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!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
My story- "Memory's Wake"
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.
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.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Considering my Art Prints
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...
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...
Monday, August 10, 2009
Getting back to work
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!
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!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Winterfest, how I love thee...
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.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
New home, new studio, new energy.
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!
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!
Friday, April 24, 2009
End of TFS contracts
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.
That is all.
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