookmark this page, print it, or better yet, copy the list into your journal!

Okay. This list is pretty simple, but who doesn't like simple?

So that's the list. You can put as much as effort into this as you want; write one sentence per day, write a whole page, write a book. But remember, as with so many other endeavors in life, the more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it. Be as serious or goofy as you want, as honest or fictional as you want, just be yourself. That's what this is all about, because yourself is the best self to be.

If you're still unsure about the whole journaling thing by the end of this three weeks, visit me on Pinterest and check out the other journal prompt lists I've pinned (they're on the board "When I Write"). I've got enough pinned for several years, so you can use them for as long as you need. Don't give up!

-Cailey

CaileysArt Update

Hello there, my fantastic readers!

Excuse me while I take a break from my regularly scheduled programming to bring you some exciting news:

Today I'm adding a new type of item to my shop.

What, you ask, could this new item be?

To answer your question, I must tell you a story...

Once upon a time, there was a girl loved to color pictures. She spent all her days coloring pictures of the things she loved. As she grew older, she realized pictures were powerful. She could tell a story or express emotions through the pictures she colored. And along with that discovery, she began to develop a second passion: writing.

She continued to practice drawing, and when high school began she started drawing even more than ever before, but she also started writing more than ever before. Every day, she wrote in her journal. She wrote about the things she did, the people she loved, the places she went. And she wrote the stories and emotions that she drew. Before long, she had a cardboard box full of journals, and an online shop full of pictures.

Then one day, she had an idea. 

The girl took up her art supplies and a needle and thread and created a unique little booklet with one of her own pictures on the cover. Finally, something she could share with others that combined both her passions!

Have you figured it out yet?

That's right: I'll be selling journals!

I worked hard to come up with the best design and materials for these little beauties so that you get a great product without spending a ridiculous amount of money. After lots of experiments and google searches, I'm thrilled with what I've come up with and I'm so excited to combine my passions for art and writing. I hope you're as excited as I am!

These slim journals will be available individually and in sets of two and three, with coordinating covers and thread colors. Each is made from high-quality cardstock and 25% cotton paper, printed with one of my own original drawings or photographs, and hand-bound with colored thread. Filled with twenty pages of blank paper, there's nothing to get in the way of your doodles and fancies, but each comes with a sheet of lined paper you can use as a writing guide (don't be embarrassed, I can't write in a straight line, either!). Just slide it behind the page you're writing on and the lines will show through for you.

They're thin enough to slip into a purse or backpack when you're on the go, and the unique covers will leave your friends green with envy. They're perfect for everyday musings, notes, reminders, lists, ideas, stories, and dreams.

Go check them out at CaileysArt! I'll be adding more journals over time, so be sure to keep an eye on the shop in the coming days and weeks.
-Cailey