Summer is here, we’ve all been waiting for it. “We”– meaning– if you’re in the midwest. It’s like the “Friday” of the seasons. We look forward to it all year and then it arrives and we don’t know what to do with ourselves. We soak up every second of daylight, and I stop and look at every single flower. We forget how transformative it is to simply exist in the sun.
My June Catdroool Club art will be a piece about this. I’ll never forget my first summer in Chicago. The city lights up with joy, community, friends, togetherness. Chicago goes HARD for summer. We do not take the sun for granted. Some of my favorite Chicago summer activities include:
hanging with friends at Palmer Square Park
jumping in the lake at Montrose Concrete Beach
tending to my garden every day
riding my bike anywhere and everywhere
escaping to Michigan for a weekend to swim in the other side of the lake
June
Later this month on June 24 + 25, I’m organizing my third annual Palmer Square Art Fair. It takes place in Palmer Square Park from 10 – 4. At the fair you can shop art from outstanding local artists. A ton of work goes into it, and it always pays off. I love seeing my favorite neighborhood park activated with art, friendship, and community for one weekend. This is the first year I’m doing the fair for 2 days. If you’re in Chicago, it would mean the world to me if you came and checked it out. You won’t regret it and hopefully you’ll walk away with a new piece of art and a new friend.
July
In July I’m looking forward to being a vendor at Renegade at Pitchfork Music Festival. I vended 2 years ago (when the fest was pushed back to Sep for COVID reasons), and last year I planned to vend, but got COVID myself and had to cancel last minute. It was a huge bummer. Pitchfork is easily my favorite music festival. There’s a sense of calm to it that other music festivals don’t have as much as. This year I’m excited to bring some of my favorite summer products to the festival and see some amazing bands.
Wherever you’re reading this, I hope your summer is off to a great start for you. I hope you can find gratitude every day for something about this special time of year. Thanks for reading + subscribing.
In other news:
I recently launched a Redbubble shop. Here you can shop stickers and other products of some of my designs I haven’t committed to. This shop will help me test which designs do really well, and which ones I should invest in myself. It’s also just a fun creative thing to add to my practice. Check it out!
I also recently gave my site a little refresh ✨ and created a new sale section to hopefully make room for some new work! Check it out. :)
My tattoo books are open for the summer! Tattooing has been an amazing addition to my practice. Book a tattoo with me here.