2 1/2 Years Later

I was over on my account at Illustrated ATCs looking at my gallery and realized it has been 2 1/2 years since I posted any Artist Trading Cards. Wow. I'm not sure what I think. It has been about as long as I have been married, having a kid, gaining a couple of extra ones and generally putting my art on hold. It is not that I haven't been making any art, I have been doing commissions and a fair amount of graphic design work (a project I did for the National Guard is going to print, 10,000 a month for a year). But the cold, hard truth is I haven't been doing any art for my enjoyment. ATC's make me happy. The knowledge I am making art for someone who is going to keep it as part of their collection and getting to get art in return is sooooo cool! I have art from Malaysia, Guatemala, Europe, Australia, across the US and other places I can't even recall right now. My collection is fabulous. I am starting to make ATC's again and I must admit it is like finding myself again, as if I had taken a back seat in my own life to the day to day stuff, and am finally driving my life again in a direction I get to choose. What can I say life just keeps getting better.

Here are some of the ATC's I made this weekend:

Sooner Dog

It has been a while since I have posted last, having a baby will do that to a person. Here are pictures of Sooner Dog and Terry. I did these as a suprise gift for Terry from his wife. The text behind Sooner reads 'Sooner' and the text behind Terry walking with Sooner reads 'Best Buds'.

Some More Recent Work

Here are a few images of work I have done this last summer. I will get more current work up eventually.
The Owl is titled "The Look", the Mosquito is titled "Malaria", and the Train Wheel is titled "Progress".

So Much Life, So Little Blogging

Ok, so I know it has been a really, really long time since I have blogged. My life has been crazy. So here is the last 3 1/2 months in a nutshell (possibly a large nutshell).

In April some fabulous friends of mine opened a studio for artists with a gallery space. I was fortunate enough to get one of the amazing 7 studio spaces to work in (I have pictures and I know someday they really will get posted). Our studio is named Clay, Paper, Scissors. I also contributed a piece to the Art for the Cure benefit and it was selected for second place in the People's Choice Sculpture category. Yay!

In May we had our first show and I was the first to sell artwork out of the studio, I sold 3 pieces (also to be possibly posted in the future). In addition I was asked to paint a mask for a benefit in Laramie, WY and the hosting organization purchased it!

June was exciting! I taught a summer kids art camp and a silk painting workshop, I also spent some time with my sister in SoCal learning to use her super expensive, amazing camera. At the end of the month we learned the amazing art of Shifo (spinning paper into fibers which can be woven) and pulp painting (using paper pulp to make pictures). In addition to all this we took a grand stroll down memory lane and I really got to play with my sisters great camera.

So this brings us up to July; so I have produced work for the big Cheyenne Frontier Days show we are holding at the gallery, I have made work for a train show, I taught another silk class, I went to a fiber lace workshop and a hand building clay workshop, and on top of an already long run on sentence I have been trying to catch up on commissions.

Finally I have caught up (with the blogging, not everything else). I will endeavour to keep more on top of my blog; somehow time just gets away, I am hoping to catch up with it soon!

Go Green!

So this commission is not one of my shining moments, but through the journey I have learned a lot. First, give yourself enough time for problems to arise. Second, try out your process before you accept. Third, correctly assess the actual cost involved in making the pieces. Beyond all this try to be timely and not put things off until you look like an idiot for not having finished things by the first, second or even third deadline.

I guess I have to admit I didn't know what I was getting myself into, yet I feel like I have come through admirably. Having received this commission in August, not hearing if they actually wanted the plates until October, trying to fix a broken mold in November, deciding to get married in December, getting malaria in January, I feel really good at getting everything done by mid-March. OK that is a lie, I feel really crappy at not having finished this in Sept. I am a schmuck and I know it. I did offer to refund the money for the commission several times, but it still sucks how this all worked out.

As I am finishing this large commission this weekend I guess it is kind of cathartic. I have had this looming over my head forever. The only worry I had in Africa when I was getting married was not having finished the plates before I left. I'm not sure how it will feel having finished these, but I think it will feel pretty good. I plan on getting them ready to ship on Monday. Finally.

Mexican Flavored Matroishkas

I trade on Illustratedatcs.com. I trade all manner of things, usually I trade Artist Trading Cards, but occasionally I do other swaps. For instance I am working on my Secret Santa packages right now (I have already received some gifts back and I will post those soon). The most unusual project I have worked on recently was the Matroishka Russian Nesting Dolls Set. I was in a Pick a Theme group, and I picked the theme of Oaxacan Animals (from Oaxaca, Mexico). In return I did a traditional Babushka, a coyote, a fairy tale (Princess & the Pea) and Amanda from the Ugly Betty TV series. This picture is the returns I received this week! I am in love with them all!

Tanner

Here is a picture of Tanner. Tanner is my roommate dad's dog. He has a huge head and crazy eyes when he is excited. My roommate commissioned me to create this for her dad as a Christmas gift. I created it mainly with NuPastels and finished it off with colored pencils and India ink. I painted it last night at my other, other job at the radio station. There was a parade and so the office was full of folks who were escaping from the cold. So it turns out I had quite the audience. I think I like it better than the reference photo I started with and my roommate was thrilled when she saw it. The text reads "Tanner is ready for a hitch in the field."