So I was thinking...

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:01:00 +0000

Hand-pulled original linocut print Flower 6x8 - $40.00

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:08:00 +0000

This is an original hand-pulled, small editioned print. This is not a reproduction. The print was hand rubbed onto an archival speckled mulberry paper which is strong yet quite thin.
I really love the graphic nature of linocuts and this is as about graphic as you can get. I enjoy how the lines of the leaves slightly vibrate when ...

Click Here to Visit My Etsy Shop!

Just pluggin' away

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 13:00:00 +0000

We're into March now and I feel myself getting discouraged again. Everyday I work on my Etsy shop and continue with my projects. I keep telling myself that creating is my job and learning new ways to create is important. On the days that Money demands attention (it was just rent day) I feel that I should be spending all my time finding ways to bring in more money. Then I feel guilty for wanting to create all the time. I have wished many times to be able to shut my brain off to for 40 hours a week and just do a job that pays the bills. To want nothing more. I haven't figured out how yet and I find myself going loopy after 15 hours a week. Yup, I haven't had a full time paying job for well over ten years. Ask me how many hours I could spend in the studio a day. I could easily do 10-12 hours a day, no problem. There I get to use my brain. Too bad it doesn't bring in an income. Yet.

Below are some things I have been working on with my tablet, Photoshop and Corel paint. There's still quite a learning curve I'm trying to overcome with Photoshop but it's been good for creating studies for finished pieces. The skeleton pieces are studies for linocuts, the cat is just me trying out some fur brushes I downloaded and I'm using the mermaid sketch to learn layers.

How about you? Do you find yourself in conflict with creating and money?

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 08:01:00 +0000

Illustration Friday: Capable

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:36:00 +0000

I've finally done it! For ages I said I was going to do an illustration for Illustration Friday and I finally came through. What do you think?

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:43:00 +0000

For several years now the world has been dealing with a financial crisis and many families have seen the value of their homes plummet. This has been true for most of North America except where I live. While the economy in Vancouver has slowed down like most places, the value of real estate hasn't followed and the cost of owning a home here is crazy. The average detached home now costs $750,000. That's the average. On my street alone every house will cost you between $800,000 and $1.7 million to buy. (!) This vintage home down the way, which is considered a tear-down, can be yours for a mere $888,000.

Built in 1959

In a previous post I told you about all the renovations we've done to our rental suite. Even though we can't own here we thought we should at least have our place feel livable. Well this apartment complex is nearly forty years old and it looks as though its days are numbered. The land is too valuable. We've kept our eyes open for other places but it looks as though the rents have been going up as fast as the real estate. I guess you can't ask for less than a couple thousand dollars rent for your "mortgage helper" if your house cost you over a million dollars. Sigh.

As we shake our heads and ponder how far east we have to move take a look at this site "Crack Shack or Mansion" in amazement. Take note that to live in the most expensive city in North America you'd be wise to sell crack. Just sayin'.

How much does a family home cost where you live?

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:01:00 +0000

La Calaca Press print exchange

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 18:46:00 +0000

In a previous post I showed you my submission to the La Calaca Press print exchange I did last year. Hundreds of printmakers from numerous countries submitted an edition of 15 hand-pulled prints that were exhibited in several countries. The turn-out and press for the shows looked great.

Well I finally got my set of prints and I was so pleased with what I got. Below is a shot of a few of my favorite pieces.

This one is an engraving. Look at small the lines are! Wow.

I just got an email that there has been a call for another print exchange based on the same theme of La Calaca. I haven't decided if I will be participating but I think it's worth doing some sketches for. If you would like to participate this year you can find the specifics here.

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:01:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's (I love...my eyes)

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:46:00 +0000

As this is my Valentine's post I would like to say Happy Valentine's Day to you and I hope that you're able to enjoy it with the ones you love. I usually get to have a nice dinner with my husband on Valentine's but this year we agreed we could celebrate it another day so that I could work a restaurant shift that night and I could make some nice tip money from others enjoying their special night. Little did I know that I would come down with a case of shingles that now has half my face covered in disgusting sore blisters. Shingles!

Fish Kiss

The shingles have surrounded my left eye and the scary thing about this second-round bout of the chicken-pox is that if it reaches my optic-nerve, I have a chance of sight damage or blindness. As I sat in the doctor's office with my eyes dilated and waiting for my exam, I tried to look at magazines. With everything a complete blur, I felt a wave of fear of what it might be like to lose some of my vision. I'm a visual person and I communicate visually. I need my eyes. I love my eyes.

I've been tested a couple of times now and while I won't be serving any dinners to loving couples while looking like Quasimodo and I won't be gazing into the eyes of my own husband that night, I am very happy to say that my left eye is okay. I can handle looking horrific this Valentine's if it means I get to see with both eyes next Valentine's.

P.S. This is the part where I put in a plug for getting your child vaccinated against chicken-pox. I think it's worth it.

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:01:00 +0000

Inspired by Jennifer Davis

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:55:00 +0000

Being online and having access to so many images and artists has been so wonderful and inspiring to me as a creative person. I generally complain that I don't have enough hours in the day to work on all the things that inspire me. I have made mention of artists whos work spurs me to create before, but I thought I would share with you today a piece I created recently inspired by Jennifer Davis. I'm in awe of Jennifer's work and I would love to get my hands on an original of hers.

I took a painting that I had started on canvas and had abandonned and photographed it. I then imported into Photoshop and practiced my digital painting. I really love not having to wait for paint to dry and always having access to the "undo" button. I used a painting of Jennifers as my inspirational reference. Below is the reference and my final image. While I think I strongly referenced her painting I think I was still able to make the image my own.

I uploaded the painting onto Flickr and made a point of claiming my inspiration and contacted Jennifer to let her know about it. Jennifer sent me back the most wonderful letter to let me know that she was not only okay with me using her work as reference but that she felt honored. She also told me about a couple pieces that she has created inspired by others. The results are fantastic.
Here's a great painting of Jennifer's and the reference photo of a lamp that she found on Etsy that appealed to her. Love it.

While many of us hear of artists getting their images ripped right off their sites and used to make money for someone else, we can't deny the benefits to creativity to be influenced by other artists. What are your thoughts on this? What is the line between plagarism and influence? I think the work will always be better when you make it distinctly your own.

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:01:00 +0000

It's time for Left-overs again!

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:18:00 +0000

A year has already gone by and it's now time to serve up some more Leftovers thanks to Wingtip Press. The criteria for this open-call print exchange is to create an edition of 14 prints to be printed on any leftover printmaking paper you have. As all printmakers know, it's easy to accumulate a bunch of paper you can't use but can't throw away either.

I really enjoy this exchange because the size of the image and the edition is kept quite small. It doesn't hurt that the fee to participate is only $12. So what do you think? Do you think you'd like to participate? The deadline is March 15th. Get all the details here.

Here's my submission: Sour Puss

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:01:00 +0000

My new Cargoh shop

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:31:00 +0000

For the past several years I've been trying to sell my artwork on Etsy. Etsy has become a HUGE marketplace for handmade goods and the competition is fierce. I've tried out various other sites to see if I might have some more visibility and in turn better sales. I have found Etsy to be my most reliable site to be seen although a bit lacking for actual sales. A little while back I took a chance on a local handmade site. I had heard about Cargoh from some other local sellers who were very impressed with their vendor support.I thought that because it was a new site I would have limited competition. While I haven't made a sale on Cargoh yet, I've had some good views.

For a little while now though I've been considering that I should offer something totally different in my Cargoh shop. As of last week I've started listing my polymer caly pieces. These pieces are all one-of-a-kind items that I've created to feed my need to master this medium. I will be offering earrings, pendants, rings and possibly a few other ideas I have cooking.Please feel free to check out what I have listed so far. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:01:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:31:00 +0000

Before the Christmas holidays I usually try and think about which handmade gifts I will make for everyone. I always try and think of something I haven't made before so no one gets bored of the type of gift year after year. I used to go through all my saved Martha Stewart magazines and see if there was anything I hadn't tried out yet. This year I found a wealth of crafty how-tos through Pinterest. If I didn't see something on my home feed that I had thought of I would just type it into the search bar and probably find that someone somewhere had tried my idea.

I just love Pinterest as I'm a very visual person and I love the ability to scan through hundreds of gorgeous photos posted by like-minded crafty people. While my foremost interest on Pinterest is for the how-tos, I also enjoy being able to browse tons of inspirational artwork. Really, this site makes me sigh with admiration. Below are a sample of some of the pins I've put on my boards. You can find all of my boards here. What do you like to use Pinterest for?

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:01:00 +0000

Chocovenyl

Under The Stair Studios

Just Noey

Managerie Prints

Year of the Dragon print exchange

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:44:00 +0000

Last year I posted about my submission to PROOF Gallery's Year of the Rabbit print exchange. Well this year's Chinese zodiac is the dragon and I recently sent off my submission for the show. I really enjoy working with the Chinese zodiac theme as it always produces a lot of new images for me.

Below is the linocut that I submitted and I only did an edition of 6 for this one. I colored this one with artist pencil crayons. My kids saw me coloring and begged for some to color too. Luckily I had a few dud pulls still around for them to use. This has re-kindled the idea of creating a kids coloring book this year. Hmmmmm....

I just got notice that the deadline for the exchange has been extended to January 25th so if you're quick you might be able to submit a dragon too. Guidelines for submissions can be found on the blog Year of the Dragon.

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:01:00 +0000

Happy New Year! Calendar give-away

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:53:00 +0000

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas break and you're looking forward to 2012. For myself I'm looking forward to working on the numerous projects and ideas that have bubbled up recently. As always, I depend heavily on calendars to plan those projects. I have a new family calendar up with photos of my girls, an agenda to plan daily events and this year I created a couple different year-to-date art calendars to put up in the studio.

Could you use a calendar to start 2012? Be one of the first 4 people to comment and I will send you one of my year-to-date calendars.Put it up in your home office, studio, on your fridge or give it away as gift. Be sure to include your email address so that I can contact you and get your mailing address. Here's to starting the year off with some art!

I wish you the happiest of holidays

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:46:00 +0000

Well Christmas is almost here and it feels as though the time has flown by. I've been spending my time creating last-minute gifts and stocking up on the Christmas cookie dough for the freezer. Next week I will have a marathon of baking and decorating for all the Christmas tins. As usual, I think I want to make too many different recipes and I end up with more than I need. It is fun though.

This time of year I'm always reminded about how much more we do have in this part of the world and how lucky we are. My only real complaint about Christmas is that it proves that we consume way too much and produce way too much garbage. We are very lucky to have such problems.

This time last year I wrote about a couple charities that I donated to and I'm happy to tell you that I was able to make a second Kiva loan and help support another entrepreneur. I hope to keep rolling my loan paybacks into new loans to help more people. For this year I've decided to donate to Charity:Water and support projects that give the most basic necessity of life. I live in an area that has some of the cleanest and most readily available water in the world. Again, I know that I am lucky and I want to help make clean water a reality for others.

Next week I'm going to take a little break and spend it quietly with my family. I hope that you enjoy the rest of the Christmas season and I will be back before the year ends. Happy Holidays!

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:01:00 +0000

Studio Morran update

noreply@blogger.com (ldeandyment) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:07:00 +0000

As a follow up to last week's post about Studio Morran and the sad news that little Morran had passed away, I now have some good news to tell you. I've now heard that the Studio Morran book has been completed and is available for purchase through Blurb. There is a condensed edition with 70+ illustrations and a large edition with over two hundred illustrations.
You can fully preview the book on the Blurb site. All profits will go towards the World Society for the Protection of Animals. Very cool.

I looked through the large edition and there are so many wonderful images of the late Morran. A fantastic edition to anyone's art book collection for sure. And you know what else? My digital painting of Morran was included too! I was so surprised! I honestly didn't think I would make the cut because I thought that there was so much fun imagery the jury had to choose from. I'm so thrilled to be included with so many great illustrators and if I don't see a copy of this book under the Christmas tree I will be sure to become my own secret Santa. ; )