Award-sies

One of my very favorite kinds of recognition is from other artists. Especially ones I admire. This morning I found that Leen Christens, who I recently "discovered" through Illustration Friday, left me a wonderful award at her blog.


Apparently, the way this works is that now I have to list 15 of my favorite "lovely" blogs. This is actually a great way to introduce those who are interested to several fantastic artists, so I have no problem with taking a little time to do so! Go check out Leen's blog as well as Jenny's, Enchanted Moon Illustration, who gave this award to Leen before she passed it on!
She has a list of very talented artists, too. I could spend all day looking from list to list if only I didn't have to work! Arg...

So here's my list to pass on, just in case you haven't already checked out my reading list over there. You don't have to pass it on if you don't want to. And if I didn't mention you, don't worry, I still love you, but it would take all day to post all my favorites!

Diana Evans

Abigail Halpin - Illustration

Bella Sinclair Doodlespot

Beth's Artworx

cori dantini makes...

dori the giant

Ice-Cream Monster Toon Cafe

kathy hare illustration

Lisa Snellings

Rebekah Leigh

Sandygrafik

Shirley's Illustrations

The Crooked Stamper

Woodstock Lily

white octopus illustration

Enjoy!

Thief! No, not you...

So I was perusing blogs today, and one of the blogs I went to was Amanda Raquel Worr's because I love, love, love her artwork. She had some information about books and resources to help budding illustrators, and illustrators who are having a hard time getting published.

One of the things she linked to is a blog called Escape from Illustration Island. I had actually come across this blog some time ago, and then as my 4-year old attention span is wont to do, I promptly forgot about it, so I was thrilled to make its re-acquaintance, so to speak. (Thanks Ms Worr!)
EII has lots of good info about copyrights and other legal stuff for artists. As I was reading through some of the older posts I found a link to an article about artist Chris Buzelli (again, love his stuff too!) who had a problem with a blogger at smartplanet.com who used one of Chris's pieces without permission.  Chris called for a "posse" after getting a somewhat snarky reply from the offender. Go here and read the comments to see what ensued.

Now, I get that it's really easy to find works online that you like and want to use for a variety of reasons.  I'm sure we've all seen a picture here or there that we want to use to illustrate a story or whatever. The point is that "right clicking" a piece and saving it to copy and use is, most of the time, illegal. There are some "unless-es". And sometimes, no matter how you dig, you can't ever find who actually took a picture or how to contact them.
But really, the effort should be made. I think most people would say okay to using something if they were contacted properly and credit would be given.  (Unless someone has already purchased the rights to said image, of course.) I know I am guilty of it as well... but I think what really gets me is that, to me,  it's one thing if it's some kind of generic picture that is plastered and  re-plastered all over the internet (I know, legally it's probably not, but hello - LOLcats anyone?) but to use someone's artwork is a whole different deal. And the fact that once contacted the "thief's" response was rude and uninformed was really too much. If someone ever contacted me like that about something I posted, I would take it down immediately and profusely apologize. End of story. And I would expect the same consideration. Not that anyone has. So far. (I guess I'm not famous enough, huh?!)

Anyway, it's an interesting and informative read for you artists out there. Check it out.

Oh yah, how do you like my new "kids"?

A Little Randomness aka "the Stolen Meme"

I am so far behind on my reading of other people's blogs - it's redonkulous! So I am randomly going through blogs and picking random old posts and checking stuff out and while I'm at Dances With God I find this gem of a meme. It's usually one of those things that you do and then "tag" someone to do it also. Well, I'm not tagging anyone, I just thought it was fun. But hey, if you wanna, you sure can do it too!
(Thanks Pastor Sharon...by way of Reddirt Woman, who also has a lovely blog!)


1. What's your favorite article of clothing? An oversized black baggy sweater with pockets. I wear it all the time so even though it's relatively new it doesn't look like it anymore!

2. Who was the last person you hugged? The hubs.

3. What's your favorite dinner? Pizza. No- Mexican. No, wait! Italian. No...wait! Um...too many things to decide. Depends on my mood.

4. What's the last thing you bought? This bag. In red. (On sale, at least) I'm a junkie. Someone help me!

5. How's your head feeling right now? Ok. My back now...that's a whole different story...

6. What's your favorite weather? Late spring, when it's warm but not too.

7. What is your least favorite season? Winter. I'm so not a cold weather person! (S.A.M. is, but he's ca-ray-zee!)

8. What's in your purse? Oh my gosh. Everything. My wallet, emergency makeup, gum, cell phone, iPod, antacids, Tylenol, gum, old movie ticket stubs (go see Sherlock Holmes, awesome!), more gum, coffee stand cards...and I'm sure about 47 more things I've forgotten.

9. Say something to the person who tagged you. Well...since I stole this, I guess this one doesn't count!

10. What is your favorite dessert? Gobi. Oh wait, that's 2 s's, i'nt it? (Ha!) Well, I'm not much of a dessert person, but I would have to choose either Key Lime pie or pumpkin pie.

11. What did you want to become as a child? Not so much a what as a who. I seriously wanted to be Shirley Jones.

12. What do you want to be now? A full-time artist. ...sigh...

13. What is your favorite song? Oh goodness, I love all kinds of music, I don't know if I could pick just one. But some of my faves are "And Dream of Sheep" - Kate Bush; "All Will Be Well" - Gabe Dixon; "Consolation Prizes" -Phoenix; "Cobrastyle" -Teddybears; "Feel Good, Inc" -Gorillaz; "My Divided Falling" -3.

14. What is your favorite country/state? I would have to say USA. I haven't been to a lot of different states so I don't know if I would prefer one over Washington. I need to travel some more and get back to you on that.

15. If you could go anywhere in the world in the next hour, where would you go? To see my parents. Or Machu Picchu.

16. What are my most challenging goals right now? Figuring out how to make my business/art work profitable.

17. What is your five-year plan? Getting my business/art work profitable!

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Uh...sport? What is this "sport" that you speak of? Oh, um, if I have to watch sports it would be baseball.

19. What show would you be a cast member of? Fringe. Or Sanctuary. Or CSI (the original one).

20. What is your most prized possession? Material possession? My laptop. It has all my artwork on it.

21. Name a favorite childhood memory. When I was little, maybe 3, my parents took me "ice skating" down a street next to the lake near our house. I remember them holding my hands, one on each side, as we slid down the street on our shoes, in the cold.

22. What is your favorite movie? Field of Dreams. A Walk In the Clouds. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

23. What is your favorite quote? "You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in" - Arlo Guthrie.

24. What is your favorite book? Yah...how much time do you have? Okay - Anything by Sherri Tepper. Dean Koontz's "Lightening". Stephen King's "The Stand". And about 400 others.

25. What sport would you compare your life to at this time? Mountain climbing!...but I'm gettin' there!

Opportunity Knocked

So I got a lovely email from a Duchess Erickson at Artbeads.com who saw my jewelry and that I have a blog and asked if I would be interested in participating in a program they have where they send samples to some jewelry makers/bloggers and have them talk about the products and use them. I thought this would be fun and give me extra stuff to blog about, so I said "sure"!
This month, apparently, is Swarovski crystal month! Yea!
(Of course, the really funny thing is I just ordered a whole bunch of Swarovski from another bead company but, shhh, I won't tell if you don't. That's okay, though, I love them and will use them all!)

Anyway, I'll let you know what I get when I get 'em and maybe have some more pretty stuff to show!

Being the crow girl that I am, I love all things sparkly! Here's some interesting Swarovski stuff I found online:

On A Break

So we (the Hubs and I) have been going to a lot of classes and exhibits in Vegas for this NAB thing. It's been interesting, even though most of it is not relevant for me. (I'm thinking I may get more out of SIGGRAPH, because it's more for designers, graphics people, artists, etc and I would love to go this year because it's in N'awlins, but alas - I can't. Maybe next year...but it will be in LA.)
Anyway...we've been doing a lot of running around. A little shopping. No shows. Most importantly no Elvis...sigh... and halfway through the day yesterday I realized - I forgot my camera! Oh well, we have not seen much worth taking pix of anyway.
Tomorrow we are going to see the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor, however, and that should be way cool.

And I found out I won a prize! Yea, me! No not here at Vegas, but on a lovely blog by my friend Midlife Slices! I have no idea what it is yet, but I really don't care. I just love the fact that I guessed something right and won a prize. The only thing I ever won were tickets to a Richard Marx concert back in oh, must have been '91?, from a radio station giveaway. It was cool, at the time. But this is more cool. Cool-er?
Anyway, if you haven't found Midlife Slices yet, in your blogging about town, check her out. She's a read-headed riot!

Somebody I've never met thinks I'm...

So I'm perusing the interwebs today and reading some of my favorite blogs and found this on one of them today. I thought, sure, I'd love to see what my blog says about me (aside from the obvious, of course). Their take on this blog, and myself, is as follows:


They say I am The Performer

The entertaining and friendly type (well, I like to think I'm entertaining). They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors (no, actually I prefer to have calm earth tones around me, although I do like color in my art work, so maybe they are not too far off...) and sweet smells (only some, actually, as I get migraines easily). They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead (well, duh...'cause tomorrow I have to clean house and pay bills!)- they are always in risk of exhausting themselves (true, I never get enough sleep, but mostly 'cause I'm up late watching this show...).

They enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way (yah, but mostly I want to help them buy my stuff). They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation (well, that just goes to show they don't know me at all)- qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions (like I'd even want to be a manager where I work!).

Huh. Well, it was interesting for about 2 minutes.

No new artwork today. Sorry. Still working on Dorothy.

PS. that room picture is not my house. I just wish it was!

sevenmeme

So I'm perusing Words of Wisdom from a Smart Mouthed Broad today and she has this meme thing going. Sounded like fun, so I thought hey, what the heck, I'll give it a try! The idea is to list 7 random things about myself. You may or may not find them interesting. Or funny. Or just plain sad....

1: I am (not so) secretly doing this from work today.

2: If I had lots of money, and a bigger bedroom...and higher ceilings... I would buy this bed. Which probably says a lot about me, actually.

3: I once played Tuptim in a community theater production of "The King and I". Now, that may not sound strange until you realize that Tuptim was Burmese. I am not Burmese. I am a very German-looking white girl. But at the time I was the only one in the company that could hit the high notes.

4: I am allergic to garlic. No, I am not a vampire.

5: I am a huge Stargate fan.

6: In another life I want to live in Arizona and paint pictures of the ocean until I'm old-old and then move to Carmel and paint pictures of the desert.

7: I am only 5 degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon. We can discuss that at a later date.

And now, a random picture. My niece, Evelyn (thanks, Dad!). She is a cutie.