The Freedom of Expression Art Show is coming to town!

Come enjoy a night of music, fun and local art at the Freedom of Expression Art Show on Jan. 2, hosted by the Stray Dog Gallery in Lubbock.

Several local artists will display their photography, painting, prints and more at the event. Sandra Casparis will be doing some live painting to the music, and free food will be offered at our reception area.

The show is a trolley stop on Lubbock's First Friday Art Trail and is located at 1917 Buddy Holly Ave. It will run from 6 p.m. until the last visitor leaves. We look forward to seeing you there!

A candid interview with Tom

Okay, I think I'm going to need some sort of intervention for my MySpace addiction. I never thought I'd be a MySpace kind of girl, but I just have so darn much fun with it.

Like today, for instance. I started playing with the MySpace IM and saw that Tom (With a capital T, yo) was online. On a lark, I messaged him, and to my great delight, he had an automated reply set. I decided to have some fun with it.
My "candid interview" went something like this:

Me: So are you excited to be interviewed by the one and only Bakka?

Tom: woo!

Me: I'm glad to hear that Tom. Is it okay if I call you Tom?

Tom: woo!

Me: Well you're sure excitable...anyway, on to my first question: How does it make you feel to know you are friends with everyone on MySpace?

Tom: woo!

Me: Glad to hear it. I'm sure if I had 250464747 friends, I may give a hearty "woo!" myself. So I see you're single. Do you have an active dating life?

Tom: woo!

Me: I see...well I'm sure a man with as much internets pull as you can date pretty much whoever you want. You know Tom, I get the feeling that you're a kinder, gentler internet superstar. If you could offer advice to someone who's having suicidal thoughts, what would that advice be?

Tom: woo!

Me: Yes, very deep. Forget your worries and just take joy in the moment. I knew you were a thinker. Now Tom, on to current events. Given the current economic crises around the world, do you hold out any hope for the future?

Tom: woo!

Me: So brave...keeping your chin up in the face of disaster. Now about the new president, what do you think of Obama?

Tom: woo!

Me: A fellow democrat. How refreshing! Well Tom, thank you for your time. I have really enjoyed this candid interview.

Tom: woo!

Me: Woo! to you too, Tom *sniff* Woo! to you too...

Keep in mind, this is only a joke. I'm sure most people could figure this out, but I in no way want people to think Tom actually said this stuff...his computer did. I'm sure he's a nice enough guy, and I'd hate for one gag to make people think badly of him. Plus, he'd probably unleash the fury of the internets if I got on his bad side :).

I met the Jesus guy :)

I was working on a submission for JPG Magazine called "Nice to Meet You" today and got to meet a really neat person. I see this guy every day standing on 66th St. and University Ave., and when the assignment came up, which was to meet someone, get their portrait and some information, he automatically came to mind.

His name's Johnny, and every day except Saturday, he's out from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. with his sign. He's been doing this for about three months because, as he said, "It's what the Lord Jesus told me to do."

I call him "The Jesus Guy" because that's all I knew about him. I mean no disrespect by this nickname, it's just a descriptor. I personally think he does a service to the world by showing that kind of dedication to his beliefs. I myself don't consider myself a religious person, but I am very spiritual. It does my heart good to know people like him are out in the world.

My busy, busy life :)

I learned one big lesson at this year's NOVACon -- Don't plan anything else for the same time frame.

Around 5 a.m. Thursday morning, not only was I working on some stuff for the event, I was also hurriedly pricing products for my new case at KK's Craft Mall. I'm happy about the opportunity to do that, but it made for some frantic last-minute work. Overall, though, it was a good weekend.

My friend Alex got married Friday night, and it was a beautiful service. I got to take some of the photographs, and I'm told some of them turned out pretty decently.

The LLAMA Today November issue will be distributed Friday during the First Friday Art Trail. I'll have more of the particulars on that tomorrow. As for the December issue, we have hit the ground running. I'm working on the cover story, which is about how local organizations encourage the future of art in West Texas, as well as a handful of other really cool stories.

I'm also doing a lot of painting and photography, as well as practicing piano and guitar to improve my skill.

Let's see...I don't think I've left anything out...anyway, it's a very fun, very busy time in my life :). I plan to post daily to the site with updates on everything, so be sure to check back often!

Namaste

Come see the NOVACon!!!!

Just a reminder that the NOVACon is coming to Lubbock Nov. 1 at the Lubbock Garden and Arts Center.

You still have a couple of days before the contest deadlines, so if you haven't entered already, now's the time!!!

We'll also have plenty to do the day of the convention. It will run 8 a.m.-6 p.m. and have a live art contest, art show, charity auction, poetry jam and recycled art contest. There will also be local artists selling their creations, so come out and support local art.

Tickets are $5, or you can go to the NOVACon Web site and download a coupon for two tickets for the price of one. Children under 12 get in free, so bring the whole family!

I am completely happy :)

I spent all afternoon trying my best to capture the most miraculous thing I've ever seen. I was eating lunch over at the Lubbock Garden and Arts Center and noticed there were a lot of butterflies flitting around the flowers in front of the building. I decided to go get my boyfriend's film SLR camera to get a few pics.

When I got back, I realized the full enormity of what I was witnessing. This was part of the Monarch butterfly migration and there were literally hundreds of butterflies from different species, including of course many monarchs. They were gorging themselves on those flowers and those in a garden area inside the arboretum. They were so involved in what they were doing, I could literally take pictures from inches away. I even reached out to a few, and they put their legs on my finger :).

I was out a couple of hours and took about six rolls of films, which I'll be developing soon, but I was also able to get a few digital pics as well.

Anyway, just thought I'd share my extraordinary day :).

Cool blog image site

Note: This image is not my personal work and as such, is not subject to Creative Commons. Please go to Acobox.com to use this image on your blog
and follow their guidelines and terms of use.

I tried out a new Web site today for getting images for my blog, and I mostly like it. The Web site, www.acobox.com, offers a wide variety of photos you can look up and use on your blog.

The main selling point of this site to me is how easy it is. All you do is select the image, and it provides code for the image for you to insert directly into your blog. The image above is an example of the photographs available, and I think they are all really high quality.

To get the code, you just have to tell the site what alignment you want for the photo (optional) and what width you want the photo to be (available in 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 px sizes) and it provides the code.

Overall, I found the site very user friendly and easy to navigate. That said, there are a few drawbacks:

• The site is made to operate in Internet Explorer, and as a Firefox user, I found this a bit frustrating.
• When creating a user account, you are e-mailed your password, which Acobox generates. This is really more of a personal preference than anything, and you can change your password to something memorable pretty easily when you first log in.
• While there are several different categories of photos, some categories have a very limited selection. I suspect this is because it is a fairly new site, and figure there will probably be many additions to the photo selection in the future.

The LLAMA Today back in production

We have restarted printing for The LLAMA Today. Look for it on Nov. 7 during the First Friday Art Trail in Lubbock. As always, if you miss an issue, you can always visit The LLAMA Today Web site for articles, activities and news from the Lubbock Art Community.

Additions and changes

I finished with the latest incarnation of the Bakka Creative site. Under the "Explore" bar, you'll notice the ZITMOBIP Store and Fiction and Other Works links are now in working order.

I've also added a page to purchase photography prints, as well as a link to printroom.com, where I'm selling coffee mugs, coasters and other items with my photography on them.

There are still a couple of things in the works for this site:

-More links in my "Links" section for some of my favorite sites and blogs. If you want to participate in link sharing, feel free to e-mail me.

-An e-books link where I will be selling my work on www.mack-attack.com.

I will also be giving regular updates on what's happening with my art, so feel free to subscribe to get the latest news :).

As always, I love hearing from others interested in the arts, so drop me a line sometime!

Tired, but happy :)

I just finished my stories for this week's LLAMA Today. All the writing's made me kind of bumfuzzled, but it feels good. I think this week's issue is going to be spectacular.

If you still haven't checked it out, be sure to visit the LLAMA Today Web site.

I love my new job :)

Not only did I get to interview some cool people and take photos, I also got to make some beads out of polymer clay.

I interviewed Rachael Simmons, this week's artist of the week, as well as Danny Vasquez, owner of Death and Taxes Tattoos, for this week's art feature. I really enjoyed talking to both of them.

As far as making the beads, they are part of a how-to piece in the Sept. 26 LLAMA Today. I will also be making a necklace out of them for the ZITMOBIP Indie Shop. My items should be up in the next couple of days.

As the title of this post says, I love my new job. I get to do so many different things.

Lazy day

I worked on the Novacon Poetry Jam today. I'm pretty psyched about it. Here's the info I've been passing out about it:

Looking for a place to read your poetry on-stage to an art-loving audience? Do you want to electrify people with your performance and words? Then the Novacon Poetry Jam needs your submissions!

Novacon? Poetry Jam? What is all this?

• When: November 1st, 2008.
• Where: The Garden and Arts Center at 44th Street and University Avenue on the southwest corner of Clapp Park.
• What: The Novacon, Lubbock’s only art convention, features artists of all visual, musical and written mediums. The Poetry Jam will be a one-hour event during the convention in which poets perform.

A few guidelines...

• Poems must take less than five minutes to perform.
• Any props needed for the performance must be provided by the poet.
• Your art should be an expression of yourself and you must perform for the Poetry Jam. This is not a simple poetry reading. Say it with feeling, use body language and motion to get your idea across. Poets who are unable to do this may be better suited for other venues.

How to enter
• E-mail a video of your performance to bakkacreative@gmail.com by Oct. 10.
• Video formats must be compatible with Windows Media Player.
• Include in the body of the e-mail a short bio of 50 words or less to be read at the jam by the emcee before your performance.
• Poets who are accepted to read in the Poetry Jam will be notified by Oct. 17 and will be asked to attend a dress rehearsal at the GAC. We will notify you of the date and time in your acceptance email.
• We will try to contact all poets who submit their work.
• All submissions will be reviewed for content.


For more information on the Novacon, visit www.novacon2008.blogspot.com.


and so on...

I got to visit a lot of coffee shops today to post up some flyers. At Sugar Brown's, I talked to the manager about stopping by Saturday evening to do the LLAMA's weekly "Art or Not?" piece. In "Art or Not?", we ask people if they consider certain things art or not. We publish what they say and their picture. If you want to participate, why not stop by? It's good coffee with a good atmosphere.

So do you and your friends have arguments over whether certain things are art or not? We'd love to hear your stories, and we may even ask other people about it and put it in print :)

Have you seen this LLAMA?

Today I started working on some stories for The LLAMA Today :). I'm pretty excited about one of the features I'm writing, which is about tattoo artists and how they become the stars of people's memories.

Some people may get tattoos just for decoration, but every time I've talked to someone with a tattoo, there is always some significance. My newest tattoo, for instance, reminds me of a part of a poem called “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann which says “You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and stars. You have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”

Others get tattoos to remind them of their children or loved ones who have passed away. Tattoos are a very romantic idea to me – sometimes life's lessons are so important you have to keep them with you at all times.

If you have an interesting story about your tattoo, I'd sure love to hear it.

Also, if you haven't checked it out yet, you should stop by The LLAMA Today. This Web site and weekly newsletter encourages local artists to change the world through their work. It also encourages people to get involved in the West Texas art community, so dust off that easel, grab some pens, fire up that kiln and visit the site for some inspiration.

New photography samples

I just posted some new art photography samples on the Photography Samples page.

Be sure to check them out and if you like what you see, contact me for prices.

The short version of a long journey

I created this site a couple of years ago in an attempt to start my own business. I was unhappy with where I was job-wise, and I wanted to set my own schedule and do something where I felt fulfilled. The problem was, I decided on a business that was very similar to my old job, and it didn't make me happy either. After about three months, I gave up on the whole running my own business thing and decided to get a job in the same industry I left.

I have been going through a divorce, and tomorrow it will be final. The entire process has taught me a whole lot about myself and made me truly remember who I am. This site is now dedicated to that. I am an artist, and I have made myself try to fit in some pre-prescribed niche for too long. On this site is my work, the work I love to do more than anything else, and that is to bring beautiful things into the world.

If you like what you see, please visit the ZITMOBIP store and purchase an item or ten :). If you just want to introduce yourself, or are a fellow artist on a similar mission, you can e-mail me at bakkacreative@gmail.com.

Enjoy,

Bakka