Last night my two families came over for an informal birthday gathering. My wonderfully talented brother Silas (who, I might add, is 18) painted me this oil portrait of one of my wedding pictures! Pretty sweet huh? Especially considering it's his second oil painting ever! I keep telling him he should let me sell his art for him on etsy... Do you agree?
We had an excellent weekend at graduation. Jasmine was the life of the party - she has a talent for that. It was great to see all the cousins, aunts, uncles and extended relatives again.
I also realized how much I love being around people who live and breathe art. My town is mostly farmers. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against them, I just miss being around people who have a passion for art. Whether they make it or enjoy it, sharing that love stirs the artistic passions and makes us reach out into things we have never tried or might not have thought of ourselves. I think my creative flow has been eddying lately, unable to get out of the pool and into the river.
On that note, I am off to list more jewelry. . .
Well ladies and gents, it's that time of year again - graduation. I'm off to Indiana for the weekend. My two wonderful cousins (and of course best friends) are both graduating college. Yay! I get to see lots of people I haven't seen since our wedding, and show off our adorable little girl. Unfortunately Adam has to stay home and work. We will miss him, but at least there will be lots going on.
As to a 5-6 hour car ride with a 15 mo. old, that I am not so much looking forward to. Sigh. Well it's off to bed so I can get up and pack. Congrats to anyone else out there graduating! Back on monday...
P.s. i'm member number 863 of the million blog list :) http://millionbloglist.com/index.php?title=Main_Page#801_thru_900
Happy April everyone! I know I usually update on Saturday but I was busy. :) Silas and Heather came down Friday and stayed for the whole weekend. We had a lot of fun together. Walked to the library, made cards, watched movies, and played with Jasmine in the sand box. Adam had to work evening on Saturday and all day Sunday, so it was nice to have some company.
On another note, Maddox Studios is now open for business!
www.maddoxstudios.etsy.com
There are only two items for sale so far but I will be adding more soon. The photos are coming as soon I figure out where is the best place to get them printed. Hopefully this week sometime. The design on the left one of the designs I chose for the business cards. I will have three color and three black and white designs. (The bubbles in glass and the rose, which you can find several posts back, are two that will be b & w.
The back will look like the second picture. :) I'm so excited! Now I have to figure out my packaging. Fun, fun!
Well it seems Jasmine has woken up from her nap so I'd better sign off. Check out the new favorite items from Etsy at the bottom!
Today is my birthday - Yay! Mom and Dad and Head and Silas came down and we all had dinner. Thanks to David & Fujie for the great card!
I'm really tired right now so I don't have much to say. My neck aches. Blech. Jasmine is starting to walk! It's so cute. Today i told her "show Grandpa your new trick," and she stood up and took a few steps. Yay!
On another note: to Kim and Linds if you see this, Jazzy and I are coming out for your graduation! Can't wait to see you!
I reiterate - Yay for weekends! We had a good one. Friday we went up to mom and dad's after work. Saturday we made potato blocks and stamped up a storm. I brought a bunch of prints back to scan for cards, backgrounds etc. Should be good for the new store... Saturday night was the homeschool play (Heather was in it!). It was hilarious and the acting was great! Sunday afternoon Silas and Adam got out acrylics and we all did a few color studies, which was really fun. Art rocks! I'm not as good as I might wish, but I imagine that most artists feel that to some degree. Anyway, enough mundane details.
I believe I have pretty much finished the branding for Maddox Studios. I have settled on 3 black and white pics and 3 color. Also a basic image for logo purposes. Here's a question - if I customize a basic shape from photoshop with color and text is it violating any laws to use it as part of my branding?
For those of you who may not know, the picture on the left is my lovely daughter Jasmine. This pic was taken a few months ago, when she was my jewelry model for an afternoon. Isn't she a doll? I must say I'm mighty proud of my cutie... Well that's it for tonight. It's time to change my etsy favorites. Scroll down and check them out!
I've been working on a new storefront. A name under which to sell photography, paper goods, wedding invites, and any other artsy things that grab my weekly fancy! The current number one name is "Maddox Studios." For those of you who don't watch obscure TV shows, I will explain.
"The House of Elliot" is a fabulous British TV show which I happened to spot in the library. Having a secret love of fashion and a desire to know more about its inner workings, I naturally checked it out. Unfortunately there are only three seasons. The charming male lead is Jack Maddox, portrait photographer extraordinaire. Thus the name Maddox Studios.
Comments? Any other suggestions? As some of you may know I LOVE doing company branding. Business cards, packaging, promotional flyers, etc. My first thoughts are for the business cards. I really like the idea of having one card design but several different images, so that not all the cards are exactly the same. Since the focal point of this business is photography, that is not too difficult. The question is: color, sepia, black & white? What to do. I like the sepia on the left, but b & w would be classic as well. Hmmm. I guess it's time to play with photoshop! Here's one other image I was considering.
Well, I am currently watching Veronica Mars, an excellently exciting mystery show, prematurely cancelled after the third season. Sigh. I must now go play in Photoshop while I the baby is actually sleeping.
Oh yeah, Adam got a new job, Yay! The pay is less but the stress should be way less.
Ok, I'm off for real. Thinking of you Kim and Linds... Good luck with finals!
We finally got a sunny day! So rare for spring in Ohio. Consequently I got to do some more work on my product photos. Adam watched Jasmine for me while I dragged a box of jewelry, glassware and fabric out to the deck. The results were the best I've had so far! (It was fun too :)
On another subject, we took Jazzy to the playground today. It was the first time she's been since she could actually enjoy it. She was quite enchanted with the swings and also the slide. We determined that she will probably grow up to be a food critic since she went around tasting all the rocks she could find. One star will be equal to dirt and rocks, two stars equal worms etc. . .
Back to art. Adam recently started his first online comic, ReTale. The strip has been in his head for a long time but has been transferred to paper more recently. You can check it out at www.adambeutel.blogspot.com. I think it's pretty neat, but then I am somewhat biased. :)
Just one last note and I'll stop rambling. At the bottom of my blog you'll find a compilation of some favorites from fellow etsy sellers. I will be changing the featured items once a week, so please check out some of their work! Thanks for reading. I will update more often in the future, but for now I'm off to promote my store.
