My Christmas Card Design is Done. On to The Next Portrait Commission.

I have finished with this year's Christmas Card art and I have posted it above. Is this cute or what? It is a portrait of two of my cats, Maynard (left) and Bonzai Pete (right). I call it "Christmas List." In real life, Maynard and Pete hate each other and rarely ever get this close, except to hit each other! But in the world of art you can create you own story and pretend that everyone is one big happy family!

Now that I have finished my Christmas Card design, I want to get started on my next portrait commission. I have been commissioned to do two portraits, both 5X7 in size. A few months ago, a lady that I had previously known from a women's performance choir that we once both involved in commissioned me to do two portraits of her nephew, Michael, who is around 3 years old. These portraits are going to be framed and given out to relatives as Christmas gifts. With this lousy economy, I think I am fortunate just to be getting portrait commissions!

Vine Arts Brochure Features My Art

Just a little mini-blog for Tuesday.

The above posted brochure has some artwork that I and another artist created. The second piece from the top (the hand holding the fruit and veggies) is a mural that I helped to paint and create. This brochure is new and was created to inform the public about the Vineyard's art programs and art outreach to the community.

My First Week as a Custodian--Oh My Aching Back!

This has been an exhausting week but I survived my first full week working as a part-time custodian at an elementary school. It is a lot of wear and tear on my back and I have to see the chiropractor Monday. Then I think I will have to make some adjustments (use lighter equipment) to accommodate my neck & back, but I think it is going to work out all right.

Because of my intense schedule, there has not been much time for artwork. What I am doing right now is gearing up for the Christmas season. Some of the local gift shops and galleries that I work with are getting ready for Christmas inventory. Rediscovered Bookstore is only going to sell my Stone Critters because the artwork just is not selling right now. So what I am going to do is concentrate on selling mostly my Stone Critter rock animals. Of all my art, the rock animals and commissioned portrait seem to be my best sellers, so that is what I am concentrating on. In the next couple of weeks I will go out to some local places that carry my stuff, or have in the past, and ask them if I can sell on consignment for Christmas.

This weekend, I worked more on the piece of art that will be used as my yearly Christmas card. It is about 60% done.

"Re:Form" Vine Arts Exhibit Reception

I survived my first week at my new job. My body is trying to adjust to the physical labor involved in my job, but I think I will be okay. I'm just glad to have another job and extra income! Too bad I have to wait until October for my first payday!

The only artwork I did this week was I started working on this year's Christmas card design. I decided this year I will do a portrait of two of my cats, Pete and Maynard, with Santa hats on, and they will be getting their Christmas lists ready to give mom and dad. It will be cute.

Today was the reception for the new exhibit at the Vine Arts Gallery. The exhibit is called "Re:Form." It deals with the concept of change (spiritual change, social change, etc.) It deals with believing that God delights in doing extraordinary things with ordinary people. I submitted two pieces, "The Lighthouse" and "Elephant Walk." Photos of both these pieces were posted on previous blogs.

They changed the reception of the exhibit to be right after church and I thought that was a good idea because they had a much better turn out than last time, when the reception was Sunday Evening. My mother & father-in-law came to the reception, along with another out-of-town relative--Jon's sister, Chris.

Vevay Portrait is Done

I have posted (above) my finished portrait of "Vevay" the orange and white Cornish Rex cat. This was a commissioned portrait that I got way back in April of this year. It just took me awhile to get together with the client, round up photos and finalize the details. When I started this portrait, it was right in the middle of this mortgage/real estate crash that we have been experiencing, and I got rather distracted and too stressed out to be able to continue with it until last month. Fortunately, there is no deadline on this portrait. My client told me exactly how she wanted the portrait to look, with the light coming from the upper right corner onto the cat's face. I think it turned out very nice. My client will come over in a week or so to see it and pay for it. I hope she likes it.

This week I am starting my new part-time job working for the Boise School District. Knowing that I have this income to fall back on now has been a great relief to me! I may look into taking another part-time job in the mornings, only during the Christmas season. The next step is to work with Vocational Rehabilitation to get government funding to go back to college in January so I can complete my BA in Art and become a certified art teacher.

Creating My 2008 Christmas Card

My life is somewhat of a roller coaster ride right now, but some good news has come. I passed my background test and my employment physical and I am just waiting to hear from the people at Boise School District as to when I can start my new part-time job. This is a huge step forward for me and will relieve some of the financial stress I have been under.

Now that it is September, I realize that the time is approaching to start thinking about drawing and painting my Christmas 2008 card. I always create my own card every year to mail to people and in spite of our economical challenges, I am going to continue with this tradition. So I am pulling out references photos to try get some inspiration.