I can't sleep so here I am making a hopefully quick blog post after dusting off the Wacom tablet and doing a little sketching. A sketch that I added to my sketch collection on Flickr.
Both blee and I are still a bit sick so I am going to try and get back to sleep and take it easy today. Getting back into the swing of things slowly.
Done this week:
1) Made this new ACEO/ ATC
2) Finished carving
3) Hung art at cafe
3) Cleaned studio
4) Sketched with Wacom tablet
Things to do:
1) List ACEO/ ATC
2) Print
3) Finish hanging art
4) Tear paper
5) Keep sketching
Showing posts with label atc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label atc. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Valentines Day Contest! Win This ACEO!
Nothing says romance like a contest and possibly a free gift for your sweetie (or yourself)
1. What to do: Comment below giving me a suggestion of what you would like to see more of in my art. A theme, a material, a medium or whatever sticks out most to you. What have I been doing that you would like to see more of? What have I not been doing that you would like to see me try? Is there something you would like me to go back to? Whatever interests you? I'm in an open to experimental phase in my art and am longing for feedback.
2. Prize: This Mixed Media Perfect for Valentine's Day ACEO. Lovely pink, white and gold Japanese washi paper combined with my own block printing, watercolor and drawing.
3. Contact info: If there is no way to contact you through your Profile, please be sure to leave some sort of contact information. I will contact the winner around 11PM EST USA for shipping information.
4. Choosing a winner: On Friday, February 8th I will choose from the suggestions after spending some time hopefully experimenting and pick my top suggestions. From those I will pick one at random using the powers of the stars or something or another.
5. Who can enter: Anybody!
6. Deadline for entries is Friday, February 8th 7pm EST USA, and the item will be ready to ship via First Class Mail or Air Mail on Saturday February 9th.
*I can make no guarantees that the item will arrive before Valentine's Day, but I do promise to ship it on the 9th wherever it needs to go.
7. Keep in touch: here to see my upcoming work influenced by you my readers! I will of course give due credit to all who contribute.
Good Luck!
love,
Marissa
1. What to do: Comment below giving me a suggestion of what you would like to see more of in my art. A theme, a material, a medium or whatever sticks out most to you. What have I been doing that you would like to see more of? What have I not been doing that you would like to see me try? Is there something you would like me to go back to? Whatever interests you? I'm in an open to experimental phase in my art and am longing for feedback.
2. Prize: This Mixed Media Perfect for Valentine's Day ACEO. Lovely pink, white and gold Japanese washi paper combined with my own block printing, watercolor and drawing.
3. Contact info: If there is no way to contact you through your Profile, please be sure to leave some sort of contact information. I will contact the winner around 11PM EST USA for shipping information.
4. Choosing a winner: On Friday, February 8th I will choose from the suggestions after spending some time hopefully experimenting and pick my top suggestions. From those I will pick one at random using the powers of the stars or something or another.
5. Who can enter: Anybody!
6. Deadline for entries is Friday, February 8th 7pm EST USA, and the item will be ready to ship via First Class Mail or Air Mail on Saturday February 9th.
*I can make no guarantees that the item will arrive before Valentine's Day, but I do promise to ship it on the 9th wherever it needs to go.
7. Keep in touch: here to see my upcoming work influenced by you my readers! I will of course give due credit to all who contribute.
Good Luck!
love,
Marissa
Friday, January 25, 2008
I declare
That I am done with the collage challenge . The original challenge the creator Magic Jelly set up was two weeks. Well I of course decided in a manic fury that two weeks was nowhere near big enough so I would go to the end of the month. Heck maybe until my birthday next month!
Nope. Not happening. Don't get me wrong I loved the challenge and am so glad that I participated in it. But It also wore me out emotionally. The rush and the roller coaster of it. I need a break, even if by that I just mean being able to not feel pressured to make a new one each and every day. I'm a bit disappointed in myself, but at least I accomplished a lot in those 14 pieces and progressed as an artist.
I tried a bunch of new things; stitching, gocco, drawing and other more subtle changes to my work. Heck I even used crayon! I think I am in a new phase in my art. It started with the washi additions to my ACEOs and now it has come full circle into complete multi media pieces. I still adore my pure woodblock pieces and am certainly not tossing them aside. But I needed to grow out of that and discover new challenges. And here I am, in the thick of it for better or worse.
Sometimes I think it would be good for me to take a complete break from the computer. No Etsy, no blogging (writing or reading oh my), no flickr. Nothing but having Jon check my sales once a day so I know if I need to ship anything. But I don't think I can do it. What do you think? Am I too much of an addict? Yeah probably.
Nope. Not happening. Don't get me wrong I loved the challenge and am so glad that I participated in it. But It also wore me out emotionally. The rush and the roller coaster of it. I need a break, even if by that I just mean being able to not feel pressured to make a new one each and every day. I'm a bit disappointed in myself, but at least I accomplished a lot in those 14 pieces and progressed as an artist.
I tried a bunch of new things; stitching, gocco, drawing and other more subtle changes to my work. Heck I even used crayon! I think I am in a new phase in my art. It started with the washi additions to my ACEOs and now it has come full circle into complete multi media pieces. I still adore my pure woodblock pieces and am certainly not tossing them aside. But I needed to grow out of that and discover new challenges. And here I am, in the thick of it for better or worse.
Sometimes I think it would be good for me to take a complete break from the computer. No Etsy, no blogging (writing or reading oh my), no flickr. Nothing but having Jon check my sales once a day so I know if I need to ship anything. But I don't think I can do it. What do you think? Am I too much of an addict? Yeah probably.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Art Cards are back!
As well as many other small works. With more on their way.
I've had a lot of fun working on these smaller pieces lately and I think it really shows in the results. I updated my Flickr set this morning so everything should be in there now even if it hasn't made it onto Etsy yet.
It feels great being able to finally use this pine block again. It is one of the last blocks that I carved prior to having the baby and I was only able to print it for a limited time and then I couldn't print from mid July through the end of October. And I was completely out of pieces using this motif.
I needed to take a break from blogging, Etsy and just about everything yesterday after taking blee out on her first T ride. It did not start out well as our line was shut down due to something happening down the street the trolley trains and buses travel down. It didn't look like it was going to clear up anytime soon so we walked to the much farther underground line. Jon was late for work and I was late for my mother's group. The first group meeting since before summer! But it was such a beautiful day out we all enjoyed it and blee came back completely tuckered out as did I. She ended up passing out at five and not waking up until midnight. And she still did fairly well last night until around six in the morning.
And I think I may be coming down with something. I feel a bit like I got hit by a bus
Friday, October 26, 2007
Friday Favorites!
From yesterdays printing session. Here are some of the strongest art cards I have made in awhile. Sure, they might induce an acid flashback in some but I love the colors. Not really what I had in my head but that is half the fun! I never can anticipate exactly what I am going to end up with. Expect these and more working their way into my shop in the next few weeks.
I didn't finish anything large yesterday but I have more small to midsized pieces and still plenty cooking. But I totally exhausted myself both physically and mentally. By the time Jon came home my back and feet were killing me and my brain was pretty fried. At least I had company while I worked other than blee. She's great and all but a friend of mine that does contract work from home brought over lunch and parked himself and his laptop in my glider chair and worked with me. I often feel so isolated from people so I think this was good for me. We had a good time and plan on being "co-workers" again sometime soon. Both of us were able to get a lot done I think. I managed to juggle blee, art and an important phone call successfully but ended up hurting for it in the end.
Some good things are happening. Change is in the wind.
And with that goodnight or good morning because I have been dumb yet again and stayed up much too late. I wish it was the weekend already.
I didn't finish anything large yesterday but I have more small to midsized pieces and still plenty cooking. But I totally exhausted myself both physically and mentally. By the time Jon came home my back and feet were killing me and my brain was pretty fried. At least I had company while I worked other than blee. She's great and all but a friend of mine that does contract work from home brought over lunch and parked himself and his laptop in my glider chair and worked with me. I often feel so isolated from people so I think this was good for me. We had a good time and plan on being "co-workers" again sometime soon. Both of us were able to get a lot done I think. I managed to juggle blee, art and an important phone call successfully but ended up hurting for it in the end.
Some good things are happening. Change is in the wind.
And with that goodnight or good morning because I have been dumb yet again and stayed up much too late. I wish it was the weekend already.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Ugh! What a week!
I have some wonderful fresh ACEOs left and one mid-size, but other than that they are all oldies but goodies left. I haven't been in this position since the beginning of the year when I was sick puking three times a day. I may have some small 4"x4" pieces that I didn't get to scanning that I may go through today if I have the time. But I am pretty much out of stuff from my last printing (way back in mid-July) to list.
This week has been very hard. It started with me feeling overwhelmed with keeping up with the baby and trying so hard to keep the house clean and never having time for myself. I ended up pretty depressed for a couple of days. Snapping me out of that depression was a bad case of Mastitis, the key word in this illness that I had no idea about until I got pregnant is "tits". This illness is some serious business. Wednesday I went to bed with a fever and the chills on top of the pain and I woke up barely able to move with sweat pouring down my back. I can't remember the last time I had a fever, and this one was bad. Jon had to stay home because I was completely incapable of caring for myself much less the baby. I had one duty and that was to feed her. And even there he had to help me as much as he could. I called my doctor right away at 8:30 in the morning but got the bitchy receptionist. She left a message and told me a midwife would get back to me. Two hours of misery after still no call and this seemed odd so I called back. She basically told me that they were busy and I would just have to wait. All day I waited. My fever broke for a bit and that is the only reason why I put up with waiting, that and I was scared that if I tried again this woman would give me grief again. I fell asleep and around 5:30 received a call from a very upset and apologetic nurse. Apparently the incompetent and world hating receptionist had shoved the message in her box in a way that she totally didn't see it until just then as she was leaving. She talked to me about my symptoms and then consulted with a midwife before getting back to me. They agreed to put me on an antibiotic since my fever was returning and called it in so I wouldn't have to come in or wait until morning.
I see my midwife for the final six week appointment either next Friday or the one after that. If that receptionist is working then I am tempted to give her a "fuck you very much" goodbye. All the nurses, doctors and midwives there are wonderful. But the receptionists and people in billing are just terrible. They are either mean or incompetent. Or sometimes a lovely combination of both, like this woman.
Now as much as I want to clean up I need to take it easy and keep my stress down. I can do the basics but today I take care of the baby and myself by resting. Having me ill is not only hard on me but it is hard on Jon.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
The Perfect Morning
Just what I want when I am trying to get plenty of rest is to have road work (complete with jackhammer) just outside my bedroom window. Ah well, at least I did get a pretty good nights sleep last night and am feeling okay today. Feeling good enough to have a baby even! And the weather is quite nice so at least I am not overheated because that is very unfun when pregnant. I've lucked out as far as weather goes this summer pregnancy.
Hope all is well for everybody. Thank you to everybody for being there for me during these long and bumpy months. It certainly has been an adventure.
I didn't have any contractions yesterday just a lot of stabbing pain whenever I stood up and moved. The most disturbing part was when I had Jon google it and he came back telling me it is perfectly normal. I was near tears and this is normal? This kind of pain should only come with the baby actually coming out!
Just like I did yesterday I am going to stay down as much as possible today. I actually listed a piece this morning for the heck of it. It isn't new, but I have quite a few pieces that haven't been listed yet because I have had other things on my mind. And of course the card pictured is also available. I really like this little card. The colors and the way the shapes work together suits me. Provided I don't go into labor today, and I really do hope that I do, I am making a Post Office run tomorrow.
Hope all is well for everybody. Thank you to everybody for being there for me during these long and bumpy months. It certainly has been an adventure.
I didn't have any contractions yesterday just a lot of stabbing pain whenever I stood up and moved. The most disturbing part was when I had Jon google it and he came back telling me it is perfectly normal. I was near tears and this is normal? This kind of pain should only come with the baby actually coming out!
Just like I did yesterday I am going to stay down as much as possible today. I actually listed a piece this morning for the heck of it. It isn't new, but I have quite a few pieces that haven't been listed yet because I have had other things on my mind. And of course the card pictured is also available. I really like this little card. The colors and the way the shapes work together suits me. Provided I don't go into labor today, and I really do hope that I do, I am making a Post Office run tomorrow.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Never a cool kid
Should a blogger show no weakness? I'm a professional and should exude confidence at all times right? Well maybe this post will never see the light of day but right now I am not brimming with self confidence. Not being able to physically or mentally make art certainly isn't helping me feel good about myself as an artist. I wanted to do some printing or carving so badly yesterday but my body and mind just weren't up to it. I am on countdown mode to the baby and my life is pretty much on hold right now.
Don't get me wrong I love and am quite confident in my work most of the time. I've really grown as an artist in the past two years. Even damn proud of many of my pieces and certainly am proud of my rather large body of work. Even small pieces like this art card are things of joy for me. And I am also proud of what I have accomplished as an artist doing it my way in a rather short period of time after a long period where I had no art. It is quite the turn around and that is something that I should be thankful for and celebrate.
But sometimes I see something random surfing around online late at night while battling anxiety induced insomnia or a random thought pops into my mind and I suddenly feel small and insignificant. Yes I have this, this and this but what about the things that I haven't accomplished? And then I start comparing myself to other artists and their successes and I don't always measure up. My work may be strong and I am not about to change it to meet whatever is hip but I am just not one of the uber cool indie artists it seems. My work is beautiful, colorful and filled with complex layering and texture. But I don't know just how much of a cool factor it has. I'm just trying to find and accept my place in all of this and love my work for what it is. I've never been one of the cool kids in any time or any scene in my life so why should this be any different?
I am way more secure about my work than i used to be, but I have my moments when I am not. It will pass I am sure, especially when I am able to work again. I'm sure being exhausted and filled with pregnancy hormones isn't helping.
Don't get me wrong I love and am quite confident in my work most of the time. I've really grown as an artist in the past two years. Even damn proud of many of my pieces and certainly am proud of my rather large body of work. Even small pieces like this art card are things of joy for me. And I am also proud of what I have accomplished as an artist doing it my way in a rather short period of time after a long period where I had no art. It is quite the turn around and that is something that I should be thankful for and celebrate.
But sometimes I see something random surfing around online late at night while battling anxiety induced insomnia or a random thought pops into my mind and I suddenly feel small and insignificant. Yes I have this, this and this but what about the things that I haven't accomplished? And then I start comparing myself to other artists and their successes and I don't always measure up. My work may be strong and I am not about to change it to meet whatever is hip but I am just not one of the uber cool indie artists it seems. My work is beautiful, colorful and filled with complex layering and texture. But I don't know just how much of a cool factor it has. I'm just trying to find and accept my place in all of this and love my work for what it is. I've never been one of the cool kids in any time or any scene in my life so why should this be any different?
I am way more secure about my work than i used to be, but I have my moments when I am not. It will pass I am sure, especially when I am able to work again. I'm sure being exhausted and filled with pregnancy hormones isn't helping.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Scrap Paper Prints Can Be More than Buttons!
They can be made into a beautiful set of two prints or a very special art card.
When I have a printing session I like to print on every scrap of paper I have. Normally I use these small scraps of printed art for my one of a kind magnets, buttons and mirrors. But I just happened to have one piece of my lovely Japanese mulberry paper torn the exact size of an ACEO/ ATC so when I printed on that I knew it couldn't be turned into any sort of product! The beauty of this piece with its fuzzy hand torn edges and delicate paper is also the problem with it. It isn't much of a card in the literal sense is it? But the only rule with art cards is the size. I couldn't bear to ruin it by mounting it to a card so I needed to come up with a better solution.
That is when I remembered that awhile ago I did an ATC swap with the wonderful Jennifer Gordon (aka stilettoheights) and that the card she sent me came in an impressive thick plastic display case. A case that she was able to provide since she owned a comic book store at the time. Well, I hadn't needed the case for my method of display so I took her card out, but I of course kept the case. This case turned out to be the perfect solution for my special art card but I was missing one of the screws! Oh no! Looking at hardware stores was not helping as I could not find any the right size. Being the nice girl that she is she kindly sent me some screws and now I am able to present you all with this well packaged ready to display ACEO! I'm quite happy with it. It currently happens to be the only ginkgo leaf image that I have in art card form. These cases are quite expensive so I don't expect I will be getting anymore. I don't even know where to get them. But they certainly look and feel expensive! This is the kind of trading card case people put their Mickey Mantels in not their... some no name baseball player I know so little about baseball and it is showing now.
Yet another case of scrap prints going horribly (wonderfully) wrong! I love it when things work out!
*a different version of this post was made on the ACEO Etsy Street Team Blog. Apologies to those that have seen it twice. I figure that most of you probably haven't.
When I have a printing session I like to print on every scrap of paper I have. Normally I use these small scraps of printed art for my one of a kind magnets, buttons and mirrors. But I just happened to have one piece of my lovely Japanese mulberry paper torn the exact size of an ACEO/ ATC so when I printed on that I knew it couldn't be turned into any sort of product! The beauty of this piece with its fuzzy hand torn edges and delicate paper is also the problem with it. It isn't much of a card in the literal sense is it? But the only rule with art cards is the size. I couldn't bear to ruin it by mounting it to a card so I needed to come up with a better solution.
That is when I remembered that awhile ago I did an ATC swap with the wonderful Jennifer Gordon (aka stilettoheights) and that the card she sent me came in an impressive thick plastic display case. A case that she was able to provide since she owned a comic book store at the time. Well, I hadn't needed the case for my method of display so I took her card out, but I of course kept the case. This case turned out to be the perfect solution for my special art card but I was missing one of the screws! Oh no! Looking at hardware stores was not helping as I could not find any the right size. Being the nice girl that she is she kindly sent me some screws and now I am able to present you all with this well packaged ready to display ACEO! I'm quite happy with it. It currently happens to be the only ginkgo leaf image that I have in art card form. These cases are quite expensive so I don't expect I will be getting anymore. I don't even know where to get them. But they certainly look and feel expensive! This is the kind of trading card case people put their Mickey Mantels in not their... some no name baseball player I know so little about baseball and it is showing now.
Yet another case of scrap prints going horribly (wonderfully) wrong! I love it when things work out!
*a different version of this post was made on the ACEO Etsy Street Team Blog. Apologies to those that have seen it twice. I figure that most of you probably haven't.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
I Feel Loved and Very Lucky
Thanks for all the wonderful supportive feedback I have been getting lately! I really appreciate it and have been feeling much better and even when I hurt I don't let it get to me so much. I am in such a mood that I am able to push through the pain.
The pack n play has shipped and I am incredibly excited about getting it and setting it up in here. Pretending baby is in here with me. Imaging that being in a creative space right from the start will rub off on her. Jon likes to tease me about it because early on in the pregnancy I was really worried that I wouldn't bond with the baby but here I am all excited about having her in here with me, so excited I want to pretend she is. And I will most likely cry when I do.
Here is one of my favorite pieces from the mad printing session of Sunday. Ginkgos just don't seem to get old do they? I love the earthiness of the colors. It is one of my favorites of the series.
I have two bigger pieces that I still need to scan in and now that I have a program that doesn't crop off edges like the annoying HP driver getting nice scans of them should be a lot easier and more successful. Too bad I had to buy a $40 product just to get my scanner to work properly because HP can't make a decent driver. But thank you to the Etsy seller that pointed it out to me. At least the purchased program has some cool extra features like how I can scan a jpg and a tiff at the same time. I always want both keeping the tiff for backup. This makes sure I don't forget!
I spend a fair amount of time yesterday mucking around in Photoshop making up a collection of some of my favorite art cards thanks to the suggestion of one of my readers. It turned out so well I printed it out but messed up at first and printed the low res jpg I have for online and it looked like butt. That ticked me off wasting the ink and the paper. Then I printed the proper image and it came out so awesome that I listed it on Etsy and even framed one for myself!
Speaking of art cards I got some new art card cases that are rigid plastic instead of the bags I have been using from Ebay yesterday. They are great! Archival just like the bags, look nicer and they make shipping easier since they offer protection that the bags do not. Thank you Studio Lyon for the suggestion and link. I need to leave feedback today because it shipped wicked fast. Also, I made my very first posting to the ACEO Street Team for Etsy. I enjoyed sharing my thoughts on the little cards.
I wanted to take photos of mirrors yesterday but the sun was not obeying. It was a very dreary day here in Boston. Maybe today it will work out better.
The pack n play has shipped and I am incredibly excited about getting it and setting it up in here. Pretending baby is in here with me. Imaging that being in a creative space right from the start will rub off on her. Jon likes to tease me about it because early on in the pregnancy I was really worried that I wouldn't bond with the baby but here I am all excited about having her in here with me, so excited I want to pretend she is. And I will most likely cry when I do.
Here is one of my favorite pieces from the mad printing session of Sunday. Ginkgos just don't seem to get old do they? I love the earthiness of the colors. It is one of my favorites of the series.
I have two bigger pieces that I still need to scan in and now that I have a program that doesn't crop off edges like the annoying HP driver getting nice scans of them should be a lot easier and more successful. Too bad I had to buy a $40 product just to get my scanner to work properly because HP can't make a decent driver. But thank you to the Etsy seller that pointed it out to me. At least the purchased program has some cool extra features like how I can scan a jpg and a tiff at the same time. I always want both keeping the tiff for backup. This makes sure I don't forget!
I spend a fair amount of time yesterday mucking around in Photoshop making up a collection of some of my favorite art cards thanks to the suggestion of one of my readers. It turned out so well I printed it out but messed up at first and printed the low res jpg I have for online and it looked like butt. That ticked me off wasting the ink and the paper. Then I printed the proper image and it came out so awesome that I listed it on Etsy and even framed one for myself!
Speaking of art cards I got some new art card cases that are rigid plastic instead of the bags I have been using from Ebay yesterday. They are great! Archival just like the bags, look nicer and they make shipping easier since they offer protection that the bags do not. Thank you Studio Lyon for the suggestion and link. I need to leave feedback today because it shipped wicked fast. Also, I made my very first posting to the ACEO Street Team for Etsy. I enjoyed sharing my thoughts on the little cards.
I wanted to take photos of mirrors yesterday but the sun was not obeying. It was a very dreary day here in Boston. Maybe today it will work out better.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
The Past Two Days
Good morning everybody. I am currently abstaining from my morning pot of coffee or tea because I have ideas of crawling back into bed after I post this. I am fairly awake right now and have been for about an hour, but I am very tempting. And since Jon is staying home today he is still in bed and that makes me want to crawl back in even more!
So here are the ACEOs that wore me out making this past Sunday. So far I only have three of them listed, but I have too much new work (a good position to be in for sure) and have to pick and choose. I even have a few more older ones that I haven't gotten around to listing yet. I am overflowing! And I have around twenty-five full sized pieces completed!
The total for Sunday's mad eight hour printing session stands at;
25 - full sized pieces
9 - ACEOs
2 - failures
2 - unfinished or hmmmm pieces
3 - oddly sized but cool not sure what to do with them pieces
After all this I was dead physically and mentally. I crawled into the comfy chair I just added to my studio complete with much needed ottoman and didn't move for hours. The only time I moved was when Jon unfortunately left the water running and was out of the house. And let me tell you hobbling across the hall to the bathroom was all kinds of pain! It was nice to sit but the entire time I felt guilty because I still needed to pack up orders. Unlike last July sales have been quite good for me and I have been having a hard time keeping up.
But yesterday I was able to get them packed up and they are all on their way now. I did it in stages. First I gathered up everything and put them in their plastic sleeves or other packaging depending on the item. Then I cut up the cardboard I sandwich the prints between. Taped it all together and since I was sitting down and didn't want to move I covered them all with some of my newfound stamps. An added bonus of the stamps is I find it helps me identify what orders are what. Then I napped for two hours. Woke up and started weighing items and shipping labels. By the time I was done Jon was home and able to take everything to the Post Office for me.
I also changed my shipping policies from shipping within 48 hours (just not possible for me right now) to shipping every Tuesday and Friday. Unless I go into labor on one of those days! I think it is a fair policy that even people that aren't pregnant have.
Today I am feeling the itch to print again. But I am going to do my best to hold off because I am likely to take it too far and hurt myself. Instead I should photograph mirrors and carve. I made a bit of an exciting purchase off the Dick Blick site and need a new block or two for it. Other than some small art card blocks these new blocks may be the last blocks I carve for quite awhile. This makes me sad.
Good Tuesday to everybody. Tonight I share a lovely dinner at my favorite restaurant with Sweetestpea Jen! I just realized that I forgot to remind her to bring back our copy of season one of The Wire to return and knowing how hectic her life is she probably won't remember. And it is too late now. I'm sure she has already left for work. And you should all Netflix it!
So here are the ACEOs that wore me out making this past Sunday. So far I only have three of them listed, but I have too much new work (a good position to be in for sure) and have to pick and choose. I even have a few more older ones that I haven't gotten around to listing yet. I am overflowing! And I have around twenty-five full sized pieces completed!
The total for Sunday's mad eight hour printing session stands at;
25 - full sized pieces
9 - ACEOs
2 - failures
2 - unfinished or hmmmm pieces
3 - oddly sized but cool not sure what to do with them pieces
After all this I was dead physically and mentally. I crawled into the comfy chair I just added to my studio complete with much needed ottoman and didn't move for hours. The only time I moved was when Jon unfortunately left the water running and was out of the house. And let me tell you hobbling across the hall to the bathroom was all kinds of pain! It was nice to sit but the entire time I felt guilty because I still needed to pack up orders. Unlike last July sales have been quite good for me and I have been having a hard time keeping up.
But yesterday I was able to get them packed up and they are all on their way now. I did it in stages. First I gathered up everything and put them in their plastic sleeves or other packaging depending on the item. Then I cut up the cardboard I sandwich the prints between. Taped it all together and since I was sitting down and didn't want to move I covered them all with some of my newfound stamps. An added bonus of the stamps is I find it helps me identify what orders are what. Then I napped for two hours. Woke up and started weighing items and shipping labels. By the time I was done Jon was home and able to take everything to the Post Office for me.
I also changed my shipping policies from shipping within 48 hours (just not possible for me right now) to shipping every Tuesday and Friday. Unless I go into labor on one of those days! I think it is a fair policy that even people that aren't pregnant have.
Today I am feeling the itch to print again. But I am going to do my best to hold off because I am likely to take it too far and hurt myself. Instead I should photograph mirrors and carve. I made a bit of an exciting purchase off the Dick Blick site and need a new block or two for it. Other than some small art card blocks these new blocks may be the last blocks I carve for quite awhile. This makes me sad.
Good Tuesday to everybody. Tonight I share a lovely dinner at my favorite restaurant with Sweetestpea Jen! I just realized that I forgot to remind her to bring back our copy of season one of The Wire to return and knowing how hectic her life is she probably won't remember. And it is too late now. I'm sure she has already left for work. And you should all Netflix it!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Happy happy joy joy!
Blogging on a Sunday! Whoa!
Today is just about the opposite of yesterday for me. Gosh these flip flopping moods are going to be the death of me!
In an attempt to recreate the lost print as best I can I brought out the blocks involved; circles, cityscape and stitching (haven't printed that one yet) and yellow, orange and purple (haven't gotten to that one yet either) ink. And wow! Not only is the recreation going pretty well so far, though I still have the final layer of purple to do and that is by far the hardest part. The super subtle barely there purple in that missing piece was a complete accident, and of course accidents are pretty hard to recreate! I do believe there was artistic magic in the air when I made that piece since almost none of the other pieces turned out that day. Just that one.
At this point I am hopeful that the recreation will be good enough to satisfy me. But honestly even if it doesn't I have so many cool things as a result of this I won't be all that heartbroken about the loss. I took out the majority of the unfinished pieces I had in a drawer of various colors and added yellow and or orange to them and it turned out great. Some are finished, most are near finished. Despite only printing two blocks with two colors I have so much variety. It feels like old times, only more sore. I am going to try and do the purple layer now after I clean up the orange ink a bit. And the new studio setup seriously rocks. Printing no longer equals half finished print and newsprint explosion.
I even have a new ACEO listed to show for it. And more to come.
Today is just about the opposite of yesterday for me. Gosh these flip flopping moods are going to be the death of me!
In an attempt to recreate the lost print as best I can I brought out the blocks involved; circles, cityscape and stitching (haven't printed that one yet) and yellow, orange and purple (haven't gotten to that one yet either) ink. And wow! Not only is the recreation going pretty well so far, though I still have the final layer of purple to do and that is by far the hardest part. The super subtle barely there purple in that missing piece was a complete accident, and of course accidents are pretty hard to recreate! I do believe there was artistic magic in the air when I made that piece since almost none of the other pieces turned out that day. Just that one.
At this point I am hopeful that the recreation will be good enough to satisfy me. But honestly even if it doesn't I have so many cool things as a result of this I won't be all that heartbroken about the loss. I took out the majority of the unfinished pieces I had in a drawer of various colors and added yellow and or orange to them and it turned out great. Some are finished, most are near finished. Despite only printing two blocks with two colors I have so much variety. It feels like old times, only more sore. I am going to try and do the purple layer now after I clean up the orange ink a bit. And the new studio setup seriously rocks. Printing no longer equals half finished print and newsprint explosion.
I even have a new ACEO listed to show for it. And more to come.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Saturday Night Special Sale!
Is going on now in my shop!
This month as been all about setting goals, meeting them and then setting new ones. Thanks to all my lovely buyers I beat my original goal of reaching 500 sales on Monday. Now my new goal is to double the number of sales I had last month. Pretty ambitious I know, but I am only a few sales away from this goal after the day I had yesterday.
Here is the deal. See these lovely ACEOs and Pocket Mirrors? They are all $1 off in my shop. Not just the ones pictured here but all of them. Any size or type of mirror. No limit on how many items you can buy with the discount. The price isn't marked so be sure to put in SNS $1 in the notes to seller and wait for me to send you an invoice. If you see anything in this picture or on my Flickr site that is not listed on Etsy yet that you are interested in please let me know and if I have it I will put it up for you with the discount. Sale runs from now until 8am Sunday morning.
If I don't make this goal I will be truly heartbroken. No, not really but it would certainly be cool to pull this off!
Hope everybody has a fantastic weekend!
This month as been all about setting goals, meeting them and then setting new ones. Thanks to all my lovely buyers I beat my original goal of reaching 500 sales on Monday. Now my new goal is to double the number of sales I had last month. Pretty ambitious I know, but I am only a few sales away from this goal after the day I had yesterday.
Here is the deal. See these lovely ACEOs and Pocket Mirrors? They are all $1 off in my shop. Not just the ones pictured here but all of them. Any size or type of mirror. No limit on how many items you can buy with the discount. The price isn't marked so be sure to put in SNS $1 in the notes to seller and wait for me to send you an invoice. If you see anything in this picture or on my Flickr site that is not listed on Etsy yet that you are interested in please let me know and if I have it I will put it up for you with the discount. Sale runs from now until 8am Sunday morning.
If I don't make this goal I will be truly heartbroken. No, not really but it would certainly be cool to pull this off!
Hope everybody has a fantastic weekend!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Worth the pain
This alone is worth my sore feet, the cankles and exhaustion that I am feeling now after printing. I certainly don't have many new pieces, maybe six if I am lucky, whereas I used to be able to print thirty pieces from start to finish in a day. Those days are behind me for now and I am fine with that because I truly enjoy what I am able to produce when it finally does come. This may be small but I love it. The leaves look so perfectly and carefully placed even though that is not the case at all. The leafy background was printed a good two months before I even thought of the face block. I knew it wasn't finished so I put it aside and grabbed it today to see what would happen when combined with this block and good things happened. The style of the face greatly reminds me of this early piece, one of my first woodblock prints ever actually. It has the same rough carving and drama.
It was worth it but I hurt so bad now. My left ankle is killing me while my right one feels fine. But both of my feet hurt. Standing for so long is not good for me at all. I am proud of myself!
Before I printed these woodblocks I attempted using my Gocco again, but unfortunately the screen failed to burn. Jon is going to print out the image I need before he leaves work on the laser printer and that should work better. This gocco plan is closely based on my poppy series. The Photoshop mock up is just loosely what I think it may look like since I plan on using gold ink that sparkles on the orange cards. Too bad I have no envelopes and will need to go to the Paper Source to get some. Not the easiest place for me to get to. I hate Porter Square.
I have ink that needs to be cleaned up but it is going to have to wait. I need to keep my feet up so the swelling can hopefully go down and rest for a bit in the air conditioned bedroom.
Today was a lot cooler than the rest of the week has been and I hope I am not the only person that was able to take advantage of it in some way.
It was worth it but I hurt so bad now. My left ankle is killing me while my right one feels fine. But both of my feet hurt. Standing for so long is not good for me at all. I am proud of myself!
Before I printed these woodblocks I attempted using my Gocco again, but unfortunately the screen failed to burn. Jon is going to print out the image I need before he leaves work on the laser printer and that should work better. This gocco plan is closely based on my poppy series. The Photoshop mock up is just loosely what I think it may look like since I plan on using gold ink that sparkles on the orange cards. Too bad I have no envelopes and will need to go to the Paper Source to get some. Not the easiest place for me to get to. I hate Porter Square.
I have ink that needs to be cleaned up but it is going to have to wait. I need to keep my feet up so the swelling can hopefully go down and rest for a bit in the air conditioned bedroom.
Today was a lot cooler than the rest of the week has been and I hope I am not the only person that was able to take advantage of it in some way.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Working small
Yawn! I have been up for hours yet my brain still hasn't caught up. The problem with taking medicine to sleep is that it does leave me with a bit of a medicine hangover that is hard to shake. But if I don't take the medicine I don't sleep and that is much worse. I'm drinking a pot of tea not. I hope everybody else is having a more alert morning, soon to be after noon than I am.
I haven't carved a new block in so long. The last block I finished carving was the large maple leaf block over two months ago and that wasn't even a new design but something I had started back in November. So I have been doing doodles on paper and on wood. And I can't even remember the last time I carved a block specifically to be used for art cards and only art cards. So now is the perfect time to focus on that, they are quick to carve and the wood is so small the money lost if I mess up is piddly. Not much of a time loss either. The lack of any sort of real risk is something I find freeing when I am in a creative slump.
I carved this face on a 3.5"x4" block of scrap wood. Bigger than an art card so that when I use it I can place the blank cards in different spots for different compositions. On the other side of it I have poppies. The image should look very familiar since it is the same poppies I have been offering in a 6"x6" size for over a year now shrunk down. I was doodling and had a drawn but uncolored and unshrunk shrinkydink pendant lying on my desk that I happened to glance at. I also had a blank art card that I picked up and placed near the future pendant. At that size it would suit an art card quite nicely I realized. So I transfered my drawing onto the wood, got out my magnifying visor to help me carve the tight spaces and carved it.
Now I have quite a few new images to print once I clean off my desk. Then I can print. Other than that today should be pretty quiet and laid back. I think I am going to meet Jon at the Museum of Fine Arts tonight to check out the Edward Hopper exhibit they are having. That museum hasn't had an exhibit that interested me since the Gauguin exhibit back when we first moved here four years ago! Then we will get dinner somewhere in that area. Our favorite Thai resturant is around there but I think both of us would like to find someplace new.
I haven't carved a new block in so long. The last block I finished carving was the large maple leaf block over two months ago and that wasn't even a new design but something I had started back in November. So I have been doing doodles on paper and on wood. And I can't even remember the last time I carved a block specifically to be used for art cards and only art cards. So now is the perfect time to focus on that, they are quick to carve and the wood is so small the money lost if I mess up is piddly. Not much of a time loss either. The lack of any sort of real risk is something I find freeing when I am in a creative slump.
I carved this face on a 3.5"x4" block of scrap wood. Bigger than an art card so that when I use it I can place the blank cards in different spots for different compositions. On the other side of it I have poppies. The image should look very familiar since it is the same poppies I have been offering in a 6"x6" size for over a year now shrunk down. I was doodling and had a drawn but uncolored and unshrunk shrinkydink pendant lying on my desk that I happened to glance at. I also had a blank art card that I picked up and placed near the future pendant. At that size it would suit an art card quite nicely I realized. So I transfered my drawing onto the wood, got out my magnifying visor to help me carve the tight spaces and carved it.
Now I have quite a few new images to print once I clean off my desk. Then I can print. Other than that today should be pretty quiet and laid back. I think I am going to meet Jon at the Museum of Fine Arts tonight to check out the Edward Hopper exhibit they are having. That museum hasn't had an exhibit that interested me since the Gauguin exhibit back when we first moved here four years ago! Then we will get dinner somewhere in that area. Our favorite Thai resturant is around there but I think both of us would like to find someplace new.
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