Christmas ornaments and free winter/holiday LJ user icons!

Today's photos are ornaments I've received so far through an annual homemade Christmas ornament exchange organized by Amanda Snyder (thanks, Amanda!). A set of all the ornaments -- about 17 or so, I think? -- is going to be donated to the UK Fan Fund through Lissa Allcock, who has kindly volunteered to take them.

Click on any of the images for info, including who made them.



I've been investigating mailing list services because I've decided it's about time I set up a few notification lists. One for my Etsy shop, for example, to offer advance notice and special deals. Another for those who want to be notified about when certain comics are updated. And definitely one for those who want to know when my book(s) get published!



I want a mailing list service that is reliable and spam-free (e.g. does not accept customers who use it to send out unsolicited mail), automatically handles bounced mail, and that makes it super-easy for people to unsubscribe themselves.



Right now I'm considering iContact. I'm testing it out during a free trial period, and would greatly appreciate it if some of you could help me. In appreciation, I'll be including some winter/holiday-themed Livejournal icons in my test mailings to the list which you're free to use in your own LJs.



Your e-mail addresses will not be shared or used for any purpose other than this test. I'll be sending out 2-3 test mailings to the list and deleting the list after a week. Please let me know how easy it was to subscribe, unsubscribe (please try unsubscribing at least once), comments about the interface, etc.




Thanks so much! Please use the form below:




I'll be posting a review of iContact in an upcoming Blathering.

If you have any other mailing list services to recommend, please let me know. I don't mind paying a small monthly fee as long as the service is VERY reliable and has a good reputation for being spam-free and therefore not on any spam blacklists. One of the great things about iContact that I've found so far is that you can run your mailings through a "spam check" to see how spam-like they are; if your score is high, then it means your mailing is more likely to be flagged as spam.

Bounced address handling is also vital for me because I don't want to spend time administering those myself, but also don't want an e-mail address deleted from a list after bouncing just once -- it's possible that someone's mail server may be temporarily down, after all. iContact deletes after five bounces. I -do- want lists culled of dead addresses, though, so I have an accurate count of how many people are on each list.

Anyway, your help in testing this service would be much appreciated, thanks!



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Morning Rituals, dung beetles and vampire squirrels

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. Click image above to see a bigger version.

It's been strange in the mornings these past weeks. I usually wake up around 6 or 6:30 a.m. I leave the light off to avoid waking Jeff (though usually it's his alarm clock that's wakened me -- he hits snooze and keeps sleeping!) and make my way downstairs.

Earlier in the year, there used to be enough light at that time to make out the edges of the stairs but nowadays it's still pitch black. I've had a couple of mini-scares, slipping on the edge of a stair because I can't quite see it in the darkness, but I've been careful to hold onto the railing as I go down. The frosted glass panes in our bedroom door are cool-looking, but have the disadvantage of letting light through (so I can't turn on the hallway light without waking Jeff). I really need to train myself to carry a flashlight.



When I reach the kitchen, I make my tea. The sound of the hissing kettle is a morning comfort, especially when the air is chilly. These days my tea is usually Lady Grey tea (thanks, Talis!), part of Twinings Aromatics line; it's infused with the flavours of orange, lemon and bergamot. I like to add some steamed milk; I microwave about a 1/4 mug of milk for 30 seconds, use my milk frother, stir the steamed and frothy milk into my tea. Yummmm.

This morning I opted for some Cardamon Cinnamon tea that I just got from Beckett (thanks, Beckett!!!). I love spicy teas, and cinnamon is one of my favourite flavours/fragrances.

Anyway, I typically start work right away, taking a break around 10 a.m. to have a shower and some breakfast (I tend to work in my pjs until then). Sometimes I have two small breakfasts, like a hobbit: a yogurt and a piece of fruit first thing in the morning in front of my computer, then some cereal or some eggs later on.

I come up to say good-bye to Jeff when he leaves for work, then go back down to my office-cave. I -love- my office, especially since the arrival of my Sumo bean bag chair.

SURVEY:
So what's YOUR typical morning routine?

Speaking of Sumo chairs, I recently discovered that Sumo added my Blather-review to their site. Part of me is flattered but part is a tad unhappy -- they scooped my header, photos and text without permission. If they had asked, I would have said yes; they did include a link which is sending traffic my way (which is how I found out), but the breach in netiquette could have easily been avoided.

More Adventures In Painting

Above: my first experiment in using modeling paste, a Little Nightmare piece in progress. I mixed black acrylic paint with the paste and used a small palette knife to create the Little Nightmare shape. I'll be adding teeth and finishing the eyes, and perhaps adding some background. I'll probably sell this with a black matte, unless I decide to keep it for myself. Haven't decided yet.



Above: I'm also starting to experiment with different painting methods. This is my first "spattering" experiment, using the bristles of an old brush (an old toothbrush would be better, I know). I like the extra texture the technique adds.



Above: I was so pleased with how my cute and vaguely creepy mini-gallery turned out (thanks to Brooke Lunderville for buying this set!) that I've started a new series called Menagerie. I was inspired by some great little canvases that Jeff found for me: 4" x 4" but with (approx.) 1.5" sides. The sides are wide enough to paint or write something interesting upon, plus it means that paintings can stand unsupported on shelves/mantels for display. I use a Sharpie to draw the outline, add colour with acrylics, go over the lines with ink again, then add a layer of protective gloss varnish.

Anyway, I'm planning to cover all kinds of animals, insects and other creatures that I find fascinating -- some cute, some bizarre, some typically abhored. I'll be selling some of these in my Etsy shop. So far only the bunny's posted; I still need to finish painting and varnishing the others.

If you have any ideas for creatures I should paint, feel free to suggest them below! Making a suggestion does NOT obligate you to buy any paintings, of course. I'm just looking for ideas...especially creatures that aren't normally considered "cute."



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Nixie clocks, bpNichol and Little Nightmares

Above: Check out the Nixie Clock that my friend Parki made from nixie tubes (old vacuum tube displays). The clock uses the Make Controller's Ethernet capabilities to go online and check what the time is via Network Time Protocol. Read all about it in this Making Things post, where the clock is currently being featured. See Pull-Pull-Twist-Turn for info about Parki's other projects.

The Alphabet Game: A bpNichol Reader

I've posted an interview with Lori Emerson, one of the co-editors of The Alphabet Game: A bpNichol Reader on blogTO. I first grew curious about bpNichol when I discovered that the street behind Coach House Press in the Annex is called "bpNichol Lane" and read that an employee at Coach House regularly waters the word "LAKE." Not only did bpNichol write for Fraggle Rock (anyone remember that show?) but he also won the Governor General's Award for Poetry.

More acrylic paintings

I've some more paintings up in my Etsy store: one 6" x 6" painting and two tiny 2.75" x 2.75" paintings. All three are part of my Little Nightmare series. Click on any image below to see the corresponding Etsy page/info. I've also tweaked some of the prices in my shop this week.

The mini-paintings (if you'd like, I can include a magnetic strip to turn these into unique fridge magnets):

Mini Snowdance 2.75" x 2.75"

Mini Monster Family 2.75" x 2.75"

Little Nightmare: Snowdance (acrylics on 6"x6" canvas board)


Please note that I'm only shipping until this Friday. Any orders placed after that will be shipped in the New Year.



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Monster squirrels!

I'm starting to paint on slightly bigger canvases, as I've mentioned before. The Monster Squirrel above was done a 6" x 6" canvas board. I'm gradually doing real-life paintings of my Little Nightmare series. I like the idea of testing out ideas digitally in Corel Painter first to fiddle with colours and composition, then attempt them with real paints and a canvas.



I've been pretty busy lately, but I find that my acrylics painting helps keep me from getting too stressed...one more reason I'm not taking commissions, at least not yet. Right now it's pure FUN. I keep some of the paintings but there isn't room in my office for most of them, so then I post them for sale in my Etsy shop. I've sold 34 paintings through and outside of Etsy so far.

I learn as I go. Thanks for the encouragement and interest in my art, everyone! I've also just discovered WetCanvas, an online community for artists. I'm mainly interested in the acrylics board and the "general art business" board. All my experience has been in freelance writing so far, and I still feel pretty ignorant about art sales. Some fascinating discussions, and highly informative.

I'm also thinking offering some of my paintings with pre-cut matteboards (am I using that term correctly?) to fit, like this one:



My local art store doesn't seem to have pre-cut matte boards for square paintings, so I might have to order those online.

I also love the 4" x 4" x 1.5" canvases that Jeff picked up for me. Here's my first attempt ("Perchance To Dream"):



Because the sides are so thick, the paintings can stand up by themselves -- making them easier to display and also extending the canvas space I have to work with:



Anyway, the paintings above are or were all for sale in my Etsy shop; you can click on any of the images above to see the Etsy page for that item. I'm also getting into the habit of lowering the price on one or two items a week.

The line-ups at the post office are getting long, so I'm only going to be shipping orders that are placed by December 14th (this Friday). Any orders placed after that will be shipped after January 3rd. Sorry, but I -hate- line-ups and will happily sacrifice potential sales later this month to avoid them.

I'll be posting another small batch of paintings in a day or two after I finish some touch-ups.



Above: layering gesso over a painting that didn't turn out. I was experimenting with doing portraits of some of my nephews and nieces, but the portraits turned out horribly. Yet another reason to avoid commissions for now! In Corel Painter, it's easier to fix mistakes, plus I'm finding it way more fun to draw cartoon portraits than realistic.

I just bought a tube of Liquitex modelling paste and tried it out for the first time on the weekend, tinting it with acrylic colour. It's smelly but REALLY fun to work with. I'll post some photos of my first experiment soon.



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Cats, sleeping babies and painting

Above: this curious cat belongs to our friends Doug and Jen; I took the photo in low light conditions with my Sigma 30/1.4 lens. We were visiting D & J recently to see their new baby. I held her (the baby, not the cat) in my arms for a while until she fell asleep. There's nothing more peaceful than watching a baby sleep, in my opinion; the rest of the world just falls away. It's been a while since any of my nieces or nephews were this small, and I found myself just staring at her the whole time, marveling at the tiny fingers, the small movements of her mouth as she slept.



Paintings in progress.

Last night I discovered the best time to go holiday shopping at a toy store -- dinnertime! At least our local toy shop was almost empty, and it was packed with people earlier in the day.

I went to Cafe Pleiade (currently my favourite restaurant in Toronto) for dinner afterward as a treat to myself, then went home to paint. It's been a busy week and I've been letting myself get sucked into the whole pre-Christmas crazystress: too much to do (in terms of workstuff and Christmas-stuff), and not enough days.

So I decided to take some selfishtime for myself and do some painting. I'm still finding acrylic painting incredibly relaxing and totally absorbing.

One major difference between painting digitally and painting with real life acrylics is that you have to let paintings dry between layers, and that takes time. I found this frustrating at first but now I'm finding it one of the relaxing aspects; the process forces me to take my time, to pace myself.

Which is why I usually work on multiple paintings during a session. While I'm waiting for the white to dry on one painting, for example, I could be adding white to another.

I'm starting to move up to 6" x 6" canvases instead of just flat 4" x 4", mainly because our local art store is out of 4x4 canvas boards. Painting on a bigger canvas is more fun, I find, because I don't have to paint with such tiny strokes. Hm...I'm already eyeing 8x8 and 10x10 canvases now. :-)

The girl with purple hair is painted on a new canvas shape I'm experimenting with - 4" x 4", but 1 3/4" thick. Jeff found this, and I asked him to get a bunch because I was so intrigued by the shape. You can stand the canvas up to display it instead of hanging it, though you can still hang it if you want.

I hope to finish these this weekend and put some of them up for sale on my Etsy shop.



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