Drawing more knitting

The weather is still warm here, but its starting to turn, finally, just a bit. That always gets me in the mood to knit. And to draw knitting. I can't seem to scratch this itch enough lately! 

I think its interesting that the drawings turn out different(ly) (what's the proper grammar there?), depending on the mood I'm in. Stress, no stress (well OK there's never no stress), planetary alignment - there seems to be some intangible thing(s) that affects the outcome of these.

(please click on these to see them larger)

The blue one is 'softer' and a little looser. 

The red one is tighter and more rendered.

They both have 'fuzzy bits' around the edges which is my favorite thing to draw. Its like eating the cake and saving the icing for the end. I might ... might ... make the red one into a Christmas card. 

In the last post I said I hated making cards, and I do. *But.*  I figured out that the places I would have a small run of cards made (Zazzle & CafePress) both put their logos on the back, and you can't take it off - boo. So that idea is out. I don't really want to commit to doing 250 or whatever from a 'real' printer, just to sell on etsy for one season. So I took advantage of a deal from an online sale and ordered me some Strathmore cards with envelopes, that are supposed to be for adhering art to (that didn't sound right - you know what I mean). They make lots of different kinds of cards, and I've used a lot of them, and have liked them all - watercolor paper ones, deckled edge ones, etc. So I'm hoping these will be good too. They haven't arrived yet, so we'll see.

I actually have some art started for a card that I need to really glue myself to now to get done in time. Its a kitty, that's all I'll say for now. 

In other news -

Nate & Salli at They Draw & Cook have put together TWO cool new holiday books - Holiday Sweet, and Holiday Savory. They're both full of recipes that were submitted to their site. And guess what? My Shortbread recipe (which won 3rd place in their holiday contest a while back, brag brag) is included in the Holiday Sweet book! You can read all about both of them here. I hope they sell lots. Thanks Nate & Salli!

This is the "other" art side of me - digital. I don't do it as much, but when I do, its fun.

(click to see it bigger)

Another thing - 

Last weekend I attended, 'virtually', this great online seminar - The Art of Selling What you Make. I figured I could use some pointers, and boy howdy, did I get 'em! This was a great 3 days of digging into why you make what you make, who your customers are (and who you want them to be), how to price stuff, on and on and on and on. It made me rethink my whole approach to not just selling my art, but how to present how and what I do. So I have a lot of work to do now to get myself where I want to be. I've been needing to redo my website for waaaaaaay too long now, and have been stuck about just how to go about it - but now I have a better idea, so that's a definite "first thing after the holidays", if not before (time permitting) thing to work on. 

The course was put on by creativeLive, which has a lot of other FREE (if you watch them live - after that they're for sale) seminars on all kinds of stuff. They're not paying me to say this. I just think they're a good resource, and I'll be checking to see what else they have to offer coming up.

And then -

I just joined The Pencil Art Society (and I mean just - I don't even have my profile up on the site yet.) They have their first juried show up, and links to all their members' sites. Lots to look at! Its for graphite, charcoal and conte artists as well as colored pencil folks. I'm looking forward to being a member!

Halloween is in a few days. This year, for the first time EVER, I didn't buy the candy early. I'm waiting until the last possible minute so I don't eat it all. Am I the only one who does that?