painting feature
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Apology & Update

My dearest readers,

Fear not that I have abandoned you. But I do feel I owe you an explanation for my continued absence on this blog.

The short of it is that I have hit a rut, and in that rut found inspiration in a different direction, a direction in which I am now headed but am not yet ready to fully reveal to the blogosphere.

The long of it is this: I began this blog to collect all the lovely artful things I found inspiring across the internet and in my own work, ponderings and discoverings. Maintaining this blog, however, became more and more time-consuming and simultaneously became more and more distant from the direction my art has been taking.

I've always loved producing original art, and this has not changed.

A painting's life can be extended even after it's sold in other forms, such as prints, note cards, gift tags and other paraphernalia bearing that same image. I launched into all this with such enthusiasm that I did not forsee the bog I would slowly sink into, overwhelmed by too much inventory and stretching myself too thin both creatively and financially.

Rather than eliminate all these things I have been searching for a way to scale back significantly and just focus on the truly essential and inspiring aspects of my art. And I believe I have now found that way.

Hence I am reorganizing everything--my Etsy store, my blog, my art schedule and even my attitude towards life. Contrary to popular recommendation I do NOT feel inspired to change by announcing my intentions to the world and then have everyone cheer me on to the finish line. Instead, I prefer to ponder things in my own heart and experiment in earnest on my own, in private, before announcing to the world what my plan is.

So, dear readers, there you have it. I will be launching my "new self" in the epic year of 2012. Meanwhile, I have applied to graphic/web design school to finish my undergrad and am furiously and excitedly experimenting with my new artistic direction.

I love you all. Stay tuned.

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Tutorial: How To Find Shipping Supplies in Your Recycle Bin

My surprise and delight upon discovering how to find shipping supplies in my recycle bin

If you're like me and sell most of your art online, shipping and all the drama and costs that go with it are a big deal to you. When I first started my business one of the biggest kick in the pants was the cost of packaging supplies. Just protecting an item in a poly bag or bubble wrapper and sticking it into a nondescript mailer can run me a dollar or more a shipment. Ikes! And when the items you sell have profit margins in the one- or two-dollar range, this can break your bank.

My husband and I go through a lot of "boxed" food. You know, foods like crackers, cereal, icecream cones, pop-tarts, wrapped in a plastic bag and tucked into a colorful cardboard box. Once a week I haul a whole grocery bag full of these broken down boxes to the blue recycling box on the curb.

As I pondered these two scenarios, I had a thought. Why not recycle them into boxes to mail out my stuff? Though some of the boxes are torn, damp or have a food smell residue, most do not. Most are perfectly clean, neutrally-odored, pre-cut, pre-folded cardboard just begging to be made into a new box for my mailings.

So I began to experiment. And it worked! Here's how I did it:

How To Find Shipping Supplies in Your Recycle Bin

You will need:

cardboard boxes from your recycling bin

tape

elbow grease

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Truth Shining Brighter: Kilby's Poetry

Truth shines the brighter clad in verse.
~Jonathan Swift

Ever since I have known Kilby she has had a way with words. Though the days when we would write each other thirty-page letters are gone, the gift of her words are still with me through her poetry blog.

Below is my favorite of her poems, but you can browse her blog for the full collection here.



Silent Tears 
(January 2006)

Ah, I could weep my spirit from mine eyes,
but all my tears are silent, all my sighs
are spirit-still and none must ever hear
or know that I, I make my bed to swim with tears
or that my heart's great thunder is a moan
suppressed behind my closet doors, that none
should ever know that lightning struck my heart
and striking, made it burn--or crack apart
(for if it's ashes now or sundered rock I do not know)--
but either way, I must not let it show
by broken tears and wild cries, whose only noise
can be within my mind. For outward poise,
hiding the shame of deep despair, must make
my darkness worse, because I'd lack
all pretenses of stillness, were I all alone.
Oh, wretched state! My lips are made of stone,
and so my spirit, crushed, must weep unknown.

But, however silent I may be, He hears.
With His own hand He wipes away my tears
and puts them in His special phial, as though
they were His precious ointment, which I know
He'll pour out once again upon my head
when all the sorrows of the world have fled
with all the tears, and joy is free,
and day is new, and I shall never be
alone, nor ever silence torture me.

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Letterfu designs, updated!

So I don't know if you remember my previous post on the letterfu products, but here are some of my initial designs and printings. I'm very excited to be working with Alex--who created the concept--and for being introduced to Open Office through this project.

It has literally taken me weeks of tweaking with margins and printer settings and paper types but I think I have finalized a template that prints perfectly on Crystal's gorgeous handmade paper. Stay tuned! I'll let you know when the finished product is available in the shop.

These designs are based on the following paintings:

Bongo the Octopus

Forsythia

Cacophony of Colors

Tiny Pond Series: Froggie's Lettuce

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