Team Treasury

This is a screenshot of the Etsy front page treasury I was featured in yesterday as a Military Brat Team member. My polymer clay handpainted letter "A" pendant is in the top right-hand corner.

I grew up an AF brat, married AF, and gave birth to a career AF son. YIKES! How sweet! That coveted front page treasury position got me a slew of views to my AngeeArt.etsy.com shop. Also, over 30 people chose me as one of their favorites. Great exposure with no sales or orders but, it was some exciting fun to mix into the middle of a busy work week!

A Great Day!

What a wonderful day. It began with an Etsy convo from a customer who had viewed custom photos of this tiny Eeyore button I made for her, and sent rave reviews. Soon after, a trip to send mail. Got all the supplies I needed to complete my new edible sculpture project. Be looking for that coming soon!!!

Then, I received the mini tools (not gonna give away trade secrets) I had finally found again and ordered online. They arrived in the mail. YES! I lost mine 10 years ago when they were stolen. Finally could replace them. What a blessing. So, now I can really kick craft butt, and take names!

I recently joined the Etsy Military Brats Team who are today as I write, the Featured Etsy Team(click) with an article in the Storque. Below the Storque article was a Treasury of Brat member items. Lo and behold, one of my painted letters was featured. Superb!

Finally, I received my Etsy Brat Birthday Partner's gift. Literally sweet! Working on photos to upload of that. The Etsy Brats Team is celebrating their one year birthday on Etsy. Participants placed their names in a hat and were assigned partners to exchange gifts with. I got something else I loved and had lost years ago. My partner recreated it for me as a custom order and I made her a custom order. What fun! I'll be posting those pics when I get clearance.

New Micro & Mini

This week was filled with tiny orders I had a great time making. Gosh I love the challenge of combining custom pieces with amazingly small size. The lifesize inchworm measured 12mm and the ladybug 6mm.


This custom "smoothie" blender keychain measures 1 1/2" tall and is made to look like it is filled with all kinds of fruit. Cute.

This little blue piggy bank and the itty xylophone were fun to make for a collector. I wholesaled these dollhouse creations in Dayton in the 70s. People still like them!

Edible Sculpture? Yum!

After years of making tiny clay things for dollhouses, I finally got to try my hand at the real deal... fondant and gum paste. I whipped up these tiny sample candy veggies for Wendy's cupcakes; another Alchemy bid at Etsy. This first picture has the samples I sent her to choose from. The red cabbage, cob of corn, tomato, cauliflower, and artichoke were made from gumpaste. Gumpaste is a little trickier. We'll see which kind Wendy chooses. What do ya think? Click on the pictures to see the enlargements.

Wilton's new fondant works just like regular clay with a similar texture. The regular flavor tastes pretty good... "vanillaish" but can be flavored otherwise. Now I'm on a literal roll! Going to offer edible sculptures in my shops. Always wanted my sculpture to have a purpose and now it does; just wait until you see the new things I've come up with!

This second picture contains all the tiny veggie ideas I tried. See the differences in size? The first batch was too small to gain appropriate attention atop a cupcake. This is a whole new world of fun.

From The Mouse Hole

The Stash" a.chase ... Have you ever wondered where those sock mates went when you did the laundry? The image for this post is an original acrylic watercolor on illustration board. It was an experimental piece with a cut out where the eye looks through. I plan on using parts of the painting for my "Mouse Hole" series where I will be including other people's artwork.

This week I plan on adding some superb artists I've found on Etsy. I recently did my first Treasury filled with some of the wonderful things I've discovered there. I asked several of the artists included if they would be interested in being featured on my blog. Later on in the week I'll be figuring out how to do just that, so... be looking for images of their great works too!

Does God Laugh?

Last year I spent a good amount of time editing and designing the cover of Nan Hough's new book, "I Made God Laugh!" She has had great success with it so far, and I'm proud to be involved. So, thought I'd give her a little blog blurb to share it with all of you.

It was published online by iUniverse which in itself was a unique and unusual experience. The process was "virtually" pain free. The finished 6" x 9" x 1.25" book contains a full 521 pages with a lovely professional looking glossy cover. My cover design began with a photo taken years ago in her backyard and reproduced wonderfully! She's already sold almost 100 books which is amazing since it was just published the first of March.

Want to purchase one? They retail for $31.95+shipping and are available at: iUniverse.com, Barnes & Noble.com with free shipping, Books-a-Million.com, Amazon.com, and Borders.com. You can also order directly from her for $30+shipping through this blog post by submitting contact info in a comment.

Marilyn Finito

HOORAY! I finished the painting last night and was thrilled and elated. After working on her sooo very long, I finally could sign my name. (a definite client insistance... "my name") I sat back, poured myself a celebratory glass of wine, and admired her!

This painting is very impasto which can't be seen in the photos. The thick 3-D strokes of paint all over the canvas darn sure stand out in person. She's larger than life, measuring 2'6" x 3'4" (30" x 40") The original, done in watercolor has an entirely different feel so I guess that makes my plagerism less dangerous! (shhhh don't tell!) I mean it's not like he's going to mass produce and sell the thing.

The client bought the original signed, limited edition print because he loved the abstract rendition. But, he really wanted one that looked like an original (substantially real) for his own pleasure. He's an avid art collector who just hates prints...even if they're signed limited editions. I'm proud to say he already has seven of my originals. A whole house full of "a.chase" work. The three-dimensional aspect of this impasto piece, when the light catches the knife strokes, gives the painting its own sense of being; a real classy art presence I'm sure he'll love.

I worked long and hard for this day to be able to share her with you, and the world. Sure would appreciate some comments good or bad. :o}

This project taught me how much I love painting impasto pieces. I had forgotten. Also, I'll never try and immulate a watercolor on canvas again!!! It will take you three weeks longer than anticipated, and then you'll still have to roll it into your own style. I guess part of the difficulty was not being inspired. That made it so much like work. But, when I came to the point of just surrendering and made it my own, as opposed to purely a "copy"... ahhh, it flowed.

Marilyn's finished. Hopefully I brought a fresh classy air to my portrait of Marilyn Monroe. After all, she did have a classiness about her to begin with!

For The Record

Spent the morning bidding on Etsy Alchemy requests in hopes of garnering some projects. I adore the challenge of answering custom orders! This cat was an Alchemy bid I won and completed. Made for a client whose cat died in a fire as a memorial stone portrait, she's life size, weighs 7 pounds, and painted in acrylic on river rock. The stone was finished with matte UV protectant spray to make it waterproof and ward fading, so, it can be placed in the garden.

Just for the record, if you see anything on this blog that you are interested in purchasing, run over to my AngeeArt.etsy.com shop and drop me an email. I'll be glad to make a buyer listing for you to purchase there. Be forewarned... you must become a buyer member of Etsy in order to contact me. But, it's free, and easy to do.

Now I'm off to spend time with my sweet Marilyn. The neighbor saw her earlier and thought she looked much better than the original. Gosh, I hope my client feels the same!

Showing Off

My Etsy Mini - Things from my AngeeArt shop

O Beautiful

With flags flying high and the fresh scent of watermelon wafting in the wind, I wish you all a happy forth of July. Happy Birthday America! I adore fireworks, so tonight I will see the rocket's red glare in spewing splendor once more. For this reason mostly, I love this day! Rose early this morning and washed the patio window. My gosh... it let in the dawn's early light. Amazing! A first light sampling of tonight's festivities.

In America I can still live very well no matter how starving an artist I am. There's always somewhere to get food; I have a solid roof over my head, a real carpeted floor, and can always thank God for air conditioning this time of year in sweltering Florida! Most of the time I'm glad this is my country, and at other times I want to move to Australia where at least I could have a kangaroo for a friend.

Have a great holiday weekend and remember me as you're cooking out with friends. After the fireworks, I'll be spending time alone with Marilyn, my knife, and the unopened "whine." !Sigh! (see previous post)

It's Marilyn!

Currently finishing up a huge commission that is probably the hardest painting I've ever done. The challenge is to take a very large 3.5' x 4.8' abstract watercolor print of Marilyn Monroe, and reproduce her into an original acrylic on canvas. I've spent weeks trying to make her look like an acrylic watercolor on canvas which is just ... impossible. Hello! The client wanted me to transform her from a smooth print to a rocking original. He only loves originals, so truly... what have I been thinking???

Struggled with the opaque acrylics and almost drove myself to drink over it. Even bought a cheap bottle of wine to soothe my nerves just in case I got to the point of wanting to paint a moustache on her lip and start over. Haven't popped the cork yet!

Last night I gave in. Finally decided to go completely in the other direction, toss the brushes, and work with a palette knife. This, I love!!! It's coming along much better. Now that I've surrendered to the desires of the canvas, she should be finished sometime this weekend. Will upload a photo for all to see her "impastoed" magnificence when she's done. Then I'll sit back and drink the wine in celebration!

First Light

After checking the etsy forums yesterday I ran across a thread about blogs. I'd started a blogspot in 2006, ran out of steam a couple of months after, and it's been defunct for all this time. I started another on MySpace, but that one seemed too busy and didn't get any serious attention. Plus, the blog there is just too troublesome to post and upload pics to. And... after all it is MySpace! Take a look at some of my pieces I have posted there. www.myspace.com/angeeart

So...once more I begin. Maybe if this one covers all my pleasures, I won't feel disinterested so soon. Got in here last night and wow has it changed. Much more user friendly than in '06. (maybe that's the kink) Made the header last night and today is the day I'm committing to a new one. A new beginning. A fresh, clean start. Wish me luck!