art cards

A couple of days ago I discovered a widget on a blog sidebar for this new made-to-order greeting card company. I was immediately intrigued and had to try setting up shop for myself using some of my digital photography and monochrome-on-black drawings. The length x width ratio is part of the reason for this; anything outside a 21-15 ratio becomes distorted as the cards are one size/full bleed. I'm not really impressed with the widget so haven't added it yet ... still thinking on that one. Do drop by and take a look.

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):