Sunday, April 28, 2013

Encouraging words

For a long time I've been saving fortunes I like from fortune cookies, and taping them to my parallel rule on my drawing table. They give me a little boost every day.


You can see that they've lived through many many illustrations and drawing and paintings. They're all pretty tattered and worn.


Sometimes you just need 'someone' to encourage you to keep going, or that everything will be OK.



The middle one below is actually a horoscope from the newspaper, but it was a perfect reminder to not obsess and worry, but instead, focus on the positive.




There are a few more which just didn't photograph well, and I was too lazy to redo them. But you get the idea. Some people tape affirmations to the bathroom mirror - I spend way more time at the drawing board than in front of a mirror, so this made more sense for me!


In other news, I'm cleaning flat files and putting some odds and ends up for sale in my etsy shop. They're in the Spring Cleaning Sale section. I'm also listing some other original pieces that I would like to find homes for. And I'm adjusting some prices too. So over the next few days or week I should have more to choose from, and some things may be more affordable. I know "they" say you're not supposed to put your work on sale (if you're an artist) but they haven't seen my crowded flat files!



Thursday, April 18, 2013

Little Square Cards - again

I'm doing little cards again. You may or may not remember me doing these before. They were fun, and people liked them, then for whatever reason I didn't keep them going.

Well, this time I'm using new paper (matte, rather than semi-gloss), new packaging (little take-out boxes rather than cube boxes) and also have some new images. So I'm happy about these!



I'm starting with 4 collections of my food art - Assorted Figs, Assorted Taffys, Plums and Pluots, and Assorted Jelly Beans.



Each card is 2 x 2 inches (5.08 x 5.08 cm) and comes with a little square white envelope, and a little round white sticker to seal the envelope.

These little envelopes come without any 'sticky' on them, so I experimented with home made envelope glue. Ew. No. I gave it a good try, and just couldn't.  It was way too fussy and difficult to get just the right consistency for the glue, then brushing on a clean strip, or dots, also proved to be something I had no patience for. Plus, brushing glue onto umpteen envelopes and waiting for them to dry - again, no, thanks.



I settled on raffia for the bow rather than ribbon. I spent way too long in the ribbon aisle at the craft store trying to decide on something (wired?, sheer?, what color(s)?, how wide?), then figured raffia would work well for all the different sets, and also wouldn't be too 'girly' for any men who might like these.



Right now I'm doing 24 in a box, but will probably offer them in sets of 12 as well at some point. It took a bit of figuring to make sure I ordered the right size carton. I checked, and measured, and double checked, and measured again before I placed the order. Then was very relieved when they arrived, and the cards fit as planned!



I think its a really cute package.





I've attached one card from each collection to the front, with a few words on the inside ~


Some of the images are 'wrap around', and some aren't. I liked playing with the compositions, figuring out how to make interesting bits go on the back as well as the front.




There's a lot of fussy cutting involved with these! I have a file for each card, then format them 10 to a page, then print and cut. 




Finished cards go into little plastic bags until they're ready to be packaged up.



This is how they look when they're getting ready to go. 



I've listed these first sets in the shop, and hope to have more to offer in the near future. Chocolates? Assorted Candy? Crackers? We'll see.

Friday, April 05, 2013

Parfait



Just finished this one - a very decadent caramel apple spice parfait. Tons of whipped cream and calories and fattening goodness. Done with all Pablo colored pencils on Stonehenge paper.
I put the original and prints in the shop.

Now I have to go work it off (yes, of course I ate it!).