Humblearts Journal

a little colder please

Okay, so does turning the air conditioner up so that I can wear a sweater and drink hot chocolate sound too pathetic? 

I'm ready for some cold weather.  Blustery days, a little nip in the air, a chill, howling wind, heck even 60's degrees would have me pulling out my extensive scarf collection. 

I'm sure all you Northern types would just puke over me complaining that it's still in the 80s & 90s everyday.  What can I say?  I miss Michigan.  Here is a wintery illustration as I live vicariously through my artwork.  Breezy Hill is a farm near my dad's house. 

   

lights, camera, auction!

New eBay auctions, lots of fall inspired colors. 

A San Antonio Autumn:

Scarves and sandals

pumpkin empanadas

Eighty degrees.

Dead grass, brown leaves,

neighbors emerge from

air conditioned cocoons.

Small changes

before

skeletons, ancestors, memories

and obscene amounts of candy.

   

Tale of Two Beads, part 2

Or is it when two worlds collide? 

Write what you know.  How many times have you heard that? So I did.  I wrote a book about beads, you had a sneak peek the other day.  Well here are some behind the scenes photos and another sample.

This is the linoleum block all cut and inked up.  You can see the print drying in the corner.  I love using Golden Linoleum from Dick Blick.  It's pretty easy to cut.  I did this one in a few hours.  If I'm in a hurry I'll use Wonder Cut, which looks a little like corkboard, but works nicely, also from Dick Blick.  It's better for work with less detail.  My favorite is Speedball's Speedy Cut.  But I haven't been able to find it in large sheets, so I use it for smaller work. 

Now that's a lotta linoleum. 

And here is the finished illustration.   Which is actually a digital image.  I use photoshop to adjust the color and to correct any misguided cuts.  I love the process and someone might ask, why go through all the effort?  It's really no more effort than someone who draws or paints realistically.  There is nothing like a print and for me when I create one, it feels like home. 

The Tale of Two Beads, part 1

Here are some new beads that I have added to my website.  I decided it was time to expand my line a bit.  So some nice fall editions have joined the humblebeads family. 

Cuff beads in Gold/Bronze and Rose. 

Making and selling beads is my day job.  It's what brings home the bacon. It's something I can work a few hours every day and still have time for illustrating.  I work during the week while the girls are in school and sometimes in the evening.  I do beads as the first thing in the morning, just like a regular job.

Garnet Disk Beads.

I have some goals as a bead artist.  Like writing a polymer clay bead-making book.  But would ultimately love to illustrate full-time and do the beads as a hobby.  Someday.  Until then, I'm happy to work at home making beautiful things and helping jewelry-makers add a little art to their designs.

New Spacer beads, shown here in blue, teal and purple.

Changes

 

Illustration Friday's theme for this week is Change.  So here we have a little one changing into p.j.s for bed.

This is from a dummy book I'm working on getting out the door.  Wish me luck!

F.Y.I. - Here is the latest issue of the Southwest Texas SCBWI newsletter: FingerPrints.

if walls could talk...

What?

What is that studio? 

You want me to clean you? 

You feel neglected? 

What? You want me to add a little sparkle to you? 

You want the papers put away and tables cleaned off? 

Is that it girl?  You need to be organized? 

Ahh, look at you wagging your tail, okay girl.  Let's get you cleaned up...

Is your workspace a little worse for wear?  Mine too.  It's a little out of hand actually.  Here are some tips for cleaning up a space that looks like a natural disaster has occurred.

1. Clean from right to left around the room.  Clean off the top of the spaces first, working your way down. (Thanks Mom)

2.  Have 3 bags or boxes.  One trash, one put away, one give away.

3.  Overwhelmed?  Just clean one corner first or one table.  Start somewhere, it's not as bad as you think.

4.  Don't buy things to organize before you clean up.  Purge, get rid of the old and abused.  Really think about how you want to use your space.  Look around, do you already have containers you could re-purpose?  In other words, shopping is not cleaning, don't get them confused!  (I do sometimes.)

4.  Wall of inspiration.  Every studio needs one.  A place to pin up photos, cards, or whatever else gets your visual motor running. 

5.  You can't blog and clean at same time.  So guess what that means?

bead gallery

Just thought I'd show off my Bead of the Month gallery that I put up on my site.  It has the previous bead of the month jewelry designs to inspire humblebead collectors.  If you've made jewelry using my beads, send me a pic.  I might use it in a future customer gallery.

Back to the ol' beads

Bead of the Month for September: Summer's Shadow.

A few of this week's ebay auctions

 

What's Cooking?

Actual conversation from yesterday while watching TV.

My ten year old: "Mom do people really use their ovens for cooking everyday or just for special occasions?"

Me: "Yes, people really do cook dinner with their ovens.  I guess I need to start cooking again, huh?"

Ten year old with glazed look in her eyes, "Yeah, I remember when I was little you used to cook food for us all the time."

Eating out and using the microwave are great ways to save time when you are juggling working at home.  Although I have heard fabled tales of a thing called a crock pot. 

Other ways to manage working from home:

Don't turn on the TV during the day.

Don't answer the phone, use caller id and voice mail.

Don't do housework during your work hours.  Your husband does not rush home during lunch to do the dishes.  I try to make sure things are picked up before I go to bed.  I do any major housework on the weekends with everyone pitching in.

Do the hardest things first when you start your workday.  It makes everything else zip by.

6 most important list - make a list at the end of each work day of the 6 most important things to do the next day.  Do your list first.

And most of all remember you can only do what you can do for each day.  Make sure to end your workday and enjoy some time with family and friends or just relaxing.