Back Home…

It’s always busy when I get back home…there’s the usual going over the sales, credit slips, checks, banking, over-sales, where I need to order stuff to ship out because I ran out, etc.  And that’s not even including unloading the van…which can take several days just because I don’t get in a hurry!  Going out on the road is tiring work.

My poor neglected blog…well, on Friday I did do some dye painting/screening on the start of a new piece in the series “…But Words Will Never Hurt Me”. I don’t know if it goes beyond this one or not…perhaps. Tomorrow I will put the finishing touches on #2 that will be shipped out this week for the Fiber 2010 show in St. Charles, MO. I just need to put my label with all the artist info on the back, cut the pool noodle the right length for shipping and it will be ready to go.

This is the week I must finish boring taxes. I am working on getting all of my business information together…that is the biggest job. Then I just drop it off to the cpa. Oh but how I hate paperwork…

I’m toying around with the idea of creating some ACEO’s for art fairs. And they may not be fiber either. I have been perusing ebay to see what people are doing and selling…I’m also doing some buying. :=) There is some interesting talent on there. I find myself drawn to bright colors and funky drawings of objects and even some realism, although I still don’t want to do that myself. Wonder why I would like the bright playful colors?

Ok, I’ll share one picture of some drawings I’m playing with.

Well, I didn’t say it was good….I’m just playing around!  I added the “stitches” to see if I would like the interest they might add and explore the possibility of them becoming a trademark.

Odds And Ends…

There are times in my life (and I’m sure in yours too) when there are too many little detailed things to have to take care of…I think it must be called…Life. Tax time is one of them. For some reason, I can never be early. I have to be getting them out right around The Day. I even took them in a bit earlier, but I guess my cpa was pretty busy this year so it took her awhile. I finally got them out on the 14th. I also have to pay sales tax this month and have been waiting for checks to arrive so I can pay that. One of my election judge friends last week begged me to take a Photoshop class with her because there was a bit of a drive and she didn’t want to go alone. The price was definitely right ($20), so I signed up. We went Tuesday night and I learned SO much. I’m glad I went. We will do the second night tonight. Now, I only have Photoshop Elements 5 on my computer, but I found many of the same functions we learned about in my software and I am very pleased about that. Some of them are in different places, but I was able to locate them and do the same things we did in class. Let’s see if I can show you a photo I played with. My neighbors planted a bunch of sunflowers next to our yard a couple of years ago. I photographed them green as well as when they turned.

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I take a lot of pictures. I have always been a bit of a nature nut, seeking out the woods and the river whenever I wanted to be alone and think. And I have always taken pictures of things in nature. This hobby now comes in very handy with my art also. I love to take a photograph and use it as a jumping off place to start a new art piece. I don’t do realism, but I like to abstract whatever is in the photo. I think Photoshop will be another tool I can use in making my art…all for a $20 bill and a few hours well spent with a friend. (Well I did pay for the software too, but that was minimal.)