Hoo Lord! -- Ivy Myers, blues aficionado

Original image of children & doll carriage: Library of Congress

Behold the wonders of colorization and image resizing, in service of a commissioned artwork!

The client wanted an altered notebook in which she and her children could record Christmas memories every year. So I bought a wired notebook with acid-free paper, and created this piece. Her kids are big into soccer, surprise surprise. And she loves angels, an element which was easy to incorporate in this theme. The back was a little tougher to conceptualize, but I figured something out. Then the client and I discussed a mock-up with the elements, and the rest is now waiting to be scribbled in on December 25th.

You know, you could have something this charming and personalized, too. Email me in the comments section.

I don't even think of myself as having made a lot of art to show yet, but man... even with the batch uploader from Flickr, it took a long time. Especially when I went back and blurred faces on some pictures. And I haven't even scanned the card samples I've kept for my portfolio-such-as-it-is. Still need to make some sort of blog banner too. Don't laugh when I post it -- it'll be my first. Yes, I could hire someone, but right now the cash flow doesn't run that deep.

Go look at the pretty pictures, why dontcha.

Motoring along

That's G The Husband and C The Boy (ha ha... "See" the boy...) in the window of an altered book. I made it for Father's Day last year, as a late entry in a tradition The Husband and I started soon after we got married. The rest of the pictures are at Flickr.

Usually, I give G handmade art on our anniversary, but that year he was sick as a dog. No, his dog has never been that sick, and not in that way. Suffice it to say that it was a recurring illness that started out as a cyst and ended up requiring intravenous antibiotics. I'd show you pictures, but there are laws against that sort of thing.

All I did at this time was take C to day care, go to work, pick C up from day care, feed them both, and crash. I mention this to say that I was terrified I was going to end up as a widow with a small child, a thousand miles away from my nearest relatives, in a house I couldn't afford on my own.

The illness eventually cleared up, but I still have G's big frickin' medicine bottles as proof that it happened. And they will become art, oh yes they will... yessss. And there was no way I'd be able to make any art for the anniversary, but The Husband said, "well, Father's Day is coming up. You could make me something for that." Voila -- my first completed altered book. Later, G's brother-in-law, who is the creative director for a poker website and knows design, paged through the book. And he really liked it, even though he's a "civilian" who'd never seen altered art before.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to add that cool moving-collage-linky-bit that I've seen other people do with their Flickr links.
After work.
I said, after work.
Really, I'm going now. Geez, you don't have to push.

Cleared for take-off

What should be my first-ever post? Should I post about something silly? Something thought-provoking, maybe even momentous?

Ask and ye shall receive. My Artfest 2008 registration booklet arrived! I got in!

On the first day of art-mas my true love gave to me... Lisa Bebi's Family Paintover. I secretly wanted this one more than any of the others, even though I will be awed just to be in the presence of the artists teaching the other classes I was hoping to take. I figure it'll be useful for my personal art as well as anything I might sell or do on commission. I have a toddler, and I want to do make his scrapbook(s) kinda like the ones Corey Moortgat does, only in my style. Whatever that is.

On Friday, I'll be learning from LK Ludwig in This is Me. I'll get a double-dose of her between now and Artfest, because I'm also taking one of her classes in a few weeks during Art & Soul Portland. I guess Teesha-may-she-live-forever thought it would be good for a newcomer to concentrate on larnin' them basics of self-expression.

Wrapping up with Bee Shay's Handful of Curiosity. I figured this would be a good way to get something done with the Altoids tins that are laying around. I didn't realize Lynne Perrella was going to do Shivering Fragments all three days... I just put her down as an option in the first two days. Because when the hell else am I going to get a chance to take one of her classes? I live out on the Weird Coast. And she lives in Ancram, NY. I'd never see her even if I visited my relatives in the Tri-State area. (Especially if I visited the relatives. You know what that's like.)

Of course, I will be mildly ungrateful for certain things, because that is what queens do. They bitch and moan, while their courtiers cluck understandingly.
I really, rilly, rully wanted to take Anahata Katkin's Symbolic Icons class. Then I could identify my "thing"... I could bring my edgier side into my art without pulling it kicking and screaming out into the sunlight over the course of another ten years of my life.

Is it the "done" thing to ask if you can swap a class with someone else at Artfest? I know people are posting furiously at the Art & Soul Yahoo! group, trying to trade/sell/buy classes they didn't get into.

Guess I'll find out when my app for the Yahoo! group is accepted.

UPDATE: Apparently it's okay to ask if you can switch classes. The moderator was very helpful and pointed me to the post archives, which showed other people in previous Artfests asking to switch. Cross your fingers for me. ~bq

UPDATE 2: Apparently it is bad form... I checked the Yahoo! group, and Teesha said:

Hey gang....there were a few teachers who were out of this world crazy

popular this year. So...hundreds wanted them and only so many can make it into
a class. Anyway, all that to say that if there is anyone who wants to be put
on a waiting list for any particular workshop (or accommodations), let me
know.

But on the upside, I don't think I'll burn in hell for this one. My pal Kecia is very reassuring:

no worries lisa! emails are so hard to tell the inbetweens anyway! it's all
good.


UPDATE 3: No, it really isn't bad form. Teesha said so herself.

Re: [ArtFest2008] Switching Friday classes

hey lisa...you are the one asking to trade classes with someone right? that
is totally A-OK with me! it's a win-win. All I ask is that you both let me
know so I can switch the names on the teachers class lists. I just posted a
message because you reminded me that you can also request to be put on a
waiting list. no worries. if you want to trade around it's ok.

teesha moore

I feel molto better now.