Judy Adamson's Art and Design blog

Early Flowers and Late Flowers - Snowdrops and Nasturtiums

2012-01-29T16:30:00.000-08:00

Nasturtiums are one of my favourite flowers.

They go on flowering well into the Autumn and as the afternoons grow shorter towards winter, I've often been cheered by their bright glow in the dusk as I look out from my work. So after the trials and tribulations of piecing together my repeating pattern last week, I was all the more determined to bring that experience to an outcome that I'd be pleased with.

And this is it: the tracing from last week's post with colour added!

And here is the Messenger Bag that this was originally designed for:

Scarlet and Yellow Nasturtiums Courier Bag by helikettle

You'll see why I needed a large area of repeating pattern, if you go to my:

Mugs, Mousepads & More - cases etc

blog

- where you can see the whole of the back of the Messenger Bag, as well as a range of sleeves and planners that complement it.

Of course, as I love creating pretty tea pots, pitchers, mugs etc, the design also found its way onto some of them as well - not forgetting a few greeting cards -

Mugs, Mousepads & More - teapots etc

Pleased as I was, in the end, with my 'Summer Garden' design, I hoped to move on to something less challenging for my daughter's birthday card.

Her birthday is in February, the month that I always associate with snowdrops. Lord Alfred Tennyson called them 'Fair Maids of February' and, delving into my huge old file of screenprinting designs that I've hoarded since the 1980's, I came across this scruffy little tracing -

This was great news as, although I have crocuses flowering in my garden, there's no sign of the snowdrops from previous years and I read somewhere that they don't like heavy clay soil - which is precisely what ours is!

So, on Friday afternoon, I scanned the tracing, enlarged it, printed it out and traced it again, ready for the lightbox. I was undecided about the best way to go about painting the blue background, which I could see would be interminably fiddly with all those stalks and petals to paint round - especially as I'm not a person who enjoys working meticulously, especially in paint!

One option would be to make a collage, but again, those stems would mean a lot of tricky cutting! Another way would be to use masking fluid, but I only use that when nothing else will do because it ruins brushes and is sometime difficult to get accurate enough. Then I happened upon a solution in Alison Kolesar's blog: Jumping in Puddles, where she suggests painting the whole background wash in transparent watercolours and then using gouache to paint the light colours - in my case the flowers.

So that's what I did and I was very happy with my beautiful, sunshiny sky-blue background - until I scanned it and 'Technology' let me down again! As I found with some of my seaside collages, my scanner seems to be unhappy with light blues and greens in close proximity and makes as real mess of them.

No amount of adjusting helped to put this right:

So I'll leave you to wonder if and how I'll manage to retrieve this dismal attempt at a birthday card for my daughter . . . watch this space!

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The Cat and the Nasturtiums - Repeating Patterns

2012-01-23T02:22:00.000-08:00

My cat didn’t change as much as my dragon did – and here it is as a birthday card for one of my grandsons, ready to post off to him today:

Comic Cat 12th Birthday Card

Moving on, this week’s project has been inspired by Zazzle’s launch of Messenger Bags and various matching sleeves. The bag requires a large, seamless area of pattern as the design begins underneath, goes right the way up the back and over the front to include the flap.

For me this presented a particularly exciting challenge because more than twenty years ago, I very much wanted to enrol on a ‘Surface Pattern’ course at our local Art School in Norwich. But sadly, I discovered that I would have to travel quite a distance each day as that particular course was held out at the coast, at Great Yarmouth. That was out of the question for me at that time because of family commitments and I made do with creating repeating patterns to screenprint on fabric at home instead.

Of course, all this was long before computers and photo-editing programs so I planned my designs using squared paper, tracing paper, a huge old photocopier and, for the screenprinting, vast quantities of black thread!

On Friday afternoon I set out to make a repeating pattern the old-fashioned way, using one of my watercolour flowers designs as my starting point.

Instead of the old photocopier I had previously used, I scanned my tracings and printed them out before cutting them into quarters.

and flipping them over to make a space for the upside down design . . .

But I ran into a problem and soon found myself in a terrible muddle of cut-up pieces of design and masking tape and nothing was fitting together as it was intended!

Eventually I realised that the reason that my pattern 'bits' weren't matching up was because my printer was choosing what size to print out the various parts! The difference wasn’t huge but it was enough to make a nonsense of my carefully thought out plan and there was nothing I could do about it!.

Luckily, after several increasingly frustrating hours of trying this and that, I found a way to do the same thing on my computer, by ‘virtually’ cutting up my design and using ‘layers’ to reposition the elements before printing out the whole thing and tracing it, ready to paint. Must admit, I felt a certain sense of victory over my capricious printer!

This may look like a meaningless jumble of shapes - and it isn’t helped by the fact that I rather hurriedly traced over the pencil lines with my wacom tablet when the tracing paper scan came out rather faint for posting online.

But next week, all will be revealed!

PS If you would like to know how to make a repeating pattern design without resorting to a computer, click here for a good, clear explanation - it is more or less the method I've always used and the only reason it didn’t work for me this time was that my printer has a mind of its own!

From Dragons to Cats . . .

2012-01-16T04:25:00.000-08:00

Anyone who saw last week’s post will notice that my dragon changed quite a bit, thanks largely to Diana’s suggestion about his muzzle!

And here she is on a t-shirt!

Toddler T-shirt with Cute Red Dragon

It made me notice that the dragon on the Welsh flag is not very dragon-like:

In fact it looks suspiciously like an adaptation of the lion on this Scottish flag!

But with the digital addition of the green background, I’ve made mine into:

Welsh Red Dragon Cards and Products on Zazzle

* * *

With one of my grandson’s turning 12 at the end of this month, a difficult age for birthday cards for boys, I find, that’s what this week’s doodling has focused on. Last year I based his and his older brother’s cards on a slightly comical cat theme:

And this is what’s coming up for this year so far:

Any idea what the caption might be?

Doodling a Dragon

2012-01-09T03:26:00.000-08:00

Now that I’ve taken down the Christmas decorations – and cleaned up after them! – and the Christmas cake is all eaten, it’s time to get back into ‘work mode’! I’ve made a new work plan and it includes, at some point, opening a new Welsh Language Zazzle store.

The emphasis is on ‘at some point’ as I have plenty of other, more urgent things to do. But my Naughty Pencil couldn’t resist doodling a little dragon for the new store’s banner.

I’m not sure yet whether to give my dragon teeth. And how can I make his face look less like a cow's? Just a couple of my immediate reactions on seeing my doodle on the computer screen. I’m very thankful for my computer because, when I scan in an image and see it on the screen, it often helps me to see things I want to change. So the finished dragon may be quite different in all sorts of small ways.

I hope to take my dragon to the next stage and paint it over the weekend – and it may even form the basis of a new St David’s Day greeting card.

Stay tuned . . .

A New Year full of ideas, plans, hopes - and doubts

2012-01-05T00:44:00.000-08:00

Dawn at Great Massingham, Norfolk

Towards the end of each year I’m inclined to look back and review the progress of the plans I set out with at the start of the year.

For the past four years, I always seem to have been disappointed at the way things have gone, mostly as a result of things outside of my control, such as the ‘Economic Downturn’. But I pick myself up and start afresh with enthusiasm, in the hope that the new year will bring better things!

Each year, though, it seems to get that little bit harder and this year is no exception. Having really enjoyed my first year or so of designing cards and selling them through Greeting Card Universe, things began to change about half way through this second year, with the introduction of the 30% tax withholding and then the ‘cull’ of cards that don’t reach GCU’s rather arbitrary ‘marketability standards’.

My response to this has been to spend my time and efforts over a wider spread of outlets, such as CardGnome and SendaSmile. And I’ve already started putting more time into creating products on Zazzle with some encouraging results.

I’m also looking into the idea of setting up a new Zazzle store for greeting cards in the Welsh Language. All exciting stuff! But I can’t help wondering how it will all have panned out by this time next year and my enthusiasm is tempered with a smidgen of wariness.

But last week, a friend sent me this quote, from T. S. Eliot, we think:

'If that is what you wish
I can reconcile you to the human condition
Learn to avoid excessive expectation
Become tolerant . . .

There is another way, if you have the courage
This way is unknown and so requires faith
The kind of faith that issues from despair
You will journey blind' . . .

So should I maybe lower my expectations? That might be a solution to avoiding disappointment when it comes to the end of the year.

But actually, I know I’m not that sort of person! So I probably have to take the ‘other way’, the way that is ‘unknown and so requires faith’.

I don’t much like the idea of having to ‘journey blind’ – I do like to have a plan, a chart of my way forward, a tick-list even, to mark my progress!

But isn’t that ‘journeying blind’, that gathering up of all the faith we can muster, isn’t that often the way that we have to approach any of our creative endeavours? It certainly is the way I produce my best artwork.

So I’ll give it my best shot – and post some of the results here in the weeks and months to come, in the hope that it will give encouragement to anyone else who may be feeling a bit lost in the fog or mired down in the trials and tribulations of trying to make a living from their art in these difficult times!

And in the hope that the very act of committing myself to posting more artwork here will encourage me to get on with it!!!!

Happy New Year, everyone, and I hope that, in spite of the gloomy economic outlook, we’ll end the year with the satisfaction of having been creatively productive, even if our finances remain rather uncertain, as they probably will!

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'Fairy at Forty ' . . . to Colour

2011-12-21T10:11:00.000-08:00

This little doodle started out as an illustration for a colouring sheet for:

'Every little girl wants to be
The Fairy on top of
The Christmas Tree!'

But my Naughty Pencil had other ideas and it turned into:

'Nobody Loves a Fairy when she's Forty . . . '

This will be my last blog post before Christmas - and possibly the last of 2011, so I'd like to say a big THANKYOU to everyone who has followed my blog and especially to those who have left their comments!

I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season, in whatever way you celebrate it, and I'm looking forward to being back in touch in the New Year!

PS I've uploaded the fairy at a size that can be printed out on A4 paper if anyone has the urge to colour her in!
.

Art as Therapy?

2011-12-15T02:08:00.000-08:00

“Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

So said Picasso. But is that your experience too? Do you find making your art therapeutic? Does it help you to relax, does it energise you? Or do you find it stressful or frustrating? Is it hard work, constantly striving to improve your art or do you look forward the challenges?

For me it can be a bit of both!

I first became aware of the stressful side of making art about twenty years ago when I was doing a lot of silkscreen printing. I would work on the design with enthusiasm until I was satisfied with it, happily prepare the stencil, the screen and the cardstock or fabric I was going to print on – and then I would freeze!

When the time arrived to actually print my design, panic would take over. I have sat in my kitchen at that point, seized by fear, super-glued to my chair! What if, after all this preparatory work, it all comes to nothing? What if I’ve wasted all this time – and materials? What if, what if...

Even all these years later, I sometimes still experience the same slightly queasy, panicky feeling when I’m about to embark on ‘the real thing’ after a period of preparatory work. But I’ve found a solution, a very simple one! All it takes is to say to myself firmly, ‘Just do it!’ – and get on with it and the panic immediately subsides.

“The pursuit of art on a regular basis may be the key to healing our minds and bodies.” Kim Blair

But by far the greater part of my experience of making art is decidedly therapeutic. I’ve probably mentioned that I’ve had back problems for much of my adult life and there’s no denying that the cause is a physical, disk problem, alleviated but not eliminated by surgery. But our minds and bodies are not easily separated from one another and our minds can play a major role in deciding the amount and severity of the pain we experience.

“Making Art is good for your health,

especially if it is done in fun”
Orithia Johnston

I first noticed the power of our minds to affect my backpain when I was spending a lot of time painting in pastels. I always stand to paint and each painting takes roughly 45 minutes, or about the length of the CD I play while I paint. Standing has always been the ‘killer’ for my back and yet I suffered no ill-effects from standing at the easel to paint.

Standing in a supermarket queue is a different matter, though! Four or five minutes and I’m shifting from foot to foot, looking for something to lean on, wishing I could jump the queue and wondering whether I’ll last out till it’s my turn to be served.

The difference, if I’m honest, is that waiting in line for my turn frustrates me, particularly as I’m always in a rush! There’s no such frustration involved in my painting, quite the opposite and the combination of the music and doing something that I love to do seems to produce the endorphins that are our body’s natural painkillers.

“Art heals by changing a person’s

physiology and attitude. It takes you

‘away’ to some other place.” Barbara Timberman

Perhaps even more astonishing is the contrast between when I was teaching and the time since my tutoring business went into decline with the economic downturn. Although I also enjoy teaching and am pretty passionate about ensuring that all children get the chance to become fully literate, at the end of each teaching session, my back was in such a bad way that it was as much as I could do to prepare something to eat – from the freezer to the microwave! - and I was taking painkillers almost every evening.

“I paint for my mental health.

It is a lot cheaper than seeing

a therapist and a lot more fun.”

Jane Conkin

But since I started painting again a couple of years ago, I can’t remember the last time I took a painkiller and there have even been days when I’ve sat for a full 10 hours at the computer without any pain.

I believe the reason for my pain whilst teaching is that old bugbear of mine – frustration! One hour a week, at a time when the children are tired, is no substitute for a short daily session and this seriously hampered the progress we were able to make – which I found very frustrating. And it was my backpain that shouted at me to stop! Unfortunately I’m quite a persistent person and I took no notice – until the economic downturn took away my choice!

I consider myself fortunate not to be a perfectionist so I rarely put myself under any pressure where my artwork is concerned and I can just enjoy it to the full. It calms me when other stresses arise, it makes me want to get up in the mornings and it feels like what I’m supposed to be doing.

Van Gogh said:

‘The only time I feel alive is when I’m painting’.

And if my grumpiness when other things keep me from painting is anything to go by, I’m beginning to know what he means!

.

Looking ahead to 2012 . . .

2011-12-12T01:49:00.000-08:00

3 festivals that fall in the first quarter of the new year

Mugs, Mousepads, and More

Golden Chinese Dragon Necklace by helikettle
Browse Dragon Necklaces

Kwanzaa Greeting Cards and Gifts

2011-12-05T01:08:00.001-08:00

Mugs, Mousepads and More

Kwanzaa Tote Bag with Candles by helikettle
Make your own bag at zazzle

New Baby Photo Cards

2011-11-28T01:20:00.001-08:00

Mugs, Mousepads and More

Oh dear - my Naughty Pencil!

2011-11-24T03:03:00.000-08:00

In fact, I think I should rename it my WICKED pencil!

The little 'doodle' above is the result of a conversation about Thanksgiving in which I suggested that we should make greeting cards for Harvest Festival, the nearest we have to an equivalent 'holiday' on this side of the pond.

But it was pointed out to me that, whereas Thanksgiving conjures up heartwarming 'images of roast turkey, happy families and joyful times', Harvest Festival is associated with 'tins of food, stacked up on a wooden bench, children singing out of tune and smelly old ladies'.

So out came my pencil while I was 'watching' an episode of Poirot that I'd seen at least twice before - but, as usual, couldn't remember whodunnit. And of course, drawing sitting comforably on the sofa always results in an upward slope to the right in my doodles.

But looking it at it now, I can't help feeling that years of teaching seven year olds has built up a kind of inner store of images of their expressions and gestures.

Presumably it's the smell of the mothballs from the fur coat that the boys are objecting to?

Pretty Little Boxes for Jewelry . . .

2011-11-21T01:57:00.001-08:00

. . . trinkets or keepsakes

Click Here

Round-up of Websites Selling Greeting Cards . . .

2011-11-20T08:01:00.001-08:00

. . . from a designer's point of view.

It’s just about two years since I first signed up to a Print-on-Demand store to sell my greeting card designs. So I thought it might help anyone just starting out – or others who are thinking of expanding, or changing tack – if I try to sum up the pros and cons of the various different options. But first I must stress that this is a very personal point of view and others may have different experiences.

I started with Greeting Card Universe and that is where I’ve had the most sales to date.

Pros:

Good quality cards at a very reasonable price.
Greeting Card Universe does a lot of the promotion for us, in conjunction with their sister sites such as Big Dates-Solutions.
Active forum but not so fast-moving that you can’t keep up with it.
Orders now printed in and shipped from the UK as well as the US.

Cons:

The review process! Intended to keep standards high and to help artists learn about what makes a marketable greeting card but the inconsistency of the reviewers’ verdicts can make this a frustrating, infuriating process!
Making photo cards and custom front cards is relatively tricky but these are new options and bugs may get ironed out over time.
The commission is reasonable but easily becomes very low, when there are special offers and customers buy in bulk, both of which happen frequently.
Payment is quarterly, provided you have reached the threshold.
‘International Artists’ ie those living outside the US are required to obtain an ITIN to avoid paying 30% tax to the IRS – this can cost time, money and effort to obtain.
The images we use for promotion in our blogs etc are very small.

My overall rating: ***

I joined Zazzle shortly afterwards:

Pros:

Huge number of products to put one’s designs on, which I enjoy!
Sellers can choose their own commission and vary it for different products in their ‘stores’.
Opportunity to earn ‘referral fees’ when a customer purchases a product through clicking on one’s link.
No review or entry standard – anyone over 13 years of age can set up shop!
Payment is automatic a certain amount of time after you reach the threshold. This threshold has been increased recently which of course means waiting longer to get paid, but it's still possible to be paid more quickly than the quarterly payments of other websites.
The ability to offer one’s designs on products such as phone cases, mugs and T-shirts means that a smaller number of sales can produce a larger amount of earnings than on a cards-only website.

Cons:

If you are not a US seller, various opportunities are withheld, such as the launch of new products and only US sales count towards becoming a ProSeller.
Prices and shipping costs seem very high for UK customers, even if the seller keeps their commission to the minimum.
The forum is lively and useful but is very fast-moving and there are no notification of replies emails so it’s easy to spend far too much time searching for the thread you were following!

My overall rating: ****

CardGnome (I joined up in August of this year)

Pros

Impressive-looking site from the design point of view – I love the way it looks – it seems to show off our designs at their best!
Apart from a banner and profile, artists do not customize their ‘storefront’. I like the clean, consistent look that this brings to the website but others may prefer to put their own stamp on their store, as with other PODstores.
The Gnomes are very friendly and helpful
Good commission, though subject to occasional special offer reductions

Cons

Tailored to the needs of US customers – eg the prices are only in dollars.
Designs must be a bit larger than the standard size – ie 5.25” x 7.25”
At this time, no possibility of customization, which I think is increasingly expected by online customers these days. But the store is relatively new and maybe this feature will be added.
Prices seem relatively high, though they include shipping.
I’ve always found the uploading process smooth and reasonably speedy, but a number of artists have had a lot of difficulties – something that we hope will improve over time.
Due to the newness of the site, there still seems to be a lot of room for modifications and improvements, such as a way for artists to contact one another outside of the forum.
Sales relatively slow so far but hopefully that will improve with time.

My overall rating: ****

(potentially more when the bugs are ironed out!)

SendaSmile (I joined in October and still stocking up my ‘shop’)

Pros

Based in the Netherlands, though there is a US domain and I believe the cards are printed in the US.
Very quick and easy system for uploading, tagging, categorising etc – once you get used to it.
Designers can offer other designers’ cards for sale in their shops if they wish – and vice versa.
Cards can be uploaded for customisation without the designer having to do anything except upload the template.
Offers square cards

Cons

Designs must be approx A4 size
No forum so it all seems very quiet!
Takes a while to get replies to enquiries – this is where a forum would probably help as artists give advice to one another.
Quite a lot of the website is in Dutch or a mixture of Dutch and English! This caused me some problems initially, when I was setting up my account and opening my shop. But once you’ve figured out what to do, it’s no longer a problem.

My overall rating: ***

Yoodoo

Based in the UK and started by Bob Lesley, of Churchill Insurance in 2004, which is when they asked me to join them, based on my pastel paintings website.

Pros

All the artist needs to so is email the designs without any text, no promoting, uploading or ‘processing’ needed. Saves time!

Cons

Artists have no control over what happens to their designs – I was horrified at the coloured borders and lettering that were put on my pastel paintings!
Very low commission, especially as they prefer designs to be ‘exclusive’ ie not available for sale elsewhere.
Since yoodoo changed hands last Autumn, contact for enquiries etc has been very difficult or non-existent!
Yoodoo decide which designs to accept and how to use them.

My overall rating: *

Red Bubble
I haven’t made a single sale through this Australian site but then I probably haven’t explored all the possibilities. I set up my account there in order to sell prints of my pastel paintings and haven’t focused at all on selling greeting cards, though I believe others are successful.

Overall rating: don’t feel it would be fair to rate this company as I haven’t played my part in promotion.

Fine Art America

See ‘Red Bubble’ above.

Artybuzz
A UK-based site with the emphasis on Prints but greeting cards and mugs are also offered. Appears to be defunct!

My overall rating: wouldn't want to speak ill of the dead!

I must stress that these are entirely my personal opinions, based on my experience and what I look for in a PODstore. Changes are constantly being made across the board so what applies today, may well not be the case next year or the following year!

You are most welcome to add your own experiences and assessments in the 'comments'. It will all help those who are just setting out down this road . . .

New Year's Greeting Cards from GCU artists . . .

2011-11-19T09:45:00.001-08:00

. . . who use traditional painting and drawing methods.

January 1st is celebrated as the beginning of the New Year in most countries and cultures, though there are other 'New Years' associated with different nations and cultures as well.

Here we have a selection of traditionally painted greeting cards for January 1st by Greeting Card Universe artists -

Diana Ting Delosh

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/dianascards

Ink and Watercolor

Cathie Richardson

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/cgs

Watercolor

Rachel McNaughton

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/artbyrachel

Watercolour

Geree McDermot

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/gereescardstore

Acrylics on Canvas Paper

Michele Naquaiya

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/naquaiya

Silk Painting

Scratchboard and Acrylic Inks

Pen and Ink

Kerra Lindsey

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/icansketchu

Watercolor

John Crowther

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/jcrowtherart

Pen, Ink and Watercolor

(You really need to take a close look at this one to appreciate the humour!)

Susan Alison

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/SusanAlisonArt

Watercolour

Sharon Himes

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/woodlandstudio

Watercolor on Paper

Lady Charlie

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/ladycharliescardshop

Ink Drawing

Lisa Charlton
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/LisaCharlton

James Peele
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/cardsbyjamespeeleart

Watercolor

Graphite and Watercolor Pens

Judy Adamson
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/judyscardstore

Handpainted Paper Collage

Christi Madden
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/cmaddenart

I hope you enjoyed these New Year's cards from so many talented Greeting Card Universe artists and I'm sure they'll all join me in thanking you for stopping by to look and in wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Traditionally Painted Cards for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa

2011-11-19T06:24:00.001-08:00

Instead of showing Christmas Cards, this month's selection of designs by Greeting Card Universe artists who use traditional methods, features designs for some of the slightly less catered for 'holidays', Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year.

There are so many New Year's cards to feature that I've split this post in two and this time, we'll just showcase cards for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Watch out for the New Year's Cards next Thursday!

Hanukkah Greeting Cards

Christi Madden

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/cmaddenart

Pastels

Diana Ting Delosh

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/dianascards

Ink and Watercolor

Audrey Ascenzo

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/audreyscardstore

Watercolors

Dorcas
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/dorcasscardstore

White Dove Studio

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/whitedovestudio

Acrylic

Monica Palermo

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/monicapalermo

Betty Matsumoto-Schuch

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/bud

Watercolor and Prismacolor pencils

Miriam Schulman

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/schulmanart

Watercolor

Judy Adamson

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/community/store.asp

Handpainted Paper Collage

Watercolour

James Peele

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/cardsbyjamespeeleart

Graphite and Watercolor

Kwanzaa Greeting Cards

Bambi Papais

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/bambiscardstore

Angie Rowe

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/calabashcards

Mixed Media

(paper, fabric, yarn, string, acrylics)

Gerda Steiner

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/Send2Smiles

James Peele

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/cardsbyjamespeeleart

Watercolor Pens

(This one has the bonus of a recipe inside!)

Judy Adamson

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/judyscardstore

Handpainted Paper Collage

I hope you enjoyed seeing what lovely designs can be produced with minimal digital input. Please click on the images to get a better view of the designs.

And if you find something you really like, even if you don't want to buy it right now, you can show your appreciation by using one of the social media buttons on their stores - such as facebook, twitter and google+. Thank you!

Instant Art

2011-11-17T01:46:00.000-08:00

One of my digital doodles!

I’ve just come across this link on the Greeting Card Universe forum.

It’s a discussion of the photography of German photographer, Andreas Gursky, in particular his ‘Rhein 11’ , which has recently been sold for 4.3 million US dollars. Do, at least, have a look at the photograph in question, even if you don’t plough through all the comments!

But reading just some of those comments certainly made me think!

It made me curious as to why the majority of the artists/photographers who commented were so very negative about the work in question, in spite of the explanations of Gursky’s intentions and the ‘message’ he intended to convey through his photography.

It didn’t seem as if they were interested in knowing what the photograph was all about; their sole criterion seemed to be the immediate visual impression it made on them. Was it ‘beautiful’ – no! Was it ‘cute’ – definitely not! It wasn’t even technically accomplished, according to some.

It seemed to me as if most of us look for certain qualities, usually to do with beauty, or ‘cuteness’, when judging a work of art and if we don’t see it immediately, we dismiss the work and move on.

I suspect that the internet has a part to play in this.

Maybe we are seeing so many images, day in day out, that we’ve lost the capacity to stop and linger on a piece of art, in just the same way that most of us ‘skim’ rather than read?

Generally, I’m not in favour of ‘explanations’ of works of art – or music, for that matter. For me, it’s all about communication and if the work itself doesn’t speak to me, without a written or spoken explanation, it has failed in its purpose as far as I’m concerned (though, of course, it may ‘speak to’ others!).

But often, I think, a piece of art needs time to convey its message.

Sometimes a piece grabs my attention with all the immediacy of a tannoy system. More often though, an image’s message affects me only if I give it time. When I visit an exhibition, I never look at all the exhibits in one visit. I like to make several visits and limit each visit to one or two pieces – unless of course there’s an expensive admission ticket to be mindful of!

Have you seen people sitting or standing in front of a great work of art for what may be hours on end?

Have you wondered whether they’ve just come in out of the cold for a sit down? Well, maybe they have! But maybe they are silently absorbing the message of the painting in front of them. Maybe they are thinking about the painting, trying to understand it with their minds. If so, that’s not what I mean.

Obviously we are influenced by our surroundings; you don’t need to be an interior designer to recognise that colours and shapes influence our mood. Maybe it’s a subliminal influence – I don’t know the science of how it works. But in the same way, a painting or photograph, a work of art that we live with or see regularly, will, over time, seep into our souls and we will gradually hear what it wanted to communicate.

I believe that could be true of Andreas Gursky’s work.

Can you imagine living alongside Rhein ll and how that would affect you? I very much doubt if it would make you feel glad to be alive; in fact it might well even depress you! But in that case, as a ‘social comment’ it would have succeeded. There is plenty to be seriously concerned about these days – our fragile economies and the deepening rifts in our increasingly unequal society.

We can turn a blind eye, preferring ‘the kitten in shoes, raindrops on rose petals or a naked woman’s behind’, mentioned in one of the comments; or we can wake up to the ‘message’, which at least allows for the possibility of doing something about it!

Thank you to Lj for sharing this interesting subject on the forum.

Hanukkah Greeting Cards . . .

2011-11-14T01:47:00.000-08:00

. . .on

Mugs, Mousepads & More

Hanukkah Greeting Card with Candles by Flutterby Designs

Browse thousands of greeting cards on Card Gnome!

Defending Ourselves against Art Critics – Inner and Outer

2011-11-10T01:37:00.000-08:00

My view of Art Critics

A few months ago, Greeting Card Universe announced a ‘raising of the bar’ that would entail the reviewers trawling through all the 500,000 cards on the website, weeding out those that were considered to fall short of their ‘marketability’ standards.

Hard as this was for some of us to swallow, they were well within their rights to do this.

The administration expressed their awareness that this would cause upset among the artists and sure enough, a great wailing and gnashing of teeth soon followed.

But quite quickly this was followed by other artists’ voices, attempting to pacify those who were panicking, assuring them that this new move was in fact for our benefit, that it would help us to ‘improve’ and that the new, higher standard expected of us would bring us more sales. So the protests subsided – for a while!

Once the ‘cull’ got underway, however, more angry and upset artists posted their woes on the forum. Again, others tried to assuage their anger with the same old story – it’s good for us, it’s the only way we will learn to create good designs, we should all be approaching this new move positively – ‘take your medicine and be grateful’.

But what these oh so positive people failed to understand is that we are not all alike, as people or as artists. What may encourage some, will discourage others, possibly terminally!

For instance, I’ve just been asked to remove the ‘trash can’ from this photo -

Spot the Trash Can!

The truth is that I tend to be a ‘broad brush’, ‘general effect’ type of person in many aspects of life. I don’t pay a lot of attention to detail and I was probably so enthralled by the overall impression of the snow in our local park that I didn’t even notice the litter bin. So, on this occasion, far from being upset, I was actually quite glad of this ‘critique’.

But there are others, some of them still ‘embryonic’ artists, certainly younger and less confident than I am, artists who are constantly plagued by the voice of their Inner Critic, probably already burdened by perfectionism. And for them , the prospect of an Outer as well as an Inner Critic is disastrous. Some of the outpourings on the forum and closure of ‘stores’ demonstrate that for some it’s intolerable.

“Perfectionism cuts the nerve of effort” Amy Harris.

And it can be the enemy of creativity too, according to this well researched article from the ‘Artists Who Thrive’ website.

Clearly we don’t all learn from the criticism of others and being asked to raise one’s standards to a rather loosely defined standard of ‘professionalism’ and ‘marketability’, definitely is not helpful to all.

On the other hand we do want to sell our art.

So maybe the solution for anyone in this situation is to keep reminding themselves that while one person may reject your work, there is likely to be someone else who will absolutely love it! 'One man's meat is another man's poison.' Maybe the market you are in is not the right one for you? Perhaps spending time finding other outlets for your work will be better use of your time and effort than trying to produce work that will please the wrong market?

But whatever you do, don’t stop creating!

Doodle, explore a different medium, try any - or all - of these 6 Tips for getting past ‘Creative Block’ –
Create without judgement, simply for the joy of creating, treat your creating time as play time, with the curiosity of a child and no particular goal in mind.

And here’s a special tip for any greeting card designer who is ‘stuck’. When you’ve used the 6 Tips above to turn down the volume of that destructive Inner Critic, create cards for your friends and relative, those you can be sure will appreciate your work.

By the time you’ve done all that, you’ll probably be ready to face those Outer Critics with a far more relaxed attitude and pick and choose whether their criticism is helpful or not!

Do you respond best to 'carrot' or 'stick'?

Photo Card Invitations . .

2011-11-07T01:42:00.000-08:00

. . .for you to personalise!

Click here

to see

Invitations to Customise

Carole Returns the Favour

2011-11-06T01:32:00.000-07:00

After agreeing to an e-interview for this blog, Canadian Wildlife Artist, Carole Barkett, asked me to answer the same questions as I had asked her. And here is the result on her blog:

Country Mouse Studio

Guest Wildlife Artist, Carole Barkett, from Canada

2011-11-03T01:54:00.000-07:00

This month's Guest Artist is Canadian wildlife painter and fellow Zazzler, Carole Barkett, of Country Mouse Studio.

Carole's Zazzle store

Carole's Greeting Card Universe Store

Carole's prints at Fine Art America

Carole introduces herself:

I live in Vernon, British Columbia. It's the Northern part of the Okanagan Valley. It would be a beautiful place to draw landscapes as it is so beautiful and varied.

I don't have a good profile photo. I'm the only person who takes photos in my family so they are all of other people. That's why I use the avatar.

As usual with e-interviews, I asked Carole when she began to be interested in Art:
My mother inspired my love of art. She grew up in a very poor family and got into trouble for drawing as they told her she was wasting paper. So she always made sure I had plenty of art supplies. Then, in her retirement, she took up oil painting and introduced me to it. She also sparked my interest in birds and nature.

Fun Birthday Humor Owl, Bird, Nature, Wildlife by countrymousestudio
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Have you done formal Art Training? The only training I had was a home study course from North Light Art. When I learned to see and draw negative spaces it took the pressure from drawing the actual thing and for the first time I was able to see some success.

The other valuable lessons I learned were from the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". Once I realized I was my own worst enemy I was so excited. I wanted everyone to try it.

I'd like to jump in here and add, that I, too, am very enthusiastic about that book, though it's one that I lent to someone and never got back - usually the sign of a very useful book! It is still available on amazon so here's the link! 'The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' by Betty Edwards - plenty of reviews to give you a good idea of what it's about!

Carole, what is the most important thing you've learnt from experience, or other people?
I've gained the most knowledge by having my art for sale. It's a very humbling experience. The art I love and think turned out the best often no one else likes or even notices and often the art I'm reluctant to put for sale, sells. I am still learning what is best for me.

Funny, "LOOK a mouse pad! Cute Mousepad by countrymousestudio
View other Funny Mousepads

Who is your favourite artist and why? I don't have a specific favorite artist or even a favorite type of art. If it touches my heart or appeals to my eye it doesn't matter what type of art it is

Do you paint regularly? Roughly how much time do you spend painting? Not regularly enough. It's an emotional thing for me. If I paint when I am inspired and enthusiastic I can just paint all day or all week finishing 3 or 4; but if I'm not inspired, I'm just wasting my time. I've tried to put myself on a routine but the things I paint end up in the garbage.

What is your favourite medium? I love oil because it is similar to sculpture which is my favorite but I'm too sensitive to the chemicals so I use watercolors.

I think watercolour suits your wonderful little critters, Carole - and your larger ones as well!

Cute Curious Seals, Sealed with a Kiss by countrymousestudio
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What subject matter draws you to paint it? Birds, Animals and Nature and a sense of humor if possible. It would also include landscape but I always ruin them with details.

Do you paint from photos, sketches, memory, en plein air? I paint from memory, good reference photos and plein air when possible.

Where do you sell your work? I started at local markets, art shows and Artist Co-operatives. Now I sell my work on Zazzle , Greeting Card Universe. and Fine Art America.

How do you feel about parting with your originals when someone buys them? It's very difficult, they're like my children. Then I want to see them again to see how much has changed in my style.

Do you or have you ever painted to commission? Yes, I painted pet portraits and that's when I discovered I need to be inspired to paint. I can understand that - I'm just the same!

Do you have any particular future plans or projects in mind? Or where do you foresee your artistic journey taking you? I have no idea. For years I just wanted the desire to go away because it kept popping up when I was too busy with family to deal with it so this is the first time I've been able to focus on it.

Funny Little Bird with Hat, Merry Christmas by countrymousestudio
See more Christmas T-Shirts

Thank you, Carole, for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences with us! I know how busy life can be for us freelance artists!

And I hope you will all have enjoyed seeing Carole's wonderfully humorous little characters. You can see more of them in her Zazzle store and on Greeting Card Universe.

Or keep up to date with Carole's new designs by following her little country mouse on Twitter!

How Many Friends Do You Have?

2011-10-27T02:04:00.000-07:00

Poppies Magnet - Friendship

- what do I mean by that?

There are so many different ways of defining a ‘friend’! Maybe you immediately think of your facebook friends – they can run into thousands!

Or, at this time of year, with Christmas approaching, perhaps you’d take your answer from the number of people on your Christmas card list? Twenty, fifty, one hundred . . . ?

If you narrow it down to people you see regularly and know by name, at work, in your neighbourhood, at church, on the internet even . . . that could amount to a fair number!

But are they real ‘friends’? Certainly not necessarily when it comes to the facebook ‘friends’ – sometimes they can seem to be more like some sort of status-enhancing currency. ‘You ‘friend’ me and I’ll ‘friend’ you.’ I think Google+ has cottoned on to this by allowing us to distinguish between 'friends' and other categories of people we want to stay in touch with.

And the Christmas cards? Who hasn’t vowed to stop sending them to people we’ve had no contact with for years, only to relent when a card arrives from them?

And then there are those, who although they are not ‘unfriendly’ , would be better described as ‘acquaintances’.

So what if we only have a few real friends? Does it matter? Is it something to be ashamed of?

A neighbour – and friend! – told me that seven is generally found to be the magic number for a group and you’ll find this in many walks of life. Research has also shown that most of us have an average of half a dozen true friends. Which makes a nonsense of a lot of the social networking sites. I know that I begin to feel overwhelmed when too many people join an online group that I’m part of. There’s a natural limit to how many people can play a meaningful part in our lives.

Looking back, there have been many times in my life when I was part of a group of six of seven – at University, in certain neighbourhoods and organisations and even online – and this number has worked very well for me.

So how would you define a real ‘friend’?

I suspect there would be a difference between the male and the female answer to this question and maybe the meaning of the word has evolved over time.

It amuses me that Poirot often introduces his friend, Captain Hastings, as his ‘associate’! Likewise Sherlock Holmes and his ‘companion’, Dr Watson; though his profound shock when he believes Watson to have been fatally wounded suggests a much deeper relationship and he does go so far to refer to him as his ‘friend and companion’ and even his ‘faithful friend’.

There are a great many wonderful quotations defining ‘a friend’ and in challenging times, I often think of the Beatles line, ‘I’ll get by – with a little help from my friends’.

But this is my favourite –

Sorry this is so pale - it's just a sketch for a possible future card.

How many of our facebook ‘friends’ can do that?

(By the way, just thought I'd mention that you can find some lovely 'Friendship' Greeting Cards in Cheri Overcracker's CardGnome shop!)

Gifts for Hanukkah . . .

2011-10-24T02:24:00.000-07:00

. . . on my blog

Gifts and Ornaments for Hanukkah

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks

2011-10-20T01:58:00.000-07:00

. . . or so they say.

But I’m certainly no puppy and I’ve had to learn a lot of ‘new tricks’ since I started selling my designs nearly two years ago.

I’ve learnt a lot about greeting card design without really noticing that I was learning. Learning about setting things up online and about marketing on the web has been much more of a challenge and it’s not easy to know whether the latter has been useful as one reads so much contradictory advice and it’s nearly impossible to know what really works and what doesn’t.

Just recently, I’ve had to accelerate my learning about photo-editing skills, which as a painter, rather than a photographer, were sadly lacking. The reason? Greeting Card Universe began offering Photo Greeting Cards which the customer can personalise online; and I wanted to be in on this innovation reasonably near the beginning.

“Learn as much as you can while you are young, since life becomes too busy later” - Dana Stewart Scott

How true! So many other things had to be put on hold while I fathomed the mysteries of Photo Card-making!

On the other hand, it seems it’s worthwhile to make time to learn something new, however old we are –

“The man who is too old to learn was probably always too old to learn” – Henry S Haskins

In fact, contrary to the widely held ‘old dog/new tricks’ adage, it appears that older people learn just as well as younger ones. I read about some research into this that found that while students in their late teens and twenties learn faster, over-fifties learn in more breadth and depth and that’s why they appear to learn more slowly.

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80” – Henry Ford.

Of course there are different kinds of learning. There’s the deliberate setting out to learn a skill, either by reading, attending a course, or by trial and error – my favourite! And then there’s the learning of facts, in my opinion the least useful sort of learning, unless you spend a lot of time playing Trivial Pursuits or aspire to winning a fortune on a Game Show.

The third type of learning is learning Life Lessons from our experiences and there’s really no reason why that shouldn’t continue throughout our lives.

“You learn something every day if you pay attention” - Ray Leblanc.

Though for many years now, the concept of ‘Lifelong Learning’ of the ‘new tricks’ variety has been promoted by international and global bodies such as the World Bank, Unesco, the OECD http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OECD and the European Commission, who define it as:

"All learning activity undertaken throughout life, with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competence, within a personal civic social and/ or employment-related perspective"

It may seem strange that such institutions take an interest in Lifelong Learning – surely that’s a matter for the Education Department or even a Health concern, as it is known that people who continue to learn new things when they retire, generally stay healthier and live longer. While this is true, the need to regard learning as a lifelong habit is now essential from an economic point of view, when more jobs are knowledge- or skills-based, job security is becoming a rare luxury and the need to retrain at an older age is commonplace.

That can seem tough on us Oldies who thought we’d put all that learning behind us when we left school or college! And sometimes it can seem just too much to be expected to ‘Carry on Learning!’ when the things we need to learn, in order to survive financially, come too thick and fast. Not so long ago I broke down in tears when my family expected me to learn how to operate my new Sky Box with my ‘little grey cells’ already overloaded with other Things-to-Learn!

So it’s important to avoid overload, especially as we get older. But as long as we can pace ourselves, there can be huge rewards for opening our minds to learning new skills.

“Ah, mastery . . .what a profoundly satisfying feeling when one finally gets on top of a new set of skills and then sees the light . . . under the new door these skills can open.” - Gail Sheehy

I learn best by trying out new things for myself and if I get stuck, I ask someone who is ahead of me in that particular area, So I clicked on buttons in my photo-editing program that I'd never thought of exploring and it really was like new doors opening. If I couldn't work out by trial and error how to use these new features, there were plenty of videos on the internet to help me. It was an exciting experience, if also frustrating at times when I couldn't work out what to do next.

But eventually, I'd learnt all I needed to know in order to make photo cards and it left me with that 'profoundly satisfying feeling' - until the next challenge comes up!

Christmas Cards for You to Customize!

2011-10-17T02:05:00.000-07:00

on my

Mugs, Mousepads & More

blog

Guest Artist, Mary Anne Cary, from Maine

2011-10-13T01:38:00.000-07:00

This month's e-interview is with Mary Anne Cary, a pastel and oil painter living in Cape Elizabeth Maine. A former graphic artist, she now devotes her time to painting. Inspired by the Maine coast and landscape, she strives to capture everyday scenes with a fresh vision and energy.

" I find that, living in Maine, I am supplied with endless possibilities for paintings. I see intriguing studies every time I take a drive, whether down the street or up the coast. I love having my camera ready to record the many compositions and ideas I see around me."

She has attended workshops with local and nationally recognized artists and enters regional juried art shows. Her blog displays her current paintings at maryannecary.blogspot .com

Mary Anne, starting at the beginning, when did you begin to be interested in Art?
I was interested in art as a child and in high school, which prompted me to go to art school. I feel that when I was in college, it was just an introduction to art in some ways. I was young and not sure what direction to go in. Graphic art is very different than fine arts where I took more photography and calligraphy type courses. A lot of my fine art is self taught. Now, as an adult I would love to be in art school again full time! I would appreciate every minute, I was not serious enough when I was "younger!"

Do you have a favourite artist?
I don't think I could choose a particular, favorite artist. I am definitely more interested in contemporary art,
and I am strongly attracted to artists who paint with strong colors and bold, looser styles. I love paintings
where you can see paint strokes. I tend to study their work and try to learn from these working artists, the internet has become a great teacher.

The internet is full of 'daily painters' - do you manage to paint regularly?
I don't know why I am so busy, I am not painting nearly as regularly as I would like. Recently, I have been
painting intensely for a couple of days, I stock up for some postings and then I return to my busy life. That is not a healthy way to progress and grow, but sometimes we grab what we can. I would like to get back to a point where I am painting almost daily.

I am a 'fast and furious' painter, where my pastel paintings are concerned, and looking at your paintings, I suspect you work in a similar way?
Yes, I paint fast and furiously! I make a mess. I really need a large studio and I know I could fill it in a couple of days. I am never that meticulous, I do need to consciously slow down. I work well with messiness and then I start the cleanup process and do it all over again. (I probably would not make a good studio mate!)

It was your pastel paintings that first made me sit up and take notice, but do you have a favourite medium?
I go back and forth between pastels and oils. I really like pastels, but I feel I get more response from my oils, even though I personally feel my pastels are fresher.

Is there any particular subject matter that draws you to paint it?
I am moved by the coast here in Maine, it has endless possibilities and diversities along with such different light throughout the year. I am painting mostly from photos, with a little memory and plein air added in.

Some artists are reluctant to part with their originals - how do you feel about it?
I will sell almost any pieces of my work, I feel I can always paint another. There are one or two I will not part with.

Finally, do you have any particular future projects or plans in mind? Where do you see your artistic journey taking you?
I always have painting plans going on in my head. Right now I would like to start painting larger and begin to put together a more cohesive body of work. I feel so inspired by other successful artists, but I still feel I don't have a true direction. I believe that takes a commitment of time and serious planning, something I am
still struggling to work out. It is a commitment I look forward to making.

Thank you, Mary Anne, for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us, as well as some of your wonderful paintings! There has been many a time that, seeing your work, you've tempted me to put aside my greeting cards and get out my soft pastels again. Seeing how you use them, what you 'get out of them', is truly inspiring!

You can see more of Mary Anne's pastel and oil paintings and contact her about purchasing details, over at her blog, maryannecary.blogspot .com

Alternatively, go straight to her Etsy shop or, to feast your eyes on even more of Mary Anne's fabulous work, visit her website.

Customisable Photo Upload Cards . . .

2011-10-10T03:03:00.000-07:00

. . . have arrived in my Greeting Card Universe store

Click here

to see some of the Autumn ones.

Mystery of the Paper Sculptures in Edinburgh . . .

2011-10-09T02:32:00.000-07:00

. . . in support of libraries

(Fascinating Combination of Art and Literature)

Pet Peeve Week

2011-10-06T01:54:00.000-07:00

'Not a Morning Person' Coffee Mug

I've come across some bizarre 'holidays' since I got involved in the Greeting Card business. But here's one I rather like - Pet Peeve Week!

It's the second week of October according to one source and another says it's around October 5th. Either way, I discovered it too late to make any cards to celebrate it - maybe next year? - but here are some of my 'Pet Peeves' that I've jotted down, in no particular order.

And I hope you'll share yours too!

Unsolicited telephone callers in general but in particular the ones who start off brightly asking me how my day is going. It's obviously not enough to interrupt me when I'm trying to do something difficult and 'technical' (like fathoming blogger!) but they want to keep me hanging around making small talk too!!!! My answer, I'm afraid, is usually that I'd be enjoying my day much better if they'd go away and leave me in peace.
Dog owners who, when their huge, wolf-like furry friend bounds up to me, call out, 'he won't hurt you!' As if that makes everything all right! They really need to realise that, as well as the many people who are terrified of dogs, there are a lot of people who simply don't like them. I grew up with a dog that I liked very much and there are a lot of dogs that I have no objection to - from a distance. I've even found myself smiling at dogs when they are well under their owner's control. But I really hate the smell of some of them; it turns my stomach over. And the thought of being pawed by them, not to mention slavered over, in their excitement, fills me with revulsion. But that apart, a huge hound, however well trained, bearing down on a small child playing in the park, is always a worrying sight . . .
Politicians who repeatedly talk about 'working families', 'families across the land' and so on when they surely know that a large percentage of the population doesn't live in a 'family' situation. You can read about it here. What about the rest of us, Prime Minister?
'Thank you for not smoking' notices,'Thank you for not walking on the grass' notices etc. I'm not sure why this irritates me so much - it has a kind of faintly passive aggressive feel about it. What's wrong with 'NO SMOKING' and 'KEEP OFF THE GRASS' - I'm old enough to remember 'Spitting Prohibited' notices on the buses! Tell that to the Premier League footballers!
People, usually families of the bereaved, who talk about getting 'justice for their loved ones'. Quite apart from the fact that their loved ones probably aren't in a position to care any more, I often sense that it's really revenge or retribution that they are looking for. And it's not for their loved ones, it for themselves. Nothing wrong with that, if that's what you believe is right, but why not say so?
Shop assistants who chat amongst themselves while they are supposedly 'serving' me!
Having to make expensive (0845, 0870 . . .etc) phonecalls to Customer Services to inform a company of an error they've made! Sometimes I can find an normal number for them on a website devoted to helping us to avoid these expensive non-geographical numbers, but I don't always have time and it's not always possible.
Junk Mail. I think most of us would prefer to do without it but setting my preferences to avoid it doesn't seem to work. Apparently it depends on the postman looking at a list. Junkmail costs a bomb in waste disposal charges but I heard that the Royal Mail wouldn't survive without it.
Chilled food that has the cooking instructions on the underside of the packaging, causing me to have to choose between spilling the food as I turn the package over or risk putting my back out, trying to read the instructions from underneath!
Food waste recycling. Enough said - here!
When giving my details or filling in a form, being asked whether I'm 'Miss' or 'Mrs'. Why is this relevant? Men manage perfectly well without being asked about their marital status.
People who make a virtue of getting up early and look down on us 'Night Owls'. Yes, I know they say that an hour's sleep before midnight is worth a lot more than several hours later but if you're in the habit of staying up late because you can think straighter late at night than you can first thing in the morning, I'm not sure that this holds true!

Now it's your turn - keep me company and get your Pet Peeves off your chest!

'Night Owl' T-shirt by helikettle

How do you draw?

2011-10-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

The urge to draw seems to be something we are born with.

Along with prehistoric man, young children seem to be driven to mark-making and they do it without inhibition. They don’t question whether their scribbling is ‘good enough’ or whether they are going about it the right way – until much later!

I must admit, I’ve worried about my drawing. I often don’t seem to be able to get the line that I wanted the first time round. I often seem to ‘feel my way’ to the line I was looking for, with the result that my drawings can be messy in the extreme.

But I actually think there are as many ways of drawing as there are personalities. And even within my own drawing there are two distinct types, depending on whether I’m standing at an upright easel, or doodling on my lap, half-watching tv! When I stand to draw, my lines are much more definite and confident. I draw from the shoulder and sometimes it feels as if I’m drawing with my whole body. A far cry from when I sit down with a pad of paper on my knee!

(That laptop certainly has a very strangely shaped lid!!!)

So I was really heartened when Ann Buckner, a watercolour artist whose work I admire, described on her blog how she achieves that most tricky of drawing challenges, the perfect ellipse! She describes the process here.

I think it would be wonderful beyond words to always be able to hit the right spot first time round. Some artists can – I suspect Durer did - although we don’t know for sure whether he actually did. Maybe he just had a very good eraser!

Annigoni, on the other hand, lets his initial exploratory marks remain – giving people like me hope that our art can still be worthwhile, even though we draw in a way that may seem to suggest less confidence.

So – how do you draw?

Do you work slowly and meticulously, revelling in getting tiny details correct first time?

Or do you prefer the increased energy of a quickly carried out sketch?

Does it really matter?

What do you think?

Congratulations Cards for all sorts of Occasions . . .

2011-10-03T01:15:00.000-07:00

Mugs, Mousepads and More

Non-English Christmas Cards

2011-09-26T02:03:00.000-07:00

on my other blog:

Christmas Cards with Non-English Greetings

Thanksgiving Cards by GCU artist who use traditional painting methods

2011-09-22T03:19:00.000-07:00

We certainly have a bumper crop of pumpkins and Autumn fruits in our collection of Thanksgiving Greeting Cards by Greeting Card Universe artists who use traditional painting and drawing methods! But we have plenty of turkeys too, as well as Autumn leaves and Pilgrims!

Please click on the cards to see them in greater detail and to read the artists' notes about them, as well as purchasing details.

Lady Charlie

http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/ladycharliescardshop

Pastel Chalk Pencils

Diana Liu Benet
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/daidaisstudio

Watercolor and Gouache on Board

Christie Black
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/creationhrt

Watercolor Pencils and Ink

Michele Naquaiya
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/naquaiya

Watercolor and Gouache

Lisa Charlton

http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/LisaCharlton

This Thanksgiving card is a painting of our own (pet) Narrangansett Turkey, named Billy. We have a female too that Billy is trying to win the affection of but she is more interested in Billy's reflection in the back porch sliding glass window - hilarious to watch but sad to see him so rejected. They are not the brightest birds. Even when he slinks off feeling defeated she'll stretch to see past her own reflection calling for the male she saw beyond the glass. One of these days I'll do a painting of him in full tail feather but for now, this is a close up of his head when he was younger.

Watercolor and Acrylic Blend

Judith Cheng

http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/PaintedCottage

Watercolors

Betty Matsumoto-Schuch

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/bud

Prismacolor Pencils and Watercolors

Harriet Masterton

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/harriettmastersonscardstore

Pastels

Cathie Richardson

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/cgs

Watercolors

Diana Ting Delosh

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/dianascards

Ink and Watercolor

Christi Madden

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/cmaddenart

Oils

Judy Adamson
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/judyscardstore

Watercolour

Susan J Poda

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/Podasprettypictures

Acrylics, Colored Pencil, Ink and Watercolor

Don't forget to click on these small images to appreciate them fully. And if you like them, you can always use your social networking sites to give them a boost!

If it ain’t broke, .......

2011-09-22T02:55:00.000-07:00

Smashing Computer by Horsen_Around
See more Humour Mousepads

For a while, a couple of weeks ago, Zazzle was doing ‘scheduled maintenance’ so I wasn’t able to upload images and post products for sale. Fair enough; the internet is ‘open’ 24/7 so obviously there have to be times when services are interrupted for repairs and upgrades to be made.

But when all that was done, many of us were left unable to post products for sale and there were all sorts of other bugs in the system. Several people reported finding other people’s products in their stores and for a few hours, clicking on any of my product categories brought up the ‘there are no products in this category’ message - arrrggghhh! All in all, it was mayhem and it wasted a lot of people’s time.

Not long before that, blogger decided to introduce a new interface and, as a result, many of us were completely unable to publish our posts and there were also various problems with uploading and inserting images, which continue even now. Blogger didn’t, as far as I know, offer any solutions on the Help Forum and in the end it was another blogger who found a way to solve the problem.

Using the internet can be challenging enough for some of us without these extra, in my opinion, unnecessary hurdles to overcome!

Back in the Spring, facebook introduced a lot of changes. I barely noticed them because I wasn’t using facebook very much at the time, but I did notice the frustration it caused other users. And now Twitter seems to have got the ‘make changes’ bug!

When Twitter introduced its new interface some months ago, it didn’t seem very different from the old one. But then other changes started to happen. All of a sudden, I started getting emails each time someone retweeted one of my tweets. That was useful as a reminder me to do some mutual retweeting. But then that stopped, as did the emails telling me about new followers.

Next the ‘mentions’ button disappeared and an ‘activity’ button replaced it. This seemed to be telling me who was following me and even who my followers were now following – which is of no interest to me at all! Finally I discovered I could see who had retweeted my tweets if I clicked on the @judyadamson button that had appeared without me noticing it!

In spite of my advancing years, I am not normally much bothered by change. Annoying though it is when I’m in a hurry, I do understand that the supermarkets move all their produce around from time to time to try to get us to be aware of goods that we might not otherwise have noticed.

But this seems to be change for change’s sake and that just causes hassle. Why are they unable, it seems, to leave well alone? Are these changes really being made to improve our ‘online experience’ or simply because some techie wants to look as if he’s earning his salary? Or is it, perhaps, an attempt to keep up with the competition?

Google Adsense is now sporting a little message at the top of the page telling me that I am using the new interface. Fortunately I haven’t used the site often enough to notice the difference. – thank goodness. And facebook have started messing around with the option to add links, replacing it with options as to who we want to share with - presumably Google+'s quite neat idea of 'circles' has given facebook cause for concern!

Do we really need all this change for change’s sake?

Are we that easily bored by what we already have? Would it be a step too far to suggest that it’s linked to the built-in obsolescence, the need for ‘the latest model’ that has fuelled the bubble of consumption that underlies many of the current problems in our economies?

Smashing Computer-woman by Horsen_Around
Buy a cheap mousepad at zazzle.co.uk

I was intending to let my 'naughty pencil' doodle some sketches to illustrate this post. But while I was searching Google images to make sure I got the anatomy right, I came across these super mousepads by a fellow Zazzler!

Disappearing blog post!

2011-09-20T02:56:00.000-07:00

I'm wondering if anyone else is having this problem?

Yesterday, when I published a post that I had in draft on my other blog, it completely disappeared! It wasn't published and it disappeared from my 'drafts'!

I've left a message on the blogger Help Forum but so far, no reply.

If this doesn't get sorted, and IF this blog isn't affected as well, I'll probably start publishing my 'products' posts here on a Monday in future.

Now to see whether it happens here too . . .

Guest artist, Cathie Richardson

2011-09-15T02:29:00.000-07:00

This month's e-interview is with artist, Cathie Richardson, who designs greeting cards, fabrics and needlework patterns.

http://www.countrygarden.artfire.com
http://www.zazzle.com/countrygarden
http://www.countrygardenstitchery.com
http://www.countrygarden.etsy.com
http://www.artwanted.com/cgs

Cathie introduces herself -

My name is Cathie Richardson and I live in a little town in northern Nevada. It is a mountain desert landscape so a lot of my art work contains sagebrush and the old buildings I see when I go exploring with my family. I design needlework patterns and enjoy drawing in a small format/illustration style.

When did you begin painting?

I began painting when I took a watercolor class in college and that is the only painting medium I've worked with and explored because I enjoy drawing the most.

Did you go to Art College or have any formal art training?

I obtained an associates degree in Art and usually take art classes now and then to keep up with new technology and techniques

What did you value most from the experience?

In college I remember being taught how to "see" and recognizing the difference between positive and negative space and that really clicked for me and was exciting to learn.

What is your favourite medium and why?

I enjoy drawing the most, especially with ink. I've tried almost every drawing tool I've come across, and pastels which is considered more painting I think, and I still love pen and ink the most. I like how I can depict different things with certain strokes and I think it just looks great with the desert landscape I work and live in.

Do you paint from photos, sketches or from life?

I like to draw from life and try to get out as much as possible. I sometimes take a camera when I go drawing, but I like to try and sketch as much as I can and then go back and fill them in later from memory. That is another challenge in itself and I just like to play with the drawings to see what I get.

Who is your favourite artist/illustrator etc? Have you been particularly influenced/inspired by any other artists?

I have a few favorite watercolor artists such as Kim Jacobs and Marjolein Bastin. I really love the classic illustrators like Ernest H. Shepard and I like their use of ink in their drawings. I like to study the illustrations of the classic artists and how they convey light and dark in a pen and ink drawing.

Where do you sell your paintings?

I belong to an art group where I live and we have art fairs every year and I sell my paintings there and have recently opened up shop at Artfire and have some of my paintings and drawings for sale there,

Which came first - needlework or painting?

I began drawing my garden when my children were small and then I became inspired to make some of my drawings into needlework patterns.

What sparked your interest in needlework/fabric design?

Growing up most of my female relatives and my mother were involved with sewing, needlework and quilting so I learned how to do these things watching them and stayed interested. I like textiles and decorating my home so thought it would be fun to experiment with my own needlework designs. It has been a great learning experience and a lot of fun working with the colored flosses.

I love my hand dyed floss collection! Recently I've started putting my art work on fabric on Spoonflower which has been a lot of fun. I like trying to think of things to make with my samples!

Which is your best-selling/favourite greeting card?

This red tulips anniversary card is one of my best sellers and is a favorite of mine as well. Watercolor being the challenge that it is, I was happy with the variation of color I got in the petals and the colors themselves. Watercolor is a challenge for me and I guess that is what keeps me going back to it, that and it is very portable!

What do you grow in your garden?

I really enjoy gardening and like to grow easy vegetables like tomatoes, plus they are fun for me to draw. Also I love the spring flowers like pansies, but they usually can't tolerate the hot dry heat where I live. A few years ago, I discovered that petunias can so I mostly plant those and really like their ruffled petals and bright colors. I very much enjoy putting my artwork online in the various POD sites and hope to do more of that. This past year I've really been focusing more on hand embroidery rather than cross stitch and look forward to doing more of those designs.

What are your plans or hopes for the future?
My big dream is to be able to go back east to New England to explore and draw that landscape; hopefully that will come soon!

You can see more of Cathie's beautiful work at:

http://www.countrygarden.artfire.com

http://www.zazzle.com/countrygarden

http://www.countrygardenstitchery.com
http://www.countrygarden.etsy.com
http://www.artwanted.com/cgs

Autumn Specials . . .

2011-09-12T00:49:00.000-07:00

. . . on my blog this week

Autumn Fruits, Tomatoes & Lilypads

Why Buy Your Greeting Cards Online?

2011-09-08T02:16:00.000-07:00

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently is: Why would anyone buy greeting cards online?

There are plenty of reasons NOT to, especially when you have numerous handy greeting card shops locally.

If you are looking to buy just one card, the shipping costs are out of all proportion to the cost of the card.
You will have to think in advance as your purchase will not be in your possession instantly.
And what if the quality is poor – many people like to hold a greeting card in their hand before deciding to buy it.

But nevertheless, people do buy greeting cards online, more maybe in the US but other countries are catching up. Greeting card websites abound and some of them are well established and very successful.

So why would anyone who has plenty of local outlets for greeting cards choose to order them online?

The first thing that sprang to my mind was that they might be housebound. I knew a couple where the wife was practically housebound and her husband did the shopping. When it came to choosing a birthday card for their daughter, he struck lucky and came home with a card that his wife really liked. She looked up the name of the artist on the internet, found her website and it all continued from there ...

Another reason could simply be that you don’t like shopping and going into a card shop is something you would rather avoid. I think this probably applies to quite a lot of men – I know my son would fall into this category!

But it was one of my daughters who gave me the biggest clue. She normally buys her greeting cards when she’s shopping in town but she told me that if she were looking for something very specific, then she would turn to the internet to provide.

This seems to be borne out by my online card sales. A very high percentage are age-specific, person-specific – or both! The very detailed ‘categories’ offered through Greeting Card Universe baffled me at first because many of them seemed so obscure! Just look at them here! No ordinary greeting card shop in the High Street could carry all those categories and subcategories. But of course with print-on-demand, the online stores don’t need to!

Which leads to a further reason why customers would turn to the internet for their card-buying. Personalisation!

Personalisation – or Customisation! – seems to be the flavour of our times! Once it was the prerogative of the wealthy to have custom-made suits and dresses, while the rest of us made do with ‘off-the-peg’. Now, with the benefit of technological advances, the ‘luxury’ of a one-off greeting card, created to our own specification is available to us all!

So how does all this affect us as we design our greeting cards?

It seems to me that there are two ways we can go;

1. Establish your reputation offline, get your cards selling in shops across the country, or even further afield! And then hope to pick up some extra sales from your website. Here are three of my favourite UK designers who have done just that:

Alex Clark

Sandie Blue

Emma Ball

2. Make your designs ever more specific! Birthday cards that age-, name-, family relation-specific, Get Well cards for every conceivable illness or procedure, Thank You and Good Luck cards for a variety of occasions, greeting cards for less known religious festivals and so on...

3. Taking that one step further - finding a good ‘niche’ will undoubtedly increase your sales. Greeting cards (and other printed items like T-shirts) that seem to do very well are often based on pet photos, especially if the pet is a very specific breed!

Offline, in our local shops, my ‘blank inside’, ‘any occasion’ greeting cards, based on my pastel paintings do well. But online they tend to sit there, gathering virtual dust.

The nearest I’ve come to finding my online and offline ‘niche’ is to make cards suitable for men, as friends have told me how difficult it can be to find anything suitable that isn’t full of unwanted innuendo! And, narrowing it down further, the fact that my grandsons are beginning to reach the teenage years has catapulted me into tackling that difficult and not very well-served category, cards for teenage boys!

Now I’m wondering whether it would be worth concocting a Folk Art style card design for a Welsh Step-Uncle, who is crazy about Tibetan Terriers,with a 53rd Birthday on Valentine’s Day?

More 'Flower Power' . . .

2011-09-05T05:39:00.000-07:00

. . . on

Mugs, Mousepads & More

'Flower Power' iPod Touch Case by helikettle

Good Artists and Great Artists

2011-09-01T01:21:00.000-07:00

A fellow artist and greeting card designer once told me, tongue in cheek, I believe, that she’d just decided that she was never going to make it to the Royal Academy and was going to settle for making some money from her art instead.

I wonder how many of us have secretly cherished dreams of fame and fortune that, at some point, we are forced to relinquish when it becomes apparent that our dreams were unrealistic. I suspect that at some point we have all hoped that, one day, we would be ‘discovered’ and a kind of ‘rags to riches’ scenario would ensue, though hopefully not quite like this one -

Richie and Eddie's Art Exhibition

It does happen. We read stories and see movies about ordinary people who were ‘talent-spotted’ or who rose to the heights of fame, seemingly out of nowhere. J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series is a good example. She went from living on benefits to becoming a multi-millionaire within the space of five years. And the proliferation of ‘talent-spotting’ TV shows where someone like Susan Boyle can come from nowhere and shoot to international fame, with a song called, ‘I Dreamed a Dream’, shows us what can be achieved by ‘dreaming big’.

Perhaps this hope of a meteoric rise to fame, and all that goes with it, as a result of being ‘discovered,’ is linked to every little girl’s dream that ‘One day my Prince will come’, the story of Cinderella and so many other ‘and they all lived happily every after’ fairy tales?

Little boys on the other hand are perhaps more likely to understand that fame and fortune has to be sought proactively, like Dick Whittington setting off to London, where, he has heard, the streets are paved with gold.

So, yes, it does happen – there are fantastic talents, geniuses even, waiting to be discovered. And it’s good to have dreams. It’s good to set our sights high. But when our dreams don’t seem to be getting any closer to fulfilment than when we started out, what should we do then?

That is the time to recognise that we can’t all be the next ‘best thing since sliced bread’, that not all of us are going to make it into the ranks of the household names, however hard we try. And probably it's time also to recognise that it doesn’t really matter!

For every artist who has succeeded in becoming ‘great’, there are always thousands of ‘good’ artists - and the good news is that they all have their part to play. It’s important not to let those ‘big dreams’ stand in the way of recognising our lesser achievements, our day-to-day opportunities for job satisfaction.

Even with something as apparently ‘minor’ and insignificant as a greeting card design, I still feel thrilled that a complete stranger on the other side of the world chose my card to celebrate a special occasion, notwithstanding the meagre amount of money their choice has earned for me! Recently someone chose my sympathy cards for the loss of a son and a grandson. To me that was a huge honour that somebody had felt that my design was just right for such a poignant occasion.

Yes, art is more than a job, it’s a calling, a passion even, and it’s right that we all hope that our talents will be suitably recognised and remunerated. But it is a ‘job’ as well, sometimes requiring hard work, discipline and non-art activities that we may not enjoy.

And it’s most likely to be this ‘job’ aspect that will provide us with the little common-or-garden variety of satisfactions which will add up to contentment while we wait for our dreams to come true!

Digital Designs for Diwali...

2011-08-29T01:42:00.000-07:00

Click here

to see my

Digital Designs for Diwali

Mugs, Mousepads & More

Venturing into Digital Art!

2011-08-25T01:36:00.000-07:00

From time to time my daughter in Sweden sends me the artistic offerings of her five children, in particular those of her one little daughter, five-year-old Hafsah, such as the one above which is a portrait of me!

I love to see them and I am very encouraged by the way Hafsah draws and paints with such confidence. Long may it continue!

But recently something new arrived by email – two of Hafsah’s digital paintings!


The Pink Panther on Television

As you know, I have my reservations about digital art. But I think these are great fun and they seem to have succeeded in keeping that spontaneous, ‘hand-drawn’ look that is sometimes lacking in digital art.

Hafsah's friend, Sarah

For someone who isn’t much interested in digital art, maybe it is strange that I do actually own a graphics tablet? It was a Christmas gift from my son and I use it almost daily to clean up my designs – ie to remove little marks and bits of fluff that have been picked up in the scanner or even little splashes of paint or glue that aren’t easy to see with the naked eye but which sometimes show up when the cards are printed.

To begin with, I had a very hard time coordinating what I was drawing on the tablet with what I intended to draw on the screen and I practised by writing my name until it became legible.

I was comforted to find that another artist friend found it even more challenging than I did; though, on the other hand, a non-artist friend took to it like a duck to water, when I allowed him to ‘play with’ my tablet! Maybe it’s something to do with the way the male brain is wired? Could there be a connection with the way men generally find parallel parking so much easier than women do?

But I’ve found that the more I use the pen and tablet, the easier it has become and I am at last able to draw recognisable people and objects with it. I still find it rather awkward and unpredictable, though, compared to using paper and pencil. I think this may be something to do with the way I normally draw – not in single clear lines but more as if I am feeling my way around a shape. People have suggested I should try sculpture but I call it my ‘Annigoni’ method. And I still find the difference in pressure required on the tablet somewhat disconcerting!

I seem to have a low boredom threshold when it comes to my artwork. So when I feel the first signs of waning enthusiasm, I try something new, just for the fun of it! I had been wondering whether it would work to draw my design in the normal ‘dead tree-ware’ way, scan it and then work on it with my tablet and pen. Recently, an afternoon of experimenting and ‘playing with my tablet’ was an excellent antidote to staleness and this is the result:

I don’t think it’s something I shall do all that often; maybe just when the subject seems especially suited to this style. Nor do I know whether any dentists would really want to send this to their patients as a check-up reminder. But as it cost me nothing but time to produce it, I thought I might as well post it on Zazzle, just in case!

And I would have found this Jewish New Year Card very tedious to paint neatly so doing it digitally worked well for me:

Rosh Hashanah Greeting Card

It certainly wasn't quicker than painting it traditionally would have been. But I learned a lot from creating this design digitally. So, while I was about it, I created a Diwali design, putting into practice the lessons I'd learned - such as blowing it up to at least 200% from the start saved me a lot of 'cleaning up' time later! The finished traditional Rangoli pattern found its way on to all sorts of Diwali gifts as well as greeting cards; so watch out for it in next Monday's post on my other blog . . .

It’s also nice to know that, if it ever comes to the point where this ‘starving artist’ can no longer afford expensive art supplies, my ‘naughty pencil’ will still have my graphics tablet for a playground!

.

Another artist who doesn't know what she's doing!

2011-08-23T06:29:00.000-07:00

A friend told me about a programme about an elderly artist I'd missed so I was delighted to find it was going to be repeated on the BBC News Channel. But when I switched over to watch it, the rebels in Libya had just entered Tripoli and that, of course, took precedence over the artist, Gillian Ayres!

Fortunately, I found it on BBC iPlayer and would like to share it with as many people as possible as I found it very inspiring:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b013zgq7/

I'm not sure how long this will be available or whether it is even availble outside of the UK, but if you can, do spare half an hour to watch it - and let me know in the comments, what you think!

'Waves' Designs...

2011-08-22T04:41:00.000-07:00

Mugs, Mousepads & More

Shimmering Blue-green Ornament by helikettle
Design a personalised Christmas ornament

Guest Post by Painter, Nicki Ault, 'Painting en Plein Air'

2011-08-18T01:34:00.000-07:00

This month's Guest Post is by Nicki Ault, a Canadian artist whose work I have admired ever since I came across her blog, where she charts her journey as an artist into ever more exciting territory!

Nicki's Blog

Nicki's facebook Page

Nicki's flickr Photostream

Here Nicki tells us about her experiences of painting 'en plein air' -

In 2000, after taking drawing classes for a couple of years, I decided I was ready to try painting. I thought I would kick start things by signing up for a week long class called “Painting Fairy Island” at the Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus. This is a satellite campus of the University of Saskatchewan and is located in the boreal forest 2 hours from Saskatoon (Canada).

The class took place in both a studio and outdoor setting. I loved the idea and I fully expected to love painting, however, I realized on the first day that I might be in over my head! I didn’t even know what to do with my obediently purchased gesso! By the end of the week I was frustrated and disappointed with my lack of skill and understanding. I didn’t feel very good about painting. What I did feel good about though, was the “en plein air” (outdoor/open air) experience.

As a child I loved exploring forests, trails and meadows. I loved catching frogs, swimming in lakes and biking to secret places where I would sit quietly and think. With the discovery of plein air painting it was as if my two lifelong loves, art and nature, joined forces and opened my eyes to something new and exciting. With determination I went back to the Kenderdine Campus the next summer and happily had an “A-ha!” moment while on a painting excursion at Spruce River, P.A.N.P. Things were beginning to gel with painting and the joy of the plein air experience grew even more.

“Seeing The Light”, 2001

As with anything there are pros and cons to painting outdoors. Probably the biggest con for me would be the bugs. I recall one outing when I accidentally set my easel up on an ant hill. Not fun. At all.

An entirely different time I was wrapped up in my painting and absent-mindedly sipping my coffee. I kept spitting out little bits, but there was a busy squirrel in the trees above so I thought it was tiny pieces of bark or pine needles that had fallen down on my travel mug. Eventually I took a break to analyze my work. At this point I paid a bit more attention to the coffee I had been drinking only to discover that it hadn’t been tree debris that I had been spitting out, it was in fact... ANTS!

“Feathery Pine”, 8x8”, 2010

Other cons of plein air painting might be the difficulty of editing the visual information, the challenges of transporting wet work, painting in conditions where the light changes, or the frustration felt if something has been left behind at the studio (like a palette- doh!).

Although purchasing the equipment for plein air painting can be quite a costly venture and therefore a con, it doesn’t have to be. I painted five small paintings this summer with my palette in my lap, holding the board in my hand all while sitting in an Adirondack chair at the beach.

Another obstacle can be the weather. I recall one winter day when I had been painting in the snow. As the temperature dropped with the passing afternoon the paint began freezing on my brush and at that point the session ended.

“Ice, Water, Snow, Frost”, 7x7”, 2010

The summer of my “A-ha!” moment I was tackling a large canvas and things were going really well, but I could see dark clouds approaching. I worked fast, but finally when they were overhead it was a downpour! My acrylics began bleeding before I could whisk the canvas to the truck. I went back to the studio and put on a few finishing touches and this painting is one of my all time favorites. This is where a con can also be a pro. The changing weather and light can actually push you to work quickly and not fuss as much as you might indoors.

“Rained Out”, 24x24”, 2001

For me the pros of painting outdoors outweigh the cons otherwise I wouldn’t bother. I love being immersed in nature while I am working. I love the sights, the sounds, the smells and the fresh air. I enjoy the exercise as I hike with my supplies to find a perfect location and I always feel a sense of adventure with each experience.

Sometimes I find dramatic evidence of nature, like bones,

or sweet signs of nature like a nest of eggs hidden in long grass.

Other times I find humour, like the ninja squirrel -

- who zipped around me and my easel this one time at art camp. Here is a link to that story.

Aside from coming up with an exciting painting infused with the experience of that particular excursion, for me the greatest pro in plein air painting is the adventure and the stories I can tell later. It all makes me so happy.

“Find What’s Not There”, 10x10”, 2009

When I am outside painting it is one of the times that I feel the most me. It is not for everyone, but if you have always wanted to try it I hope this post has inspired you and I hope that painting directly from nature will give you tremendous joy.

“Alone With The Sky”, 6x6”, 2011

“Ending”, 6x6”, 2001

I will leave you with a quote I found at the Art Gallery of Ontario this spring in the section of the gallery housing the work of the Group of Seven. It was written in 1926 by Fred Housser, a Toronto journalist:

“The new type of artist… puts on the outfit of the bushwhacker and prospector; close with his environment he paddles, portages and makes camp; sleeps in the out-of-doors under the stars; climbs mountains with his sketch box on his back.”

Out on Valley Road - 10" x 10"

Thank you to Judy who asked me to write a guest post about my interest in painting en plein air; it was fun to look back at my experiences.

I hope you enjoyed my stories and images.

.

A - Maze- ing Patterns!

2011-08-15T01:07:00.000-07:00

Mugs, Mousepads & More

Printing your own Greeting Cards

2011-08-11T02:07:00.000-07:00

A Word of Warning...

If you’ve ever thought about printing your own greeting cards to sell, perhaps at Craft Fairs or through your local shops, you’ve probably discovered that using a printing firm is probably not the best way to go. In my experience, printing firms usually want to print at least 50 of each of your designs. So it simply won’t work if you are just wanting to ‘toe-dip’ to find out whether your cards are popular enough to sell.

But with home printers becoming better and cheaper all the time, the answer is obviously to do it yourself. All you need by way of equipment is the printer, a trimmer and maybe a bone-handled dinner knife to help with the folding.

As far as ‘consumables’ are concerned, suitably heavy card (280gsm and upwards is best), envelopes, cellophane sleeves and self-adhesive labels to seal them are all reasonably easy to obtain, as are the replacement ink cartridges for your printer.

All the printing, folding, trimming and packaging are a bit tedious but it’s good to see your greeting cards looking so professional so you embark on your printing/selling project with enthusiasm. So far, so good.

But wait! Even before you invest in your equipment and supplies, stop and ask yourself whether printing your own cards is something you will want to continue with indefinitely. Because, in my experience, unless you have money to burn, once you’ve begun, it won’t be easy to stop without losing money!

Take this scenario:

Because most of the items are more affordable if you buy them in bulk, you’ve stocked up on 100 sheets of suitable printing paper, 1000 envelopes and cellophane sleeves and a pack of 210 self-adhesive labels, plus a set of new ink cartridges.

You print 75 cards and your ink cartridges run out, so you buy new ones. Then you print 25 more cards and you cardstock runs out but you still have a lot more ‘juice’ left in your ink cartridges – and 900 envelopes, cellophane sleeves and 110 self-adhesive labels.

So you buy more card, only to find that, before you’ve used it all, the ink cartridges need replacing again...and so on and so forth. Even if you manage to buy the same quantity of most of your supplies, it’s almost impossible to predict how long the ink cartridges will last because different types of designs use vastly different amounts of ink.

If you are fully committed to printing your own cards for the foreseeable future, it will probably all even out in the end. But if you’re unsure whether your cards will sell, or whether you will want to continue spending time on what is a rather tedious, time-consuming task, you will need to take into consideration the fact that you will be spending out on supplies long before you begin to cover your costs through sales and you are likely to have a constant surplus of one or other of the items.

Just a word of warning!

On Mugs, Mousepads & More...

2011-08-08T02:10:00.000-07:00

...Abstract Screenprinted Designs

Selling online - is it turning you into a workaholic?

2011-08-04T02:15:00.000-07:00

Are you comfortable with how much time you spend online?

I find myself in a confusing position; most of my ‘offline’ friends, some of whom don’t use a computer at all and others who don’t work, repeatedly tell me that I work too hard. And there is probably some truth in this. But, on the other hand, as soon as I turn on my computer I feel bombarded by exhortations to work even harder!

Forums and newsletters are full of suggestions for getting more sales. A recent Zazzle newsletter was actually titled, ‘Seller To-do list’! And Twitter will lead you to vast choice of blogs and articles, often contradictory, about things to do to increase your income.

But I don’t even need to visit a forum or log on to Twitter to feel pressured. Ever since I submitted my sites to a list of search engines – a suggestion from a forum! – I’ve had several emails daily with Subject lines that suggest there is more I should be doing if I’m serious about my business!

And of course,

The Internet never sleeps!

A partial solution for me has been to set myself ‘working hours’, as if I were going out to a job, to avoid allowing work to take over my life. I say ‘partial’ solution because it hasn’t solved the fact that I still feel pressured by all these 'suggestions', especially when sales are slow and I start to wonder whether I’m really doing enough ‘promotion’.

When I started offering my artwork in its various forms on the internet, I was warned that I would probably spend 20% of my time creating, and 80% promoting. Recently I was asked by the Inland Revenue to give a breakdown of how I spend my working time, as part of a review of my benefits. Luckily I had my ‘work schedule’ to refer to but when I typed it out to send it to them, I looked at it in more detail.

This is what became apparent - and it astonished me:

·    I work a minimum of 52 hours a week, often more.
·    I spend roughly 4 hours a week painting/designing.
·    I spend a further 4 hours a week scanning and editing my designs and adding the texts.
·    The remaining 44 hours are more or less equally divided between the uploading and ‘processing’ of my creative work and promoting it.

So, according to my calculator, I’m spending less than 16% of my time on ‘creative’ activities, half of that if you restrict that term to the actual painting!

I think what’s at the heart of this difficulty is that it’s almost impossible to say what really works when it comes to promoting. So we go on trying this, that and the other, in the hope that something will make a noticeable difference. And it all takes up time.

At one time I thought that keeping track of statistics would provide some clarity so I tried various forms of analytics for a while – another job to do! But the statistics bore no relation whatsoever to my sales – eg when I had a UK sale on Zazzle, there was no trace of any visits from the UK on the day concerned. So I gave that up as a bad job.

So, what’s the answer? Well, given that we have no control over how the internet works, I don’t think we can look for a solution from outside of ourselves.

That leaves us with individual choices to make about how we spend our time. The results of analysing my working time came as a bit of a shock to me and I think being aware of how we’re living is a good starting place. For me that means steering my own course between what my offline friends would have me do and the pressure that comes with being online!

Also bear in mind that at least some of the suggestions about how we can get to the top of pile stem from someone else’s self-interest; there are plenty of people out there trying to sell us something which they claim will increase our changes of success. and our strong desire to succeed in the face of overwhelming competition, can sway our judgement.

But I always remember a thread on the Zazzle forum where a ‘newbie’ asked ProSellers for tips. All the usual advice was wheeled out – get your keywords right, promote on facebook, etc etc etc. Then another ‘Pro’ came on and admitted that he didn’t do any promotion at all!

It made me wonder!

Flower Power at home...

2011-08-01T01:28:00.000-07:00

More Flower Power!

click below for

Coffee Mugs and Aprons

Traditionally Painted Designs for New Home Cards by Greeting Card Universe Artists..

2011-07-27T23:58:00.000-07:00

...and a few that contain 'houses' for different occasions!

One of the artists who has contributed regularly to these post featuring GCU artists who use traditional methods, suggested that our next theme should be 'cottages'. (I wonder if you'll be able to guess who it was!). But to allow more people to participate, I broadened the theme to include any cards to do with moving house and also any that include a house or cottage, no matter what the occasion.

So this time we have an even wider variety than usual for you to enjoy! Please click on the cards to see them full-size -

Cathie Richardson
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/cgs

Watercolour and Ink

Ana Ferreira

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/AnaFerreira

Watercolour

Judith Cheng

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/PaintedCottage

Watercolour

Alison Kolesar

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/alisonscards

Collages made with handpainted (watercolour) pieced paper

(Background and greeting added digitally)

Diana Ting Delosh

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/dianascards

Watercolour and Ink

Lisa Charlton

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/LisaCharlton

Aqua (Acrylic and Watercolour blend)

Susan Alison
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/SusanAlisonArt

Watercolour

(Also available for apartments etc)

Lyn Hamer Cook

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/greetingcardsbylyn

Acrylics on Canvas

Diana Liu

http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/daidaisstudio

Watercolour and Ink

An updated version of the traditional Chinese Plum blossom painting. Plum blossom is one of the most beloved flowers in China.They bloom most vibrantly amidst the winter snow, after most other plants have shed their leaves, and before other flowers appear. They are seen as an example of resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity.

Candace J Hardy
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/candacejhardy

Watercolor

Bambi Papais
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/bambiscardstore

Watercolour

Lynda Linke
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/LyndaLinkeProductions

Brushtip Markers and Coloured Pencils

Raina

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/rainascardstore

Michele Naquaiya

http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/naquaiya

Watercolour

Judy Adamson

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/judyscardstore

Handpainted Paper Collage

If you enjoyed this post of traditionally drawn and painted greeting cards from GCU artists, please leave a comment and/or click on the +1 button at the end of the post.

Today on Mugs, Mousepads and More...

2011-07-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

Flower Power T-shirts and Tote Bags

(Quite a lot of people are completely unable to publish their blogger posts - and I'm one of them! But I've found a workaround that I've used for my other blog and I'm hoping it'll work here too!)

Guest Post by GCU Artist and Author, Susan Alison

2011-07-21T01:59:00.000-07:00

Today's post is an 'interview' with Susan Alison, watercolour artist and author.

Susan has illustrated her replies to my questions with some of her dog and cat illustrations. And you can see more of Susan's lovely watercolour paintings by clicking on these links -

http://stores.ebay.com/susanalisonart

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/SusanAlisonArt

http://www.zazzle.com/susanalisonart

http://www.cafepress.co.uk/susanalisonart

http://www.craftsuprint.com/susan-alison/

www.MontyandRosie.blogspot.com

I asked Susan:

When did you begin painting?
I took up painting as a serious endeavour twenty years ago when I needed to earn a living from home. I lived in the Forest of Dean at the time, so it was no hardship studying all those trees and expanses of water and trying to get them down on paper. It was incredibly naive to think I could earn a living from it just like that though! And, I couldn't - but I gave it a pretty good go, and my first painting sold from an exhibition in Monmouth Museum (ie a 'proper' venue) so I was pretty chuffed about that. I painted that particular picture twenty-three times before I was happy with it, and it is still engraved on my mind...

Most of my paintings back then were landscapes - I still paint some vistas but nowadays there'll be a dog in them eg 'Good Morning, Morning' in which a Border Collie says hello to a new day.

My circumstances changed and I stopped painting, taking it up again five years ago when I decided that surely there was a way through the internet to make it work.

The most valuable thing I've learned from my current experience is that you simply can't tell upfront what is going to sell. This means that, if you have to sell your work in order to keep doing it, your most important characteristic is persistence. I paint to sell. It's my job. All kinds of artists succeed and all kinds fail, and I fancy the main difference between the two is persistence - the presence or the absence of it. You just have to keep pounding away at the keyboard if you wish to succeed online.

Did you go to Art College or have any formal art training?
My art training has been a do-it-yourself learning curve.

I've had no formal art training. I believe there are some things (for me) that are better learnt on the job, and painting is one of them. I could spend a long time learning about how to do it instead of just doing it. Not only that, but I learn something new from every painting I do, so the training goes on for ever, although I've never again painted a picture twenty-three times...

What is the most valuable thing you've learned and who taught you that?
The most valuable thing I've learned about painting is to fight the fear that comes with a nice, new, clean, expensive piece of watercolour paper - just splash the paint on, and then resist the urge to fiddle with it. I learnt this from Edward Seago (see below). I also used very big brushes when I started out, which gave me lots more confidence.

What is your favourite medium and why?
My favourite medium is watercolour. It doesn't smell; it's quick to apply, quick to dry; easy to wash out of your hair and off the furniture. What I really love about it, though, is its translucence. Some very skilled oil painters can get close to that effect by painting it, but watercolour owns that effect and doesn't have to put it on. Its very nature is translucence and it only gives it up if one insists on messing with it.

Who is your favourite artist/illustrator etc? Have you been particularly influenced/inspired by any other artists? When I started out I was fascinated by people like Whistler, Sargent and Edward Seago because of the luminous quality of their work. I don't look so much now because I don't want to be influenced by anyone else and I don't want to subconsciously pick up other people's ideas. Mind you, I do sometimes watch the changing parade of cards on the front of GCU and marvel at the varieties of artistic expression. There will always be something new. That's how I feel, too - no matter how long I live I'll never live long enough to paint all my ideas. My inspiration comes to me now from my surroundings, wherever I am, in everyday life, but especially from nature and animals, particularly dogs. They can find joy where no one else can.

Where do you sell your paintings?
I sell my original paintings, mainly ACEOs, (Art Cards, Editions and Originals, sometimes called Artist Trading Cards or ATCs), but bigger sizes too, on eBay, along with prints, greeting cards, coasters and books.

My ebay store is here ;

there is also a store on Etsy ;

but my images can be found on several print-on-demand websites like

Greeting Card Universe, Zazzle, Cafepress, and craftUprint

Which came first - writing or painting?

Writing came first, but then I felt compelled to illustrate what I'd written, so it’s a close run thing. My very first book was called 'The Cat' and was illustrated in wax crayons. This cat had many more than the usual nine lives and firmly believed that raspberry ripple icecream cured seasickness. I still paint cats now, so maybe the original one was a foretelling of what was to come...

These days, my cats are into so much more than just icecream though, whether they're stalking harebells...

...or line dancing to soothe 'their achy breaky hearts'.

I would love to write and illustrate my own children's books but so far I haven't managed to fit that ambition into my life. The closest I've got to that is doing the cover art for my first grown-up book:

'White Lies and Custard Creams' is a romantic comedy with a dash of mystery - and, yes - there's a dog in it... (Well, there was bound to be...) It's on Amazon for Kindle for $1.59 here: and for 97p here
:

Which is your best-selling/favourite greeting card? I'm quite fond of my whippet and greyhound painting of an egg and spoon race which has made a successful greeting card and print.

Although my cool surfing Labrador dudes comes a very close second...

People seem to appreciate my less frivolous paintings too:

‘Forget me not’ ,

‘Wistful’

and ‘To Sleep, Perchance to Dream’.

What is your next project or your plans and hopes for the future?
I have my second romantic comedy novel, 'Out from under the Polar Bear', finished but for a final polish, and I have to paint the cover art. That will be uploaded to Kindle before Christmas and I want to upload a new book every year from now on.

The painting of pictures will go on as usual. I really need to get more organised about using the images though, so maybe 'getting organised' should be my main ambition for the forseeable future...

In the meantime, everyone's support is much appreciated.

I have a dog and cat artwork blog here: Monty and Rose and I'm on Twitter and Facebook if anyone would like to keep me company there, too. I love to hear from people and there is nothing more encouraging than when I get a response from someone telling me how cheered they are to see my pictures.

You keep me going and I thank you very much!

Gifts with 'Quilt' Designs

2011-07-18T01:47:00.000-07:00

Gifts and Apparel

with 'Quilt' designs

Mugs, Mousepads & More

Some of them may surprise you!

Autumn already?

2011-07-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

Do you see what I see? A tree beginning to show its Autumn colours? In July?

When I was tidying up my garden earlier this week, I noticed that some of the flowers that I associate with September are already in flower - anemones, montbretia (coppertips, falling stars). This chestnut tree really astonished me, though, when I noticed it on my way across the park to the shops this morning!

But I suppose when you remember that my roses started to bloom a couple of months early, in April, this year, it's not surprising that the leaves are starting to turn - in the middle of July!

Hedgehogs - my Naughty Pencil strikes again!

2011-07-14T01:05:00.000-07:00

Oh dear! My naughty pencil has been getting up to its old tricks!

I read somewhere that hedgehogs are trending in the world of design and this is all that my pencil could come up with. I wonder whether anyone can suggest how I could make it into a greeting card suitable for some occasion or other?

But, being the long summer holidays, I thought my pencil might as well make itself useful by keeping some of the littlies amused for five minutes!

So this Fairy Princess and Pirate are a bit of an experiment, which if it works, I'll repeat from time to time. They are the drawings from some of my most popular children's birthday and get well cards and I've uploaded them full size (A4) so that they can be printed out and used as colouring sheets.

Fairy Princess

Pirate

You need to click on them to see them full-sized, save them to your computer and print them out ready for colouring in!

If someone could let me know whether this works OK, or if there are any changes I need to make, I'll post some rabbits, dragons, clowns.... and anything else I can think of that might keep those little hands busy!

Greeting Cards with a Quilting Theme...

2011-07-11T01:44:00.000-07:00

Mugs, Mousepads & More

Painting Fast and Furious!

2011-07-07T01:43:00.000-07:00

'When I work, I work very fast, but preparing to work can take any length of time.' Cy Twombly

To be honest, looking at Cy Twombly’s work , it’s easier to believe the first part of that sentence than the second!

But in a way, I think I have some inkling of what he means. I normally work very fast – a pastel painting takes the length of a CD, usually about 45 minutes. And if it takes longer, I’ve often gone too far and ruined it. But, although it’s difficult to put into words what I mean by ‘preparing to work’, I sense that the preparation has been going on for quite a long time.

It seems to suit me to paint ‘fast and furious’, without stopping to think what I’m doing, whereas there are other artists who are more comfortable working slowly, meticulously and with a degree of patience that I can only aspire to! The son of one of our local newsagents who sells my greeting cards, showed me the beginnings of a pastel painting of a lily that he’s working on. He has nearly completed one little patch of a petal – and then he’s put it away to continue another time. I simply couldn’t work that way – I’d ‘lose my thread’ – but it obviously suits him.

I’d like to think that my approach is more like Quentin Blake’s – Quentin in Action - notice how he doesn’t wait for the first colour to dry completely before applying the stripes and how he doesn’t keep carefully within the ink lines. A much ‘looser’ approach.

These Iceland Poppies probably took me all of 15 minutes but have become very popular as a Greeting Card Design.

But recently I’ve been trying to learn to paint more carefully and slowly and, after three weeks of nearly tearing my hair out in despair at my efforts, I do think I’ve ‘improved’ a bit. I can’t say that I’ve particularly enjoyed working this way but I do feel that if we are to grow as artists, we need to challenge ourselves to step outside our comfort zone once in a while.

What was a huge challenge for me, probably comes naturally to many artists. They have no problem painting neatly and carefully, waiting patiently for the paint to dry thoroughly before applying the next stage. Painting ‘fast and furious’ like I normally do, probably wouldn’t come as easily.

But I think it could be a very worthwhile exercise for someone who doesn’t normally paint that way, especially if they happen to be in a creative slump and need to find their way out of it.

I think it’s fascinating to see what happens on the ’20 Minute Challenge’ blog!

If you’re the kind of painter who prefers to take your time, you may wonder what can possibly be the point of rushing your work, risking making errors and probably not having time to finish. I believe there are at least two important advantages of working to a tight timetable - not necessarily 20 minutes.

1. Many a good painting is spoilt by too much detail! Often a more simplified approach better captures the essence of the subject.

2. Painting ‘fast and furious’ doesn’t allow you to think – and you all know by now how I feel about thinking about your art! Just as most people, in the heat of the moment of an emergency, will do daring deeds that they wouldn’t have thought they were capable of if they’d thought about it, if you don’t give yourself time to think about your painting, you will probably surprise yourself! When there’s no time to stop and reflect, your intuitive side can take over and you may well produce some of your best work.

At the very least, it will be interesting and may be enough to set you off on a new course or jog you out of any ‘staleness’.

So why don’t you try it. Follow the instructions on the Twenty Minute Challenge blog but you don’t necessarily have to use paints – something as direct and simple to use as children’s crayons could lead to unexpected results. Paint like a child, with complete abandon and the minimum of ‘thinking’!

Nobody need see what you’ve done – it’s all for fun! But if, on the other hand, you would like to email me your work, I would be happy to post it on my blog.

One of my 45 minute pastel paintings. There was a builder working in my house when I painted these geraniums and he always came up to my attic studio to see what I'd done before he left. Imagine my nervousness when he stretched out his none too clean hand as if he were going to touch the flowers because he couldn't believe they weren't 'real'!

.

Little Brown Rabbits...

2011-07-04T00:58:00.000-07:00

...on my

Mugs, Mousepads & More blog

Woodland Birthday Party Invitation by helikettle

Money-saving Tips for Artists

2011-06-30T00:29:00.000-07:00

I’ve spent most of this month putting together a group of new greeting card designs to submit to publishers. I’ve found it quite a scary process so, to get me started with some enthusiasm, I paid a visit to the treasure chest that is our local Art Shop* and stocked up on some lovely new art supplies.

As any artist will know, the price of a new pad of good quality paper, a watercolour brush, a bottle of acrylic ink and one or two minor items made quite a dent in my bank balance that would need a lot of cards sales to fill. It made me wish, not for the first time, that I was a writer so that I could manage on just a notebook and pencil!

Art materials are invariably expensive, especially in comparison to what most of us earn from our art. The term, ‘starving artist’ wasn’t coined without good reason.

But there are ways to economise without jeopardising the quality of our work and I thought I’d list a few of my little money-saving tricks and hope that you will share yours –

1. Save unused paint. At the end of a painting session, you may be able to salvage unused paint by wrapping the palette loosely but securely in cling-film or a sealed small plastic bag.

2. Save on sketch pads. Make a pad of paper for trying out ideas by saving any sheets of A4 paper – junk-mail letters and so on – that have a clean side. Use a bulldog clip to fix them to a firm surface such as a rectangular place-mat, if you have one. If not, save the firm cardboard back of a sketchpad or any pad of art paper and use that for the backing.

3. Save on expensive watercolour or pastel paper. Sometimes it’s perfectly possible to use the back of a ‘failed’ painting.

4. Paint smaller. If, like me, you like to paint big, this will be quite a challenge but designing greeting cards at 5” x7” (or more often, 7.5” x 10.5”) has shown me that it’s possible to adjust.

5. Save on palettes. There are many items of packaging, especially in boxes of chocolates or biscuits, that make excellent paint palettes and, as they don’t cost anything, you can throw them away when you’ve finished and avoid all that tedious palette-washing.

6. Make collages! This is the cheapest way to make art that I’ve discovered. I often use remnants of gouache that have dried on the palette for painting the paper. It gives some interesting paint effects as well as cleaning the palette for me!

The only materials/equipment I need for my collages are:

glue (an ordinary glue stick is fine!)
a packet of coloured tissue paper from the stationers
some backing card (I use some 300 gsm printer card that I bought that my printer wouldn’t accept)
a sharp craft knife and spare blades
scissors
cutting mat
tracing paper

I've written several blog posts about making collage designs, mainly in the early months of 2010, but click here to get started.

7. Use every ounce of your creativity to utilise what you already have! For instance, when I blew up my expensive A3 scanner – oops! – a neighbour kindly and ingeniously converted it to a light-box! But if you need a light-box but don’t want to spend the money, you’ll find plenty of instructions online for making one more cheaply. For years I happily used a desk-lamp underneath a glass topped coffee table.

I’m sure there are plenty of other ways to save money on art materials and equipment.

What are yours?

* Our local Art Shop and Gallery now has an online shop, with very reasonable prices. Just click on the line drawing on the home page to enter the site.

'Conversational Cats'

2011-06-27T01:33:00.000-07:00

Greeting Cards & Gifts

Mugs, Mousepads & More

'Ginger Cat' Mousepad by helikettle

A Fish out of Water!

2011-06-23T01:07:00.000-07:00

A little while ago, an artist I’ve been in touch with through various forums and social networking sites, surprised me with a comment. She loved the way the internet provided glimpses into other artists’ lives, she said. And she was pleased that this made her feel less ‘weird’, a feeling she gets around other non-artist friends.

I can relate all too well to this ‘feeling weird’ - feeling 'different' from the people I knew. When my children were young, we lived in a very nice village in the South East of England, in ‘commuterland’ ie within commuting distance to London. I had lots of friends, made mostly through shared activities with our children, but I didn’t know one single artist.

As our children grew up and reached school age, most of the other ‘mums’ went back to work. Their jobs were often part-time, so were sometimes referred to as ‘a little job’ – mostly in some secretarial, administrative or receptionist field. I didn’t go back to my teaching job. I began a correspondence course in Interior Design.

It was fascinating and I threw myself into it wholeheartedly. I learnt technical drawing, colour theory, all about building materials etc and I wrote mammoth essays for the ‘History of Design’ module. But, even though the course was somewhat on the outer fringes of ‘arty’, I was still met with puzzled looks whenever I replied to the question, ‘What do you do?’

I felt altogether like a ‘fish out of water’!

Luckily I found my fishbowl full of water when we moved to Norwich. Not only was there an Art School in the city but the Adult Education centre had a thriving Art Department, which spawned a kind of ‘cafe society’ social life. But that aside, Norwich is the sort of place where you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that your cleaning lady paints mandalas or the surveyor you employed for your house refurbishment dabbles in watercolours.

But then again, in places where I’ve lived since, it’s been back to the ‘feeling weird’ though it has come to matter less to me as time goes on.

It seems as if there are still remnants of the notion of ‘artists’ colonies’, where artists gathered to live together, outside of the mainstream of society, thought of by the rest of society as ‘weirdos’ because of their unconventional ways of dressing and behaving. In the fifties, my mother wouldn’t allow me to go to Art College because they were ‘full of beatniks’!

But the internet has changed all that! Once you become aware of just how many people are pursuing artistic careers, it seems as ‘normal’ to be an artist as to be anything else.

Another factor has changed that ensures that an artist feels like a part of society as a whole, not separated off from the mainstream, either as an individual or as part of a community of artists. Nowadays, in large measure because of the internet, artists need to be business-people as well if they are going to earn a living from their art.

When ‘bricks and mortar’ galleries were the main source of sales, a lot of the business side of things could be left to the gallery to take care of. Not any longer! We have to learn about marketing, promoting, networking, Search Engine Optimisation...all of which brings us into contact with non-artists. Although we might not necessarily enjoy this side of things, it does seem to have blurred the dividing line between ‘artists’ and ‘others’ and chances are we are feeling at least slightly less ‘weird’ than in times past!

But I still struggle to explain to friends that my 'work' as an artist/designer is NOT something I look forward to taking time off from at the end of the week; nor do I look forward to 'retiring' - quite the opposite, in fact!

Anyone else have that problem?

New Baby Cards & Gifts....

2011-06-20T02:47:00.000-07:00

...on

Mugs, Mousepads & More...

Here's just one of them!

Flower Power Infant All-in-one Creeper by helikettle

Wordpress or blogger - which do you prefer?

2011-06-16T02:50:00.000-07:00

Morning mist over the River Usk obscuring the Blorenge Mountain

Is Wordpress better than blogger?

When I decided to start a blog, the question was: should I use Wordpress or Google’s 'blogger'? Both had their devotees, with a slight bias towards Wordpress. I finally decided to plump for blogger for the simple reason that I already had a googlemail account so I felt I’d be ‘keeping it in the family’, so to speak.

But since I joined Twitter last year, I’ve been reading a great many blog posts about blogging and there often seems to be an assumption that any serious blogger (in the sense of a person who blogs!) will naturally be using Wordpress - and I’m wondering why. It almost seems as if there are first- and second-class bloggers but perhaps I’m attributing a kind of technological snobbery to this, that exists only in my slightly befogged mind.

It’s true that blogger does have its occasional ‘mad moment’ and recently I’ve been getting ‘error 503’ rather frequently. But refreshing the page seems to solve that error quickly and effortlessly and on the whole I rather like using blogger. It mostly seems to do ‘what it says on the tin’!

Content aside, I have quite strong negative feelings about Wordpress. When I visit a Wordpress blog, my first visual impression is generally less ‘user-friendly’ than a blogger blog. It often takes just that important fraction of a second longer to locate the actual blog post on the page. With time and attention at a premium, that matters.

And then there’s the business of commenting. Many a time, I’ve decided not to bother with commenting because there seem to be more boxes to fill in – email address, website URL etc – than with blogger. And if I want to be informed of follow-up comments, emails arrive which require me to ‘subscribe’, not just once, but for every set of comments.

But probably the feature of blogger that I most appreciate is the ‘follow’ button. Just a couple of clicks and a small adjustment to my bloglist in the sidebar and I can easily see when the blogs I follow are updated. No need to bother with RSS feeds, Google Reader and the like, which I have to contend with if I want to know when a Wordpress blog is updated!

There is a huge amount that I don’t understand about computers and the internet – is there a person alive who knows it all? So it’s likely that I am missing something about Wordpress, due to my lack of knowledge and understanding. But when I start to read about the wonderful ‘plug-ins’ and ‘apps’ that are available with Wordpress, my mind seems to turn into something resembling the mists that often obscure the Blorenge Mountain that I can see from my upstairs windows. I believe the correct term for this is ‘cognitive shock’ and it’s not a condition I enjoy!

So, please, if there are any Wordpress advocates out there, is it possible to explain the advantages to someone who is not entirely technologically challenged but who likes to keep things computer-related as simple as possible - to free up as much ‘brainspace’ as possible for the important things in life?

Mermaids - Greeting Cards and Gifts

2011-06-13T02:25:00.000-07:00

Mugs, Mousepads & More!

Mermaids Bookplates by helikettle
Design custom stickers using zazzle.co.uk

All about ATCs and ACEOs - Guest Post by Crystal Harris Donnelly

2011-06-09T02:16:00.000-07:00

This month's Guest post is by artist, Crystal Harris Donnelly, sometimes known as 'Charris'.

Crystal is an altogether talented lady but here she focuses on just one of her many gifts, ATCs and ACEOs.

Crystal introduces herself:

A bit about me…

I have been involved in the arts for all of my life, and have done many portraits of pets and people. My favorite of all mediums just has to be pastel. I have designed craft projects for national craft magazines and my projects have been included in several hardback craft books. Horses have been a big part of my life, with my daughter showing extensively. I am also part owner of a Tack Shop, selling English and Western tack and apparel.

Crystal's blog

Crystal's Etsy Shop

Crystal at Fine Art America

ATC, ACEO - what in the world are they?

Acronyms can be confusing. Believe me, I know, because my husband, who works in the aviation industry, uses them on me all the time while I look at him in confusion. ATC and ACEO’s are not that difficult to explain. They are basically miniature art. I have always enjoyed creating pieces of miniature art.

Perhaps it comes from being thrifty with my art supplies, or maybe it is because these pieces are quicker to create as opposed to larger items. The best reason of all is that since they are so small artists can sell at a price that is agreeable to just about any budget. When I discovered ACEO’s while exploring the Internet one day, I felt as if I had found my niche.

The difference between the two types of Art cards is pretty simple to explain.

An Artist trading card (ATC) is a card that an artist creates for trading with other artists and is never for sale. They have been around for many, many years.

Art cards editions and originals (ACEO) on the other hand, started online by some enterprising and creative artists. Now, everyone, artist and non-artists alike can afford to collect fine art.

There are very few rules to creating art cards. You are free to create them in almost any medium you can think of, but they must always be 2 ½” x 3 ½”, the size of a sports trading card. Before shipping I slip them into a plastic sleeve made for sports cards. Collectors sometimes place them into albums or mat and frame them.

Since the onset of ACEOs, collectors have sprouted up all over the world. Some of them limit their collections to certain subjects, such as horses, cats, landscapes, etc. A good place to sell your aceo’s is on www.etsy.com and www.ebay.com.

My etsy shop is Art2Cee2 and I sell on ebay as Charrisart

When I work on my ACEO’s, I work under a true color Ott light bulb with a large magnifying glass in one hand. This way I can get the detail that I love so much. Detail is not necessary and there are many collectors who treasure abstracts and expressionistic pieces.

Why not try an ACEO today?

Crystal's blog

Crystal's Etsy Shop

Crystal at Fine Art America

Roses Round the Door!

2011-06-06T00:48:00.000-07:00

I should think most of us like the sound of an English cottage, with 'roses round the door' - but mine have rather overdone it this year!

The door above leads from my kitchen to the back garden. And it's an absolute joy to come down to in the mornings when the sun is shining through the roses and their leaves - but going in and out can be a bit tricky as the Albertine is a particularly thorny rose!

I took this photo a few days ago and now that some more of the buds have opened out, it's an even prettier sight!

Those of you who were reading my blog a year ago may remember that I always hope that the pink Albertine Rose, the blue Love-in-a-mist and the white Border Carnations will be blooming in time for my birthday in June. The story behind that is that on the day that I was born, the workmen who were repairing the war damage to our house, picked these flowers from the garden for my mother. Last year the Albertine just about managed to be out in time but this year, it's more of a worry that it'll be over and done with by my birthday! It began to bloom at the end of April!

A couple of weeks ago, we had gales that were more like March or even November but they didn't cause the roses to come adrift from their supports on the wall as they did in my Norwich house, where one day I went out to my car to go shopping and found it hiding under my Albertine! But a few days after the recent gales, we had heavy rain, which the gardens needed, but the weight of the wet roses was enough to make them sag somewhat - right where the Albertine overlaps with the Alchemist above the door!

My son is pretty tall and has a long reach, so when he comes down for my birthday, he'll be going up the step ladder to fix them back to the trellis!

I'm no photographer and these pictures don't really do justice to how lovely the roses looked in the early morning sunshine because the sun was full on them, draining the colour. But by chance, I've just caught the blackbird's nest in the top right hand corner of the photo, tucked between the eaves and the drainpipe of my neighbour's house. I have a good view of it from my bathroom window if I stand in the bath but it's too dark to get a good closer shot. Over the past couple of months, there's been a lot of commotion in the honeysuckle just outside my dining room where I mostly work and now I understand why! And even from indoors the birdsong is wonderful!

Wales is sometimes called, 'The Land of Song' and when I first moved here, someone told me that even the birds sing more sweetly here; I think there's some truth in that!

The roses seem to thrive in the heavy clay soil here too so what more could a 'not-a-morning-person' like me need for an uplifting start to each morning!

Can't you just smell them!