bad cat

A year or so ago I had some fun coming up with a feline character with cattitude and made one small painting using this self-possessed fellow as the model. I never followed up until now (my life is a series of one distracting shiny object after another) when I decided to try my hand at using him in one of my negative-spaced mixed-media drawings. Helene, in her undying loyalty (and always-superb taste in art :), snapped him up. Before I knew it I was on a roll and produced Illustration Friday's piece and the two below. Appropriately, they are called BAD CAT and are over at Etsy.

I spent a good chunk of yesterday researching digital fine art and photo papers after driving into the valley to see a demo at Opus. Interestingly, after looking at prices, results, archival data and other technical info I decided that my favourite is Hahnemuhle 308 Photo Rag. After sorting through all the literature I brought home I was surprised and pleased to discover that Ontario expert John Jones agrees. Now all I need to do is find the elusive perfect print house, but that's more difficult than I ever imagined, so I'm leaning seriously towards investing in my own inkjet printer. I'm on a really strict budget and can't even consider it until after we (hopefully) get a tax return, but meantime, I'm looking at good quality but reasonably-priced pigment ink printers. Feedback on printers and shopping chez Andrea heavily encouraged.

I'm not sure into what psychological slot you can put my inertness (the 'lazy' category would be my guess), but I have totally stalled on my final Primal Landscape painting. Now that I have a few BAD CATs out of my system, though, I promise part three ... soon.

update from the trenches

I've been in Serious Thinking mode when I should be painting. As you know, the whole Etsy phenonenon takes up way too much of my thinking time. Lately, shop sales have flattened, and it's keeping me awake at night! But it's also helping me figure out the right direction to take as I observe the successful sellers vs. the not-so. As a result, I'm switching direction a bit and need to clear out some of my more traditional original art (SALE! Was that subliminal enough?). Etsy really is the place for prints. It's pretty amazing to me to see an artist who sells small original paintings for, say, $100, sell the same thing in a print for $28 and sell dozens per day! I still don't get that way of thinking, but I need to start getting with the program if I want sales to pick up. So please check out the ol' shopfront and if you don't like the sale price on any of the older stuff, contact me.

Meantime, Etsy is having a bumper sticker contest. Here's my entry (Fimo fellow conceptualized, designed and constructed by #2 son):

taxes, marketing, creativity

I believe creativity happens everywhere, not just in the arts. Marketing is definitely a prominent hook on which to hang the Creative Thinking hat (thanks for the metaphor, Brian), so to creatively market a creative product like, say, a painting results in a veritable explosion of creative juices (euw). Case in point: paintings by numbers. There's even a blog. If that's not brilliant, then I'll eat my bank card. Never mind, there's nothing there to eat anyway because I wasn't clever enough to think of this! And to prove it, I have my first ever appointment with a tax accountant on Friday. As if to make me feel better about this (not), I got the latest Washington Post's Mensa Invitational in my inbox a couple of days ago. To wit:

3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

And, with any luck, the number-cruncher guy won't be an:

2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

My fondest wish is that he's as creative at his job as the marketers of the number paintings are at theirs.

afca

First things first: THANK YOU to those who responded to my request for feedback. It was enlightening and valuable and even a little surprising. It gave me a really good idea of what direction to go in so I'm indebted to you. The clear winner in the little contest was Here Is The Ancient Floor, a painting that has actually won an award. I was just about to start the ball rolling by ordering some prints when I realized that my only image is a crappy one, and the painting itself is hanging in a downtown gallery (as of today). I will be heading into town Wednesday so will beg Rosalind to let me take it outside and re-photograph it.

Now -- the exhibition. There are three of my paintings hanging at the Federation Gallery on Granville Island (1241 Cartwright Street) for the next two weeks for the Success! exhibition. You may now kiss my feet. I decided to bite the bullet this year and apply for signature status with the Federation of Canadian Artists (I never had the nerve before now to apply) and found out yesterday that I had been accepted. You may now call me Didrooglie AFCA. Besides Ancient Floor, the paintings Tide (below) and Rootbound are also up. Oh yeah -- and the work of the other successful applicants.

I finally started the last painting in the never-ending series. It's been a struggle because I'm already thinking (and even starting) other projects, but I'm just so close that I thought I'd post its progress here as an additional kick-in-the-butt to get me over this last hurdle. I present to you, um ... something:

iprintfromhome.com

I got this huge parcel in the mail today. I was baffled because the two measly prints I ordered were on 10" x 12" paper, so why the big package? Then I saw how amazingly they had protected, wrapped and boxed the prints. Unveiling them was even better; the quality of the prints is the best I've ever seen. They weren't cheap but the results were well worth the investment.

Now the commercial: The prints came from a New York state printer called iPrintfromHome.com recommended to me by Angela. I was totally blown away by the quality of the whole transaction and highly recommend them to anyone needing top-notch printing work done.

Now I need your input. I have added both these prints to my Etsy shop. I need feedback re. the marketability/saleability of (a) small, top quality art prints and (b) these particular images. Are my Primal Landscapes best left as large original paintings, or do you think they're mainstream enough to appeal to the small print buyer's market?