michelle's blah, blah, blog.

The Sketchbook is in the mail...

2012-01-31T14:40:00.000-08:00

Okay..this was a bigger project than I expected, but not in the way I expected. When I disassembled the book for recovering, I assumed that putting it back together would be no big deal. At first, it wasn't. Then the staples ripped through the paper. Maybe this was because I glued in heavier paper using the existing paper as the base. Since I was on such a short deadline, I had to make it work, with what I had on hand. One of the many things I do is make and sell beaded leather cord necklaces. Fortunately, I had some leather cording on hand, ready to go. I wrapped it through the center of the book twice and made a knot on the inside. Now I know pretty much nothing when it comes to bookbinding, and I also realized that this wasn't the best time to learn. But as I added a stronger grade of paper, the book as a whole shifted, and led to trimming, fussing, and figuring it out, while keeping it durable enough to travel and be handled by anyone and everyone, not to mention keep as archival as possible. Once again, I had the right materials on hand already, thanks to my printmaking. All I can say is hooray for 3M and their photo tape, with which I edged the pages, bottoms and sides. Then center binding pushed out the pages, so I did a little repair, then coated it with black acrylic..

Here is Luther, my centerfold :)

I'm pretty sure it will hold up. It is double reinforced with duct tape. Even better, I made the deadline. Here are a few more pages..

Okay...now I have to get back to designing tattoos...wahoo! Thanks, Cindy!! Sketchbooks are fun...

The Sketchbook Project!

2012-01-27T10:07:00.000-08:00

Here it is - my very own contribution to the Sketchbook Project 2012 World Tour courtesy of my sister, who signed up last fall only to find she didn't have the time. We got together last weekend to see my brother perform in a play and she mentioned that the deadline was fast approaching and she hadn't even started, so probably wouldn't finish. She mailed it to me when she returned home, Priority Mail, and I received it Wednesday. It's 5.25" x 7.25", bound with two staples, and has 8 sheets of paper folded in half, 70# paper, very smooth. The paper feels like a decent quality copy paper, not quite thick enough to clog a machine, but better than the usual commercial grade.

The sketchbook cover is a simple brown card stock. Now if you are familiar with the project, you might already know that this book will be handled, possibly by many people. That means my first concern is durability so I pulled the staples and took it apart. Then I glued on sections of dog food bags made of woven recycled plastic, almost exactly like the grocery bags they sell in the store (the good ones, not the soft fabric style that rip easily if you put anything at all pokey in them.)

When I was in grade school, we covered our textbooks with the brown paper grocery bags, and I loved having them for doodle space. They weren't glued on - I imagine that would've been frowned upon. On a side note, once when I was a kid, maybe eight, or so, I couldn't find tape to hang my posters and I thought glue was an even better idea - ha! My mom still tells that story. The people that own that house even today probably wonder why their wallpaper will never lay flat..

I added the duct tape for fun and extra durability. I contemplated changing out the paper, but decided to replace the original paper, trimmed slightly to compensate for the new reinforcement. We broke out the power stapler and reassembled. Ready to go! I will be drawing my dogs, most likely, and maybe a few of the plants they live with. Then off they go to be entered into the Brooklyn Art Library's permanent collection after the tour.

Here are the first pages..

This is going to be fun, and in the mail by Tuesday...

The evolution of a fence...

2012-01-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

My neighborhood is close to downtown Great Barrington and I've been told it's known as the 'Brooklyn' section, probably because it's just across the river from all the action and there are three bridges connecting at the north, middle, and south end. It is thickly settled with a high volume of foot traffic, especially in the summer as people like to walk the loop. A high percentage of my neighbors have dogs they walk by on the sidewalk, several times a day. Being a dog person, this makes me happy. So many cute pups! Plus, most people are really good about picking up after their dogs. There are even several biodegradable poop bag stations posted along the way - how wonderful is that? The first year we lived here, I had a problem with some dogs detouring off the sidewalk through my garden, however. When I mentioned 'most' people pick up after their dogs, certainly not all bother, unfortunately. Considering the sheer number of dogs in the daily parade, it amounted to plenty of dog crap in my front gardens. My solution was a low fence, made of curled rebar and grapevine. Simple and essentially at no expense. And it worked!

My gardens grew, and I realized I had another garden pest. People.

Here's what it looked like last July. I completely understand how very tempting it is to snag just a few daisies...why not? And I have a zillion daisies, so in a way, I really don't care. Daisies are perennials, so they pop for a few weeks, then they're gone for another year. My zinnias, tulips, cleome, and sunflowers are another story. They are just about all I have left to look at in the fall before everything is done for the season. But for some reason, passerby think it's okay to stock their vases with my zinnias. Or sunflowers, even. One girl in particular would show up with scissors in hand! She was nice enough to leave me a single bloom, and couldn't comprehend why I was angry - 'but they're soooo pretty!' as she went skipping off swinging her fresh bouquet...

A friend advised, 'Don't get mad about it. You can't change people, so change how you react to people.' She was absolutely right. I do not want to spend my day opening my front door to ask people not to take any more flowers, like some crazy, life-size cuckoo clock. My fence had to evolve. This time, I made the fence a little higher and planted morning glories to climb and fill it. The picture below is the fence in the very early spring, last year. And it worked perfectly! No dog leavings, and no people taking. The expense was in the posts, but it was still minimal compared to the flowers I paid for and had stolen.

Now there's another glitch... The local DPW plows the sidewalks with a little machine, like one of those fun-looking bobcats. Last winter, this was not a problem and they navigated by my concocted fencing, no problem. This year I think they have a new machine, and even though this only the second time they have had to plow the sidewalk, the fence was on the losing end of the early morning battle.

Oh well, I will keep calm and carry on. First I will see if I can simply move it further away from the sidewalk for the rest of the winter. Then I will come up with a better solution..I have a friend who wants this fence redone in wrought iron for his front yard. Maybe I'll set up a forge behind the garage this summer and get my metalworking on. And then maybe I'll fill my front gardens with roses that flourish if the blooms are plucked by pedestrians, and are prickly enough in the winter to discourage canines...

Flowers in January

2012-01-11T12:26:00.000-08:00

It still surprises me how much I love tattooing. It's an entire experience, from the idea, to the drawing, then the stencil, to the ink. I've watched the tattoo shows and so much of the process is edited out. One thing I'm sure of, I could never bust out a piece, ready to go, in a half hour. And I truly admire people who can. In a traditional tattoo studio, there is a support network in place and tasks can overlap. While the paperwork is being filled out, the needles and ink are being set up as the drawing is being tweaked and the stencil made. If I have an appointment, I have the drawing done, but not necessarily scaled. Sometimes I luck out and it's perfect, as is. But I never count on that, so I don't get stencil-printing deep until after the client arrives. As it turns out, this makes it a much more personal experience, even though it takes a little longer.

Another note about the drawings...they are original. I use reference, of course, but the chrysanthemum above is the only one exactly like it. My friend, shown above, preferred a flower that was a little spinier, and is going for strong, yet earth-toned hues. And being a control-freak-perfectionist-type, all of the petals HAVE to make sense! That takes me longer than a half hour to draw up, but don't ask how long, I get completely lost in the details. Then again, if I worked in a busy shop, maybe after the 100th chrysanthemum, I'd be able to bust one out in five minutes, like I do with black and white caricatures. Who knows. No two flowers are alike.

'Flowers in January' also references another obsession I have...gardening. My seeds for this spring just arrived today, and my shade annuals are in the cloning phase. My house is overflowing with houseplants as it is, but that doesn't even come close to stopping me. I fantasize about a greenhouse the way a little girl wants a pony. The countdown to daffodils begins...

New! Floral Landscapes...think Spring..

2012-01-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

So a whole week flew by in a total blur and I just returned from the post office after sending off 20 envelopes with 30 newly created artist trading cards- and they're going all over the place. Canada, the Netherlands, Finland, UK, and coast to coast in the US. One thing I noticed is that they were mostly places that are cold right now. So I was inspired to paint some garden pieces after I came across yet another helpful tutorial on ArtTrader Magazine.com. Then I just added them as gallery wrapped canvasses, 24" x 8", in my Zazzle store.

Now, while most people are taking down their holiday decorations, I'm taking down my holiday retail pottery display and setting up to tattoo again. Now that people can see their tax return on the horizon, they're thinking ink, and I have drawings stacking up - wahoo! And, I have to make room to photograph the pottery I have left, and set up my wheel to make even more. Then I'll be fully re-stocked for my tent sale in the Spring..

Another Art-A-Thon!

2011-12-27T08:52:00.000-08:00

And people ask, What is an Art-A-Thon? Well, on illustratedatcs.com there's a thread open for five days for artists to trade one on one, whatever theme they want or arrange. It's a whole lot of fun, and an amazing opportunity to trade with people I might not otherwise be matched with in a swap. The first one over Halloween weekend was incredible and I was totally hooked up with some really superb art. Getting ready for the holidays meant that I wasn't able to make much ahead of time, but I've cleared the decks and I'm ready to go..I'll be adding a whole new batch of images over the next five days. Then, right after it ends, I'm breaking out my pottery wheel and kicking that into gear...

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays! So far, December has been a really strong month for pottery and print sales - hooray! It's nice to see people putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to shopping locally this holiday season. I've had two Open Studios, and many people dropping by randomly to check out my wares. In fact, it's time to get throwing once again! And while the Open Studios are fun, next year I'm hoping to have a few stores in the area stocking my pottery and beads. Or the things I make with the beads, or prints - whatever.

In the meantime, I have a couple of other projects in the works. There's a dragon sculpture for my shop roof coming that will be functional as well as decorative. The gutters that were in place weren't very effective, so we removed them when we started painting the house in the fall. My dragon will have wings, one wing will keep the rain from my front door. And potentially there will be drainage from the back of the dragon to one of the heads, then into a rain barrel. One of the three heads. The biggest issue is keeping it light, so I'm thinking recycled plastic..but I'm still working that out.

Another project is my longtime ambition to finish the local annual triathalon, the Josh Billings Runaground in September. Not that long ago, I was in shape. And while that's no longer the case, I'm working on getting back on track, with the help of my friend, Shay Pegorari, a newly certified personal trainer. We've just had our second session and I'm feeling pretty great. Not only do I have a definite goal, I have preferences about how I reach them. Or maybe I should call them conditions. I will not join a gym for more than one reason, but the primary reason is that I can't stand them. I've belonged to a few gyms, and the only time I stuck with it, I was playing racquetball early mornings with a friend three times a week. Now that's fun. Then two days a week, we spent our sessions in the nautilus area, which was always a little creepy. And odd smelling. Not fun. And I'm terrible at dieting because one of my favorite things on earth is cheese. The only diet that is cheese oriented, the Atkins Diet, completely worked for me the first time! Until I started eating normally, when I gained back every pound I lost plus a 50% bonus...whoops. On top of that, I have a naturally rebellious inclination, so the minute I try to deprive myself of something I love, I absolutely cannot live with its absence. I know. Ridiculous. But that's just how it is.

I like outdoors and fresh air. But I will have to conquer my fear of riding a bicycle on the roads around here because the first leg of the race is something like 26 or 27 miles starting in Great Barrington and landing at the Stockbridge Bowl. And this terrain is serious business - nothing but hills in just about every direction. However, there are so many elderly drivers running over people around here every year, it's a little risky. Last summer, one rider was dragged over 100 feet by a 92 year old driver who had no idea he hit someone! What are you gonna do...well, when I ride my bike, I wear a big, white, flapping shirt and hope for the best. I also tend to ride like a little kid so drivers are a little more careful around me. In my experience, if you wear the little road racer super suit and the helmet, drivers practically decapitate you with their side mirrors. I rode my bike back and forth to work for about four or five months, and the school bus drivers practically ran me off the road about three times a week. But if you skip the helmet, wear regular clothes topped by the flappy bright shirt, people actually slow down and go around you. For real! My theory is the more reckless I seem, the more careful the drivers are...silly, I know. But true. Now that I'm going to be putting on some serious miles, though, I'm going to have to relent at least on the helmet. But I might add a big waving fluorescent flag, or something..

Now, I like to add at least one picture to every post, so here it is:

I was matched up with a fellow art trader for a 1:1 trade on www.illustratedatcs.com, and she requested a two-headed woman. And, in exchange, she drew this way cool chick with a meat tattoo! But I don't have her permission to post it here..so if you're ever in my shop, ask me and I'll show you! There's another Art-A-Thon on that site next week, for five days straight! I'm gearing up already...Another pile of images, coming right up! Happy New Year!!

2011-12-06T08:21:00.001-08:00

My Open Studio was fantastic! The weather couldn't have been better and it was great that so many of my friends stopped by to do some shopping!

However, since it was Thanksgiving weekend, quite a few people who wanted to swing through were out of town so I'm doing it again!

My next Open Studio will be Saturday, December 17th, 11-4. I'm closing a little earlier, for two reasons: my pottery is gorgeous under natural light and the sun starts to go down at four these days, and that's also when I get hungry...

In the meantime, I'm leaving it all set up and working on other things - tattoo designs, ATCs, making Christmas gifts, and downright goofing off. So if the Open Studio day isn't convenient, email me and we can set up another time to stop by. I'm not tattooing again until after the 17th...

2011-11-22T18:38:00.001-08:00

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?

2011-11-09T07:33:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-11-07T09:52:00.000-08:00

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?

2011-11-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

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!

Art-A-Thon!

2011-10-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

For the first time, I'm participating in an Art-A-Thon Halloween weekend on illustratedATCs.com, and I've been bouncing off the walls about it for a few weeks now. Now it gets even better, because there's a big snowstorm on the way, unless of course, we lose power. Now that would kind of suck.

Fingers crossed, that doesn't happen. But in the meantime, I'm busting out Halloween themed illustrations all weekend! I started with this set of skulls made with tissue paper, gel medium, acrylic, and inks on illustration board. Then I moved on to pumpkinheads using the same method.

And that reminds me..I picked up a pumpkin to carve and this time I will have a proper video done that I will add here in a short, time lapsed format...fun, fun, fun!

IllustratedATCs.com Home Page!

2011-10-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

My Witchy Women made it to the Home Page of IllustratedATCs.com! Very cool. I am having the best time coming up with fun things for these swaps. I spent the morning tattooing, and I'm off the hook for painting the house as the rain rolls in, so now I can officially goof off for a little while and think about what I'm going to do for the next swap. Bookmarks!

2011-10-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

Here is the fourth and last image from this series. Brains! I never fail to feel as if I'm lobotomizing the pumpkin when I'm preparing to carve. Speaking of pumpkin carving, my plan is to record my next carving session. I've tried it once this year, and learned what not to do, so hopefully the next session will be a keeper and ready for showing off here...

A Month of Zombies

2011-10-06T17:50:00.000-07:00

So I'm gearing up for my very first Art-A-Thon on IllustratedATCs.com the weekend of Halloween. I drew up this series ahead of time and decided not to wait to trade them so I posted them on ATCsforAll.com. Tomorrow they are on their way to The Netherlands in exchange for a really creepy and beautiful set of similarly spooky-themed cards! It's so nice to get back to non-digital art forms. For the last few years, I've had caricature events heavily scheduled in the fall, but not this year. Tattooing has taken the place of the caricaturing at fairs and festivals - I've just been booking private parties. However, ATCs have been satisfying my need to handle actual pigments versus light...and I'm having fun exploring a slightly darker sense of humor..

revamping

2011-09-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

I'm in the throes of updating and revamping my website. Hopefully it will be finished in a couple of days...so far I've consolidated my Berkshire Caricatures pages, but I still have to tackle the Automotive Art, etc. (Not that it takes that long, but I have a house to paint when there's no threat of rain.)

I'll also be adding a page for my latest obsession, Artist Trading Cards. The American Gothic Pumpkinheads were for my first personal trade. Yes, I'm having a little TOO much fun with them. But after receiving yet another letter from an automobile manufacturer claiming my art infringes on their intellectual property, I'm more than done with ever painting another image of a car. So now what do I paint? I'm not sure, and playing with the ATCs is one way I'm trying to figure that out.

and by the way

2011-09-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

...if you find any grammatical or spelling errors, please let me know. I'm freaky particular about that sort of thing. Thanks!

almost

2011-09-20T17:44:00.000-07:00

I'm still attempting to get the wrinkles ironed out - if you double click the link for the bog, I mean blog, on my website, it brings you to the blogger site. However, if you only click the navigation link once, you end up on a basically blank page. hmm. ...

I think I'll tackle the issue with a fresh mind in the morning after much caffeine.

my new blog

2011-09-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try to create a landing spot for this before I start yapping..