pixels, light and hot wax

Sunset in the Gulf of Mexico

For Photo Friday: Sundown

One of my favorite portraits, which has never gotten properly featured, not being genre or fashion.

I’m back from Norwescon 34, and as I always am after a good convention, came home with a head full of project ideas (more webcomic ideas that will take forever! Playing with metal!) and a long list of new books to read.  While I was not as social as would’ve liked due to throwing my back out on the first day of the convention, I still got to see most of my “con people”, as well as meet some new folks. I spent most of my time (other than the collapsed in the hotel room) in programming and the Art Show.

Art Show: This year’s art show has home to  lots of really stunning art; it seemed to me to have a higher percentage of professional game illustrators than in years past.  Sales, at least for me, were reasonable if not spectacular, and I was especially pleased that some of the brand new pieces were the ones to find new homes. (Now only 1 Tentacles necklace left, and I probably won’t be getting more made this year.)
However, my favorite art show experience this year was leading my daughters on a personal tour, where they made sure to look at every cat with wings and dragon possible, and the elder made her first art purchase of original art (a very small colored pencil piece by John P. Alexander.)  While I yearned to bring some of Artist GOH Kinuko Craft’s work home, that was not to be. *sigh*.

Programming:

I made my first foray into actually attending the music track programming, and was thereby introduced to Nerdcore; I’ve been grooving on Death*Star, Optimus Rhyme, and Ultraklystron ever since, and regard this as possibly the most awesome thing to happen at the convention this year.

My other favorite panel, besides the four I was on, was on unusual art techniques you could do at home, courtesy of Fish, Mark Roland, and Neil Duttkin. This is the cause of all my new ideas about ways to play with metal that involve sharp objects and stinky chemicals, and a probable trip to TAP Plastics.

I went to two especially awesome readings, which of course resulted in new things added to be TBR pile: Kelley Eskridge’s Solitaire, which was an amazingly visceral experience, and the Boilerplate “History of a Victorian-era Robot” … history? enhanced history? book.

My panels went well, I think, even the one where I appeared as a stand-in for my partner, who was stuck in traffic on 520, but I don’t know that there is much to say about them here.

Just as a quick update, if you want to see my work in person:

• next weekend, fantasy and science fiction at Norwescon (Sea-Tac); I will also be on a few panels
• 4 of my Lumen prints will be in the Photographic Center Northwest‘s Alumni New Work Show (Seattle) June 3 – July 15, 2011
• Several different bodies of work simultaneously at the Night Kitchen, June-ish

Also, in honor of finding another awesome octopus photograph while going through my older film work, May will be Sealife Appreciation Month, with 15% off anything that lives in the briny deep (it was originally going to be Tentacle Appreciation Month, but the starfish felt left out.) I will also be posting 3 or 4 lovely tidepool-denizen photographs that are not yet online, plus the aforementioned octopus.

(The Aforementioned Octopus would be such an awesome band name.)

(some of this will be redundant to the LJ crowd, sorry)

3.5 digital pieces just added to my online portfolio. I may or may not have some of them as prints for Norwescon; not sure yet.

And secondly, a new artfire collection:

(that blue pearl bracelet? Someday will be mine. Er, if she can make it fit my mighty wrists.)

And speaking of my artfire, some pieces (mostly necklaces and some limited edition prints) are about to be made inactive so I can be certain I *have* them for Norwescon, so if you were dallying for some reason, you might want to jump now.
Also, I will *deliver* to Norwescon; just put a note in when you order. That does include the large framed floralscapes.

Gosh, it’s been a while. So, to sum up:

1. I will be a pro at Norwescon in 4 weeks; my panel discussions are all on Friday, and I will have stuff up in the Art Show. Should you be a con-goer who wishes something delivered, I will deliver to Norwescon.

2. A La Carte Albums is rapidly growing from my sideline into my full-on job. Which is both awesome in general, and slightly sad in that it means that at the end of a work day, the last thing I want to do is Photoshop, so there hasn’t been much/any new work worth showing in several months. (Though I’m hoping to have new traditional media pieces ready for Norwescon)

3. One of my pieces has risen from the depths of the flat file to become the cover for Nancy Fulda’s Backlash (e-book available at Smashwords) Originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, this novelette was listed in Tangent Online’s 2010 recommended reading list. It is also *exactly* the kind of story I had in mind when I created the piece, which gives me a very happy feeling. On a similar note, most fitting use of another of my older pieces at AnthologyBuilder is Ruth Nestvold’s anthology “Give that Girl a Sword!”

4. I will be showing a mix of work at The Night Kitchen in May-June

5. I will be attending Encausticamp, so there should be some waxy goodness to see come August.

My lab is currently running a 2 for 1 sale on prints of 16×16 and above, and I believe in passing these things on. So if you ever wanted two of my large works — or perhaps one for you and one for a friend? Get me an order before January 25th.

(Perhaps this one, which is at its stunning best when printed 24×36?)

(or this one, which is awesome at 16×16 or 20×20?)

Both pieces (and others) can currently be viewed at Balderdash Art and Books on Greenwood Ave all month.

Send me e-mail at sales AT jepphoto.com, and I will make you a custom invoice.

(Does not apply to MetalPrints)

I will be showing a selection of the large-scale botanical abstract photographs at Balderdash Books and Art this January, starting the 3rd, and including an appearance at the Greenwood-Phinney ArtUp! Art Walk on Friday the 14th, if you want to see the art and my goofy face in the same place.

Queen of the Night Tulip

*cue Bing Crosby and fake snowflakes*

I have, at of course entirely the last minute, found, and added to the A La Carte product line, these adorable mini albums; they come in sets of 3 and are surprisingly affordable:

$50 for a set of three with linen or leatherette covers, or $60 with a photo cover. They can accommodate 4-10 images in the design; hi-res copies of the post-processed versions of your images are, as always, included.

Also, they have a super-fast turnaround, so I can take orders up until Dec. 12th and still deliver by Christmas (in the U.S.)

And for the Special in the holiday special, right now I am waiving the design fee on these entirely (normally $20), or I will make you a set FREE with an album design order of 72 images or more until the end of the year.

(I know what how my folks are getting their yearly “pictures of the grandkids” dose this year! Luckily, none of them read my blog.)