essentially the worst blogger in the world.

It's true. I am. Oops.

Here is what I have been doing: trying to exhibit my work more.
Here is what I have not been doing: blogging about it.

In the past year I've shown work at various locations across the country. Some of what I accomplished: I won a Merit Award for my embroidery Pretty is a Process at the Hoyt Mid-Atlantic Competition, and was written about in the Democrat & Chronicle regarding Lois, you have not left yet when it was included in the Memorial Art Gallery's Rochester - Finger Lakes Exhibition. It's been a pretty good year.

Currently, Pretty is a Process on exhibit at The Faces of Women show at the Stella Art Gallery and Studio in East Rochester.

Pretty is a Process, 2011

Pretty is a Process, detail.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of 2012!

p.s. Gratuitous Kafka picture, because i know you missed him:

take advantage of me for four days. please.

To celebrate the madness of the start of the official holiday season, I am having an enormous sale in my shop.

Everything is on sale but most prints are 33% off, and there is free shipping to anywhere on every order. Buying one print gets you a 5 pack of holiday cards. Buying two prints entitles you to a third for free.

I also have a new card for you:


I realize that if all of you fabulous people from Australia order stuff, I may eat it on the shipping, but my Etsy shop is relatively new and I need all the exposure I can get. So take advantage already and get someone a handmade gift and save some cash all at once!

Holiday Cards!

When I got married, I made all of the paper items myself-- the invites, table numbers, escort cards, programs, etc., etc... but I have now officially begun my foray into the realm of cards for other people. I know. I'm so brave.

My first of four different holiday cards has now been listed, so we'll see how that goes. I hope to have the other three up by the end of the weekend, but given my tendancy to procrastinate by being distracted my small shiny objects, legos with the Meep and ducking a bounding Kafka... like i said, we'll see.

The textured paper I chose for the cards hasn't been showing the detail as much as I'd like, but I'm still generally pleased with the way they turned out. I'm hemming and hawing about the possibility of cutting these out of art paper and attaching them to the textured cards. What do you

I've started watermarking all my scanned images, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I understand that it protects the image, but I hate the way it looks.

Regardless, I very much like how the back of the cards turned out!


Even though the image is small, I think it came out beautifully.

What do you think?

Shop update and bloggy-blog stuff

Flower Chain. Now in the shop.

I'm in the process of doing some secret blog rearranging, which is proving to be a little bit of a struggle, if only because of time. I will need to dedicate some solid blocks of time to it and that has been what I'm struggling with. If I get into ye olde codes and get torn away for something, I inevitably lose my mental place and flub for half and hour trying to get my head on straight.

Regardless, I'm excited about the upcoming changes. Let's hope it's not six months until I get them out (fingers crossed fingers crossed fingers crossed). :)

In other exciting news, the Kafka-nator is scared of snow. It's been snowing lately, just not sticking.

This morning I took him to the back door where he could see the blanket of snow covering our backyard. He looked, then padded across the room, sat down, and gave a little whine of discontent. When I opened the door for him, he walked tentatively to the doorway, gave the ground a brief sniff, then tore into the kitchen, then the dining room, then the living room, where he cowered under Ricky Bobby Spike's terrarium table. I had to put on my coat and boots, pick him up and take him (kicking and whiny-barking all the way) into the backyard, where I set him down and watched him sniff in circles for almost 10 minutes before he decided it was safe to pee.

Good job doggy.

Camouflage

Because sometimes you'd like to hide. And sometimes when you want to, you can't.

Available in the shop.

shop update

Supernatural has now arrived.

Silence

My brother, who already was in Iraq three (maybe four?) times, got out of the military about two years ago. Now he has to go back to the Marines November 3, most likely to Afghanistan.

Please remember to vote on November 4.

Silence is in the shop.

supernatural

I sketched this slippery guy a while ago, but never got around to getting him down... well, now he's here. This isn't a great picture of him, but I'll post some more when I scan him.

Monday Monday

So I got some stuff done yesterday, but not as much as I would've liked. I was hoping to finish painting my sideboard into the sun and even though I worked my butt off, it was not to be. I was painting the molding on the drawers and cabinet doors and the black enamel I've been using is simply not giving me the coverage I was hoping for. Eventually I gave up for the day and moved on to a painting I've got in the works. I got maybe one drawer finished, but everything else is only partially finished because of the number of coats I have to lay down. UGH.

Here is a little piece of mine that I have yet to post:

Shadow oil pastel, graphite, paper on canvas.

I have an obsession with beetles, and this is just one of a large series that I did on them. It's quite small-- I think 4x6 inches if I'm thinking correctly, but I really like the way it came out. The beetle is from an old National Geographic and I love him dearly.


Kafka's day yesterday (as there seem to be a large number of you interested in his daily goings on) consisted of eating sticks and dirt, and then throwing up a little, which of course didn't phase him at all. Ah, the joys of puppy hood. :)

Happy Monday!

Otterific

I put him into the shop!

feet!


I really like the way he leans. His shape is good. The original was a present for a friend who then told me she would be honored if I made prints out of it. Amanda studied otter poop and played rugby. She would still study otter poop if there were any near her, and she sure as hell would play rugby if she had any health insurance.

Lily

Lily is now available in the shop.

Deer in the Woods

You must be pretty sure I've been hibernating, but I haven't been. It's been summer people! The weather in upstate New York has been wonderful! There's a puppy to take care of! Some updates for you:

1. Name that Puppy Update: His name is Kafka (Chindi's Metamorphosis) and Anne, who commented in with that suggestion, received a series of puppy kisses pictures, and a short, puppy-tongue filled video. And now he has almost tripled his weight.

2. I've finally opened an etsy store. More in a later post. I've got a number of new drawings to post too.

3. I love my blood sister, non-blood sister (in-law) and my best friend, but I don't spend nearly enough time with them. I love the men in my life too (I have brothers galore), but sometimes a girl just needs to get with her ladies.

4. If I have learned one lesson this summer it is to take more vacations.

5. Sarah Palin. WTF?? Please don't vote for someone because they have a vagina. Please vote because you agree with their politics and are sure that they know what they are doing. Something to consider: She doesn't believe in the theory of evolution or that mankind has anything to do with global warming. And that doesn't even scratch the surface of her grand "Alaska is close to Russia" argument for foreign policy. When McCain unveiled her, I didn't sleep for three nights because of Palin nightmares.

6. The deer still come around. This morning, not 35 feet from my living room window, stood an enormous 10 point buck. Incredible.

Dragon and Phoenix

My cousin Dan was married today to the beautiful and hysterically funny Sarah. Their ceremony was outside, the weather was beautiful, and later the cake was awesome. I ate too much of it.
Sarah's got a thing for Asian art, so I thought I'd try my hand at the old dragon and phoenix. The dragon and phoenix (or Fenghuang) are another common metaphor for the yin and yang, and in Chinese culture represent the harmony of the union between man and wife. The red circle with the Chinese "love" character is actually cut out from their bright wedding invitation.



Congratulations guys!

Late Baby

At first I was going to post her for Illustration Friday, but then the week squeaked by me and still, no Baby. Besides, I wanted to give her just a little color. So here she is, no longer for Illustration Friday. Instead, now she's just for you.

late afternoon sun

click either to make it larger.

Enjoy your evenings!

tease

click for a larger image.

silence is golden.

life with flowers

I hope you have a nice day.

I still like rugby!

The otter went home with my good friend Amanda the other day. She studies river otters, and gets really excited over finding otter poop. Well, this one likes rugby, and unfortunately for her, I do think he'll be pooping any time soon. Sorry Amanda!

Click on the picture to make it larger. There is a close up of his face here.

Also, I never grow tired of bubble wrap. It begs to be popped.

i like rugby.

in progress, for a friend.