She's Off Her Rocker

Road Trippin' For Art! (It's a Family Thing!)

My sister and I (Seen below) have been traveling to Atlanta to Scott's Market every second weekend of the month for our business Harlan McKenna Designs. We sell lighting, art, and art mirrors (trumeaus) of our creation,..and also other interesting object de art,...silver, our painted tables and antiques to add ambiance to the space. We also do onsite painting, finishes, and repairs for the other vendors! We have so much fun, although we work very hard, it is a pleasure each time.

We pass out our business cards and also bring our own baked treats,..brownies, fudge, and such, and send a handful out with each purchase!
Here is our space,... most of the large pieces are already sold, and we have only been four times so far.

We also represent two painters in our family, our father, Dennis Pearson, who has retired from his graphic design business, and his girlfriend of 20+ years, a retired art teacher who hails from Atlanta, Connie Snipes. They paint everyday and often together plein air, and also in studio from photographs when they can't be in the field. Their paintings are a huge draw, and make for a beautiful display. Their paintings are the small ones, seen below, the larger ones are done by me and the larger frames made by my sister. The ones that also have mirrors are called "trumeaus".

Dusti and I have plans to create a beautiful draped canvas back drop to hide the pegboard,..with a mere one month between trips, we have to stay on productive task and we write down our new ideas in list form to help us improve each time. We have so many ideas, we feel as though we have barely begun. We will continue to grow in both our vision and our production! We plan to hire help soon in the production end of things. It is hard to design and create and build everything we have in mind between just the two of us. As we meet our neighbors,..other art and antique loving gypsies, we continue to learn the ropes of this niche market and refine our own vision and direction. Here is a close up of our space below,..

Here is one of our new chandeliers,...and we plan to do a lot more in this style. My sister is brilliant at oxidizing metal,..and hangs dripping chains from them. We plan on doing many more steam punk and industrial styled lighting.

This piece was sold to a woman who invited us to participate at a Florida Horse show/event where she believes we would do quite well. We plan to attend that one with our horse related art next year.
Here are Dad and Connie,..painting plein air. They are the real Mccoy!

In between trips to Atlanta for that business I am still creating for my business. I have The Halloween Convention with SpookyTime Jingles May 5th-8th in King Of Prussia, PA,..and another submission/sample deadline for ESC at the same time. Time to turn my Halloween brain back on and get to crackin'!! Here is a recent moon below, he was 16" deep my absolute largest size.
I made a spring rabbit for STJ this month, too,...

And a fun moon lamp that I believe would be perfect for a fun nursery or Child's room....

See Connie's beautiful pondscape framed behind,...

Her haybale paintings are quite popular,..

We made this small trumeau and it sold right away, perfect for a powder room...

Here is Dusti with our bountiful array of treats!

All the porters hustle and compete to help us as word gets around that we are generous withour home made treats!

Another shot of my moon lamp,..

To end each trip, we spend a night and a day or so on our way back to N.C in the mountains to replenish our souls! We slept by this powerful river on the boulders on the way home!

We also spent the day exploring state parks and this gorge in Georgia,..I ran in and out of it up and down timing my ascent with my cell's stopwatch! It was the best day I had in forever! I only stopped to photograph,...you can't tell how truly massive and deep this gorge is by the photo.

At the base,...these boulders are gigantic. I can't describe the soul charging beauty of this place.

And many, many miles upstream on the same river, our last stop on our way out,..I waded in to clean off the day's sweat and we sun bathed on the rocks watching the kayakers. Now, I have to have a kayak!! Being very early spring,..the temperature and air quality were delicious. The breeze washed over us and was warm and cool, with tastes of each. Dusti said "The air is like a temperature salad!"

On one of our hikes, I found this ground dwelling runner plant,..it's like nature's garland!!

above, my favorite river,.. below, a bright green and very large moth,..

From the suspension bridge over the gorge,

the bridge itself,..

I love living near such beauty!

At the end of the day we drove on back,....my next road trip will be to The National Halloween Convention! Hope to see you there!!

Ya'll come back, now!!