the long holiday is over....

it seems like it has been years since this holiday started.  my youngest daughter went camping in Big Sur, CA since tuesday morning.  we live in san diego - so big sur is a long drive north (like 2 days drive unless you are a maniac or a person on a mission).
so no cell phone or communication since tuesday.
it seemed like forever but she made it back in one piece and happy that she went (with her friend and her family).  they were so nice to take her onboard.    actaully, it sounds like she had the time of her life - although tired.  we wondered how she would like it since she is used to a nice soft bed with an electric blanket.  she admitted she missed her bed.
and she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

she said it wasn't too rough sleeping in a sleeping bag and tent for a week.  boy, i can't imagine myself doing it.  well, i did do it, once.  one overnight in a tent when i was in charge of the girl scouts.  - actually i had given up my position and the new charge did it, under the one condition -that i remain onboard for the camp out in order to help.  it wasn't far - it was only at the beach here in san diego (imperial beach).    it was for only one night - but what a  fricken nightmare.
first of all, i didn't know that the sand at imperial beach was so lumpy. it has  ice plant or something like that growing in it everywhere.  some kind of gnarly roots.  ouch.
and i put the idea out of my mind that there were sand fleas and other bugs that scurry around.  that night one of the little girls (the big loud mouthed one that no one liked)  needed some attention - she had a belly ache.  so i took her in my tent with rosie.  rosie wasn't too happy (neither was i) and yep, she did, she puked up again and again inside my tent.  ugggh.   made me wanna puke too - and rosie.
it. was. so. awful.
what kind of bad luck was that?  i had a tent with a floor attached so there was no way to clean it.  if i hadn't had a floor to the tent i could have just carried it to a new clean area.  but noOOOoo.
let's just say it was a looong night.

and that really settled it - i will never camp out again.
i really don't like to be away from my "bedsy" for any length of time.  that's one reason i don't go traveling teaching too much.  apart from the really big reason - which is, i don't want to leave my family behind.

please follow me.....

this is "twirl girl".
hi everyone, thank you for coming to my blog. i have a request, if you have not already done so, please follow or subscribe to this blog - see on the right in the sidebar in light blue text(ok, robin's egg color)- it says - subscribe to pimp my spleen? just click that. or up top - the bar up there says "follow", click that. i mean, if you wanna.
you won't get forced into reading my blog -you will not get emails from me or other harassment. in fact nothing happens to you, you are merely doing me a favor. at the very least it shows my readers that you read it too. you can connect or network that way.
and, further, if you feel gratuitous, if you have a blog and you like mine, i would very much appreciate and love it if you mention that you follow mine on your blog's dashboard. if you email that you did this and want me to return the favor, i will. it will remain private that you did this. lisabebiart@aol.com.

the reason i am requesting this is because the fuller my readership, the more opportunities i will receive and that means i will be able to show my work in more places. that is a very, very BIG deal to me.

truthfully, it is a little frustrating to me, i know for a fact i have a better readership than i have followers because i have a hidden stat counter. the ratio of readers and followers does not make sense.
thanks, i promise to help you network too.


thank you and god bless.

twirl girl's mom, lisa

colorful bag art - thanksgiving

maybe you remember i did series of spiritual paintings on brown paper bags (see previous posts about a month ago. there is a big article about it in the current Somerset Studio magazine) well now i am experimenting on colorful bags - this is a bag family, a thanksgiving family.
so HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone.
my family is a little broken up this year. our daughter, rosie is away on a camping trip - she went to Big Sur, California with her friend's family. beautiful big sur - she is lucky - and i have to say that was a good idea - good idea until driving home on sunday when everyone is coming home from north to south down the major california hyway. but hell just think you could be stuck in that traffic jam after visiting ugly in-laws in downtown bakersfield or someplace less nice than big sur.
my middle child, my son is in buffalo, NY studying and working away --and overcoming h1n1, poor baby. he will visit at xmas. then my oldest daughter is comfortably tucked in her happy home so happy to have NO place to go this year. that might seem odd that she and her carlos are not coming this year -- but its not really. every year for every holiday they have been pulled this way and that - brooke's father's family, me, carlos' dad's family and his mom's family, plus cousins galore. then they (brooke and carlos) have friends who want to spend time with them - so its really a gift to them to let them be.

as for us, we are having lobster. gastone hates turkey - i like it OK. which leads me to the thanksgiving rant i have every year and if you are a facebook person, you may have read some of this already. some people responded by telling all the various things the pilgrims were supposed to have eaten - still, why did amercians embrace the big bird?

RANT: so, why the hell did the pilgrims in cape cod settle on a crazy wild bird they had to chase down a tree when they could be having clam chowder and lobster.
i always have thought that the Indians put them up to that idea of shotgunning (ok musketing) a turkey from a tree just for their private laugh. you gotta admit, that had to be comical. and let me see if i get THIS straight - the pilgrims went the ocean and got perfectly good fish and used them to grow corn? corn is what livestock eat. those indians were holding their sides in laughter. OK OK livestock had to eat - but cornbread? that cornbread, i am sure, did not taste like marie calendar's. have yo ever tried to eat corn meant for livestock? (i have eaten corn that should have been used for livestock in italy) its frickin' pah-to-ey awful.
corn should be left alone - well, until it becomes something like moonshine.
i personally think that the feathers that indians wore, were worn in jest - or as a reminder of the pilgrim follies, their favorite entertainment of the day - much like men wear baseball caps today. they were probably really turkey feathers and the indians were laughing their butts off.

today: 2 things to be thankful for......

that's me by the pool with a work in progress (see last post) of my mom and me as a baby in red).
so i got my advanced issue of Artist's Cafe - best of somerset studio art and design in the mail today. i am proud to say that i am in the publication twice. one (pg. 82) is my very first interview and the other(pg. 46) is my art and article about personalizing christmas cards. i want to thank amanda nolan executive editor for placing me in this awesome magazine with only their topnotch submitting artists. such an honor.
the other thing that happened today was i found out that my newest painting called "ringling roadtrip" (which i don't have a pic of yet) was awarded 2nd place - which means cash - from the san diego regional show entitled summation at escondido arts partnership. this is wonderful news - i have entered 3 times this year and received 3 awards, one 3rd and 2 seconds. i'm liking this track record.

and as you might know, earlier this week, i got my advanced issue of Art Quilting studio and was in that as well.
so this week i have had lots of recognition - always a welcome thing.

however, i have to confess . i am beginning to feel a little uncomfortable. i know this is going to sound flip - but i don't mean it that way - what i mean is i am getting uncomfortable about bragging about myself. i know some of you have probably fallen off their chair over this. but its true. its kinda like an itch under the collar feeling
i am thankful for my recognition and i feel i should share - plus, i feel its my responsibility to my field and family that word gets about about my successes, but dear me, its a lot. (and i know there are many of you that have had much bigger successes and you are thinking - gawd just look at her, she is getting all hoity-toity about herself).

so tell me, must i mention everything? if i don't mention something would that be a snub? an extravagant motion - like a shoulder shrug and a flick of the hand -as though the honor was really nothing - when it is?
like, "oh well, its just another award."
or do i pound it out to everyone, making sure i know everyone knows. this is risky because you can easily turn off people - hell i have turned of myself!
its an ugly "fix" to be in - i guess this is why business people hired PR firms. they hire someone else to do the bragging for them.
hmm, i'm wondering if i should start a group of artists where we share public relations..... for instance my duty would be to brag about renee and renee's duty would be to brag about jaime and jaime's duty would be to brag about joan, and joan's duty would be to brag about me, etc.
hey i kinda like that idea. i think i will present it to my art friends. what do you think?

another view of my mom.....

that's me holding a painting of my mom, Ruby. i love this particular image of my mom and have used it time and again. i enjoy expanding ideas, trying out new ones and this is one way to do it. using the same image is not limiting, oh contra-re. using the same image over and over loosens me up. i don't have to spend time and angst thinking of what to paint. i have my subject, ready made. i am free to take liberties, to push the envelope of different colors, shape, sizes and meaning.

a previous post-- about a month ago showed me working on this image of my mom is deep blues and clear yellows. here, today, ruby is in red. a couple of months earlier still ruby was depicted in whites and light blues.

each color theme has its own mood. the light blue is airy and feels more like a day trip in reality time, enjoying a ride in a new car. the dark blue painting brings me to a place; a long ago memory---almost a fantasy--- my mom, riding the dark skies like santa claus.

this red one is a color that stirs in me a "want". a want to experience something elusive, to have an experience, a vision of fleeting beauty; like an opening rose in the early morning sun. its a mood of a state of moving, an opening, a renewal--- like a brief cast of sunlight (just for a moment) on the translucent petals of a flower. the red to me is most spiritual of all and it causes me pause to bask in it.

i feel so blessed to be able to paint and experience emotion this way, to carefully wander where everyone has been but few have had the ability to freeze its essence in time.

this is what i am thankful for this thanksgiving season---- the captured time, the hanging on to a second for longer than a second, the birth of a new idea and the exalting of it.

what is memory if not a series of seemingly insignificant moments? just like this one now. i get to capture and examine these flittering, fluttering bits of time and string them together into a tidy bundle. then i get to place them on my wall, to view and ponder some more.

happy thanksgiving week everyone. and cheers. let's indulge in red wine and remember.

still, still, still....

working on getting things out of my house and studio - the fodder build up. i am getting a new box ready to ship out to new york today. i can't help but wonder what this person - a stranger to me, would want - what would this person (a man) value? papers? cloth? old vintage papers? i put in all those things plus stuff that i bought and will not use, like paints, ribbons, embellishments of all sorts. i wish i knew if he is a 3-d person or a painter. i did send out a query to him, but got no response. so off goes another box with about 7 lb.s of studio fodder and my studio (after shipping off about 20 boxes now) looks exactly the same. argh!

****
rosie didn't want a bday party, new clothes, jewelry, shoes, etc. - what she wanted in the worse way was an aquarium. just a simple little one that could hold about 15 small fish - tropical fish. so that's what we did - we went to our neighborhood tropical fish store and bought an aquarium. turns out aquariums are not that easy to put together. i guess we thought we would walk out of the store with fish to swim in this aquarium - but no - its a big process. she won't be getting fish for about a month. you have to cycle the water through the pipes a few week first.

she assembled it all herself. i love that all three of my children learned to read instructions. good job rosie!
i was always one that thought i could figure it all out (assemblies) without the instructions - or that i would only need to look at the pictures - i hate to admit that. because it is a pretty foolish way to be.

she had fun picking out the sand, coral, rocks, plastic plants. its only a 6 gallon one. we got one called "the edge". nice looking - solid glass, no plastic top. i think of all the folks in my family (except my husband) rosie is the most responsible one. oh what's that? that only leaves me in the family. yeah, er, that's right. everyone but me is responsible.

i'm going to stop writing now cuz i am talking my way into a very bad light.

meet my "birthing experience" doctors.....

in light of rosie's birthday and my last post, i thought i would show you the doctors who helped me through it.

Happy birthday to youuuuu, happy birthday to youuu, dear rosieeee...

about this time, 15 years ago, (fading to dream music goes here) i was wheeled into the operation/delivery room crying and pleading with a farside looking nurse to please, please let me go home. i was tired. it was the end of the day - the 18th . the 18th was a very important date for both gastone and me. the 18th is his mother's birthday and also, believe it or not, my mom's (deceased then and still is) birthday as well. both our moms, although they never got to meet each other, shared the same bday.

but it was after 11:00 p.m. when my doctor decided to take the baby out by c-section. i wasn't kidding when i said i felt too tired. i was nearly 41 years old, had been in labor (induced) all day long and besides we were going to miss that important date. so "please please may i go home and think this over. suppose she is not ready to come out yet, suppose she is undeveloped, like no lungs or something...."

it was no use, the operating nurse and doctor would not consider it. my husband wasn't there - he was in the scrub room cleaning up for the delivery. and the surgeon came in the room just in time to pry me from the strangle hold i had on mrs. farside nurse's waist. i was desperate to go home. she didn't seem to be listening to me. i needed to get my message across.
then the man with the twilight magic came in. the drugs. i didn't believe him when he said that the drugs were my answer. that the drugs would calm me down and cure everything; even too tiredness, my too oldness and my too panicked-ness (although i did not like being called a panic) i fought him too.

while he was fitting the oxygen mask on me i was asking "hey how do you know if i can't breath under this mask? you can't hear me breathing, and you can't see me breathing and i don't trust those bleeping lights, what if they malfunction? what if i stop breathing and no one pays attention to me? hey, i'm talking to you. i am NOT a panicker" he didn't seem to be able to hear me.

but then,

"hey wait a second, what is this stuff - oh, oh, OOOOh, what pleasure. i could vaguely hear my husband come in the room and the surgical doctor say -- "boy, your wife sure is susceptible to panic attacks. she had a real bad one. she must of had a bad time with her last birthing experience."

"birthing experience", humpf! i never thought to call it that exactly. i would have called it.....umm, i don't know, uhm how about surgery? surgery with a baby as a prize at the end.

but then...(gentle music playing...and me, eyes shut and feeling warm and kinda comfortable and snug. amazing i was thinking how comfortable an operating table can feel. i was beginning to smile.....i lost my train of thought). well, it was too late for me to feel embarrassed, i was on that lovely night train, the journey that only drugs can give you. and the operating staff played such relaxing music in the delivery room too.

"no", i decided, "i didn't need to go home, i was perfectly happy right here, right now, with nice music and smiling doctors (behind masks) and, ' oh hello farside nurse, thanks for coming......to... my.. daughter's... bday... party. smillle (for a very long time). then zzzzs.

until,
"WAH""" that was the end of my relaxation for the rest of my life. she was perfect, nice and healthy.

and
everybody agreed she was a beautiful baby. cuz its true. even when she was 10 months old and baptized by a san diego mission priest who has seen baby after baby, stopped mid head annointing and announced to the congregation, "wow, now this one is a beautiful baby".
so at birth, she was 7 pounds, only. no ounces to complicate things.... just 7lb.s even. even steven.
and oh yes she did. she did demonstrate immediately that she had powerful, working lungs. i didn't mind i was having a sleepy trip in twilight land. i was thinking who let the kitten in here, meowing.

it was a happy and proud moment. gastone had to fill me in on the rest of the day later. he also took a movie of it. there was one part of the movie where gastone was being filmed. puzzling. until i found out the surgeon also films during the birthing experience. he even had his own camera.

if i had been awake, i would have panicked about the state of my hair.

oh rosie, you have made us all very happy in the deepest sense - just to have you in the family. even if you were born 33 minutes past midnight and on the 19th.

happy birthday sweetie. now let's eat cake.

advanced issue Somerset Art Quilting Studio and my article

i just received my advanced issue of the winter 2010 art quilting studio by somerset studio. i am pleased to have an article in there (page 108-111) but i have to say....i love all the articles. very very cool publication this time especially. yummmy.i love "painterly compositions" by evie zaccardelli, first and foremost. dinah sargent's work has me completely spellbound. i am so glad to finally see a quilting magazine that actually shows real art -far from patchwork and stitching points. (not that there is anything wrong with that), but finally a magazine that shows the opposite and the extreme. love it love it love it.
jette clover's work - very interesting. jude hill i can relate - i have a soft spot for hearts too.
ruth rae steps away from her off white fabric with red thread and does gorgeous sheers also too cool to be true. burnt and bound - jen osborn a must read- very, very mind expanding.
ok i have to stop listing now but before i do.....there are articles on rust, poetry, pockets, calligraphy, beetles, bottle tops, birds, quiltages, advice on composing with spontaneity, and even moby dick. i even noticed that and more, more more. just awesome. job well done stampington. i even noticed that the artist danita and i have some of the same stash. hahaha, small world sometimes. i think it hits the newsstands dec. 1.

back from the retreat....

i am waiting for photos to show up from the other retreat participants so that i can post them here.
i am talking about the WCA (women's caucus for art) artist retreat last weekend. i went with my older daughter, brooke. we drove up on saturday night (because i had a swim meet to attend saturday - my youngest daughter swam).
anyway, brooke and i drove up. we were late, we were lost- there was fog or perhaps it was a low cloud because we were very high up on the mountain driving around. we aren't sure and it was eerily dark out. so we were 45 minutes late. or i thought we were late-- turned out we were not late at all. stressed for nothing. i was to be there for an after dinner "glam paintover" demo in the cabin's main room. but it was fine. turned out it wasn't to start until about 7:30 when all the ladies got back from the dining hall and settled in to the main cabin's large room with a toasty crackling fire and wine for all.
my demo included a few juicy secrets as i was talking while drinking. oh dear. aw well, everyone had fun. we all laughed.

so now i am going to admit this. i was not looking forward to sleeping away from home, especially when i was told to bring sleeping bag. i had half way planned to come home that night after my demonstration, BUT, the cabin was newly made, sparkling clean, the beds were built into the walls and each wide enough for two people. there were 6 beds to each room. we only had four people in our room. brooke and me and 2 others, jamie and ellie. brooke had bought me a sleeping bag so sweet of her. it was actually pretty soft. i was worried it was going to be made of nylon and all noisy like a taffeta skirt. but it was made of soft fabric. modern times.
we all talked and laughed until bout 2 a.m. (don't worry the sleepers were far enough away- we didn't bother them and they didn't hear us). then we all woke up with headaches from the altitude or perhaps the wine and late night chatter. it was a total pajama party. an aspirin each in the morning saved us.
then we laughed and laughed everyone in such great spirits. many tried their hand at the glam paintover in the morning. their work was excellent. i think the relaxed atmosphere helped everyone produce good work.

the food was awesome, organic and made from what is grown on the grounds. very rustic and heavenly.

so, basically brooke and i didn't want to come home. i mean we barely got there. we envisioned ourselves standing at the door as everyone left, waving goodbye, and saying see you next year, then turning our attention to organic gardening and living the camper person's life. but we didn't, we left too saying all the way home, wow, that was fun and i'm so glad we went. see, the night before when were were lost on our drive up and i was seeing ghosts only the dark deserted highway we seriously thought of turning around and speeding home. or maybe turning into a nice motel that had a bar. but we braved it and should be honored a girl scout badge of some sort.
********
i saw the art that everyone had done all day. the encaustics workshop produced some amazing work and the portraiture class looked as though everyone had taken portraiture before. but they hadn't. not everyone anyway. there were (free) donated paints, paintbrushes, supports and many other materials. all this, including workshops and meals (friday afternoon to sunday breakfast) was included in the $135 price. can't beat it. so i hope to see you there next year. we had 17 participants.

in the mail....

fredricka from long island sent me these humorous inches and atcs. i love getting something in the (snail) mail. don't you? these made me laugh for hours. very clever. i like witty art. click on the you might be able to read them.

thank you fredirika. big hugs.

lemon grove, the kit

this is one of the images i have been developing for a kit to learn basics about the paintover. what do you think?

rosie - mid-dive......

my daughter rosie has a great starting dive. she looks like she can fly like superman (er, woman).
well, she did a start like this 2 nights ago in practice and pulled her calf muscle. we just got back from the chiropractor. looks like she will be OK though. just needs some minerals and a bit of therapy.

she has a 3 day meet this weekend. too bad she is injured - it is the last meet before she ages up.

lemon grove, 1953

another version of the painting of lemon grove - it's from the same image as the previous post below.

early atomic age, 1950's

"lemon grove" this is the painting that took second place in the recent san diego county regional show at escondido arts partnership. it's moderately sized at 30" x 30". thats a good size, especially compared to my published work which is generally 8" x 10" or so.
the image is from my family album. it's of my mom and brother in 1952 in a town (now a city) called lemon grove, CA. the home of the giant lemon (in background here). also dennis hopper's hometown. in fact dennis' mom, marge, and my mom, ruby, were best friends, especially later in life...until my mom died suddenly of heart failure in 1992.
we all went to the same methodist church. in the 1980's i was living in england when marge and her husband, jay were visiting. she called me from her hotel to arrange meeting for dinner the next evening. sadly, however, she called that morning and said she was sorry but they needed to go back to the states ASAP, jay was feeling ill. that week he died. i felt so so sorry for them. but he had wanted to see england and they had done that. at least. it was very upsetting to our family let alone to her and i assume dennis. it was very unexpected. marge and my mom loved to go antiquing together. she often visited or even "sat" my mom's antique shop in lemon grove. they had a lot in common. for one thing, both marge and my mom were very energetic, happy women in their 70's.

automatic painting -

or some call it, "stream of consciousness" painting.

paint by allowing your hand sprawl across your page. do it without hesitation or intention. allow your "spirit" to guide you, and you allow your spirit to do its work for you.
so relax, you aren't in that much control anyway - just enjoy it.
what do you need to control anyway? nothing. yeah, that's right.

sound hard? then you are probably the person who needs to take my automatic painting class this wednesday (starts at noon) - what? you have the day off work so come on give yourself a treat. only $30. at the stamp addict (san diego, CA) (619) 667-5060 (see my sidebar)

great gift idea: one of a kind - and published!

i created these 5, 60's girl ads shabby chic dish towels for the publication somerset studio home, 2009. i have decided to sell them. the towels (signed) are $30.00 each or all 5 for $140.00, plus s & h, tax. the (autographed) publication is also for sale. $14.99 (same price as anywhere), s & h.
at my etsy store. www.pimpmyart.etsy.com

just added.

bob dylan and friends...

all along the watchtower....this pic of a painting that sold in 2006 is posted for my new follower lille diane-- who is a woodstock hippy.
ah, too bad it doesn't show up better than this. sorry the painting was created from one of the images found in this video - it had dylan, mcclure and ginsberg together.

enjoy.

automatic painting workshop.....only $30...

i will be conducting a workshop on automatic painting this coming wednesday, nov. 11, noon to 3 at the stamp addict, 7151 el cajon blvd., suite k, san diego, CA 92115. (619) 667-5060. www.thestampaddict.com i will also have the current Somerset Studio magazines with me to autograph.

for this class we will prepare the brown paper bags with a dark color, i used burnt umber for mine. while these dry i will demonstrate my method. once they papers are dry i will try to get the participants in a somewhat relaxed and meditative state ( i will have props like chocolate, wine and soft music). the participants will have many tries at creating these images. once dried again, we look for "beings" to embellish or to use as a background for journaling pages, or just hanging on a studio wall.

here's my daughter rosie....

she is standing in front of my tiny garden. yeah, i am pitiful as a gardener. not even a gardener at all, actually.

but rosie is growing up nicely. her birthday is coming up on the 19th. she will be 15. she says she doesn't want a party - but she would like a sweet sixteen party next year. i'm not sure what that would be. i'm sure she will let me know.

rosie's news: she got a 3 foot tall trophy at her swim team awards banquet on sunday night for being the team's top competitor. she was not surprised. she came near getting it twice before her coach said. and i know that is true. she also got an award for being the most serious swimmer on the team. she wasn't sure she liked that - she wondered if it meant she was always frowning or what. i think he only meant she is serious about competing.

she is very happy with her team members - the little team community. it is a small swim team, only about 30 swimmers - most of them little kids. but the teenagers, for the most part have grown up together. its such a good and wholesome sport. she works out 2 hours a day, 5 days a week with only a handful of days off a year. she has been swimming on the team since she was 6 years old. that's impressive, i think.

her coach has made quite an imprint on her. he also coached my older kids, but for many reasons they didn't stay at it as long as rosie. my daughter brooke didn't stay swimming because i couldn't take her after my husband died -i was working overload, so it was not her fault. she still likes to swim and loves to exercise. brooke runs everyday and works out lifting weights. she looks spectacular. as for my son who now lives in buffalo, NY. i doubt he sees the inside of a pool there. i will ask him just for the heck of it.

announcement: my new website

http://www.lisabebi.com. the live link is to the right in the sidebar. over time i will be adding more of my larger canvases - my fine art, for sell there.

it's a lot of work getting a website up plus the etsy shop. i have so much to share, its just a matter of organizing. ugh! something i was born without - the organization link. it my missing link. fortunately, i have very patient people helping me.

my old website www.lisabebiart.com is still up, but it is only a display or vanity website. my new website has a shopping cart. eventually i will streamline things so that i won't have a ton of URLs attached to my name.

meanwhile, i have been suffering with the stomach flu - yeah, i did have my seasonal flu shot - a couple of weeks ago. maybe its not the flu - it could be a bad gut from being on too many antibiotics lately. that's possible. so i am on an aggressive yogurt diet. ugh!

at home i have been putting together more fodder boxes for sale. i am really enjoying this. putting together little surprise boxes full of beloved bits from my studio, stuff i wanted to finish but ran out of time, etc. all good stuff; stuff i overbought. er, lots of stuff i shouldn't have bought but did anyway. couldn't resist. lots of vintage papers, books, stamps, stickers, random fabric bits, buttons, findings, beads, canvases, craft making stuff, fun elements, embellishments, scrap book matching papers, handmade papers, ATCs.

i need the room in my studio to work. christmas is coming up. time to make gifts.

also, i have plenty of half finished paintings, i am selling them for cheap, encouraging the buyer to finish them and calling it a collaborative with me. i will sign it before i mail it out. the owner has the option of using it as a collab with me or using it for their own purposes like put it in a journal or whatever, they can photocopy it and practice paintovers.

on etsy i also have for sell some pieces i call "quick paintover"s. that's what they are; one of a kind paintovers on magazine paper, ready to be scanned or framed, again, whatever. i sell them for just $2o.00 each. i think that's a great buy for original art. or you can buy the half finished one for only $2.20.

i am going to be selling things that have appeared in my articles for somerset studios too. i will start to place them up on the site by the end of the week.

i realize it has been a while since i have written about something other than my various art enterprises. my next blog entry will be about my family - i promise.