Selina Fenech - Fairies and Fantasy

Where you can find me

2011-08-08T04:47:00.000-07:00

At some stage in my online-life, I've tried so many different blog options and social networks. Blogger here is one of them which I just never quite took to.

So, as you can see by the old dates on the posts below, and probably even this post, I am not exactly active here.

Where am I active? Facebook and Twitter are my main day-to-day online activity. You can find the links to them on the right.

I also blog infrequently on my official website www.selinafenech.com about art related things.

I blog more frequently on my author website www.memoryswake.com about books, writing, and other general thoughts. Also news about my young adult novel, "Memory's Wake", any sales, competitions, or news about upcoming releases are posted there too.

Links from the feeds of both these sites are above, so you can check out my most recent posts.

Arts Career- how to educate and add value!

2009-12-10T19:30:00.001-08:00

Last week I had a little rant about pricing products as a business. I'd love to see artists and crafters charging what they deserve (and NEED!) to charge for their fine work! But this of course raised a lot of other issues. So as an artist, if we start charging more for our art, how do we get people to pay more? Here are my thoughts on this, and a few other related things!
Art is a Unique Commodity- There's a lot of art out there at the moment. But unless someone is directly copying your work (which does sadly happen!), your art is YOURS and no one else out there has that to offer. If someone falls in love with one of your paintings, and you're charging say $50 for a print of it, they can't turn up their nose and go, well, I'm going to go and buy it off that artist who sells prints for $8. They can't, the other artist doesn't have YOUR work.
This is good! But there is also bad! While you're not in direct competition with other artists, the other artist might have something else that customer might like. And customers will sometimes compromise on their favourite to get something a bit cheaper, there's no doubting that. Particularly when the other artists work might be a bit similar.
What do you do?
Quality and Innovation- Firstly, differentiate yourself and your product. Create something that is of a level of quality and innovation to stand out from among the masses. Too many people painting fairies? Paint fairy cats! (Waves to Tigerpixie!). Too many people doing Pet portraits? Do ASCI art pet portraits (I've seen someone doing this, it's cool!). Expand your artist horizons, explore what your inner artistic drive is capable of and loves doing!
Be the best you can be- I see some artists who never stop bemoaning their lack of sales and desire for more customers. But at the same time, I never see these same artists bemoaning their lack of skills in their craft and desire to be better. Most artists whose art or craft I admire, who I see succeeding and improving all the time are neurotic at best about their skills. We never feel good enough, we are always trying to improve, we are always challenging ourselves and living through the torture of not meeting our expectations of where we want our skill level to be. Of having to learn a bit at a time, learn through our mistakes as well as our successes. This may sound overly dramatic, but when people talk about the "tortured soul of an artist", this is where the truth of that statement is for me, personally, in that drive to always be BETTER! So be better, improve your art. It is, after all, your number one commodity!
Learn what makes art GOOD- Ok, this is a seriously touchy subject. Some people will defend to the teeth the concept that ALL art is good simply by being ART and being created by an artistic soul. I wonder whether these people are as quick to defend those modern artists that use dead cat heads in their art as they are to defend the amateur artist who they call friend? There are certain things that by design, by our culture and by our very biology make something visually appealing... or not. It doesn't mean style or genre or how deep or lovely your concept is. It's about values, composition, colour choices. There is a science behind the image that every artist should understand. Some artists are blessed with an eye and talent to creating perfect compositions innately, but EVEN THEY should understand and be aware of the science behind it. Study it, learn it. Never stop learning.
Educate the Customer- Your work takes a certain skill and vision that is unique to you, it takes time, energy, care and when someone else can see and appreciate that the resulting product or artwork will have greater value than any mass produced item. Show people how you work. Show how you never stop learning! Explain how you find your inspiration, the lengths you go to researching your craft. Tell them about the grand design and theme of the artwork. Why do you think abstracts that have pages and pages of frou frou outlining the artists motivation for the artwork sell for thousands? People want to fall in love with an artwork, they want to feel an emotional response and personal connection to it, and the artist who created it. Artists succeed through personal contact. Yes, you need to always be professional, but also just be yourself! People want to know the real you. Building real relationships with customers can turn them from a casual viewer into a buyer and collector, as well as a friend. :)
Don't be a boring commercial break- No one likes blatant advertising. When you're trying to explain to people the value of your craft, focus on the BENEFITS the artwork or item has for them, not it's features. That artwork there? It's 50cm by 50cm in size... yeah who cares... Will it look great on my wall and make everyone who comes into my home jealous?? Yes it will! There's the benefit! That necklace is made of silver and glass. Great, whatever. But did you also know it will be an awesome conversation starter and accentuates your.... er... eyes... yes, your eyes. Benefit!!!!
Still include the details and features, of course, people want to know these things, but they aren't the where the VALUE is.
Offer alternatives- If a customer loves an image, they don't always mind what format they get it in. If they can't afford a $50 print, maybe a $5 greeting card will do it, and yes, let them know they can frame the card! Or wait, if they want the print, how about lay away options? Or be even more innovative. Start a prints club for customers. I read about this one in the Artists Marketing 101 handbook (I think! It's still packed away so I can't check). It's a neat concept of charging a subscription fee to customers monthly, for which they get to pick an art print to receive each month... or save up to receive an original... at the same time as receiving other perks like newsletters, etc. However you want to work it! People can often feel better about expenses when it just *poofs* out of their account a little bit every month.
Be a pro- Being professional isn't about the $$$'s you make or just throwing the word around. It's about all the things I discussed above, and more. It's pushing your mind to greater limits, behaving respectfully, being innovative, always learning, researching, studying! Do you think I wrote all this by pulling it out of my... hat? Nope. I learned it from books and other websites and experience. I spend large amounts of my time still learning. I've been learning this business for almost TEN YEARS now. And I still feel like an amatuer in every way, not fit to run a business, lol! But I know I'm always getting better, slowly and steadily, in both my art, and my sales!

So, those are my random art career thoughts of the week. One day I'll try and structure my little rants some more... maybe start from the beginning or something useful ;)

Thoughts on Pricing Art Products

2009-12-04T15:34:00.001-08:00

There is this phenomena I have experienced myself, and day to day, see artists around me who are trying to build a career experiencing.
It's that "No matter how hard I work, I never seem to get ahead! Where does all the money go?" issue. You know the one.
I don't get it as much anymore, these days, and the reason why is that I've PROPERLY worked out the costs behind all of my products, and am now pricing my items accordingly! Yes, a lot of my products are a bit more expensive now than similar products available from other artists, but the simple truth is that they are underpricing themselves, and shooting themselves, and their careers in the foot. It's easy to do, and as a start up artist it's not such a terrible thing because you can normally subsidise your business from some other employment to keep it afloat. But the minute the change from "hobby" to "business" starts to happen, and those "Why aren't I making any money?" worries pop up, it starts to become a very serious problem.
I remember when I first started out selling merchandise of my art. How do I price things? What's fair? Well, first thing you do is go and see what everyone else is selling that sort of item for. You price based on the market around you. So, lets use fridge magnets for an example. I see others selling fridge magnets for about $3 a pop. Great, I think. If the magnet itself costs me maybe 0.80 or so cents in materials to make, I'm ahead right? So you go with the flow.
Everything is ok for a while, then you start selling products wholesale because stores want to stock them. Retail stores generally EXPECT and demand a 50% discount. They have their expenses they need to meet, and need that 50% profit to cover their expenses and make some money too.
So now I'm selling the same magnet for $1.50. Still making money right? No, actually, we're not.
We've missed a step along the way, a very important step. We haven't considered out costs properly. Just looking at material costs is a tiny fraction of the picture.
Let's have a look at the numbers closely.
We're selling the magnet at $1.50 wholesale.
Material costs are around .80c, leaving us .70c left.
In my business, I have to charge 10% tax on all goods, so that's another .15c gone, leaving us .55c
Waste- it happens. If 1 in 10 magnets is a bust for whatever reason, that's 10% of the material costs on top, so another .08c off, leaving us 47c.
I use sales reps for some of my sales, who take a 15% cut of the profits, so that's another .22c gone, leaving us .25c.
If the sale goes through paypal, they take maybe another 3% of the total, leaving us .21c.
Labour, yes, you absolutely must account for labour. What happens when you want to start employing someone to do it for you? If it only takes 1minute to make a magnet at a reasonable $16 an hour average labour rate, that's .26c labour cost....
Oh...
Whoops...
Looks like we're down to -5c now. So we're losing .5c every time we sell a magnet...
In my situation, I also have other artists I need to pay a % sales commission to... where is that going to come from?
And all year long in my business I have to buy packaging supplies for posting, pay for advertising, buy art supplies, service printers, pay for all these other expenses that don't directly pay for themselves like product materials do. All these day to day running expenses have to be paid for somehow. You need to be making enough profit with each and every sale to cover all those other day to day expenses of running a business. Every product you sell should make you a CLEAN profit (after all those other expenses for the product itself I just talked about!) of at least 30%, or you're in the red and your business will never get ahead.
I look around the internet, from the amazing handcrafts on Etsy to beautiful jewellery and art prints coming from fellow fantasy artists around me, all selling for a pittance, and I want to grab people and shake them and yell "You're paying other people to take your work!!!!"
Because this is what so many actually are doing, at the prices they sell at. Not only are they undervaluing their product, they are undervaluing their ART. The artwork we create as a thriving and inspired fantasy and fairy art community (and other genres as well out there!) is a beautiful, unique thing of GREAT VALUE. And we need to start treating it as such, before I see any more of my collegues out their wring their hands in financial stress and say "I just can't do it anymore, I'm it giving up", and give up not only the business, but the art itself. That's the saddest thing I have seen happen, on more than one occasion.
Our fans and customers might love a bargain, but they probably also don't want to see us sell ourselves out of business.
Someone told me once, when someone buys an art print from you, they aren't paying you for the paper, or the ink. They are paying your for an artwork. An image they've fallen in love with. As artists, we need to stop charging for the price of the paper, and start charging for the price of our art.

My art around the world.

2009-11-23T15:49:00.001-08:00

I like to keep records of where my art gets sent! My orders program actually makes it pretty easy, and I was suprised to see my "country count" has gone up to 36 countries that people have ordered my art from now!
My art has been ordered by people in: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Swizterland, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, UK, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Korea (South!!), Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Phillipines, Poland, Peurto Rico, Portugal, Romania (one actually went to Transylvania!!! One of the best *order filling* days of my life, hehee), Seychelles (which I'd honestly never heard of before, and I thought I was ok with geography!), Sweden, Singapore, Thailand, South Africa, and good ol' USA.
I feel like in Pokemon... must collect them all! I'm always excited when an order from a country I haven't sent to before pops up!

New Art- Arianrhod

2009-10-20T05:06:00.001-07:00

Another artwork finished! It's nice to be painting again. This one was fun, because to get that really vibrant background, it's a case of throwing as much paint on as the paper will hold! I played with thick, wet in wet washes, spattering, and pastels to create the nebula feel. I think I originally intended to base it more precisely on "The witches nebula" but it evolved on it's own as it went... soooo.... just gave up after a while. The stars above her head though are the constellation of Corona Borealis.

New Art- Nemetona

2009-10-14T22:13:00.001-07:00

I'm starting to get back into painting again, I've got SO MANY artworks I have to get done for my next card deck with Lucy Cavendish.
Here's another just ticked off the list. This is Nemetona. She is the goddess of the grove, so I really wanted to portray her as almost dryad like, but still being "human" formed, and combine that with fairies and the tree of life symbol!

Home from Holidays

2009-10-10T00:47:00.001-07:00

Hey everybody, I just got home from my trip to Vietnam! Feeling some major jet lag right now, so I'm making this quick just to say I'm home and it's good to be home! The trip was awesome and I'm planning on getting some photos online this week to share, along with some stories of our adventures :) There were typhoons, mermaid caves, landslides, the butterfly spotted emerald waters of Halong Bay... More later ;)
Today, tomorrow I am mostly relaxing and cleaning and catching up at home, then monday is diving right back into work again, got some awesome things on the to-do list to share!

PS: 2010 Calendars are in stock and will be listed online tomorrow!!

Off to Vietnam- Final Reminders!

2009-09-17T21:04:00.001-07:00

Today I'm getting the very last orders packed ready to send before I fly off to Vietnam on Sunday. I'm starting to get excited about the holiday, but also scared! I always have this inner fear when it comes to going away. I guess it's that whole issue of stepping out of your comfort zone. And for me, my lifestyle revolves around my business, and so does my income. I am my business and my business is me, there's always work to be done and things going on that involve my time and effort to make them work and up and leaving all that behind un-cared for just scares me. This holiday, still only a reasonable three weeks in length, is the longest I've EVER been away from my business. It's also the longest I've been away from my Kitty Fantastico, so I worry for her as well, and Jed the lorikeet. I'm sure they will all be fine, but the worry is still there. I know though, as soon as I'm off in another country I'll be distracted enough by all the wonderful things to see and do that it won't hinder my holiday fun!

A few reminders before I leave-

The Fairies and Fantasy Art Competition is still running and you still have a few weeks left to get your entries in! I've had some gorgeous "Moon" themed artworks entered already. The winner gets a CASH prize and an actual trophy! Since I'm going to be away until the 10th and can't judge the winner before then, I will even let people keep submitting entries until then! More details are here- http://www.fairiesandfantasy.com/pages/competition.php

Feel free to keep shopping online at www.fairiesandfantasy.com while I'm away, but please be aware that orders will not be shipping again until I return on the 10th. I unfortunately didn't have time to train a new employee to take over while I'm away since moving house and studio earlier this year.
The benefit of getting your order in while I'm away, is that it will get first priority getting sent out as soon as I get home, and not get delayed as the christmas rush kicks in from then on!

2010 Calendars will be available as soon as I am back! and they will be a limited edition only, so be ready to get your order in then, because they sell out fast!

My story- "Memory's Wake"

2009-09-17T02:13:00.001-07:00

I've been mentioning a fair bit lately that I'm writing, but WHAT am I writing? It's a story I've been working on for over ten years now, that has grown and evolved through many different lives. It's called "Memory's Wake".
It's a little hard to describe what an epic "personal project" this is for me. Obviously taking ten years is pretty epic, and being my part time personal project it will probably take another ten... and then I'll decide it's no good and start from the beginning again. Starting this over and over has been what's taken me so long to start with, so lets start right at the very beginning...

Ten years ago, I was just finishing high school, and had recently gone from being "a drawer" my whole life to someone who was obsessed with art. I wanted to be a comic book artist when I grew up! If I could overcome my embarrasment, I'd show the 2-3 comic books from this time that I wrote and drew... seriously they are pretty shocking...
This all sort of culminated in illustrating "Fallen"- http://ping.fm/MUBX4
I had gone from standard superhero style comic towards my always beloved fantasy genre, and from ink and colour to much more detailed graphite illustrations. This was the end of my "Wanna be a comic book artist!" era I think. But it was still there in me. Somehow, from the angel character in Fallen, evolved another character, this little blonde, perfectly petite and timid sorceress who had the talent of being able to talk to anything. And from her, grew a VERY cliche sword and sorcery storyline, which I had plans to illustrate in the same style as "Fallen". I think I even drew up the very first page before I gave up that idea, thank god.
I always knew in this fantasy world of mine I wanted someone I could relate to more, a spunky opposite to my blonde characters overwhelming sweetness. And that's when Memory appeared. Odd name right? She is given her name by Eloryn (my blonde character) when they first meet, because, well, Memory has no memory... Nothing at all. She wakes up in this fairy tale world with no idea who she is or where she's from, and there are a few rather odd things about her. Finding out those things is what the story is about.
That is "Memory's Wake". It sounds a little dull and cliche... hrm amnesia ok. But I like to hope that it's not. There's a heck of a lot of twists and things going on, and I really can't say anything or I'll spoil the suprise. About 5 years ago, having played around with the story in my head since giving up on the comic book idea, I wrote out the whole story, so I do already have one complete version of it. It, however, is absolutely terrible. It IS cliche and shallow and somewhat rubbish. So now I've finally, once again, started from just the bare bones... my most loved characters who have been with me from the beginning, the basic idea... and rebuilt the entire script, forcing logic onto it, making sure every action is based on real, understandable motivations. Characters now have real feelings and react in understandable ways. I'm really excited about how it's turned out. My plot summary is now completed and polished, and I am about maybe a quarter into the first draft. I really can't wait to share my story with everyone! I'm hoping to illustrate it as well, which could easily add another ten years to the project, but hopefully it will be worth it in the end. If nothing else, I've been so enjoying spending my spare time on something that I simply want to do, whether it is ever shared or not.

Considering my Art Prints

2009-08-27T19:42:00.001-07:00

So, I'm considering changing the paper my art prints come on. Currently I use Hahnemuhle brand paper, it's really top of the range "watercolour" feel matt paper. But honestly, it's a massive pain in the rear. It doesn't co-operate with my printers, doesn't feed into the printers on it's own, I have to stand there with the printers to feed the sheets in. It catches and splodges easily, and after all that, there is just so much waste. I hate waste. Waste also makes things very expensive to produce, and the paper isn't cheap to start with anyway.
Yes, the prints come out really beautifully, and being a matt paper, they are very true to the original artworks look. But they are also very delicate, easily scratched.
I'm considering switching back to the paper I used previously. It was good stuff. A high quality "silk", semi-gloss surface. Not super glossy slick, just a slight sheen to it at the right angle. It was also really tough stuff... you could run your prints under a tap and they wouldn't be worse for wear (seriously, I did this). They also printed through my printer with near no faults or wastage, and I could stack the sheets in and leave my printer to it's work without babysitting all day and night.

Many, many benefits there. Also, if I switch back, I could maybe even offer a slightly reduced price for my prints. It's all very tempting, except for that ONE problem... the surface type. I simply love the slightly textured matt look of the Hanhemuhle... but everything else about it is wrong. And yes, I have extensively tested and tried many other brands and styles of matt and textured papers, and they pretty much all have the same issues as the Hanhemuhle for me.

I'd love some feedback from other artists or print collectors on this. Does the surface type (semigloss VS matt) matter to you? And does it matter more than the toughness of the print (and thus it's longjevity and flawlessness)?

My other option, which I could fairly easily acheive, is simply offer a few paper options for the prints. I did already do this at one stage. But part of me cringes just knowing when people order the Hanhemuhle, I'm going to have headaches...

Getting back to work

2009-08-10T17:27:00.001-07:00

The move to my new home and new studio has definately been good for me. I'm really starting to feel motivated again, about my art and my business. I will eventually get around to taking photos, at the moment things are still a little too chaotic! I really need to sort out some proper shelving for my studio, all my product stock is just piled up in random boxes at the moment, not very pretty!

The house is coming along well, some great improvements already made and it's really feeling like a home now. I'm enjoying gardening very much, and have some nifty raised garden bed edging coming in this week for a couple of little vege patches, and I went a little crazy at an online vege seed store, so it's going to be exciting to grow things (I bought the PURPLE variety of everything! Purple carrots, purple capsicum, purple corn, purple colliflower, etc! Woo!)

I have finished a painting since moving, of the seeress Fidelma, calling down a vision for a celtic queen, and I'm half way done working on a painting of Cerridwen, both are for the next oracle deck I'm illustrating.

For the first time for a long time, I'm having fun developing some new products. I've got a bunch of really neat items I'm hoping to release soon. One of the first will be a new style of earrings, which will replace the current style. So if you have your heart set on one of the current earrings style, better grab them now, because they will be off sale soon replaced by the new type! Or take advantage of the current sale, to buy an Art Pendant necklace and get a pair of earrings for free!

That's all for now. I need to get back to work. Still many, many things on the to-do lists!

Winterfest, how I love thee...

2009-07-19T01:42:00.001-07:00

Despite battling a disgusting cold last week, I made the effort to get to the medeival fair this weekend that I regularly vend at, Winterfest, and I'm so glad I did. I couldn't miss Winterfest, it's just such a wonderful event, and the folk I see there each year are becoming like an extended family, and this year particularly I had an absolutely amazing time. While I was still sniffling and coughing and a little woozy at times, the event itself was like a healing experience, just magical! The weather was more perfect than I could have hoped, clear sky and not a whisker of wind. I was suprised by many gifts from strangers, from random hugs to exclamations of me being beautiful to a breakfast of Fairy bread made just for me! I had my pixie ears on (having my wings out are just such a hassle, always getting caught on things! Ears are a nice neat, little, bit of magic to my outfit!) and just the look on kids faces and uncontrollable squeels of delight (and sometimes fear!) when they saw them was priceless. Hundreds of kids have gone home this weekend thinking they saw a real life pixie, or elf, and that makes me feel tingly inside :) Bitter sweet that I had to break the hearts of a ninja and a gorgeous panther man, and feeling triumphant for having run my stall all by myself (with a few appreciated helping hands here and there) and I'm already looking forward again to Winterfest next year.

New home, new studio, new energy.

2009-06-27T18:07:00.001-07:00

I'm writing from my new home, in my new studio for the very first time! Still surrounded by boxes, but progress is going well. I'm hoping to be back in business by this afternoon! It's all so exciting, the studio is looking great! Actually, it kind of looked better empty, but I blame that on my magpies collection of furniture that I seem to appropriate from where-ever I can for free. I have ex-high school science lab tables, kitchen side boards, steel work shelves, bedside tables, and not a one thing matches another... but it works, and if it aint broke... no point spending money and sending usable furniture off to landfill just to have a consistent interior design ;)
But it's still nice in here. I've got all my printers almost set up now (missing some cables, where did I pack those?!), and just a bit of unpacking left to do of stock and tools. I actually have a room in the house I will use as my painting room, and keep all the order filling and manufacturing type work seperate from my creative space, which is very exciting for me. My painting room actually looks a lot nicer, I kept my favourite bits of furniture for in there :)
We're still finding more things around the house that just don't work, which is a bit disappointing (air conditioning unit, TV antenna, some light fittings), but it is still a beautiful house to wake up to in the mornings, birds calling outside, lovely light, trees all around. I will be getting photos online very soon :)
Anyway, I'm just getting my internet fix for the first time in a couple of days, and then back to unpacking and finding homes for everything!

End of TFS contracts

2009-04-24T21:11:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to post a quick notice to say that as of April 18th my licensing contracts with The Fairy Society are now all legally terminated and I am no longer affiliated with The Fairy Society in any way.
That is all.

Redbubble quality let down, cheese and more

2009-02-15T14:14:00.001-08:00

I'm just processing some photos off my camera for some one of a kind items and new things I'll hopefully be getting online for a website update today, and grabbed these photos that were on there as well.
First one, is a photo of the print quality of the Red Bubble t-shirt I just bought myself.
http://www.redbubble.com/ is one of those print on demand product services, and I thought it would be neat to make myself a kinda promo t-shirt with a bunch of my images on. I picked Redbubble over the others since I thought it had an Aussie branch, but turns out the shirts come from germany anyway, sooo....
But meh, I'm SO dissapointed with the quality of the print. I don't think I'll wear the shirt at all... For any artist out there that has designs up on Redbubble but hasn't ordered a sample themselves it'd be worth doing I think. I don't think I'm being fussy... it's all grainy and you can barely make out some of the images.

On a completely unrelated topic, me and David have been very busy lately, and going out a lot. Which means our milk, which the milkman brings each week, is not being used. So I've been making lots of homemade cheese lately. It's fun, and is really yummy, particularly for cooking (cannaloni, cheese pastries, etc). It's also super easy too. You just mix up some plain junket with the milk, let it set, then spoon it into some cheese baskets (getting the cheese baskets will be the hardest part!). Then the curds and whey seperate out, leaving nice, fresh cheese.
My cheese baskets are the Maltese style, so they have cute little patterns in them that make really pretty little cheeses-

And that's my random post for the day! Hopefully I'll have some website news later today!

Fun with Fonts

2009-02-05T18:59:00.001-08:00

As much as they told me during my graphic design degree that I should only ever need 2-3 fonts on my computer (one serif, one sans-serif, and one script), I've always loved my fonts. I generally have anywhere between 500-1000 fonts installed on my computer at any given time. True I rarely use them all, but I like having them around just in case.
When you have that many fonts though, without a way to see what they are, you don't end up using them anyway. I used to have a font manager installed, but lost it moving to Vista, it just wasn't compatible! So for about a year or so now, I've been struggling with my font collection. Not happy.

Anyway, I've found a great new font manager, MainType. It works with Vista, and does everything and more that my old font manager did. It's really neat, functional, and intuitive, which is something that so many programs get wrong these days (do those designers even USE their own programs? Seriously!).

Basically what a font manager does is pulls up a visual list of all your fonts, so you can see what they look like. You can also install and uninstall fonts, a few other things. What I like to use them for is when working on logotype designs. The programs normally have a screen with the full alphabet showing, or a quick brown fox line, to preview the font (MainType has a few options there). But what you can do is type in whatever text you like, and it will preview the font in your own text. So, just say I'm working on a new Fairies and Fantasy logotype, I type that in and breeze down through my fonts list to find a font that suits the text. It makes things so much easier.

Anyway, MainType is a neat, simple program that does the job. The only thing I wanted to be able to do that I couldn't was flick a uppercaps/lowercaps switch for the preview text.

MainType is from http://www.high-logic.com/
They also do http://www.yourfonts.com/ which is awesome fun! You can create your own font from your handwriting! It's pretty cool stuff... of course my handwriting is too disgusting to consider doing it...

What's happening these days...

2009-02-01T14:56:00.001-08:00

So I've been really busy. This morning is the first time for a while I've just sat down for a bit of a break for weeks, so I thought I'd do a little random blogging to release some pressure from my busy head. Even though I should be clearing my inbox and finishing costumes...

So the last few weeks have been a bit of a blur. I've been working hard helping out with a play that will be showing for five nights at Newtown Theatre as part of the Short and Sweet festival http://www.newtowntheatre.com.au/Short_&_Sweet/Short_&_Sweet.php
I've been just lending a helping hand to David who's directing, and mostly getting the costumes together, which has been an interesting project. There are NINE costumes required for this 10 minute play, including secret service agents, delivery men, angels, and the devil. And since we basically have no budget... hrm, well I think I've done ok considering. I've sculpted a pair of 14inch long devils horns and created fur pants and cloven hooves for the devil, robes for the angels and more. We should be taking a group photo at dress rehearsal tonight, I'll see if I can post it here later.
On top of working on that, I've been vending at more markets, filling orders (without my helper monkey!), updating websites, and working on some big stages of my business plan, important behind the scenes stuff like contracts, database set up and so on.
My next big import shipment is due in about a week or two, which as usual I'm feeling totally unprepared for. My store room is going to become mighty cramped again all of a sudden, just as I had almost cleared some room again. Of course, this is the way it should work right? Stock coming in on time, etc. But it's nice to have space...

Speaking of space, David and I have been speaking with a real estate agent about a house we quite like, and are maybe interested in buying... yup BUYING! It is HUGE compared to the space we're in now, and even has a seperate studio building outside, and room to convert into a filming studio for David, wow.... Not to mention another 4 bedrooms in the house itself. At the moment we're living in a 2 bedroom townhouse, of which I've completely overtaken one bedroom and the large garage/basement space for my business.
Anyway, fingers crossed... We're still nutting it out ourselves, whether it really is in our afforable range, whether the area it's in is where we'd like to live, etc. But as for the space it has, and the house itself (VERY nice house and gardens!), I like.

Since I'm rambling, I also felt it was time to give everyone a little "cancer update", since I've been thinking about it and realised I've not mentioned anything for a while.
I've been thinking about it a bit because I HAVEN'T been thinking about it. I realised the other day I've basically forgotten last year happened, just pushing it away, trying to not think about it. In some ways it's best that way, because thinking about it (particularly chemo) still makes me feel queasy. Best just to not think about it at all.
There are some things I'll never be able to handle again after last year. Like buck wheat heat packs and crushed ice/lemonade ice blocks and the sensation of icey cold on my skin. All of these things I now associate firmly with chemo*, and make me want to dry retch. Also the sound of drip machine motors running. Bleeaah.
Otherwise I'm doing really well. In fact, a couple weeks time it will be the one year anniversay of my surgery, can you believe that? I'll be going in for scans then too, get a check up and hopefully an all clear for another 6 months.
My hair has grown a fair bit. It's about an inch and a half long now, and pretty much straight brown like it was before. I still get really tired easily if I push myself too much (like I have been this week!) and my boob still hurts all the time from cut nerves in surgery and the further beat up it got during treatment, cooking with radiation, etc, but the Dr's said I should expect that it will keep hurting for years... yay.
But otherwise, I'm feeling pretty much back to normal now which is nice.
So that's basically it. I'm enjoying getting things done again, wish I was painting more right now but have a million other things going on. Should be diving back into painting more again after the play is over next week and I've got my accounts from last quarter out of the way!

*The heat packs were used to heat my veins before chemo, the iceblocks I had to chew on during chemo to reduce damage to my mouth, and the icey sensation is from the freezing chemo liquid running up my arms.

New artwork- The Darkling

2009-01-21T01:45:00.001-08:00

I started this artwork ages ago, but had to shelve it while working on the faery oracle deck. The Darkling here is one of a set of images for a little project of mine, which has been a long time coming since it's kinda low on my priorities list, oops... The Silver Sisters are also part of this project. Hopefully I'll get more finished soon and can tell you more about it! Until then, here is The Darkling-

The Darkling

Of dragon bones and ancient stones
All black, all night, all darkness.
Of pitch and web and long since dead
A thing not cruel but heartless.
In shade and shadow and blood and marrow,
Of spells, bewitchment and blight.
A thing of beauty, long lost to duty,
a thing of forever and flight
Guarder of souls, of goblins and trolls,
Keeper of secrets and lies.
The dead she will keep yet not mourn nor weep,
For she knows that a tear always dries.

Perspective Problems

2009-01-16T16:45:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I feel a bit like the town idiot, but I have NEVER been able to get my head around this...
And it's probably the simplest thing and I'm just not getting it... but...

Basic Perspective right, for drawing. You got your horizon line and vanishing points, yada yada, that all makes sense...

But when it comes to actually putting it into practice, if your vanishing point is NOT actually ON your paper... how the HECK do you line stuff up to it?!?!?!

Random Updates

2009-01-14T14:33:00.000-08:00

This month has been super busy. Between getting back to order filling, doing some major business planning, working on a short play with David and catching up with socialising after hibernating all of last year, it's been non stop for weeks now! A few quick "Yays!"-One of my artworks is shortlisted for inclusion in a new fairy art book being published soon, yay!I have an idea for what I want to paint on my monster piece of paper! yay!My next shipment of journals and silk bags is due in early february, yay! (although also eek! I neeeed more space!)I've lost 5kg's that I put on during chemo, now just another 5 to go! Yay!I've got all sorts of exciting things already lined up for the new year, which I'll be anouncing as they come closer, yay!I just bought myself Stephanie Pui-mun Law's Dreamscapes book and a how-to landscapes and cityscapes book! Yay!I'm doing costume design for a short play showing at this years Short and Sweet festival in Sydney, and get to make angel wings and devil horns! yay!I got over my addiction to Twitter as quickly as it started, yay!
Anyway I had better get to work. I've got a lot on my to-do list today!

Another year review, because it's a good time to do it!

2008-12-31T14:25:00.001-08:00

I had one of the best views in Sydney harbour of the fireworks last night, and they were absolutely amazing. I love that feeling of hearing almost every person in the harbour counting down and cheering the new year in!
This morning I'm taking down my 08 calendar and putting up my 09. I have been using my own calendars for the last few years, because after I've used them I keep them as a bit of a keepsake of what I did and where I was. Looking back through it is always interesting. As is looking forward to the blank pages of the new year. I know a lot of people have said it's amazing I've managed to get things done at all this year, and it's never felt so. It was always just survival, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? And working kept my mind off things too. But looking at my calendar with all these entries of faires and events and artworks painted and work done in amongst all those dr's appointments and hospital visits (sometimes 2-3 a week, or even every day!), it really just hit me how much I have done.

Some of my acheivements past and goals for the new year and onwards-

Artworks Painted
Barnubus and the Prince, Clockwork Heart, Hold onto Hope, In Love, Goliath, White Wych, Catch Me, Silver Sisters, Caelia, Gloriana, Mab, Titania, Light the Darkness, Moonshine, Sunset, Rainbow Wings, Fairy Wishing Well, Coloured Treasures, Winged Things, Cherubina, Crystal magic, Into the Woods, Golden Gift, Follow Me, Seraphina, Nephelina, Angelina, Water of Life, Midnight Prince, Sleepy Spring, Child of the Moon, Blossoming Love, Gatekeeper, Along the Forest Path.

That's 34 total. I want to beat that next year!

More acheivments
- Was published in my first professional oracle deck, The Oracle of the Dragonfae, and signed for two more just with my artwork.
- Created artworks for labels for a worldwide exporting beer company, working with a major design house!
- Pitched a number of new ideas to licensing companies and had them made (Wishing well desktop fountain! And another TOP SECRET in development!)
- Dyed my hair blonde, pink, streaked, and went from waiste length hair I thought I'd never cut to pixie cut then bald (and back to pixie cut! It's growing fast and thick now, you'll see it in my video soon!)
- Sold almost a dozen originals, that weren't even listed for sale.
- And of course, had major surgery, IVF, Chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, and come out the other side not so much worse for wear!
- There were some more, but I went over a lot of this in my month by month review, no point repeating at the moment :)

Goals
- Incorporate my business into a proper company
- Expand my production to add even more artists
- Hire more staff to do basic tasks for me. My helper I had last year has moved away, so I'm going to need to get recruiting again very soon!
- Paint much much more. I need to paint a lot of new work for my next deck with Lucy C. and have so many ideas of my own to do as well!
- After that deck is done, I want to begin working on some concepts for a book of my art.
- I want to re-write my fantasy novel... yeah I've got one, yeah it's really bad! But I still love the story, and it's going to be my pet project this year! I also want to illustrate it.
- Sketch more, get back into drawing just for the love and wild creation of it.
- Lose the weight I put on during treatment, exercise more and have fun doing it!
- I want my business's turnover to grow by about 30% (and actually make more profit as well!).
- Hrm, I have more but have to keep them quite for now as well...

So long 08, hello new year!

2008-12-30T14:37:00.001-08:00

Isn't it funny how some arbitrary date can have such meaning? I'm greatly looking forward to 2009. It's going to be so much better than 08.

These days I'm feeling almost completely recovered from my cancer treatments. There are still a few things hanging around, some just from having an out of shape, beat up body, some more directly related to the treatment, some purely emotional. But overall, feeling really good these days.

I didn't mention before, but not long ago a close family friend past away unexpectedly, and too early. He was one of the biggest influences in steering me down this path of fantasy. He was a wonderful man and teacher with an amazing sense of humour and imagination. He is missed.

I'm working flat out for my big re-launch on the 5th, I hope I make the 5th! There's so much to do! There are so many great new things on their way. I'm talking with a couple of licensing companies about some very funky new products, not to mention my Faery Oracle deck going to the printers in a fortnight! I can't wait to see it all printed and boxed up. I might post a few polls on my Visitors Centre http://www.fairiesandfantasy.com/visitorsforum/ to help me make some decisions about the direction I'm taking on a few things...

So much to do at the moment, but I'm really excited about my re-launch, and can't wait to show everyone what I'm doing!

Faery Oracle artwork all done!

2008-12-22T16:32:00.001-08:00

Yes! I'm finished! I just finished and sent off my last artwork to the publisher for the faery oracle card deck! I feel like I've painted a million fairies recently... I'm keen to work on something different, and I'm sure I will be as next I will be diving into artwork for Lucy Cavendish's next card deck which will cover a range of interesting themes and creatures, fun! More on that later...

But for now, I'm kicking back for a week of Christmas relaxation and indulgence! It feels good to be all finished that project, and a few other bits and pieces all done and dusted, ready to start again fresh and with a big splash next year!

Yes, I'm still keeping most of the new artwork I've done hidden away... I'll be releasing them proper slowly over the new year, particularly around the time the deck is published!

Thanks to all of you who read my blogs, and more thanks to those who comment! I hope you all have a blissful christmas time, and a rockin new year!

Forest WIP

2008-12-21T20:15:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to share a photo of why I often feel a bit like a mad scientist while I'm painting... Which also has a little snippet of the new painting I'm working on in the corner there. I'm really enjoying painting this mossy forest scene!

Bits of things I'm using (I really should tidy up more while I'm painting, I tend to just let things pile up!)-

Top left corner- a role of baking paper, used as tracing paper when laying out artworks, playing with sketches etc.
Top middle- my acrylics colour chart, so I can pick my colours easier.
Middle- Masking tape for taping down the edges of my painting to the board. Water for washing brushes and everything.
Just under the handle of my water pot is a rubber cememt pick up, for removing masking fluid.
Crumpled tissues... I go through a lot of tissues while painting!
Sea sponge, pallet and brushes. I've become really fond of using chinese mop brushes for a lot of my painting, and mid range taklon for skin and details.
To the right- my watercolour pallet full of pans and tubes, a set of colour pencils, and just a tiny bit of my bag of acrylic tubes right on the far right edge!

My 2008

2008-12-21T13:51:00.001-08:00

Time of the year to do a bit of a year review. I can remember the catch phrase back at this time last year- "2008 is going to be great!"
Well, all things considered, 2008 kind sucked...

A lot of wonderful thing did happen this year, and all in all I have moved forward in a lot of ways. But then again I also got cancer, and there's nothing like it to eat up a whole year like getting cancer, lol! To think I was diagnosed in Feb, and just had my last treatment check up a fortnight ago, it was a year of travelling to hospital, being at hospital, or recovering from being at hospital.

A run down of my 2008...

January I was getting into planning my wedding. Had all gone as planned, I would be married now! We were thinking a late spring/early summer date at that time. I bought my dress and all. Of course, once I lost my hair I've postponed the event until I feel pretty again :S

February of course is when it all began. There were the tests and the scary waiting, then after that it was all go-go-go.

March I had my surgery, and became blonde again for the first time since I was 5! I was also working on the Wychwood brewery beer labels at the time. Since then they have released my Goliath artwork on their products, but they've used someone elses version of the White Wych. Suxors.

April my hair went to pink! In between surgery and chemo, I did a round of IVF. I didn't talk about it much, kinda private, but it was a safeguard against the possibility of chemo killing off my fertility. I'm the proud mummy of 15 frozen baby pops. I've considered naming them (*puts on best hillbilly voice* Jimbob, Jennifer, Jay, Johnny, Julie, Jamie.... hehe). I also learned how to give myself needles during this time. Ick.

May, my chemo started, and I went to bald. Don't want to talk or think about chemo much anymore. It's all good as long as I don't remember it. But still just a smell or feeling can trigger majorly vivid flashbacks, ugh. While all this was going on, I did however also manage to develop and release an Australian range of products for Jessica Galbreth, as part of a plan to start representing a bunch of other artists through my business.

June was also made of Ugh. I did however get my set of fairy queens painted. It felt good to paint.

July- I think it was about here that David got his full time job on All Saints (aussie tv show), post production job on Channel 7! Go Him! Despite everything going on, both of our yearly goals were progressing, things were good. I painted FIVE paintings this month. Awesome. I also received my shipment of the journals I sell this month. Might not seem a bit thing, but it was my first forray into importing proper. Sea cargo shipping, customs, quarantine inspections and all. Also awesome.

August- I can't really remember, short term memory and all kinds of thought process got seriously screwed up with chemo, but sometime during the year I hired my first employee! This was a big acheivement for me. Even though it was a close friend to start with, we treated the whole thing fairly professionally, and I sure made her work (Hey Megs?!). It was a bit of a milestone, and really made things so so much easier for me during my treatments. Towards the end of August was my last chemo, yaaaay!

September I began radiotherapy. Easy Peasy compared to chemo. My skin reaction also went really well over all, no blistering or peeling or anything. Still even now it's a bit pink, and itchy, argh! But still, anything is better than chemo!

October, still in radiotherapy. Lost all my eyelashes and eyebrows post chemo, they just couldn't hold on anymore! But my hair overall had started to grow back, slowly slowly. I've gone into major painting mode to get work done on my Faery Oracle deck that I had been signed for someway through the year. This was also a big milestone for me! My first kinda solo art publishing... not written by me (could have been, but I opted for getting a pro in!), but all my art, and beautifully published. Now it's almost done, it's very, very exciting!

November marked pretty much the end of my treatments! Just a bunch of "X weeks after treatment" checkups to make sure I was recovering proper and then I was free for a few solid months of non-hospital time! I feel so institutionalised though, hospital kinda became my second home, and as much as I DON'T miss it, I do miss it, you know? Like prisoners not knowing what to do with themselves when they leave prison... I need to go build a boat with Morgan Freeman or something...

November was also my 27th birthday! My mum put together the most awesome party for me ever, with almost my entire extended family, which is of quite decent size! It was a wonderful wonderful night. I took a quick break from painting fairies and painted my set of angels. Also kicking into fair season.

December- And here we are. Doesn't feel like I did a lot this year, but on the other hand I guess I did. Many of the goals I had set for myself before I ever thought I'd get cancer, I still managed to acheive between it all. Hired staff, launched our other artists range, got lots of awesome business functionality set up with databases and such, got into the Rocks markets (it was on my goals list!), got a proper publishing deal, got my art on beer labels! Didn't get married, but hey, I'm going to be with David for evar & evar, so we're not in a huge rush, and certainly don't want to do it when I'm feeling like a pudgy army recruit.

I'm looking forward to doing some major regrouping, refocusing and replanning over the coming weeks. If I could get all of that done while getting treated for cancer, damn I'm going to get a lot done next year!

Stock Gallery Closed

2008-12-20T21:42:00.001-08:00

I decided to close down the stock photo gallery I had on Deviant Art. The stock gallery had photos of myself and some friends for other artists to use as reference for their work. All things considering, particularly after chemo, I was in no mood to ever add new stock to it again, and didn't have the time to keep it maintained checking on how my photos were used and so on... and wasn't really happy with the photos that were on there... etc etc. So I've deleted out all the photos, which is just about all you can do at DA to delete an account (no account deletion? Crazy system!).

Why I love my blogging...

2008-12-17T17:01:00.001-08:00

I'm on and off my online hang outs (forums, blogs, social networks) all day long most days... they give me something to do for little 5 minute bursts while waiting for layers of paint to dry

Original artwork competition has been drawn!

2008-12-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

Big congratulations to P. O'Brien of SA Australia!! Your order was just drawn randomly from all customers who had a "ticket" in the draw for the original artwork "Fairy Wishing Well"!
I'm just waiting on confirmation and I'll send off the original to you!

I've got another awesomely fun competition planned for the beginning of next year, something very interactive and FUN! I'm trying to decide what the price should be, it will be another BIG competition!

Would you prefer to have the chance to win an original painting, or a big, fat gift voucher to spend as you wished?? (Or maybe a first and second place, with both prizes!!)

Hello Twitter

2008-12-12T20:31:00.001-08:00

I'm having fun with the blogging/microblogging/social networking sites lately. Twitter is my newest baby http://twitter.com/selinafenech

I think it will be fun for my short and random thoughts I feel compelled to expell into the ether...

Christmas nearly here

2008-12-09T21:19:00.001-08:00

I'm getting ready to close up shop over christmas, last orders will be going out tomorrow, friday, and maybe just a couple of final ones early next week as well.

While I won't be filling orders, I will be working frantically on the last few artworks for the fairy oracle deck (almost done, and she's looking beautiful!), and a lot of work for a very grand re-launch for the new year!

There will be massive changes to my websites (yep, all of them!), and loads of new goodies released, including the silk shoulder bags I showed off recently. Yes, I have some in stock right now, but I'm way too swamped to think about getting them released at this point. Of course, those coming to see me at the Rocks Markets will be able to buy them there direct! There will also be a change in design of the cameo necklaces and a few other brand new products on their way.

I've also got 5 lovely new paintings I've been hoarding away for the fairy oracle, which will be 8 new ones once I finish the final three for the deck, so be ready for some awesome new artworks being released in the big relaunch as well!

A final reminder to all that I will not be shipping any orders after the 15th, until I re-open on the 5th of January.

Also, now is the best time to get all your christmas presents at www.selinafenech.com because it also means you have a chance to win the original painting "Fairy Wishing Well"! The competition will also be drawn on the 15th, so there are only a few days left to have a chance to win this beautiful original artwork. Find out more about the competition here- http://www.selinafenech.com/pages/competition.php

I'm getting excited about next year... I can almost guarantee it'll be better than this year, heheh.

Lots of fun new things happening...

2008-12-03T20:53:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow I have an exciting delivery coming, something I've been wanting for a long long time. It's something that is going to open up a whole range of possibilities for my business... I already have so many plans, it's going to be lots of fun!
I'm going to be spending some of my "time off" over Christmas working quietly on everything and have some great new releases in the new year!

I've also been considering mouse pads lately. I've been making a lot of effort to move my product range towards more quality and environmentally friendly products, and I can tell you mouse pads are NOT environmentally friendly, and they have been irking me for a while now. I've been trying to come up with some kind of green alternative, but I'm thinking I might just have to cut them from my range outright. As much as I like mousepads (I use one all the time), I just feel as though it's up to each of us to do whatever we can to help protect our world, and selling a product which is entirely made of synthetic chemicals and will not degrade in landfill is something I am no longer able to justify to myself, as much as they do contribute to my income!

So mouse pads may indeed soon be out and gone. On the plus side, in the new year keep an eye out for an elegant change to my artwork pendants, some other new jewelry items, the new bags I posted a photo of earlier, and a number of other hush hush plans ;)

Gorgeously Green

2008-12-01T15:50:00.001-08:00

Over the past year and a half, I've been educating myself a lot on ways to cut out nasty chemicals from my life, to be better for my body, and the environment. Once I learned what some of those chemicals you see in the ingredients of every day skin and hair care actually were (horrible, horrible stuff!!!), I went into my bathroom and got out every moisturiser and hair treatment and cleanser and fancy bottle of "make you beautiful" product I had, and threw them all out. It was HARD to do, at the time (cos god knows how much money I had spent on it all, and it felt like I should have taken it all to a hazardous waste disposal after knowing what was in it all!), but since then, about a year ago now, my skin as been the best it's ever been (my hair was also awesomely healthy, until I lost it all in chemo of course!). No more harsh chemicals, petroleum based products, alcohols, heavy metals drying it out, irritating it, causing break out after break out. I always half thought and joked that the big beauty companies put stuff in their products that make them feel good but keep your skin/hair bad so you have to keep using them... then I found out that it was true...
I recently bought a book called "Gorgeously Green", and it's an excellent book. It covers almost every aspect of (womens particularly) life and what stuff is bad for you, and the environment, and most importantly, what your other options are. It's the kind of book I think EVERY woman out there should go out, buy, and use as their day to day bible. It covers everything from beauty to cleaning and house care, to how to eat, shop and exercise in ways that are good for you and the environment. It never says "Don't Do This" without giving you an excellent alternative.
Anyway, it's inspired me to go through all of my cosmetics now and clear the bad ones of them out of my life, as I had done with my toiletries products so long ago. I had already begun replacing a lot of my make up with natural products, but just kept all my old chemical ridden cosmetics in a box up in the cupboard. Well, now I am going to throw them all out. I keep looking at them and thinking "Noooo, my pretties!", but when I think about what's in them, the thought of putting them on my eyes, on my lips, well, I can't bring myself to use them anymore. Over this past year I've had enough crazy chemicals in my body to last a life time, I don't need to be absorbing them every day through my skin. I can't even give the stuff away, because most of it has been used, and I wouldn't want to give it to anyone close to me, because it would feel like saying "Well I don't want to poison myself with it, but you can if you want!". So in the bin it's all going.
Of course, I am consoling myself to it but spending some money on shiney, new, organic, natural, pretty cosmetics to replace some essentials I'm chucking out ;) Which, after all, is half the fun!

Fairy Deck- coming along nicely...

2008-11-28T00:52:00.001-08:00

I'm just loving working on my new fairy oracle deck with Lucy Cavendish. Her words and meanings she's been creating based on my artwork are just so beautiful and inspiring, and I feel as though my art technique and creativity are getting a real work out as well coming up with the new work needed for the deck! I've about 5 more paintings to go, 4 are already sketched up ready to paint, I might share some when they are done.... But I thought in the meantime I might post a little teaser of some I've done so far...

A Little Introduction and Where I'm At...

2008-11-24T21:08:00.001-08:00

I've just signed myself up for a couple of new online community networks, and so I decided it's time to do a little bit of an introduction for anyone new out there reading my blogs. I'm an Australian artist and designer, specialising in fairy and fantasy themed art and giftware. I've been working full time on my art career for 4-5 years now, since I was about 22 years old. The best place to find out about me, my art and my business is www.selinafenech.com, but do also visit www.fairiesandfantasy.com which is my main portal site with information about my other websites, businesses and projects about the internet!

I know everyone has their favourite online communities, which is why I'm now blogging on a whole stack of different sites, but they will all hopefully have the same posts and content, so never fear, you can just stick with your one favourite site! Here are links to where I'm currently blogging-
Live Journal- http://selinafenech.livejournal.com/
MySpace- http://www.myspace.com/selinafenech
WordPress- http://selinafenech.wordpress.com/
BlogSpot- http://selinafenech.blogspot.com/
Please note, I do also have a Facebook account, but I'm keeping it private just for me and my real life buddies, so there won't be anything much interesting posted on there anyway!

Generally, I will be posting new artworks, news about my business, new products and designs I'm working on, and also random news about my personal life and interests. During this last year I was diagnoses and treated for breast cancer. Fingers crossed, it's all over now, but I'm sure I'll still be talking about that on and off for a long time yet as well!

I'm testing out a new service that lets me post my blogs to all my sites at once, so fingers crossed all goes according to plan!