Where’s the artwork, you ask? Collecting dust at the moment. I’ve been buried under several graphic design jobs with big deadlines for the past few weeks. All very good for business, but I’m rather tired out by the days end and not feeling creative. I’ve been feeling guilty about this but there just isn’t a whole lot I can do about it. But I may have a very welcome break this weekend. I’m hoping to dive into several projects and make some sort of progress.

I did work on a little fun thing Lynn asked me do last week. She is working on selling thermofax screens and she asked me (along with a few other artists) to make some designs. So here’s the only new photo I have at the moment.

My little laptop (before the new computer) set up on my work table, drawing tablet attached, a glass of wine, surrounded by neglected art tools. I have some other ideas for thermofax designs stuck in my head, the plan is to get those worked out very soon.

Oh! West Winds Studios Flickr page is up and running. I have lots more things to add to it but there is a lot there to look at now. I’ve been reading letters and articles from Irene’s papers for a few weeks now. She was quite a character and she had an amazing life. She took a life study drawing class (yes, naked people) taught by an old man who was an artist in Paris with the original Impressionist artists. Seriously! How cool is that! We still have all of her drawings from that class. They are on my list to photograph, but that list is pretty long at the moment. So be patient.

Hopefully by Monday I’ll have photos of some of  my artwork for you.

So I worked all afternoon and got nine done. Yup, 9. I knew there would be some trial and error, learning curves and all that, so I kept my expectations low. The last one, I took it totally crooked and didn’t even notice until I had on the computer. Next session I’ll bring a pot of coffee.

The other thing on my mind of late has been setting up an Etsy shop. The graphic design business did well last year but not so much this year. I know this year is still getting going but getting clients to pay has become a giant issue. These are good clients that I have worked with for several years and have just hit hard times. So I can’t really be mad, just very frustrated. It has made it impossible for me to keep up with some of my stuff. I can’t continue to supplement my fiber art (and other hobbies)  needs from our regular income. Usually the graphic design would keep that afloat. So I need to at least try to sell some of my stuff. I don’t know if it will work, but I have to try. So I’ve been reading lots on the Etsy community, learning all I can. With my experience in marketing, I want to have some things thought out -packaging, labels, cards, logos and so on. But I have to careful not to get hung up on it all, because that is something I would do. Sometimes I’m just a little too cautious. I’m working on that.

I pulled out some items this weekend to add to my box. These were pieces of craft metal that I embossed with use of a stamp and clay tools. I then painted them with some glass paint, added the embossing powder and got the heat gun out.

Now I need to go finish my journal page. The due date is quickly approaching and I keep getting distracted with things like laundry and dinner for the family. Details, details.

And I know, I know! I started the new year off with a bang on the blog and then disappeared. I was working on a volunteer design job for my church. I made several great new contacts, and possible future design jobs with this project. So all in all, not a bad deal. But it also deals with an area of the Catholic Church that has bugged me to no end, the graphic design, marketing and anything artistic for that matter has been visually pathetic for years. This person sums it up very well in his blog entry. So I am always happy to lend my skills to this area. Here’s a picture of what I developed for the religious ed department.

Then over in the fiber arena I’ve been brainstorming on how to produce more than one piece at a time. Maybe for an Etsy store, maybe a future art bizarre. Here I’ve set out several hand-dyed doilies on black fabric.

I then cut the fabric and I am working on embellishing the black fabric before I adhere the doilies. Eventually there will be six different pieces. We’ll see how that goes.

But in the meantime, I’ve got a book challenge to prepare for, a group challenge, a puzzle theme challenge from the 3 Creative Studios, plus a stack of my own ideas. And with all that I just got a new design job this morning. So if I disappear, don’t worry, I will return. But I will try not to disappear.

I designed this for long time client Dr. Greg Popcak. Even did that logo in the corner there. I’ve also done some re-designs of book covers for some of his best sellers. I haven’t gotten a hold of this one yet. I’m told I have a credit inside for the cover design. Eventually, I’ll get my hands on a copy.

We also created a website for a local company. Hopefully that will go online in a week or so here. So we have been rather busy with lots of stuff. And yup, still working on the ‘secret project’. I should be able to reveal it at the end of August.