Studio Progress

Work in the studio has started. I'm still sorting and stacking, exploring boxes caked in dust and wondering what all needs to be kept. Yes, I am contemplating parting with some supplies. It is a pain to always move it. And some of it, some rubber stamps, do not have the same meaning that they once had so I no longer need to keep them.

When I packed up the first time there were many that went away. And I though that was going to kill me. Now I think that I could let go of many without feeling the slightest bit teary. It's funny how you get attached to things as an artist. Even though I could not possibly use all of the ones that I have had in my lifetime in such a way as I once thought that I could, I think of the times that those images represent and I wish that I could keep them as mementos. I wish that I had not had to eliminate the ones that I did let go. But today, as I go through the studio and the boxes I moved in (which is only half of what was in storage) I know that I have grown beyond the stamps in many ways.

I feel like it is time to think about my own designs and a line of stamps in a new way.

That is not the only thing that is new. As I sort the canvases into the restore, finish and clean it up piles and I see the awesome work that I have done. And the works that need to be improved before they can be sold, I am thinking about new techniques and new creations. After having been shut down and doing enough art to just get by I an feel myself opening up to possibilities... expanding.

And I have found things that I have not photographed yet... pictures to follow when I get another sunny day.

Life's little Bumps

Or in this case a stone in the road.

I have been laid up for the last week with a severe kidney stone attack. It is my first. And it better be my last. This has been the worst Spring I can remember. First because Spring still isn't here. And second because I have been so damned sick!

I promise it will not be long before I am back. Today I have a window of opportunity to post between the fog banks of medication. The only good thing about this illness is that there is a lot of time to think.

A break in the Hiatus

One would hope with a new post that I would have amazing photos of new studio space. I do not. I am writing here to ask again, for those of you who visit, you real LIVE persons, to comment on something. I don't care what language it is in. Just make a comment. Here's why.

I am having issues with the referring sites in my stats again. It would seem there are always new phishing schemes and I am currently being inundated with the latest one. Several bloggers are having trouble with one in particular. While it is not safe to clink the link, nor tell you who is doing the phishing, the mystery of how many real hits v. phish bites this site gets continues. The only way I  know of to know for sure what sites are really directing traffic here is for someone to leave a comment. I know that Angel Sullivan is real because I subscribe to her blog. But beyond that... it is a mystery.

Really do not care if you love it, hate or would leave it for a younger, hipper blog. I just want to know that you exist. So please. Leave a comment. Even if it is only a couple of letters or a smiley face.

Time out!

Friends, moving day is finally here! Well.... the last day of moving day is finally here. And for the next week I doubt there will be much posting here since I will be unloading my personal effects and trying to establish a working studio.

It would have been done last week but we had mold in the basement. The landlord has been very conscientious about tending to the issue. And I feel confident that we will have no further issues with spores or colonies.

I promise to take lots of pictures and....

I have project that I am working on the celebrate this monumental year of my life. 6degrees of Geekdom turns 5 in May. This blog turns 5 shortly after that. And I have a thing going on with purple shades right now so I suspect there will be a series coming.

and I still have that Eszett project in the works.

Maybe you should give me two weeks before you start wondering where I am.

Coming Soon: ezsett typograohic project

Of course now that I have gotten set up to work in my little room there is an opportunity to move back into a house with enough space for a studio of the caliber I've had in the past. So, while I am packing and moving and unpacking and stocking the new studio, I leave you with a teaser for the mini project that I am working on.



Water color on 96#/160g weight Royal & Langnickel paper

Ice Breakers

The kind of proposals I like...


make it easier for my introverted nature to talk about the cool things that I do. I've been keeping up with the promotional tour that Matthias Reim is doing for his upcoming concert tour & he reminds me of something that Michelle always tells me: if you are excited about what you do others will be excited too. I admire people who put themselves out there. I envy the people who put themselves out there. Matthias Reim is a rock star. I doubt that little dynamo needs something to break the ice when he meets new people. I do.

There have been enough random incidents while I have been out and about, painting at a table somewhere, that have taken me by surprise. I've bee asked so many times, "Do you have a card?" No card.

How will I ever get anywhere if I am not prepared when the Universe surprises me with it's favor by dropping something totally awesome into my lap? How many of those people who walked away without my card could have been a connection to something greater? I could have had a show by now. I could have had some commission work. Does that mean that it will never happen now?

By no means. Those experiences have taught me to be prepared. So I placed an order with www.moo.com. The sample cards last year were great. But I needed to work on the presentation part from my end, learn to take better photos & decide how I wanted to represent myself. So I figured it out. Placed an order and when I finally tore through the nearly child proof shipping package & opened that perfect little white jewel box...

There were 100 mini cards waiting for me. Tucked into a shiny little Mylar envelope the swivel case in which to carry them. And for the full sized business cards there was a matte finished black box the size of a cigarette pack but only half as thick. Each piece of this order screams "Great Customer Care!"

I love these guys. I love that I have some ice-breaking tools. Because I can print every single card with a different image if I want to, I don't have to explain my work. I can show it. These cards are a mini portfolio that speaks so much more confidently than I have been able to so far. Who knows... with these little gems in my hand, some of that moo confidence might rub off on me.

This is the whole kit & kaboodle.  They swivel open, dispense easily and I can clip the mini case to my purse or car keys. They will go anywhere. Which means that they can go everywhere that I don't always have access to. These cards are keepers. Thick stock, rich finish and of course... stunning artwork, these last a lot longer than the cards you could buy elsewhere for a lot less to get a lot more cards. But... do you really get more for so little money? We'll see.

 

Eszett: illuminated typography.... sort of

Watercolor on Strathmore
 

This is a gothic styled eszett created by combining the scharfes S  with a z. The Scharfes S is called a long S. In early American typography it resembled an F without the cross bar. And I don't mind telling you that it was very confusing to see George Washington's name written with a "goofy" F.

It is, as I may have mentioned before, a German calligraphic device that either stands in place of two esses or an ess and a zee. Modern writing standards have been challenged in recent years with the influence of the world wide web. German print standards are trying to get rid of the eszett. I hope that doesn't happen.

This is  beautiful special character. I especially like this gothic version. For one it uses a funky Z shape that you don't find very often instead of being a zig zig, it zigs and when the line comes down it dips below the base line with a half bowl extender... that's why this shape looks like a B. But trust me, it is a z.

The reason that I like this form the best is that it looks like a sword with a fancy quillon & guard.  Instead of a round pommel and button there is a tongue shaped flourish. And when I was sketching out this form, there were a couple of versions that reminded me a little of Van Helsing's silhouette.