HappyHappyHappy

(I made this for my little cousin and was aiming for "disgustingly cute," which I think I achieved)

Crazy old cat/felt lady

Ahhh, finally I have new creations. I haven't painted in a while. My time has been consumed by the wonders of felt! It's so fun and easy to work with. Pretty much everything I'm making is a gift, so I'm just going to put up 2 examples of what I'm doing...

this one's a pin I decided to keep to spruce up my boring coats:
and this one's a gift to my brother which I can show because he's not much of an internet person:


The second one is kind of a felt picture thing which can be framed or just hung on the wall as is. I really like using thread as a sort of sketchy pencil line

Oh, and the colors on both of these are bad because I just scanned them and messed with the colors a bit...my camera is still sick :(

After all the gifts are given I'm going to try to get pictures of all of them up here...I'm going to make more felt stuff now cuz I just got some new felt yesterday, yesssssssss.

*Edit - sort of...my awesome, amazing, wonderful boyfriend just gave me an early xmas present that consists of one totally great camera (a Canon PowerShot)...I've never had such a nice camera and I am still awake at almost 6am because I had to wait for the battery to charge so I could test it out...and I am in love. Ahh, I'm so excited to take pictures of EVERYTHING.

Blue Sky Ahead

Well, I'm apparently still "discovering myself" in the art world. Although this style is pretty similar to something I tried a few months ago, with the whole splatter/splash/blowing technique. This time I decided to try ink and chalk pastel, which I brought back from my parents house along with tons of other new supplies that I'm excited to start using. The paper is some really neat vintage charcoal paper that I so far like a lot. It was about time I branched out from watercolor and sharpie, heh.

My inspiration came from FINALLY making another sale after a month of nothing...I was starting to get kind of upset! (Thanks person who just bought from me!)


I'll probably put these up on Etsy, but they're mostly just experimental.

Why didn't I know?!

Alphonse Mucha. He is amazing. I guess this shows my lack of research into art/artists I didn't study in art history classes.


Wow, too many beautiful paintings to choose from. I love the outlines on everything, which I have always loved doing in my art (even if my professors disagreed). I think I'll be inspired by him whether I like it or not.

Hmmm

Today I had a rather awful day. I have that special emotional time of the month to thank for that. But it was exceptionally ridiculous this time. I cried about being one of thousands on Etsy trying to carve out a niche. I cried when I thought of McCain being president. I mean, it's a terrifying thought, but I wouldn't say really cry-worthy.

So, in the midst of this blue day I painted a picture. The result is something I would find especially interesting if I had pursued a career in art therapy as once planned. It's still rather interesting...Almost scary how happy it is.


It's good ol' Bigfoot again. This time showing his love for the woodland creatures. I must admit, he makes me quite happy.

I am

Sayle!!!

I've discounted all my barrettes on Etsy! I need to save up so I can substitute teach. So, I basically have to make money to make money. All well.

Here are a few of the pretties...

Fools

I finally had a breakthrough with my car driving anxiety. I am always on edge when there are other drivers on the road, mostly when they're behind me. I pretty much always go the speed limit, maybe 5 above at times, and I coast whenever I can. The reason I drive this way is pretty much all about the money (and, well, obviously safety). I don't want to get a ticket and I want to economize on gas whenever I can. Anyways, the anxiety comes from people tailgating me, always wanting to go faster than me, me feeling bad when I pull out in front of someone who wants to go faster. I get way too upset when these things happen.

So, the breakthrough was this: you don't own the freakin' road. Simple I know, but everyone should have this outlook when they're controlling a multi-ton hunk of metal on narrow, windy, deer strewn road-ways. And I don't even want to think about highways right now. That's a whole other pop-a-blood-vessel situation. What makes these speedsters think they have the right to get irate and give dirty looks when they're the ones breaking the speed limit and endangering lives?

I can understand speeding if you're late getting to wherever you're going, but really, what's with the big rush? We all need to learn how to s l o w d o w n . I went on a very enjoyable, beautiful walk yesterday down a dirt road in the country. I made it a point to walk slowly, and it was wonderful. I noticed so much more and actually had the time to enjoy and contemplate my surroundings.

I suppose I'm just not for the fast-paced. I'm for observing and fully taking in your surroundings. This probably explains why I'm so patient. Espcially when working on the same art project for hours and hours. See, my art tied into this whole thing.

Oh, and here are a few pictures I took today while ambling along:

I just can't get the camera to capture the colors correctly. I am a very amateur photographer, heh.

Pick Me!

(That's my attempt at a clever title)

Okaaaay...guitar pick time! I've made a few earrings, but nothing I'm too happy about. I know how much guitar pick jewelry is out there, so I'm really trying to come up with new, creative ways to present it. That's why I haven't even taken any pictures of the earrings yet...too boring. Here's the necklace I made that I hope is fairly original:




Pretty much everything on it is made from guitar related things. The "chain" is made from an old guitar string. I had to use an earring hook for part of the clasp in the back, but the end of the string has a metal loop on it that's perfect to be, uh clasped onto. The pick flower is attached to the string by more string. It's such a happy piece :)

And here's my cat grinning

Clusterfudge?

I think I'm starting to do what you're not supposed to do on Etsy...which is sell different types of art in the same store. So far I just have watercolors/mixed media and felt barrettes. I would like to add guitar pick jewelry and photo prints. But I figure I don't have a "reputation" to uphold right now, seeing as though I've only made 11 sales. I don't mind shops having different types of art for sale, as long as they have sections that make everything easy to find. All well, it's keeping me creatively busy at any rate.

Here are a few of the photo prints I might try and sell. I am by no means a professional photographer, but I do think a few of the pictures I have taken are alright, especially when they're spruced up in Photoshop.






Any opinions/advice???

Silly Day

I finally got all of my barrettes up on Etsy! And I lowered my prices more than I would have liked. I know I should be patient, but I need to fill up my gas tank and my belly. Oh bother :(

But I am so grateful to Etsy and those who have bought from me. If it weren't for those sales, I wouldn't be able to pay this months bills. I am just glad that part of my income comes from giving somebody something beautiful and not just me renting myself out renting movies to people. If that makes any sense (I work at a movie store).

Well, let's hope for the best

Insomnia and Hair Clips

Oh, I just cannot sleep. My bedtime is now in the area of 5am. That's what happens when the earliest I've had to be at my job is 2pm, and normally 5pm.

I've only added three of the six felt barrettes I've made to my Etsy shop. Here they all are! (the first three are the ones in the shop) Saturn made it to my first (and only?) treasury! ~


I enjoy making these...felt is fun!

Oh yes, and I am very excited to have my first returning customer :)))

Ten sales is just so wonderful to me! I love the feeling of people enjoying my art so much they will pay money for it...still getting used to that fact :)

This guy tried getting into my car one time!

See! There he is!

Ok, now that I've ruined my reputation of being a sane person (hmm, I don't think I ever had that reputation to begin with). Bigfoot has been an interest of mine since the sixth grade. Nowadays I just think he's a funny guy, and fun to draw. Check out Graham Roumieu's hilarious BF books here. Hilarious. But anyways, I painted that watercolor for a friend yesterday and wanted to share.

explosions

Here are a few recent paintings that I either have in a cafe or were given as gifts






They were done when I first "discovered" this new style. It's fun to do :)

A start out

Oh no, does this make me a "blogger?"

All well, I made this to talk about my arts & craftings. I'm pretty motivated to make this work. I've sold 6 paintings so far. 5 on Etsy (http://spacekadetkat.etsy.com) and 1 in real life. It's made me optimistic that people will spend money on art still. I mean, I would if I had money. But art's really important and I'm happy that some people like mine.

So...I just bought 72 guitar picks for $10 on Ebay, and hope to win 200 earring hooks for $1. I know it's well worn territory, but I've always wanted to make guitar pick earrings. Plus, I'll probably only sell them for around $5.

Barrettes are coming soon as well. They're already made, but my camera just broke and I'm waiting to borrow one from a friend. I made them out of felt and attached them to a large bobby pin-esque clip that I think will work better than one of those clasping barrette things.

Perhaps I'm being foolish, but maybe I can make a living off of art income and a low paying job. I just don't want to have a constricting "career." Ahhh, scary! I have a feeling I'm just being very naive right now, heh. But I don't want to rant so much on this blog, so I'll leave it at "I never want to get stuck behind a desk."

So, if anybody actually read this...goodbye! I mean until next time.