Sunday, November 22, 2009

it's here!

Last Saturday was a day that we'd been waiting over nine months for.  We came back from Minnesota at the end of January, leaving our household belongings behind in a storage unit.  We thought that we'd be back to get it in just a few months.  When we first arrived back in California, we stayed with my sister and her family for two months.  We were sure that by the time we got into our own place, we'd have saved the money needed to go and get our things.  Time passed and money was coming in at a slow trickle.  We were scraping to pay our bills and had nothing extra to put aside.

One night while trying to go to sleep, I was thinking about it all, trying to figure out a way to make some extra money, specifically for this cause.  That was the beginning of The Retrieval Project.  Joe and I planned and brainstormed, and came up with a plan.  We were so amazed and encouraged at the response of so many supporting our goal.  We painted, blogged, painted, packaged, painted and painted for 50 days.  

It was such a good project for us in so many ways.  It was fun to have something that we were working on together.  It felt good to come up with a creative way to make money aside from our employment.  It pushed us to paint when we were tired.  When we didn't like what we were creating, we could go to each other for advice and encouragement.  It was fun to see which paintings resonated with people.  It was even more fun to have made some new friends and connections through it all, and to have the support of those already dear to us.

Even though we didn't quite make our original goal, we feel that the project was a success.  We've been blessed by long time friends of Joe's family (and his brother's in-laws), who brought our things to us last weekend.  Here are a few photos from the long-awaited day.
Joe guided Fred as he backed down the street... 
good thing we're at the end.  That was a huge truck!

Excited kids and neighbors gathered to watch.

Fred had a couple of stops before ours.  
It doesn't look like much at the back of the truck, but the things kept coming and coming!

We had stacks of boxes for a few days, but it's getting better.  
Looking more like a home and less like a warehouse each day.

First meal at our new table, with Fred and his wife Jan.  This was Joe's grandmother's table, which his mom had brought to us.  It's such a nice, sturdy table, with lots of room.  At this point, we had one leaf in it.  Later we decided to add two more.  We can still add two additional leaves when we have more people. 
 I love a big table, and I love it even more when it's full of people and good food!

Thanks so much for following this journey with us, and for all who have purchased our art and encouraged us along the way.  There are still paintings available in our etsy shop.

Home tour posts coming soon on Jenny's blog with more pictures.  Please stay connected there!

Friday, November 13, 2009

tomorrow!!!

Joe was on the phone with Fred (the guy who is bringing our stuff) earlier, and found out that he'll be here tomorrow morning at 9am!  I work until 8:30 in the morning, so I'll come home and it will be time to start the transformation soon!  We'll update with photos asap!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Retrieval Project update 11-08-09

At this very moment in time, these are the original paintings still available in our
(this is jenny)

Yay! As Joe mentioned yesterday, our stuff is on the way!!! Our plan was to raise enough money for two of us (probably Brooklyn and I) to fly to Minnesota, rent a u-haul truck, load up our stuff and drive it back. That would cost us somewhere around $4,000. A long time friend of the Swanson family (and our sister-in-law's dad) is a trucker in Minnesota, and he contacted us to let us know that he could haul our things for about half the price. He and some friends loaded everything from our storage unit into his truck yesterday and he should be here by next weekend!!!!! We've been back in California for a little over nine months, so it will be very exciting for us to finally feel settled in with our things and make our house feel more homey and cozy for the chilly autumn days ahead.

We've been just fine without our stuff and realize that it is just "stuff". We have borrowed couches, beds and dressers and have survived nicely these last several months. It's the little things we're most looking forward to. Well, ok, big things too... I can't wait to snuggle under cozy blankets on our couch and look at our photos framed on the walls. But the things the kids are most looking forward to surprised me a little. When I asked them, the first things they thought of were Little People toys (this from 12 year old Brooklyn! they've always been her favorite!), our ottoman (Zeke wants to see if he still fits under it), and Mercy's scooter. When they thought about it more, they were looking forward to their own beds and the Wii, but those things weren't even at the top of their lists.

We will keep this site up, so that you can still scroll down to see all of the paintings that were a part of the Retrieval Project. I've decided to change the links. I will still do a bold red "SOLD" when a painting sells, but instead of linking directly to individual paintings and prints, I will link original paintings to the Retrieval Project etsy site, and prints to Joe's etsy shop and mine. It's very time consuming to continually update links when things are sold, so this way you can link to the Retrieval Project shop and see what is available, and also through our individual shops, you can see what else we've been working on.

You can also keep up with us through our separate blogs: mine is a mixed media life, and Joe's is thisistattoo. We're on twitter, too. @joeswansontat2 and @jennyswanson707.

We'd like to thank you all again for following us, directing people to our site, buying our art, praying for us, offering support and encouragement. It feels good to have come up with this project and produced the daily paintings. It was a really great experience for both of us, and we so appreciated the sense of community we felt from all of our friends, family and supporters. We didn't quite reach our goal, but we did raise enough, thanks to all of you, to have our stuff brought to us. All money that we make now from this project will go to our general budget. Work has been slow and we're burning candles at every point possible to make ends meet right now.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

STUFF IS ON THE WAY

So I just got off the phone with the mover and almost all our stuff that was packed in a 10x20 storage unit in Minnesota is loaded up into the truck.  They should have the rest loaded shortly.

So that means the truck with the goods should be pulling up to our door in California by Friday the 13th.

I will let Jenny update more about all this and also let everyone know what paintings are still available for sale!

Thanks for helping make the next step to this journey happen.

Joe

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

giveaway on my blog!

Hello friends!  Just wanted to let you know I'm hosting a giveaway of one of my prints on my blog this week.  Click here for details!

Also, if you have ordered from us in the last week or so, your items are on their way.  We had run out of a part of the packaging material needed to send them.  Thanks for your patience!

*update:  all recent items shipped on 10-03-09

jenny

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

special on prints

Today we're starting a special in our etsy shop:  For a limited time, you can purchase any* three prints from our Retrieval Project series for $50!  They're normally $20 each, so that's a savings of $10, and through this special, you have the opportunity to buy any* mixture of the prints (even those whose originals have not yet sold).  In the note to seller when you check out, just list the three titles of prints you'd like, as well as whether the painting was done by Joe or Jenny (you can mix his and hers if you like also).

And please keep spreading the word about our project... each and every purchase helps us get closer to our goal!

*The only exception is that we do not have the original of Joe's "Simply Stated- California" scanned, so at this time, we are not able to offer it as a print.

Monday, September 21, 2009

day 50! family

Today is day 50.  The final day of the Retrieval Project.  We will keep this site as well as our etsy site up and running for a while, so you can still check in, refer your friends, stay tuned for any updates, buy our art, etc.  

We will be offering a special on our prints, starting tomorrow, so you'll want to come back for that for sure.  

We'll also let you know how our fund raising efforts are going and announce when we make it to our goal.  

Thanks so much for all of your support and kind words throughout these last 50 days!  It's been such a great journey in so many ways.
"Family" by Joe Swanson (with help from 10 yr old Zeke and 3 yr old Mercy)
original watercolor painting available here
"family" by jenny swanson
mixed media painting/"fabric"ation SOLD!
print available here

Sunday, September 20, 2009

day 49. home sweet home

"Home Sweet Home" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting available here
"home sweet home" by jenny swanson
original mixed media painting SOLD!
print available here

Saturday, September 19, 2009

day 48. pressed but not crushed

"Pressed but not Crushed" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting SOLD!
print available here
"pressed but not crushed" by jenny swanson
original mixed media painting available here

Friday, September 18, 2009

oops... Joe's painting in correct view

It's true... I scanned and uploaded Joe's painting without really looking at it.  When I got it to the site I use to put it in jpeg form, I really wasn't sure which way was up.  Of course, now that I see it correctly it should have been obvious.  In my defense, Joe has painted some pretty strange/backwards/upside down things on more than one occasion!  (and it was 3:30am.)  You can buy the original painting here.

Upside Down

So just letting everyone know my most recent painting of the two hearts (reconnect) is upside down in the post. You can now go ahead and turn you computer screen over and continue to gaze longingly at the piece!

Word,

Joe

day 47. reunited

"Reunited" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting available here
"reunited" by jenny swanson
original acrylic painting SOLD!  
print available here

Thursday, September 17, 2009

day 46. hello

"Hello" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting available here
"hello" by jenny swanson
original acrylic painting SOLD!
available here

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

day 45. drive

"Drive" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting SOLD!
print available here
"drive" by jenny swanson
original mixed media painting SOLD!
print available here

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

day 44. step

"Step" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting SOLD!
print available here
"step" by jenny swanson
original mixed media painting SOLD! 
print available here

Monday, September 14, 2009

day 43. content

"Content" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting available here
"content" by jenny swanson
original mixed media painting available here

Sunday, September 13, 2009

a slight delay

This afternoon I scanned and started uploading Joe's painting for today... then we had a small emergency.  Mercy, our three year old, got an apple from a tree in the back yard and tried to cut a bad spot off of it all by herself.  She ended up almost taking a huge chunk out of the tip of her thumb in the process.  We are very fortunate to have great neighbors (friends of mine from jr. high), who watched our three non-bleeding kids while we rushed Mercy to the er.  A few hours and several stitches later, she's home and her thumb will be fine.  It was a horrible experience, holding her down and watching them stick needles in her bloody thumb... but she was a trooper and she's on the mend.

Since it's so late, we decided to put off day 43 until tomorrow.  We're sorry for the delay, for those who've been checking in, but I think you'll enjoy them.  I'm always surprised by Joe's ideas for each title.  What he did for tomorrow cracked me up.  For now, I'll tease you with the title... "content".

Goodnight, and please say a prayer for our little Mercy.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

updated links

(jenny here)  Saturdays seem to be my catching up days.  I got up early to a most welcome sound and sight... loud thunder and bright lightning skies (bright for 3am).  I had a good morning... worked for about 5 hours, and then a couple of errands (which included a trip to the post office for those of you waiting on your paintings and prints).  I came home and settled in to some sweatpants, a sweatshirt and my favorite slippers (thank you, Peggy), hoping to have a lazy, cozy day... watching a movie, eating popcorn and watching/listening to the rain.  The gray skies really perked my spirits.  I guess I'm a little backwards in that way.. it took a blustery morning to brighten my day!

The sun came out not long after I got home, but I still managed to be cheery.  We still (air)popped popcorn, and watched a movie, but I also got a lot of work done.  I listed prints of all of our sold paintings on etsy (and all those not yet sold, so it will be simple enough to activate them once they sell).  I also took some time making sure all links are accurate.  Thanks for your patience with this... it's no small task when you get behind, as I did these last couple of weeks.  

SO... at this moment in time, all links will take you to active listings.  It's hard to believe we're nearing the end of our 50 days!  We have just a little over a week of new paintings being released.  If you see something you like, it's a good idea to snatch it up before the original is gone.  But also, remember that if a painting you adore is already sold, you can purchase prints of Joe's originals here, and Jenny's prints here.

Thanks for following along this journey with us!  We've enjoyed having you along and really really love the comments (keep 'em coming!).

day 42. road trip

"Road Trip" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting SOLD!
print available here
"road trip" by jenny swanson
original mixed media painting available here

Friday, September 11, 2009

day 41. strengTh

TWO for the price of ONE!!!!

So, apparently all the late nights of staying up painting have caught up to me!  As Jenny was scanning my painting for today she called me into the room and pointed out a 'slight' flaw.  I misspelled STRENGTH!  Wow, that sucks!

Here is the fix ...I am going to leave this painting up for sale 'as is', and when it sells I will do another painting like it with the title spelled correctly.  To sweeten the deal for the person who buys this painting I will even let them help in choosing the color scheme for the 2nd painting.

So there you have it.  Good painting + Bad Spelling = 2 Paintings + Color Collaboration with the Artist!  Yee Haw!  Now get to buyin'

"Strength" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting available here
"strength" by jenny
original mixed media painting SOLD!
print available here

Thursday, September 10, 2009

day 40. adapt

"Adapt" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting SOLD!
print available here
"adapt" by jenny swanson
original mixed media painting available here

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

day 39. fork in the road

"Fork in the Road" by Joe Swanson
original mixed media painting available here
"fork in the road" by jenny swanson
original mixed media painting available here

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

day 38. bloom

"Bloom" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting SOLD!
print available here
"bloom" by jenny swanson
original mixed media painting SOLD!
print available here

Monday, September 7, 2009

day 37. lonely

"Lonely" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting SOLD!
print available here
"lonely" by jenny swanson
original acrylic painting available here

Sunday, September 6, 2009

day 36. pursue your dreams

"Pursue Your Dreams" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting available here
"pursue your dreams" by jenny swanson
original acrylic painting available here

Saturday, September 5, 2009

day 35. reconnect

"Reconnect" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor painting SOLD!
print available here
"reconnect" by jenny swanson 
original acrylic painting available here

Friday, September 4, 2009

day 34. welcome

"Welcome" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor/gouache painting available here
"welcome" by jenny swanson
original mixed media painting available here

Thursday, September 3, 2009

day 33. homeward bound

"Homeward Bound" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor/gouache painting available here
"homeward bound" by jenny swanson
original mixed media painting available here

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

day 32. moving on (late entry)

One more before the day ends... our son Zeke wanted to do a painting for this title as well.  He informed me that sharks have to keep moving on or else they'll die.
"Moving On" by Ezekiel Swanson
original watercolor painting available here

day 32. moving on

"Moving On" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor/ gouache painting available here
"moving on" by jenny swanson
original acrylic painting available here

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

day 31. along the way

"Along the Way" by Joe Swanson
original gouache painting available here
"along the way" by jenny swanson
original mixed media painting SOLD!
print available here

Monday, August 31, 2009

day 30. missing home

"Missing Home" by Joe Swanson
original watercolor/mixed media painting SOLD!
print available here
"missing home" by jenny swanson
original mixed media painting available here