All right, I think this will be the last MAJOR template change, at least for a while. I liked the last one (the orange one), but I had a lot of trouble fiddling with the HTML, and for some reason, I don't have as much trouble fiddling with the templates designed by this particular designer. And I like the nice, clean, black lines, for now.
Thank you all for your patience during my virtual renovations (the real renovations begin on Saturday, as Al and I totally gut our bathroom, hallway and my office and revamp them in one week. So posts will be iffy. Until then, I am working like a madwoman to get stuff up online for your shopping delight!).
There are already new designs available at Cafe Press in the graphics section (some GREAT clocks -- I am very excited about them), and there will soon be new paintings up on Etsy, which, you'll remember, still has the Paint and Ink name.
Lots of color and paint and fabric and packages and excitement around here these days... more details to come! Soon, very soon, I promise.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Thursday, October 05, 2006
I can knit my brows together, though.
My friend Jessie, for whom I did a comission recently, loves to knit and has opened her own Etsy shop with her creations. Please take a look... and go back again soon, because I think she will soon have many items up. She knitted some beautiful items for my soon-to-be-born baby sister.
I have great admiration for Jessie and am even slightly jealous because I have tried to learn to knit THREE times (including a fantastic group knitting lesson), and each time I have completely forgotten how to do it within 24 hours. I give up. I do keep the knitting needles around, though, to remind myself that I gave it a fair chance and to use as a weapon should the fire extinguisher not work.
I have great admiration for Jessie and am even slightly jealous because I have tried to learn to knit THREE times (including a fantastic group knitting lesson), and each time I have completely forgotten how to do it within 24 hours. I give up. I do keep the knitting needles around, though, to remind myself that I gave it a fair chance and to use as a weapon should the fire extinguisher not work.
Art Supply Addictions
This is a very funny posting about art supply addictions from a messageboard on Canadian artist Violette's site. Violette's art is beautiful and inspiring, and her blog is a delightful, glittery, magical journey. If I'm down at all, I read her site for a cheerful pick-me-up that never fails. Take a look.
I admit that I personally have massive amounts of art supplies... but what I find is that everything gets used in some capacity, eventually. I have no shame.
This kaleidoscope creator is as good as the Jackson Pollack site. I wish I could give credit for who directed me to the kaleidoscope creator, but I bookmarked it a while ago and just rediscovered it yesterday.
As for other things, I am not really satisfied with the look of this new template -- it looks too old for my tastes, as in how websites looked 7 or 8 years ao. Yeah, I know, like that was so long ago. But in the internet world, it might as well be prehistoric.
Getting all nostalgic here: I remember my dad's first modem at work, which was one of those slabs with two round spots on it, and you took the old phone receiver and placed it on the two round spots. Like this one:
I also remember the first time I ever heard the words "electronic mail" -- I was on a tour of the University of Pennsylvania campus and the guide, a student, said, "Oh, yeah, most of us students have electronic mail now." It made an impression because I remember just nodding my head sagely as if I knew what she was talking about, and meantime, thinking, "What the hell is that?" I was too shy to ask. By the time I actually arrived at USC (the school I chose), in 1993, "e-mail" was already the preferred term. But it was still a novelty, and most of us only checked it once a week or so. Only one person I knew actually had a modem in his dorm room -- in fact, many people didn't even have computers. They used the computer lab. By the time I graduated 4 years later, I was using internet research pretty frequently in my paper-writing, and by the time I worked as a features reporter for the South Bay Weekly (which no longer exists, apparently) two years after that, I started all my research for stories by going online first. But, as I recall, I kept a list in Word of my favorite websites.
And now, I actually have two online businesses, two blogs, and a bookmark list that threatens to jump out of the computer and take over the world -- and it's all been such an adventure and I'm so glad I can take part.
I admit that I personally have massive amounts of art supplies... but what I find is that everything gets used in some capacity, eventually. I have no shame.
***
This kaleidoscope creator is as good as the Jackson Pollack site. I wish I could give credit for who directed me to the kaleidoscope creator, but I bookmarked it a while ago and just rediscovered it yesterday.
***
As for other things, I am not really satisfied with the look of this new template -- it looks too old for my tastes, as in how websites looked 7 or 8 years ao. Yeah, I know, like that was so long ago. But in the internet world, it might as well be prehistoric.
Getting all nostalgic here: I remember my dad's first modem at work, which was one of those slabs with two round spots on it, and you took the old phone receiver and placed it on the two round spots. Like this one:
I also remember the first time I ever heard the words "electronic mail" -- I was on a tour of the University of Pennsylvania campus and the guide, a student, said, "Oh, yeah, most of us students have electronic mail now." It made an impression because I remember just nodding my head sagely as if I knew what she was talking about, and meantime, thinking, "What the hell is that?" I was too shy to ask. By the time I actually arrived at USC (the school I chose), in 1993, "e-mail" was already the preferred term. But it was still a novelty, and most of us only checked it once a week or so. Only one person I knew actually had a modem in his dorm room -- in fact, many people didn't even have computers. They used the computer lab. By the time I graduated 4 years later, I was using internet research pretty frequently in my paper-writing, and by the time I worked as a features reporter for the South Bay Weekly (which no longer exists, apparently) two years after that, I started all my research for stories by going online first. But, as I recall, I kept a list in Word of my favorite websites.
And now, I actually have two online businesses, two blogs, and a bookmark list that threatens to jump out of the computer and take over the world -- and it's all been such an adventure and I'm so glad I can take part.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Sweet Autumn
Oh, I love, love, LOVE fall. I love the cooler weather and low humidity, I love Halloween, I love the clothes, I love it all. I'm not the biggest fan of either winter or summer, at least not here on the East Coast, but I do love fall, and spring runs a close second.
***
What a lovely set of illustrations this is:
The Ward-O-Matic: Janet La Salle's Better Living illustrations
***
Al and I started a drawing class yesterday, except that he wasn't able to make it, so I brought his assignments home for him. The class is based on Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
by Betty Edwards (which I've had for ten years but never actually used, hence the class. Sometimes we all need someone to stand over us while we work):
and taught by artist Barbara Hennig-Loomis of Small Canvas Studio (who did a very kind and informative job of standing over us and motivating us while talking in her soothing voice).
I have great faith that this class and book will improve my drawing skills dramatically -- and sometimes faith is the most important ingredient.
***
I ordered this sweatshirt for myself last week, along with this shirt (I would've ordered the heart design but I hadn't put them up yet), this journal and these postcards, and they arrived today. I am so excited! It is quite a rush to receive your own design in the mail. I just hope I don't send us to the poorhouse ordering my own products because I'm so tempted to go shopping again. Pictures to come.
***
Painting will be going slowly this week because I have a two-week freelance writing assignment that will be taking up a great deal of my time. But I do have a few finished items I have yet to post, as well as a few new things that will end up in Etsy, and I will keep you informed.
***
What a lovely set of illustrations this is:
The Ward-O-Matic: Janet La Salle's Better Living illustrations
***
Al and I started a drawing class yesterday, except that he wasn't able to make it, so I brought his assignments home for him. The class is based on Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
by Betty Edwards (which I've had for ten years but never actually used, hence the class. Sometimes we all need someone to stand over us while we work):and taught by artist Barbara Hennig-Loomis of Small Canvas Studio (who did a very kind and informative job of standing over us and motivating us while talking in her soothing voice).
I have great faith that this class and book will improve my drawing skills dramatically -- and sometimes faith is the most important ingredient.
***
I ordered this sweatshirt for myself last week, along with this shirt (I would've ordered the heart design but I hadn't put them up yet), this journal and these postcards, and they arrived today. I am so excited! It is quite a rush to receive your own design in the mail. I just hope I don't send us to the poorhouse ordering my own products because I'm so tempted to go shopping again. Pictures to come.
***
Painting will be going slowly this week because I have a two-week freelance writing assignment that will be taking up a great deal of my time. But I do have a few finished items I have yet to post, as well as a few new things that will end up in Etsy, and I will keep you informed.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Products, Painting, Philosophy and HTML
*** HTML ***
Good morning, my dears. I have spent most of them morning deeply embedded in numbers and letters as I try to make heads and tails of HTML code... I picked a new, less corporate-looking design for my blog this morning. I like this new template, but of course I wanted to add my own mark, so I am fiddling with colors and details. Learning by doing, that's my new motto, but I felt that I should say, "Excuse the mess," and "Thank you for your patience while this site is under renovation."
*** PRODUCTS ***
I also wanted to make a quick mention of some new products at CafePress featuring my designs (Again, you'll find most of the new items in the Graphics and Holiday Magic! sections of my store, but new artwork and photography products will follow shortly). These below are just a FEW of many products I have available in my store... go explore and see what else there is!
*** PAINTING ***
And not to worry, I haven't forgotten my little Etsy shop... more little quotation paintings coming soon. I am starting to think there is nothing so satisfying as seeing globs of paint everywhere, including all over me. It's a sign of a day well spent.
*** PHILOSOPHY***
And a few nice tidbits of wisdom for your day...
Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind. -- Samuel Johnson
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