What artists do when they're snowed in

If there is enough snow in our front yard to attempt a snowman, you can assume I've been indoors long enough to get desperate for something to do. Like...organizing supplies.

I catalogued all my oversized decorative and handmade papers. The Husband used to tell me just to snip little pieces off the paper, then tack them to the tubes so I'd know which papers were inside. But... I could've USED that snippet. [agonized wail]

Somewhere, I read about an excellent compromise: print photos of the paper, collect them on rings, then put each ring of photos on the corresponding tube.

A much more involved task than I thought -- I have like 14 tubes and carrying bags of paper. But it's done! Unfortunately, I was also snowed in long enough to have to do housework. Thank God for snow melt.

Lil' bit of "Greener"

I'm trying out an idea: mini-collages made from elements of my last piece, "Greener."

This one I did about a week and a half ago, and on Tuesday morning I did all but the final wash on another. I'm forcing myself not to spend a lot of time on these -- about three hours. I'm also trying to use only what I have on hand: a piece of wood cut down to 4"x4" as the substrate, black rice paper, the focal image, mica, and paper fragments edged with an acrylic wash. Not a full assemblage, but not completely two-dimensional either.

Still deciding what to do with the collages when I'm done... I know there are some galleries that have miniatures shows. Etsy is a possibility, now that I have a better understanding of how my vendor friends use it. What do you think? Tell me in the comments or on Facebook.

Artfest shopping!

[cackling madly] I just remembered: I'm going to be an Artfest student, so I get to use a student discount when I go shopping for class supplies!

Artist & Craftsman Supply knocks 10% off if you show them your Artfest class description at checkout! Besides the Seattle location near the University of Washington campus, the company has 17 other locations scattered across the country. The staff vibe is kind of like that at an old hardware store: friendly but not perky, knowledgeable, and efficient.

And oh, the venerable supply wonderland that is Dick Blick. Did you know they're having a winter back-to-school sale right now? Yes, right-now right now. You have until February 26th to get your butt in gear. (It's in-store only. But they do have some winter discounts for online purchase too.)

Neither store is paying me to tell you this. I just wanted to remind you to bring your class descriptions with you -- it's like a coupon if you use it in certain stores. Off you go now.