Waiting to Croak...

...is the title of my latest ACEO. This lovely green frog is rendered in soft pastels featuring a somewhat Christmas holiday color palette. Have I mentioned lately that I've really enjoyed getting my hands dirty with pastel dust?

Most of my ACEO drawings have been (at least at one time) placed on eBay for sale. The most popular items are the (nude) figure studies, but they're great practice for me in terms of composition and improving my life drawing skills. One of the classes that I REALLY wanted to take when I went back to art school was life drawing, which was part of the curriculum when I enrolled, but got dropped out of the requirements a few quarters after enrollment, so I feel that is the biggest part of formal art education that I've not yet had. Someday...I'll take that class...somewhere. Until then, I'll keep practicing!

On Being the Lioness

I am born under the sun sign of Leo. Therefore, I "jump headfirst...without worrying", possess a "great need...to create" and a "natural pride and stubborn streak". I am "very independent", will "make a difference in the workplace and help to keep the parts moving in sync and iron out any problems before they arise", love "the new and extraordinary". "Some Leos even have hair resembling the thick mane of the Lion"...well, that certainly explains my hair! "What you see is what you get" also happens to be one of my mantras. Yes, there are many characteristics of my sun sign that I am proud to own--even if they happen to annoy others.

Preparing for another in home tour...

...but this one's not in my home, so I can work on art like my latest ACEO Dalmation titled Waiting to Play instead of working on cleaning, shopping, cooking, and reorganizing!

This upcoming weekend is the annual From Our House to Yours event, one that brings a group of talented artists, artisans, and craftspeople together to share their wares in a lovely antique house in the hills of Madison.

I've been completing three new quadrivet sets, purse post-it packs, miniature hand-bound book/journals, and gathering some other articles from the home studio storage space, including earrings, coaster sets, and larger art journals. This year, I'll be taking along some ACEOs, to see whether there's interest in this wonderful form of minature art, along with some of my photographic pieces. Of course, I'll take some boxes of my original Christmas cards and coordinating gift tags. Since this was the best show I participated in last year, I'm hoping for similar (or even better) results this year.

UGH Daylight Savings Time

People used to wonder why I didn't like to travel. Among other things, my body is extremely slow at adjusting to time zone differences. And, with the recent time change, I'm again out of kilter, as is my dog, Crash. He's pestering me to get out of bed earlier in the morning and wanting to go out on his evening walk as soon as it starts to turn dark. Fortunately for him, I've been working from home and can still accomodate a late afternoon tennis ball chase game, otherwise he'd be absolutely unbearable!

We'll work it out though, we always do. And, with the writer's strike that's crippled the late night talk show circuit, going to sleep an hour earlier isn't such a big deal. That is, for those of us who live without cable or satellite TV services, whatever travels through the air waves is what we see.

So, you see, it will be time again to produce more and more art. The creation of miniature art in the form of ACEOs (artist cards, editions and originals) continues. And, the pieces are beginning to sell on eBay, so I'm VERY encouraged. The Bird of Paradise card is shown here, a creation with Pitt art brush markers and metallic Prismacolor pencils.

Artist Cards, Editions and Originals (aka ACEOs)

I am getting back into making ACEOs, trading card size art for the masses! What fun. I especially enjoy the small format for some subjects and feel that this is a way to reach a much broader artistic market at a lower price point. The piece below is a scenic image from Bryce Canyon and Rainbow Point.



On the same road trip, I passed a lovely group of four horses enjoying a hot afternoon graze next to a rest stop in Iowa. I captured my favorite of those horses here in this simple composition, Munch a Bunch. Both of these pieces (or perhaps new pieces if you're looking after November 6) are currently up for auction on eBay...so get your bids in now!

Friday, the one after the thirteenth

It's been a wacky week for me--flipping back and forth between right and left brain activities. I continue to organize my studio (an entropic endeavor) and make more Artist Cards--whether they wind up as saleables (ACEOs) or trades (ATC) has yet to be determined. As is typical in the last 2 months, much time and energy has been spent promoting Etsy.

I finally got around to picking up the promotional materials for the upcoming Mount Horeb Spring Art Tour, an open studio event that will take place in my home (and those of other participants) on June 8, 9, and 10. I'm very excited about this event and the people who are the organizers have done a fabulous job. I also need to pull together an information package to drop off at the Mount Horeb Chamber of Commerce as a goodwill gesture, and a way to entice the folks in town there to come on out to Verona.

The Full Dozen

Here is the full set of 12 Artist Trading Cards:

Card 1

Card 2

Card 3

Card 4

Card 5

Card 6

Card 7

Card 8

Card 9

Card 10

Card 11

Card 12

Been workin' on my ATCs

Artist's trading cards: each card features my digital photography on one side and a coordinating piece of an abstract alcohol ink assemblage on the other side. I still have to decide on some kind of name for each combination.

Card 1

Card 2

Card 3

Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)

I've volunteered to host an Artist Trading Card Swap (my first ever) with a group of 20 participants (really 21 with me) who need to mail the cards to me by April 20. I'll have a few days to coordinate and randomize distribution of what will be 210 cards among the participants and send 10 each back to them (I get to keep 10). Not unlike baseball card collectors, we artists (and non-artists) delight in Artist Trading Cards (which in theory are only traded and NEVER sold) or ACEOs (art card, editions and originals; these cards can be traded or sold). I've completed the first layers for my cards, and need to continue working on this side of the card (my mixed media side) and on what I'll be putting on my digital side.

Each 2.5 x 3.5 inch (64 x 89 mm) card is either an original, digital original, or a limited (or open) edition print of the contributing artist's work. For the safest postal delivery, I've asked that the cards included in this swap be sturdy--the consistency of a playing card, watercolor paper, or a baseball card--but thinner than 5 mm. Designs can be created in any medium. Each card should include your signature, a date, and edition number (if part of a limited edition). Card can also include contact information.

I'm certainly not an expert on this topic. There are plenty of places to learn more:
http://acetsy.blogspot.com/
http://www.atcards.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist_trading_cards