Fur In The Paint

I am using masking film for this piece and since this is a new process for me I am taking photos to add to my working watercolor pencils on suede squidoo tutorial. I thought I would document the steps for use since it certainly would have come in handy for me to have had a look see at something before starting this project. So far though the masking film is working like a charm. I’m being quite careful though only working left to right and only trimming away the film as I finish one bird and get ready to start the next.

The below photo is kinda hard to see but there is only a total of 5 birds. I spent three days drawing out 7 flamingos but in the end I really wanted to keep it a very simple, very strong graphic.

Okay so I’ve been making some Christmasy squidoo lenses. Most were started as a challenge but then I kept after it because it was kinda fun.

At one time I made a new ornament or Christmas gift by hand every for holiday decorating and gift giving. SO I made several How-To lenses for making ornaments and such. If any of your are crafty and into the homemade holiday ornament thing. Check out these pages.

Handmade Christmas Guide This started out as a way to organize all my pages but then I opened it up to others. It was awarded Squidoo’s highest honor which id Lens Of The Day. Squidoo selects around 200 (out of millions) lenses each year to spotlight. The lens is actually up for a couple of days.

Free Crochet Snowflake Patterns
Antique, Victorian & Vintage Postcards
Create Handpainted Victorian Rose Ornaments
Handmade Button Pillow Christmas Ornaments
Vintage Postcard Ornaments
Quilted Heart Christmas Tree Ornaments
How To Make Ribbon Pillows
Felt Carousel Horse Christmas Tree Ornaments
Alphabet Block Christmas Tree Ornaments

So this week has been kinda nuts. I had a couple of quiet-ish weeks and then everything comes at once. I’ve been staying late (way late like 7 - 8:30 each night) at the gallery and still I’ve not so much as got the postcard for tomorrows event scanned so I could post it. So … umm …. yeah.

I’ll be at the Pearsons Lake Art Center in Okiboji, Iowa tomorrow. Actually it might technically be in Spirit Lake, Iowa. The towns kinda abut one another. At any rate the Holiday event is from 10-4 and I believe there is soup and wine tasting going on as well.

I’ve not done this event so I haven’t a clue what to expect. I’ll let you know how it went next week.

On Selling Art
I have just recently created a new Squidoo lens about Selling Art: Tips From An Art Fair Veteran It has some tidbits from some of the other lenses on marketing and art fairs but it also has a whole bunch new content. The lens has already been award a purple star and been blessed so I think it means it’s a good ‘un.

Note to Undaunted
Been meaning to email but as I say … no time for nothing. Once again I can’t comment on our lens because the captcha’s gone missing. I can’t seem to comment on Angela’s blog either but for a completely different reason. I think the bloggy gods are messing with me. But I do pop in and I love your MeerKat.

You may remember from my Alternate Universes Aren’t Meant To Meet Post that the lens was created for a competition on Squidoo. Well it’s called the SquidPaws Dog Day Afternoon Quest and we’re (me and Cisco that is) one of the 13 finalists. They opened it up to voting from today (the 18th) until the end of day on the 20th.

So if anyone is feeling like sharing some love (or more appropriately ’some like’ with the thumbs up button at the top left of the page) we’d appreciate it very much. There a small gift certificate involved but Cisco and I are in it for the bragging rights. Yup Cisco just loves to brag about these kind of things.

Bear in mind you need to have a facebook or squidoo account in order to vote by using the “like” or thumbs up button. But everyone is welcome to stop by and leave a comment.

Here’s our page
My Dog Cisco: A Day In The Life Of A Retired Farmer Dog

Nobody’s more surprised than me because technically I didn’t make the deadline. I submitted my request for the next deadline as lens number 50 was published a day late . But the kind hearts that the Squidoo powers-that-be are, plunked me in the last group. I had only 51 lenses to my name so it was even more of a surprise that I got accepted. You only need 50, but they are supposed to be 50 exceptional lenses, so the usual way of going is to have several more than 50 because not everything one writes is gold.

Squidoo have a new points system that’s run like a game. You earn points, unlock challenges, gain trophies that earn more points. The only thing you really get out of it is more lenses. Me being the gamer type took to this like a duck to water. So the lenses listed here which got me over into Giant status were for challenges and thus not in my artsy fartsy niche. That being said I do have a lens on selling at art fairs as well as creating a successful art fair booth in the works. So I’m not all about the game.

The latest lenses are Critter Oriented. (my critters)

Budda’s Dream Time Wish List
Meet The Budda
Chicory The Wonder Horse
Oliver The Original Gallery Cat
A Tribute To Brutus

And finally for a different challenge I created a lens about one of my favorite novels

All things regarding Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen This has movie reviews, books, books that continue the story (fan fiction) graphic novels, movie posters both vintage and new and a P&P Quiz.

RHINO UPDATE:
The plan is to finish today and tomorrow. I will post any progress to the end that actually occurs.

I hit a new record 5 lenses in 5 days. I was feeling pretty dang proud of myself until I was in the forum and read that one lensmaster has set a goal of 1000 in 4 years. Suddenly my goal of 50 lenses in 2 years seem a little pale. At any rate here they are.

The Draft Horse Art Of Wild Faces Gallery Because I am constantly making more horse paintings my previous lens The Horse Paintings Of Wild Faces Gallery was getting a bit long. So I removed the drafts from it and created a new lens specifically for draft horse art. Not much in the way of new stuff here for my bloggy folk. But thought I’d list it anyway. Plus it was recently awarded a purple star which is kind like a “job well done” medal.

Music For The Art Of Creating This lens was created as a challenge lens. This is the first time I have ever created a lens specifically to meet a squidoo criteria in this case music. Though I love music I don’t really follow anyone in particular. But since I do love various worldly music I decided to make a lens about the music I play while creating art. Because much like a well lit, quiet comfortable space is needed to tap into your creative so does the right music. Anybody else listen to these (or any other) artists?

Create Your Own Holiday Or Christmas Art Cards (Excerpt from intro for this lens.really says it all.)When I was younger it was a local tradition with my family and friends that every year for the holidays we’d all create a new Christmas ornament and then gift them to each other. The result was a lovely tree filled with lots of memories. Unfortunately as my art business took off I had very little time left for creating ornaments. But still wanting to keep up the tradition I started making a new unique holiday card design to send to friends and families.

I know when I get handmade cards from people I always cherish them and keep them. So I thought I’d share a few of the various way you can make your own one of a kind Christmas cards. One of the best things about making these kinds of cards is that they are suitable to be kept as a keepsake for can be framed when the holiday is past.

The World Percheron Congress. At the moment this lens is really a factoid about the breed with a breif roster of what you might expect to see when visiting the event. After I go to it, I will do a massive update to the lens. But I just couldn’t see putting off publishing until the end of October. Why not make a little money on it now.

And Finally, A Debate Lens

Is Declawing Cats Cruel and should it be banned in the US. Since I was a vet tech I have an intimite knowledge of what all goes into the actual surgery. It’s was my least favorite to assist with. And yet I think making it illegal would eventually cause more trouble to a nation that is already over burdened with feral and abandoned cats. What do you think? Visit the lens and voice your opinion. But play nice. Bad behavior will not be tolerated.

So thats all of them. I think I will address the horse slaughter issue in another debate lens. And other than that I will once again take a lenswriting break until the next time Mike leaves for his massage classes. (Because I have access to all computers all the time when he’s gone. Not just briefly in the morning and before I fall into bed.)

Once again anyone with a facebook account OR a squidoo account can comment and rate the lenses.

Since I mentioned in yesterdays post about this lens I thought today I’d talk about it a little. And to be honest I’m kinda phoning it in.

I am packing to leave for this weekend’s event and the gallery work hasn’t let up lately so I’ve not got a lot of time to devote to making this an outstanding post. You’ll just have to settle for an informative post that points you to an outstanding lens on the subject. So here’s my latest Squidoo lens. It’s about preparing art fair slides and digital images for the art fair jury..

Quality images of your work are the single most important determining factor that gets you in the event. In this day and age you really need to be as professional as you can in order to compete for the limited number of booth spaces available for any particular event. I read somewhere that Cherry Creek had over 2000 applications for 200 booths. (Yeah I know right? How do you think you’d stack up in that kind of competition? Well here’s a few of the basic pointers on how your slides. Refer to the lens for more in depth information as well as a bit about Zapplication and how to maximize your images with it. As with the post the word slide and image are used synonymously.

What constitutes a good quality image.
1. Clarity. No fuzziness or blurry areas. Also no shadows or glare.
2. Color is true to the original. Too light or dark is not acceptable.
3. Image Only. No framing, matting, glazing, or fingers, grass, carpeting. You get the idea.The nice thing about digital files is this is easy to crop out.
4. No Distractions As mentioned #3 the focus should always the artwork. In a like manner the background color should be neutral and muted. Bright White or Very Dark backgrounds should be used cautiously.
5. Image is square. This means the image is not crooked or fading off into the distance on one end.
6.Your best work only. You will be judged on your weakest work guaranteed. Most applications take 3-4 images. If you have 3 outstanding pieces and one so-so piece. It is the so-so piece that will determine your entrance into the event.

The lens also discusses the importance of a good quality booth slide. There was a time when the booth slide was simply meant to be used to show the scale of the work. More and more though the booth image has become a factor in the actual jurying process.

What Makes A Good Booth Slide/Image
* Your slide should contain no banners or obvious things that indicate who the artist is.
* No people in the booth including yourself or customers.
* Just like in your actual booth at the event, no items on the ground (ever.)
* It should not be overcrowded with work.
* A good idea to create a new booth image every year.

So if you are entering art or craft fairs and want to learn a little more on what a jury is looking for be sure to visit my preparing art fair slides and digital images for the art fair jury lens. Also for those of you on facebook can now vote on liking a lens.