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Doodles 36 & 37

Doodles 34 & 35

Cafe Press order

I'm celebrating today because someone placed their first order on my Cafe Press store. It's a name that I don't even recognize, either, so I must have picked them up at one of my outdoor art shows. This is WAY cool, especially in light of the fact that last week was my very first promotion of the Cafe Press store in my weekly newsletter. Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday I had 9 sales on eBay, too, so that was very exciting and today I am bustling around getting the paid ones ready to ship out. People must be in a buying mood this week. They sure weren't at the show this past weekend! I was amazed at how many people walked out without a single bag in their hands...I was right next to one of the parking lots and entrance gates, so I saw it myself.

People have been saying for years that online sales are on the increase. For me, I like it because this time of the year is the pushing, shoving, rudeness, and parking melees. I don't even want to go to the post office today to mail out my packages from yesterday's sales...but I will go face the mobs anyhow, because my personal policy is to ship within 24 hours of payment. I believe in being as professional as I possibly can. There is always room for improvement, of course, and I have many things that I plan to do and improve as my business continues to expand.

I've also got to get a few more Christmas ACEOs finished up today...Monday is a good day for listing on eBay. Sunday, I like the best, but Monday is the next best evening to do it. I'm revamping a couple of cards that didn't sell, plus making some new holiday cards because they are selling very well on eBay right at the moment.

Doodles 33

In honor of the lovely Florida weather that we are currently experiencing, I have added another tropical art piece to my inventory. This is another of the ACEOs (art cards eiditons and originals) that I have been making in the past month. Now that I have a couple collectors of my ACEOs, it's fun to put them up for auction on eBay and see what happens!

Doodles 32

As you can see, I have really gotten into some fine detailing on my most recent creations. Yeesh. Imagine having to do something like this on a 22 x 30" format. I think I would end up pulling out my hair on that one.

Doodles 31

This one was an experiment that came out quite well, I think. A lot of time went into creating this little jewel!

A blast from the past

I just saw David Pomeranz at the local health food store. He doesn't live here, so he must be visiting from out of town. Just seeing him in person rushed me back to 1988 when I was down in the Caribbean for a cruise with friends. We took a vanload of people off to snorkel one day, and in this van with us was this skinny little Jewish guy and I had no idea who he was. But he was obviously alone in our group and I thought nothing more about it. The whole afternoon he was out there snorkeling all by himself.

Later that night back on the cruise ship, we went to see the night's live performance and you can imagine my astonishment when this skinny little Jewish guy walked out and started belting out a song that blew me out of my seat. He's a very talented singer and songwriter and many of us single females fell in love with him that very night on this cruise ship. From then on, you NEVER saw him alone anywhere...there was always an entourage of females goo-gooing and ga-gaing over this poor man, day and night.

I was among the throng at times, I will readily admit it. It was a hopeless situation to try to have a conversation with him alone, so I backed off considerably and admired him from afar. Pined, is probably a more appropriate term here. Even married women who were on this cruise ship without their husbands, were following him around like a gaggle of love-struck teenagers. We were buying up the ship photographers pictures of David, buying his CDs that were for sale in the gift shop, and hanging out nonchalantly, waiting for him to make an appearance anywhere on the ship. It was one of the funniest times of my life to watch this incredible transformation occur...from lonely stranger, to idol of the masses. Celebrity has something to do with it, but for me it was mostly about his wonderful talent.

No, when I saw him today I said nothing to him. I believe in allowing celebs to have their own private time and space. If I had gotten to know him better back in 1988, then it would have been a whole different story. But it certainly was fun to see him again!

Doodles 30

Another little teeny snowman to add to the winter collection...

Doodles 29

You simply can't have a snowman without a snow woman! So she's going to accompany the little guy that I made last week. And I have another snowman in progress, too.

Doodles 28

Already I'm in need of a break from the holiday season! So I went off from the Christmas themes and wandered back into the tropical/Floridian subject matter. This is an abstract piece, too, so it was fun to make it.

Harry Potter

This morning I was at the 10:45 am showing of the 4th Harry Potter movie. My friend and I got nearly the last two empty seats in the theatre...lots of people must have played hookie from school and work today! Since HP was showing in about 3 different theatres at this movieplex, I think everyone was satisfied today to be able to get in and see it right away.

I'm a Harry Potter addict and I see the movies over and over and have read the books twice. This one was the best movie so far, I think, and I was impressed that they were able to condense a 700+ page book into a movie format. I can't wait to go see it again!

Julia redo

Another's work

I'm utterly fascinated with these images that a friend emailed to me! I can't mention any names here because she will kill me...she's just starting out as an artist and has the Artistic Terror thing going on. I LOVE these ideas...what a fantastic imagination!!! She says that they are not completed as yet and I can't wait to see how they come out in the final rework. These are such great pieces!!!

Seascape redo

I particularly liked the changes on this ACEO. Wow...what a difference!

Adjustments

I've been wondering why some of my Art Cards haven't been selling on eBay. I had even reworked this image once before, and posted about it in this blog. And still it hasn't sold, which seems odd to me because I see some unusual artwork selling every day, and this one seems to be a decent enough work. How the idea of adding the border came to me, I don't know...the recent holiday series of Doodles that I have been making seems to be getting quite a bit of action on eBay and someone had gone into my store and bought a few cards from me.

Every card this person bought had a border...this got me to thinking. The cards with the borders have a much more finished/polished look to them. So late last night (and I'm talking after midnight) I got to work and completed the redo of several of the cards and I like the improvements myself. I think I'm onto something here. My sales this week will tell the tale, eh?

Doodles 27

Doodles 25 & 26

Doodles 22 & 23

Doodles 20 & 21

Doodles 19

It's odd to be painting a snowman when I am on my way out the door to go to the beach for a walk. It's about 80 degrees out there and gorgeous. According to the Travel Channel, Clearwater Beach is rated #5 of the top 10 beaches in Florida. I'm very lucky to have it so nearby. One of my friends just called and asked me if I would come get her and take her to the beach for a walk, and since she's been having a rough time lately, I think this is a stellar suggestion.

Doodles 18

I can already tell that by the time Christmas arrives, I am going to be burnt out on Christmas art! I've got 2 completed and posted on eBay and another 4 are currently drying...I'm using some alkyd (fast drying oil paint) on these holiday ACEOs. My attention span is too short for these holiday themes! I'm already ready to move on to Valentine's Day...

Christmas Doodles

It's that time of year! My first contribution to the red and green movement for the season.

More Doodles

Doodles 15...a bit of fruit. And what can you say about a piece of fruit? Same with Doodles 17.

Doodles 14

This ACEO is made in honor of my son's cat, Phinn. Phinneas came to be part of Shawn's life about 12 years back, I think, when they were still living in LA. I first met Phinn myself, when Shawn and he moved down here to Florida about 4 years ago. From the very beginning, I often wondered if anyone was home in this cat body.

We had so many Phinn stories, that it came to be a family pastime to tell stories that occurred whenever we would be together. After having spent most of his adult life as an indoors cat, Phinn suddenly made a dash for freedom one day about a year before he died. From that point on, you could hardly keep him in the house...but this did not dimish the number of Phinn stories...oh no.

The wax job

Okay, by popular demand...here is the wax story that had me peeing my pants a few nights back. Warning...this might turn on some physical somatics/pains for you if you are a female and have used hot wax before. If you are a male, it won't be as funny...but if you have the over-active imagination that most males do...you will also be turning on a lot of visuals by reading thru this story. I got permission to use this story...this is NOT my story! My own waxing story is a mere shadow to this story and it involved other body parts.

All hair removal methods have tricked us with their promises of easy, painless removal---the Epilady, scissors, razors, Nair, and now......The Wax. This method was no different.My night began as any other normal weekday night. Came home, fixed dinner, played with the kids.

It was only later, after they were in bed, that I had the idea that would prove to be my downfall: maybe I should pull the wax out of the medicine cabinet. So I headed to the site of my imminent destruction, the bathroom. It was one of those cold wax kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, nosirree; you just rubbed the strips together in your hand, they would get warm so that you could peel them apart and press them to your leg (or wherever else), and the hair would come right off. No muss, no fuss. So I'm thinking, how hard can it be? I mean I'm no girly-girl, but I am mechanically inclined enough that I can figure it out. You'd think so, anyway.

So I pull one of the thin strips out. It 's actually two strips facing each other, stuck together. So instead of rubbing them together, I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. Cold wax, my aunt Fanny. I lay the strip across my thigh, hold the skin around it tight, and pull.OK, so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad. I can do this! Hair removal no longer eludes me! I am She-ra, fighter of all wayward body hair and seeker of smooth skin extraordinaire. And so I forge ahead.

With my next wax strip, I move north. Then, after checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom for the ultimate hair-fighting championship.I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet. Using the same procedure, I apply the wax strip across the right side of the bikini line, covering the right half of my v*%^*a and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek (yes, it was a long strip). I inhale deeply and brace myself.

RRRRIIIPPP!!!!I'm blind!!! Blinded from pain...........OH, MY GOD!!!!!!!!!Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half of the strip. S**T!!! Another deep breath and RRRRIIPP. Everything is swirly and spotted......do I hear crashing drums??? OK, back to normal.

I want to see my trophy---a wax strip covered with the hairy pelt that has caused me so much pain. I want to revel in the glory that is my victory over body hair. Triumphantly, I hold up the strip.There's no hair on it.Where is the hair??? Even more importantly, WHERE IS THE WAX???

Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair....the hair that should be on the strip. I touch it....I am touching wax. S**T---I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax...and matted hair.Then I make the next BIG mistake...................remember my foot is still propped up on the toilet? Well, I know I need to do something.

So I put my foot down. DAMN!!!!!!!! I hear the slamming of the cell door. Va***a? Sealed shut. A**?? Sealed shut. I penguin-walk around the bathroom, trying to figure out what to do and thinking to myself, Please don't get the urge to poop. Hell, my head may pop off. Then I realized........Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!! I'll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax-covered bits, and the wax should melt. Then I can gently wipe it off, right???

WRONG. I get in the tub---the water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment---and I sit. Now, the only thing worse than having your nether businesses glued together is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub. In scalding hot water. Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax.

So now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub.God bless the man who convinced me I should have a phone in the bathroom. I call my friend, thinking surely she's waxed before and has some secret knowledge of how to get me undone. It's a very good conversation starter:"So, my butt and my hoo-ha are stuck to the bottom of the tub....."

There is a slight pause. She doesn't have a secret trick, but at least she tries to hide the laughter from me. She wants to know exactly where the wax is located on bottom: "Are we talking cheeks or hole or what?"She's laughing out loud by now; I can hear her. I give her the 4-1-1 on the situation, and she suggests I call the number on the side of the wax-strip box. Yeah, right.....I should be the high point of someone else's night.

While we are going through various options, I am resorting to scraping the wax off with a razor. Nothing feels better than to have your girlie goodies covered in wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super-hot water and then dry-shaved to get the sticky wax off. By now my brain is not working, my dignity has taken a major hike, and I am fast slipping into glazed-donut land.Then, as my friend is talking with me, my hand gropes around and finds the saving grace....the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax.

What do I really have to lose at this point? I rub some on, and"OH MY GOD!!!!!!!"The scream probably woke the kids, and I know it scared the dickens out of my friend, but I really don't care. IT WORKS!! It really works!! I get an enthusiastic (read: relieved) congratulations from my friend, who then hangs up. I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then realize, to my grief and despair...............................THE HAIR IS STILL THERE.......................ALL OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

So I shave it off. Hell, I'm numb at this point.

Next week I'm going to try hair color

Florida 10

This is the before and after of an 8 x 10" oil painting from my Florida series. Amazing what a bit of yellow paint can do to spruce up a drab painting, eh?

The colors of the original painting on the left were basically the same in the fronds of the palm tree, but because the background was so dingy the whole painting seemed lifeless. I went in with a brighter yellow and put some negative painting into the branches of the tree, which gave much more contrast and activity to the painting. With just a few strokes the painting became reborn and new life was infused.

Negative painting is when you use your brush and paint to paint around the outside or inside of something, leaving the actual item in the midst. To see someone do negative painting in person is quite a treat because images suddenly appear before you that you never even saw. It's almost like waving a magic wand. It's one of my favorite things to do in my artwork and I got so excited by the transformation of this piece last night, that I began reworking 3 other Florida pieces that had never been quite finished. So not only has the painting been infused with new life, so have I!

My 1st Jewelry Class

Today I gained a new respect for jewelers. This was my very first hands-on lesson, and it was hilarious. Our objective for this 3 hour class was to make a sterling silver 'ring' by cutting the strip of silver, filing it, shaping it and soldering the two ends together. Sounds simple enough, but to me it was reminiscent of my very first ballet lesson when I was in my late 20's.

The fellow next to me was taking copious notes throughout the class and he had written enough to publish his first Jewelry Making 101 book...he also never got to a point of actually soldering his ring because he spent so much time writing down every single word the instructor said. I was busily trying to crack jokes and get people to lighten up, but as is usual my humor missed the mark and people just thought I was another pain in the ass and wanted me to shut up.

I alternated this bit of fun with being utterly frustrated with the whole unyielding metal routine. One person in our class has astigmatism and could barely see what the hell was going on...another classmate was sweating bullets and I thought she might have a coronary before the class was finished, but she ended up being the first one to get her ring together!

Well, technically, I was the first...but not without a lot of help from the instructor. I started out with enough silver to make a size 6 ring, but by the time it was completed it was a 2 1/2...I filed that bastard and bent that metal and filed some more...and it got so small that I couldn't even bend the metal anymore. I left to go get a latte and step away from the ring in order to let the metal (and myself) rest. When I returned, twenty minutes later, no one had managed to complete anything and the so-called rings by this point were odd-shaped, scratched and dented pieces of junk.

The instructor had me anneal my ring 3 different times. Until today, I did not know that annealing meant to heat the metal and then dunk it in cold water so that the molecules would relax enough to bend the metal. She had to bend the metal using 2 separate tools herself, because this metal was NOT happy with the stress that I had put it under. After the 3rd annealing and a bit more pummeling and prodding we got it to snap together and thus solder the bits together. I did not know this until today, either...you cannot fill a hole with solder...it won't hold.

The next bit of hilarity was lighting the torch and keeping it lit, which took me about 3 tries to do, while also balancing my unsoldered ring on top of a teensy weensy chunk of solder and I had just had a double latte which made my hands shake a lot. It was way cool to watch that solder slide right up that crack in the metal, and it was amazing for me to realize that physics was at play here. The heat from the torch hits the top of the metal and those molecules act as some type of magnetic force and draw the solder in an upwards fashion from beneath.

The instructor then took two pairs of pliers and tried to pull apart my soldered ring; this is all part of a ritual...to see if your soldering job was done correctly. I passed. My first class completed, I came away with my very own mouse toe ring.

Doodley Doo

Doodles 12 is my own interpretation of many of the scenes which I viewed during my 7,000 mile drive this past August and September. Sigh. It was so gorgeous so many times that it was difficult to keep from driving off the road because I would be staring so hard at the splendid scenery. I have to go do this again!

Doodles 13 is based upon another sketch that I had done 2 1/2 years back while in Ohio. It has no meaning whatsoever, just a mental connection to that time period and my Poppa.

Doodles 11

I had already completed this card the same night that I did the other one for Jim. Our little group of 2,000 members has been in quite a stir today trying to figure out what happened and why Jim left the group. He is such a funny guy!

I don't know if he said something that someone took the wrong way or what, but he always made me laugh. He was like the George Burns of our group...great timing and perfect one-liners.

So the last ACEO that I saw Jim selling was called Three Crows. This card was added to reflect laffing crows as the previous card did with one. Whether Jim will ever see them or not remains to be seen. I don't know enough about him even to look up his last name...he was just a funny person who would post in our group here and there and always with the perfect line that would emit an immediate guffaw from me.

I will go to great lengths to find things to laugh at and people who are funny. If I hear a group of people laughing, I will walk over to them and try to horn my way right in there and suck up as much of the laughter as possible. It's my addiction... And since I have to go to the dentist tomorrow, it wouldn't hurt to find something to laugh about........................

When the laughter dies...

It's hard for me to understand how these things happen sometimes, but my timing has certainly been off again. That ACEO that I made in honor of Jim yesterday...I find out today that he has suddenly left the ACEO group. I have no idea why or what happened. There seems to be some dissension that has occurred within the group that remains a mystery to me.

And here I was all happy that I had finally found a good group of artists who like to laugh and have fun...and now an explosion has occurred and I am left scratching my head in amazement. Sigh. Life is certainly full of surprises and disappointments and it seems that you can't rely upon anyone else to show you a good time...you have to create your own fun. It just seems so much better when others are having fun at the same time. Dammit to hell.

Doodles 10

I made this ACEO in honor of Jim, also known as Jeem, a member of our ACEO group on eBay. He's a very, very funny man and we all laugh and laugh at this guy and the things that he says on our group discussions.

This card is very significant in that he makes drawings of crows on his ACEOs very often and they usually sell for $40 and up. He also swears that no one is EVER laughing out loud when they type LOL, which may be true in many cases, but not in mine. I am usually laughing so loud that I can barely stay in my chair.

Today, for instance, I was fiddling around looking at other ACEOs that are listed on eBay...rather than confront all the computer and Cafe Press geek crap that I was supposed to be doing... I promised myself that I wouldn't buy anymore ACEOs because I am getting quite a collection of them and I need to be SELLING, not buying.

So I see this Percy the Fairy Snail and I was literally doubled over with laughter...there he is on this little tiny ACEO painting and I am guffawing with tears rolling down my face. I had to get this guy because he still makes me laugh everytime I look at his face. It's unbelievable how much fun you can have in the art world! You simply have to find the right crowd of artists to hang with and enjoy each others company. I cannot even count the number of times that these ACEO artists have made me laugh in the past month. Between their artwork and their sensahuma on the discussions...I feel like I have finally found some artists that are kin.

Doodles additions

Doodles 7

Doodles 6

An Artist's Life

This is the latest ACEO to add to my growing collection. I liked the idea of the paint brush moving across the support spreading colors as it went. Something that many of us experience every day of our lives.

An ordinary action in an extraordinary life...that's how I see it. An artist's life is a remarkable experience. When I was with my 75 year old friend last night we were laughing gleefully at the very idea of how we sometimes get 'lost' in our visions of how we would paint something, or what we could do to improve an otherwise tawdry and shabby world with more aesthetics.

I used to view artists as being 'theetie-weetie' or 'artsy-fartsy' or any other hyphenated words that I could think of. Even though I had been a closet artist my whole life, I never took artists seriously...odd, isn't it? I think I must have been feeling so hopeless about ever achieving my secret goal of making a living as an artist...that the only way that I could live with the failure and disappointment I was experiencing was to belittle and invalidate other artists.

Tonite I assembled all of the wonderful little ACEOs that I have purchased on eBay in the past month and I was astonished at how fabulous they all are! It's my own personal little art gallery in a binder! A book of art that I have assembled and created for my very own pleasure. I had no idea when I began this ACEO adventure a few weeks back that I would become completely addicted to it. Quite a surprise. I also know that this notebook is going to be a valued treasure of mine in the years to come.

Another Doodles revision

Here, on Doodles 5, the same thing has been done to the background...a darkening, which causes the colors to pop more and makes her appear more interesting due to the contrast.

Revised Doodles

This is the before and after on Doodles 4. Personally, I liked the olive green background on the first version, however, the added contast of the darker background on the second image makes it much more appealing.

Seascape 3

I used another picture as a reference when I created this ACEO. Hey, you can't be hot ALL the time...

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Doodles 36 & 37

Monday, November 28, 2005

Doodles 34 & 35

Cafe Press order

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Doodles 33

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Doodles 32

Doodles 31

Sunday, November 20, 2005

A blast from the past

Doodles 30

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Doodles 29

Friday, November 18, 2005

Doodles 28

Harry Potter

Julia redo

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Another's work

Seascape redo

Adjustments

Doodles 27

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Doodles 25 & 26

Monday, November 14, 2005

Doodles 22 & 23

Doodles 20 & 21

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Doodles 19

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Doodles 18

Christmas Doodles

More Doodles

Friday, November 11, 2005

Doodles 14

Thursday, November 10, 2005

The wax job

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Florida 10

My 1st Jewelry Class

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Doodley Doo

Doodles 11

Monday, November 07, 2005

When the laughter dies...

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Doodles 10

Doodles additions

Thursday, November 03, 2005

An Artist's Life

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Another Doodles revision

Revised Doodles

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Seascape 3

About Me

Previous Posts A recovered ACEO

Archives September 2005

Previous Posts
A recovered ACEO

Archives
September 2005