We've moved my journal to amybrownart.com and will soon be shutting this site down for renovation.

Back from the Faerieworlds Winter celebration. Back to uploading the content for the new site. I'm nearly done. Its almost here........

Looks like the site will not be ready by the end of this week after all. I should know better. When my husband says something will be done in (insert number of days here) I should always multiply that by 3. It doesn't help that I will be gone for 3 days for Faerieworlds, but as soon as I get back, no matter how tired I am, I intend to start working away at getting the site done. I was originally lead to believe that I'd be able to move over products in groups (like all the cards, all the stickers, etc.) Today I find out I am going to have to do every single one separately. (just shoot me now) So yeah, this will take a while. There are some parts of the site which will be missing when we debut it, but will be added later: the tattoo gallery, e-cards, guest book, etc. Lets hope we get this baby done the first week of February (because then it would only be a month late...) or else I am going to absolutely freak out. It will not be pretty.

Jan 30th and 31st I will be at the Faerieworlds Winter Celebration in Eugene Oregon. The Faerie Market will be free admission-open from 10am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday. Stop by and see the amazing wares the vendors have to offer, as well as fabulous music and elaborate costumes.

Please note: When the amybrownart.com site is updated, the journal will move to that site, along with the Enchanted Visions Gallery. This site will be down for possible re-construction at a later date.

The website update is getting closer to completion. I am estimating next week sometime. The programming has finally started to work the way its suppose to. Things *should* start falling into place from now on. I'm really digging the new design. Its in one of my favorite color combos. Most exciting is the thought that I will be able to do a lot of the site updates on my own from now on, with out relying on my husband to do it. He's designing the new site so computer dummies like me can handle most of it. YIPPEE! Its about time!

Next weekend I will be at the Faerieworlds Winter Celebration in Eugene Oregon. I'm bringing the new Flower Faeries Portfolio and Faery Dance books, along with a selection of prints, of course. See you there!

Jessica and I decided on the next EV theme...."Shades of Blue" with a due date of March 1st. That gives plenty of time to recooperate from the holidays and get inspired again.

I should be done with Autumn Harmony and Tempest of Ice this week--YIPPEE! But I won't debut them until the new site goes up, because it would be a waist of time. Hopefully we're looking at only 2 more weeks. But I may be fooling myself.

This Tempest of Ice sketch is kicking my butt. Unless I have a light bulb moment, I won't have it done by the time we update the site, which is my goal. Come on light bulb!

Well, I started on my sketch for Tempest of Ice today with a pretty solid idea of what I wanted to do (which is unusual for me)...got halfway through and said "This sucks."....and tossed it aside. So I thought I'd try working on the sketch for Autumn Harmony, having no idea what I was going to do. Finished it in no time, of course. And I think I like it--we'll see when the color is down.

Then I grabbed a piece of blank paper and started doodling randomly and realized "THIS is Tempest of Ice." I still have a lot of work to do on the Tempest sketch, but maybe by tomorrow I will have it roughed out. Its not even remotely what I thought I would do for that theme. You never do know what direction the Muse will push you...or in some cases, shove you.

Now you want to see what I'm working on, huh. Too bad. No peeking.

We decided on a new site design earlier this week, so that is a major step towards getting the new site done. Still so much to do though....argh.

I am hoping to soon start on the Enchanted Visions themes: Autumn Harmony and Tempest of Ice. I want to get caught up on those. I sort of know what I want to do with Tempest, but no idea for Autumn Harmony yet. It would be great if I could debut them along with the new site design. I'm also still waiting for my book to come in. According to the purchase order, it should have shipped already, so I keep thinking "any day now". But I won't hold my breath.

In the meantime, I have to start packing up stuff for the Faerieworlds Winter Celebration at the end of the month. I have no idea what to expect, so packing for it will be interesting.

Well, I made it through Christmas. I got very sick the week before and didn't feel better until Christmas Eve. Of course, I'd had all sorts of plans for the week before Christmas, since Bella was on Winter break. Instead, I laid on the couch and groaned a lot. Now, the floor is littered with toys and there are tons of holiday decorations waiting to be packed up and put away for another year. I am doing my best to just ignore it all.

I am now way behind on the Enchanted Visions images.Fall/Winter is such a mess every year. I can rely on not having enough time for anything November through December. Bella goes back to school next week, so I should have time to start painting again. In theory. We're having banners printed for the Faerieworlds Winter celebration and I'll have to start choosing prints to bring along. Assuming the website update is done in the next couple weeks, we'll also be doing a lot of rearranging and organizing.

I want to try to budget in 2 new tapestry throw blankets this year, but don't have any ideas as to which images to do--SO...if anyone has any suggestions, please email them. It might help picking. Thanks--A

Lets all start focusing our mental powers on my husband getting the website re-design done quickly and painlessly. In the meantime, let me fill in what we're hoping to do and why. Thanks to the ever escalating costs of shipping, I can't carry all of the nifty licensed products I have carried for years. (Which is why I am having a big sale on the site.) It costs too much to have the product shipped to me and then it costs even more to ship it to my customers. We have tried to absorb as much of the shipping costs as possible so we don't have to pass it on to our customers, but its getting to be ridiculous and I can't keep business running at this rate. So, my plan is to focus on carrying product we will have manufactured ourselves (cards, books, portfolios, prints, etc)--products which are easier and cheaper to ship. We will carry specially selected licensed products during the holiday season only. I also want to focus on promoting my licensed product lines year round without actually carrying them, so have in mind a special gallery devoted to info and photos of the product lines, announcing new licensed products, and if possible directing customers to where they can get them online through reputable sellers. This is the plan, anyway. Right now it hinges on the website being re-built and my past experience in this area is that it will not get done in a timely manner and by the first week of January I can guarantee I will be nearing anxiety overload. But if all goes well, I will end up with a site that I can operate myself (normally I have to ask my husband to do updates and everything else). And when I can do it myself, it gets done faster and I stay sane--relatively. Now I'm going to go sit on the floor and cross my fingers and toes and pray to the computer Gods.

Just wanted to say Happy Holidays to everyone. We're taking a break until the 28th. Then we'll deal with year end clearance and hopefully a website re-design! (fingers crossed...toes too!)

I don't know if its the stress of the holidays (getting orders shipped on time, keeping track of inventory trying to figure out what to get my teenage niece!) or if I'm just getting older and losing my mind...but lately I keep thinking I'm seeing things out of the corner of my eye. The 4 foot tall potted plant in the kitchen scared the crap out of me this morning. Perhaps I need a vacation. Vacation? What's that? My "vacations" are always trips somewhere to do signings, so I don't get much, if any, time to relax. I figure there will be time to vacation when I'm retired. If I can ever actually retire. I may be too much of a busybody.

A couple weeks ago I bought a corset-a real one, not the type that has stretchy material and plastic boning. I'm talking real metal boning. Its lovely (bought it from Damsel in this Dress) but I can not believe women used to wear those things every day. For someone who is claustrophobic in a snug vest, corsets are a bit scary. I suppose it takes a bit of getting used to. We'll see if I can get up enough nerve to wear it at Faerieworlds. I'm even thinking about getting a couple more in different colors.

Anyway, hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. In January we are suppose to start re-designing the main website. I am crossing my fingers and praying it goes well and actually gets done in time. Of course, I have high anxiety levels because in my history of websites, they have NEVER been done on time. grumble grumble

I am almost done with my huge painting. I don't know if I like it or not, which sucks because I spent too much time on it. But hopefully it will be useful nonetheless. I did it as an lillustration to a story I have been working on. Now I just need to finish the story and additional illustrations! But first, I have to finish a project I started last summer. One of these days I will learn to only do one thing at a time!

In other news, it looks like my new book will be done in January along with a new  portfolio booklet. I'm looking forward to that being done so I can start on the next publishing project. Self-publishing has turned out to be just as stressful as I thought it would. But that's OK. Its a good learning experience. (And I am making all sorts of mistakes to learn from!)

EV update: Last month's EV theme was Autumn Harmony. Nope, I haven't done one yet, because November and December are my busiest months. I'm hoping to catch up early next year, but I started too many new and complicated projects this summer and I feel I really need to finish up that to-do list first.

The point here is to have fun. This project wasn't really started for any other purpose than to be inspired and have fun. Keep creating!! (That being said, is there anyone out there who wants to sculpt the themes? THAT would be cool.)

New theme for December is Tempest of Ice-title submitted by Coriander. Have fun!!

For several years now we have gone out every December to Trees and Bees to cut down a Christmas Tree. We used to put up a fake tree every year, because I thought I was helping the environment by not cutting down a tree.  Then I learned that using real Christmas trees is actually better for the environment than fake trees. I guess a young growing tree puts out tons more oxygen while it grows than old trees (and the tree farms are always planting trees). And fake trees end up in landfills. I still have our fake tree and I think when the girls are older I will set it up downstairs for them to decorate-we'll get as much use out of it as we can. So anyway, we brought our tree home and set it up this afternoon. I went to string the lights on and realized it was infested with little green bugs. They were hopping off the tree, onto the window. Nice.

I started a painting yesterday, which is probably more than I can handle. Not sure what I was thinking. Its 22x30 inches and barely fits on my drawing table. I rarely do paintings this big. The last ones were Contemplating Secrets, Sapphire and Restless Thoughts--which were painted several years ago. I vowed I wouldn't do anything that size again, because they're hard to store and I don't have unlimited wall space (and if I tried to sell them, they'd be a pain to ship). Yet, here I am again......it will either turn out great--or horrid. Its a sky scene, which I hate to do because its hard to get a nice smooth background with no flaws when you're using watercolors. It also has several tree tops, which I am not great at painting---so......I suppose I am a glutton for punishment.

I'm suppose to get my book samples today! Hooray!

I made it through Thanksgiving. I , who do not enjoy cooking, made turkey sausage stuffing, deviled eggs, crusty mashed garlic potatoes, fruit salad w/ honey lime dressing, deviled eggs, and a cake! Now I have to figure out how to get through the Christmas feast.....I feel as though I have done enough cooking to last me a whole year-or 2.

Now I am trying to get the Christmas shopping done. Its frazzling. I'm so thrilled to have Etsy, though. I have spent years frustrated that I can only seem to find unique, wonderful gifts at street fairs (which become more commercial every year and have greatly lost their charm for me) and sometimes on the Internet, though they can be hard to find if you don't know where to look. There are so many amazing artisans on Etsy, it boggles my mind. I am quite addicted. It may become my one stop shopping spot for gifts for special people. And---ahem----where I buy myself gifts. Hey, SOMEONE has to buy me presents! Might as well be me!

I am currently waiting on samples of my new book. The goal is to release it in January. I am anxious to see the samples, which were suppose to be here last week. Grrr! I hate waiting! Meanwhile, I was almost finished with a 2nd book, when I decided to add to it....why do I always give myself more work?  I really should get that book done if I am going to try to release it in the next 6 to 9 months. And especially because I started writing another story last week, which has totally distracted me from my other work. I have no idea what I am getting myself into. I really shouldn't be writing anything until I have seen how the first book comes out!

Last weekend Bella told me that if she were ever bitten by a vampire, she would bite the whole family so we could play together at night and "sleep on the ceiling." I don't know where she gets this stuff.

Bella got up this morning and was clearing her throat a lot. I asked her if she was feeling alright and she said "Yes, I just have a frog on my neck."

I totally bought 4 bags of Hershey's Kisses last night. But they have all these flavors now....

I went to the grocery store Sunday and of course all the beautiful delectable holiday treats are out. Everything is sprinkled in cinnamon and nutmeg. It is SO unfair. I have a very hard time walking past cookies and cupcakes as it is. Now they've made them all fancy and festive! I am doomed....

Well, last week I finished the 2 paintings I was agonizing over, despite all the interruptions all week long. I started a new one today, which has gone pretty smoothly so far. But I have only done the background washes so far, so maybe I am speaking too soon. I suppose we will see.

Meanwhile, I am trying to get my husband to re-design my main website (which I have already mocked up, so the design part should be pretty easy). One thing I have learned about business over the years is that it is always expanding and contracting and changing. The trick is to change along with it. And its time to move to the next evolutionary phase. What exactly that phase is, I am not sure yet, but I do know it involves a new website! Now if I can just get that started.......

I've been painting faeries for roughly 17 years now. You would think that after all that time I would know what I'm doing. Oddly enough, I feel like I know less about painting now than ever. Maybe I am analyzing my work too closely. I can be brutally critical of my own work, but I have learned that I do not see it the way others do, so I put it out there anyway. Every new piece has become an increasing struggle. I agonize over the drawing's composition (Should I add something? Should I take something away?). I am always uncertain about which colors to use and stare at the paper until I give up, frustrated, and just start painting, grabbing the nearest paint tubes (hoping it all turns out in the end). I used to just paint without much expectation and would be pleasantly surprised when a painting turned out better than I thought it would. Now I think I want them all to turn out perfect, but that is just plain impossible. A couple weeks ago I was reading something Nene Thomas had posted on her site about the constant (fruitless) pursuit of the perfect painting. That's definitely something I can relate to. I think I may remember Brom mentioning the same pursuit about 7 or 8 years back at a convention he was speaking at. I think its a quest most, if not all, artists pursue--with much frustration and disappointment. But I guess its good, because once you feel like you have achieved a goal like that, there really isn't anywhere to go from there. So, I can live with never realizing my personal dreams of technical awesomeness. Last summer at Faerieworlds Gris Grimly was talking about taking on a big project-a book he had to do a ridiculous amount of illustrations for.  He said "I don't know what I'm doing." I thought "Wow, I always feel like I don't know what I'm doing. Its nice to hear someone as talented and successful as Gris feels the same way." Its amazing how we can feel so alone and then find out that we're all going through the same things.

Today I'm working on a background, heavy with sepia, raw umber, a little Payne's gray. I've been dabbing rubbing alcohol into the wet paint to create texture. I like the effect, but the smell of the alcohol is nauseating. It reminds me of visits to the doctor when I was little. (I don't care if there is a cherry flavored lollipop at the end of the visit, I don't want to go to that grumpy old doctor with his pokey needles, Mom!) While that background is drying, on to the next...do I start with a wash over the entire piece or should I leave the outer boarder white? ARGH!!!! Here we go again....

I am starting to post some new ink drawings I have been doing on the Etsy shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop/autumnsidhe They will mostly be odd little characters I am developing, that I plan on working into my paintings. I think they're cute. *smooch*

Its windy and raining here--again. That's been the norm here for several days. I don't really mind it, actually--except the wind. I could do without the huge gusts. It gets scary, especially when we have so many trees around our house and have had 2 fall down due to wind since we moved here. I love this time of year. Halloween is awesome--the pumpkins, the fall leaves, the decorations. Everyone gets down with their inner spook. And then suddenly Thanksgiving is looming in the distance and thoughts of yummy baked things fill my head. An excited little ember flickers to life inside me...waiting for December and its lights, sparkle, candy canes, COOKIES, EGGNOG, Christmas shows. I have a hard time feeling grumpy this time of year. It doesn't take much to make me happy--some treats, my family home w/ me, a warm house, Christmas lights.

I'm dying for a new website. Have been for a while. But my husband never seems to have the time. (playing WoW takes precedence over business, no doubt) If only Santa would bring me a new website for Christmas.

What else is going on? Ah...yes. For the first time in "I don't know how long" I am having artist's block. Sort of. I did actually finish 2 drawings last week that I plan on painting this coming week, but I still feel blocked. I feel the need to do something new, but I don't really know what. I get snippets of ideas, but never enough to get me going in any direction.

The next EV theme is "Autumn Harmony" deadline (not that we really have deadlines) Dec 1st. This theme was suggested by Coriander, participant coordinator. This time of year Jess and I usually get pretty busy, so its hard to say if we will have anything done in time. We'll see how the month unfolds....

http://www.peterstone.com/blog/index.php/2009/10/03/a-faerys-tale-amy-brown/

There is a nicely written article about me on the Peter Stone website if anyone is interested.

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween. We trick or treated until we darn near dropped!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!! I love this time of year. It fills me with a warm, happy, yummy pumpkin pie sort of feeling.

Note to self: Do not wear tight jeans the day after eating 4 pieces of pizza for dinner.

Update on my self-publishing project: I think things are moving along nicely. I should be sending the book off to the printer soon and then we'll see how it goes from there. I assume once the printing starts is where any problems are most likely to rear their ugly heads. Fingers crossed. Regardless, it is a good learning experience.

I'm hoping in the next week or 2 I can take some time to fiddle around more with some silly paintings. I can feel the need to de-stress coming on (already agonizing over what to get teenage nieces for Christmas--help!) and painting whatever weird little things pop into my head really helps with de-stressing. I suppose cleaning up my yard would be a good stress reliever too, but....hmmm.....I'll stick with painting for now.

There are several large blobs of amber colored gelatinous gunk on the roof of our garage. (I know this because the back windows on the 2nd floor of the house look over the garage.) We have no idea what it is or how it got there. Did it fall from a plane? Dragon poop? Alien vomit?  Its really weird.

Anyway, here is another painting.

Another experimental painting...

I don't know what this means.

I've been wandering down strange paths lately...looking for some new inspiration. Not sure where I'm going, but its a much needed distraction.

For the last few weeks birds have been flying into our windows. We've lived here 4 years and never had this problem, so I don't know why they are suddenly doing it now. We put up window clings and they still fly into them. So far there has only been one fatality, and the rest have gone on to fly another day.

I can't believe the holidays are approaching again. There is so much prep work for the business. We have to start gearing up in October, making sure the print bins are stocked, doing inventory, checking shipping supplies, ordering last minute items. All I really want to do is plan my holiday decorating, though this year will be difficult because Autumn gets into everything. She's relentless. I have not come up with any ideas for Autumn-proofing the holiday decorations.

Hopefully next week I will have some new paintings to post; just some odd little pictures I decided to play with. Maybe its a Halloween influence. It makes me want to doodle weird little creatures.

I can hear Bella telling Autumn not to get on the table, so I guess its time I go.....

Munro Collectibles has come out with 4 Faery Queen figurines. I believe they will be available in late November. I haven't worked with Munro on figurines before, so I'm excited to see how it turns out. Here is a sneak peek of 2 of them.

The newest Enchanted Visions theme has now been posted. Since our guest artists this month are behind due to unforseen circumstances, I am posting solo for now.

Bella, Darren, and Autumn were playing knights tonight. Autumn got stuck being the Black Knight. Never thought I'd hear my husband say "We need a time out. I have to change the Black Knight's diapers!"

So I have gone entirely insane and decided to dabble in self-publishing books. Why? I told you--I'm insane! No, actually, its because I don't like people telling me what to do, what to write or draw, or deadlines imposed by other people. I'm stubborn that way. Seems like self-publishing may be something I can handle. Plus, for the last few years I've been feeling like I need to change something about my business. I've been looking for new paths to follow. Maybe this is the path. I've decided to start with a small book that I started 12 years ago. It works dandy as a children's book, but I'm hoping the art content will make it appealing to all ages. So far its coming together faster than I had anticipated, so I'm feeling good about my January 2010 release goal. Time permitting, I may throw in an additional small project so I'll have 2 new things to start 2010.

On the back burner, I have a 2nd book that is basically finished, but I haven't decided if I want to show it to any publishers, or if I want to publish it myself. After that, I have another odd idea for a book that I have started on and hopefully will stay interested in until I have finished it. Its hard for me to stay interested sometimes. I'm more enchanted by the idea itself than the finished project.

I've been out sick all week. I'm still not completely better, but I'm mobile again. You know when you get that annoying head cold that makes your nose run and your head ache and you get that itchy scratchy twitchy feeling in your throat that keeps you up all night? This is not that cold. This is a fever, chills, throbbing headache, copious mucus production, loss of taste buds and appetite, occasional delirium, loud nasty chunky cough cold. But on the bright side, I haven't had to do my hair or wear any makeup in days. Its liberating, except for feeling like someone stuffed jello up my nose.

I'm hoping to get my husband to post the newest EV painting this week--The Gift. My partners in crime have all succumbed to personal road blocks, so I may be the only "poster" for the time being.

Darren went grocery shopping yesterday and brought home kiwis because Bella wanted to try one. He put googly eyes and drew a frown on one of the fruits and then showed it to Bella and asked if she wanted to eat it. Bella can not even conceive of being mean or hurting anyone or anything, so of course she looked at the frowning kiwi in horror and refused to eat it. Now that I think of it, we have a butternut squash on the counter with an angry face on it. Maybe I should think about why my husband keeps drawing faces on the food?

A few days ago I was playing WII sports with Bella and I think I pulled a butt muscle. Seriously, it still hurts. How pathetic is that?

My goal today was to finish a piece I started working on earlier this week and clean up downstairs. After several interruptions, I now have about 90 minutes to get it all done. Yeah...not gonna happen. Crum. I hate cleaning on the weekend. Weekends were not meant for cleaning!

 I am signing at Crescent Moon (see the Appearances section on the amybrownart.com site) on Sunday. Can't wait to see their new store location!

I'd just like to thank Coriander for her work in organizing the extension of the Enchanted Visions project. Her devotion and constant excitment, not to mention her wonderful insight into every piece submitted, keeps my own passion for the project going. I'm anxious to see what everyone comes up with for "The Gift".

So its Monday morning, almost three days after Darren blew bubbles in the living room and there is STILL one bubble sitting on the hearth. How crazy is that?

Some of the bubbles are still sitting on the rug today, nearly a day later. They must be some sort of super bubbles.

15 minutes ago my husband was blowing bubbles in the living room (though I told him not to) and the bubbles are STILL HERE. The carpet is covered in them, just sitting there silently. There are 4 bubbles sitting perfectly still in a straight line in midair above the clunky wooden spiral staircase that leads downstairs. They're each perched perfectly on an invisible spider web (yeah, the cat is out of the bag now--I'm not much for cleaning).

Over an hour later, many of the bubbles are still here. Its sort of creepy. I took pictures of some of the carpet bubbles and 2 of the ones suspended on the spider web, which I actually can't see, because its so thin.

I finished the newest Enchanted Visions theme "The Gift" a little over a week ago. The other participants, however, are overwhelmed with publishing deadlines and various other projects, so we will all hopefully be displaying our pieces in October. In the meantime I am posting a teaser of my piece.

I haven't written anything in a while because there isn't really anything going on. We seem to have a four leaf clover patch growing in our front yard. Most of the clover have four leaves instead of three. Bella is thrilled about it. She thinks we will be the luckiest people on the planet now. I am thinking I need to paint a Luck faery. In other news, Autumn keeps throwing her toys into the dirty diaper bin. Its gross. She thinks its hilarious. Nothing much else to report at this time.

I started painting the Enchanted Visions piece "The Gift" today. Its a whimsical piece and I think I'm going to like it when its done. As is my usual, I am agonizing over my choice of color pallet. I am so weird when it comes to choosing the colors for a painting. I can stare at the paper and mull it over for hours if I let myself. Well, the background wash is down and it basically sets the tone for the rest of the color pallet, so no turning back now! While its drying, I will be staring at 2 other drawings agonizing over what color to do their background washes! AAAARRRGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!

As I'm typing this, I can hear Bella and Autumn "playing" in the other room. Bella is screaming "NO" at Autumn and Autumn is responding by growling loudly at her. I don't want to know, so I'm not going out there.

Now that school has started up again I suddenly have some time to work. Its sort of a shock after more than 2 months of having no work time. I am thinking I should be smart and just plan on summers being unproductive and in fall/winter/spring I need to buckle down and get everything done for the year. Yesterday I started working on the next EV theme--The Gift. I didn't really know what I wanted to do and was sifting through a pile of unfinished sketches I started 3 or 4 months ago when I came upon one that said "Hey! I would be perfect for The Gift!" I had barely worked on it at all, because at the time I didn't really know what it was going to be. I guess I had started it too soon. Luckily I didn't toss it. So now I am about half way done--just mulling over what type of background to do. Seems a simple choice, but it could actually take me a week or 2 to figure it out. Sometimes things just click and other times they stubbornly do not take shape for days, weeks, months....even years. I'm hoping I can come up with something today.

Our house has baby safety gates all over the place. Autumn is a small tornado (we call her Baby-Destructo) so we have to keep her corralled for her own protection. As you can imagine, navigating gates all day can be a real pain in the butt. I often get fed up with opening and closing them, so I just step over them. I am only 5'3", so climbing over a 2 1/2 foot gate is a little tricky. Luckily I am fairly limber, but apparently not very graceful. I can not get through a single day without banging my knee or some part of my leg on a gate at least once. Some days I do it multiple times. I've done it at least 3 times today.

The other day we took the kids to the park and Bella was showing me how she can navigate the monkey bars. I thought "Hmm, I haven't done that in more than 20 years. I'll try it too." Big mistake. After just the first swing I felt like the skin on my palms was being torn off and my arms were going to be jerked from their sockets. Then I went into momentary shock. "Oh man, am I really THAT out of shape? How can someone who runs all over the house all day and carries around a 20lb baby not be able to swing on the monkey bars?" Yikes, that was an eye opener.

I have finally gotten a little painting time in. Though I seem to get interrupted so much, I am not accomplishing what I had hoped to. Usually I sit down and say to myself (yes, I talk to myself a lot) "In the next 2 hours I will finish all of the wings on the 3 pictures in front of me." Then I work to make it happen. In the last 3 days I have not been able to reach my goal at all. Very annoying. Hopefully September will be a more productive month.

Let it beknown throughout the Enchanted Kingdoms that the next Title for the Enchanted Visions Project is "The Gift".

See the Enchanted Visions Gallery for info on how you can participate too!

Jess's Green Faerie is (ahem) FINALLY (ahem) posted in the Enchanted Visions Gallery!!! It was well worth the wait. Check it out.

Trish Hedegaard captured a goblin for me and instructed him to guard my mechanical pencil. I feed him Cheetos when he does a good job.

My husband bought the girls kazoos..... I am in hell.

I used to get up at 3am every morning to get a few hours of work in while everyone else was sleeping. A couple months ago, I started feeling too worn out and was having trouble with my eyes and realized, I just can't keep on going month after month with only 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night. So a couple of months ago I reset my alarm clock for 5am. It definitely helped. Unfortunately, the other night I couldn't sleep, so I gave up at 3am and curled up on the couch with a big mug of chai tea and watched 6 episodes of Flight of the Conchords. Made me laugh (especially the robot music video in the first episode) , but I still felt like garbage all day.

I have to go to a wedding on Saturday and just realized last night that my overflowing closet is full of casual clothing and I have nothing to wear to a fancy wedding. dang it. I think I need to run out and find something and I hate going out shopping. But I guess I should have something for those very rare occasions that pop up every few years when I actually do need to look nice and (heaven help me) actually do something with my hair and make up....I really hate dressing up.

On Friday Bella looked at my sister and said "Molly, you are my sunniest love cake." I have no idea what that actually means, but I believe its quite a compliment. I love kids. They say the most amazing things. Like the time Bella told me "Rocks are very old...just like Grandma." Or once I was in a hurry trying to get everyone ready so we could be at an appointment on time and Bella said  "If clocks weren't so fast we wouldn't have to be in such a hurry."

PS-I am sending my flying monkeys after M. (Lets see your Magical Faith save you now sweetheart!)

I now have 2/3 of the garage cleaned up and organized. PLUS I organized the storage shed I use to store canopies and booth display stuff for shows. I am on a roll! (I am also dirty and sticky and my back hurts from moving heavy boxes....)

My SPAM filter is not working right now. I'd forgotten how ANNOYING it is to have to sift through all the garbage emails I get. If I have to read one more subject title with the word "enlarge" in it I am going to send my flying monkeys out to do some damage.

As many know, I am a big Michael Parkes fan. I have been since I saw some of his work in an Omni magazine about 20 some years ago. Over the years, whenever he has a new book out, I buy it. Recently I purchased his newest volume, which claimed to have "new works" in it. I was very excited because the last 2 books I'd purchased had a few new pieces, but mostly older works I had already seen. So I got the new book and eagerly opened it up......to find that, with the exception of some sketches and a handful of paintings, I have seen every image in it in his other books. The biggest disappointment is that the bulk of the book is all paintings that are in his first book. Well phooey--this was not a cheap book. Its a beautiful book, though,  and anyone who hasn't purchased his books before will love it, but I was hoping for more new art.

I also purchased some new pose reference books. Hopefully they will be inspiring, though I don't really like using actual models. I like stylized art and when I use real models my work loses some of its stylized quality. I prefer the pieces that spring from a 5 minute sketch done while watching Sponge Bob with my girls.

Looking around, I am thinking "Man, I really need to clean my studio AGAIN." gggrrrrrr.....

My sister just told me that last night she asked my 2 year old nephew what he wants to be when he grows up. His response was...a hamster.

I just got done spending 2 hours cleaning and organizing in a hot, spider infested garage. EEEWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel icky. Like I might have spiders in my underwear. Darren finally got motivated to clean up the garage; a task we've been discussing for years. We still have an estimated 8 to 12 hours to go, but we got a good start. We may actually be able to park a car in there this week.

You know how I cleaned off the tables in my studio last week so I could work....yep, they're all cluttered again. And I was gone for 5 days last week too! How did I manage to mess things up again?? I don't know what to do with myself! I'm ridiculous!

I've been working on some writing the last few days. Haven't been motivated to draw or paint much. I wish I could fly Joseph Corsentino up here to do a photo shoot with all my Faery costuming I've collected. I think it would be inspiring. I got some really beautiful skirts from Tickle Thy Fantasy and Firebird Fae Couture when I was at Faerieworlds that I would love to see photographed. In the past I've always seen things at Faerieworlds that I wanted, but talked myself out of buying and then months later was still kicking myself for not making the purchase. A lot of what you see there is one of a kind,  so if you pass it up...well, too bad. So this year I wanted to avoid that frustration and support the artists who work so hard making truly unique and amazing items.....so I just bought whatever I liked. Came home quite pleased with myself, thank you. I got 5 skirts, some signed books from the Baby tattoo booth, sculpted dolls from Dolls By Marca (including 2 little adorable roly poly bug characters) and I wish I had made time to see more...though we may not have been able to fit it all in the car!

This morning I'm posting a quicky sketch I did in the car on the way back from Faerieworlds. I had an image pop into my head while reading "Airman" and wanted to make a note. So I devoted a whole 3 minutes to a doodle that should be just enough to remind me what I was thinking when I have time to actually work on a drawing. It was scribbled on the back of the site map for the festival--ha ha. I do this a lot. There are various scraps of odd papers lying around w/ weird doodles on them. . I am missing drawing and painting. I haven't done much of it since June. I just can't find the time now that Bella is home from school. I feel like if she's here, I really should be spending time with the kids if I can swing it. I'm itching to do some work though. Not sure what, just something.

I'm baaaaaacccckkkkkkkk.....

Faerieworlds was really really REALLY HOT. I have never been so hot. I'm talking miserably hot. But apparently I survived! Thank you to everyone who stopped by and braved the heat. I got a handful of photos while there, but not as many as I would have liked to. It was just too hot to venture out most of the time. I have vampire skin that threatened to burst into flame every time I stepped out from under my tent. (Did I mention it was really hot?)

I got to meet some great new people like the fabulously darling Miss Mindy (whose work I am in love with), see my artist friends I never get to see because we all live in different states, and chat with one of my favorite artists-Gris Grimly. Toby Froud and his new wife, Sarah were so adorable it was ridiculous (I'm talking super cute). Trish Hedegaard was sculpting in the booth next to me, which was cool, and her friend Cyndi (a woman of many talents) teased me mercilessly all weekend long! But we love her regardless. I shamelessly disappeared from my booth duties several times to hang out with my buddy and now fashion stylist, Joseph Corsentino (faery photographer, creator of Time of the Faeries) and Bob from Baby Tattoo (coolest books ever).

Pictures (hopefully I have these in order):
Me and Gris Grimly (He's so darn gorgeous I'm sure I was totally dorking out--look at me, yes, I look like a dork).
Me w/ Miss Mindy (super cutie with flowers in her hair), Dancing Hands (the lavender lady doing my hair) and Sherri (Sarah Froud's mom, Toby's new mother -in-law. I apologize profusely if I miss-spelled her name-which is unacceptable because she's awesome.)
Me and Lisa Steinke (Is this the picture where she squeezed my butt to make me smile?--yes Lisa, I let the secret out)
And there's also one of a guy I don't know, but he had a great costume. We were laughing our sweaty butts off.
And Autumn the moss pixie.....aaawwww the cuteness! It melts me!!!

If my booth faery Kathi got some good photos and chooses to send them to me, I will post those later. She was snapping a lot of photos of costumes, of which there were some really fabulous ones. I don't know how some of those people survived in the heat, dressed from head to toe.

Anyway....I have to sort through all the show junk and get organized again. phew.........
 

I'm off to Faerieworlds....see ya when I get back!

 Sigh....once again I am trying to tidy up my studio. I always get about 3/4 of the way done and then "things happen" and before I know it, its a big mess again. Being someone who gets edgy around messes, its a weird environment for me to be working in. Yesterday I HAD TO CLEAN UP because Molly needed me to sign a bunch of prints and I actually had no where to lay them out. I think I need a better filing system around my desk. It currently consists of a couple of shelves (always overflowing with papers) and multiple piles of paperwork littering the surface of the table. Its not because I'm a slob, I just don't have appropriate places to put everything. And there's always something important I have to leave out so I won't forget it. Then there are the kids toys that get drug in here and left on the floor, piles of partially finished paintings, copious notes written on scraps of paper (ideas I have jotted down on any convenient piece of paper when not near my studio), product samples sent to me from my licensees, etc, etc, etc.There are only so many drawers I can stuff things into to make table space.

I think I am just about ready for Faerieworlds this weekend. Hopefully it will all work out at the new location. Not looking forward to the heat, because I always worry about the little kids. But I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing what the vendors have this year. You just can't find truly incredible stuff anywhere like you can find at Faerieworlds.

As I watched Autumn put corn kernels in her hair at dinner this evening, I remembered a couple of weeks ago when I made spaghetti. I had given her some plain noodles to eat because I couldn't bear the thought of cleaning spaghetti sauce out of everything. During dinner I glanced over at her just in time to see her gently drape several noodles in her hair and then pose for us as if she thought she had come up with some brilliantly lovely hairdo. She is constantly adorning herself with anything she can find and then she prances around like a model. She's only 1 1/2. I shudder to think of what will happen when she turns 13.

At the street fair I was signing at a couple weekends ago, I was talking to fellow artist, Melissa Dawn about art and mentioned that I "didn't like doing realistic art and preferred stylized work". I have more fun doing stylized pieces. Then I realized today that I do occasionally get a wild urge to try something more realistic, but its always short lived. I am posting a pencil sketch I did a few years ago that never went anywhere, though I still keep it around thinking some day I will do something with it. Every once in a while I pull a sketch from the "doomed" pile and resurrect it.

Here is a pic of my first 2 sock monsters-named Phineas and Crumb.

Thank you Ann at www.annsmonsters.com !!!!

I really need to get back to painting. The schedule never quite works out that way though. I am thinking I may have to plan on getting the majority of my paintings done during the school year and consider anything finished during the months of June, July and August a bonus. Bella told me this morning that she wishes she had a Faery to scare away bad dreams, so my next project will be to paint her one. Still need to photograph my sock monsters--if my camera batteries are working. Maybe I will try to do that after I get the kids fed and dressed this morning.

I got a peek at Jessica's Enchanted Visions/Green Faerie piece in progress. Its going to be fabulous.

I haven't written anything in several days because I woke up Monday morning with a knot in between my shoulder blades. Its very annoying and doesn't seem to want to leave. I don't know where it came from, as I haven't really done anything different lately.

I finally got myself some sock monsters! I plan on taking photos of them soon, when I get a chance. I seem to be in a "can't get anything done" slump. With that said, my back is very angry with me for sitting here at the computer, so I guess I'll go for now.

The newest Enchanted Visions pieces are now posted. Everyone is having a good time playing with the themes.

I'm preparing to go off to the street fair. Was hoping for 72 degrees and overcast but looks like 80+ and sunny. Oh well. Another hot year.

I will be signing at Kent Cornucopia Days in Kent, Washington this Fri, Sat and Sun. Stop by and say HI! We will be in front of Browser's Books. Artist Melissa Dawn will be there too! www.spellboundwings.com. I believe she will be set up next to me. There may be other fantasy artists as well, but I don't have a list. You'll just have to come and see for yourself!

I ate 5 cupcakes yesterday...........aaaaaarrrgggghhhhhhh......

Happy 4th to everyone this weekend! I'll be spending today cleaning the house and making cupcakes and hosing pollen off of lawn furniture. You know you envy me. Ha ha. Now off to work...

later on....

Bella has just finished decorating the cupcakes with red, white and blue sprinkles. She managed to use the entire bottle. There are sprinkles everywhere, which she has graciously offered to eat for me so I don't have to clean them up.

Looks like 2010 Calendars will be in approx the end of next week and we're taking orders for them now. The print run for this year's calendar is about half the normal run, so calendar supplies may run out early. Last year we sold out of our stock by October. I plan on taking a lot to Faerieworlds, because we sold out of what we brought last year and we just heard Faerieworlds has sold more tickets this year than expected and had to move to a bigger location. Should be a wild weekend. I'll have a ton of new art, the coloring books, calendars, and a big book sale. (We want to start parking our cars in the garage, but to do that we need to make room-which means sell off a lot of the book stock we have piled up in there.) We still have several boxes of my 2nd art book, Wisdom Decks, and a few World of Faery and Art of Faery. Boy am I not looking forward to cleaning out that garage. UGH. It will take a lot of shifting boxes and its a big spider fest in there. BLUCK.

I still have 6 or 7 paintings I'd like to finish so I can bring them to Faerieworlds, but I don't know if I will get them done. I don't seem to have much painting time now that Bella is on summer break. I haven't been able to paint early in the morning because I think I have been too tired and my eyes start to bother me, so instead I've been lying on the couch resting them, which seems to help. But it cuts out my best most productive painting time!

The next Enchanted Visions theme "Green Faerie" will hopefully be posted within 2 weeks. I'm done with mine and I heard our guest artist is done with hers...we're just waiting on Jessica. (get a move on girl!) I've also heard that other participants  are eagerly waiting to post their versions on http://www.coriander-shea.com/enchanted-visions-project.html. Now that we seem to have this process worked out a little better, we will start posting future themes in the EV gallery. I can't wait to see what all of you come up with!

Now aspiring artists can get advice on business and art techniques from other artists already trudging through the industry! www.adviceforartists.com is online now. There is a forum and articles written by working artists. I have written 2 articles so far, though I don't know if both are up yet.

The 2010 calendars should be here either the end of next week or shortly after.

I'm reading Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Finished the Lightning Thief last week and started on The Sea of Monsters yesterday. I wish I had more reading time. I used to read for 2 hours every night before bed. Now I'm lucky if a get in 20 minutes during a long car ride. When Bella was in school, I read in the car every afternoon while waiting for her to get out of school. I was looking at my book cases the other day and there are so many books I haven't read in 8 or 10 years that I would really like to re-read--like Terri Windling's The Wood Wife and DeLint's Jack of Kinrowan and Some Place to be Flying. Some day. I still haven't read Inkdeath, because I feel I need to re-read Inkheart and Inkspell first to get a good feel for the characters again. So many books, so little time.

In other news...there is no other news. Its incredibly boring around here.

The exodus of originals from my art closet has begun! When I woke this morning, the Website Faery had magically added 2 extra galleries for me to post original paintings. I'll be posting lots and lots and (did I say lots?) lots of works as time and space permits. My sister thinks I'm posting them for too cheap, but I am the opposite of a pack rat and have so many paintings I'd like to get rid of, I am posting them inexpensively to start. Prices may go up at some point, depending upon demand and my irrational random whims. Now is a good time to pick up original art from your favorite artists. Many people are posting their works at reduced prices because of the recession. Its a good bet once the economy is healthy again, prices will go back up.

Back to work. I need to go select the next pile of paintings to scan and post....

PS--added several open edition prints to this site yesterday. These are new images I am taking to the festivals with me. More to come after Faerieworlds...

I was really tired this morning, so I tried to lie down and get some extra rest. At about 4am my cat apparently had a run in with a raccoon outside, which had me running to the door to see what was going on. Nothing much. At 4:45am the stupid crows started squawking non-stop...I give up. Anyone who thinks crows are cool, has not had to live with them. We have crow nests in most of our fir trees and there are always a ton of them in our yard. They harass the bald eagles in swarms whenever one flies by. They steal our food if we are trying to eat outside and dare even turn our backs for a minute. I had to give up on painting one morning because there was a group of them outside my window making the most unbelievable racket, I couldn't even concentrate. They sit on the phone wires and try to poop on you when you go down the drive to check the mail.

I finished The Green Faerie piece for the Enchanted Visions project this weekend. I really like how it turned out. Can't wait to post it, though I have to wait until Jess is done with hers, and hopefully the secret guest artist we have lined up for this theme will be able to find time to paint something for us. Hint hint...how's that painting coming S? Just kidding--no pressure. We know you're swamped.

I decided to clean out my closet and will be posting tons of originals for sale soon...if my husband ever gets the additional galleries added to the site. I was hoping they would magically be there when I got up this morning. You seriously would not believe how many paintings I have sitting around here.

I guess I should go draw something.

3 hours later.....

The roofers are here. We're having our roof re-tarred finally. It should have been done when we bought the place 4 years ago, but we kept putting it off...until the major leaking every winter finally got to us. Anyway, they're up there thumping away loud enough that the house shakes and I'm having anxiety. Darren is downstairs trying to sleep--he went to bed at 3am. He says he can hear the pounding down there. I may need to leave for most of the day just so I don't have a nervous breakdown.

The usual western Washington state summer...gloriously beautiful...until the kids get out of school and then the skies go gray and I'm rummaging through my closets for my sweaters. Dang it. Finally the sun seems to be making an appearance today, though it still feels a teensy bit chilly.

I'm finally doing a little writing on the side. Don't know if anything will come of it, but it feels good to do it again. Though typing is my Nemesis. Makes my fingers numb when I do it too much. I've tried all manner of adjustments, braces, etc. Phooey.

I'm getting prints ready for Faerieworlds--lots of stuff no one has seen yet. Can't wait. I hope its not too hot this year, though I'm sure it will be sweltering. Ah well...we'll bring extra deodorant.

Had a few minutes to sketch yesterday. Here is what my really rough concept sketches for poses look like. Kind of scary aren't they?

I'm thinking of purchasing some new pose reference books. They're books containing tons of nude photographs, usually of women, buy some have men in them too, specifically for artists to use as reference. The first reference book I ever purchased was Illustrator's Reference Manual - Nudes (back in 1993!), which I know some of my other artist friends have too, because I recognize some of the poses. I've also got some books from China, which are STUFFED with photos, though a lot of them are sort of weird poses and not very useful. Still, they show a pose from various angles and they have several different models so you can see the variations in human form from person to person, which is interesting. Anyway, I could use some new inspiration, since I haven't had time to sit on the couch and doodle aimlessly in a while.

I keep losing my mechanical pencils! If the goblin who is taking them doesn't fess up, all goblin garbage privileges will be revoked immediately!

Bella graduated from Kindergarten today. It was really sweet. Her teacher said something wonderful about every child in the class and it was very hard for me not to cry, it was so touching. In fact, I admit I was doing a lot of sniffling in the back of the room. So, summer break has begun! Its going to be hard to get any work done. I've already slowed down a lot in the last month. I'm ready for a break. I've got 2 paintings to finish first, though I don't know if I have the energy. I should be painting right now, but all I can think about is the Cupcake Royale "Dance Party With Holly Hobby" (white cake with pink frosting) cupcake waiting for me in the kitchen for dessert tonight. I think I can hear it calling me when I sit very still and quiet....

Last night I said to my husband "Lets get Bella a little graduation gift." as Thursday she graduates from Kindergarten. I'm thinking some little toy, maybe some building blocks because she likes to build things. Darren says "I already told her she was getting a trampoline for the back yard." My reaction : "A WHAT?" I am not enthusiastic about this idea.

In other news....because we have had some interest from other artists regarding participating in the Enchanted Visions Project, we have enlisted the help of a fellow Fairy Artist who has agreed to post participant paintings. We will try to post the "theme title" roughly a month in advance. Current theme is "The Green Faerie". Thank you to Coriander-Shea for coordinating this.  http://www.coriander-shea.com/enchanted-visions-project.html

I was desperately trying to get something done this morning and little Autumn, as usual, was demanding attention, whining and tugging at me. Frustrated, I grabbed a plastic bottle of rainbow colored sprinkles. It was brand new and still sealed, so I thought maybe she could shake it a bit like a rattle and be occupied for the 10 minutes I needed to finish whatever it was I was doing. (Looking back it seems such an insignificant task, I no longer remember what it was.) I finished up and turned to check on Autumn, but didn't see her right away. I started scanning the living room and then walked around the side of the couch. There she sat, on the floor in her cute blue overalls, perfectly content. She had somehow managed to break the seal on the bottle, open it, and poor out all the lovely colored sprinkles all over the floor. She was happily shoving them in her mouth. "Oh no!" I cried...and then immediately started laughing.

I just finished my first attempt at designing paper dolls. It was harder than I had originally thought it would be. When my friend Shawn does the graphics for the header cards, I can hopefully post them. Though I haven't heard back from her yet as to if/when she will be able to do it. Crossing fingers.

We're getting ready to the Cornucopia Street Fair mid-July. I know it seems a bit early to start now, but if I don't do it early, I'll put it off too long. I have limited space and have to narrow down what I bring to roughly only 100 different images. Seems like no problem...until you factor in that there are probably over 300 to choose from! I will be bringing a bunch of newer art to the fair so I can see what types of images people are gravitating towards. Then the end of July/beginning of August we'll drive down to Oregon for Faerieworlds. I will be debuting a new series that weekend called "Unrulies".
 

Munro Collectibles just came out with some pretty black velvet journals. They have 4 of my images, but I only took photos of 2 of them. Also, my Coloring book is finally here! I'll be working on some new coloring pages sets too, which hopefully will be ready in a week or 2.

We spent a lot of time working on our front yard this year. We have a pretty big chunk of yard, which we bought because we wanted our kids to have a magical childhood with lots of places to run and invent games. We usually have to hire people to help w/ weeding and general clean up a couple times a year because its too much work for just me to handle, though my girls are very good little helpers. The gardens have been looking really lovely this year. Its amazingly soothing to walk along the paths and look at the flowers, trees and rocks. So, we decided to do something nice for the gardens and have a fine mulch delivered and pumped into the bads to help keep in moisture and fertilize. The mulchers showed up this morning, did their thing and left. We knew we'd have to do some clean up, but when we went outside to see how much, we were in shock. Darren had told them not to blow mulch on the paths. Some of the paths are crushed granite like the one Bella and I put in this spring, but 2 others have grown over with light green moss that looks like a carpet-its amazingly beautiful and maybe my favorite part of the whole garden besides the big granite boulders. There was mulch all over the paths. I had to "pressure wash" the moss. I think it will come back to its previous loveliness in a week or 2. Darren told them not to cover up the sprinklers. The sprinklers are all covered with several inches of mulch. Many of my flowers we completely buried, including my lovely new blue delphinium which has the most gorgeous blue/violet flowers--HAD the most gorgeous blue/violet flowers. I found them snapped off and stuffed under a fir tree sapling. All of my coral bells and hostas look like someone beat them with a stick. My lungwart (an unfortunately named plant, but really beautiful) had gone floppy this spring after some watering troubles and was just starting to come back to life....its now a muddy floppy mess. Darren looked around and said "Why did we do this?" I've cleaned up as much as I can today and I'm hoping the sprinklers (if they manage to pop up that is--I haven't had time to dig up all of them) will help remove a lot of the dirt covering the leaves of everything. Its really depressing, but hopefully it will all look better in a week or 2 and hopefully the mulch will help the plants eventually become healthier. BLAH!

I opened up my tube of Lamp Black paint today and it smelled like skunk. And I mean SKUNK--the little furry black and white kind, a scent which I unfortunately am quite familiar with. Every once in a while a skunk comes through our yard at night and gets startled or maybe just has an evil streak and sprays his stuff, which gets sucked into our heat pump and the entire downstairs smells of skunk for several hours. Its delightful to wake up in the middle of the night because the bedroom stinks so bad, let me tell you. I have no idea why my paint smells like skunk, but I have on occasion noticed other colors that smell like fish. I can't remember right off hand which ones, though.

When Charles DeLint agreed to write the forward for my first book, he emailed me to ask some questions about my art and get a feel for it. He also mentioned that he dabbled in painting and wanted to know what types of supplies I used. I answered Daniel Smith paints and Arches watercolor paper, to which he promptly replied with something like "How can you paint on Arches, it stinks?" (Those are not his exact words). After that I realized it does vaguely smell of sweaty gym socks and thought "Gee...thanks for bringing that to my attention, Charles." Unfortunately, now I am much more acutely aware of the smells of my supplies. Lamp Black has never smelled like skunk before, though. I wonder if paints can go sour.

For me, the hardest part of a painting is deciding what colors to use. Color can make or break a piece and time after time I've completed a painting and then looked down at it and thought "Gee, I wish I'd picked different colors." Like right now, I am trying to decide on colors for 2 pieces and, as per my usual, the pallet keeps shifting as I actually start to paint. What was suppose to be green becomes teal, royal blue ends up with purple accents once I realize the royal blue alone is too dull, and I'm bouncing around about whether or not to add salt textures--or will it be too much? And if do add the texture and its too much, will a light wash of color over the top take the edge off? Do I even risk it? Well in the current case I went ahead and did the salt texture and it worked out fine. PHEW! Crisis averted....for probably another 30 minutes.

I am totally NOT getting anything done today!!!!! I'm trying really hard too. I keep getting interrupted and side tracked. So I am going to post 3 paintings I did a while back and wasn't really planning on ever showing, because I did them just for me and most of you will hate them anyway. Titles respectively are: Ithleglotte Healer,  Prophet of the Ithleglottes and Ursuline and the Ithleglottes.  What is an Ithleglotte? I have no idea.

I'm having a really hard time getting motivated to draw the last few days. I don't know if its that only sleeping 5 or 6 hours a night for months on end is wearing me out or if its all the dismal news about the economy and new taxes seeping in every day. I really do need to get my rear in gear, because Jessica and I have decided on the next Enchanted Visions title, "The Green Faerie", and I am working on a new series of paintings I want to debut at Faerieworlds this summer.

Autumn (nearly 18 months old now) is running around the house wearing a pair of my blue and white striped fuzzy winter socks. They come up to her thighs. Normally when she steals my socks, she turns them into sock puppet monsters and waves them around growling. So wearing them on her legs is sort of new---she does love her fashion and accessories. And now she's stolen 2 of my art pens, so I had better go after her....

This Saturday, June 6th, I will be signing at Browser's Books in Kent, WA from roughly 2 to 4pm. I'll be bringing a basket of new art including several pieces that no one other than my husband and sister has seen. Be there or be flogged by drunken goblins.

Photos of some of my studio Muses....

Here is the sequel to A Singular Wish. I am not sure yet what I want to name it, but I am thinking "Two Wishes" might be the title. I reserve the right to change my mind an infinite number of times, however. (Also re-posting A Singular Wish for reference.)

 The front yard has been weeded. We finished the veggie garden on Friday and on Saturday we cleaned up the filter for the goldfish pond and Bella lost her first tooth! The Tooth Fairy left her $3. I bet Tooth Fairies are pissed about inflation. They probably sit around complaining about the good old days when they could leave a penny under the pillow.
I finished the last of my stack of 45 paintings on Friday too. The last of which is the sequel to A Singular Wish. If I have time this week I will post it. The rest were for a project I am working on....so no peeking.

I read Fablehaven by Brandon Mull last week. Loved it, now I'm hooked. Started the 2nd book yesterday. I love the descriptions of the garden fairies and giant fairies--they remind me of my art. Its like my own characters kept popping up in the book, which was awesome. Ever have one of those feelings when you wish something was real so badly, you ache? That's how I feel about Fablehaven. A conservation for mythical magical creatures/characters would be so incredible. *sigh* But I'd settle for the garden full of fairies (especially since they do most of the yard work).

art update: 6 more paintings to go. They've been going faster than I thought they would. yipee!

 http://www.thefaeryshop.co.uk/faemagazineAUTUMN2008.htm 

UK Faerie magazine "FAE" has an interview with me in their Autumn 2008 issue. I realize this blurb is a bit late, but I only just got a copy myself. :) 

art update: 12 more paintings to go....but all the easy ones are now done and only tough ones left. :(

After some brief calculations this morning, I came to the conclusion that I need to finish 3 paintings a day to finish the stack of 45 paintings by my self imposed deadline which falls before the end of the month. Alas, I don't think it will be possible. I suppose we will see. Many of the pieces have multiple characters, so I won't be able to buzz through them. I'm really just not far enough along on most of them to finish on time. Still, I'll do my best.

All I really want for Mother's Day is to have a clean and organized home. Of course that is really too big a wish to make all at once, but I have started with baby steps. I cleaned the back half of the kitchen yesterday and set up an art project area for Bella so she will stop using the dining room table. Now I can look at that portion of the house without cringing. This morning I spent an hour and a half tidying up my studio. I'm not done, but have made a lot of progress. While organizing, I found the scissors I missplaced 3 months ago, as well as a piece to my fish tank which I missplaced 5 months ago.

This weekend will probably be time for more yard work. We desperately need to finish building the veggie garden if we're going to have any plants this year and in another part of the yard, I want to plant an entire bed w/ day lilies. Why? Because its a hot sunny bed and in 4 years I have found the only thing that thrives there are lilies--so lilies it is! Bella and I need to pick out some flower seeds as well. We have several large empty planters on our porch and to save money I decided to plant seeds this year instead of buying plants. We'll see how they do. We planted red poppies and golden cosmos last weekend. No sprouts yet, but we will keep a close watch. The new Hostas and Huecheras (2 of my very favorite plants which luckily do well in our yard) I planted last spring are coming up in the shade garden. I can't get through a nursery without buying the newest Huecheras. They have the coolest leaves.

I suppose I should do a little art this morning. I have bathrooms to clean after the girls wake up. yippee

***art update: finished 6 of the 45 pieces I am working on.

"L" emailed and asked ...."I am VERY curious at how on earth you paint 80 things at once!!!...just HOW BIG IS YOUR STUDIO...".  I do have a big studio with 8 tables in it, but most of them are usually covered w/ stuff. I have to clear space so I can lay out paintings while they dry. I also break paintings into temporary groups. Example: "Today I will paint all the rocks." So any painting that doesn't have a rock goes into a pile and the rest get laid out on the tables, ready to have their rocks painted. When the rocks are dry, I might decide "Now I am going to work on pieces with animals in them." at which time I will sort through all the paintings again and pull out the ones w/ animals. Etc, etc, etc. I usually save wings and hair until last, which usually takes an hour or so per painting (depending), so in the end I often finish several paintings each day. If I have 3 hours to paint in the hair/wing stage,  generally I can bet I will finish 3 paintings during that 3 hour block.

Today I am painting black clothing....

Last year I took on a stack of more than 80 paintings at once (many were small simple 5x7 "accent" pieces, but a good amount were larger as well). I had been drawing and drawing and couldn't stop. I was going nuts trying to get them all done and swore I would NEVER again take on that monumental a task. About a month after I had finished them, I started on another stack of more than 40....once again "I will NEVER paint this many pictures at one time again!" And swore "no more than 10 at a time, tops". And here I sit, toiling away over 45 paintings. I have been painting skin for 3 days. I am about to tear out my hair. So, once again, I say "I WILL NEVER PAINT THIS MANY PAINTINGS AT ONCE AGAIN!!!!" Now if you see a post a few months from now saying I am working on a stack of 20 paintings or something--give me a virtual smack upside the head. I need to finish this stack before school is out for the summer, because I plan on spending more time with my kids while I can.Then hopefully I can reign myself in to 4 paintings at a time.

Here's another sample of me using the same pose in different ways. I did Diabolique first-the demon girl in greenish hues. About a week or so later I did Northern Oracle because I wanted to paint something with big fancy wings.

We have a long, wide driveway that leads up to and along the side of our house. At the end of the driveway are 2 flowering cherry trees. Yesterday it was sunny and about 70 degrees--absolutely gorgeous. I happened to glance out the window at the perfect moment to see a wind whip into the driveway and force a cloud of cherry blossom petals swirling up the driveway. It looked like a nature spirit soaring through the yard. It was really incredible. I've never seen anything like it. I think there may be a painting here.....

My 6 year old, Bella, came into my studio this morning while I was working. She asked what kind of flower I was painting and I told her "honeysuckle". She watched me for a while and said "Honeysuckle looks the most  beautiful when you paint it." hee hee--she is the sweetest thing.

Been trying to tidy up my studio, but Autmn is toddling after me pulling out everything I put away. I give up....sigh....

I like to read books for young adults (though I read other types of books than just that). I can usually be assured the stories will be on the light side and not bogged down with too much sex and violence, which I think can sometimes ruin a good story-or at least disrupt it for no good reason. Plus, with all the stress I face most days, I can't handle anything too crazy. I want something that will let me escape life for a while. I just finished 2 books I greatly enjoyed. The writing was like home cooked comfort food. Savvy by Ingrid Law and Horns & Wrinkles by Joseph Helgerson. Yesterday I started on the 3rd Ember book and after that will probably read the latest Artemis Fowl. And by then, I will be in need of something a little more grown up but still ridiculous (that's ridiculous in a good way), so will probably look for a vampire novel of some sort.

The new Crystal Tara clothing line should be here next week. Hopefully it won't take too long to get photos and post them. We also just got in some really cute Curiosity mugs-hoping to get those posted soon.

Here's a painting I did about a week back titled A Singular Wish. I had a lot of fun painting this piece and want to do more like it. I'm hoping to paint a companion piece to it next month, but I'm not sure of a title for it yet.

We have decided to put in a 6x12 foot vegetable garden in the back yard. Darren built a large frame, which we are filling with gravel (to make a grass free path surrounding the bed) and then will build a raised bed on top and fill with soil. Not sure what we'll be planting yet, but if it works out, we'll add another bed next year. I'm pushing for a berry bed full of blueberries and raspberries. I'd also like to grow kiwi-but one thing at a time. Bella helped me pour the crushed granite for our garden path (she did most of the work, actually-to my surprise), so that's one thing done on the to-do list. Of course that list is already so long, we could do a project every month and still be working on it years from mow.

Darren wants to get goats for the back yard too, so he doesn't have to mow the lawn. uhhmmmmm.........

Thought I'd share some pictures of my garden. They've been taken over the last 3 years, and some things have changed, as gardens do. Its always evolving.

The rain is back. The sky is a flat,  curious shade of milky gray. If you look out across the bay, its like the world just ends in a blank sheet of nothing. I'm OK with it, because now I don't have to water my plants.

Here's a brief description of my process when painting. I get asked this a lot, so thought I would post it here. My process now is much different than it was 10 years ago when I would just grab a piece of watercolor paper and started scribbling until I got something I liked and then painted it.
1. concept sketch-usually doodled while sitting on the couch watching TV. Often these sketches don't contain much or any detail--usually just a character pose. Later on I might develop the sketch more for sale.
2. Character sketch is then transferred to watercolor paper via a light table.
3. Details, clothing, back ground, etc are sketched out on watercolor paper.
4. I sit and stare at the paper for an extended amount of time wondering what colors to paint it. I make notations in the margin, which I often abandon later. Eventually I give up and decide it will be whatever color I throw at it at the time.
5. If there is a full background, I start with washes of color. If its a white background, I begin with any plants, borders, mushrooms, etc.
6. When the background is complete, I paint any creatures or secondary characters.
7. The main character is painted last, starting with the skin, then clothing, wings and hair last.
8. I sit and stare at the picture some more and decide whether or not any final changes need to be made. Sometimes I go back and make changes weeks after the piece is "finished".

Its been sunny and beautiful for a few days now. I see people walking past the house, one after another, enjoying the day. Lots of convetibleswith the tops down  and cars with the windows rolled down driving by. Every Spring the weather tricks us into thinking Summer is sneaking in early and then WHAM the temperature drops 20 degrees and the rains start up again. I'm so tempted to pack up the sweaters and boots and bring out the linen blouses and skirts, but I know tomorrow its suppose to get cold and wet again. On the up side, it means I won't be tempted to go out in the yard to play in the dirt and I'll be forced to get some work done.

Looks like the frosts have taken several of my plants again this year. I was most disgusted to see our 2 big Australian Mint bushes dead. They were gorgeous and they smelled fabulous. Like minty heaven. Grrrr. I decided to pull a bunch of plants up and move them to make a new path through a soggy area that I have trouble growing anything in anyway. The only plants that do well there seem to be Japanese Water Irises, so I'll pick up a bunch of those this spring.

It was a beautiful day today. I dug in the dirt, then drank some sangria and finished reading "Coraline". It left me, once again,  feeling like I need to be doing something more. (I have frequent surges of anxiety over feeling like I should be doing SOMETHING....something more than what I am doing) So now I have an ache in my chest and a yearning to write, though every time I start writing, I never have the time to finish it. Maybe when my girls are older.

I survived Career Day!! Thankfully the kids had lots of good questions to ask, so I didn't have to drone on about boring licensing junk for 2 hours. It was really pretty cute.

I asked my daughter which careers she got to learn about today and she said there was a policeman who is a detective and "some other guy who does something". Hmmmm.

This morning I have to go to my daughter's school for Career Day. I volunteered thinking it would be maybe 15 minutes of talking and then I'd be on my way. Actually, its 4 25 minute talks plus breaks adding up to nearly 2 hours and 40 minutes of the day. I have no idea what I am going to talk about for 25 minutes, or how I'm going to do it 4 times in a row. Crossing my fingers the kids have a lot of questions. I'm not even sure what age groups I'll be talking to, so this should be interesting...or a nightmare. I guess I'll see in less than 5 hours. I remain hopeful! I've never done anything like this before and I am pretty sure I am a horrid public speaker.

So I expected to be painting this week, but it looks like I will be continuing with my sketches instead. I'm not looking forward to the pile I will have to paint when I'm done sketching. I once worked on 85 paintings all at the same time. It took me several weeks and I was so sick of painting by the time I finished, I vowed I would never do so many at once again. A few weeks later....I was working on 40 pieces at once. Its like I can't help but punish myself. These numbers all sound ridiculously high, but keep in mind a pile of drawings might have only a few large and intricate pieces, a handful of medium sized pieces and a whole bunch of small simple pieces, like studies of weird little faery creatures which only take an hour or so to complete.

For a couple of years now I have been collecting Daniel Smith Primatek Watercolors. They're made from real semi precious stones and minerals like hematite, garnet, sodalite, lapis, amethyst, and turquoise. They are great for textured washes and accents because the minerals separate in interesting ways. I haven't used them as much as I would like to, because I'm not familiar with the colors yet, but the few experimental pieces I played with have been fun. I did a painting using sodalite that has  soft blueish gray granulated textures. And I'm very fond of serpentine because it is a lovely shade of green with tiny rust/brown specks. I'm looking forward to playing with them some more this year.

I paint really fast. Its my only option. If I spend too much time on one piece, it starts to lose its enchantment for me and I get bored and restless. Its hard to keep pushing myself to finish and do the job right. Since I always have a ridiculous number of ideas in my head,  I normally work on anywhere from 10 to more than 80 pieces at a time-hopping back and forth painting a little on this one, a little on that one. I have a hard time focusing on just one idea at a time. This next week I will be working on a new pile of sketches--27 so far waiting to be painted, though some may make their way to the "I just don't feel like painting you right now" pile.  I imagine by the following week I will start painting the backgrounds... if I don't think up more ideas I want to try out and end up sketching for another week. Its like a sickness.

I've been a fan of James Christensen's work for nearly 18 years (wow that sounds crazy...but then I've been a fan of Brian Froud for nearly 30 years and that sounds even crazier) and I just recently bought James' newest book "Men and Angels". I'm still smarting over the $85 price tag, but its a HUGE book and very nicely done. There are some really fabulous pieces in it that I have never seen before. I'm hoping to work on an homage to Christensen some time this month called "Fish Walker". I've got the sketch started and have been looking at photos of fish for reference.

At least once a year I go through a phase where I hate everything I've painted in the past and everything I'm currently working on. I wish I could paint like someone else, do a different style and higher caliber of work. So I break off from my usual art style and start furiously working on new pieces to satisfy my anxiety. I'll crank out a few paintings that I'll be more or less pleased with, but I go nearly crazy while I'm creating them (It's not good enough, this part isn't right, oh its all ruined!). Eventually I come to my senses and realize I need to be happy with the type of work I do already and that it serves a purpose. It inspires others to start down their own artistic paths, or so I have been told. It might make one person smile when they've had a bad day or allow someone in the hospital to forget their pain for a brief moment. So what if I can't paint like Michael Parkes or James Christensen? I am fairly good at what I CAN do, and that's fine. At least that's how I'll feel until the next bought of painting anxiety attacks.

Got my samples for a new line of gift items from Pacific Trading the other day. There are some pretty adorable pieces. The new line includes: Faery Trinket boxes, Faery Bells(my faery characters sitting on upside down tulip flowers w/ little bells inside), tiny pewter figures, journal and pens sets, pewter necklaces, Faery "snow" globes.

BLAH!!!! I just had a big brown spider on my neck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (goes into a crazy convulsive dance around the studio) I think it must have hopped a ride on a big box I carried up the stairs. ARGH!!! I need a psychiatrist!!!

I have a new favorite site right now: www.annsmonsters.com. They are the cutest sock monsters ever. The FAQ page is a giggle as well. My studio definitely needs a sock monster or 2....or 3. I love handmade dolls, critters, and sculpted pieces. If anyone knows of some really fabulous websites with handmade 3 dimensional art, send us an email.

I go through phases where I'm obsessed with certain colors. In recent months I've been drawn to combinations of  teal, aquamarine and brown. Two weeks ago it shifted a little to aquamarine, periwinkle and lavender. Now I think I am moving into a periwinkle, deep purple and wine phase. Periwinkle seems to be a big part of my color schemes lately. I worked on 2 pieces last month in periwinkle and cream, which is a beautiful combination. Last week it was periwinkle and royal blue on one piece and periwinkle, purple and wine on another (with a predominantly green piece thrown in that only took 2 hours to paint). I'm very happy with the new updated color pallet. The colors are rich and beautiful and soothing.

And now, totally off subject, I have decided to post photos of the mushrooms that grow in abundance in my back yard every fall.

Thank you to everyone who came to the 2nd Annual Tacoma Spring Faerie Festival. I hope this event continues to grow each year.

I just got back from Costco, on a mission to spend no more than $200, because we're on a budget (like most people these days)....managed to spend twice that. Oh well. Such is the way of the darkly enchanted super warehouse. I know better, yet I am always hopeful as I walk through the doors. At least I didn't leave with the $1100 gazebo I was admiring. Next on the list...I dream of vacuuming my house, because I haven't managed to find the time in 3 weeks. It is absolutely unacceptable. I hate messes, yet I am always surrounded by them and am slowly coming to accept them, as all mothers must. I will never have a perfect fancy house, but I will have a comfortable home and that is more than enough for me. I grew up in old homes with character and though our current house isn't OLD (only about 37 years) it definitely has character and then some. Too much character to manage sometimes, but I think if I lived in a nice house that wasn't falling apart every other month, I wouldn't know what to do. (Though after the plumbing fiasco a couple weeks back that is still lingering, I was very nearly ready to vacate!) But the sun came out today and reports say it may stick around for a couple more days and its amazing what a little sun can do for your disposition. On warm beautiful days, for a while,  it seems like there can be nothing wrong in the world.

Now that I have bored several people into comas, I'm going to go outside!

I just opened a shoppe on Esty. autumnsidhe.etsy.com.

I'll be posting original art there. Some of my current postings are a little blurry because my scans are too small, but I will endeavor to fix that in the future. I'm still getting the hang of things.

REMINDER: I will be at the Tacoma Spring Faerie Fest this Saturday the 4th. Stop by and say HI!

I am excited to announce, some time mid to late April, my new line of clothing through Crystal Tara will be in. They've got some really cool tops and mini dresses that I am flipping out over. The quality is very nice and they are Earth friendly too, which is a plus! I'm looking forward to warm weather so I can wear my Bottom of The Garden mini-dress with some capri leggings. I've included a photo of some of the styles coming in the near future.

I've gotten a few emails from people commenting on my post about Licensing on 3/25. I feel like maybe I made licensing sound horrible, which wasn't my intention. I just wanted to lay out a more realistic view, because I get a lot of email from young people who believe if they get into licensing, it will make them rich over night. Licensing your art is like anything else in life--sometimes it will be great and sometimes you'll learn hard lessons. It does help bring your work more exposure, where "doing it yourself" might not get your work out there as much as a line of licensed products would. You can't expect licensing to solve all your money problems, but with a good contract and well researched companies you'll probably be fine. When possible I try to engage in non-exclusive contracts so I'm not too tied up with one company, because you never know what is around the corner. I try to be fair and though I might have 2 companies who do note cards, I try to make sure both companies have different art and a different style to their product.

That's it for now. I am getting ready for the Tacoma Spring Faerie Festival this Saturday. I just know no matter how well prepared I am, I will forget to pack something.....

I have nothing interesting to report. I bought gorceries, did laundry, it rained all day. So, here's some filler....

In answer to requests regarding what types of art supplies I use:
Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors
Winsor & Newton Gouache
Daniel Smith 2300 series round brushes
Arches Bright White 300lb hot press watercolor paper
Micron Pigma ink pens
PITT artist pens
Prismacolor colored pencils
inexpensive Pentel mechanical pencil
table salt, isopropyl alcohol

Occasionally someone will ask "Why do you use the same poses over and over again?" Actually, there are several reasons why I use the same poses, and looking through many of the art books in my collection, I notice some very famous artists do it as well. I'm always fascinated with the way other artists work and love it when I see similarities to myself (proving I am not alone in my artistic insanity). I can't speak(type) for anyone but myself, but here are my reasons for recycling poses:

1. Every painting has an unlimited number of directions it can take. I can look at a pose and see a variety of possibilities. Sometimes I need to explore more than one direction.
2. Sometimes I love a pose, but don't like the finished painting in general and decide to use the pose again in an attempt to create a piece I feel good about.
3. Some poses are just so fun to draw/paint, that I love to use them over and over and see how I can change the feel of an image with different colors, clothing, settings.

Below I posted 2 new images I did with the same pose-well generally the same pose. They started out the same and then I felt I needed to change the legs on one of the pieces.

Every so often I get emails or letters from people who want to get into the art business and don't really know how to start. I think there are many paths and I don't know which one is the best or fastest. I think it's different for everyone. For me, I think it was mostly luck, but I'll lay my path out anyway. The art world has its good side and bad side. I wish I had known about the bad before I got started. I would have made some different decisions. So maybe this will help some of you. 

I did not go to college. I'm self taught, which means even after 16 years I am still learning and working at becoming better. I started by working a full time job at an art gallery and painting on the side. I sold prints of my work through local shops and at street fairs. After a couple of years my boyfriend set up a website for me and I quickly began getting requests to purchase prints online.

I was doing well selling my work retail and wholesale both online and at local shops and street fairs. I was able to quit my day job and paint full time. Then a buyer at Hot Topic just happened to see my website and contacted me about licensing products for Hot Topic and Torrid stores. Everything took off from there. Hot Topic gave me wonderful exposure and I started licensing more and more products. I made a very good living for a few years, though contrary to popular belief, I do not make millions of dollars off my work. Some years you make a good living and others you might just scrape by. It all depends on the spending whims of the populace, trends, economy, etc.

I love my job, but it has its ups and downs. To dispel the belief that being an artist is a glamorous life, let me lift the curtain on the dark side. I have licensed my work to be used on a lot of products over the years, but keep in mind artists only generally get 4% to 10% of the wholesale cost of the item. Wholesale would be roughly half or less than half of what you would pay for something in a store. So a $10 coffee mug at wholesale costs $5 and the artist gets between .20 and .50 for each mug sold. You have to sell an awful lot of mugs for that to add up. Hence, to make money licensing you often have to do a lot of it, unless you get lucky and land a really good deal (but good deals are fleeting, so enjoy them while they last). And now we walk a little further into the dark side of licensing….you don’t always get paid, even if the product was very popular. Sometimes companies go out of business without paying you. Sometimes they skim off your royalties and don’t pay you what is actually owed. Sometimes you sign a bad contract and the company makes millions, while you see very little of it. Luckily, there are a lot of companies out there who are GREAT and working with them is a real joy. So licensing is worth it, but its still hard work like any job.

That’s it for now. I’m supposed to be sketching. Here’s a couple pictures  to brighten your day. (Since these days we can use all the smiles we can get.)

It's 4:30 am…I am the only one awake in the house and its peaceful and quiet….and then my kids' crazy haunted talking toy suddenly starts talking for no reason and scares the crap out of me. I hate that toy! There's nothing creepier than working peacefully and then some disembodied squeaky child-like voice starts singing behind you. (shiver)

What am I doing up at 4:30am? I get up at 3:30am every morning. Yes, EVERY MORNING whether I want to or not. From 4am to 7am is often the only time I have all day to do any work because of our children's schedules. Its daily torture, but sometimes you have to do what works. And now, I need to get back to inking in a stack of drawings….

PS.hey, I figured out how to upload pictures...cool

Well we finally got the site back up, after a longer than anticipated slumber. We've cleaned everything out and have started fresh. My goal is to use this site as my "personal site" where I can share my more personal works, projects and thoughts. I am spending most of this year working on becoming a better artist. I have a LOT of room for improvement and there is always something new to learn. I bought my friend (and one of my favorite artists) Stephanie Law's book on watercolor techniques. Its not only a beautiful book, it has a lot of really good info on painting techniques, composition and colors. I've always been a big fan of Stephanie's color pallet and the elegant movement in her work. 

Other than experimenting with new painting techniques and styles, I decided to experiment with how I sell my prints. I'm always asking myself "How can we become more efficient, use less packaging, take up less room?" So, with the exception of matted prints, we are selling all prints on this site without the usual individual backings and clear sleeves. This should reduce the weight of the packages, excess packaging materials, and additional costs. It allows us to reduce the price of the prints and shipping charges as well.

Since it is almost time to get the kids ready for the day, I'll quit now. Hopefully more interesting entries will follow in the future. I'm suppose to be able to post images as well, but I don't know how yet, so something else to look forward to....