The shop is reloaded!

I had one of those AAAGH! moments this afternoon when I realized that my lovely Etsy shop, the one I had just directed over 90 people on my mailing list to, had gone empty.
(gasp, ack, ack, wheeze.)

Well, it's looking much better now, and in fact I'm quite pleased with the selections.  Here are a few samplings:







 Arkonbey hadn't even seen "Cat helps with the Harvest" yet.  There are always so many little pieces of art around here, it's no wonder I'm slow to inventory everything!  Etsy is actually helping me bring everything into line.  Thank goodness, that means more art for you guys.


Cheers!

Here's a little test card Arkonbey made for me tonight.  Deciding that the original cat-face cards were better, we're going to shelve this design for now, but hopefully use it for something different in the future.

(Phone blotted out, thus the little squiggles under my name.)

Arkobey found the sketch on a scrap of paper drifting about the house

One of the cats from my current business cards

In other news, I scanned in a bunch of new small paintings today, some of which are destined for the Etsy shop, and of course OPEN STUDIO WEEKEND is coming right up.  Ai!

Saturday night Works in Progress

Saturday night Works in Progress, a set on Flickr.

Actually using my camera today. Fantastic having that little thing around, especially when I remember it's here.

A good day overall, with the garage clean-out underway; delicious food consumed, good summer read finished, and wine now in hand.

Hurrah for Saturday!

Via Flickr:
The last few in the set have been in progress for more than a few months, the watercolors are all recent.

©Sweet Enemy Art

Two days after Easter, a haiku:

Photo on 2011-04-26 at 21.23, a photo by Sweet Enemy Art on Flickr.

Thunder and lightning

Almost all the candy gone

Cat is at my feet


I know, I know. I shouldn't have eaten the entire chocolate bunny with the marshmallow center, but it was hard to stop.

Let's just put it out there right now: I'm worse than a kid when it comes to eating candy responsibly. Can I claim that the lightning storm kept me out of the studio, so I had nothing better to do? Still, I managed to think up a haiku, in honor of National Poetry Month!

Taking a tip from a friend

Taking a tip from an astrologically-minded friend, I'm doing my best not to start anything new this week, but rather to make an attempt at finishing works.  So far I've worked on four paintings and a drawing since yesterday, which is just the top of the pile.  

To keep the work happening, I'm staying offline as long as possible.  (Beyond these two short check-ins today.)

This is where I am thankful for unabridged audio books keeping me at the desk, especially as I'm tethered with headphones to keep from disturbing Arkonbey as he tries to sleep downstairs.  First was "Poirot Investigates:  11 Hercule Poirot Mysteries by Agatha Christie", read by the fantastic David Suchet.  And now I'm on disc 2 of Bill Bryson's "At Home."  Disc 2 of 13 total!  I'll be able to ride this one for the whole week!

dress me UP!

Hey, did you know you can sample the "Dress Me Up" show online, whenever you fancy?  And oh, you certainly may have to get fancy with this, because there are so many deliciously silly possibilities.

Arkonbey pulled all our gifs together into one big happy Flash interactive, and here it is!

Speaking of "here it is"  HERE at last, in full, are the two costumes I designed for the event.  And it looks like I'll have loan of them for Open Studio Weekend as well.  (Thanks Christy!)

Fox and Rabbit Dress  (Responsible fur!) 

Aquarium Dress

Another action-packed week, and April is up and running.

Father loves good ale... from Granfa Grig by Wallace Tripp, image from http://simchafisher.files.wordpress.com

KW and I made it to the Wallace Tripp exhibit at Lyndon State College on Monday, despite the sleet storm that we followed all the way there.  After a brown-bag lunch in the student lounge, we tried finding a.) the bathrooms and b.) the gallery.

If you saw the same two women going up and down the hall past your office, oh, I don't know... maybe eight times?  That was us.

But we did find the gallery.  However, it was dark & locked up!  Ahh, college galleries.  Fortunately one of the staff happened by as he was touching up paint, and kindly let us in.  The look of panic on our faces when he asked if we'd be "about ten minutes?" probably tipped him off that he'd best give us a good deal longer.

Wallace Tripp's Wurst Seller; image from http://characterdesignnotes.blogspot.com

It's in a very small room, with only some pieces titled and few dates if any, but we could easily have stayed for an hour or two.  Of course I left my camera behind.  But to give you a refresher on his work, don't forget this blog.  Some of the pieces were from books, some from his greeting card company "PawPrints Press" and some were personal works.  All were wonderful.  It was hard to choose just one favorite, I would have gladly brought them all home, had they been for sale (and had I the money!)


Since our visit had to be quick, we went to the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, just 20 minutes away, which I highly recommend.  KW had been before and seen the art exhibit, but alas, when we arrived the Athenaeum where the exhibit is housed was closed for renovations.  The library itself was certainly worth the trip, however, and the sweetest most earnest docent in the world gave us every ounce of information she could muster regarding the collection, and the renovation, and more and more.  KW said she learned more in this visit than in her previous three!  Take a digital tour here, but try to get up there this Fall!

Today I spent mostly soaking up more art marketing information, at the VT Crafts Council Open Studio Weekend Seminar.  whew.  And another seminar next week.  Ai!  Now it's time to get back to that drawing I started last night...