Aubergine

It's almost finished! Perfectionism and meticulousness are the only reasons I'm not saying it's done. Side note: painting has never been one of my favorite mediums and I think I discovered why today. The colors are great, but brush control is a challenge.

Happy Friday!

Friday Stuff

Dropped off the Abita beer fish to the Visitor Center this afternoon! I'll know in a couple of weeks if they're interested in selling them or not. 

Two trips are coming up soon. Gulf Shores in August and Ireland in September. I'll be taking lots of pictures, and will probably get tons of project ideas. In the meantime, I've gotten some ideas from this book that I'd like to expand on.

Y'all have a great weekend!!

Here Comes the Sun -- and What's a Lithograph?

All the books on this stuff say you shouldn't title your blogs after songs because it's probably irrelevant.  Guess what?  I don't care.  I feel like using this particular song title because I'm glad the sun finally came out this afternoon.  We needed all the rain, but it's also annoying after a while.  At least my plants are happy. 

Anyway, after further polling art and non-art friends, (and yes, it's totally biased), I've decided to keep the beer fish and litho at cheaper prices BUT ONLY FOR JULY!!!  So, if you've been wanting a fish or that litho, or even the dragonfly now is the time to buy because come August 1 the fish and dragonfly are going up to $50 (where the dragonfly should've always been and the fish have been since I started selling them) and the litho is going back up to $150. 

Honestly, I don't know how these other artisans can be okay with pricing their work so cheap on Etsy.  It's handmade, yo!  Not mass produced!  The other lithos I've seen, especially, are listed for way too cheap.  So what if you made it in a college art class.  I made mine there, too, and none of them were quick and easy projects.  By the way, a lithograph (literally translated to stone drawing) is an image transferred from a stone (in this case, limestone) to whatever print medium (in this case Arches cold press or Arches hot press papers) via printing press (yes, the same type of contraption the Gutenberg Bible was printed on).  It's hand-cranked and the stones are hand-cleaned.  It's really interesting but also really not easy.  Plus, you use different chemicals for different effects if you so desire, and just the drawing or image itself is likely something that took a significant amount of time to come up with or produce.  That's why the "Outside Looking In" litho(graph) is the most expensive one I made.  It's got the most detail and took so long to get how I wanted it, it was actually the first assigned project in the class that I turned in as the last project for the semester.  Seriously. 

Long story short, get it while it's hot (outside) - and cheaper - because in a few weeks, I'll be putting prices back on these works that more closely reflect what I think they deserve.  Not because I'm trying to make money - literally, I have not sold a thing on Etsy since I opened shop in April - but because I take pride in my work and really believe that's what it's worth.  Happy shopping!!

Completed Fish

Just finished this Abita fish!

Also, the price of the most expensive lithograph has been lowered from $150 down to $120. Why the huge jump? I want to make a sale and make my Etsy listings move. Honestly, I think the litho is worth $175, but no one will pay that at this point in time.C'est la vie!

Oohsparkly on Etsy

Good evening...err, maybe a really early good morning.  I'm on a roll sprucing up the shop on Etsy thanks to Starting an Etsy Business for Dummies.  I will be calling it a night shortly, though.  Anywho, just wanted to spread the word that I have lowered the price of the beer fish to $40 from the regular price of $50.  My decision was based on potential customer comments and a marketing strategy I read about in The Handmade Marketplace, which I got for my birthday.  The original price of $50 was based on my ideal salary of $25 an hour.  We're in a recession though, so $20 an hour is still sweet.

Speaking of the fish, I started making an all Abita one today in hopes of selling it to or in the Abita Brewery shop.  I also plan to make an all Abita dragonfly for the same purpose.  All the business reading takes away from actual art production, so I'm pushing myself to make art more often. Keep watching for more goodies to come!

Post Fireworks

I hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe 4th of July!  It was my birthday so I had to see the fireworks over the river last night.  The crowd was thick in the Quarter, but it quickly cleared out once the show was over.  Near the end of the night, my friend and I experienced a very magical, storybook like moment.  The moon was waning, but still close to full from the night before, and we viewed it under a palm tree while standing on the edge of  the French Quarter in near silence.  There was a white cat at our feet that had come to greet us from a nearby yard.  I conjured an image of a black cat rowing a boat made from a huge leaf in a lake and the rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle" was in my head.  I may try to sketch that later....
The plan is to start cranking out beer fish today.  Some will get brought to Abita in hopes of selling them there, and the rest will get listed on Etsy. The photo I've included with this post is from last night.  The moon was a prominent fixture for the night.