Rare Bird...

"Peck-peck"
6" x 6"
acrylic on gallery-wrap canvas

I had so much fun painting this one! There's just something kind of sassy about this little bird. The bright colors and the fun, cartoony shape go so well together. To top it off, this toy is just plain fun to watch in action. It's very basic, but the hopping and pecking just make me giggle. I have to confess I'm a total eBay addict at this point -- trolling for cute tin toys and silly salt shakers almost daily. It's gotten so a lot of the offerings are sadly predictable, but every once in a while, something like this jumps off the screen. Delightful. Click here to go to the auction and a chance to place your bid.

One more time now...

Been dining on humble pie lately. I had a large serving courtesy of eBay. My first auction ended without a single bid, and I finally had to admit that perhaps I didn't do quite enough research into the finer points of writing a listing title. I've relisted the little snail painting with some revisions to the wording and will be running the auction for 10 additional days. Click here to go to the auction for a chance to place a bid on this cutie:

"Zoom-zoom"
6" x 6"
acrylic on gallery-wrap canvas

The other helping of humble pie came from CafePress. You may recall that I ordered a pair of tote bags printed with two of my recent duck/bird images. Due to some faulty advice, I ended up with very sad, washed out images. But CafePress stood behind their guarantee and I uploaded a new, darker image with the promise of speedy turnaround. The package never arrived. Back to CafePress again where the customer service rep ordered up a reprint. Two days later, I had a second sample set -- of the original faded images!! Aargh!! They printed the wrong file. Once more, CafePress stood behind their guarantee and ordered a duplicate printing of the darker files. Even speedier delivery this time. Alas, the darker files were TOO DARK, and it also became clear that primary colors are much more successful than some of the funky purples and oranges that I like to use. So it's back to Photoshop to see if I can tweak the duck image to print nicely. And just maybe one of the other primary color bird images will print well too. I have to try one more time....

I'm planning to post another painting Friday afternoon. Check back later in the day.

Has it been almost a month?

Dear Readers, my apologies. I got myself so exhausted in the preparations for my shows in May that I was a near-zombie for much of June. But I wasn't a complete blob. I did manage to massage my website into the form I'd envisioned at the start and I've ordered some sample tote bags from CafePress, which should arrive tomorrow. If they look as good in real life as they did on the website preview, I'll open my shop and put them up for sale right away. And you'll be the first to know!!

I've also been trying to "educatize" myself about the rules and protocols for selling on eBay. There have been moments when I feel like I'm caught in one of those endlessly regressive mirror images. The first page of a tutorial will have several links to other critical information pages. Each one of those pages will in turn have links to other critical information pages. Each one of those pages will in turn have links to other critical information pages. By the time I reach the last link in the chain, I have completely lost track of what I started out to learn. My friends, this is information overload at its finest. But I am very close to being ready to put my first little painting up for sale. I'm hoping to have a post either tomorrow or Tuesday with a link to my first eBay auction. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I've just started on a painting for a group show at the gallery. I'm really excited about it and will share it with you when I have something other than a few pencil lines on my watercolor paper. I've also got a couple of new-to-me vintage ceramic critters that are just begging to model for their portraits. So off we go...

Patience, my pretties...

Early readers of this blog may recall my near-death struggles with Feedburner. Their use of somewhat non-standard English didn't always help. However, I had to admire the silliness involved in creating the word "troubleshootize" to complete the sequence of operations Feedburner provides for blogs: "analyze, optimize, publicize, monetize, and (of course) troubleshootize."

I promised I'd start posting my 6x6 paintings for auction in a few weeks. That's still the plan. I've set up the Paypal part, but when I started to read about setting up an auction, I soon found myself in a veritable maze of information, much of it labelled "Must reads for newbies" or words to that effect. So as soon as I "educatize" myself in the ways of eBay, I'll be online with some art. Please hang in there.

I'm planning to put my acrylic on canvas paintings up for auction initially, but I may follow that with some small watercolors. Here's a prime candidate:

Cockamamie Cockatoo
6" x 6"
watercolor on Winsor Newton 140 lb. cold-pressed paper

Señor Terremoto and I are off on a little road trip for a few days, but I plan to go into high gear when we get back. Plans are in the works for some CafePress goodies too -- you'll be able to go green with canvas bags that feature vintage tin toys and other delights.