Busy year, strange year...

Over the last couple of months I've learned that it's not exactly the norm to know that your existence in a certain location has a finite lifespan and you have no idea where you're going when it's over. I figured people did this all the time!

My husband's job technically ends in July- but even that could be tentative. We've signed a lease on our apartment up until (or through?? I forget) September, in case we can't move at the exact time that his job here ends. In 2007, he started this PA job in July; I, however, did not relocate and join him up here until October because it took us that long to find (and get into) a place we liked. We're both kind of open to just about anywhere, so there isn't much of a limit to where we'll go.
I do have some places in mind that I think I would like, but am trying to remain open minded and not get my heart set on anything.

Aaaaaannnnd, once again, it's art-show-application time. I have NO idea if I should even apply to any shows. At first I figured I'd apply to the usual ones I try to do before July. Seems simple enough. Since after that we'll be moving, maybe I'd apply to one or two of the ones I like to do in the fall since hopefully by then we'll be settled and maybe even living near enough to MD or VA that I could still do the shows. But I certainly don't want to go spending $20-$40 on a bunch of applications to shows that, even if I got into them, I might not be able to participate in.

So I'm feeling pretty unmotivated on the art show front. This is usually the time of year that I start to get the urge to be creative and get some new art going (well, after I get my taxes done, bleurgh). And I go crazy thinking of new ways to arrange my booth! I go researching all over the internet, looking at everything from homes displaying artwork, to photosets on Flickr with booth ideas. I invested in a new print rack in the fall (local art shop closed and sold it to me for 10 bucks) and I'm just dying to see how it works- it can either be set on the ground or hung on the side of my tent... but anyway.

Since I've had some new ideas for art and want to play around with them, I'm wondering if I should do minimal shows this year and concentrate on working on new stuff, and possibly have a slightly different angle next year when I apply to shows. Should I step back from shows and visit some, as an observer and not a vendor, and build my inventory (especially if the economy is going to suck as much this year as last year)? Or should I go balls to the wall and give my work a big final push, especially locally, since relatively soon I'll be leaving PA behind?

More Art Show Advice....

I apologize for neglecting my blog so very much lately- this time of year there are always a million things going on, no?
Here is another bit of art show advice since soon it'll be time to start applying to shows again!

This piece of advice is simple and specifically written for set-up day.
And that advice is:
Put on a happy face.

Set-up day is just the worst. It's such a cluster. But one thing I've learned about art shows is that most artists' personalities from set-up day to show-weekend are night and day. On set up day you may be afraid of your neighbors. They may seem pissed or unfriendly and I know you will think, "Ugh!! I have to spend all weekend next to THIS person!?!? Set up day is bad enough and now my neighbors suck too!!" The truth is they're just as stressed as you are. I've had plenty of shows where I am so intimidated by my neighbors on set-up day, but once the actual show starts they always end up being some of the nicest people I've ever met! You're all there with a common goal, and from my experience, 99% of the other artists there are genuinely interested in helping each other out.

Pretty much every artist is in an awful mood on set-up day. (Um... at least I usually am!) The plus side of set-up day is getting to see familiar faces that you may not have seen since a show the year before. Even if you're like me and are usually running late, can't find a parking spot anywhere near your designated space, and are setting up all alone- seeing your art show friends will always cheer you up!

Every show's layout and set up procedure is different, so you and a hundred or more artists are scrambling to get your stuff to your spot in the most efficient way possible. It can be quite confusing and frustrating, especially if it's the first time you've done a particular show. After a year or two, you're somewhat familiar with the procedure and that does help immensely.

If it's your first time at a show (or your first time doing any show at all!), take a deep breath and try to relax. Then try to find someone who doesn't seem too busy and who looks like they wouldn't mind being interrupted (i.e. it's probably best to avoid the artists who look like they are about to have an aneurysm because an entire set of Pro-Panels is one fastener away from tumbleing down upon them, or are holding up their entire tent with one hand while extending the legs, or have just injured themselves with their tent weights and are uttering strings of obscenities). Just smile and ask someone who seems relaxed (and familiar with the territory) for some parking/set-up advice and they will probably be more than happy to help you out.


And, at every show, I promise you.... there will be that POMPOUS *#$&!# who thinks they are more important than everyone else and will take their gigantic truck with the uterus logo on it (not that everyone with those trucks is a pompous *#$&!#, just some) and their humongous trailer and just barge on through the already convoluted disarray of vehicles, tents, and artists to get right up to THEIR spot. If you're in their way, they'll even start demanding you move. Yeah I've seen it!! Once they've arrived at their spot, of course, they will park their chariot in the middle of traffic flow (because why park it anywhere else and inconvenience themselves?) and remove everything from their uterus-mobile, set everything up, and refuse to move said uterus-towing-giant-trailer until they are completely done for the day and ready to leave the show grounds. Nevermind that the show rules almost always indicate that you park your vehicle as close as you can to your spot, unload as fast as you can (throw your stuff into a pile in your spot), and then have the courtesy to move your vehicle the hell out of the way so others can do the same.

I suggest putting on a happy face on set-up day for your sake and others'. You're going to have a lot going on and you just want it done and over with. It's easy to huff and puff around and snap at everyone who so much as breathes in your general direction, but the fact of the matter is that you're spending the entire weekend with these people and the economy is in the toilet, so you better find a way to enjoy yourself. Otherwise you'll be miserable.

Try to be nice, because the person who may be annoying the #*&@ out of you on set up day may end up being one of the nicest people at the show once everything is up and running!!

Basics of How to Make Prints (Part 2)

If you've moved onto Part 2 of how to make prints (digitally), hopefully that means you've got an image capture of the artwork that you wish to reproduce!

Once you have your image as a digital file, you can have prints made by a local print shop, or an online company, or make them yourself. Making the prints yourself is probably cheaper in the long run, but will require more of an investment up front (equipment, ink, paper, calibrating software if you choose to do so).

I now make most of my own prints, but when I first started selling prints of my art, I had my prints done locally or ordered larger ones from various online shops. Here are some of the online shops I've used with outstanding results:

www.imagekind.com
This site is great because you can upload lots of your images, set up your own online gallery, and it's free to join (there are paid memberships, too, with other benefits). Once your work is uploaded, you can just sit back and let ImageKind do the work when someone orders! You can customize the prices of your art and how much money you'll make from your prints. People can even order your work already framed, and the frame prices are very, very reasonable. You can customize and pick out the frame and mat combo for each piece of your art, or customers can also pick their own if they choose to do so. And, of course, you can order prints of your work from here to sell at shows and galleries.
My ImageKind gallery is here: http://SamanthasArtStudio.imagekind.com/

www.iprintfromhome.com
This is a pretty popular site for fine art prints. I've ordered giclee prints on Somerset Velvet paper from this website and have always been impressed with the quality. The more prints you order at a time, the cheaper each print becomes (a lot of print companies work this way).

www.canvasondemand.com
This is where I get all of my canvas prints made. A couple years ago when I started ordering prints of my art on canvas, I ordered from a few different companies to compare prices and quality. Canvas on demand wasn't the cheapest, but was the best in quality by far. After comparing 3 or 4 different companies, I knew there was no way I could order prints on canvas from anyone else. If I'm going to sell prints of my art, I want the absolute best that I can find, and these are definitely worth paying the little extra. I've recommended this site to numerous other artists because I truly feel they offer a superior product that you can really feel confident about. At art shows I've had a lot of other artists compliment my canvas prints- when you combine a quality canvas print with a great image capture, you'll get amazing results.

A couple notes about prints on canvas:
They are kind of controversial.... Some people (like me) love, love, loooove them. On the other hand, some will say "It's trying to be a painting but it's not." Prints on canvas can look so much like a real painting that it's hard to tell the difference. As someone without a ton of money to throw around, I love prints on canvas because they look so much like a real painting at a fraction of the price. I guess some people are afraid that if they buy a print on canvas, it'll be hanging in their house and a guest might make a comment like, "Ohhh, this is such a beautiful painting!" Then they will have to clarify, "That's not a painting, technically it's a print" and the sky will fall and all hell will break loose.

But here's why I love them so :)
When I was shopping at a fantastic artist's gallery in Montreal, the artist had her original works on display, and prints on canvas (in many sizes), and prints on paper (also in many sizes). As much as I loved her work, I couldn't afford an original. The canvas prints weren't cheap, but they weren't necessarily expensive, either. And the paper prints were nice- buuuut when you stood there in her gallery with a paper print in one hand (for, say, $30), and a canvas giclee in the other hand (for, let's say, about $90).... there was just no comparison. The canvas print was stretched and wrapped (no need to add in the extra cost of a frame), and the colors were so vibrant and rich- and it had such depth. Since I wanted something that looked as close to the original as I could get, I chose to buy the canvas print.

If you choose to make your own prints, take a lot of time and do plenty of research on different printers. There are so many out there and all have their own set of pros and cons! For example, when I was researching printers, I remember reading a lot about photo-printers and that certain brands are generally much better for reproducing black and white images. I knew I wouldn't be doing anything in black and white, so none of that really affected my decision on a printer. You may also want to check the costs of ink, and you can even find websites that break down square-inch cost of printing.
(Here is one that I've used: http://www.redrivercatalog.com/cost-of-inkjet-printing.html)

My boss at work had some great advice about buying a camper (I think it was a camper? Maybe it was something else entirely??) but the advice applies to many things in life, including buying a printer to make fine art prints:
"When you're shopping for a printer, buy your 2nd printer first."

All that means is, when shopping for a printer you may think "I'll buy a cheap printer for my first one and then just buy a better one later." Naahhh. Buy the best that you can afford first- this will end up saving you money. There's no reason to have two printers, one that works pretty good and your super-awesome-high-quality-fancy-pants printer. You'll easily drop $150-$200 on a printer that works decent, but why not put that $150-$200 toward a really, really good printer?- Some of which start at just $350-$400? (And go up- way up- from there.) Plus if you figure out exactly which printer you want, you can take your time and hunt around for a good sale. (And don't forget, you can also look for one used!)

Basics of How to Make Prints (Part 1)

Online or at various art shows, I'm surprised by the number of artists who ask me, "How do you make your prints?" Coming from a Graphic Design background in college, I've done it for so long now that I take it for granted!
Since it's such a common question, I thought I'd make a blog post (or, two) about it. Hopefully other artists out in the Wide World of Internets will somehow stumble upon this post and find it useful.

(This post is about making digital prints from a computer, as I'm definitely not educated in the other traditional methods of printmaking. I'm also assuming if you're going to a pro to have it done, they'll know what file type to save it as- and if you're doing it yourself, you're computer savvy enough to know about different file formats.)

*** If you've got questions after reading this, feel free to ask them in the comments section after this post or email me. ***

There are 2 main steps in creating a print from your original artwork:
#1. Obtaining the image capture as a digital file.
#2. Printing said file.

The methods of doing these two things and all of the in-between is where you really get into the nitty-gritty.

Since this will be a little long, I'll make it a two-parter. This, part one, will focus on the
IMAGE CAPTURE.
There are a number of ways to get an image of your art onto the computer.

If you're not computer savvy...
The easiest way for those who are not computer-savvy is to take your artwork to a business who specializes in this very thing. You'll have to check your local (or in some cases, not so local) listings to find a place. For example, the best place I've found is about an hour and a half away: "American Art Associates" in Annapolis, MD. Most printmakers will do an image capture for you: You bring in your art and they essentially put it on an easel and take a very high resolution photo of your image. Their lenses and equipment eliminate glares and shadows. They put the picture onto their computer, adjust the color if necessary, do whatever other magic they do (I've never been part of this process) and save it. From there you can have them make prints for you, or you can ask them to save it on a disk for you for later use.

Pros of taking your art to a printmaking business for capturing the image and making prints:
1. These guys (and gals) do this for a living. This is what they get paid to do. If you're going to a reputable place, you can tell them what you want, sit back and relax, and they'll handle it AND make sure it looks great!
2. It's a lot easier than doing it yourself, aaannnnnd....
3. Much less time consuming than doing it yourself.

Cons of having a printmaker capture the image for you:
1. It can be expensive (depending on what your idea of expensive is...). An image capture of a large (over 11"x14") artwork, from my experience, can run $50 to $100 - maybe more. But since doing it yourself can be quite time consuming, having a professional capture an image of a large/difficult to photograph artwork is often well worth every penny.

Or try a little DIY.
If you are computer savvy and have some graphics software (Paint-Shop-Pro, PhotoShop, a myriad of others), you can try doing it yourself.
You can buy a scanner (they're pretty affordable, $100 and up) and scanning software (which should come with the scanner), lay your art on the scanner, scan it & import the image into the computer, and then save the file.

Pros of scanning it yourself:
1. After purchasing a scanner, it's basically free.
2. No driving around or making appointments- do it at your leisure.
3. If the artwork is 8"x10" or smaller and not glossy, it's a fairly simple and straightforward process. Lay it on the scanner. Open your scanning software. Scan it in. Piece of cake. (You can even eat a piece of cake as your scanner imports the image.)

Cons of scanning it yourself:
1. It can take up a lot of time. So even though the process is free, is it worth your time to sit and fool around with it?
2. If you've used glossy paint.... forget it. If your paint has any gloss to it at all, the light from the scanner is going to reflect off that and make white highlights. No good. And no simple way (that I know of) to fix it.
3. Large pieces can be a huge pain in the ass and take a very long time. When I have finished a 16"x20" painting (which is not that big), it takes me at least 4 scans to scan it in. Most scanner beds are about 9"x 11". Even an 11"x14" artwork will take about 4 scans to piece everything together all nice and neat.
Oh, and that whole "piecing together" process? That can take HOURS. And you need good graphics software to do it, too. Sometimes the colors in each scan might vary slightly. Sometimes you get shadows along a gutter (where your painting overlaps the edge of the scanner bed). Sometimes you've laid your artwork down slightly off from a 90-degree angle, so you might have to do a little rotating to get it to fit. The larger your artwork, the more scans you have to do, the more opportunities for unwanted shadows, rotations, overlaps, etc. It ends up being almost like putting together a puzzle.

(I scan most of mine myself because I'm cheap like that, and since my favorite place is an hour and a half away, I have to do a bit of planning to allow myself time to drive over there. Plus gas money of course, blech. Again, I'm cheap.... When I can afford to be. Meaning that if I've got an painting that is huge, I'll gladly pay to have it done. I'll emphasize again that it is worth every penny.)

UPDATE: I've now created a post about how I scan in my paintings! It's here:
http://samanthasartstudio.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-to-scan-in-painting.html

Some artists have mentioned using a digital camera and taking a very high-resolution photo of their artwork themselves. You can try this if you've got a nice digital camera and, again, a little bit of graphics software. Be sure to *not* put your artwork in direct sun- it will be too bright and have much to much glare. Ideally, you want a bright but overcast day- or, if it's sunny, you want the art to be out of direct sunlight but in a bright place. No shadows.

Pros of using your own digital camera:
1. None of that scanning/piecing together business if you've got a particularly large painting or drawing. Woo hoo!
2. If you're out of the sun, no worries about glossy paint or shadows.
3. Affordable... obviously. (Unless you go buy a very expensive new camera!)

Cons of using a digital camera:
1. If you've got a very large painting, you're going to need to take a photo at very VERY high resolution to make large prints from the painting.
2. Wobble? You might need to use a tripod to take the best photo possible.

I've tried the digital camera method- admittedly my camera is almost 10 years old. I took photos of some paintings but the largest I seemed to be able to print them and make them look good was only about 8"x10". I'm by no means an expert on this method and I'm sure digital cameras have come a long way in the last decade!! If you've already got a camera and some software, you might as well give this method a shot and play around with it, decide for yourself- it couldn't hurt.


Okay, so by this point you have your image saved as a file. Now what?... See Part 2 :)
Coming soon!

Happy Birthday to Weird Al!

Today is a very special day...
The birthday of Weird Al!!
(I wonder if he's sick of people calling him up and playing him his own Birthday anthem?)


Weird Al is one of my absolute favorite people in the world. I've loved him since I was a kid, and thought he was a total complete genius for making a career out of writing funny songs and hilarious song parodies. Changing the lyrics of songs has always been a favorite past time of mine, too.... if I had the equipment, I'd probably be releasing my own parodies to the world wide internets. Sometimes I think maybe I missed my true calling. Oh well!

Not only is Weird Al hysterical (and laughter is the best medicine!), but he's a great role model.
Here are some things we can all learn from the wonderful Weird Al Yankovic:

1. Don't take yourself too seriously!
....Check out the "White & Nerdy" video... bwahahhahaa!
2. Don't grow out of potty humor.
.....Listen carefully to the background noises in "Another One Rides the Bus"
3. Embrace silliness.
.....and when isn't a fat suit funny? Check out "FAT!"
4. Be yourself!
....you can "Dare To Be Stupid!!"
5. Adapt, but also
6. find a way to do what you truly enjoy.
....In other words, make sure you do "Whatever You Like"!
7. Try to maintain good relationships.
... which means sometimes you might have to apologize for something, even if everything was just a big misunderstanding.
8. Don't forget to LAUGH!

Happy Birthday, Al! It's your 50th, I hope you have a great one!

Facebooks! and Twitters! and Blogs! Oh my!

If you've been trying to start a business online (or offline), or you're just trying to market yourself, you've probably noticed that you're limited to only......... about 48392038 ways to do it.

Long, long ago (circa 1995) in the land of the World Wide Interwebs, there was simply having a website for yourself.
Remember that? And those silly basic HTML pages??

This is me.
These are my pets!!!
I like frogs!
I listen to the Beatles, and Tom Petty, and Steve Winwood, and Tom Cochrane.
I like Chinese Food and raisins and Indian food and sushi.

Look at all the cool colors and fonts I can do!

(Are those old pages still somewhere out there?)

Photo-sharing became pretty popular, too, for obvious reasons.
And then there was Flickr, where you could share photos with friends AND with total strangers, post messages, join groups- it's almost limitless!

Then blogs were the next big thing, and everyone had to have one of those. (Makes sense, it's a great way to keep people updated on your latest news or anything else interesting.)
Then websites like blogger came along, to help those of us who didn't want to pay for web hosting, and/or didn't know enough HTML (or were just too lazy) to lay out and consistently update a blog of our own.

Facebook has been around for a while, and it seems like 99% of the people you talk to have one (or maybe two, one for themselves and one for their business). Facebook is kind of a hub- you can share photos, blog posts, long updates or short updates, and even interact with friends and fans.

And Twitter came along. Twitter was okay, too- quick mini-updates the length of a text message if you don't feel like doing a whole blog; plus, Twitter is more interactive.


However, the more involved you get with trying to promote yourself online (as I can tell, since I'm guilty of having all of the above), the more you find that there are OTHER sites you simply MUST join to get the most out of your promotional experience!

I don't even want to try and come up with a number for how many twitter applications there are...
"Get 1000 followers in a day!" (Noooo-ooo-oooo!)
"Find your target market on Twitter NOW!"
"I have 43000 followers! Follow me and I'll show you how!"
Or the numerous tweets/various forum posts pleading, "Follow me and I'll follow you!"

And if you've got a blog, you start reading about how to find readers and get THE MOST AND BEST out of your blog. You simply MUST be a member of Digg, Technorati, Entrecard....... Hell, I've even got the "share" button on here and don't know what half of the websites do.

With Facebook, you can make yourself a business page, but then you've got to find some fans. You can share it with friends, but you don't want to annoy your friends with promotions or business related events. If you're lucky, some friends might become fans though. And if you're still lucky, some actual fans of your business (art, in my case) might even become fans. But it seems like it's becoming more like Twitter in the "Fan me and I'll fan you back!" mentality.

Is someone who became a fan of my Facebook page, just to get me to fan them back, really going to care at all if I've just started a new drawing or finished and framed a painting?

It seems impossible to keep track of it all, with needing usernames and passwords for each and every one of these (and of course, for security, a different unique password for every site). And how can anyone have time to actively participate in all of the recommended sites?

Are we spreading ourselves too thin?

If you've got an online shop (etsy, 1000 markets, ebay, other?), have any of these sites been useful to you? Or do you feel the same way?

Goals, Dreams & Inspirational Rap

Here's the progress of my Passion Flower painting as of this morning!

As I was painting this morning, I had on some Snoop Dogg and while taking in his lyrics, I thought about how his music has been inspiring to me.

It seems that, in general, hip hop music isn't thought of as being a positive influence. However, regarding art and my goals related to it, some of the most positive and inspirational music I listen to comes from Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z.
Of course, I had "Doggystyle" and "The Chronic," on tape back when I was in high school. I defaulted to hip-hop in college (after exhausting my classic rock catalogue) when, for the most part, the new rock scene was downright pukeworthy. If you think about it, it's pretty awesome that these rappers are still around, making new music that I still enjoy after all these years.... which is more than I can say for the majority of rock bands I listened to back then. And that is beyond depressing. :(

So what on earth do I have in common with hip-hop artists? Well there is an inherent similarity of being artists. But for anyone who has personal dreams and goals, no matter what they may be, following your dreams, working hard, and never giving up are common themes throughout a lot of rap music.

If you want to listen to some yourself, check these out:

Jay Z featuring Chris Martin- "Beach Chair"
"Some said HOV, how'd you get so fly?
I said 'from not being afraid to fall out the sky' "
Jay Z- "I made it"
Snoop Dogg- "Beat Up On Your Pads" a song for his football league kids
Eminem- Lose Yourself
Eminem- Til I Collapse
Young Jeezy- "Dreamin' "


What are some songs that you've found to be the most inspiring?

Art and Bugs and a new series (possibly)!

We're supposed to be notified today whether or not we got selected to participate in a VERY cool downtown improvement project. I've got no idea how many artists there are in the area, but there are a lot of spots open in the contest, so I've really had my hopes up. I also had my hopes up that maybe we might be notified a little earlier than the projected notification date, just because it's been driving me a little crazy for a couple of weeks now. And since I've heard nothing, my heart is sinking a little.

Since I do hate getting my hopes up for things, I don't do it very often. I like to think that things happen for a reason- like if I don't get selected for the project, maybe there is a little more to it than I would have thought, and I wouldn't've wanted to be involved anyway. I've decided to line up a back-up project just in case, so I have something I'm guaranteed to look forward to.

I'm going to attempt a series, 30 bugs in 30 days. This way I'll be sure to finish before I leave on my big trip next month. I want to do ACEOs, but some might just end up being simple sketches or other miscellaneous projects. But something bug related is my goal.

I've heard that doing daily art helps to really spark creativity, and also trying to keep it as a daily thing will help me settle into some kind of routine, I hope. There may be days when I feel extra creative and 2 bugs may happen, or if I'm anticipating a particularly busy day, I might try and get a little ahead of myself.

So there. And by writing this little goal down and publishing it, I do hope that it forces me stick with it!

The Story of Stuff...

Since a lot of people seem so down in the dumps about the economy, not having enough money, the environment, pollen, the lack of mustaches among the under-30 male population, pollution, not getting their free KFC meal, or whatever else... I wanted to share this little film.
(If you're very busy, you can put it on and just listen to it while you're working and still get something out of it.)

It's called the Story of Stuff: http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Some of this might be STUFF you already knew, maybe some you didn't. It's got a little bit of politics in it and if that isn't for you, it's a small part and easy to ignore- I'm not trying to force that on anyone by promoting this. But a large part of this is an undeniable look at how much STUFF we have and how we always seem to need MORE, BIGGER, BETTER, FASTER STUFF.


...No we don't!

Give it a watch, listen, whatever, share it if you like. It may give you a new perspective on shopping and what you really need to spend moneys on, especially if lately money is something that you've been concerned about.

(PS...

Mustaches are free!!!)

(PPS so are LolCats!)

Sugar Cane Paper - EcoFriendly Fine Art Paper review

I got my Hahnemuhle Sugar Cane paper in the mail a few weeks ago! The company from which I bought it sent it in this GIANT box with about a million inflated plastic protection bubbles, and my husband commented that just in the packaging alone, I probably undid all the energy and resources I was trying to save by investing in an eco-friendly paper.
Sadly he's probably right :(


The official website is here:
http://www.green-rooster.com/
And a quick overview of the product can be found here:
http://www.green-rooster.com/site/us/46/products.html

This is a new inkjet fine art paper. It's made from a by-product of sugar cane processing (bagasse). 75% of the content consists of bagasse fibers, 25% consists of recycled content made from the company's paper trimmings. To produce the paper, Hahnemuhle is using renewable energy.

Hahnemuhle is also donating 5% of the sales from the paper to environmental protection projects!

Although sugar cane farming itself isn't very good for the environment in most cases (the usual: hacking down more and more natural habitats to grow the stuff, then dumping the fertilizer and pesticide chemicals into water sources, yuck), using a by-product to make a paper is still better than having to create a brand new source for it, which is why I chose this paper over a bamboo paper.

I was very impressed with the quality of the paper upon opening the box.

-It's quite thick! I've never used a fine art paper made specifically for inkjets, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It's 300 gsm: Metric for grams per square meter. I learned something new as I never really paid attention to paper weight before, I just bought what was recommended or what looked and felt nice or seemed appropriate for what I was doing with it!

-It has a texture to it, too, and again since I hadn't used that kind of paper in an inkjet before, I couldn't imagine the image would come out looking very nice- even though the paper IS specifically designed for use in inkjets. Boy was I wrong! Obviously the paper is meant to be used with inkjet printers but until you see for yourself how it looks, at least for me, it was hard to imagine a perfect image reproduced on paper with that much texture.

-It has a warm tone to it. If you tend to leave white space around your print, inserting it into a bright white mat may make the warm tone of the paper stand out- something to consider. I do not usually leave white space around my images, but I do think sometimes that looks nice, so I will have to keep that in mind.

One concern I have is that I'm using an Epson printer and I always hear that Epson printers work best with Epson papers (go figure). I just hope that if I start using the bagasse paper on a regular basis as I plan to do right now, it won't have any weird long term effects on my printer.

Aside-
I also have to admit that a couple of years ago when I first started researching making my own prints, I saw the Hahnemuhle name (which at the time I had never even heard of) being dropped all over the web by the snootiest-sounding of artists. I remember reading paper reviews and forum discussions about different papers, and some artists would jump in and make snide comments about any other papers being discussed, saying they would ONLY use Hahnemuhle and everything else is just worthless garbage, etc. To be honest, talk like that sort of turned me off to it because a lot of artists recommending it sounded pretentious. I looked up this company-with-the-impossible-to-pronounce-name anyway, and I was in for a surprise! Their papers cost WAY more than anything I was considering using.

Fast forward to last month, when I researched eco-friendly archival quality art paper options. There they were... That fine art paper company from Germany with the long name that started with an 'H.' I was intrigued. I remembered all the things I had read before, but I decided to order some and see exactly what all the fuss is about. And now I know. Turns out there's a reason people speak so highly of it. I'm not going to say HP or Epson or any other papers are crap though, because that's not me, but I will say that now that I've tried this paper and know it has a good name and great reputation, and will last a long time, I see it as a great investment for my prints and it would be hard to go back to anything else for my art prints!

I walk the line...

As I've tried harder and harder to incorporate "green" into my artwork and art business (prints, packaging, etc.), I'm starting to realize that archival and environmentally friendly are damn near mutually exclusive. It seems that I am walking a fine line between them. When you can find environmentally friendly art supplies, the sizes or colors offered are extremely limited.

After a few customers asked me about making ACEOs, I recently decided to create some. Last year these little cards were immensely popular in the art community, and with the economy being in the toilet/people not wanting to spend a lot of money on things, I would wager they will remain popular for at least another year or two as they are small and artists can make them quickly and cheaply. Plus, it's tiny collectible art cards... Tiny is FUN!

So to package and sell ACEO prints, you can put them into a clear sleeve with backing board just like you would do with any other print. But getting a bunch of new plastic sleeves just to encase these tiny prints seems a bit wasteful. And, I can't find bags in the proper size that are environmentally friendly at all.

Some artists are using baseball card holders/sleeves to display their ACEO prints. These are a little thicker and more sturdy than your standard plastic sleeves for prints, and are almost always archival quality as collectors don't want their cards to deteriorate in quality. After an exhaustive search, I came up with no recycled content or biodegradable baseball card holders.

Some people on Etsy are incredibly creative with their packaging! Etsy sellers are using everything from cereal boxes (cut to size then taped together to make a sleeve), to fabrics, to recycled mailers and other recycled packaging.

I love the idea of the recycled cereal/snack boxes for shipping, but I still need a nice way to display the cards for art shows, galleries, etc. Hmmmm.....

Save Small Business from CPSIA!

The issue "Save Small Business From the CPSIA" is currently at 6th place on Change.org
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia
and today is the last day to vote.

I wish I had known sooner about the voting deadline, as I would have blogged about this before now. But I didn't even find out about CPSIA until a week or so ago.

I want to make a note, that I do think the law is a good idea- in theory. I just think that, as it stands right now, the Act needs some re-working in order to prevent a lot of people from losing a small business that they've worked so hard to create. Isn't that the American Dream?

What is CPSIA, you ask?
Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

Sounds like a good thing... Safety First!
So, why did Congress just recently (August 2008) pass this act? Answers to this, and other questions, from the www.change.org website:

"In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys containing dangerously high lead content, unsafe small parts, and chemicals that made kids sick."

Hm, well yes. Something had to be done. So what's so bad about CPSIA?

"Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in children's products, mandates third party testing and certification, and requires manufacturers of all goods for children under the age of 12, to permanently label each item with a date and batch number."

Oh! Well that's a good thing. We don't want toys with lead laying just around and all.
But wait! There's more:

"All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational companies to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each item have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and updating their systems to include batch labels. Small businesses however, will likely be driven out of business by the costs of mandatory testing, to the tune of as much as $4,000 or more per item. And the few larger manufacturers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.

Anyone who produces or sells any of the following new or used items will be required to comply with the law: toys, books, clothing, art, educational supplies, materials for the learning disabled, bicycles, and more. Any uncertified item intended for children under the age of 12 will be considered contraband after February 10, 2009. It will be illegal to sell or give these items away to charities, and the government will require their destruction or permanent disposal, resulting in millions of tons of unnecessary waste, and placing an enormous strain on our landfills."

The website www.Etsy.com, which sells only handmade goods, has an entire forum dedicated to CPSIA discussion:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_board.php?forum_id=5000002
since there are many people in the Etsy handmade community who sell handmade items for children, including clothes, accessories, toys, art, etc.

Some people who've written to their representatives have been told that the bill will have a provision providing exemption for One Of A Kind items. Let's hope they're right!

The Magical Mystery Tour is dying to take you awaaaayyyy....

.....Dying to take you away,
Take you todaaaaaaaaaaay!!!


Today I finally finished my Hawaiian Ginger painting!
But I have yet to find my camera..... still.
So for now, the final product will have to remain a mystery! Until I find my camera, find a good deal on a used camera, get a new camera, or scan in the painting. :)

Of course, this means I get to start a new painting- or, more likely, a new series of paintings. Sadly, I'm getting away from tropical for a bit. Living further north and having 90% of the weeks being overcast (and colder than I'm used to this time of year) makes me miss the tropics WAY too much to be staring at a tropical themed painting for months on end!

So I'm going with food. Everyone loves food, right? Especially me. And while I'm painting it, I'll probably be eating it... and drinking it- lots of it!!- in the form of wine, since my next paintings will be of grapes.

It's not easy being green, Part 84748329

I'm almost all settled into the new place, which is a relief! The office- where I'm sitting now, and where all of my art supplies are also sitting, sadly, still in boxes for the most part- is still a disaster. I would love to post pictures of it for a laugh, except that I still can't find my camera!

Also on the list of things I have yet to find:

-My printer cable
-My Stargazer Lily painting (and canvas prints)
-My business cards (but who needs them, anyway? www.wasteofmoney.org)
-A place to dump the recycling around here

Yes, here I am, living in a city. I moved up here from a rural place. Though, truth be told, it was like pulling teeth, I still managed to get a recycle bin from Waste Management in my old town.

One might think in the city, you'd have access to tons of recycling opportunities. Aren't cities supposed to be all sophisticated? That's what they led us to believe in my hometown... Yet here I am, still throwing all of my garbage into one bag and tossing it like it's 1980 :(
It's so against what I've been doing for the last few years. I made about 30 calls last week, left messages, got a few rude people on the other ends of a few calls (which was just plain funny- one lady acted like "How DARE you call me and ask about residential recycling? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU AAAARE!?!?"), yet I still have absolutely NO idea where the hell to take my paper, cardboard, plastics, etc. It's starting to drive me crazy. How hard can it be? ...Seriously?

Some people acted like I should just go get a basket. Actually, that was a pretty universal response. Great, that's just what I would do, except that I've been told where I live, a basket is pointless because as soon as you put it outside, it gets stolen!? (Um... Probably because no one else can figure out how the hell they can recycle their stuff.) I am even willing to just bag up the recyclables- separately!- and just go take them to wherever they need to go. Folks on the phone acted like that's the most bizarre concept they've ever heard of.

I've seen dumpsters back at home where they have different compartments for things-- can't we just get one of those? I just don't understand how, in an area where recycling is actually mandatory and required by law, it's damn near impossible.

Wine Wednesday & Artwork Series: My first solo show! :)

http://www.thebaynet.com/events/index.cfm/fa/viewEventdetails/eventID/3864

Blue Wind Gourmet in southern Maryland is hosting a fundraising event each week for Patuxent Habitat for Humanity.
Each week, the gourmet store is featuring a different artist. I will be featured the week of November 5-11!
The Artist reception is from 5-7pm on Wednesday, November 5th.


I'm very excited to go and set up one week from today... I still have to actually finish unpacking my artwork though, and figure out which to bring with me!


And since moving.... I really do miss Blue Wind. I love their sandwiches and especially their pizzas, and I have yet to find anywhere comparable in the Burg. But since I'll be home once a month or so, hopefully I will get a chance to indulge then.
It's lunch time, and now my mouth is watering.... thinking about the cornstarch pizza crust... and made-from-scratch salad dressings...



Damn.

Been busy, but...

I did just order my new business cards from www.greenerprinter.com . YAY!! I have been perusing the samples they sent me for at least 6 months now, and since I've got at least few shows coming up, I figured I better hurry up and order some. I can't wait to get them!

The samples I have from greenerprinter are gorgeous- great paper and great inks, I love everything about them. The cards I ordered are 100% recycled and printed using soy inks.

Neat!

When will they make soy inks for my home ink jet? WAAAAANNNNNNT!!!!

Tentative Calendar

A lot of art shows go on in the summer and fall, huh?

So far this year, I'm doing:

The Portsmouth Seawall Art Show, August 23-24
http://www.seawallartshow.org/

Artsfest at Annmarie Garden, September 20-21
http://www.annmariegarden.org/Events/Artsfest/index.htm

and have applied to:

Art Fair on the Square, August 31st & September 1st
http://www.deerpathartleague.org/af-general.htm

Neptune Festival Art/Craft show, September 26-28
http://www.cacv.org/events/neptune.asp

Art on the Avenue, October 4
http://www.artontheavenue.org/index.htm

I'm still waiting to hear back from the other 3. So, this could prove to be a VERY busy fall... or a very relaxed one :)

I've been making changes and improvements to my booth setup since last year. Before, I wanted to be unique and stand out and all of that good stuff. Then after going to some art shows and seeing what I thought were some really great booths, I realized that there is probably a reason most artists do not have brightly colored booths. Sure, for jewelry and all it's wonderful. But most of the booths with paintings in them looked simple and organized to put all the emphasis on the artwork.... obviously.
I need some kind of a shelf or desk, and just can't bring myself to fork over $250ish for the ProDesk from Pro Panels. It's shelves covered in carpet! Surely I can find something for less that will work just as well!

Bee Month, Part Deux

I had originally planned to do lots of bee related drawings and art this month. I do have a painting I'm working on- and tomorrow I'm at Old Towne Crafters all day, so I'll have lots of time to work on it. It's so little (9x12 I think), so hopefully it WILL be done soon.

But in the meantime, instead of working on drawings, I've been working over on Etsy...
While browsing around the site, I found other artists on Etsy who are concerned about the honeybee crisis and who want to help by raising awareness or donating proceeds from sales, or both!

Etsy has a great community and part of that community is Etsy Teams. Teams are groups of artists and crafters with something in common- whether it's location, or type of craft, or nationality, or- pretty much anything!

I contacted some of the other artists who expressed concern about the bees to guage interest. Since everyone seemed enthusiastic, I created the Etsy HoneyBee Helpers Team. Along with that came the Etsy HoneyBee Helpers Blog, which has information about Bee Team artists and their news, what we're doing to help the bees, what related things are going on over at Etsy, etc.

I know things will probably start out slowly, but I'm really hoping we can all come up with some great ways to raise awareness of CCD and the importance of bees and maybe actually make a difference.

May = Bee Month

Incase you may not already BEE aware, there's a honey bee crisis going on. You can read more about it on http://www.helpthehoneybees.com , http://www.honeybeepreservation.org , and http://www.vanishingbees.com . It's a very, very sad thing for someone who loves bees as much as me, to hear about them being in such a bad way and no one can really pin point just one reason why- yet. But it's also a very bad situation for humans in general, as a lot of our food supply depends on honeybees, and food prices are getting higher as it is.

I've wanted to do a series of bee drawings for a while now, so this seems like a great time to start that. With the flowers in my garden starting to bloom like crazy, I might be able to get more inspiration there.This month I'm hoping to get a small painting done, and as many small drawings as I can- I'm looking to sort of challenge myself to do a bunch. I've seen some teeny-tiny drawings and paintings in little frames (I'm talking 2" x 2" here) and they are ridiculously cute. So I'd like to try my hand at some of those.

If I do a few this month in my spare time- especially since drawings generally don't take that long, and if I do a small painting, hopefully that won't take too long either- I can put those up in my etsy store. And if I sell anything, I can donate to one of these bee research charities.

I've loved bees since I was about 6 years old (when I was known as "the bee girl"... Ask my family... I'm sure they loved hearing how their kid was a bee-loving-weirdo). And now that I'm doing a lot of flower and bee (and bugs in general) artwork, it seems only natural that I should make some contributions to help out the bees that I've loved so much for most of my life.

Writing an Artist Statement

YAWN........ Seriousleh.

It's one of those things that every artst is supposed to have. Some artists pour a ton of work and thought and emotion into them. Others just quickly throw together a couple of paragraphs to say that, yes, they have an artist statement, and conveniently, they do it just in time for some looming deadline. I'm not actually sure how I went about mine- so that's probably a huge red flag that it's time for an update. It was a few years ago- so, yes, definitely time for a change.

I decided I better go ahead and write one now, as opposed to waiting for a time when I suddenly NEED the thing, and end up effortlessly throwing something together... again. If I start one now when I'm not in desperate need for it, that'll give me plenty of time to organize my thoughts, write drafts, edit them, really take my time and be able to step away from it for a while- just like I have to do when working on a painting.

I found a couple of websites that have some great tips on helping you get started.
http://www.mollygordon.com/resources/marketingresources/artstatemt/

That's the main one I used to begin brainstorming. Filling in the blanks and writing general words and phrases- that was the easy part. I did that earlier this week. Last night, I started thinking of other concepts and ideas that I want to get across to the reader, too.

Problem is, I don't consider my art very deep. There's no meaning, just look at it.
It seems like artists who want to convey emotions and feelings would have an easier time writing an interesting statement and explaining the thoughts and feelings they're trying to evoke. I am supposed to write 3 intelligent sounding paragraphs just to say, "Um. It's a pretty picture? Of a flower? I like nature." Stand by for.... procrastination.