Dotee Dolls!

Now there is the cutest fad going around in the crafty art doll and Swapping world--Dotee Dolls! They are little finger long dolls shaped rather like Good n Plentys with faces, beaded tails and fancy hair, with a loop to hang them. Here are two I made for a swap on Swap-bot:















The next picture is of three other dolls I made for swaps--the two on the sides are "icicle dolls" and the little one in the center was for a Goddess Doll Swap:


They're fun and easy to make, quick because they are small, but no limit on how much embellishment you can add to make them really special!

My First Juried Exhibition!

Ok, here I am grinning ear to ear with my very first entry accepted into a juried art show!

The 65th Annual Connecticut Artists Juried Exhibition at the Slater Museum in Norwich, CT. This was my third try to enter something into this local but prestigious (to me!) show.

The piece is a collage called Circular Generation and it's composition came from a collection of circular and flowing items that are arranged to represent the circular flow of life itself, from the little ways day-to day activities can lead us back to beginnings and the large circle of life where we all return to the beginning one way or another. It's a little piece with a lot of meaning.

Here's a close-up:

How to Become a "Real " Artist

That's the question. I've been pondering this concept for a while now, and having just had my first artwork accepted into a major (for our area) Museum Art Show, I feel like I can take the whole thing more seriously.

I subscribe to three Art business newsletters:

Fineartviews by Clint Watson

Robert Genn's Twice Weekly Letter

and just newly subscribed to: Art Marketing Action newsletter from Alyson B. Stanfield
Here's info about her new book:
I'd Rather Be In the Studio: The Artists No-excuse Guide to Self Promotion(.pdf)

They communicate with each other, so they contribute to each others' information to confirm and recommend the best ways to work out the business of being an artist.

It's a little overwhelming at times, and sometimes I feel like I'm reading and researching too much and not making art enough, so I have to make some decisions. Winter has been a time for research and pondering though, so as spring peeks around the corner, I'm making more plans to do art instead of just thinking and talking about it.

No Time, oil on canvas, 13.5" x 15.5"

Last lunar eclipse till 2010

I caught this one picture of the lunar eclipse starting tonight, no tripod, I had to use my car!

ArtandCraftAuctions

I've listed a collage on the new website to be part of it all, I have to work on gathering other pieces to list this week, so watch for them.

This is the site for my current piece listed today

"Eye of the Storm"
mixed media, 11" x 8.5"

New Auction site for Art only!

Well, Ebay pissed off enough people to get boycotted this week, and to send many of the self-representing artists scrambling to create a home of their own. It's http://www.artandcraftauctions.com/ and should be up and running sometime this afternoon.

It's going to be an auction site where only Fine Arts and Crafts and supplies will be up for bid, and no big corporate businesses, powersellers with a zillion satelite sellers scattered all over, but the real artists themselves.

I'm hoping I can get in with some of mine to help get them off the ground, I know the 250 charter members will be rushing the "doors" this afternoon to register and get in, so check them out a little later on when things have quieted down somewhat.

Later!