This and that

I'm still here! Posts have been sporadic, I know. I've been busy with different kinds of work, and have also had a lot of kitty drama lately. Sadly, the little new guy, Murphy, went to Kitty Heaven last week, after only being in my life for about a month.

He was very ill (a bad infection that had affected his liver, and feline aids), and all I could do was love him until the end. So I've been sad and a little off my game. Some of the other cats have had various reasons to be on antibiotics as well, so I have spent a good deal of time at the vet's over the past few weeks. When it rains it pours!


I've been busy knitting, working toward getting my etsy knitting shop back up and running. There will be some knitted bowls and boxes, as well as cowls and scarves and other goodies. There is something so therapeutic about knitting, going back and forth or round and round. I'm also doing some small drawings of knitting which I'm hoping to list in the shop as well. I'll let you know when its open for business!

Also working on some children's book art for an educational publisher. The finished art for this project will be digital, which is fun and different for me. This is one of the rough sketches - all the final art will be in color.

And I'm still working on these paper dolls! They were all set to go (or so I thought), until I decided to cut out one set to see how easy or difficult they were to cut. I'm doing them on magnetic paper, which I've never used before, so I wasn't sure if I should sell them as a "you cut them yourself" set, or already pre-cut. Well. Good thing I did a test run. They're fussy and detailed, with a lot of 'in and outs' around the edges, and because of the magnetic paper need to be done with an xacto knife. After one set my index finger was numb from pressing on the blade, but at least I knew I would be pre-cutting them all rather than expecting any poor soul who buys them to cut them his or her self!

And then that meant I had to rethink the whole presentation and packaging as well. So instead of selling them on sheets like the image above, I now have a lot of pages like the one below, with multiples of all the elements, which I print and cut out. I'm trying to squeeze as many bits as I can on one page because the paper is rather expensive and I don't want to waste any. And I want to have several sets done and ready to go so I'm ready for what I'm optimistically hoping will be a rush of enthusiastic sales. (One has to think positive.)

So that's what's been going on here. 'Straight colored pencil' work has been put on simmer on a back burner for just a bit, but hopefully I'll have some new work to show soon. I've put everything in my etsy shop on sale until the end of April, when I plan to take all of those pieces out of circulation (at least for a while) and restock with new art. Use coupon code 20SPRING12 at checkout to get 20% off your order.

Things here are blooming madly - lilacs, jasmine, azaleas and other green things. Its lovely. I hope you're all enjoying some nice weather, wherever you are, and that life is treating you well.