It's Too Little To Be Out On It's Own!

It is simultaneously nerve-wracking and very cool to see a piece of one's art all neatly signed and framed for the first time.  It makes it somehow really... Art... or something.

The first of the Foxenwood pieces to leave home has packed up and gone off to make it's way in the world.  This would be the piece from the other day.  It's scary, as this will be the first piece that someone besides myself and the boy have ever seen in person.  The first one to venture out of the nest, as it were.  I worry for it.  Is it going to a good home?  Will it be appreciated?  Will it be loved?  Or will it be glanced at and tossed into a little pile somewhere, left to collect dust and be forgotten.

I suppose every artist feels this way about sending their work out for the first time.  I mean, my jewelry is art, but I was never as attached to it as I am to the Foxentrees.  These are my babies, and I worry for them.  Moreso as this is a present for someone who has never seen them, and I have no gauge on how they will respond to it.  It was just one of those gut "I need to do this" things.

I think I'd be less anxious if it was a print that had gone out, instead of the original (and only) one.  The only record that I have of it is in my memory and the photograph that I took of it the other day, while it was drying.   Somehow that it's the only one of it's kind makes it all the more twitchy.

*sigh*

I do hope she likes it...

A Little Party

The residents of the Foxenwood are apparently very pushy when they get together for a common goal.

Earlier today there was a post from someone, and it made them sad, so they demanded in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that I was to put together a present in their name (they not having thumbs, or really even, ya know, corporeal forms) and make with the sending of presents.

*sigh*

My art, it abuses me horribly.

So yeah, some time this week there will be another trip back up to Michael's for matting, and then there will be mailing.  *grumbles damned pushy art*  ;)  (It's a little dark as it's still too wet to scan, so I just used the camera.)

A Party in the Foxenwood

(Though, looking at it, I think perhaps I spent a little too much time reading Winnie-the-Pooh as a child.  I'm noticing a slight stylistic similarity, here...)

Ooh! Color!

The other day I finally managed to get Wotan hooked up to print wirelessly (though I still can't figure out how to get it to operate the scanner wirelessly) and scanned the Foxenwood in.  I learned several things doing this, high among them that all the ones done in pencil will need to be redone in ink.  Pencil scans terribly.  I also learned that I need to continue to tweak the "office" setup a little more, as it's still a bit inefficient.  Not badly, and the swapping out of Methuselah's gigantic old Micron monitor for a flatscreen monitor the boy had helps immensely, but still not quite as efficient as I'd like.  (Yes, I'm an office geek, and one who's just maybe a wee bit neurotic about efficiency.  Don't ask me how this works with being artistically inclined.  I've never understood it, myself.)

Anywho.  

One thing I've been wanting to try is combining print technology with playing with watercolors.  I also didn't want to use the pearlescent paint I had, so while out doing this week's errands a stop at Michael's was made and in addition to the new pen I needed I also acquired myself a small box of reasonably priced gouache to play with.  Granted, I've never used it so the learning curve is going to be interesting.

Didn't come out too bad for a first attempt, if I do say so myself.  Yes, this is the large, unfinished tree, hence why it is still missing it's fox.  I'm thinking I may do the rest of the series in this style, as I really do like the way it came out.  

What do you think?  Does it look okay like this?

Do Something. Do Anything.

This? This video here? This is awesome. It applies to so many more than just artists, but to everyone who wants to do anything outside the socially-accepted idea of what they should be doing. To anyone who wants to ditch the 9-5; be an artist/writer/musician/contact juggler... To anyone who's afraid to do what they want to do in life for fear of what other people will think.

Be warned, it is slightly NSFW in a spot or two.

Foxen and Flowers

Rare bloodroot growing off the corner of my garden.

Important tip: When gardening, one should take care to not injure oneself. I speak from experience, as I loaf around with a Very Annoyed Rhomboid (for folks unfamiliar with anatomy, it's one of the muscles in your upper back, that connects your shoulder blade to your vertebrae).  I seem to have irritated it while attacking the soon-to-be flower bed yesterday.  I gots skilz...

This week is almost, but not quite, a wash. Between getting thrown off earlier in the week by the death of Lis Sladen, a random new desk being acquired in the house which necessitated a faster reshuffling than I was planning for, and a few other odds and ends, my plans for the week got a bit derailed. Needless to say, I did not get to the scanning and what-not that I'd wanted to.

I did, however, discover that the yard here is host to a rare, though fortunately no longer endangered, plant called bloodroot (that I had nearly killed a week or so ago, as they look sort of evil and swampish when they first poke out of the ground and I thought they were some sort of fern that shouldn't be there...boy, am I glad I decided to see what they turned into!), and started a preliminary sketch of yet another of the Foxentrees.

The Foxenwood amuses me.  Half the time I start them in pencil, to sketch and tweak and fiddle with until I get it the way I want, and the other half I sit down with my sketchbook and pen and do the whole thing in ink in one go.  Well, except for the large tree that is STILL not done, that I've been working on fitfully for a couple weeks now.  The fox hasn't even showed up in that one, yet; I'm still working on the tree in an 8x10 book!  This one needs a little bit of work still.  It does amuse me, though, how I'll be just sitting there, doing something else, and suddenly NEED TO DRAW ANOTHER ONE.  In this one's case, I was just about to fall asleep and had to scrounge up a pen and scrap of paper on the nightstand to do a quick doodle so I'd a.) be allowed to sleep that night, and b.) remember come morning.

I think today's project will be getting Wotan set up for Wi-Fi, as it's now in the other room, and getting the scans that I've been meaning to do, done.  It's wet and miserable out, so I may as well do something remotely productive indoors.  First, though, more coffee!

Good-bye, Sarah Jane...

Today is a very sad day.  It's been mentioned once or twice that I'm something of a Doctor Who fan.  Have been all of my life.  My dad and I used to watch them every week when I was little.  It shaped a lot of who I became, in a strange sort of way.  Particularly one character, Miss Sarah Jane Smith.  She was my hero, and I kinda wanted to be her when I grew up.  I still kinda do.  She was smart, self-assured, strong, and could hold her own against the Doctor, all the while being sweet, polite, and just plain a lovely person.  She was always my favorite of the Doctor's companions.  She was the companion who was independent and strong all on her own, and had a charisma and charm that none of the others had.  To me, she was the perfect companion, and a good model of someone I wanted to emulate.  (No small task for someone who normally has no use for character idolization.)

When I finally was able to catch up on the new seasons in the last couple of years (haven't had much tv access for a couple of years) I completely fangirled when I saw the episode "School Reunion".  I squeed out loud and may have done the excited clapping while making "eee" noises.  I was riveted the entire episode and got more than a little misty-eyed at the end.  She was almost unchanged from the wonderful character I had grown up with, and I drank in the episode like it was the most glorious and rare wine.

From all accounts, Elisabeth Sladen was as sweet and wonderful in her real life off the sets.  Today we learned the sad news that she lost her battle with cancer at the age of 63.  I've never really had the death of a celebrity who I've never met affect me before, but I've found myself crying over her loss.  She was a special woman, who touched so many of our lives very deeply.  Her portrayal of Sarah Jane gave so many young girls the confidence and belief in themselves that they, too, could be strong and smart and capable, and the world is a little darker tonight because of her loss.

Good-night, dear lady.  We will miss you very much.

Hail Wotan!

You know how in all the sci-fi movies where the evil technology that is coming to destroy mankind, the tech always makes those odd whirring noises and says things like “Initializing destruct mode” and stuff?

Yeah, meet Wotan.  (Was going to go with B.O.S.S., but the whole “biomorphic” part just didn’t seem to fit right, though the “Organizational Systems Supervisor” part does, given that it’s a 4-in-1 system... Yes, I'm a Doctor Who geek.  Don't judge me.)  Wotan was hooked up last night.  It took half an hour between the initialization phase and the standard installation phase.  It took 7 minutes to initialize (I’m not kidding, that’s what it called it...did I mention it has a touchpad monitor of it’s own?  Dear gods, this thing might be more high-tech than my lap-top) after the basic hardware was set up.  It took another 15-20 to install it on my computer.

This thing is probably way too smart for my own good, and knowing my technologic issues, may, in fact, take over the world.

While we’re waiting for it to finish becoming sentient and start exerting it’s mind control on us all via it’s wi-fi settings, I have a new printer!  That WORKS!  So, now I can actually start offering prints for sale.  Yay!

In the process of getting Wotan set up, I discovered that I really need to rearrange my technology set up.  Wotan and Methuselah’s monitor and keyboard alone take up an entire card table, and that’s not including the fact that Methuselah itself is underneath the table.  As I was considering this problem, I had the disturbing realization that I want higher technology.  Which, being me, got me thinking about my ideal set up, and what I decided was this:

I want a medieval style set up, with serious hidden tech.  I want Gothic decoration, dark wood paneling between massive bookshelves lining the walls, a huge fireplace, candelabras and wall sconces. I want corners devoted to being my apothecary, and various work-station...  I also want at least 2 flat-screen monitors, surround-sound speakers, a printing station, and enough electronic storage to hold the entireties of the Libraries of Congress and Alexandria, and I want to be able to tuck it all away where I don’t have to look at all the wires.  Wires make me crazy for some reason.

*sigh*

In the meantime, I have to make do with Bjorn, Methuselah, and Wotan, spread across a table, a desk, and a small office storage unit.  Or I will, once I re-structure the whole mess.

Oh, I nearly forgot!  The poll is now closed, and the masses have spoken.  Later tonight I will be making one more small purchase in the name of Art, and there will be small name change around here to officially podroznystudio.com.  Hooray for legitimacy!  Or something...

Projects unveiled...

Ya know that side project I've mentioned off and on?  I finally decided to release it today.  It's not as completed as I'd intended (okay, really it's only short a few books and the planned-for online shop), but that's only because I'm having a bitch of a time getting the graphic I want to use to look right so I can upload it.  However, everything else is actually set, ready to go, and just waiting for me to actually tell people about it.  Meanwhile, I'm wracking up an ever growing list of "Things I Want To Do", that can't until I actually let it out.

Printenstein

I think I have found my new printer.  I've been researching online and finding that apparently I was smart a few years ago when I purchased my Epson as it seems to be a pretty popular company in the world of Folks Who Need To Print High-Quality Things.  (Amusingly, one of my favorite artists also uses an Epson.)

One that I kept seeing references back to was the Epson Artisan 835.  Good reviews; The few negatives were for such things as "The paper tray's a little flimsy", "It's a little large" (it's the same size as, if not slightly smaller than my current dearly departed printer), and "I can't find where it saved the picture I scanned" (darling, that's not the printer, that's called user malfunction).  In addition, it's a 4-in-1, which is even better, as my current is a 3-in-1, which means not only can I ditch the old one, but I gain a fax machine in the process.  Plus, it's wireless, so if the boy needs to print something, we don't need to shuffle everything around so he can hook his laptop to it.  Ink cartridges are actually a little bit cheaper than what I pay for the CX6000 (the black is a dollar more, but the colors are $2-3 cheaper), as well.

The kicker?  Staples has them on sale this week for $200, with an additional $50 rebate if you recycle your old printer.  So, for $150, I can have a fully functional printer/copier/scanner/fax machine that has the capacity for what I want it to do.  Normally they're $300.  Really, this is a long-term win (if an expense I could have done without  right now).

Looks like I'm heading back over to Staples some day this week to get me a new printer.

For now, though, there is dog-walking (which I nearly forgot) followed by a stop at the greenhouse for looking into garden supplies for the small planting bed I'm taking over.  Here, have a "before" (please ignore the downed fence section, we had a small casualty from the snowbanks):

One last thing...the poll for my domain name is open for another couple of days.  Please weigh in, the votes are very close!  :D

Another question for you, dear readers...

Domain names are a handy thing.  They are also insanely inexpensive here on Blogger.  Which brings me to my question for you, my darlings.

As this here site started off with one name, and acquired a studio after the fact, which one should I set as the domain?  Above there is a poll.  Please vote and let me know what you think!

I think I'm fond of my horoscope today.  It fits very nicely with my little secret project...

"Take a long hard look at what it is you really want when it comes to your career and what you've always dreamed it could be. This is a good time to see if reality measures up to your imagination and, if not, where the discrepancies are. From there you can start to plan the 'how' of eliminating any such discrepancies. It's time to take steps toward realizing your professional dream."

It's Tech Week!

Seems my theme this week is "Technology and How To Beat It Into Submission", which anyone who knows me and my tech-fu personally will find utterly hilarious.

As those of you who have been following along may remember, I have a geriatric printer.  It has been the reason that I do not do prints, in that I'm pretty sure folks have no desire to purchase something with lines of color missing through their pictures.  However, as it still worked for simple text, I've been unwilling to seriously consider ditching it.  Well, that and the lack of available funding to justify the expense of a new one.

It has decided to change the equation and make the decision a little less squirelly.  My printer has finally solved the problem of the missing lines of color by simply not printing any ink.  The inkjets have given up the ghost entirely.  The scanner still works fine, but it just doesn't print anymore.  Now I can justify tossing the thing in the trash.  Finally.

Of course, now I have to weigh the cost (pauses again to do the Dance of Joy for tax returns) versus the likelihood of sales.  Photograph prints are still out due to high ink expenditure, however there is the Foxenwood and the possibilities of other linework.  Decisions, decisions...

Have I ever mentioned that I hate risk assessment?

What Do You Mean Google Isn't Compatible With Itself?!

Grr.  I was informed yesterday that since the addition of the Google Checkout to my site, it's been causing problems for folks that use Chrome as a browser.  In that "crashing the browser 4 times in a row before you can finish reading a paragraph" sort of way.

So, I did some digging around (again) and found an interesting thing that really unless you know to look for it you wouldn't find.  Remember how I mentioned that the finding of information wasn't all that user-friendly?  Yeah...this is another example of this.  Turns out that a KNOWN BUG for the Google Checkout Gadget is a lack of compatibility with Chrome and apparently any web browser except Firefox?!  Really, Google?  You made a program that isn't fully compatible with your own programs??


*sigh*

*grumbles*

Back to the drawing board.  Again.  I've had a couple of folks suggest Artfire which, while I'm not fond of the idea of taking up with another e-commerce site, I'm probably going to have to do for the time being.  I spent several hours last night reading reviews of Artfire and honestly only found one negative one.  What I was very impressed with was the fact that one of the Admins from Artfire took the initiative of working through the issues with the person on their own blog, not on Artfire, and was very polite, articulate, and most of all HELPFUL.  This impresses me to no end, let me tell you.  So, I signed up for a free Basic account.  (I can't afford a Pro account yet, but if a.) it works out, or b.) I come into steady money soon I will upgrade.  $10/month for unlimited listing, a ton of options, no other fees, customers don't need to sign up with Artfire to purchase, multiple payment options, batching carts...the list goes on.  Also, customer service.  Actual Customer Service.  This is a win.  The main downside is apparently their internal emailing system is a little wonky and because they are open to all without an account, they do have a higher rate of "purchases that don't end in purchases".   Both are reasonably easy to work around.

So, I spend several MORE hours loading everything into Artfire, transfer links, etc. over, and see how this goes.  *sigh*

Cross your fingers for me!

Dried Fruit

I have no idea why I have a dried pomegranate on a pedestal on my table.  I really don't.  It's been hanging out there for months, and today I decided to photograph it.  Enjoy!

Hooray for Productivity!

Whoot!  After several days spent bashing my head against technology and coding, I have finally managed to get my store to an actually functional point!  *does happy dance*  I hope other people like it, and that it makes things easier for folks wishing to purchase something without lots of hassle.  I'll admit, there are a few things I could wish a bit of improvement on (and may continue to tweak slightly until I get it right), but I'm also an admitted perfectionist about this sort of thing.  For now, if anyone has any constructive feedback, I would appreciate it.  :)

A little bit of a review of the system:  I'll admit that I've never actually used Google Checkout as a customer, but it is a bit odd from the Merchant side.  It's supposedly designed to be more or less easily usable by anyone, however as someone who IS well versed in computer use, I found it a bit touchy.  Once you get passed the initial account set-up, checkout system selected, and get to the actual data input, it really is pretty simple.  If you can use GoogleDocs (which really is just an Excel spreadsheet with a different name), you can use this system.   They also are good at given good examples at that point, as well, for those that appreciate a bit of extra assistance.  Getting to that point is an entirely different story...

Finding information on ANYTHING is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and a lot of it seems almost as if the article writers forgot that other people aren't in their heads.  There are way too many assumptions being made about user knowledge, which makes things a bit difficult on occasion.  You have to do a lot of clinking links and digging to find information that should be readily available.

Overall, though, it's not too bad.  It just requires a little bit of patience and willingness to just keep pushing buttons to start with.  We'll see how it works out once something actually sells through it.  Cross your fingers with me that it stays easy!

Math is hard. Let's go shopping?

Who knew that the Google Checkout system was actually a reasonably functional thing?  Or at least, it appears to be.

I've been trying to figure out how to get my little "store" a bit more user-friendly.  Okay, user-friendly in the first place.  I've been sifting through the interwebs to see if I could find something remotely usable.  I adore PayPal, but their shopping cart was just this side of broken for me.  Their usual set-up (ie., use a shopping cart gadget from another company and plug them in for payment functionality) is only useful if I want to pay someone else for the privilege of using their system, and really, some of them are bordering on extortion.  Then I stumbled across a cute little website from a former Etsy seller, who uses the Google checkout.  It's gorgeous!  Or at least, very easy to set up, not overly blocky, doesn't seem particularly difficult to use, etc.  It also does not, like several other sites I have seen, impose a "You may only list 5 items at a time, unless you pay us a minimum of $10 PER MONTH or more to use our services."  Which is about as useful as towels to fish to me.  So, I'm working on getting that set up.

Something else I'm working on, as a result, is getting myself set up as a proper business, with an EIN and all that.  Of course, this is hindered by the well-known fact that I have about as much aptitude with math as my cat does, and sadly tax stuff = math.

This can only end in tears.

Now, if I'm smart, I will make an appointment with one of my friends who actually does this sort of thing for a living.  (One's formally an accountant.  The other, well, is Kacy and helping people be self-employed is what she does.)  Plus, if I talk to her, I'll also get to spend time with her adorable little boy, who is basically my nephew since his mom and I adopted each other somewhere around forever ago (oh gods, 18 years!).

I should also probably fine tune exactly what it is I do around here a bit more, as well, which is also something I've had simmering in the back of my brain.  Actually, I do have a pretty good idea of what I want to do, what I've been attempting to figure out is the how.  That, however, is a different topic altogether...