I'm having another Open Studio this weekend - yay! This is the first one since my shop has been open, my second since we've been in this house, and I'm pretty excited. It gives people a chance to check out my little shop without committing to ink, all while possibly covering some things on their holiday shopping list. Like the poster says, I'm breaking out all my goodies! Everything I have listed on Etsy.com will be available for fondling...plus all the new pottery I've been firing but haven't photographed for listing, yet. And I've been printing up some of my most popular Artist Trading Cards - tomorrow the framing and mat cutting begins...

It's so nice to be located so close to downtown Great Barrington! When I had a studio in Housatonic, there was a snow storm the day of the Art Walk. Fingers crossed the weather cooperates. If not, no big deal. I'll just try again in December...

What do I do all day?

 Some people wonder what the heck I do with my time, since I don't have a 'regular' job, and my house is not exactly immaculate. When I worked nights in the restaurant business to support my day job of painting full time, my mother would call, ask what I was doing, to which I'd respond, 'I'm painting', she'd say something along the lines of, 'Oh, so you're not busy, then...'

But I'm always busy, really, and it's just part of being an artist-type trying to stay afloat - diversification and dicipline is key, for me, anyway, thanks to the seasons of the businesses I've created. That brought me to another idea. I feel like one of those one-man bands guys. Maybe I should do a little illustration, too. But it's really the jumble that is my picture...For example, I spend my mornings on the computer, generally, unless I have a tattoo appointment or a kiln to load and fire in the basement.

During this time I do administrative stuff, update my website, blog, Facebook pages, Google + pages, etc, order supplies, and respond to emails and messages. If I sold something on Etsy, I step into the packing and shipping department, and get that out the door. Then for the afternoon, I work on tattoo drawings, ATCs, or caricartoons, or I tattoo, throw pots, or make beads. Or take the photos for products to be sold in my Etsy stores.

Then dinner.

Then I'm back on my computer for a while, then back to beads, drawing, or the occasional mindless game of Bejeweled Blitz. Finally reading, and sleep. That's my life in a nutshell on a regular, daily basis including most weekends. And thanks to the modern conveniences of PayPal and online shipping, I can ship pottery and prints right from my front door. It's great!

But it's hard for me to just choose one thing. Things cycle. Now that I'm in for the winter, essentially, I'll be spending more time firing the kiln and photographing the results to list on Etsy in time for the holiday shopping season. Maybe I'll pick up a couple of gigs caricaturing at company Christmas parties. I know for sure I'm starting some big tattoo pieces by the end of the month...and now I'm branching out again and starting to sell prints of my most recent venture into the world of Artist Trading Cards. It's like an online summer camp for illustrators! Then tattoos get really busy in the spring when people get their tax returns, but drop off in the summer when people are in the water or outdoors too much. But caricatures pick up in the late spring and I have events throughout the summer, mostly on the weekends. When it's hot in the summer, I'm in the basement playing with clay...and on and on.

Stay tuned..this spring I'm having a Tent Sale right in my yard on East Street. The theme will be Pottery and Plants, plus maybe some birdhouses thrown in for fun. Okay - I have to get back to work!

I just added two new images to my Zazzle store from the latest series, "What's in Your Garden?" 


create & buy custom products at Zazzle

Is it wrong that I'm offering "Deer in my Roses" on a chef's apron?

Magnificent Elephant 2

 I've been working on re-opening my Zazzle store with some of the new images from the Artist Trading Card swaps instead of carving that pumpkin that's still sitting on my back deck. And I've also been finishing up trades from the Art-A-Thon weekend. I am really excited for the envelopes to start arriving. It was definitely more like Christmas than Halloween!