Friday, December 12, 2008

Something is finally happening...


ACEO's

This week has been a very good week for me! I'm very happy to report that all four ACEO's sold.

I was initially asking $9.99 for each, then changed my mind and lowered it to $7.99. I ended up getting for all four $45.00. One sold for $18.25, pretty good for a newbie!

All of them were Madonna and Child images which I thought might sell for Christmas. All are done in Colored Pencil (Prismacolor, not my favorite) on 2-ply Plate finish Bristol Board.

They were a labor of love and pain. These caused me major amounts of pain in my neck which I'm still recovering from. The pins & needles feeling in my face is driving me crazy. I did love to do them and will probably do some more and sell them for next year.

Now I just have to come up with my own stuff. That's the hard part!

I think I'm more of an illustrator than fine artist as I do like to have a purpose for the artwork, not just a means to express myself. It's the action of doing the art I love, subject matter doesn't usually do anything for me. That's why I think I get artist's block a lot.




The juried show entry that got in

Juried Show

2nd great thing is that I got into the Center for Visual Arts juried show coming up in January. It's called "Midwest Seasons" and was marketed toward National/International artists. I think it's mainly for the Wausau, Wis area however. We'll see what all ends up being at the show.

I'm really happy I got in, but not as happy as I would be if it were the one I wanted to get in. Actually, it is the one I thought would get in, but I was working on the Daffodil picture and another one for so long, I was hoping one of those would have gotten in. Objectively, the one that was chosen is the strongest!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Getting up the nerve

I finally got up the nerve and posted some Art cards on EBay the other night. I'm patiently, impatiently waiting to see if someone bids on at least one of them. They are all of Madonna and Child images which I hope will spark someone to buy for Christmas presents.

They were more of a last minute deal to see if the format, which is very small would be of interest to me (they are always 2.5" x 3.5"). I did find it a challenge but it wasn't too bad. All of them are reproductions of mostly Raphael images, so it was also an exercise in drawing.

I think I'd do it on different paper using different pencils.

I'm really not a fan of the Prismacolors. I feel like the only one out there that doesn't just love them! Reasons why I don't like them... too waxy, they seem to crumble too much, especially when I was using the bristol board. layering also seems to be harder to do for that reason. They don't have the dry feel like the oil based ones (which escape me right now, and I'm too lazy to get up to see what the name is right now!) I think that's what I hate the most.

I did make a significant investment in Prismacolors before finding the other ones which shall remain nameless right now. I regret doing that now. I'll use them up eventually. Good thing they never go bad. I have pencils from college I'm still using, and that's been nearly 20 years now.