Yup. There it is; I see it -- the light at the end of the tunnel. The last few pages of the colllaborative book project I'm helming are finishing themselves off nicely. Today I completed the front and back covers; I still have a few "accessory" pages -- copyright, inside title, contents, etc. -- to complete. I'm mere days from submitting this for print!
Here, finally, some REAL teasers: The covers. Click for a larger view. :)
I've just returned from two weeks in Europe with my family -- husband Tim, stepson Zack, and sons Toby and Noah. Whew, what an adventure! We did a rail tour of France, Germany, and Italy, hitting up Paris, Munich, Venice, Rome, Florence, and then Paris again -- and taking side trips to Versailles, Dachau, Schloss Neuschwanstein, and Siena -- before three of us returned to the US. Tim and Zack are still abroad in Ireland where Tim's doing some genealogical research; enjoying the gorgeous green scenery; and trying not to get himself killed, driving on the left side of the road.
After spending so much time immersed in beauty and art, I'm incredibly inspired to create. I really missed being in my studio while gone, although I admit, I hardly had the energy to crawl to bed each night; we kept that busy. I'll try to post a few photos from our trip as I sort thru them, in upcoming blog posts... but I'm still under the gun to finish up that COLORS book project at iATCs (whee, almost done) and really want to get back into bear making, too. So many projects, so little time! I even bought a heap of needle felting supplies at a darling shop in Paris near my hotel. Let the fiber-y fun begin again!
Back to Europe, though. Just sharing here: A photo of my four guys, in front of Notre Dame in Paris, France.
Au revoir, until my next post. :)
That's the name of the book a group of artists at IllustratedATCs is co-creating, and I've been honored with the exciting (and enormous) task of compiling, art directing, and editing -- and in about 1/3 of the cases, styling and photographing -- almost 100 pieces of art from 21 artists across 12 different colors, which will form our content.
Today I finished the last of 21 double-page artist spreads and at the iATC forum, posted the tantalizing peek, below, showcasing what I've been immersed in doing until the wee hours of every morning, for weeks now. I call this image "Maddening Sneak Peek" because when the folks at iATCs see it, they'll be in arm-chewing, hair-pulling, ARRGH I CAN ALMOST MAKE IT OUT BUT NOT QUITE mode. I'm not trying to be a sadist -- although I am delighting in being one anyway, just a little bit, I admit. :) I'm just trying to maintain the element of surprise.
Here, my fuzzed out but (in real life) really wonderful labor of love: 66 pages of mouth watering, incredibly cool art from some of the nicest, most talented, edgiest people I've never met. Props to the possibilities created by internet; it really does make possible the transformation of virtual friendships and commonalities, into REAL ones.
Updates on book availability TBA when they're available. Please check back!
That's pretty much it: Angela Jarecki makes beautiful things. In the doll and bear world she goes by Whimsy Moon Designs. Find her online at her website or on her blog. Her flickr is here. Angela's work has also made several totally impressive appearances in the "Creative Cloth Doll" series of books. Someday I'll own one of her glorious soft dolls. A girl can dream.
There's a curious rash of credit card fraud going 'round the teddy bear community, so if you're a bear maker, especially one who's ordered supplies over the internet at any point, please, check your credit card statement(s) carefully for fraudulent activity. Below, as a kind of public service announcement, I've attached an informational note from Cindy Malchoff, who is co-coordinating an effort to compile a list of affected artists. Conversation on this topic is also ongoing at Teddy Talk.
Wishing you well, and a summer free from fraud,
Shel
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Dear Teddy Bear Community,
First, I am sorry if this information has come to you from many sources and me more than once...with the assistance of several databases we are attempting to reach as many people in the bear community as possible to warn them of this problem. We are working with suppliers, promoters and magazines to reach as many as possible. Feel free to help spread the word, esp to those that do not have e-mail. We honestly don't know where the breach occurred, or if there is indeed a common thread...it just appears to be more than a coincidence!
In just the last three days, we've discovered that a substantial number of bear artists have had similar fraudulent charges put through on their credit cards within the last month. The count as of this morning is 44 people, mostly bear artists as well as a few other individuals who had also purchased bear supplies. These artists are from around the world, in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
We are trying to find out exactly how many people have been affected at this time, and also determine if these are related to any one company that we have done business with. We are continuing to spread the word to bear artist communities around the world, it is extremely important that people be made aware of what is happening, as these fraudulent charges are still ongoing with some made even today! Amounts can vary from $1 charges up to thousands of dollars; one artist had several charges totalling $10,000 made to her card, just to let you know how serious this is! Many of the charges have been from companies such as Skype, Google AdWords and iTunes.
There is a team of bear artists working to try to figure this all out. Anyone who has been affected by credit card fraud recently or knows someone who has, please get us that information! Information can be sent to Kelly Zimmerman (cannabear@frontiernet.net), Cindy Malchoff (Info@TBAI.org), Karen Alderson (karen.alderson@gmail.com) or Aleta Breese (akaqueen@hotmail.com).
The credit card fraud companies appear to be acting very quickly, however the debit card users have been having more trouble straightening things out.
First and foremost - KEEP CLOSE WATCH ON THE ACTIVITY OF YOUR ACCOUNTS AND NOTIFY THE BANK IMMEDIATELY OF ANY SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY!!!
Hugs,
Cindy Malchoff (Teddy Bear Artist & TBAI Chair)
Next time they say, "Vacation's boring; there's nothing to dooooooooooooo!" just show them this video and tell them to memorize it, and get back to you when they're done. Should take a few days.
Catchy little tune, courtesy of Daft Punk. Crank it!! And stick with it thru the first instrumental part. It gets cooler and more complicated as it goes.
My "hipness enhancement," courtesy of my much-cooler-than-I-can-ever-hope-to-be 12 year old son, Noah, who shared this video with me before he left for Europe with his dad.
Can you believe how coordinated this kid is??? And here I thought typing 100wpm was an accomplishment. The mind boggles... !!
Received via eMail from my dear friend Laura Sylvester:
As most of you know, our son, Elliot, has autism.
At 7-1/2 years old, he is trying to overcome the debilitating social, verbal, and behavioral challenges that keep him disconnected from his family and the rest of the world. Over the past four years, we have had success with medical pathways getting his body healthy and thriving. Like every set of parents, we want our child to have the opportunity to fulfill his potential -- but without special intervention, Elliot's future is extremely limited.
Last year, we found a center that is having high levels of success bringing children through their state of autism: The Son-Rise Program at the Autism Treatment Center of America (for more information see their website, www.autismtreatment.com). For the past ten months, we have been running a 50-hour-a-week Son-Rise program in our home that has resulted in many encouraging breakthroughs for Elliot.
To progress further in this treatment, our family plans to travel again to the Autism Treatment Center of America in November for a week of intensive training. Through this training we will be able to work even more effectively with Elliot. The success of The Son-Rise Program gives us hope that we may be able to free Elliot from this mysterious condition. Reversing autism is never guaranteed but for the sake of Elliot's future we know we have to try.
The cumulative cost for this intensive training is $19,500. We have already raised $2,500 by selling Elliot Art and Note Cards and we want to say thank you to those of you who have already supported us. Obviously we will pay for as much as we can, but we have created A "Night of Musical Chairs" Fundraiser in hopes of getting some financial help. The generosity of family and friends in planning this event has been amazing; we feel so blessed. It looks to be far more than a fundraiser; since we've launched this event it's become an artistic extravaganza. We think you'll be dazzled by the amazing works of art these chairs have become.
There are multiple ways to help. Please check out the event and non-event pages of our website: www.nightofmusicalchairs.com. The non-event page is for those of you who want to help but won't be able to make it to the fundraiser event. You can learn more about Elliot's Son-Rise program and our amazing team at www.elliotsroom.com.
Many of you have helped us before in Elliot's journey through autism; in fact, many of you have walked each step of the way with us and we will never forget your support. If you feel you can help again - or for the first time - we will forever appreciate it. Thank you for reading our note and praying for Elliot.
Please feel free to forward this email announcement to anyone who you think might be interested in helping.
With Love,
Rick and Laura Sylvester
(note: the night of musical chairs website does not work
properly with Firefox 3.0)
My super talented friend Anne, who is super talented -- did I mention that?!? -- is covered head to toe in awesome sauce. Why? Well... First of all, check out some of her incredible work at the DIRECTORY OF ILLUSTRATION and prepare to be impressed. When I grow up I want to paint like Anne.
Then, check out this very sweet thing she did...
This amazing artist -- not a developing, creative art hackster like me, but actually a professional artist and gallery owner with all the bona fides to go with those labels -- actually purposefully included on of my teddy bears, Tucker, in a piece she painted. I'm totally floored and flattered and caught entirely off guard by the gesture.
Right now, finishing up my bearmaking sabbatical with a bang!, I'm in the middle of compiling/editing/art directing (for the first time; what was I thinking??) a collaborative book for my juried art card site, www.illustratedATCs.com. Each participant -- Anne among them; there are 21 in total -- is submitting works for the book project themed around a certain color. Anne chose "blue." She could have painted blue ANYTHING, but she chose to paint this glorious moon figure with billowy hair and a secret expression, sitting on a floating organic pedestal. Tethered just behind the figure is a bear painted in the likeness of my creation, Tucker. And no, I'd never imagine such a thing; I'm way too insecure to ever imagine that kind of tribute. Anne actually told me as much. This is my Tucker:
I'm enormously honored and flattered and humbled and just plain shell-shocked at the extraordinary nature of her gesture, and of course I'm giddy, too, that Tucker's been immortalized for all of time in an ethereal, celestrial, mysterious, textural masterpiece. How cool is that? Jump up and down, and clap your hands like a little kid along with me, won't you?
When you're done and you land back on two feet on the ground, give Anne's work a look-see. You'll be delighted.
Here's a low-res version of her gorgeous painting, Moons Daughter... which will, by the way, be among the work featured in our upcoming color-themed (and as yet, untitled) collaborative book, soon to be available at www.LuLu.com. Updates on that, as they become available. Check back!!
Thanks to crazyfish I stumbled onto this very cool, super easy to use new gadget -- SCRAPBLOG. It's the easiest, most user-friendly digital online scrapbooking interface I've ever seen. You can create super cool slideshows in a matter of minutes, complete with music and transitions, using photos from your hard drive or from photo sharing sites where you've stored them like flickr or picasa.
Check out the tribute I made to my sons, now in Europe vacationing with their dad! And then check out SCRAPBLOG for yourself. A very nifty little tool, indeed.
Enjoy! And find my future scrapblogs at: http://www.scrapblog.com/potbellyarts
... while updating my blog, I thought I'd mention that I'm selling a really beautiful white gold, blue topaz, and diamond "statement" ring that I wore one time only, on my wedding day. It's on eBay right now at my seller ID potbellyarts. I reserve my ID potbellybears exclusively for my teddy sales as POTBELLY BEARS. Call me a purist; I can take it! :)~
On other notes... I am drowning in a wonderful pile of gorgeous artwork. I was honored by my fellow artists at IllustratedATCs when they jumped head-first into a collaborative book journal project and allowed me the privelege of art directing it. It's a learning process for sure, and I'm already stressed to the gills... but I shall prevail!! My original vision was to hand-make 21 chunky, dimensional books with high quality photos of all art for all 21 artists. But that's proving just too costly -- who knew cardstock was such a fortune!?! I guess I didn't realize how much the totals would run on this, since I usually buy only enough for ME! So Option B is: I'll probably create layouts digitally and then get this baby published at an online, on-demand printing press like LuLu.com. In that case, you might even want one for yourself! Details will follow when everything's signed, sealed, and delivered. Or more accurately: designed, uploaded, and available. Or something like that.
Hope life's treating you well. I'm finally out from under a huge pile of art commitments and when this book is finished and I'm done with my summer travels (whee!) I plan a return to bears with a vengeance. Just wait til you see what emerges from my studio this fall...:)
Happy trails!
Just a quick -- and huge, heartfelt! -- note of thanks to everyone who purchased a print of my ALICE, REVISITED art card on Etsy. You deserve medals of honor and appreciation!
100% of your purchase price has been contributed, in your name, to the Sylvester family, to finance Elliot's autism treatment program with ATCA.
I sincerely thank you for helping this special family, and hope you're enjoying your ACEO.
So grateful,
Shel
A friend asked me what my setup was for photography, so I took some VERY quick snapshots of my photo studio -- a guest room closet which I've outfitted with 14 mounted fluorescent bulbs, a clamp light, and some fabric as backdrop which I clip to an existing clothing rod.
Thought I'd share my pictures here, too. ;)
In honesty, I'm not much of a photographer. I couldn't tell you thing one about apertures or film speeds, depth of field, or developing film. But I do know how to use the semi-automatic and programmable functions on my digital camera (mostly, anyway!) and I always set my white balance before snapping pics. Anything not covered by those actions gets fixed in Photoshop. God bless photo editing software.
Enjoy the peek into my messy, magic making photo spot!
Created specifically as a donation to the Elliot Sylvester ATCA Fund
auction, these three pieces -- chair, sock bunny, and art card --
showcase my funky, gothic, zetti-fied, weird and whimsical
interpretation of Alice in Wonderland. Fun!!
The chair, originally from IKEA and customized by me, features a
digital painting of Alice which I created in Photoshop and have
transferred to fabric and outlined in chunky ricrac, then covered in
heavy protective vinyl for longevity.
A single ACEO print of "Alice, Revisited" is still available in my Etsy shop; that's all that's left from the limited edition run of sixteen prints. Thanks to everyone who purchased a copy; your contribution is so appreciated!! You can find that last print at: www.potbellyarts.etsy.com. Card #1 in this edition will accompany my chair and Mr. Rabbit to the home of the highest bidder.
Along with nineteen others, my chair will become available for
purchase on July 12 at Matt Hensley's FLYING ELEPHANT in Carlsbad,
California. Here's the full scoop:
July 12, 2008
A NIGHT OF MUSICAL CHAIRS
Benefiting The Elliot Sylvester Autism Treatment Center of America (ATCA) Fund
@ Hensley's Flying Elephant Bar
Carlsbad, CA
(Owned by Matt Hensley of FLOGGING MOLLY; so kewl!! He's making a chair, too!!)It's an evening of FOOD, MUSIC, ART AND FRIENDS!... and a fund raising event for Elliot's Autism Treatment Center of America (ATCA) Son-Rise Intensive program. Learn more at: web.mac.com/sylvesterfam/anightofmusicalchairs/Home.html
Pay attention.
The Orphan Works Blog
www.nikondigital.org/dps/dps-v-4-08.htm
www.tomrichmond.com/blog/?tag=orphan-works-act
www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html
Claudine Hellmuth Discusses It
Tammy Browning Smith shares her thoughts
Photobusiness Forum Speaks On it
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** Note: I don't want to contribute to issue-obscuring emotionality on this hot button topic so, in an effort to minimize FUD in the following post -- FUD being Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt, as Tom Richmond explained them; hysteria-inducing scare tactics -- I've reworded my post, below. I still oppose the Orphan Works bill, not because I am an expert on the subject, or because I take issue with the CONCEPT of Orphaned Works (I don't,) but because people wiser, better credentialed, and closer to the issue than me cite so many loopholes for potential abuse given how this legislation currently reads. Still, with more information on board, and not wanting to contribute to unnecessary emotionality over the issue, I've changed my wording a bit, to match my altered thinking.
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The following is expanded from a flickr post by spadea:
New Orphan Works legislation is working its way through the legislature which proposes the following. That if, after a brief search, "found" images cannot be matched with their copyright owners, they can be considered orphaned -- in short, free to use without permission, without compensation, without limitation.
There are certainly many legitimate reasons to "orphan" works, such as gaining the right to preserve them, if they're of historical interest and require restoration, in cases where the original copyright holder cannot be determined, or found. Unfortunately, if the current Orphan Works bill passes as written, there are as many potential abuses, as there are uses. With tens of millions of photos shared online via services like Flickr, Shutterfly and Snapfish, the passage of this legislation could create an opportunity for unauthorized use of publicly posted works... and in the process, would legalize that use, potentially creating a loophole for unscrupulous or deep pocketed parties -- and we all know they're out there -- to manipulate the legislation to their unfair advantage.
Personal photos of your family and children, of your private moments, of your vacations, could -- if found to be "orphaned" -- be used in a magazine or newspaper (or in a pornographic publication, a smoking advertisement, a pharmaceutical ad, a military campaign, or a religious pamphlet) without your permission or payment to you. And artworks by amateurs and professionals alike posted to online portfolios, photo sharing, and networking sites, could be equally at risk.
I'm not a lawyer or expert by any stretch but like many people, I've been jerked around by the slickest versions of both. So this bill makes me nervous for "the little guys" out there, like me, who have neither the expertise, nor the deep pockets, to protect themselves against slippery, insidiously creeping abuses of this law. My common man understanding is the following: Orphan Works legislation suggests that, in order to protect your photos, you will have to register your photos in registries. Why? Because the folks who want to use your photos will have to search those registries to determine copyright ownership for the images they want to use, before they use them. If your images aren't registered, your copyright ownership will likely be "missed" in these searches -- or so common sense suggests. And that could become the defense for the unauthorized, uncompensated use of images which, under current law, are copyright protected and belong only to YOU... unless you specifically grant permission for use otherwise.
Even if you register your work, under this new legislation, it's possible that people using your work could claim "We looked, but found nothing and assumed it was orphaned" as their defense for using it. At this time, what I read suggests there's no clear and strident wording contained in the bill which would explain exactly what a "good faith search" looks like, in measurable, quantitative terms, which will to a certainty be enforced. It appears that, if another party uses your work and claims "We tried!" in defense of their actions, unless you pro-actively fight them, they automatically win the right to continue using your work. Worse, even if you win, there are clauses contained in the Orphan Works legislation which appear to limit or remove your opportunity to recoup your legal fees.Ironically, if these laws pass, it seems possible that you could actually end up illegally using your own artwork if someone else registers it, or a derivative work based on your work, before you do .
It's certainly not the idea of "orphaned works" that is problematic. Rather, in this case, it's the particularly vague and ambiguous wording, and the potential for abuse, as the legislation is currently written, that are the cause for concern.
Current Orphan Works legislation walks a potentially dangerous, ambiguously slippery path, likely to cost people -- especially creative people -- time, money, privacy, and even job security. Photographers and artists are especially disturbed -- rightly so, I think, based on what I've read, and my understanding of this legislation -- by the potential for abuse in the Orphan Works package.
Please take a moment to learn more about this potentially devastating legislation. Read for yourself all you can on the issue; certainly, my perspective isn't the only one. Share what you know with others. Voice your opinion to your local politicians and sign petitions lending support where you can. Be heard.
Thanks to spadea for graciously granting the reproduction and use of her image
We're approaching the due date for artwork on the Zetti Tarot project at IllustratedATCs. Today we were asked to submit ideas for backgrounds and borders. I spent some time today whipping up a concept for people to vote on which I quite like, which is hopefully okay to admit aloud! I dropped my own art, as well as art from my friends Dana (adriayna, "Seven of Cups") and Brittany (artyiagirl, "Star"), into the space where our art will go, just to get a quick peek at what this deck might look like once it's finished.
Even if no one votes for my border art, I'm getting super excited about what a cool, beautiful deck this is gonna be. And I don't really even know, or "do," Tarot! I just think tarot decks are gorgeous.
Anyhoos... I thought I'd tempt you all with a sneak peek at this exciting project. And remember; we're making a full tarot deck, not just the major arcana! There will be fully SEVENTY EIGHT cards when we're done. What a heaping load of eye candy that will be. Yum!
Exciting...!!!
I wasn't entirely satisfied with my QUEEN OF WANDS tarot art and it turns out, I wasn't paying attention, either, because for the suit of wands, we were supposed to be working in red. Oops! Luckily, when a painting is digital, there's a lot of room for editing. So here's my new take on the QUEEN OF WANDS, all warmed up in shades of red, russet, and maroon. Fiery!
When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
I really enjoy when artists post process, or in-progress, snapshots of their work, with descriptions of what motivated them; how they formed the image in their head; how they got that image onto the canvas. Every once in a while I indulge myself in taking such snapshots of my own schtuff. Like now! In the hopes, of course, that it will be enjoyable for someone else, reading this blog.
Last week I finished my most involved digital painting to date by far, the QUEEN OF WANDS card for the iATC tarot deck project, which took me just about an entire eight hour day to complete from start to finish. It was a super fun, super intense, super FRUSTRATING learning experience, and totally exhausting, and different from anything I'd ever done previously. All of which was great, and growthful, and an awesome good time.
I had a very specific idea in my head of what I wanted to create with this card, but I lacked a good model of the image in my head, or real-life people to pose for me. And of course, ya know... tigers are awfully hard to come by here in Chico! Even if I could get ahold of one, it's likely I'd have a hard time getting it to sit still for the eight or more hours it took me to finish my painting anyway. :)~ So photo references are a good thing.
I've been so inspired in my portrait art by the proportions of ball jointed dolls lately, so I started by finding a picture of a ball jointed doll that appealed to me and based the Queen's face and body on that. If I could remember where I found this image, or the ones that follow, I'd for sure credit the owner/photographer, but I can't. No copyright infringement is intended!
Then, I found an image online of a woman holding a spear; I think I actually Googled "woman holding stick" and up popped just the right thing! That image became my photo reference for the Queen's hand; in particular, for how the hand might wrap around a wand.
Last, I Googled "tiger" and "dogwood" and came up with some images for those subjects just as I had for the main figure, her hand, and the wand. I found these:
Using the magic of Photoshop, I assembled these images into a pleasing arrangement. Photoshop is really useful for this step of the process, because you can move things around easily without having "committed" to them like you would on paper. After I achieved a nice balance in my piece in Photoshop, I used that composition as the basis for a hand-drawn pencil sketch. This one, in fact,which I drew on Bristol board. It measures 5x7 inches.
Last, I scanned my sketch into Photoshop and used it as the basis for my digital painting. Most of what I did was hand-drawn using my pen and tablet, but I did use a filter or two, plus some brushes, to create the effects I achieved. I tend to layer color over my original sketch and then reduce the opacity so that I retain a good amount of my hand-drawn work, rather than coloring OVER it and eradicating it completely.
I'm really proud of the image overall, but I'm especially proud of the tiger, which felt like a real challenge at the outset, but ended up being one of the most fun things I've ever drawn, all of which was made possible by the very cool airbrush and eraser functions that Photoshop offers, and which wouldn't be available to me in "real life."
Digitally painted in Photoshop and available as a print, for trade. Please contact me if you're interested, especially if you have 18th Century France cards to swap! I'm looking to expand my collection on that theme.
I've decided to sell a limited edition of 16 prints of my ALICE, REVISITED artwork as ACEO's -- Artist Card Editions and Originals, or the "for sale" version of Artist Trading Cards (also known as "ATC's.") Whee!
Yes, normally I just swap these playing-card-size bits of work. But in this case, 100% of proceeds from the sale of these ACEO's will go to a great cause: The Elliot Sylvester ATCA Fund. I think I spoke in an earlier post here on my blog about Elliot, who's the son of one of my oldest and dearest friends, Laura. He's autistic, and pretty severely affected, and his family is doing all kinds of fundraising so that they might attend a week-long intensive autism training program all the way across the country, at the Autism Treatment Center of America (ATCA.) The training costs an absolutely staggering $17,500. Who wouldn't need to fundraise, to pay for that?!? :)~
If I do say so myself, this is one prrrrrrrretty art card. I think the fact that this card was painted digitally lends it BEAUTIFULLY to printing. The prints are so vibrant, with vivid blue, red, and yellow tones that positively *pop* off the page! I've laminated the card, front and back, for a scratch-free, long life. This card, like all my art cards, is thick and sturdy and fully finished with a full-color backing titled, dated, numbered, and signed by me. This ACEO will also arrive protected by a clear plastic sleeve, and will be mailed inside a greeting card featuring art created by Elliot Sylvester himself. Elliot's family has printed a set of these cards, featuring his artwork, as part of their ongoing effort to finance his considerable medical and treatment expenses. If you'd like a closer look or are interested in buying a set of these cards for yourself, please visit www.autissey.com/elliotart, the Sylvester family's Elliot art site.
Anyway... It's just a very small thing, of course... but if I can sell all sixteen cards at $9.00 each and contribute that entire total to Elliot's ATCA fun, that's almost $150.00 I can donate... with your help. I am personally contributing all postage costs both domestically and internationally, so there is zero shipping cost to the buyers of this card.
If you're of the mind to assist such a big-hearted effort, please visit my POTBELLY ARTS Etsy shop, where you can view and purchase these cards directly.
And if you'd like to learn more about Elliot, his journey through autism, his family, or ATCA, please visit the Sylvester family website at www.elliotsroom.com. He's such a beautiful, sweet souled boy.
Oh, and PS: The reason only eight of the cards are currently available is that I somehow stupidly managed to laminate little tiny fuzzies under fully HALF of them, after I printed and assembled them. AARGH! So they're not perfect and thus, not sellable. Maddening, I tell you. Hmph! I will be reprinting the remaining eight cards and also listing them for sale just as soon as I can.
Here's the QUEEN OF WANDS, my second card for the Zetti Tarot deck, currently under construction by the artists of www.illustratedATCs.com.
She's been painted digitally in Photoshop, from a pencil sketch. 5x7
I'm on an Alice in Wonderland kick lately, artistically speaking. I think it's the femininity and weirdness of it all that appeals to me so much. This time, I'm working on a very special project that's personal to me on several fronts -- a custom child's chair, for the NIGHT OF MUSICAL CHAIRS event, to benefit the Elliot Sylvester ATCA Fund. Here's the backstory...
First of all... Autism is close to my heart. In the 80's, while an undergrad at UCLA, I had the honor to work in one of the country's at-the-time leading autism treatment programs -- The UCLA Autism Project, led by Ivar Lovass, PhD -- as first a volunteer, and then a paid, junior therapist. I took lecture classes and seminars, trained in behavior modification techniques, and spent hours one-on-one with two special clients over the course of many months, both of them under five years of age, and came to know and love and in some ways, become a part of, their families. The things families deal with when a member is severely autistic are deep and difficult and draining, and I learned that more first-hand than most.
Second... One of my best and oldest friends in the world, Laura, has a son who's autistic -- Elliot. He's charming and beautiful, and he's pretty severely affected with a very limited vocabulary and many of the "typical" signs and symptoms of autism. The Sylvester family is trying to get to Massachusetts for an intensive training/treatment program called Son-Rise, offered by the Autism Treatment Center of America. The whole shebang costs a huge amount of money -- $17.500. Can you say, Ouch... ?
Being "normal" folk without the spare change for such a pricey venture, Laura and her husband Rick are fundraising like mad to finance their trip. For some time, they've been selling "Elliot Art" -- greeting cards and original canvases featuring art by their son, Elliot. But it'll take a lot of greeting cards to cover that pricetag!
Recently, Laura invited me and several of our other college friends to participate in their newest fundraiser, a silent auction to be held at Hensley's Flying Elephant Pub in Carlsbad, California (near San Diego) this July 12. (The Flying Elephant, by the way, is owned by Matt Hensley of the band FLOGGING MOLLY. Kewl!)
Anyhoos... me and Laura and many of her family and friends have in hand an unfinished children's IKEA chair (like the one shown below) to paint, decoupage, or otherwise customize, to be sold at the auction. There will be music and great company and it promises to be a grand time, for a terrific, worthy cause.
And this is where my newest Alice in Wonderland piece enters the conversation! :) Today, I completed my first EVER digital painting -- of Alice. Yeah, I've played around before manipulating photos digitally. But today is the first time I've scanned a pencil sketch and then fully colored and finished it with my pen and tablet (versus "polishing" an existing picture.) And woohoo, what great (if time consuming) fun it was! This image of a funkified, more hip/adult version of Alice is for my Alice-themed chair, and will be printed onto fabric paper... then attached to a backing fabric, all of that to be covered by clear protective vinyl, ultimately becoming a permanent seat cushion for the otherwise wood-slatted chair seat I was given to work with.
I have lots of other plans in store for this chair -- the Alice image is just a small part of the overall theme -- all of them designed to benefit the Elliot Sylvester ATCA Fund. Whee!!! I'm soooooooo excited about this project. More pictures will follow, as I work my way through this multi-step process.
For more information on Elliot, his diagnosis and treatment, Autism Treatment Center of America, the Son-Rise program for which the Sylvester family are raising funds, and/or on this special summer event -- A NIGHT OF MUSICAL CHAIRS -- please, please check out these links:
Elliot's Room
Son-Rise
Fundraising -- The Elliot Sylvester ATCA Fund
Elliot Art -- Notecards
Elliot Art -- Originals
A Night of Musical Chairs
I scored a Far Out
80% on theQuiz by SheGoddess: Quick Weight Loss
Scared you, didn't I? :)~
Actually, the title for this post IS appropriate... but in a figurative sense, not a literal one. See, tonight I completed the first of three canvases for a Tarot deck project I'm part of at www.illustratedatcs.com, and the card I completed is DEATH.
I don't know much about tarot and am participating for aesthetic reasons, and reasons of curiosity. But I'm really intrigued by it and I've been doing some reading. It seems in many ways to be a sort of "Rorshach inkblot test" -- a concept that's very familiar to me from my psych major years at UCLA. In other words, the tarot deck seems more like a tool for viewing one's own inner processes, a tool onto which one projects the subconscious (via interpretation of the cards), rather than some kind of magical, mystical, witchcraft kind of thing, which is kinda what I (clearly, naively) thought about it previously. Interesting stuff! And there are some truly beautiful decks, from a purely artistic point of view, too. My favorite site for browsing and learning is Aeclectic Tarot... just in case you're curious, too.
Back on topic, though...
Here's my finished card, DEATH. I worked larger than usual, on a 5x7 piece of board, using inks and some paint and pencil. When I was finished with all the hand drawn elements and coloring and fixatives, I scanned it into Photoshop and perfected it digitally as the very last step. I'm convinced I've lost about twenty billion brain cells today, by spraying fixative in my air-conditioned -- and therefore, not ventilated -- house. That's a big no-no. I'll do better next time.
This deck has a due date of May 15 and will be printed shortly thereafter. The theme of the deck is ZETTI TAROT. The title, per se, is still undecided. I believe there's a plan in motion to print copies of the deck professionally and make them available for purchase at a price unbeknownst to me, because that's out of my area and purview. I'll post here when I have more details! In the meantime, I'm having a grand time watching the deck come together. There are some fantastic cards being produced by the artists at that site. Can't wait to see the finished deck!
Edited 4/30/08 to add: The due date for artwork on this project has been pushed out to mid June. Decks will be finished (with border and backside) and printed after that. I'm hoping to have a finished deck to share, and point you toward for purchase, in July or August. Thanks!
Got Swarm? We do!!
When we came home from our usual Saturday morning stroll through Chico's relaxed, music-filled, Farmer's Market -- and from my biannual Smog Check (ugh) -- I went inside to file my DMV/Pep Boys paperwork; the kids ran inside to play video games (grrr!); and Tim noticed some serious honeybee activity in the bushes next to our driveway. The same driveway where we both park our cars every day, day in and day out. The same driveway, next to which we've never noticed much (if any) bee activity at all, before today.
To his surprise, on closer examination, Tim found an entire SWARM of honeybees in a bush not more than six feet from his car. Huge as it was -- and I do mean HUGE! It was over a foot long from top to bottom and nearly a foot wide -- it was perfectly camoflauged and nearly invisible, except for the bees buzzing around it, whose moment and noise drew his attention.
Tim came inside to get me, telling me there was something "amazing" happening outside that I just HAD TO see, and would appreciate. He was right on both counts. Maybe this describes me unflatteringly as the urban dweller I am, but I admit, I've never been so close to so many bees in my life! And they were purely and totally fascinating. Some of them were even doing the infamous "Waggle Dance", in which one bee directs the rest of the hive toward a food source or nesting location, vibrating his body to indicate where it can be found by using the sun as a reference point for his dance. For a better understanding of this amazing dance, check out the short YouTube video I found on the subject.
After our initial nature-loving, Animal-Planet-watching, delight over this very cool find, we both became concerned about "what to do" next. Do we hire an exterminator? What kind of bees ARE these, anyway? A call to a pest control company was in order, for sure, just to get informed, and to explore options. I didn't know who else to call, frankly. So I phoned several companies, and awaited return messages from their technicians, out on calls. Here's what I learned.
First... Pest control companies don't "do" bees in California. Which was fine with me, because I didn't necessarily want to kill them, anyway. I know that honeybees are endangered and protected. And apprently, when they're found on a California property, the correct place to call is the Dept. of Agriculture, who will refer you to a beekeeper. Happily, one of the pest control companies had a keeper's name on file and referred me directly to a very competent local guy (VERY local -- like, around the block local!) who picked up right away when I called, and was as friendly and helpful as can be. He was waaaay reassuring, especially when he told me that Africanized bees don't come this far north, which would have been my only meaningful fear about the swarm being so close to out home and our cars. Africanized bees have a climate-imposed "border" way down south, near Death Valley, above which they haven't migrated. Yet. Whew!
Second, the beekeeper told me that since this gathering of bees came up seemingly over night and right under our noses (where we would have likely noticed a growing hive), the bees are almost certainly SWARMING, a colony on the move... versus building a home. Bees migrate from old hives and seek ground for new ones from time to time. When that happens, they first gorge themselves on food, and as a result, can only fly a short distance once they leave the old hive. What likely happened in our case, according to the beekeeping expect I consulted, is that my swarm is between hives, and looking for new nesting ground. Probably, the queen stopped to rest on our bush. So the entire hive quickly swarmed around her, to protect her; they became a kind of living cocoon for her, as she gathers strength, digests her last huge meal, and rests, giving time for her scouts to find new nesting grounds for the colony.
Very cool!