Indie Artisans, Farm Animal art, Spring and more!

I wanted to share a really great site and group that can help with your occassion shopping or just put a smile on your face!

'The Indie Artisans  is an ever-changing collection of the best handmade has to offer, presented on one timely page that makes shopping for gifts or yourself easy and fun.

The collection changes with the seasons or on a whim, so check back often for the finest artisan goods hand selected from the most creative, experienced group of online artisans ever assembled.'

You purchase directly from the artist when you visit their latest collection!

This month my little lamb is featured in the Spring, Sweet Collection!

You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter as @indieartisans!

I created these four farm animals (including the lamb) for a friend.  She wanted them for her little girl's room.  I did them all in colored pencil to add a more childlike quality.  The pig has turned out to be very popular!

You can find them as prints on Etsy.

 Mary did have a little lamb and it was very colorful and whimsical!

Buy the print here!

What is cuter than a baby duckling?

Buy the print here!

This pig has turned out to be the most popular of the set - people tell me it just makes them giggle!

Buy the print here!

This guy is my favorite.  It makes me think of the Saturday Night Live sketch about needing 'more cowbell'  In fact, I have a whole line of merchandise on Cafepress featuring this adorable bonine and the tagline "More Cowbell'!

You can buy the print here!

All the prints are 5x7 and can be framed with off the shelf mats and frames.  They look great as a grouping of 4!

Zazzle is killing me!

How is Zazzle killing me you might ask.  Well,  they are working my fingers to the bone with new products being added all the time.  Just when I get finished updating one batch of products, they have already added more!  I haven't been able to add any new designs because I am always playing catch-up with more products.

Here is one that is fun to make.  Zazzle has added teapots, pitchers and candy jars.  This is a holiday designed candy jar that I added.

  Remember the Saturday Night Live sketch with Christopher Walken - More Cowbell.  Zazzle has added new gel mousepads.  They are really comfortable and stylish!

I have always loved the tiles and tile boxes on Cafepress.   Now Zazzle has added some beauties!  This is my Purple Iris tile box.

Zazzle has also been adding new canvas prints and other prints - but this is pretty cool.  This is free standing plaque - no framing required!  This one features my Spanish Courtyard painting. 

I have also added necklaces, plates, laptop covers and so much more, but there is so much more to do!  Zazzle now has pillow cases, towels, messenger bags......  Now you can see why Zazzle is killing me~

How did I do in 2011 - Revisiting my goals!

Pont Vecchio Landscape

Oh My - It is that time again.  I found my 2011 goals the other day and like a train wreck - I had to look.  I excelled in some goals and fell flat on my face with others.  I thought I would share the results with you and maybe it will help you with your goals.

1.  Participate in at least 3 group shows and one solo show in 2011
This one I hit out of the ball part.  I did 7  group shows and most of them juried shows so I was thrilled.  I even won 4 ribbons this year for my paintings!  I did squeak out a solo show in December so I nailed this one!

2.  Work on my Zazzle shop to add more designs and create the newly added products by March.
I did add more designs, but never did catch up on the new products - They just keep adding more.  I have been adding some templates for the new products I want to add and this one will be carried over to 2012.  I suspect that there is a better way to do all this, because it just seems to take me so much time.

3.  Create items for cratft shows on a weekly basis.
Well, I did create picture mirrors, glass tile pendants and hand painted glass candle holders, but not on a weekely basis.  I ended up doing this when the need arose so I had to hurry up and get her done!  I think weekly was too much to ask - I may need to rethink the time frame.

4. Find a local printer to print my cards in the 1st quarter.
I did look into a couple places and will stick with on-line for this. It seems to be mor cost effective.

5. Learn how to engage people better on Twitter - ongoing.
I believe that I have better balanced conversing with people, retweeting and promoting.  I also try to find interesting items to tweet.

6. Create a Daily schedule to segment my time so I get more painting done - ASAP!
I tried this approach and life kept getting in the way.  I found that if I just carved out time each week for at least a couple painting sessions, I made progress.  I find that I do  my compter work in the AM which works well except that it is easy to procrasitnate because there is always more I can find to do on-line!

7.  Close sites that are not profitable and time wasters.
I must admit that I dropped the ball on this one.   I did close one site which I pretty much ignored anyway.

8.  Become more active in the Rome Art Association by volunteering at events.
I did attend more meetings than previous years and volunteer for my solo art show at the Rome Community Theater (probably shouldn't count since it saved by butt on goal #1)  I really must make more of an effort to attend meetings so I know what is going on.  I am a pretty shy person, but I need to man up!

Pets and more - Commissions make great gifts!

I did a couple commissions for the holidays!  Always a pleasure to work with clients and create the best artwork I can for them.  I love doing pet portraits.  Above is Iggy, a Hemmingway cat, - check out the many toes!  Iggy is in a pensive mood and I tried to capture his mood and personality in this piece!

Here we have Harley - his eyes are very expressive!  I can do other animals as well, not just cats.  I would love the opportunity to do a doggie too!

Commissions are always a bit stressful, but it is all worth it when the client is happy with the finished product!

This portrait was done for a newlywed couple.  This photo was one taken for their engagement portfolio.  The groom commissioned me to paint this piece for his bride for Christmas.  I have since heard that the bride loved it!  I was really happy with all of these pieces too.

Commissions are always challenging and I learn so much doing them.  Gravel was a challenge in this one - had to stretch my creativity for how to paint it without painting every little stone. 

Each of these pics is done in acrylic, but I also do watercolors.  Feel free to contact me for any commission requests - I will be glad to work with you.   Email me at lmrspdr@dreamscape.com and I will send you all the details!

My art at the 2011 Emmy Awards with Joe Mantegna

I have to admit that I do love TV,  movies and some folks that star in them.  Because of this,  I occasionally participate in the GBK gift lounge at various award shows.  I create products to go in the swag bags that every celeb that stops by the table receives and also a table display item that may be photographed with a celebrity!  I do this via The Indie Exhibit.  The wonderful people there make sure that my products get in the hands of celebrities.   Their tag line is 'Elevate your Brand'.  It is good promotion and lots of fun!

For the 2011 Emmy Awards, I created a special double sided print just for the Emmy's.  Here are both sides.  I signed and numbered each print and included a certificate of authenticity.

Now, this is the icing one the cake!  Here is Joe Mantegna most recently from Criminal Minds holding the canvas print I used as my display piece.  I was told that he just loved it and couldn't stop looking at it!

This is the Indie Exhibit table in the GBK gift lounge.  You can see my Pont Vecchio canvas print on the right of the 2nd tier.  Nice looking display!!!  Celebs are starting to look for our table at events because it is different every time and they love handmade!

You can get prints of all these paintings on Fine Art America~

Next up is the 2012 Golden Globe awards - then I really must take a break - it is a lot of work preparing 95 swag bag items and a display piece.  Also a bit pricey :)  Thanks for sharing my experience.  I have seen my views and sales increase because of my participation - that is what it is all about!

A morning of inspiration from Hopper, Lichtenstein and Winslow Homer!

This morning I spent time with the masters!  I was lucky to find the Dayton Art Institute museum while in that fair city!  What a gem!  Their own collection (what small portion on display at this time) was amazing.  I am a big fan of 20th century art and they had a nice collection of American artists for me to enjoy.  In the pic below, the Indian in the distance is an Andy Warhol.  Say what you may about him, but he was innovative!  This gallery was primarily contemporary abstract art.  I love seeing pieces like these for the first time. 

This next piece is a Lichtenstein.  I have always enjoyed his bright colors and hard edged style.  I know you are supposed to look at art from a distance to really enjoy it, but I always have to examine 'how did they do that' up close and personal.  The best part was that I pretty much had he place to myself.  Probably because they were preparing for their Oktoberfest this weekend and there was no parking!

The piece below is by Edward Hopper, another artist I really admire.  I love his use of light in his pieces.   I get my love of light from him though we are miles apart in style.

 They had a wonderful special exhibit of Winslow Homer etchings.  Homer became a wonderful watercolorist later in his life, but he began as an professional illustrator for Harpers weekly and other publications.    His knowledge of graphic design allowed his drawings to be easily adapted to wooden etchings for printmaking.  This entire exhibit was lent to the museum by a single doner.  I was lucky enough to have her there this morning talking about her collection.  She was very proud of the pieces and had something to add to each one.

It was a great morning and I loved that I was there alone to be able to take my time.  Museum gift shops always have the neatest stuff too!  Thanks for sharing a little piece of what I saw today.  BTW - it was OK to take photos of their collection w/o a flash.   I was surprised about that - luckily I had my trusty blackberry!

We have a winner of the 50 custom Brochures!!

True Random Number Generator


Min: 1
Max: 10
Result: 5
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We have a winner of the 50 custom Brochures! Congratulations to Kalik Hamilton! Thanks so much for particiapting Kalik!!

Random.org picked #5 as the winning comment number. I will pass Kalik's info on to Uprinting and he can create and upload his design for his personalized Brochures!

Thanks to everyone that entered! Special thanks to Uprinting and Giveaway Blogs for providing the prize~!
Keep watch for more great giveaways!