Oh, Ebay! Where Have You Been All My Life?!

Ok, so I've known about Ebay for a very long time. I even have been signed up with them for probably over a year. But I never have done anything on Ebay other than look around a little. That is....until this week.

Because of Ebay, I am now the proud owner of a box of 36 Prismacolor Water Color Pencils and a Speedball lino cutter with blades at a fraction of what I would've paid in the real world! Oh man! Now I know why people get so hooked on online bidding. (I am currently waiting to see if I've won bids on two more items).

So, as I sit here typing this, (hurrying to finish this entry so I can visit ebay for a little while before I go to bed), I know that ebay can also be a dangerous place for a woman like me. One who has impulse control "issues", not a lot of disposable income, not a lot of storage space and gets a major rush from finding a good deal! Let's pray that I won't eventually have to mortgage the house to support my habit! :)

New Obsession

Ok, I know I'm no different than any other creative type. I love making things. I find out about some new technique or art form I want to try, become obsessed, buy supplies, check out books from the library, and make big plans to become a full time artist doing this new thing. Then along comes something else that catches my eye and I'm on to something even newer.

My latest "newest thing" is block printing. Although it's really an ancient art form, it's kind of new to me. I have loved rubber stamping for a long time and I've dabbled in carving my own stamps from erasers. But I think I may become addicted to lino block printing. I have a feeling it will be one of the art forms that stays with me for a long time. It's very satisfying to carve out an original design on a linoleum block, ink it up and press it on paper.

This is one I did this past week:

The tree on the right is fully inked from the first pressing. The one on the left is from a second pressing without adding any new ink. Let me know if you have any suggestions. I think eventually, I'm going to post a tutorial on how to carve your own lino block.

Thanks for stopping by.

5 States, 7 Days and Home Again

My family and I took a lovely vacation to Grantsburg, Wisconsin last week and returned yesterday afternoon. We drove from Columbia, Missouri, to Prairie Village, Kansas to drop off our sick car so my awesome mechanic brother could work on it. Then the four of us hopped in the mini van and headed North.

The first night we stayed in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The next morning we explored the Mall of America for a couple of hours (man! that place is huge!) then headed to Grantsburg, Wisconsin. There we spent 5 nights and 5 days at the Luther Point Bible Camp for family week. It was a lot of fun and we met many, many wonderful people. Minnesota and Wisconsin are such beautiful states in the summer (not sure I could handle the winters there). I loved the landscape of trees, hills, beautiful big barns and acre upon acre of corn and soybeans.

On Friday, we said goodbye to our camp friends and drove the mini van to Des Moines, Iowa. I love Iowa too. On this trip we saw a couple of wind farms, which I had never experienced before. Those "windmills" are awesome and HUGE. We had to stop for a minute to take photos of them. I know that probably sounds silly to some of you, but I'd never seen them up close and personal before. I thought they were amazing.

6-ish hours later, we walked through the doorway of our home sweet home and to our wonderful, fuzzy black cat, Davis. It really was a good trip.

Now, I'm trying to get my mind organized so that I can start some projects that will (hopefully) eventually make me some money. Our budget requires that I leave my "life of luxury" and get a part time job. I'm still hoping to find something a little unconventional and creative that I can do from home. A girl has got to have dreams...

One thing I'm looking into is leading a couple of workshops at a cool new store that opened up in town (have I mentioned Artlandish Gallery before)? I'm doing internet research on where to find the best prices for art supplies. If you have any suggestions for me, please feel free to leave me a comment.

I just wanted to check in. I'm working on a linoleum block print and I'm almost finished. I'll be sure to post a photo of the finished product!

Going to the Birds

I sold one of the suns from my last post (the painting with the four blocks and the sun in the middle). After the sale, I immediately went to the ARTlandish Gallery and put the other two up for sale. My hope is that someone will fall in love with them and want to take them home :) !

I continue to purchase wooden objects to paint. I think I'm obsessed! I have two boxes full of things I want to paint with funky designs and bright colors. I keep thinking if I do that, surely someone will want to buy them. I hope so anyway. I don't have enough room in my own house to "show case" all the things I plan on painting.

One of the things I've been really having fun with is painting bird houses. I can't explain it, I just love doing it. Here are some photos of a few of the things I've been working on. Some are complete, others need more work:






These were really fun to do and I'm currently working on another. I will post it when I'm done. Thanks for stopping by.

Something New: My Three Suns

Hi. I have wanted to write for so long...well, I guess that is not entirely true. I have been thinking that I should write for so long, but haven't been motivated to do so. Many of things have been happening, which has required a lot of work on my part (and may be why I'm lacking in motivation-I don't have the energy to do all the things I need/want to do).

Last month, I was blessed enough to have several pieces of art hanging in the Solar Gallery of the Unity Center in Columbia, Missouri. There was an artist's reception at the beginning of the month and I was able to meet a lot of people there. It was so much fun. In many ways, I have lost the art of conversation, especially when I meet people for the first time. However, where art is concerned, I always have more than enough to say and I don't seem to feel shy about saying it.

One of the women I met at the gallery showing, had asked me to make a custom sun picture for her. I painted 3 pictures for her to choose from. Here they are:



It will be interesting to see which one she picks. I hope she will feel like she has a good selection to choose from.

I'm working on my shop, art and business again. Honestly though, I'm not all that organized with this stuff and I have a hard time focusing on the business aspects of it. Also, I'm not really business minded (which I'm sure I've mentioned before), so I have to look around for a lot of information. I want to be dedicated to this and to make a business of it. Wouldn't it be great to be a full time artist? Can only imagine how that would feel! :)

Gotta get myself to bed. Don't want to be too grouchy tomorrow!