Sometimes I need the boot

Seriously. Sometimes it takes a little nudge to set me on track. I have a tendency to run on tangents, which leads me to new tangents, and projects that I begin with every intention to finish get left in the wake. There are a few I can think of right now that fall into this category (Awesome dragon painting I started... Dancing Gypsy that's left half finished... one day I'm going to just stop and finish everything I have that's half done.)

I got an Email today from a guy who went out of his way and did a photoshoot for me years ago (I mean, YEARS ago) for a really awesome painting idea I had. He's a super guy, the photos were great, my talent at the time was lacking to say the least, and all sketches that came of it were far from being worthy of the huge and awesome idea. The idea was to paint several of the Norse Gods in settings that were very symbolic of the stories that pertain to them. I was going to begin with Loki (the one who was always the most interesting to me), and Rob was very kind and sat through two photo shoots (which he did completely on his own, wow) to get me the perfect reference photos.

So, my sketches sucked, Rob and I stayed in touch for a little while, and as things happen we lost touch. Years passed, and we arrive to about a month ago. I have been researching more into Asatru, and found a really great podcast that's been a delight to listen to. I started at the beginning, and came before long to an episode completely about Loki (Here's the link, if you're interested) and it rekindled my thoughts on this painting. They've been wiggling around in there, along with other paintings I've been thinking about, shows I'm prepping for, wedding plans, and the constant stimulation of motherhood. Then, today I got that Email. Boot.

You know what? I think I'm ready. Thanks Rob, I needed it!

Also, in a completely unrelated note, I've significantly lowered shipping costs in my vinyl decal shop. I've changed shipping materials, which has allowed me to lower prices. Yay!

Back from the land of the dead

Last week I made the six hour drive to Galveston with my (nearly) two year old daughter to visit my family. It was a lovely visit, spent some time with my Dad and my sister and brother in law, and some time at my Mom and Stepdad's ranch, and ended with a huge party on Valentine's day for my Stepdad's birthday.

I took all of my equipment with me, as usual, so I could keep up with orders as they came in. I sat down one day to cut vinyl decals, and was greeted with the icy stare of the dread Blue Screen of Death. After several hours on the phone with what was probably the nicest and most helpful tech support agent I've ever had the chance to speak to, we determined that my hard drive was fried. I freaked. The day was then spent running across town to Frys to pick up a case for my hard drive, then an hour out to a friend's house who luckily had the driver to my decal cutter installed on his laptop from A-Kon last year. I was incredibly relieved to find out that the only corrupt files on my computer were in my boot menu, and all of my images, files, and the like were untouched.

The next day, Dell delivered my replacement hard drive, and after many hours of moving files, reinstalling drivers and programs, and catching up with orders that were placed after the untimely demise of my computer, I'm finally back in business. I'm incredibly happy that I opted for the big full blown warantee.

So, I missed the last day of my own giveaway. How sad is that? No problem though, I'm happy to announce that the winner was Eric! Thanks to everyone who participated.

Be a follower :D

Blogger has a great new gadget that allows people to follow your blog! I've added the widget to my bar ->

If you have a blog, be sure to add it too so folks can follow you! This should make it much easier for people to keep up with their favorite blogs.

Recording of the dragon painting is on hold until I can get a DV cord for my cam corder. In the meantime, I'm making art pendants!

Thank Goodness it's Friday

I'm so glad that it's Friday. First up, let me get some business info out of the way:

I'm doing a special give away in my Stickerella shop! Every order over $10 will get a free large orange ETSY decal. I'm doing my part to help spread the word about our great venue in time for the holiday season. It's also a great chance to get a custom shop decal to advertise yourself for the holidays too.

I think I forgot to mention that I've got my coloring books listed now! You can see it HERE

Hubby and I have been brainstorming a new business venture to focus on in time for Christmas craft shows. Supplies have been rolling in the mail, and we can finally start putting things together. That will also mean that we have a new shop to run within the next month, so I'll post more about that soon too. Morrigan is going to stay with her Nana tomorrow so we can spend the whole day working in the studio.

I found a great new band today, and I just have to share. Powerglove. It's a great power metal band that covers old video game music. It's too fun! They're coming in concert this November with Dragonforce (another band I love!) So it may have to be a special birthday present for myself.

I tried to start working on my YouTube video of my newest painting (the dragon I posted before). When I tried setting up my camcorder, I discovered that the cord that I'd need to pull video onto my computer isn't included with the DIGITAL videocamera. Honestly? They included a USB cable so I can pull still photos off (of my VIDEO CAMERA) but not video?? And of course, the DV cable is $30. Grr. So, the painting has to wait till the cable comes in. I've been using this time to refine my sketch though, and I'm really excited about it all.

I am SO tired guys. Thank goodness it's Friday.

Oops :P

Sorry for the huge time gap. I've been working on several new things, and blogging slipped to the wayside for a few weeks.

What am I working on? Well, let me tell you.

World of Warcraft. That's right, I fell into the social abyss that I always swore I wouldn't touch with a 10ft virtual pole. And you know what? I love it. Yep. LOVE it. I "took a week off work" which usually means I work when my husband isn't looking (yeah, I'm a workaholic) but this time I spent seven whole days playing WoW and playing with the baby. It was a much needed break.

I'm getting the apartment ready for a move. We found a place that's much bigger for just a tiny bit more per month, and the most awesome part of this new deal is that the hubby and I will have a HUGE new studio! Now Morrigan can run through the house and play without me chasing her down to pull paintbrushes from her tiny hands, the Living Room will be a Living Room and not do double duty as an office, studio, and music practice room (quadruple duty?) We're 3 weeks away, so there's a lot of packing, cleaning, and culling to do before the big day.

Getting ready for the web show. Web show!?! That's right! Web show. I've been playing with my new camera, and once the new studio is set up and ready to go, I'll be posting speed painting videos each time I post a new painting for sale. For those who don't know, a speed painting is a recording of hours and hours of painting sped up to just a few minutes long, so you can see the process I go through when I work. I'm addicted to watching them on YouTube, and decided I'd start posting my own once I get a good space set up.

Working on a new painting. Yay! I hope to have her done this weekend, and will post the original here to auction. Be sure to check back here to see her.

Now, off to update Etsy Reviews For folks who watch it, I'll be updating twice a week!

A-Kon and the Value of Artists

I just got back from A-kon, and I'll work on doing a write up tonight (we're about to go to the park!)

Right now though, I'd love to address a phenomena that I saw happening around the Artist Alley. There were tons of amazing artists selling their wares. Many of them selling beautiful prints for $4-$5 each, and custom work drawn on the spot for a similar pittance. Now, everyone sets their own price, they were selling oodles of stuff, and it definitely didn't affect my business or anything but this is something I noticed. One morning while setting up super early, I overheard a few artists talking about how many people who were commissioning them were getting very aggravated because they weren't able to instantaneously produce a full piece of work for them when they paid their good $10.

The problem here is two fold. When artists undervalue themselves, people begin to undervalue the artists. When artists are undervalued, people begin to think that what we do is easy, a trivial thing.

After sitting and musing over that around sales, I decided that this was a problem that is just too wide spread for one person to do anything about it. I carried on, and business was good. I almost forgot about the whole conversation.

A few hours later, I had a gentleman come by and browse my table, then ask if I take commissions. I told him that yes, I do, but I don't complete them on site. When he asked how much it would cost to have an ink drawing of an elaborate scene done, I gave him a fair price considering the time and research that would go into what he was wanting, with a little discount because the subject matter was actually very interesting to me and it's something I'll really enjoy working on. He was taken aback, and asked about my pencil prices, and I gave him that quote. Once again he seemed astonished - and why shouldn't he be? Folks throughout the room were charging $5-10 for pencil art of original characters. I explained to him that, unlike many of the great artists in the room, I am a full time artist. This is what I do for a living, and I put a lot of time, and pride in all of my work. He looked around a moment longer, and agreed. We continued talking about his project, and in the end, I walked away with the commission with a fair price paid in advance, and a project that I think he and I are both looking forward to. I think that I earned a good deal of respect from him as well.

The lesson here is this - When you take yourself seriously, other people will as well. Don't be tempted to undersell yourself in a market that's highly saturated with other artists who do the same just to have a chance to compete, but also don't lash out against them. My sincere hope is that each one of them is getting what they actually feel their work is worth, and since I realize many of them are hobbyists, they probably just enjoy that people love their work enough to buy it up, and they're able to make a bit of side cash as well. At the same time, as long as you as an artist charge incredibly low rates for custom work, expect people who don't understand all that goes into it to think that what you do is an easy and trivial thing, whether it is or not.

Buttons!

I spent today printing, cutting, pressing, bagging, and labeling BUTTONS!! Yep, pin back buttons. I love them! They turned out beautifully. I'm exhausted though, I made hundreds of the buggers.

So, what's next? MIRRORS! Yay! My supplies should be coming in on Tuesday and I'll get to work on it all. So, when will you see them? Well, if you're coming to A-Kon, you'll see oodles of them on my table. If not, it will probably be some time in June before you'll see them popping up in my shop, unless I magically finish everything I need to get done this month in the next week or two :P I need to figure out how to make a light box so I can photograph all of them.

Now, I'm exhausted. Off to bed!

New things to look forward to!

First up, if you're an Etsy shop owner, be sure to look into getting one of these
custom shop name decals. Advertise while you drive!

I have ordered a button press, and it should be coming in the mail today! I'll have buttons and pocket mirrors featuring my artwork really soon! We'll be cutting and assembling buttons all weekend to get ready for A-Kon, and as soon as I've got time to photograph them, I'll list a handful on Etsy.

I've got a friend coming up to visit this weekend and help with the munchkin so I can get as much painting done as possible.

Somedays...

For some reason today has just been crazy! I think I just woke up and realized I have one month to prep for A-Kon. This may seem like tons of time for people who don't stay home with a rambunctious one year old :P However, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I can guarantee anyone coming to the show though that I will have TONS of goodies to sell, as well as raffle giveaways, and other fun things.

Today I'm cutting decals for orders and for the show, and later I'll be working on inking another 5x7 painting.

If you look at the right hand collumn, you notice a poll. I'd love if everyone took the time to answer it for me! I'm working on the info for myself and several other interested artists.

There's been a lot on my mind

I've been incredibly busy recently, and my mind has been running 1000 miles a minute. I've got A-Kon in a month and a half, and I bought my pass yesterday. I've been getting merchandice ready slowly over time, which was the plan. I'm working on that coloring book, and my goal is to have it done at the end of this week. I hope to have the Fairy Tales and either a Gothic Lolita or Mermaid book in time.

There's another line of merch I'd like to have there, but I'm still working on all of that.

Other things that have been on my mind? Well, there has been some talk of someone wanting me to paint a mural, which I'm really excited about. I would love to do something like that, and have been thinking of advertising to do it after A-Kon.

Also, we're talking about moving some time soon, and I'm dreaming big about having a separate room for my studio, instead of painting in a corner of the living room. I think that I'll set up a work cam, to give me something more to blog with, because I know I love to watch other artists while they work.

Ah well, enough going on here. I've got work to do!

What a week!

After Aggiecon (which was a lot of fun by the way) I decided that I needed a week off before I got to work for my next convention (and last for the year). I spent the week playing with Morrigan, and setting up my new shop. Yeah, I know that's still working, but it was something that needed to be done.

I'm now offering custom cut vinyl decals. I've got two on my car now, one for each of my shops, and have already started to get a response. I'm doing custom decals for one band, and a few small groups. I'd love to take on several more large jobs, and as many small jobs as you guys can throw at me:

http://stickerella.etsy.com

In the meantime, I'm back in the studio. This week I'll be working on coloring book pages for a fantasy themed coloring book meant for grown ups. It will be rated G, but there will be a lot of detail, and it will be printed on nice paper, meant for relaxing and coloring by adults. I love to color still, and I know there have to be others out there like me.

It's good to be back, and I'll be posting regularly for awhile now!

Getting ready for the weekend

I'm getting things ready for Aggiecon today. Gathering paintings, bagging, labeling, filling out paperwork. I took and framed Ravens Land and Wolfhearted yesterday, and they look absolutely beautiful. I'll be putting both in the auction this weekend, and if Wolfhearted doesn't sell, I've got a buyer who I'll deliver it to after the show.

I still have quite a bit to do today. I need to finish getting artwork ready and boxed, pack for me, David, and Morrigan, cook dinner, get David's clothes ready for an interview tomorrow, and clean clean clean.

David has an interview tomorrow for a great job. It would be incredible if he got this, so I've been working on his resume and getting things together for him. I know he's a bit anxious about it all (not nervous, just excited) so I'm trying to get everything done tonight so we can load it up in the car, and just relax tomorrow. We'll go out for a nice breakfast, have his resume printed on some super nice paper, and drive out there. Wish him luck!

Oh the things I do...

So, I was working on a really large painting last night, and I have absolutely loathed working on this painting, so I was seething while I painted. It was a good idea when I started, a really large scene with a pretty Celtic woman and a pack of wolves, but I didn't lay the painting out very well. I didn't realize when I did my first sketch, and it didn't become evident until I put the painting down for a month and picked it back up to finish it. There is one really beautifully composed section, with the woman holding a wolf cub, and a wolfy companion. The other half of the painting just looked tacked on, and I kept working on it hoping that it would come around and start feeling like a valid addition to the painting, but to put it crudely it just felt like I was polishing a turd. So, I called up the guy that expressed an interest in buying the painting, and told him what I was thinking. "You're the artist!" he replied, and I jumped up and attacked it with an Exacto knife. Cut the 22x28 into a 16x20, and I absolutely love it. I began to work on it again with returned vigor, and it felt so good! It turned from something I was dreading handing to someone to something I'm going to be really proud of. I had to cut out one of my favorite parts of the painting, but the overall image is so much better.

In other news, I've been featured in another Etsyans blog! You can read my feature and check out her other writing here: http://www.silverriverjewelry.blogspot.com/

Sleepy, rainy day

It's been raining all day, and I've been very sleepy. I'm looking at a large painting that's almost done, I've been working on it on and off for several months now, it always gets pushed aside for other things because of the sheer size of it. Most paintings I can finish in 2-3 days, but this one has several weeks of work in it. I'm going to finish it tonight come hell or high water (if it keeps raining like this, high water may not be out of the question) Tomorrow I've got another large ink wash painting that is almost done that I need to wrap up, then I'll work on some smaller things to carry on to AggieCon.

I'm really hoping that AggieCon is a good one this year. I'll definately have a write up once it's over.

My vinyl cutter never got shipped out (which really peeves me off). They say my order must have "slipped through the cracks" so it shipped out yesterday. I hope to have it by the end of the week so I can get my business logo on the back of my car before the show.

I'm home!

I spent the last week down near Galveston helping my family get ready for my little sister's wedding. We got a great deal done, took Kitty to choose her wedding dress, bought all the stuff for table centerpieces, and my Mom and I sat for two days making all of the favors. I'll probably end up writing a good deal of Associated Content articles inspired by our adventures in wedding work.

My baby girl Morrigan had her first birthday Friday, and celebrated on Saturday with her GG (Great Grandma) who had her 73rd birthday. It was really special for me to have the two of them celebrate together.

I'll be spending the next two weeks getting ready for AggieCon, then I'm going to focus on some different projects. I'll be getting ready for A-Kon, then I think I'll take a break from shows for a few months while I concentrate on catching up with my stuff online and work on art projects I want to advance. I'd like to finish the Zodiac, work on more Victoria pieces, open up three new product lines, and possibly start a book illustration project. I've also got to work on Kitty's wedding invitations, Morrigan's scrap book, and in a few months I'll be working on Kitty's wedding scrapbook as well.

Busy busy!

New article about Etsy

I wrote an article about Etsy and published it online:

Etsy: A Great Place to Buy and Sell All Things Handmade

It explains the site to potential buyers and sellers. The more viewers that visit it, the higher it will rise in the ranks, and the better chance it has of getting on the front page of the site!

I've been working on getting some clay and resin art pendants made that I like enough to sell, and I think I may have figured something out that really looks great. I'm making a small batch of them right now, and if they work out I should have some to post at the end of the month. This is the fourth thing I've tried, and if it doesn't work out I think I'll end up throwing it at something :P

I'll be out of town all next week, so any order placed between now and Sunday will be shipped out on Monday March 17th.

Lots of new things

I've got two new paintings that I'll be posting tomorrow. They're really beautiful, and I'm very happy with them both.

I've also been working on plans for new products. I finally bought that Roland vinyl cutter, so I'll have vinyl decals of some of my drawings for the back window of your car. I'm also working on making some tote bags, and each one will be completely unique. Last project I'm working on are polymer and resin pendants of my artwork, so they can be used as pendants or keychains.

I'm hoping to have a really productive week. I've already fallen behind on my ACEO a day, so I'm going to just work on doing as many as I can. I was afraid when I started it that it would be too much to do with everything else, but at least I'm always busy!

Feeling kind of crummy

I'm feeling crummy today, not sick, just in a poor mood. I've been trying to paint all day since the small one is with her Grandma today, but haven't gotten a lot done. I think the best thing for me today is just to stop trying and take a break.

I'll make up for missing the art card a day post tomorrow (lol, I knew keeping a daily post was going to be hard for me, but I always dream big).

I think I may pull out my old Play Station and see about playing Legend of the Dragoon. I remember playing it back in Highschool, and it's a pretty awesome RPG.

Eye candy from the game:



This is Rose, also my favorite character from the game. I always seem to fall in love with the dark female in games like this, and it's never the "love interest." It's sort of aggrivating that the love interest in RPGs is always some weak dingbat type female, the strong, mysterious, interesting female is always just a side character. Oh well.

Cthulhu - Art Card a Day

Something completely different from yesterday's theme, today I bring you the Great and Dread elder god, Cthulhu himself. These were a lot of fun to draw up.

You can purchase both of these cards on the Lovecraftian Creatures section of my ACEO gallery




Day 2, 363 to go!

In other news, our little ratty, Lily died this weekend, and we're watching Morticia (her cagemate) to make sure that whatever was wrong with her isn't catching. I think that Tish is going to be okay though, and we're going to be looking for another companion for her. Lily was an albino feeder rat, not even a year old. She got sick very quickly, and passed on quickly too. It was really sad, I hate losing pets.

I spent a good deal of the day working on things online, sketching up new art cards, and playing with my baby. She's figured out that peek-a-boo is a fun game. I'm trying to come up with a good list of ACEO themes, so I can keep mixing it up and also build on all of the themes over time. I'm happy to take suggestions!

*Comes up for breath*

I've been so busy recently! I found a vinyl cutter and should have it in a week or two, so I'm very excited about that. Now I'm looking for a good button press. Finished another painting today. Once I get a moment to breathe I'll post prints of the newer ones up.

Got news that I may be at a pretty huge convention. I'll be sure to let folks know if it works out, in the meantime I won't say more than that.

Sister in law's wedding is this weekend, so I'll probably be scarce until Sunday. Monday will bring several new paintings, and the beginning of my Year of Artcards project! Wee!