You may already be a winner

Yes, kids, it's possible to use Pinterest to do more than decorate a house you can't afford or plan a wedding that'll never happen, as some have said. A great idea from  Mitsy at Artmind inspired me to give away a mini-collage at Artfest!

I made twenty scratch-off lottery tickets as part of my goodie-bag trades for Artfest, using the back of my business cards.

One lucky person will fish out a coin and scratch away to find the magic word: "WINNER!" As long as they find me again by Saturday night, that person will receive one of the collages shown in my last post! Yup. The collages in the gallery are going for $50, but this one's free.

Don't ask me which card is the lucky winner -- even I don't know at this point. All I know is that I likely wouldn't have found this gem of an idea if it weren't for Pinterest. If you liked this idea, follow my "Oh so clever" board over there.

Yes, Pinterest can be a time suck. But the ArtBiz blog has a thought-provoking post by guest blogger Beth J. Hayden about how artists can use Pinterest constructively. See, I've already saved you time you'd otherwise waste! 'Cause I'm a giver.

If you're going to Artfest, make sure you look for me -- trades go fast, especially on Wednesday night!

Artfest: gallery-ready

I'm sure you're that person who's so wonderfully organized, you were ready for Artfest back in February. My friends... I am not that person. 

But I'm entertaining nonetheless... which is why you're here. So here's your reward: a sneak peek at the mini-collages I'm going to sell in the Artfest gallery (plus three others!). Behold.

"Guide to Health"

"Sweet Tidbits"

"Queen Paris"

"Crumbling Sanctuaries"

"The Children of Israel Toiled at Making Bricks"

I haven't decided for certain which ones will be sold at Artfest, but all five are for sale. And no, you don't have to go to Artfest to buy it. So if you want one or more of these collages, speak up! Email me at yolisalisa at gmail dot com. I'll email a full photo of the piece you want and we'll go from there.

Each one is $50 and comes with an indentation on the back, ready for a nail on which to hang the collage.

Okay, I'm off to date night with The Husband. See you soon -- I'll be posting photos from Artfest on Twitter and Facebook. Follow me there for the day-to-day action!

Party like an art star

Scenes from a seven-year-old's birthday party.

Seventeen kids descending upon Canvas, a studio where an artist guides the students through a simple painting lesson.

A break for cake...

... then more painting. Little or no blood spilled... just paint.

Unfortunately, we couldn't convince The Boy he could just paint over his minor mistakes. He defaced what he'd done and then asked me to throw out the canvas.

sigh Guess I need to learn how to help him unlearn the perfectionism.

No worries. The other kids took home their canvases, and The Boy took home seventeen presents. That child is feeling no pain.