4th Quarter Newsletter 2013

What a year this has been so far. I've sold the originals of:
My Final Notice
Painted By The Wind
Ballerina In Repose
Chinese Horse - Zentangle
Peace and Justice (sketch)
Peace and Justice (painting)...

As well as quite a few prints cards and iPhone cases...so far with three months left to this year... ...and I probably would have made more originals and sold more originals if I wouldn't have taken the summer off to be with my kids.

Prints and cards of those originals are still available on my website. See the images in my Paintings Gallery and my Drawings Gallery.

Every year I volunteer my artsy services to paint for my church's day camp. This year, I painted a huge stone wall stage backdrop in eight hours? That was a record time for me. See more murals that I've done here.

Also this year, I got my very first licensing deal with my painting, Rainbow Cowboy, but after a few prints were used, a decision was made to put the deal on hold. It was a bummer for sure, but that's okay. I learned a lot and am ready for the next licensing deal to come along. I never dreamed that my art was licensable. That has opened my eyes to many possibilities. Very exciting. I'm back to creating more original artwork finally and I'm looking forward to what the holiday season will bring.

This is one of my pieces that I need to finish...maybe. Still working out exactly what I want to do with it. Prints are available in the form it is in because it could be finished. I don't want to lose the feeling it has. So a careful approach to how it is finished is necessary.






My pen and ink Chinese horse series, done in Zentangle style patterns, continues with no foreseen end. They are inspired by the Tang Dynasty horse sculptures you see in museums. The Zentangle part is strangely relaxing to do. A very Zen-like experience and I never know what they are going to look like in the end. It's a go-with-the-soothing-flow-of-line-and see-what-happens type of experience.




I am currently working on a new Chinese horse (see the sketch here). My biggest one yet. It is off to a great start. This horse will also look great as a monochromatic canvas painting (minus the tangles).

NEW IDEAS AND STUFF:
New things are available on my artist website and more to come. iPhone cases being one of those things(to see example click here). iPhone 4/4s, iPhone 5/5s, iPhone 5c, and Galaxy S4. See which of my images are available for iPhone cases here.
There has been talk of puzzles being made available on my website too. What fun. My art on a puzzle.

Personal Ideas Being Implemented:
1. Making a calendar of my horse art and a calendar of my photos paired with encouraging quotes (See the last image on the right panel of images). The goal is to have them ready for 2015.

2. Another is to finally join the Gig Harbor studio tour. My studio is just within the boundaries of that tour.

3. I'm currently building a website that will allow a collector to directly purchase my larger original artworks through PayPal with a push of a button. I hope to have it done before December 2013. Always feel free to E-mail me if you want to purchase one of my original painting or commission me to do a painting for you. Visit My Daily Paintworks website for very affordable, original artwork currently in auction (and bookmark it). I'll be continuously adding new artwork, so check back often.

4. I hope to have a few coffee table books of my art available in the next couple of years. That's been a dream of mine for a few years now. -------------- Art makes a unique gift for a loved one or for yourself.

I've added a few new blogs that tell the behind the scenes adventures I end up going on.
~Mission Impossible - Almost.
~A Lesson In Fashion Turns Into A Funny Tattoo Story.
~Curiosity And Other Artistic Traits.
See these funny stories on my blog -This Redhead Can Paint!.

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter (I'm new on Twitter). See more art on my website.
Click on any of the images in this letter for a larger view.
Feel free to forward this to your friends, family and colleges.

Curiosity and Other Artistic Traits Of Creative People - What If I Do This?

I have felt, pretty much forever, that I don't fit into any mold. That I don't fit into societies personality standards very well. For the most part, I've learned to deal with it. It is always refreshing when I come across someone who understands me; which is very rare and usually is another artist.
I recently ran across this article about Ten Paradoxical Traits Of  Creative People and was surprised to find that it fits me to a capital 'T':

1. Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they're also often quiet and at rest.
2. Creative people tend to be smart yet naive at the same time.
3. Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.
4. Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality.
5. Creative people tend to be both extroverted and introverted.
6. Creative people are humble and proud at the same time
7. Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping - When tests of masculinity and femininity are given to young people, over and over one finds that creative and talented girls are more dominant and tough than other girls, and creative boys are more sensitive and less aggressive than their male peers.
8. Creative people are both rebellious and conservative.
9. Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.
10. Creative people's openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment.
(see the full article here)

I think curiosity fits in there somewhere.

An artist has to be willing to say, 'What if I do this?' But that question doesn't have an off button for me. Every once in a while it gets me into trouble. Today, for instance, would be one of those times.

My daughter had a doc appointment today. Once inside the building, we have to take an elevator to get to the doc's office. The elevator door is always slow to close so I always push the 'door close' button, but today, I saw that to the left of that double arrow 'door close' symbol was another white button. Two white buttons; two arrows pointing inward. So, I think to push both white buttons. Maybe both buttons are 'door close' buttons? That was when I realized that I was wrong. The left button set off a bell that scared the life out of me. Thankfully, it only went off for as long as I pushed it; which was only a quarter-second. We were on our way out, so upon exiting the elevator, I looked both ways and beat it to the door and my car. Probably didn't escape the security cameras though.



My daughter said with a plain, dead-pan face at first, "Mom, you always do stuff like that." Than she smirked a smile.

It's true. I do always do that kind of stuff. I can't help it. I'm a very tactile person. One time I grabbed a beautiful, feathery, handmade headdress and placed it on my daughter's head. She protested, of course, but it was so amazing, I just couldn't help it. I saw it when we turned the corner of a display booth. There were about four lined up on the wall behind the booth.
I snapped a few pictures of them first and grabbed the one that I thought was the most beautiful. Well, they were for sale...NOT. It turns out that the man sitting next to it not only made it, but owned it and was going to wear it in the tribal show that was about to be put on for an audience.
OMG! I was horrified that once again, my curiosity got the better of me. I was so embarrassed and apologized profusely to the man's wife. The man just sat there while his wife handled the whole situation.
It is a matriarchal society at this Indian reservation. I probably wouldn't have learned that little tidbit about that reservation if I hadn't done what I did.
Thankfully, she ended up choosing grace after she saw that it was an innocent mistake and I had not intended on being disrespectful.

The man never said a word.

That was a few years ago and it has taken me that long to be able to see the humor in it. That faux pas was a doozy. Thankfully, the big ones are few and far between.

I think I have the picture of the headdress still...

Read more funny stories:
A Lesson In Fashion Turns Into A Funny Tattoo Story
Mission Impossible-Almost