trick or treat...

i had THE GREATEST DAY .... it started fun, the middle was fun, near the end was fun, and pretty soon my kids will be home from trick or treating .... and they'll be SO excited and sugar high and that'll be fun too ...... this morning i went to pottery .... and we had a halloween party .... most of us dressed up as our teacher , carol .... she is the cutest, funkiest, fun teacher EVER ... she usually has her hair colored with spray dye .... orange, pink, or red, generally .... and she wears EVERY day, quirky oddball glasses .... like, stop signs or the statue of liberty ..... she has fifty or so pairs i think!! very fun .... a little odd ... but odd is best ..... so .... i adorned my own glasses with green to be grass ... and a flower ... and sprayed my hair orange .... to be her ... i wore a tshirt that matches one she frequently wears .... and she also wears funny socks and colorful shoes ..... i wore my painted and doodled shoes ...... hop over to flickr for this pic with notes to role over ....

this is most of the class .... mostly in colorful hair and fun glasses ... most are wearing groovy shoes too ..... can you see carolyn in pink? hot pink hair? she has on flamingo glasses .... can you see carol, my teacher, she was actually dressed far more conservatively than usual .... she had been wearing a hillary clinton mask ... but underneath she had orangey hair and glasses with spots for THREE eyes .... three eyed glasses are her version of conservative .....

even though pottery was all giggley and fun, i still actually worked with clay .... i started on some nativities that a friend asked me to make .... she's giving them as gifts ..... after pottery, i rushed home, walked the dog, and dashed off to school to run drew's class halloween party ... they decorated pillow cases for trick or treat bags, ate cupcakes, chips and candy .... and had a happy time ..... all three of my kid saw me and said....orange hair? ..... somehow none of them were as surprised as i thought they might be ... ha ....
actually, a couple days ago, we were watching the suite life of zack and cody .... and the mom was being a horror .... i asked my kids if i ever embarrass them .... simultaneously, i got a yes, a no , and a wellllllll .... drew, definite yes ... sophie, not at all ... julia said, you could embarass me but my friends are all used to you so it's ok and really, instead of embarrassing me, you should just feel embarrassed for yourself ... HA ..... i need to try harder to embarrass them apparently ......

.... and then after school and some down time, the kids dressed up .... so happy and gleeful and ready .. they were cute and fun .... and so self sufficient now .... everything is a little easier with them all growing up so nicely ......

.... and here's my brag photo ... i don't usually do this on my blog ... but GOSH!! isn't she just the sweetest little witchy poo EVER??
... and one last photo ... of drew and julia, ghost and vampire, opening our gate to prepare for the onslaught of ghouls and goblins and spidermen (we got five spidermen) ..... hope you all had happy halloweens ..... now it's the down hill, fast dash to thanksgiving and christmas!!! eat candy, you're going to need the sustenance!!!

ps..... what's your favorite candy?
i'm a twizzler girl .... but on halloween, i always LOVE those itty bitty snickers .... how bout you?

... and now i have an idea ... better thought out than most of my ideas .....

and my big idea now .... is to have another blog contest .....
mostly, just because i liked the last one ....
but partly because i PASSED my 200th posting without even NOTICING ... how can that be?

so ....
the history:
a few weeks ago i did the norcross art show and sold fewer than 20 prints ....in 2 days ..... i was happy to sell any ..... so the fifteen or 18 or so felt great ..... i really don't know how many i sold .... more than 10, fewer than 20 .....
then, last weekend ...... at a one day art market, i sold 28 prints .....
so .... why did i sell more at a shorter event?
i don't know ... and i have some hypotheses, but, too dull probably for anyone but MOI .....
so.....
this weekend, the show is SHORTER still ..... just six hours long i think ..... and it is a market .... and i think MOST vendors there won't be artist booths .... does that give me a better shot or a worse shot of selling as many as last time ... as many as the time before? ... fewer than that? or could i even break 30? well, at this point who knows ...... that's the contest .... making your educated guess ....
the only variable i haven't discussed is that this show is at MY church .... across the street from MY house ... at MY kids' school .... so... chances are good that i'll know a few people there!! mabye even everyone ...ha! ......does that hurt my selling or help? again.... we can't know ....yet .... and that's why we are having this little blog contest .....

so ....

guess ....
comment on this post .... with a number.... and your contact info if your name isn't a link (or if i don't know you already!)
the person with the closest guess will win any one of my original art prints ....personalized .....
and heidi, you won last time, but you can STILL guess again .... you could personalize the print and give it as a gift if you are lucky enough to win again .....

sign up with your guess before saturday at 3 ..... good luck .... cross your fingers ... be optimistic ..... happy trails .....

ps... ok .... here's the ps:

after posting i went to heidi's blog and found she was having a contest and that there is this whole blogarama thing going on... all sponsored by rocks in my dryer .... so sure, sign me up ...... i'm part of the blog contest FEST now ... groovy-toovy, huh?

HOLD THE PRESSES ... STOP .... LOOK .... READ ... CELEBRATE .....

wow....
i made a list of ninety seven things to do today ....
and i've now, hours later, done, exactly ONE .....
but it's a good one ....
oh wait...i've done two .... i posted my blog winner, heidi .... so my first blog post today was my first thing ticked off my list ....
but number two is SOOOO great .....
i made an etsy site ....
really....
i did it .....
i'm official....
i have an etsy site to sell my prints on ....
i know you wanna look ....
go see .....
looking is free ....
my art for sale here
now, that's done .... i need someone to buy something to see if it all REALLY works ...ya know?
like ... here's a glitch .... i'm not sure i know my paypal password.... it's been a couple months since i've used it .....
but ... hooray ... it's a start .....

happy monday, bloggy friends

yippee ... these are the five collages that i have made into prints ..... and am selling..... and have had a contest for!!
how many did i sell at the marist art festival?

jeannie guessed 77
heidi guessed 35
roberta guessed 55
cindy guessed 37
linda guessed 110
sallie guessed 154

my family guessed:
andy: 55
julia: 75 (she changed hers from lower because she didn't want to be the lowest guess in the family!)
sophie guessed 110
drew guessed 155

and i did a bad job of getting y'all to guess right .... if i'd been playing, i would have been closest without going over .... though that's not the rule..... heidi went over, but was closest ......

background: at the LAST fest i did.... norcross, two days, i sold fewer than 20 prints.... but still, i sold some!! what a relief!! ..... i thought with this one, marist, just a one day show, but with a buying crowd, that i'd sell the same amount .... twice the clip of selling with a shorter time, but still..... i thought about 20 .... and i sold 28 ..... so, better than i thought ... but WAY less than i led y'all to guess by saying guess between 10 and 200 ..... ha .... i never thought y'all would all guess so high .... it makes me VERY happy though to know that my best blog readers are all happy optimists ....

so..... heidi, you win, honey!!! hip hooray ..... tell me which one and what personalization you want .....

now, off to clean the DISASTER that i call my art studio!!!
happy monday!

ps .... stay tuned ....i'm going to do another contest for the show i have THIS weekend coming up ..... i'll announce it tomorrow or wednesday ...... yippee zippy hooray .....

...and sunday is a day of rest .....

i'm here, i'm here!!! i missed a day of bloggage because i went to be SOOOO early last night ... just tiredtiredtired from the show .... the getting ready, the packing the car, the unloading, the setting up, the getting up early, the "being on" all day, the packing up ..... whew!! lots of work ... but, i had a very successful show .... so, all worth it ... i always say i want to be a gallery girl, not an art fest girl, but you can't beat the immediate gratification of a show.... people walking into the booth and liking it and saying so ..... and even better, people buying stuff ...yippee ..... i have not counted my money, counted my receipts, or found the paper with my tally of prints sold .... but i'll get right on that .... someone has won the blog contest ... tomorrow we'll find out whoooooooooo ......
hope you had a happy weekend .....

ready, steady, GO!

ok.... i'm pressed for time, so i'll be organized blogger, rather than rambling blogger:

1. my car is packed for my art fest ..... 40something canvases, six clocks, five types of prints .... what will i sell? i set up today at three o'clock .....

2. i've got a GRAND blog contest..... you have to guess how many prints i'm going to sell this weekend ... and win a print ... read my previous blog if you need more info..... if i get loads of entrants i'll give away more than one ..... if i just get the two that i already have, i'll do two prizes!! ha ..... play!! make a guess .....

3. and i have no picture for you, so i'll give you a happy link to click ...... practice your pumpkin carving skills here .....

tra la la .... hope you have a gorgeous, fun weekend ..... like i plan to have .....

my favorite pumpkin is an apple .... and i'm having a blog contest .... yippee, zippy, hooray

i love pumpkins ... but i particularly love them UNCARVED .... i like them whole ..... i like not being the one to deal with the pumpkin guts ...... julia is reading over my shoulder and just said " i think pumpkin guts are fun" ..... we DO carve pumpkins EVERY year at allison's pumpkin party ....but, my druthers would be THESE fabo face bits ..... that are just like mr. potato head bits ... but made for a pumpkin...i.e....very pointy so you can get them in ..... i bought one set and all these pieces came in the set .... i thought it would be three pumpkins worth ... but i was wrong ..... that's why we have an apple too .... tra la la and trick or treat ......


this is one clock i finished today .... rah ..... luckily you can't tell that i ran out of batteries, so this one isn't quite working yet .... it is on my list of things to do thought... buy batteries ..... tomorrow ...... my list of things to do to get ready for marist is HUGE ... but hopefully all doable tomorrow .... i got LOADS done today ... including picking up my BANNER .... i am SO pleased with it!!!



and this is my fourth clock of the week ..... now i've done two dominos, a scrabble, and a marble clock.... and i have a spades clock drying ..... just need to put the findings on after it dries ...well, it's surely dry by now ..... i just have to take the time to do it ...... hopefully i'll sell one or two this weekend ... otherwise, all my kids are getting groovy clocks for christmas .....

i also picked up my prints ..... i need to sign them, number them, stuff them into cellophane with a cardboard dooda .... and put in my bio ..... note to self ... print out some bios .....
oh, oh, oh ......
let's have a contest .... i JUST thought of it this instant ...... i was rhetorically going to ask how many prints you think i'm going to sell .... but i'll SEND you a print, personalized, signed, numbered .....if you are the closest guess ..... yippee .....
that made me happy to think of ......
ok .... i have five print choices .... originally fifty of each, though i do have less than that of some since i've sold quite a few ..... so your guess should be less than 230 ...... i need to sell ten to cover the cost of my booth ..... so .....
pick anywhere between 10 and 230 ..... you could guess less than 10, but then you are either a pessimist or a cynic and i don't want to send you a print!!! my contest, my rules!!
ok .... contest closes saturday at 4....that's when the show ends .....make sure i have your email to contact you in case you win .....
on your mark, get set, guess........

tick tock, another clock

i had a scrabble notion for a clock ... dream , think, read, believe , play, run .... twelve happy words .. but then it just looked too choppy on the canvas ...if i do that, it needs to be a bigger canvas clock ...so, let's do small cool words ... hip, groovy, cool, fun, happening....oh wait, happening isn't a small cool word ...it's a HUGE cool world ... running into the same problem again ..... so .... numbers....one, two, three, four ...... and that looked better ..... but, i didn't glue it ..... wasn't ready!! probably tomorrow ... i think it's right ......

so....this is the clock i finished today .... my dollar store had NO dominos ... and i was at walmart anyway ...these are big, colorful, and inexpensive ...... and they worked best on this background ...... i'm happy with this one .... it seems like a colorful, joyful clock to me..... i imagine, if i don't sell this one, it will end up being my kitchen clock ...... i've been looking for a clock update!! ......

oh.... i almost forgot ..... i went to pottery today ..... i made two platters ......on one i scraffito'd , on the other i painted ... for both i used my standard doodle as inspiration ..... do you know my standard doodle? it is on these shoes ... which i just happened to wear all day today ..... rainy days are better if you wear happy shoes ......

tomorrow ...... i hope to show you at least one more clock ...probably two .... and our pumpkins ..... ok? come back......you'll be glad you did!!

it's tuesday .... so i did art

My creation
Originally uploaded by eeeee.

these five canvases were just color glazes over groovy papers yesterday ..... today, with my freshly cut hair, i did some stencil stuff ..... and then i made one into a clock ...

tick tock ..... my hope is that they will all be clocks by friday ..... time will tell .... har har ... time will tell .....
i crack me up ......

....oh...she never blogs in the morning, what's she doing on the computer at all? .... isn't she supposed to be busy with all those other things?

you should watch this video ..... ..... i think it is important .... significant ... telling ..... for some, even life changing ..... i'm a tigger .... doing a pretty good job of living a happy life ... but it makes you think!

..... today, tuesday, is usually an all day art day ... but instead, i'm getting my hair cut ..... i'm such a dork, i really don't care about my hair at all ... until i do, then i'm bummed out that i haven't been doing a better job of keeping up with cute hair .... so, i go to a sylist " my hair really looks best on the shorter side" .... and when it is longer i just pony tail it and put in NO effort ... so i cut it short so i have to put in effort ... and then i let it grow out for a year ..... i'm old enough that i should have a notion of what my hair should be doing ... but no ..... the good thing is that i haven't had bangs in YEARS .... and i use to cut them and grow them out and cut them and grow them out and cut them and grow them out ...... now i just ignore my hair ... until i don't .....

long story short: hair cut day instead of studio day .....

i'll still have some art time this afternoon ...... so come back .....


you should watch this video ..... didja watch that video? strong, lovely man, huh?

happy, rainy monday

five backgrounds
Originally uploaded by eeeee.

..... this is my studio work for today ... i didn't have too much time because i was spending the most of the day with allison ..... but, from 8 til about 9.45 or so this morning i took these five canvases, 12 by 12s, and papered them and glazed them .... tomorrow i'll put lettering on them with my stencils or stamps ... and then .... i HOPE, hope, hope to make them all into clocks ..... somehow, in my head, i'm thinking i should have more than ONE clock to sell at marist ..... and worst case scenario, i make five clocks, sell none, and have them to give as chrismtas gifts .... all three of my kids want this clock for christmas ... so, if i sell none, not that big a deal ..... there'll be plenty of clocks to go around .......
so .... i spent most of my day with allison ..... we worked on photoshop ...she is the photoshop QUEEN and i am humbly indebted to her FOREVER ..... look at this banner we figured out and photoshopped ..... now...... i just have to get it printed on a six foot banner!! cross your fingers on that one!!
.... one more time ... may i say ... allison is a photo shop QUEEN .... my learning curve is daunting, at best, so steep it will take me 97 years to learn, at worst ..... so.... many thanks to allison for getting me through my photoshop first .....
tomorrow should be a good art day .... stay tuned ....

....now to show you halloween!

.... my last blog pic was of the christmas tree for prints .... i've gotten some great feedback on it from here and from flickr .... hooray .... i'm sure that going with doodads was the right thing ..... i'll save the buttons for something else!! ...... so saturday, my artistic endeavor was a bunch of prep work ..... sorting papers and doing some canvas prep so that i can just go to town and get a BUNCH done all at once ...... i've made one clock .... and i'm planning on making a couple more, in the hopes that they might be something that'll sell at the show next saturday ... so, i have no clocks to show you, no art to show you , but i do have my mantel to show you .... i redecorated my mantel nearly every time i have a new piece of art .... after the last show, these were the pieces that i decided i like best, so they are on my mantel ....
.... my usual mantel monkeys are now in halloween tins that were gifts to my kids last year ...... i think they look awfully cute there .... and yes, i do realize that most grownups don't decorate with stuffed animals ..... and i'm ok with that .....

i taught my spiritual journaling class this morning ..... it is going GREAT ... we did a phrase from the prayer book " handiwork of the heavens" ..... the prayer goes great for any artsy souls:
O God,
may your “handiwork
in the heavens
and in the earth”
serve as a constant
reminder of your call
to us in our daily work.
May we come to better understand how
the works of our hands
serve and glorify
your holy name.
Amen
......i also (because i was supposed to, not because i really wanted to) gave out evaluation forms .... not the teacher evaluating the students ... but them evaluating me ..... eek! .... but they all came back with so many kind words that i'm glad i HAD TO hand them out! ...... so my ten week course is going to turn into the whole school year ...... so now, i could start wearing my paint clothes to church even .... ha .....
i have a cousin and his family coming to spend the day here .... so i don't think i'll be getting any studio time in today ...but tomorrow....of course, tomorrow .....
happy sunday .....

yesterday, christmas .... today, halloween ..... tomorrow? who knows.....

blogger won't post pictures!!! but i'm gonna keep trying .... ack!

merry, merry, merry, merry, merry, merry ......

merry, merry
Originally uploaded by eeeee.

yippee, zippy, hooray .... i have resolved my christmas tree problems ....no cute buttons for me!! .... i did what my oldest child suggested and went with the groovy, funky doodads instead ..... i guess it is the same as choosing between a designer matchy-match christmas tree and an eclectic throw-it-all-on-there christmas tree ..... guess what kind of tree i have???? yup .... you name it, it's on there!!!

so.... click on over to the flickr view of this tree .... i have loads of notes on it for you to read ..... about what all those little doodads actually are and such ......

this is going to be a print ..... a week from today i'm doing a show, and have five images that i'm going to sell as personalized, limited edition prints ..... hopefully they'll be big sellers!!

and what do i need to do this weekend???? get out my halloween decorations ... apparently i am seasonally discombobulated .......

100

i had a GREAT day .....
but i haven't a single picture to show for it....oh my .....
so instead .... i'll show you the website i've been going on for the last couple weeks ... 100 great tips to improve your life .... but really ....it is 100 links to 100 articles ...... about 100 interesting things ..... it's one of those interesting websites that can fill an evening with interesting reading .... enjoy ..... i promise pics tomorrow!!

change of plans....

julia and drew were sitting next to me ..... we were on the computer ..... they looked at my flickr site .... cause that's what pops up first ....... and julia said .... oh, i saw that in the basement ....
me: whaddaya think?
she: it's ok ...
me: ok???
she: it's nice....
me: nice? .......
she :.... yeah, nice ....
me: you don't like it do you?
she: well, it's ok.....
me: you said that already .....tell me why you don't think it's cool ....or groovy ..... or way great ...... why's it just nice?
she: wellllllll, it doesn't seem like YOU ....
me: how so?
she : buttons? you aren't really a button artist ... buttons aren't cool ..... you usually have cool ......
me: AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH...... (my version of the lightbulb moment) ....... you don't think my christmas tree should have ordinary, cute buttons ... you think it should have cooler, funkier?
she: exactly..... why did you use buttons and not bottle caps?
me: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaa ....... and bingo chips?
she: yes, the weird stuff is much cooler ......

so.... there ya go .... i didn't glue down the buttons cause they didn't seem just quite right ...... and it took a ten year old to figure it out for me!!!

ho ho ho .....

fa la la la la la la la la

fa la la la la la la la la
Originally uploaded by eeeee.

this is a work in progress .... a blue map background ..... added white print to the sky ..... snowy ground ..... dictionary tree .... button decorations ..... and a red border ......

BUT .... none of it is glued down ..... perhaps since i am supposed to be getting out my halloween decorations, it feels funny to be working on christmas!!! but i am ...... for an upcoming show i'm doing, i want to have a christmasy print to personalize ..... will this do the trick ..... i'm now starting to think it will ..... i was wondering how the buttons would look in a print ... but i think they look fun in this pic ...... so, i'll probably glue it all together tomorrow ...... i'll sleep on it, i suppose ......

so?
do you like it?
are you ready for halloween? have a pumpkin at least?
have you even thought about christmas? or your winter holiday, whatever it might be?
i've actually done a bit of christmas shopping ...... but i'm not really filling my head with much besides getting ready for these two shows i have coming up!!
tra la la la la la la la la .....

oh ...... that was my ending ...tra la la ..... but it made me think of a story ....when my twins were wee things, i'd sing chirstmas carols and they'd join in .... but they knew the TUNES but not the words ..... so they would tra la la la la ..... to everything ..... try it......do jingle bells .... tra la la ....tra la la .... tra la la la la .......they'd do that ......
or silent night ...
traaaaaaaaaaa la la la
traaaaaaaaaaa la la la
traaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa la la
traaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa la la ......
get it ? they cracked me up ..... and i wish i could hear you trying it right now ...... i'd be cracking up all over again ......

go carve a pumpkin or something! it is way too early to be telling christams stories .......

monopoly house .... a step up from the little green ones!

mondays are usually a great day for me ..... i try not to schedule anything, i get exercise in, i get house stuff done, i get loads of time being artsy ...... and today was just that ..... very full but very easy ...... my art time was mostly spent doing this piece .... i already had the green and blue background on the monopoly board, but nothing else ..... the canvas is 24 inches square ..... lined with maps and fab red van gogh acrylic .... with dark blue stamping ...... i used e6000 to get the monopoly board on .... and used my stash of already painted papers to do the home sweet home scene ..... i kind of talk to myself when i'm doing art by myself .... and the conversation i had with my self for part of this had to do with how HIGH the ceilings must be in that house to have such a short door and only two stories tall, judging by the windows...... anyway ..... i hope to make this one into prints that can be personalized individually ..... the tricky bit is that i don't know if this one is too busy to translate well into small .... we'll see though .... shan't we?

to do

1. get a receipt book at office depot
2. capture grand pic of last painting to make prints for sale
3. make prints
4. do a christmas painting that can be personalized, photograph, make prints
5. do one more home sweet home painting to be personalized, photograph, make prints
6. make a banner for my booth at this banner making site
7. learn photo shop so i can make the image to put on the banner
8. try harder to learn photo shop
9. no really, try harder than that
10. give up learning photo shop and ask allison to make my banner for me
11. order moo business cards from flickr
12. think about stickers from moo for party favors at art show

i put another round of red paint on my last painting .... i had toned it down too far and wanted it brighter ..... other than that, my only artistic endeavor was reading photoshop for dummies ..... and i'm feeling a bit of a dummy .... i have this GRAND notion of what i want to do ..... but i'm learning in such infintessimally small babysteps that it migh be NEXT october before i know what i need to know ..... i'm actually a pretty good teacher, but maybe not so much when i'm teaching myself .... ha .....

oh.... i also taught my spiritual journaling class this morning ... that's artsy ..... and i played SIX games with sophie ..... she's more motivated than anyone in the family to get to our 500 game mark this year .....

hope your weekend was happy ......

have you ever been above the clouds? and it seems surreal to be looking down on them .... doesn't that seem like an optimist's view of the world ....

..... today was a grandly busy day ..... and yet, i stole many, many minutes in my art room .... the minutes are easier to have when there is a child or children with me in my studio .... like today, julia was working on her golden rule poster for school as well as her lewis and clark cartographer project ...... she is a very self sufficient student so my company in the art room was mostly enough ..... she'd occassionally ask for advice, but mostly we just worked side by side ...well, actually across the table .... she was in her spot .... though i think allison would call the same section of table HER own spot, as well ...... so..... while jj did her own creating .... i finished this piece .... i showed you the background yesterday .... with the notion that this is what it would become ..... it is VERY similar to a piece i have done recently ..... with the notable difference of clouds ...... if sunny days are happy days and cloudy days are gloomy, i think it is nice to have your home far above the clounds so you don't even have to worry about gloomy days coming around much ......

this is a detail close up .... i wanted to have two or three or four trees with the house .... cut them all out ..... but my spot on the heart just wasn't big enough .... so, i detrunked one tree and made it a shrub .....
tomorrow three of my near and dear are in a golf tournament together in the afternoon.... so sophie and i will be alone together ... no doubt i'll let her talk me into having a paint day ..... we'll both get to do something we love ......
til tomorrow then l....

friday is a nice way to end the week ....

my girlfriends came over this morning and we painted and collaged some boxes for our pirate treasure box party at church ..... it's about a month away still, but we're getting there ...... and they are looking pretty cute .....

after my pals left, i worked on some 18 inch square canvases .... this yellow one is farthest along .... i got the papers on, a yellow glaze, some acyrlic color accents and then some letter stamping ..... i'm pretty sure i'm going to do a home or a heart with a home on it ..... that's the theme i've been interested in lately .....



this is another one i worked on ..... it has a map background .... a south carolina map, actually ..... from one road trip or another ..... then i used a nice blue glaze on it .... i have two others that are also at this stage .... not lettered ..... not sure what it's for .... before i put the letters on, i try to know what is to come .... so i know if my letters should be high contrast, low contrast, toning it down, brightening it up ...... believe it or not, this one might be christmasy .... i have two painting that i've done prints of ..... and am thinking i want three or more choices ... two of them to be home sweet home-ish so that i can personalize them with a family name .... and i'm thinking one with a christmas motif, that also could be personalized .... that's my "gimmick" for my prints .... that they can be personalized ..... i have groovy handwriting .... in fact about four years ago, i was tired of my handwriting and invented a new one for myself .... my own font, as it were ..... so, that new handwriting, which isn't new anymore .... i'll use that on my prints .....

do you like your handwriting? is it the same one you've always had? do you have different handwritings for different things .... i had a teacher handwriting back when i was a teacher ..... really round looks best on the board and is easiest for kids to read ..... but, i digress!!!



while sophie was at ballet, i ran to binder's art supply ..... i needed 20 by 20 canvases and 24 by 24 canvases ...... because i'm thinking that always putting game boards on 3 feet square is too big .... so, smaller is an option i'm exploring ..... but my usual 18 square isn't big enough .....

so, while at binder's for canvases, i fed my latest obsession ..... fluid acrylics ..... the two greens i had were just not MY green ... don't quite suit my needs .... so i got two more in my quest for the most fabo of greens ..... and, while i was at it , there was a turquoise that i didn't have .... a bit darker .... yippee!!



and this, this is my favorite red paint .... van gogh carmine ..... no other red in any other brand is as lovely as this one .... it comes in a big ole vat ... but this is my third vat this year ..... it's luscious ..... so, even though i usually used liquitex or golden's ..... if you are looking for a perfect red .... van gogh carmine ......

tomorrow i'm substitute coaching sophie's soccer game .... and we still have house guests .... but i hope to get in a bit of painting ..... will it be red? or the perfect green? we'll see.......

here's my thursday post .... the last post was thursday ... but was just a tiny moment of excitement, not my actual blog-o-the-day....

so, being true to the artist that is trying to get out ... the artist that only wants to do art .... the artist who wishes so many other things didn't get in the way of art time .... true to that artist, i had a few stolen moments in my studio today ..... i worked on getting a couple white canvases going ..... piled on some papers for the deepest background texture ...... and then i worked on this monopoly board ...... i had started it on monday ... and then on tuesday i had foresaken it for a scrabble board...... because my background had moved away from it .... so..... i worked on it today ..... and considered what canvas to put it on ( i think i need to go shopping for the right size) .....and worked on pulling papers to use for the foreground .... hopefully, this will turn out lovely enough that i will make a print of it..... at the norcross art festival last weekend, i sold prints of two of my house collages .... and i personalized them for the buyers .... with home sweet home or bless this home and the family name ......they sold well ..... so for my next show, i have in my head that i'm going to have more than two choices .... allison and i even talked about me doing a christmas collage that could be a print and personalized .... i think it's a great idea but don't actually have a notion of what i would do or how it would look .... so we'll have to wait and see on that one ....well, wait and see for about a second ...since the marist show is three weekends from now ..... not much stewing on that one ... gotta do it if i'm gonna do it ......

so this photo is the same piece, just propped on my table ..... over on my flickr site i've added all kinds of tag boxes with notes so you can see what's what .......
tomorrow i have five girlfriends coming over for some basement art time ..... we'll be working on some stuff for a party and auction at church ... so not my art ... but at least it is art ...... and they are bringing fun food .... and we'll have a grand time ... and then ...when they leave .... i'll do MY art .... tra la la .....

WOW

i had my 150th blog post a few posts ago and didn't even realize it!! ...... it makes me feel happy ..... hooray .....

a wednesday with no art ... what's an art blogger to do ....

today my kids had a half day .... and my morning was filled with tennis practice .... and the extra minutes were cleaning house for company to come ..... then the company ... then i was a sub coach for so's soccer team ..... then my day was over and i did no art .... what happened ..... if you don't have the i-will-do-art-every-day mentality, then it is SUPER easy to let art fall by the wayside .... i could have squeezed it in ... but it wan't a priority ... all the other stuff was .... so, though tomorrow plans to be just like today, i promise to you (but mostly to myself) that i will do art tomorrow ... i just have to, you know?

so, what's an art free art blogger to blog about? here's my thought:

i really want to be an art blog ..... and there are a zillion and two art blogs out there in cyberspace ..... i read LOADS of them .... but my very favorite art blogs are the ones that are dependable .... the ones that post every day ... or nearly so ...... so that when i go visit, there is something fresh to read ..... i physically MOVE blogs up and down on my list in my bookmarks ..... the more you blog the higher you are on my list ..... some of the blogs i LOVE have less consistent times, so i go and check them less often .... and down they drop .... so here are the blogs currently at the tip top of my list of faves!!!

tops on my list is heidi, one of my sister in law's sisters.... i met her once, in california, at my brother's wedding ... we were actually wearing matching dresses! ha ... royal blue, lace, and i loved it! i've worn LOADS of brides maids dresses but that one was probably my favorite ..... but i digress .... heidi's blog is artsy crafty fun .... she is not solely an artist of a single medium ... she makes signs to sell on ebay ... but then she's also an atc girl and a swap girl .... and lately she's honing her soldering skills .... anyway, she blogs about her family and her house and her yard (actually, i have a yard, she has property ....woods and animals and mole trouble ) .... she is also a VERY consistent blogger .... and usually very lengthy .... which i especially like .... and she always makes me smile ....

next on my list is rebecca, cre8tiva .... i think i only found her about a week ago ..... can that be? she's been posting twice a day since i started reading her ... which i LOVE.... i'm not sure how i found her ... clicking blog to blog somehow ...... anyway ..... she is LOVELY .... i don't think i ever seem WISE or SPIRITUAL or SERENE on my blog (probably not in real life either .... particularly serene: never) .... rebecca seems to be all these things ... she's also really opening up .... i feel like she's telling me her secrets of art and life .... it really is lovely!!

next on my list is wyanne, who is rebecca's pal ... i found her from cre8tiva .... they are best pals, i think ..... and i have a best pal artist friend ... who i ADORE being with and painting with ..... so my thought is, if i love reading rebecca, i'll love her pal too ... so, i've been reading and enjoying her as well ..... wyanne has a VERY nice website .... i want a website!!! i actually started writing one ... my mac is supposed to make it easy ... but ...oh well, it was taking too much time away from painting ..... i need to find someone to make mine for me ..... one more thing on my list of things to do !!

this one isn't a blog .... it is a "daily ditty" ...... wickedly chic is SO cute ... every day there are new links and photos to groovy artsy things that are out there in cyber space .....

another fave is helene ... madame helene is FRENCH ...... le blog des madame helene est en français... j'essaye de le lire.... je le lis à haute voix pour pratiquer ma prononciation et ma voix est belle en francais.... cependant que je suis certain que j'obtienne seulement 60% de ce qu'elle dit.... mais 60 semble très bon pour maintenant..... ainsi.... je pratique mon français... et j'adore l'art d'helene ...... VOILA ... french rocks!!! i minored in french in college ... i'm a titch rusty, but working on it .....

and finally, violette ... she is from canada and is carefree and wonderful .... her art is whimsical and fun .... she supports herself through her artistic endeavor ... that's way more than i can say ...... anyway ....her blogs are very interesting and thought provoking .... she talks about following your muse and frequently bares her soul .... she is colorful and charming and quirky .... i hope someone, sometime, says that i am colorful, charming and quirky!!

so that's it .... go follow the links .... will you add them to your bookmarks? what blogs do you read regularly .... i'd love to see them .....

happy heart, double word score

yesterday i ended my blog with a teaser: i'll show you a monopoly piece next ..... and now .... that teaser .... is wrong ..... i worked and worked simultaneously on a juicy bright background... three feet square .... that went PERFECTLY with the red of the monopoly of indiana, illinois and kentucky ...... but then, i veered off ... the red was too pink ... and i added a brown glaze and some deeper red ....and then some marvin gardens yellow and some new york orange (i'm certain you all are monopoly players and know what i'm talking about) .... but then it was SO vivid i decided to do brown letters to tone it down .... and oops .... the monopoly board with its blue sky and green grass no longer went with my background .... at all ..... really, at all .... but look ... the clue board AND the scrabble board BOTH look super with it .... some of this chatter was in my head ... some of it was with allison ...my art partner for the day ...... so .... this is what i came up with:

the scrabble board seemed to work for me the best ... the clue board was actually too big and had some green on it that i didn't want to deal with.... and i had a home sweet home thing in my head ... which also had to be rethought .... no blue sky, green grass with that background ..... so ... i was thinking of an apple .... to go with the pear i'd done earlier on a scrabble board ... but.... in a round about way, i ended up with this one lone tree branch with a happy heart dangling from it ......

and here is a detail .... a close up ... so you can read the words that i glued on ..... i spent a good 20 minutes looking through scrabble tiles ...hundreds of them ..... looking for a j .... for joy ... no such luck ...... but happy heart works too ......



we have house guests for the next five days ...not sure how much that will hamper my art endeavors ... perhaps not entirely .... time will tell ....

monday was donut day

my kids had no school today .... they wanted donuts for breakfast ... but before THEY could fit in the car, we had to unload all my art fair stuff .... canvases and prints and a tool box and seven HUMONGATOID grids and the legs and whatnot .... but, we got the car unloaded, got ourselves to the donut store .... one creme filled one jelly filled for me ... mostly chocolate frosted glaze donuts with sprinkles for the kids ..... that's what we rounded out our dozen with .... a dozen??? well, we didn't eat them all .... there are enough for them to eat some for breakfast tomorrow ..... maybe a titch of a microwave will freshen them up ..... here's an oddball thing about me .... i eat a bagel nearly every single solitary day ..... and i had donuts for breakfast .... so, bagel for lunch ..... harder to have a good day without a bagel .......
after spending what felt like the whole weekend away from the kids, we played games today ....rat a tat cat and sequence were the top choices .... three or four times each .... my game journal is filling up fast!! i'm certain to make the five hundred mark well before the end of the year ......
and art .... i did lots of art room tidying .... and one little bit of painting .... and i'll show you a new monopoly piece tomorrow night....i hope!

sunday is done .... i'm done!

i had a much better day today at the art fest ..... for one, it was shorter!! i might not be cut out for two day shows, they are exhausting! well....one day shows are exhausting too ..... being ON that long to talk to strangers while you worry about whether they like your art is HARD .... in general, i'd say i have very few insecurities .... but being an artist, showing your wares can be a titch anxiety enducing ...... i actually met one woman today who was extraordinary .... ok, she might have been extraordinary cause she thought i was groovy, cool .... but she and her daughter studied my art for a long time.... i lost track of her .... and then she came back to me and said she'd read my artist bio and had been really touched by it ...... we ended up standing in front of my booth and talking about art and becoming who you are meant to be (side note: am i trying to become who i am meant to be or just who i wish i could be?) we talked so long that i even know her job, where she works, her husbands job, that she has to speak in public on wednesday, that she's nervous about it .... so, i, being who i am, told her exactly what she should be talking about!!! i don't know if i was being groovy, cool....or just know-it-all bossy!!! ha ...... anyway ..... this woman, whose name i don't know, who was so kind and appreciative .... we stood out there chatting so long that we even talked about god and prayer and ....well....i think we talked about everything but politics .... oh, that girl could really be my friend ..... isn't it weird to meet someone briefly and have it really stick with you? ......now, here's weird too..... is she going to read this and think i'm weirdo, stalker, artist girl? ha! .... i know she has my blog address in her pocket!! hello there, sweet person, i truly enjoyed meeting you!

at this moment, i am melted into my couch.... tomorrow when i have found my get up and go, i'll find my camera and my picture sucking device .... and spit the photos of the booth out here into blog land ......

the big question?
will i do art tomorrow? any guesses? .... taking into account that my kids don't have school!!!!
i do know that i promised sophie donuts for breakfast .....

was that a goofy, disjointed blog entry? i believe it was .... oh well.... thanks for reading....particularly if you are the girl with no name ......

oh wait.... i did do something artsy today ..... i taught my journaling class this morning at sunday school ..... tra la la .... it made me happy to remember that!!!

whew!

gosh, i'm tired after a day of booth activity at the norcross art festival ........
allison and i had a happy day, even if i didn't sell as much as i would have liked .......... i can't complain really, the personalized prints that i am doing seem to be popular ......
of course, i forgot to take my camera in the flurry of activity to be ready to go .... luckily, that was the only thing i didn't have ..... so, tomorrow, i'm teaching my journaling class in the morning and then off for an afternoon of art show ..... hopefully for a bigger day even!!!
the nicest parts of my day were the many phone calls from my youngest, calling to check on me ..... and getting home at 7 to dinner on the table .....anyone considering a husband should put ability to cook HIGH on their list of requirements.... i felt well taken care of .....

here's my thought for the day ...or questions... i had 25 people come by my blog in the past 24 hours ..... that seems like a lot.... i know of about 15 people who regularly read me .... who are the others? all y'all lurkers drop me a line ...... i'd love to hear from you .....
answer me this, gentle readers ......all of you!!

what do you like reading about?
do you want more pictures? fewer?
do you follow my links?
is there anything i have talked about that you want to hear more about .....
i'm nearing my 150 post mark ..... i need some sort of assesment or critique ..... let's hear it!

first day to not make something new ..... but it was art and art and art anyway......

...here's a flickr set of the art that i'm taking to the norcross art fest ....the canvases are:
one clock,
one fish,
three pig paintings,
four monas,
12 recycled flower assemblages,
monopoly flowers,
three xxl pears,
6 small heart canvases,
5 long skinny canvases,
a heart box,
and two houses ....
....does that add up to 41 .... i have 41 in my flickr set, 40 in my car and 39 on my inventory ..... i'm feeling kind of dopey!!! those numbers should all be the same ....... i'm also taking prints of two house collages that can be personalized with home sweet home or what not ....... i spent my day gathering it all up, black painting the edges where needed, hardware when needed, signing, writing and stamping on the back ......not to mention making an inventory sheet, pricing, and ten million other bitty things that all together exhausted me!!! .... so, for my first post-challenge day, i didn't create new art ... but it sure was all about art ...... my car is packed....i'm ready to go ...... wish me luck ...... my first two day art fair..... what have i gotten myself into???

24, 25, and suddenly i have a huge weekend plan ......

.... this green house is my 24th entry into art everyday .... it is HUGE ..... three feet square ..... i've been working on the house bit for ages and ages ... months even ..... i've done a similar piece .... about a year ago ..... called joy house that you can see on flickr here ....... that one is much smaller, 18 inches square .... and was bought by someone who works in the local office of habitat for humanity ... that's kinda cool ..... on this new one, green house, i love that little red girl in the top right ..... and i adore how the background canvas came out ......

this is a 16 by 20ish canvas, i think ...... i did it to make prints ..... that can then be personal-ized for a specific family .... similar to the notion that i showed you a couple days ago ..... the background has so much depth .... mostly cause i did it on top of something else that i was unhappy with .....

.... and today, at 2, my pal allison called me in freak out mode ... she was meant to be doing the norcross art fair this weekend ..... and was dropping out instead ..... but we worked it out .... because NOW i'm doing it WITH her ..... tonight i shall make my inventory sheet of what i'm taking .... and hopefully set my prices ..... and tomorrow i'll figure out the nine thousand other things i have to do..... and then prioritize and only do the four or five that are manageable!!! ha ..... it will be interesting to see if i can have any sales success doing a show SO last minute ...... the tricky thing is that i've been building up my inventory for two sales on consecutive weekends near halloween ..... if i sell much this weekend, i'll have to continue on at my insane creating pace!!! ...... but, until that decision is made, i hereby announce the end of my finish a piece every day craziness .... tomorrow i need to get prints made, get samples matted and famed, get fresh sharpies, put my hands on all the hardware that setting up a booth entails, find my business card extras, and make any signage that i want for the weekend show .... yoinks!!!! ....and, my kids don't have school tomorrow! oh my ...... wish me luck .... and if you happen to be in norcross, come see me!!

24 .... but not really ....let's talk monopoly instead.....

this is an assemblage that i did quite a while ago .... you can read about these monopoly flowers on flickr ..... when i did it, it felt important .... it was BIG back when big was new to me ...big is usual now .... i used a game board for the first time .... which seemed so groovy to me ... now it seems usual even ....... i used bottle caps ... just red ones ....out of a huge lot i'd gotten off ebay ..... i've had to get other lots of them since then ..... and i loved it .... i thought it had nice colors and balance and a definite joy to it ...... i had it at last year's marist art show and a zillion people stopped and looked and talked about it .... and said nice things to me ... one woman came back about four times trying to decide if she should buy it .... she didn't .... then it hung in lola's for a while ..... but all along my sister in law, roberta, had always said it was one of her favorites ..... i even offered her two different monopoly pieces,here's one and here's the other ...., which might even be better, or are at least a bit farther along in my artistic evolution ...... but she loved this one best ..... so .... i got it from lola's and mailed it to her ...well, actually.....i got it from lola's and then went on the quest to find a box that was 3 feet by 3 feet by inches ...... and then i diddled and dawdled and was all pokey little puppy .... but finally, monday, with the help of my pal dana, we packed it and shipped it ups ..... and today ....yippee, zippy, hooray ..... roberta and my brother david got it delivered to their doorstep in all its hugeness ...... and they like it....i think they really like it .... and i like giving away my art and making them happy..... hooray ......

and after all that happy joy .... here's my woe is me excuse ....husband out of town, teacher conference, 2 vocabulary tests to study for, soccer practice.... all after tennis in the morning and a birthday lunch with dana (oh, i gave her two gifts...i think, she loved them both .... this one i made, and this one that allison made, this is the collage, i gave it on soldered pendant.....) .......i digress... basically my day was JAMMED ... but i did get art in .... and i could show you a pic even .... if my camera were charged, if it weren't dark outside (i like my pics in natural light) and if the e6000 were dry .........so, because the e6000 is working SO hard to hold my piece together, you just have to wait until tomorrow!!! to see what i have done...... for my number 24.....and i'll do 25 too..... am i changing up my rules too much? probably..... but since i made them, and i'm the only one playing the game, i'll chage them to suit!!! ha ......

happy artsiness ......

uh oh ..... not sure if i did 23 or not!!

so.... who is up to date on my artness? art every day ...posting a finished piece on flickr AND blogging about it .... every day for 22 in a row now ..... so ..... here's the thing ...i didn't FINISH a fresh collage today .... but i did have a good artsy day ..... and i DID finish something ...... so then the question, i suppose....is .....does it count ..... you decide .....

.... i spent the day at allison's ... i was helping her sort out what she needed to do for an art fair this weekend ... two days .... so we set up her easy up tent and put out tables and got a big ole plan going ......lots of brainstorming and ideas and this and that..... all good ..... and then , she pulled up an image i had sent her and we messed with it on her computer and printed it out on groovy good paper...... and there you have my first limited edition prints ...... i'm figuring them out for when i am doing events on two consecutive weekends at the end of this month ..... instead of just having big ole' canvases that cost more than some people can spend, prints seem like an affordable alternative, and actually , a great gift ....oh, wait, in fact, such a good gift that i'm giving the first one (numbered 1/50) to a pal having a birthday tomorrow ......
i persomalized it.....it says home sweet home and her family name ....... so..... in an art fair situation, someone can buy it and i'll put a name on there .... is that good? i hope it works? ....my plan is to get two or three more home collages that are suitable for prints and personalization ...... that way someone shopping my booth would have a choice of prints ..... so .... that was a lot of work today ....not exactly a finished collage though...... so 23? or game's over ?

22 .... why is it possible for the english language to have pear, pair, and pare .... that's just crazy

....this is my 22nd collage in 22 days .... and in the last couple days i have thought i'd stop this challenge ... cause i was maybe doing things just to get them done.... not doing maybe what i wanted to be doing or doing things as involved as i sometimes do .... but, that said, i did this blue pair today and i am SOOOOOO SOOOOO SOOOOO SO happy with it .... hooray ..... it is just luscious in person ....the blue absolutely glows and i want to eat it up ..... i wish god had made blue pears! .... it is three FEET square ... humongously big and groovy..... anyway .... just wanted to quickly get this out into the world via flickr and blog ....now i'm back to my studio, break is over ..... hope you are haivng a happy artsy day too .......