Lost My Art Desire But Not For LOST

Hi all :)

Not sure where this blog is going. My art mojo has hit bottom, kinda feel like my artist soul is sitting in a dark corner staring at blank white paper and feeling nothing.
Etsy is part of that loss. I'm not competitive and my creations are ONE of a kind. Making gobs of the same thing just is not my style and when Etsy allowed wholesalers to come in, well, they pushed many of us small-time artists aside. Grrr !
Ah well, the world still turns and one day my creativity will return ( actually, Jay Howell's wonderful creations from Jay Howell Art have given my art flame a wee bit of desire. I may do some of my own doodles, just for fun )
For now, I'll just post random stuff whenever I feel like it.

Lately, I've been watching a tv show called LOST. It came out in '04, ended in '10 and a couple of months ago I decided " what the heck " and clicked the first episode.
Well blow me away Batman ! I was hooked !
Now I'm nearing the end of Season 5 and already feeling some anxiety for what's to come. I've been avoiding anything to do with how it ends.
And of all the characters....
Hugo Hurley Reyes is my fav. ( played by Jorge Garcia who's also in Hawaii Five-0 ) Yes, I confess to having quite a crush ( blush ). He's the dude with the long hair, wonderful eyes and gentle heart.
So if you're into ' mystery-type ' shows leaning towards weirdness, then I recommend this one :)

Well I'm off like a sweaty sock. Wishing you a good week ahead xo

Will you help this person today ?

Good evening dear people,

I'm posting about a man who desperately needs help fast.

This man is Fred Cosman, a loving husband and father in Princeton B.C. and who is having to endure the pain of T-Cell Lymphoma.
He's been through so much over the years, an awful accident several years ago that has left him in a wheelchair and now this.

Please click on the - Please help Fred - link and watch the posted news video. And if you can spare a dollar or two, or simply share, share and share, then bless you and thank-you.

~ Please help Fred ~

New Digital Download Listings

Hello again :)

I'm still creating new pieces for ' instant downloads ' in my Etsy shop. Yes, I'll admit there have been a couple of days here and there where I felt like caving and going off on an extra long holiday BUT, I persevered, albeit it slowly, and was able to keep on creating. Yay !

My latest listing is the first one below titled ' Abstract Romance '. 30-1 inch ( 25 mm. ) circles which can be used for bottle cap creations, magnets, stickers, cards...Can be glued to a sturdier surface and turned into earrings/pendants/bracelets or a cute door dangler, mobile and more. Great for scrapbookers too.

The designs were taken from another download which I'd named Romantic Oddity -- a sheet of 2.5 x 3.5 ATC sized images ( ATC: artist trading card size, similar to a playing card ) consisting of pieces taken from one of my handmade collages along with parts of photographs and paper backgrounds.
Some of the circles were altered even further by changing the color and more.

*If you're interested/curious, then click each title to take you to my shop.

Abstract Romance

Deer Adventures

This collage comes in 4 x 4 inch tiles, large enough for coasters, cards, big magnets, even pocket patches if so inclined.

Two of my little plastic deer go on adventures to wonderful strange places. I posed them in various scenes using objects from in & outside of the home, photographed them and then did some playing around with the picture editor.

                                             

Dragon Glo

This download consists of 8 ATC sized images ( 2.5 x 3.5 inches ). They'd make fun backgrounds for your images or cut them up and use in your own collage.
Larger images can also be downsized, if you want to use them in jewelry, small magnets, etc....

So what's next on the download dream wagon ? I may photograph some 1920's adverts and play around with them. Maybe try creating a Steampunk collage.
Lots of images and designs swirling around this brain. For now though, I'm in the mood for some chocolate milk !

New Etsy Listings -- Instant Downloads !! I'm Back :)

Hello again !

I have returned to try to keep this blog up to date.

My newest and latest endeavor in my Etsy shop -- instant downloads !

For years it felt like all I ever did with my art was to question it. It wasn't until early 2014 I finally asked myself if the jewelry I was creating were pieces I would wear myself. No.
Oh I liked what I was making but only for the shop, not myself. I think that is why my interest would take big dips, leaving me feeling blue and wondering what the purpose was.
The jewelry I prefer to wear: dichroic pieces, Steampunk pieces, fantasy/scientific pieces -- but pieces I couldn't make myself as I don't have the space for flamethrowers or welding equipment.
So I stuck with other creative jewelry styles: doing collage/decoupage, small rivets, etc....but although fun to make, there was still something missing.

Fast forward to today and, after many days of thinking, searching, trying to discover where most of my art time was spent, I found that creating collages and small paintings held my heart.
BUT, still I wasn't ' full '...until a dear friend mentioned if I'd create prints from my original pieces -- so many other's could enjoy my art instead of just one person enjoying the original. I felt a subtle change come over me and that night, I checked out other Etsy shops selling prints.
It was while searching I kept seeing these ' digital downloads ', I wondered if maybe it was a kind of ' sign ' and so off I went to peruse shops that sold only these downloads.
And here I am. It took a wee while to figure out what and how to make them. Everything had to be perfect as these are creations that total strangers will be using. So, at first, I had some pieces printed at a professional print shop and only listed when they printed perfect. From there I purchased fresh new inkjet ink and printed off the downloads, which I continue to do, to make sure they print properly...making lots of notes to remind me of what tweaks might be needed done should someone find their download is printing a bit larger ( sometimes you need to click or unclick a setting on your printer. No biggy ).

My first download was listed Feb 26, one of my handmade collages named ' George Brought Traffic Lights '. It's a whimsical creation which looks great at 8 x 10 size or could be made into a sweet greeting card:

George Brought Traffic Lights

From there I decided to list collage sheets, various images for other artists to use in their art they sell.
This is my 14th. download listed:

Flowers, Gears and Abstract

No sales yet but quite a few likes which is a nice ' start '. Dusting off my blog might help too -- so do share if you know other's who enjoy digital downloads.

As for the pricing, took me several attempts to figure out what felt right. I started off around the $4.50 area but then figured, since I'm still quite new, to start a bit lower. Maybe that's not the correct way to go about it but it feels right to me.
My main $2.50 price is about the cost of a small fancy cup of coffee PLUS you can print over and over -- much better than spending gas to go to Michaels for just one collage sheet ( even if the sheet was only $1 and you bought ten sheets, that's $10 compared to only spending $2.50 and maybe a wee bit on ink ).

So there you go ! I still create handmade pieces which are mainly collage based. Love the feel of paper, scissors, glue, etc....

Not a day has gone by where I don't think of a new collage. There's so much inspiration out there !

Please go and check out my other downloads -----> shop is on the upper right. Share to your Twitter, Facebook and other sites.
** If you do share and you too are an artist with a shop, let me know and I'll check you out and share one or two of your creations.

Namaste friends xo

New Art Card

 

 

 

A quicky post of one of my latest art card creations. Called ' Small Blessings ', it shows a wee happy mouse taking a break under bright and cheery lilacs.

 

My art cards are all original creations, no prints. So if someone were to ask me to recreate a card, no two would be alike.

 

So far I've 10 art cards listed ~here~

 

The most difficult part....the pricing. I scoured many other Etsy artists to get an idea of what to price my small art which is 4.75 x 4.75 inches. Quite a few sellers original art cards were priced  low and others were quite high, so I just went with what I felt was fair.

 

 

That's it for now. I'm hoping to create a few more cards this week and/or start on some asymmetrical earrings. Until then, blessings for a lovely week ♥

Hello all :)

Well I've finally decided it's time for a sale, a clearance sale !

I am moving on from making necklaces to creating original art cards and asymmetrical/mismatched earrings. So if you love whimsical things, then please come on over to my shop and check out my 50% off necklace clearance sale:  Raven's Folly

I do have a few necklaces that aren't yet listed as I'm contemplating whether to keep them for myself or not but I've a feeling they're going to get listed. My heart leans more towards the earrings than necklaces.

Necklaces will be on sale indefinately until sold, expired or removed for sale outside of Etsy.

Namaste ~♥~

Good day/evening all.

Sometimes, when I'm not creating drawings, or earrings, or trying to write ( yup, I've got a horror story on the go but it's very slowwwww going lol ! ), or doing the other myriad of life things, then I like to make digital banners for my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Ravensmagiclantern?fref=ts#!/Ravensmagiclantern?fref=ts

I make them simply because it's fun and actually quite relaxing. If you happen to like any of these banners, then you are welcome to use them. A shout out to my Facebook page would be greatly appreciated but there's no pressure to do so :)

This is our backyard, early evening during a rainstorm. Some complain when it rains but I love it ♥

This banner shows Santorini Greece, a place I'd love to visit one day and just spend my time sitting in a chair like that ! I chose to surround it with two images of my hand drawn art cards and other cute-happy bits and bobs.

Photo of rainbow taken after a rare thunder 'n lightning storm here on Vancouver Island.
I used ' roygbiv ' ;)

Love Christmas banners and chose a goofy image from the movie The Grinch, along with giggling children. Laughter is a great thing to have.

 This isn't a banner but a wallpaper I made for my laptop. The 'planet' is actually a negative image of a milk, vinegar and food colouring experiment I did on a dinner plate. The rest of the image is using a photo of the sky I took from our backyard and also turned it into a negative. Kinda neat how it turned out.

So that's my show and tell for today. Oh, I don't use any fancy photo editing stuff, just Microsoft Picture It ! Premium 10 which came free when I purchased my Fuji Finepix camera back in 2005. It pretty much does what I want but I'm sure there are no doubt much easier ways to create digital collages today ( the one thing I'd love to change is the freehand tool, when I want to cut out an object and have to go slowly around the object making sure I don't miss a corner, go too straight, etc....then having to do it all over again. I'm sure there's a much easier way to do all that now. Oh well, thankful to even have a program to be able to make the banners ).
Take care, warm hugs, I'll be back :)