making a mess

Hi everybody! Happy Super Tuesday... the 2nd...
Yesterday was a Monday of hit the ground running: lots of work to do. After a big round of printing, it took me a little while to realize that I had not formatted the Cupcake cards correctly! Argh! It's back to the printer today, as well as a major mailing of over 20 parcels and those long over-due special gifts for some special customers (more on that soon). Whew!

I made such a huge mess in my room while cutting, folding, packaging up cards & writing notes, wrapping Moleskines, packaging artwork; finally I had to leave the room and bring my chaos into the rest of the apartment. There was a post-dinner Gocco printing of Otter Moleskines, after such fantastic light in the living room that I finally got to take new photos for the Birds and Bunny tags (before Easter- fantastic!)
...last time it took way too long and the mini-eggs were eaten during last week's Lost.

All of this packaging and mailing and printing is a wonderful distraction from the painting I had been telling you about, but already I'm feeling the urge (after 2 days) to get back to the watercolors & the peaceful pressure of painting. Here's a sneak peek at one of my projects... I am very fond of this design but it just has not picked up in the shop since adding it. So, a painted version is on it's way- the first watercolor to arrive in ouou. I'm having some trouble with reproductions, more news when light turns green on that front.

Back to work! : P

Art and Such (2.0) & Paint-In

Well. Here we are. The weekend. (looks at watch) 5 days until the next Lost episode.

We are getting flurries today, and I hear Boston is hunkering down for "another round of severe weather". I always hated that, you know... when it hits on a Saturday? (Knowing my friends there, they probably just plain old hate it at this point). April is right around the corner, guys! Really it is!

Taking a lovely coffee break, maybe it's time for another round of Art & Such!
The first artist I want to talk about is the amazing AJ Fosik, whose work I read about in the October 07 edition of Juxtapoz. A former graffiti artist who has incredible graphic work, he turned then to 3D work that has this powerful, detailed, old world animal-god quality to it! Above is the Juxtapoz magazine page I tore out and have in my room as inspiration, you can find an amazing shot of his work on this Flickr page here. Also, check out the Swindle article here . Every new work I see by this artist just floors me & initiates long sessions of thunderstruck awe.

Another sculptor who has recently captured my wonderment is Tricia Cline. On the other side of the spectrum from AJ Fosik, but with equal power and skill, Tricia Cline sculpts ultra-clean, iconic works in a style reminiscent of classical sculpture. She also has work that invites you into a sort of story-land, a surreal offering of seemingly incongruous figures and objects, or participants in a mythological drama but with a medium like porcelain it's no wonder the sculptures take on an other-worldly (spiritual?) untouchable quality. I love the haunting faces, expressions, gestures with the hands, and am totally stunned that she is self-taught. Read her artist statement here or simply browse her gallery here. Her website is fantastic.

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Next Art & Such will be from Etsy artists on a "Story Time" theme. I can't wait! For those of you who don't know, Etsy was on Martha Stewart on Friday, and an interview about Etsy Labs in Brooklyn will be on NPR's Weekend Edition this Sunday! Go Etsy!



Not much of a show and tell for you from me as the light is unpredictable here for pictures, but there sure is a large scale Paint-In going on over here. I'm planning on some big changes going into the last chapter of OUOU (version 1.0) before packing up the whole operation and re-opening in ...May? I've re-listed designs that I over printed during Christmas and installed a "Moving Sale" section that will be up for March.

Last, I want to extend a huge shout-out to Little Bee & Mixed Plate for their recent OUOU features. It was an incredible end of the week in the shop, and since I have been lucky enough to work on this full-time I can't express how much I appreciate the enthusiasm! It literally puts food on the table! (smile). Good luck with the snow out there, Jen! And my very best & warmest to everyone this weekend!