pixels, light and hot wax

Some of you may remember the “Water Sale” I had a few years back after a plumbing leak did bad bad things to my studio, including offing a number of framed pieces. I found a much better place (I thought) to store my framed work after that.

Out water heater, however, had other ideas; also the difficult to discern and yet far from level slope of the storage room, resulting in my neat-and-dry location getting splashed and soggy.

I *might* be selling salvaged prints at a discount (frames are definitely toast, mats are suspicious, prints should be fine as long as I remove them ASAP), but I’ve not yet decided; at a certain point it just becomes One More Thing To Do on an already too long list.

And, unfortunately, I cannot just decree “No More Framed Work” because I’ve got honest to goodness SHOWS this year of the type where you don’t just hang a bagged, matted print on pegboard. Metal Prints are looking better all the time, despite the hideous price tag.

Just one darn thing after another, you know?

My beloved computer has been acting … strangely. Fine for ages, then stuttering and crashing at widely spaced intervals that lull me into complacency.

This morning, I launched my e-mail program, and it asked me to set up my e-mail account(s) anew.

I do not yet know how much has been lost, or where else data has been lost; I do have a good backup protocol in place for the last few months (via Backblaze), but the tricky bit is going to be figuring out what, amongst a terabyte of data, needs to be restored. This also means dredged through the scraps of data to find current addresses to contact clients if they are affected, after I figure out if they are affected. While it is not the worst possible time for this to happen, it’s not far from it.

I will probably be even less communicative than usual for the next few weeks as this gets sorted out.

One (winner’s choice) print is being auctioned as part of the “Save Dave’s House” effort. This is a chance to get *any* of my fine art prints, sized up to 12×18. Starting bid is $10. Bids close at midnight on Halloween, PST.

My auction is here
All the auctions are here.
Here is the story of why

I’ve added links in the galleries to works that are available for use as covers at AnthologyBuilder, and am also sending them off a fresh batch.  I haven’t decided what to do yet about the works they have available for covers that aren’t in the galleries yet — many of them just don’t really *fit* in.  I’ve also addes some new shirts at RedBubble and fixed the link so you can actually get to the Coalesce shirt instead of going to Cosmic Cat (oops.)

Also, I have now made two of my flower photographs available as prints through RedBubble, which is a sign of victory over my inner control freak.

And because an art blog without new images is a sad, sad thing, a fresh doodle from my sketchbook:

Traveling by Braid and Butterfly

Theresa of Living Tree Massage has been nominated for the “Best of Western Washington” awards AND is running a truly amazing sale right now – 5 hour long massages for $100.

Today is Outer Alliance Pride Day.

Mission statement: As a member of the Outer Alliance, I advocate for queer speculative fiction and those who create, publish and support it, whatever their sexual orientation and gender identity. I make sure this is reflected in my actions and my work.

But I must admit, I have not been doing so well on that last sentence, and, frankly, I’m hoping that the existence of the Outer Alliance will help with that. While in general, I am not prolific with the finished works, the many many pages of sketches and diagrams for queer sf art in my notebooks are the ones least likely to be “planted”; at some basic level, I’m still scared of showing the work. (Considering I’ve been out for 18 years now, that’s pretty darn pathetic.)

So go check the post, and read lots of wonderful entries full of queer speculative fiction; hopefully next year, I will have some art to show.

According to the New York Times, people like me are now a trend:

On to Plan B: Starting a Business.

Whee!

Even though doing art and art services full-time was definitely not my plan for 2009, there is a lot about it I am really enjoying, especially getting to put my (scrupulously gloved) fingers on other people’s art; just this morning I sent off a packet of fabulous giclees of Salsa Dancing paintings to Alla Bespalov, and I’m in intial talks with a woman who does lovely watercolor florals.

Also, my mailbox today produced test prints from a new lab that is wooing me (it does feel nice to be wooed. It would feel nicer if they didn’t block up their shadows, though…) and a copy of Kelly McKernan’s 30 Paintings; it’s nice to be able to see on paper, even if only reproduction, this series I have been watching develop. I am particularly impressed with her very distinctive blending of photography and painting; also, between her and Laura Pelick, I become increasingly impatient to try working on tea-stained paper.

My oldest daughter starts kindergarten in exactly one week, which will mean that I will no longer trying to be an almost full-time artist/business person and an almost full-time stay at home mom; I expect my stress level to drop considerably, and might actually be able to finish the new pieces I’m hoping to show at Foolscap.

To celebrate the anniversary of the moon landing, RedBubble is taking 15% off all t-shirts until midnight on Thursday the 30th. Free shipping if you buy 5.

Go look at my shirts
and, to spread the love, go see my faboo client Lynnette’s here. I’m eyeing this Buddha with Dragons shirt, too.

The big point of this website underpinning overhaul and data entry madness I’ve been doing this weekend was supposed to be to get my photography up on my fine art site (well, and make it easier for people to buy stuff.)

So far, no photography up, but I have added an entirely unplanned sketchbook section, removed several photoillustrations, and found a whole cache of mixed media work that I had forgotten even existed that just cried out of be added RIGHT NOW.

*blink*

And now I don’t want to do any more data entry, I want to go paint. or draw. Something messy. (And speaking of right now, I’m doing my editing live. So the additions are there to be seen right now. And yes, I know about the bug where it tempts you with a shopping cart link for not-for-sale pieces, and we’ll be fixing that soon.)

After many years of faithful service, Ellen Millions Fantasy Art Shop is closing. Which means if you actually want one of the five designs of mine available from there on a shirt/mousepad/keychain/button/apron/etc. the time to do it is NOW.

While I will eventually probably do at least t-shirts for all my genre work through some print on demand service, it’s not a super-high priority, and I don’t know that I will go with someplace that offers all the things that Ellen did.

Go buy stuff!:

And, and for those of you who keep coveting my “Biting Pear of Salamanca” shirt (the original art behind the LOLWUT pear), this is where to get it.