Postcards!

Yesterday I picked up the postcard project I've been trying to finish for months now!

Whoohoo!

You can now buy them in my Etsy shop!
If you'd like more, or less, please feel free to contact me. I can always make special arrangements!

Hope everyone is having a great September so far. It's been very hot here... I think Summer was a bit confused this year.

Friday

Wow. It's 7:30 am and I feel like I've already gotten so much accomplished.
I feel like this is a good sign.

anyway, I wanted to share some new prints that I added to my Etsy shop!

You can find them here...

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Finished!

Yay!

I got some paintings finished and listed in my Etsy shop!

go me!

You can see them here, and here, and here!

I bought galkyd yesterday and I've been playing around with it today. If you're not familiar with galkyd, it's a oil paint medium. It allows for faster drying time and it acts as a type of varnish, so it can really pull your painting together.

anyway, it's been a fun experiment thus far. I hope it looks alright on my paintings. Fingers crossed!

Solid

Well, I had a solid day in the studio. Yay for that! I spent my morning, and most of my afternoon there. I started two new paintings and worked on my commissioned kitty piece. They are two portraits. One is of just me and the other is of Nate, and I. I'm afraid Nate is looking a little like David Schwimmer...opps. Oh well. Maybe he won't notice?

I had a great day and I'm looking forward to getting back in there tomorrow. I also added some new pieces to my Etsy shop. Yay for productivity! I'm hoping this motivation sticks around for awhile.

It's a beautiful, rainy, January day. I'm planning on getting some more illustrations done! Hope all is well.

Pankcakes!

Wow!
I had such a great breakfast this morning with a group of crafty ladies!
Ryan of Littleputbooks, Soma of SomaVenus, Taryn of TalkingSquid (who is also practically my next door neighbor and who just moved here from Detroit) aly morgan, and Sister Diane of The Church of Craft.

We talked business ideas, craft fairs, Etsy, crafting, beach houses, dogs, cats, and Portland. It was so great. It was really motivating and it got some wheels turning in my head.

It is so hard for me to think of my work as a business most of the time. I really just like drawing and painting and I forget that I also have to be a business person too. It's not my strong point by any means. I think many artists and crafters are like this, or can relate to this. Ryan and Diane have this really great brain for the business side to it and I loved hearing their ideas and their input.

Taryn and I had a great conversation on the ride home about how so often our job requires so much more than just making something. How much work really goes into everything we have to do to be able to survive in the sea of art and craft. It's so much work, and so often it goes unnoticed...but it's just so much fun too! and that is what makes it all worth it.

On another note...it's another beautiful day here and I plan on riding my bike up to Alberta for Last Thursday later on. It's going to be crazy up there today!! I love Portland :)

The pancake picture is courtesy of Soma!! :D Thanks!!

I Heart Portland

This last weekend I had some time to kill before work.

I heard that there was an art fair at the Buckman School so I thought it would be nice to check out. I was so surprised with how many Etsy sellers I came across while I was there. It was great!

Ryan Berkely, Rachael Austin, Brenda Rose, Two Sarahs and so many more were there. It was really cool seeing so many artists that I recognized from Etsy :)

It was a very fun show. Some of the children from the school played music too. Very sweet and cute. I'm glad I got a chance to check it out.

This Feels Right

I've been really getting back into the Etsy groove this week.

I've made six new items for my shop, I've been participating in the forums and on Twitter, and I feel like I'm getting back into a nice routine.

I think one of the most important thing you can do for your Etsy shop is to post new items weekly and really promote yourself.

Doing all this has kept me busy, and that's a good thing for sure.
Sometimes I feel like if I don't stay busy doing something I'll just drive myself crazy with my thoughts. I guess that's one of the great benefits of making art for me. It helps me stay sane. Well, sometimes...

Today is going well. It's a beautiful warm day and I'm thinking of heading down to First Thursday. I haven't been in such a long time...

Maybe I can get some pictures to share.
Hope everyone's day is going well :)