[i] LoveLife

In 90 minutes.

SO CLOSE.

At this point - I'm just trying to get the last of the stray bits to cooperate with me in my ARTSHOP. In 30 minutes - the site will close for maintenance so I can rearrange things, turn on the GO BUTTON, and let the dice roll.

If you have browsed through the shop already you will see that it's getting pretty FULL. And it's kind of chaotic. OH. I KNOW. I took on a project that grew exponentially by the minute. But, whatever. I have lots to say about that later.

At noon the doors will open. Grab a coffee before hand (I will be pouring a glass of wine). Browse around. THE EVENT+SALE lasts for 48 hours. After that - the prices GO BACK TO THE NOTED REGULAR PRICE. The image quality isn't as great as I wanted it to be, but it will have to do. It's all more beautiful in person. The shipping is a little wonky - but everything is a different size and some things CAN and CAN'T be shipped together. Shipping art is a complicated game but it'll work itself out and I can adjust if things are plum ridiculous. Let me know if you have questions.

Go pour that coffee.

OH. There are some ORIGINALS that have never before been available for purchase. Like the FRESH SNOW series. It was hard to let a lot of these things go... but art shouldn't be stacked up in a closet. I've come to terms with that. It should be enjoyed. I have certainly enjoyed making it.

See you in 90 minutes.

Still working.

GULP! It's late and I am still working on everything I need to do for the EVENT + SALE in my ART SHOP to (hopefully) go smoothly tomorrow. I didn't really think this through... or maybe I over-thunk it. Either way - it has been a monumental task that has brought me to tears more times that I care to admit. On so many levels.

FOR NOW: browse around the art shop. NOTHING IS AVAILABLE until noon, Monday November 21. Just browse. Things are moving and changing as I get stuff in order and the doors will open whether I am ready or not - AT NOON.

More on that in a few hours... Coffee???

The EVENT + SALE.

On MONDAY (November 21) at noon my time (CST) my ARTSHOP will be having an EVENT. It's my THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTS ME AND WHAT I DO. I like the term EVENT better than SALE because I feel like when things are ON SALE - it somehow implies they are less worthy. That's not a good vibe to put out into the Universe. This is an EVENT. Today and over the weekend I will be loading up the shop with originals, overprints, misprints, and all kinds of things that I don't have room for anymore, but are prefectly awesome and need a better home than the recycle bin. It's definitely not that I value them less (especially the originals) it's because THIS IS WHAT I DO + I don't feel like they are serving a purpose if I hoard them. ACTUALLY - DAN FEELS THAT WAY. (I am perfectly okay with hoarding beautiful things.)

THE ORIGINALS (and other EVENT + SALE items) WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE UNTIL MONDAY (November 21) AT NOON. Why? Because I often get emails questioning my methods of fairness when popular items are sold quickly. And emails asking to reserve certain originals. And emails offering more money for first dibs. And because I'm human - that kind of things stresses me out. I feel like having an EVENT gives people time to turn on holiday tunes, browse the artwork, have a latte, do a little pre-planning before things go live. And then it is first come, first served via the ARTSHOP and Big Cartel's programming. I have nothing to do with it. Actually - once the items are uploaded I will be turning off my computer, turning up my music and working on a painting to distract myself. Because it's like putting your babies up for sale and it makes me a little anxious. Dan will be shipping whatever sells and burning up whatever doesn't sell.

The originals (and other EVENT + SALE items) WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE UNTIL MONDAY AT NOON. The EVENT will last for 48 hours and then the prices will revert to the regular rates (and the regular rates will be marked). I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS and I want to spread some cheer AND I TOTALLY HEAR YOU ON SAVING MONEY. I've tried to be as fair as possible with the shipping costs. CanadaPost is not awesome. Or fast. So if the shipping seems CRAZY it's because I have opted for something that is not carried by turtles (with trackability and insurance). Or because it packs into an awkward parcel. Or because there are magic mushrooms in the CanadaPost's system and that's just the price I've been told. I have nothing to do with it. I just make art and I do my best.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21st at noon CST. Do some Christmas shopping. Shop early if there's something you're interested in so that you don't miss it. PRINTS WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE. And once it's gone - it's gone. (The shop will be closed from 11:30am -11:59am on Monday for a little maintenance.)

Watercolours, gouache paintings, line drawings, tree paintings and more. Tell your significant others Tell your friends.

Today: I'm picking up some GORGEOUS 11 x 22 inch gallery prints of the polar bear painting called She. It's a small edition of five and three are sold as of last night. (The gallery prints are $150 (plus shipping) and really nice. If you like polar bears...) OH. And I will be photographing art to add to the ARTSHOP and working late, late, late into the night. If you have EVENT + SALE questions - please leave them in this post and I will do my best to answer. Ready?

GO!

Trees + pens.

Just another set of birch trees as a little Continous Line Drawing. The original is not in aqua (I altered in digitally) - it's black + white because the best-ever pens for creating these things are these cheap little sticks of awesome. It's all I use. It has to be FINE. It has to be black. It has to look EXACTLY like the pen in the image above or I'M OUT. If I find them stocked in a store - I will buy them all. Every. Last. One. BUT I am not ashamed to tell you that if you have one - I will steal it right out from under your nose. If you are a clerk and you ask me to sign a credit card slip with this pen - consider it lifted. I consider it pen-liberation. I am simply freeing these pens them from a life of regularity... to something more. Dan knows this about me and supports my habit by using his eagle eyes at the office. I've tried many different tools for this. Pencil crayon has too much drag and it kills my hand. Fine line Sharpies or felt tips puddle if you move your line too slowly or pause in place. Nothing works quite like the Uni-ball Roller Vision if you want long, smooth, consistent, waterproof, fadeproof, lines.

Note: these pens almost ALWAYS explode in planes. The ink used to be IMPOSSIBLE to get out of clothing UNTIL I DISCOVERED the Rocky Mountain Soap Company bar of natural soap called SPOTLESS. I'm not kidding. Dan had ink on his favourite jeans from when we flew in 2006 to get married. I used the bar of soap on the spot after 5 years of wearing and washing AND IT CAME OUT.

*

I got 26 emails yesterday about whether any of the birch tree drawings will be available as prints and all I can say is I'm not sure. I haven't thought that far ahead. We will see how the art event goes and if any of the originals sell.

Today: I am off running errands until noon when I will be finishing a painting and organizing the rest of the artwork left to be photographed. I'd like to style each piece and have multiple product shots and all that jazz - but I have limited time and drawing/painting/scripting takes priority over being stylish. But, still - there is a lot of backend stuff to prepare and that does nothing but motivate me to go and do something else. Like steal more pens. ;)

GO!

In progress.

Hey, Lady. This is an IN-PROGRESS shot of a painting I was working on yesterday (You can follow my progress on Instagram if you want!). This is a strange angle because the painting is laying on the floor to dry. I'm about halfway done and happily in line with my vision. It's an Anna's Hummingbird and for now the working title in my head is Lady Anna. It's is an extraordinairy little bird with an irredescent set of pink feathers. How am I going to make them look irredescent? Martha Stewart tourmaline glitter is going to help me experiment with that.

Sigh.

Today: It's a girl tribe day and we need groceries in a bad way. And coffee. Poet and I have not been 100% so it feels kind of off... but hopefully we can all manage some naps. Some crafts. And some laughs. Hopefully.

GO!

Lost in a forest.

Actually, I am not lost at all. I have been spending time over the past three weeks going back to the things I love to do. Applying new wisdoms. Soaking in a bath of process. I realized that I very much love the process. I think I like the act of making things more than having things made. Don't get me wrong. I am very satisfied and fulfilled when a painting meets my mental expectations (like this one). But the process of making it only fuels me to make more. And more. And more. I might be a little bit OCD like that.

The drawing at the top of this post is a Continuous Line Drawing. My favourite. In a Continuous Line Drawing you do not lift your drawing tool from the paper until your drawing is complete. You can see where I started on the far left. And where I ended after the 'i' in BARTESKI. Just before the date. This drawing is done in ink on thick watercolour paper (11x7 inches) and will be appearing in my ARTSHOP very soon. Actually - that's what I was hoping to do yesterday - load a zillion files into the ARTSHOP. But that got boring fast and my pen only wanted to experiment with birch trees and long complex lines.

The down-side to the Coninuous Line Drawings? I can't stop. There are 18 new drawings that range from pine cones to oak leaves to city scapes to my favourite: birch trees. Lots and lots of birch trees.

Today: More line work. Photographing + cataloguing art. Loading my ARTSHOP. I want to finish a big canvas that's been waiting patiently. Trying to stay on task and eat less chocolate than I did yesterday. Sounds easy enough.

GO!

LOVE-YOU-BECAUSE downloads are available.

This is Penn. You may remember her from cute photos like this and especially this. She's so great. She was helping me with the LOVE-YOU-BECAUSE books and I have to say - she's a super model. In the top photo she's got the Blurb-printed LOVE-YOU-BECAUSE books. They are pretty snazzy. The printing is terrific and the colours are glossy and gorgeous. I designed them to be used as our gifts to family and friends this year and I decided to make them available to others because they are meaningful and beautiful. The book is meant for you to fill in the blanks and cross off what you don't need. For instance - the cover says I/WE. If it's from you - cross off the /WE. If it's from a couple of you - cross off the I/. Does that make sense? Simple!

I like gifts that are gorgeous + meaningful. Because both of those things are important to me. I wanted it to be as flexible as heck. I also wanted to make it timeless - so it wasn't just for Christmas. Oh, AND I WANTED TO MAKE IT AFFORDABLE. You can buy this pretty version from Blurb for $9.95. That's a bargain. It's terrific.

Once the book was done - I designed greeting cards, gift tags, cupcake toppers, wrapping papers, wishlists, dry erase prints, and desktop wallpapers because that's how I roll. I like everthing to match. AND JUST BECAUSE IT'S HANDMADE doesn't mean it has to be junky. I like meaninful AND GORGEOUS. This is a beautiful looking package. For cheap. Actually - when I was making the complimenting materials I decided that maybe a shiny looking book wasn't all that important and maybe people might like to print their books at home and save MORE cash. The downloadable LOVE-YOU-BECAUSE plus pack contains EVERYTHING. You can print YOUR OWN LOVE-YOU-BECAUSE books.

Here's a look at how classy the cards look when they are filled in. All you need is a black marker (or get crazy and use white paint pens or coloured markers!) and you're off to the races. With EVERYTHING. A puppy could do it, but EVERY SINGLE PERSON THAT GETS ONE will love it.

For instance, Pilot loves printing things so she will be filling in all of our cards, books and gift tags. Penn likes cutting - so she will be cutting out the cupcake toppers (which we will be sticking on HEALTHY things like Honeycrisp apples and sugar cookies). We will ALL be participating in filling out the books (Oh, Dan YES YOU WILL) - including tracing our hands, including photos and recording our favourite memories.

And now that I've totally spoiled our gift surprises for our own family - the downloadable LOVE-YOU-BECAUSE plus pack is available in my ART SHOP so you can make awesome, MEANINGFUL + BEAUTIFUL gifts for your loved ones, too. Not just for the holidays. For any and ALL REASONS. Graduations. Birthdays. Moving-outs. New babies. Anniversaries. ALL OF IT.

This is for Penn for being such a good sport and cute small person.

You can find more information here. And here.

{OH YES. And there is this thing called a DRY-ERASE print - Tanja Herbig suggested it and I thought it was pretty great. You print the print - frame it - get dry erase markers and write your reasons on the glass AND THEN CHANGE THEM UP as your love grows. Brilliant!}

PS. November 21 (one week from today) is a big event in my ARTSHOP. And there will be a few suprises. I wouldn't miss it. ;)

Today: I'm puttering in my studio. I've got a huge mess and a lot of half-done projects that I will be tackling. I need to dig my reformer out and work on my core. I need to find warmer socks. And maybe have some hot chocolate... winter is coming.

GO!

I love you because...

I am very pleased to say that the LOVE-YOU-BECAUSE digital plus pack is now available in my (spiffed up) ARTSHOP. There will be a giant post about it on Monday, but I thought it was the perfect day to release more love into the world. Remembrance Day. To the soldiers: huge + overflowing respect + gratitude for the hearts  of those who bring us freedom. LOVE.

Check it out + happy weekending.

GO!

Go lay in the yard.

Source: sawdustcityllc.com via Kal on Pinterest

I love this sign. I saw it on Pinterest and it made me laugh. I wasn't sure if that was because I'm hopped up on meds - or that it was worth a chuckle. But when I showed Dan - HE LAUGHED OUT LOUD. That means it's really funny. Especially in our house because Penn's just graduated from potty training and has this thing for talking about p**p. And I call the girls turds when they are being unruly. AND we happen to have two dogs... Let's just say it's funny and I am imagining my whole family laying outside in the yard. Ha.

Today: I'm off on a research mission AND to visit a doctor. I was bypassed by the stomach bug but won myself some ear infections instead. I'll take it! I also have a long list of things to do before tomorrow when my mom + dad roll into town for some time with the ladies. If you follow me on Twitter - watch for an important announcement over the weekend. If you follow me on Instagram - there's goodness coming there, too. If you want to follow me on Pinterest come on, let's do this! We will be observing a moment of silence tomorrow out of respect for those who have served.

GO!

Shades of grey.

My life lesson this week is to let things be shades of grey. I know this because most of the ideas fighting for my attention seem very BOLD and RED. But in reality - the TO-DO lists and errands and all the other things that seem very urgent turn soft shades of grey when my small people are sick. It's a change of perspective and it was very clear to me this week as I edited what I wanted-to-do down to what-I-should-do to what can-totally-wait. I am guilty of letting the unimportant get in the way of my very-important sometimes and when that happens this kind of thing is a bit of a gift. Oh, I definitely don't like it when my small people are sick, but this week's message is been clear to me: the rest is shades of grey. The imaginary deadlines. The MUST-DO's. The phonecalls and grocery-getting - all just blurry greys when there are small people with high fevers and sad eyes.

I am grateful for fresh eyes today and the ability to see the colours from the shades of grey.

The watercolour at the top of this post is eventually going to appear in my ARTSHOP. Circle November 21st on your calendar so you don't miss the art, the deals, and the colours.

Today: it's a Girl Tribe day and we have a playdate + a visit. You know, the colourful awesome things that require being present + clear. And they require coffee + tea. And maybe a cookie or four.

GO!