Shop Local!

I was mentioned and linked to on a local blog talking about shopping local on Etsy. Thanks to Spring Griffin for the link!

http://www.dukecityfix.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1233957%3ABlogPost%3A26821

Down with Commercialism!!

There is a great discussion going on over at Cynthia Guajardo's blog the past couple of days. She was unsure if she should veer off the regular artist post topics and go into the controversial subject, but I'm so glad she did! I feel the same way she does, but I'm not as good at expressing myself! I have to recommend the documentary The End of Suburbia to complement the discussion. My husband and I watched it about a week ago and I think it's an important topic! Some people may discount it and say it will never happen, but it's coming people! Wake up! I would tell you more about the subject but I think the movie says it all better than I ever could.

Another New Year

Our 2007 family portrait

Christmas is over and New Year's Eve is closing in. I have a love/hate relationship with the Holiday season.

I HATE the commercialism of it all. This year we gave mostly handmade by us or traded with other artist gifts. They were a hit!

I LOVE the family connection and the reflection on the year coming to an end. We went to see The Nutcracker ballet this year. My sister in law is the ballet mistress for the production in Las Cruces, NM. My brother started dancing in the production around 6 years ago. He's one of the uncles. It's so fun to see my heavy metal loving, musician brother dancing around to classical music. It's a little ironic! The show was amazing this year, we haven't been in about 5 years and they had all new costumes and sets. I love the ballet!

I LOVE looking forward to a fresh new year to start over and do things differently. I have many new goals and plans. I'm looking forward to a wonderful 2008! Election year again, hopefully with better results this time!

I doubt we will celebrate New Year's Eve this year. I can't stay up that late anymore. Actually, I have no desire to stay up that late. I love sleep! I'm more of a morning person now than I was in my younger years. I like to get up early and enjoy the peace and quiet of the morning before anyone else is awake.

Happy New Year everyone!

Commissioned Portraits

Painting portraits is my specialty. I have been painting commissioned portraits for almost 25 years! Nothing I paint is more challenging and rewarding. Below you can see some examples of portraits I've been commissioned to paint over the past few years.

I can work from life or photo, preferably photo for kids and pets. You may provide the photo or I can take photos for you for an extra $25.

My prices are moderate for my experience and are based on size, medium, and number of people/pets. Starting at $150 for a pencil 8 x10" with one person/pet and going up to $1,400 for an oil 20 x 24" with four people/pets. Email me for an exact quote for your commission.

Prices include basic professional framing. A 50% deposit is required to begin and the balance is due on approval of the portrait. You may also order prints or notecards to share your portrait with family and friends.

Buy Handmade

Here is a link to an article in the NY Times about buying handmade. I received it in an email from the Handmade Consortium, the group that started the Handmade Pledge for this holiday season. If you are interested in taking the Handmade pledge (not just for the Holiday season after all), click the logo on the sidebar to the right.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/magazine/16Crafts-t.html?em&ex=1198040400&en=f6aed7d6861c7a73&ei=5070

Being and artist married to a musician, we don't have a lot of money for buying handmade this year, but we will be MAKING most of our gifts this season. I also plan to do some trading with other artist friends in order to give gifts of art other than mine(my family must be tired of it already!).

I also take a cue from my mom who has been giving us handmade gifts for as long as I can remember! One of my husband's favorite gifts every year is the music themed shirt she makes for him every Christmas.

The article referenced above refers to the environment and global warming as a good reason to buy handmade, but more than that, for me it's about a gift that comes from the heart of someone taking time out of their lives to hand make something for you.

Peace on Earth and give handmade this Holiday season!

Changed my mind

So, after thinking about it for a week I have decided not to move out of the Factory on 5th after all. I will still be moving however, into a smaller studio. I'm moving my office and framing equipment to the empty rooms at the house and keeping my painting studio here. I will no longer be in the main factory building but I will have a smaller studio in the front office building. That will eliminate the problem of open ceiling and no privacy, plus the new studio has a skylight AND windows so my light will be much better. After telling all my artist friends about the move I decided I would miss the comraderie too much. Also, I need to have a place for studio visits that won't interfere with my home. I never have liked the idea of inviting clients to the house.

I was working late here at the studio last night and finished a couple more needlepoint designs. One I like, the other I'm not so thrilled with. I may work on it a little more to see if it can be salvaged. I will try to get photos posted soon. I will be working on a new design today as well.

I have to leave the studio early today because my brother's band is coming up from Las Cruces to play a gig in Albuquerque tonight. I have to get home and do some cleaning and cooking to prepare for their arrival. If you are here locally, go check out Wormhole at Burt's Tiki Lounge downtown. The show starts at 9:30pm.

Today's excitement!

I just received a call from the woman who is licensing my designs for needlepoint to let me know that I've sold my first canvas! Time to get busy painting more designs! Thanks Lynda!

Is that enough exclamation points for you? I know, I overuse them, but I'm just so tickled!

I will have some new designs posted soon. I'm currently working on a couple of smaller flower designs.

Blogstrings

Thanks to Ren for posting on her blog about this;
BlogStrings

My blog is now listed there too!

NEW ACEO limited editions

I mentioned in an earlier post that I would be putting up some special limited editions for the holidays. I know, it's kinda late for that(unless you buy soon!), but these will be in my etsy shop indefinitely. Of course they are small editions, only 10 each, so they will go fast at only $5 each!

I have 20 images total that I will be listing throughout today and tomorrow. Here's a link to my ACEO section so you can see them all together;
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=42046&section_id=5242019





Some of the images are ones that I have printed at other sizes, but some are not available anywhere else. The originals have sold and I never made prints of them before.

In other news, the show in Gallup was a great success! The weather was cold and snowing, we had to spend the night because the interstate was closed overnight. I was able to convince a couple of my artist friends to go along too, so we had a great time! Thanks again to Lyndon at House of Lyndon, for showing my work!

Factory on 5th and other thoughts

Tonight is the First Friday show at the Factory on 5th. I am almost ready in the studio, busy printing business cards and rehanging art on the walls.

My latest news regarding the Factory is starting in January I will no longer have my studio here. My two older sons have moved out of the house and it makes no sense to keep paying rent for an outside studio when we have two empty rooms at home.

In some ways I'm happy about the move, I will be able to work anytime of the day, I won't have to commute anymore which will save us money on gas, and we will save the money paid on rent.

In other ways I'm not happy about the move, I will miss the artist friends I've made at the Factory, I will no longer have a "place of business".

At the same time, there will no longer be the distraction of the dramas that occur when more than 5 artists are working in the same building. One of the problems I've always had with the Factory is that the ceilings are open so there is no real sense of privacy. Everyone knows each other's business. Music has to be low so it doesn't bother the other artists.

Some people don't have my sense of courtesy, so there is always someone else's music blasting over mine. I like to blast my music while I paint too, but I feel bad about annoying other people. I won't have to worry about that anymore.

Two Show Openings this week!

First Friday at the Factory is this Friday from 6-11pm. The Factory is located at 1715 5th Street in Albuquerque.

Saturday I will be at an opening in Gallup at the House of Lyndon, 227 Coal in downtown Gallup, from 6-9pm.

Also, I have been cleaning out my original drawer in my flat file and found a bunch of paintings that I listed in my Etsy shop. Clearance prices on most of these paintings. Lots of smaller sizes, watercolors, aceos, etc. Check out my Etsy shop to see what I have!

Goodbye to my little angel

I wish I had a better photo of him, but he hated to have his picture taken!



This has been a difficult weekend for me. My little Yorkie, Yoda, had to be put to sleep last night. His kidneys failed and he was at least 12 years old, so it was the best thing to do. Doesn't mean I won't miss him terribly.


He adopted us one day almost five years ago when he showed up on our front porch covered in blood. Turned out someone had kicked him and broken both his jaws and so of course looking for his previous owner was out of the question. It so happened that it was a couple of days before my sons left the state to go live with their dad for the year. Yoda got me through that very tough time without my kids because he needed nursing back to health. He was my little angel. I don't know what I would have done without him. I miss him so much, but I know he is better off now because he is no longer suffering.