This is the last and largest version of the Ponder Hill collages I've been working on the last few days. (you can read about them in the post below). This original is already on its way to a new home, but large size prints are available in my Etsy along with an original version of one of the smaller collages. This larger version has the full text and some houses added in the background.
Ponder Hill (large version)
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/29/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, print or reuse this image in any way without my permission. This is an 8 x 10 collage using a face from kumareeboo.etsy.com, a body from lisasalteredart.etsy.com, shoes scanned from a magazine, wings from Landofenchantment.etsy.com, and crown and heart made from a 100 year old encyclopedia page. The background was made using three pieces, slightly altered digitally, purchased under a special licensing agreement with Lorie Davison at Studio Lorie at Scrapbookgraphics.com and a black and white border made from pieces from a collage sheet from Crowabout.etsy.com. The houses were constructed using pieces bought with a commercial license from Jen Ulasiewicz at Studio Jen at Scrapbookgraphics.com. The face, body, crown, wings, and heart were all hand colored. All pieces were hand trimmed after printing.
I am off to spend some time with company we have this weekend. Unfortunately we all are gathering for the Memorial service tomorrow for a very dear friend, one that has been a part of our family for many, many years.
Have you heard about our nearby fire? Living in SoCal, fires are not new to us. We've had to pack up ourselves once years ago, but we have a really large forest fire less than 10 miles from us (near La Canada in Angeles Forest). We are in no danger yet but the smoke coupled with the near 105 temps makes things pretty miserable here. Do the rain dance for us!
I am so sorry for being away a bit this week. I owe lots and lots of blog and flickr visits. I don't know what happened but things have just all of a sudden exploded for me this week, in a very, very, very good way. I have had more business this last week than ever before and it is a bit overwhelming. And the business is coming from all sorts of places, not just Etsy but in emails too. So, trading work with folks, except for what's already on my plate, will have to be put off a bit until I get caught up again.I love trading so I will pick it up again soon! I just need to empty my plate and start over. Ya know? I have several commission pieces to do and my Etsy is almost empty of originals (mostly prints now which I don't like).
I haven't gotten rid of the black and white borders yet. Still using them. And now I'm using the same body over and over. I used this body in Sweet Nayski and in Moon Rose below. I am going to do something a bit different with this piece. I am going to make several original versions of it, as close to the same as possible but some in other sizes. I have a few people waiting on work from me and I want to send them all this piece. I just truly like it for some reason. We'll see how this goes. I have two done so far. One is going to Tina Wright of {glue on my fingers}for a collaboration we planned several weeks ago. One is going into my Etsy now. I am making one smaller for a friend and one larger for partial payment for some images I recently acquired from a very talented designer.
Ponder Hill
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/28/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, print, or use this image in any way without my permission.
This is a 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 collage using a face from kumareeboo.etsy.com, a body from lisasalteredart.etsy.com, shoes scanned from a magazine, wings from Landofenchantment.etsy.com, and crown and heart made from a 100 year old encyclopedia page. The background was made using two pieces, slightly altered digitally, purchased under a special licensing agreement with Lorie Davison at Studio Lorie at Scrapbookgraphics.com and a black and white border made from pieces from a collage sheet from Crowabout.etsy.com. The face, body, crown, wings, and heart were all hand colored. All pieces were hand trimmed after printing.
You may remember a piece that Heather of Creative Solace sent to me as a delightful surprise a few weeks ago. You can see it in this post. Well, I have been very slow in reciprocating a gift back but finally got this little piece in the mail to her yesterday. Shhhh. Don't tell her. It's a surprise too. You can see that I haven't quit using the black and white border and there's that body again!
Moon Rose
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/27/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, print, or use this image in any way without my permission.
This is a 5 x 7 collage using a face and body from lisasalteredart.etsy.com, shoes scanned from a magazine, crown made from a 100 year old encyclopedia pate, border made from a collage sheet by Crowabout.etsy.com, butterfly used with a license from Butterfly Utopia, and roses used with a license from Jen Ulasiewicz.The background was made with a texture from flickr’s JoesSistah and various gimp brushes.
I got such a lovely award from one of my newer blog friends, Lawendula! (Don't you love that name?) You'll love her blog Woven Letters, too! It is gorgeous and one I am so glad to be getting to know. Thank you, Lawendula!
The rules of this MeMe award are to share 7 tidbits about myself and pass it on to 7 blog friends. So 7 things about me . . .
1. Many of you know I am afraid of buttons. I have a real phobia of them and can't touch them or look at them! I'm so weird.
2. I work in cycles and I work very intensely. I have such incredible focus and urges to be organized, that I can't move on to one thing until I've finished the first. The house could burn down around me and I would want to keep working on something before I escape, . . . or under normal circumstances . . . I would want to finish something before I eat, shower, sleep or visit blogs (for example, hint, hint). I can't help it - I was born this way.
3. I work about 18 hours a day on art or art related business about 6 days a week and I am ALWAYS behind.
4. I love fountain coke. Can't have enough of it. My husband knows I would much rather have him walk in the door with a giant frosty fountain coke than flowers any day of the week.
5. I have two teen age kids - a daughter about to turn 16 and a son that is 17. In three months they will both be driving and in two years they will both be in college and I dread it now! I used to think the worries would be less as my children got older, but they just get bigger and bigger and I just get grayer and grayer! Just ahead of art, my family is my whole life, my whole purpose, my whole world.
6. If I could trade any parts of my body that I don't like, I would get new pretty toes first, then a better bustline, then a smaller nose.
7. If I could have any talent I wanted and be successful at any profession, I would like to be able to sing and be a rock star. Okay, wait - that's kinda selfish if I'm getting to choose something . . . I would be a doctor and help people. No, wait, I would speak every language fluently and knock some sense into the folks in the world that need it. Oh, I don't know . . . . guess I should just stick to being me, ugly toes and all.
7 friends to pass the award on to . . . I cannot choose just 7 tonight. I am so behind in visiting and have over 130 that I like to visit regularly and many more to discover. And I think everyone should get an award for bravely putting themselves and their work out there. So this one's for all of you!If you're reading this, then you deserve an award, so post it proudly from me!
I got my returns from Marion at bockel24's zetti swap! How incredibly wonderful and beautiful they are! Delicious in every way! I got cards from Marion (blue one), Mandy of Mandy's Magical World of Art (red one), and Trudi of Two Dresses Studio (black and white one). And Trudi's smells so good! Oh, I wish you could see (and smell!) them in person!
Lastly, I wanted to show you the doll/altered art piece I bought from Suzan Buckner, but I can't seem to get a hold of a camera and get it done. So, I'm sending you a link to where you can see it. You can see it here.
While you're at Suzan's blog, you should see her post about the Slotin Folk Fest where she recently sold her work. Lots of incredible pictures!
That's right! Taco Tuesday! Sadly, only G-Ma as my kids call her (Grandma) is going tonight. I am staying home to finish up work and she is bringing me the pseudo-tacos from Taco Bell on her way home from eating real tacos. Hubby and daughter are off to soccer practice tonight and son is barricaded in his room computering.
I have worked for nearly four days on two pieces - I know. Ridiculously slow, I am! This one took the longest. I also know I am overusing the black and white border, but I tend to do that. Go all gusto for something for awhile in my work, use it too much, use it up and then move on. It's like I want to squeeze the very last drop out of something before I leave it. And I'm not saying I'm leaving it yet!
Pages
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/25/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, print or reuse this image in any way without my permission. This is a larger 8 x 10 collage using a face from flickr's Suzee Que, a body from lisasalteredart.etsy.com, legs from flickr's heyjupiter, wings from greatmusings.com, shoes scanned from a magazine and altered, black and white border pieced from a collage sheet from Crowabout.etsy.com, other borders from designer Sande Krieger, pencil from Stock Xchange, crown from keeperofthenest.etsy.com, and book from designer Jan Ulasiewicz. The blue and red backgrounds were made from a texture from JoesSistah and images from Jan Ulasiewicz and flickr's jerseybarb85.
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/25/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, print or reuse this image in any way without my permission.
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/25/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, print or reuse this image in any way without my permission.
I just love seeing things matted and framed. With these larger pieces, my scanner isn't large enough to include the mat, so here is faux ensemble from bighugelabs.com
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/25/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, print or reuse this image in any way without my permission.
Well, I finished the last of the fairy-fications I can do for a little while. I still have many people on my list that I want to do eventually, but these pieces are rather difficult for me for some reason in wanting to make them special and take some time to figure out. I missed my friend Nayski's 50th birthday collaborated inundation with artwork arranged by my flickr buddy Zibelline and I so wanted to finally do something for her. From what I've heard from a little bird (sitting on the moon you will see), Nayski spends a great deal of time taking care of everybody around her. The houses in this piece symbolize all the parts of her life she stays on top of and takes care of.
Sweet Nayski
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/24/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, print or reuse this image in any way without my permission. This is a 4 3/4 x 6 1/2 collage using a body and bird from lisasalteredart.etsy.com, face from my friend Nayski, wings from Itkupilli.etsy.com, and a checked border made from pieces from a collage sheet from Crowabout.etsy.com. The houses were constructed from pieces purchased with a commercial use license from designer Jen Ulasiewiez. The background was made my manipulating and layering textures from flickr's JoesSistah and designer Jen Ulasiewiez.
I own this! I have bought two pieces of art in the last year. If I ever win the lottery, I promise to buy art from everyone I know, but until then, funds are a bit limited. (I have two kids about to go to college in the next two years!) So, I splurged a bit this summer and bought a piece from Suzan Buckner, which I will show you later this week as I have to photograph it, and this piece from Nancy Baumiller last week. I am so excited to be taking Nancy's class in October, I wanted a piece to study in person. It is truly spectacular! The amount of detail in this work simply amazes me, AMAZES ME! The teeny tiny cuts, the millions of hand drawn and painted dots and texturizing, the shadowing, the hand lettering. Oh, it makes me realize I need to step things up in my own work. (Thus, the class in October!) Nancy has some other gorgeous original pieces available and some wonderfully fun collage sheets in her etsy.
I have more goodies (awards and bockel24's zetti swap and my doll from Suzan to name a few) to share with you but I will save them for another day. Until then, here are a couple of incredible sites to visit. Oh, the work makes me dream big! The surrealism just intoxicates me!
It has been a funky few days. Nothing unbearably horrible, just a few funky days in a row. I feel off kilter in a number of ways. But it's Friday and I like Fridays. I started this piece below last night and am still not completely satisfied. I've had it glued and pulled up and glued and pulled up and redone and glued and now I'm tired of it, so here it is. The idea was . . . it is a zetti-like TV with a zetti-like TV show on it, of course involving fish as my favorite zetti folk would be involved with.
ZTN - Zetti Television Network
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/21/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or reuse this image in any way without my permission. This is a large 8 x 10 collage using faces I warped from flickr's chicks57, bodies from flickr's stmarygypsy, hats from scrap paper, wings from greatmusings.com, a fish and partial TV screen from phenomenon1859.etsy.com, and border pieced together from a collage sheet from Crowabout.etsy.com. The wings, faces, legs, and hands were recolored but that is about all that was hand colored in this piece. The large fish, the TV border and fairies were reprinted and hand trimmed. The two smaller fish and grass were created in a digital manipulation of a texture from flickr's JoesSistah.
At Bighugelabs.com you can add this cool little gallery mat and frame to your artwork. Neato! (when's the last time you read the word Neato?)
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/21/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or reuse this image in any way without my permission.
Well, I got some good mail in the last few funky days too! Today I opened a package from my friend Susan of Broken Heart Art! Holy moly this woman must love me! Look at all she sent and I didn't even picture all of it! Look at the very lovely fish prints she made! I saw them on her blog and just came out and asked for one so we traded a bit. She also sent me some lovely ATC backgrounds and the showgirl mermaid I wanted too. All fit for a fish lover like me! And all BEAUTIFUL! She also sent some great eyeglass ephemera and some gorgeous fish die cuts. She was too good to me but I love it ALL! (Susan, if you're reading this I am on my way over to send you a big juicy thank you!)
Other good mail included two Somerset magazines this week. One for the Sept/Oct and one for the Holiday and Celebrations issue. So, yes, I somehow got in both of them! Woohoo! My Good Little Witches, you may remember seeing, were split between the two magazines. Whoa! I almost didn't finish or send them. I had just found out we had a $4000 income tax bill to pay and was pulling my hair out trying to do Quicken, finish the taxes, and darn near decided not to even finish the witches, but I did thank goodness. (though I am still crying over my $4000 tax bill and these pieces are very much on the minimal simplistic end of even my work and now you know why!) Anyway, both are gorgeous issues I am so honored and proud to be included in.
Zazzle Heads Up . . . Zazzle is a store where you can get my work printed on t-shirts I have designed (mini store in sidebar). Actually you can get t-shirts and mugs and bags and all kinds of things from thousands of artists. But I have a store there. I have ordered two different t-shirts with my images on them. While I am very pleased with the quality, especially on the black shirts which cost extra but you get a much sharper image than the white shirts, the sizes run extremely small. I gave one shirt away and the other I am exchanging. They have a complete 30 day guarantee which is wonderful. I normally wear a ladies large or x-large if I want it bigger. I am 5'9" tall and long waisted so the XL sometimes gives me length. Well I ordered the ladies 2X in both shirts and they fit me like a normal small shirt would fit - made for munchkins. So, from now on, I am ordering men's shirts until they get different ladies shirts. Just thought you might like to know.
GUESS WHAT? I know you won't believe this, coming from me. (wink, wink) I am behind on blog visits and flickering again - haven't done it for two days and two days is a lot to miss when you're trying to stay caught up! I'll be by soon!
The couple of times I've written about this subject I wrote that someone copied my work or my friend's work. I need to be a bit more clear. We're not talking about someone taking the same idea and working it similarly or just mimicking an idea. We're talking about illegally downloading our work, cutting it out and reusing it with very little change AND then, on top of that, using the pirated pieces in a VERY similar way.
Gosh, mimicking or borrowing an idea and putting your own spin on it is just part of the process. I obviously mimic whoever put the first wings on a photographed body or a crown or party hat on a head. There wasn't only one Impressionist painter or one Surrealist artist or one singer for every song. Car designers don't start from square one, clothing designers follow trends, virtually everything we use and see has its counterparts and "copies/versions" or similar takes right down the toothpaste you use. We can't avoid that and pulling and stretching ideas help us learn and grow as artists. But the point is, to take an idea and stretch it a bit, make it your own, put your own brand on it, your own voice in it. Do your own work to SOME degree.
Again, I don't have details to share of my friend's experience. But I do know that her work had very tiny details she added herself that made it obvious it was her work being reused, not just mimicked. My experience was the same. Obviously downloaded and reused. Mimic away, I say, just don't reuse my work and don't take my stuff to do it! Hope that all makes sense.
Update . . . Now that she's posted about it, wanted to let you know the friend I've been writing about, the victim of the most recent piracy I know about, is Jade of Jade's Funki-Junk (aka artchicapoo on flickr). She's been handling it very well and as professionally as possible. So give her a pat on the back and let her know you love her work!
I promise to leave this subject and post some work and happy stuff later today!
Hate to bring it up again - actually, let me reword that. I hate that I have a reason to bring it up again, but . . . please help get the word out and educate our art friends that . . .
IT IS NOT OKAY TO COPY AND REUSE ANY PART OF ANYONE ELSE'S WORK WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION.
It didn't happen to me this time (as far as I know). Someone who I admire very much, happens to be in my blog links and is probably known by you, has just discovered someone has copied a piece she altered in minute detail and then claimed the work herself. Probably didn't think anyone would notice, but they did. And once again it seems the copycat work is in a swap with other people many of us know which makes it even more infuriating and bewildering. I know how very upsetting that is. It results in a big jumbled ball of emotions ranging from anger, astonishment, anger, hurt, shock, betrayal by a fellow "artist" and feeling violated. I don't know the details nor would I share them as that is not my place to do, but I do want to remind everyone that this is getting to be a big problem and it won't go away until we all speak up and make it clear.
Here's another reason to take this seriously . . . Because in this case and in my recent experience, an image was stolen from not just the artist but the original image seller. If we look the other way when people "borrow" from our work and the images we purchase from folks like Teesha Moore or Lisa's Altered Art or any other image seller, the image seller is losing their income too and may just quit selling images for any of us to use.
Here are things to help prevent theft of your work.
I am adding watermarks to my Etsy listings.
Change your flickr settings so that you disable the "all sizes" and so that only YOU can download your work, and link any images you post on your blog back to your blog.
I also make my images not searchable outside of flickr - another setting you can adjust - it prevents my work from popping up in a yahoo or google image search. These things prevent anyone from clicking for the nice big version of your work.
Put a copyright notice under everything you publish everywhere you publish it.
Until ning networks provide good "spaceball" (what flickr uses to protect your work from downloading) for those that attempt to download, I'm thinking about taking all of my work out of ning networks until I get it watermarked.
Regularly search Etsy and flickr and yahoo images for work - like I might search for "fairy collage" so I can see if anyone has copied me.
Now, don't panic about your own artwork. I do at moments and then realize, karma stinks for some. People that do bad things almost always eventually get caught. There is always a way for determined thieves to figure out a way to steal, but the more hoops you make them jump through the less tempting it is. The more they know we are concerned and watching, the less likely some will be willing to try. So, if you're concerned, follow the suggestions above and move on to making your wonderful art and let karma take care of the rest.
It's Taco Tuesday and almost dinner time and I am still in my pajamas. Scary, huh? I wanted to finish a piece today, just for me, no trades, no challenges, no themes, no matter what. I have prints to run and Etsy orders to take care of (very thankfully) and a shower to take, finally, and a house to vacuum before my son's friend comes over to computer all night. So do I want tacos or not? Hmmmmm . . .
Hey, while I debated tacos, I was told that this piece conveniently fits with the Three Muses "wings on things" challenge this week so, yay! Finally I get to play with these lovely ladies!
Wings
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/18/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use this image in any way without my permission. This is a 5 x 7 collage using a face from flickr's Suzee Que, a body from flickr's takeabreak, yellow wings from Itkupilli.etsy.com, crown from keeperofthenest.etsy.com, and bird from lisasalteredart.etsy.com. All but the wings were hand colored after reprinting and hand trimming. The black and white checked frame was pieced together from a piece from a collage sheet from Crowabout.etsy.com. The other border pieces were made from scans of my own vintage ephemera. Everything was placed on a main background using a texture from flickr's JoesSistah and my own cloud texture.
(close up view)
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/18/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use this image in any way without my permission.
(in mat)
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/18/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use this image in any way without my permission.
I want to tell you some exciting things. Many of you know that Nancy Baumiller is pretty darn near one of my main idols, though I have many, many idols I suppose. She is very generous with her flickr Collage Play with Crowabout group and all of the images she provides us for those challenges. (You can join the group if you like, just flickr mail Nancy) Many months ago, she sent me some collage sheets to test and I have been using pieces since then and urging her to sell them. Nancy has finally started putting her sheets on Etsy and you must go check them out at Crowabout.etsy.com. There are countless examples of how they can be used in the Collage Play group, but honestly, in my opinion, it's time to send some business her way and grab up those sheets for sale. (I used one of her pieces to make the checked border in the piece above) Nancy also has a new online class starting soon and you can read more about that here. I'm signed up and very excited about it (it's my first ever class in over 20 years!)
Speaking of collage sheets. I am postponing mine awhile. There are just so many great places selling great sheets right now, I'm not sure I have much different to offer that I am willing to share yet. I'm going to think about it some more and take my time putting them together. The border elements in the piece above are the first of my scanned ephemera borders but I have thousands of pieces of ephemera to go through and make borders from.
I've been getting lots of emails lately about how I do what I do, especially the hand coloring. I think I've gotten 8 in the last week. While I am very surprised and very flattered, I realize in trying to answer people that I don't have much to tell you. My hand coloring is a bit of a secret recipe and a process that fails almost as often as it works. Until I am a bit more established as an artist and find a more conistent process, I'd rather not reveal the process yet. It takes a delicate touch and a lot of patience. In fact, in the last two pieces on this blog, I made numerous attempts to get it right without blotches or streaks or lifting the ink from the printer, so it might just frustrate people anyway. I do appreciate the inquiries though, and someday I promise to share. I don't think most of you would want to know anyway. I was reading someone's blog last night (Michele at The Cat's Pajamas) and they made 6 collages in one day! And the one I saw was gorgeous! I had a good big laugh because that little collage of mine on this post, took me nearly 8 hours from start to finish! If I make 6 a week I'd be very lucky. So, there's not alot of production going on here and no quick easy tips. I know, I'm so disappointing!
I made blog visits yesterday and am going to try very hard to keep up this week! So, I'll be by soon! Thanks for your visit!
Well, many of you know I have been sweatin' an Alumni Exhibition I have coming up at the University of South Dakota where I graduated with my BFA over 20 years ago. Collage was kind of a dirty word back then and I was a Graphic Design major and worked in an entirely different medium back then. (well, not entirely different) Anyway, some of my professors are still there as well as the Dean, who I knew well. There could never be a more intimidating audience than one's previous professors. So, after excepting the invitation and after kicking myself daily, I finally finished a piece for the event that has been swimming around in my head. Suzee Que of flickr gave me the images that I found last night - they sealed the deal and made it all come together. I took great care with this collage. It is almost entirely hand cut and colored to some degree. The only really digital piece is the background background (not the buildings or borders or trims). But all the borders and the flooring, shoes, buildings, crown, fish, face and body were hand cut and edged or enhanced or recolored with ink and pastel. The face and body were printed in black and white and completely recolored down to the iris of the eyes. Because there is so much skin showing, it took several attempts to get the skin color even without streaks and the right soft shade. (she often ended up looking sunburned) It was a grueling workout on my patience! This is a larger piece for me, an 8 x 10. But it's done! yay, yay, yay!
Lady Fish
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/13/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use this image in any way without my permission. This is an 8 x 10 collage using a face and separate body from flickr's Suzee Que, wings from itkupilli.etsy.com, a crown from the Library of Congress, a fish from keeperofthenest.etsy.com, shoes from a magazine picture, flooring from flickr's 'Playingwithbrushes', buildings from the Library of Congress, black and white checked pieces from flickr's Nancy Baumiller (pieced together to form a frame), additional borders from flickr's wackystuff and designer Sande Krieger, and a main background from flickr's JoesSistah. All but the background were reprinted, hand cut with scissors, edged with ink, shaded with pastel and many were completely recolored with ink and pastel.
(close up view)
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/13/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use this image in any way without my permission.
Awards I need to pass on some lovely awards I got from Nancy Lefko. I think about them everyday since she gave them to me. Thank you, Nancy! For awhile, I haven't been passing on awards because it is so hard to choose just 5 or so out of so many truly lovely blogs I love to visit. So, I've slacked. Tonight, with Nancy's very special awards I thought I should take a minute to share some of my most favorite blogs. They're all favorite for different reasons - some I can explain and some I can't. Obviously, I'm leaving out 120 or so of the blogs I have in my links to the right and they're all linked for a reason - I love them and they're all my favorites! But, I will choose a few as a thank you for the inspiration or encouragement or generosity these folks have shown me and I am sure many others.
Bella Sinclair Award for Art Inspiration, Friendship, Sisterhood, Sharing, and Caring
This one I am passing on to these blogs for just those reasons . . .
The Superior Scribbler Award This one has a link to read, a list to add your name to, and some rules to follow. You can find all of that in the info below the blogs I am sending this to . . .
Here's the rules for this one . . . it's worth the time, you'll see . . . Each Superior Scribbler must, in turn, pass the award on to 5 most-deserving blog buddies.Each Superior Scribbler must link to the person from whom he/she has received the award. Each Superior Scribbler must display the award on his/her blog, and link to this post, which explains the award. Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List at the Scholastic-Scribe's blog. Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.
Zazzle Store Update I am still working on my Zazzle store. I only have 3 things in it so far. When I get it pretty well stocked, I'll let you know! (If you're a Zazzler, you might want to read the two posts below)
You can read the post below to catch up on this post. Well, after many attempts last night to remove the "customize" feature from my products, I sent a complaint inquiry to Zazzle. Promptly this morning, I got a reply. Poor Zazzle guy, though. The first time I read through his message I thought he was explaining How To customize and I sent another complaining letter about that. Then I reread his message and realized he was explaining how to remove the feature. I quickly apologized with my tail between my legs. I hate it when I do that, jump to pessimistic conclusions. I am so embarrassed and ashamed. So anyway, I tried what nice Zazzle man explained and it worked so behold, his directions for removing the customization feature on your Zazzle products . . .
"Thanks for contacting our support team. Unfortunately, once you have posted a product to the Zazzle marketplace, you cannot adjust certain parameters like the fundamental design elements (text and image) and the ability for customers to customize your item.
The only solution available is to recreate the product and post it for sale again. Fortunately, this is a relatively easy thing to do by using the following steps:
1) Login to your Zazzle account and open to your Zazzle store. 2) Click on the product you wish to regenerate to open it up to its detailed view. 3) Select the "Customize It" button 4) Make any necessary adjustments to the product itself (view front or back, edit image or text, change product size) 5) Rename and save the new version of the product 6) Re-Post your item for sale (using the same process as you did for the original version). This is where you can set the maturity rating, public category placement, and disable the customization feature for your product. 7) Once the corrected replacement appears securely in your store, you can delete the original"
Now, realize when you are signed in, you will still see the customize feature at the bottom of the shirt information. But, if you log out and see your item as the public will, the customize feature is gone. What a relief! I'm so happy and I'm off to put stuff in my new store!
Hi all! Just a quick heads up about Zazzle first. I hate to rain on a parade, but maybe it won't be rain for you, maybe it won't matter to you. I'm just sharing in case you weren't aware of something Zazzle allows. I was so excited about opening a Zazzle until tonight. I ordered a tshirt a few days ago so I could check the quality before I opened my shop publicly. All went well - shipping was very fast, product was acceptable, not quite as sharp as I hoped, but acceptable. So I went in and started designing and adding products and had three done when I realized customers can customize YOUR design! This is not acceptable for me. I did not spend hour upon hour designing something so someone can paint a mustache on it or add "For Bubba" below it in big bright letters and then tell everyone where they got it. To me it's kinda like giving everyone sharpies on their way into the museum so they can edit the art on the walls as they please. Might be fun, but might not go over well with the artists or artwork owners. I was so happy with so many things about Zazzle, like their image protection so your images can't be downloaded, but this brought my Zazzle experience to a screeching halt. I wrote a complaint letter to them tonight. Just thought you might like to know in case you don't like the idea either.
This is the front and back of a really skinny skinny! It was fun to work with these dimensions, 3.5 x 7.5, though I don't think I stretched, literally, as much as I could have. Anyway, these are for a book collaboration that flickr's artchicapoo is hosting. Artchicapoo is Jade of Jade's Funki-Junk blog - she is a zetti queen!
Whole Heart Zetti (front)
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/12/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use this image in any way without my permission.
(back)
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/12/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use this image in any way without my permission. These are front and back sides of a 3.5 x 7 .5 collage using a face from flickr's takeabreak, legs from flickr's alice fox, a body from lisasalteredart.etsy.com, and wings from itkupilli.etsy.com. These were reprinted, hand trimmed, and hand colored. On the back side, the fish came from keeperofthenest.etsy.com, the face from flickr's takeabreak, and the crown from spiceitup.etsy.com. The crown and hearts on the front were drawn and colored by me. All pieces were arranged on a background on both sides made from textures from flickr's JoesSistah, flickr's Nancy Baumiller, and itkupilli.etsy.com.
One of my most entertaining flickr friends,Zibelline, has kept me giggling and snickering with her comments and laughing 'til my sides hurt with her elaborate story collages. Sue (aka Zibelline) just recently got promoted to Postmaster of Holdingford, MN. We have a great time trying to address her with her newly acquired position. Some have suggested Her Majesty, Honorable, PostMistress, and I think the best one yet was Peacwytch's Postitute. Zibelline is famous for her fluid protein, fluid fish, fluid meat and anything else she can fluid-fy but I did not figure a way to work this into this tribute fairy-fication of her. Sue, this means no more "sadly, this isn't my face" comments from you . . . maybe. I think I'll miss them. Sue doesn't have a blog, so you will have to go to her flickr to visit her. She might come over here to read this though she doesn't blog hop much. Now, what to name this piece . . . . hmmmm . . . .
Her Majesty, the Honorable PostMistress Postitute, Zibelline
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/11/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use this image in any way without my permission. This is a 5 x 7 collage using a face from a friend, a body from my own vintage postcard, a crown from keeperofthenest.etsy.com, and boots from a found picture. These pieces were printed in black and white and hand trimmed and hand colored. The wings are from itkupilli.etsy.com. The character was then attached to a background made from merging textures from flickr's JoesSistah and 'Playingwithbrushes' with a stars and stripes background from itkupilli.etsy.com. One letter was scanned from my own vintage ephemera and one is from flickr's cindyiscrafty. Thank you image providers!
Now, I have other friend news I must share with you - someone's famous! I've written here, before, of my buddy, the witty, funny, talented Tace (real name Tracey Truly) whose blog I have been a long time fan of. To my knowledge and the last time I checked, Tace does not have a blog for her artwork but she has an exciting gorgeous websiteA Little Character. Her blog,All Kinds of Stuff, is full of contemporary Erma Bombeck-ish life is a bowl of cherries only better wit and humor and stories that entertain me more than I can tell you (like being in search of the perfect dish drainer, the saga of her trash containers, buying bottled sea water, etc.). But her artwork, oh, it is amazing. She is a doll sculptor/artist. She just got published for the first time (of many more to come I am sure) in Art Doll Quarterly with a beautifully written article and several of her dolls. You can find her on pages 46, 47, and 48 in the current Aug/Sept/Oct issue. (After her brother refused to, I promised to name my next born child "ADQ 46, 47, 48" just for her) In return, I got my own autographed copy, lucky me! (little does she know my husband got fixed several years ago - hope it holds) I am so thrilled and excited for her! So hop over and congratulate her! (here's the first page of the article)
Today is my Dad's 80th birthday! Here we are having a special lunch together (a FEW years ago) at a quaint little living room spot, using only the best plastic toy china eating hot dogs, peanut butter and jam sandwiches and drinking the finest KoolAid.
I've been busy the last couple of days - we put in new wood around our hot tub deck (and still have to pressure wash and waterproof it today and tomorrow), have laundry going, bills to pay, grocery shopping, and I have to, have to, have to finish three pieces to send to the Alumni exhibition I have been whining about. So, I'm going to be scarce a few more days. Hope you have a great week!
This post is about two things. First, helping support a beautiful project started by Monica of Girl Gone Thread Wild. And, second, about me trying to get a bit more involved in something other than myself. I recently visited Michelle's 3rd Eye Muse blog and was so amazed at all of the places she has donated her work and efforts to. (scroll down the left side of her blog and you will start to see group project one after another) I know a lot of my blog friends donate their work and time and effort and money, but while looking at her blog it really struck me that I should give back a bit more than I take. Something just hit me. So, this is a very small start in trying to get more involved and this particular piece is for Monica's Pink Artists Drawing.
Pretty in Pink
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/8/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use any part of this image without my permission. This is a 5 x 7 collage using a face from flickr's Suzee Que, a body from suppliestogo.etsy.com, feet from moonfaires.etsy.com, wings from greatmusings.com, flowers from keeperofthenest.etsy.com, and a small butterfly from Dover clipart. All of these pieces were reprinted, hand trimmed and hand colored with ink and pastels. The words were created by me and all was attached to a background made from a texture from flickr's JoesSistah.
(here it is the mat in will come in)
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/8/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use any part of this image without my permission.
Okay, so my Pretty in Pink piece is being donated to the project. You could win this piece by donating to the drawing. Here are details lifted from Monica's blog
How to give:Monetary donations willbe accepted starting July 31st up until October 15, which is the OFFICIAL day of the drawing. The month of October is as you know Breast Cancer Awareness month. Together we'll make this a fun & rewarding way toHELPothers. Donations being accepted are money orders made out to Susan G. Komen and mailed to Monica Magness PO Box 2206 Madison, AL 35758 where your name will be entered into our drawing & donations will be collected and sent in to our charity on Oct. 22nd. Sorry, no personal checks. Cash sent at your own risk. Or you can paypal your donation toMLMagness@aol.comwith the subject header: THE PINK ARTIST DRAWINGand your name will go into our drawing and ALL funds will be forwarded to our charity. Please note that paypal takes a fee to operate, be sure to take this into consideration when making your donation. Please make sure your name and address are legible (typed is best for accuracy). Though ANY donation amount is cheerfully accepted, for every $10 donation you send in your name will be entered into our drawing twice. A PAYPAL button will be available on this blog starting July 31st.
Post our group button to your blog or site:You can help us spread the word by posting our group button to the sidebar of your blog, in a blog post and/or on your website with a link back to this post. Our button should show up as a clickable image bringing the viewer back to our drawing details. If it does not, please manually type in this blog post link address. Thank you!
Pass Out Our Flyer: Digi Queen,Rebecca Lasliehas graciously created a printableflyer for us to print out on our home computers so that we can pass the news on to friends, family, coworkers & neighbors. Share the news~ ourflyer prints out beautifully in color AND in black & white! (you can click on it to see it larger in its flickr home)
. . . in my Etsy. I've decided to take a little tiny leap and offer a limited number of prints which I have fought tooth and nail against for awhile but finally was convinced by someone today to try. I have only listed 6 of my favorites, in print runs of 25. I won't sell prints until the original has sold . . . I think, for now. I hate being a commercial for myself, but I have no modesty.
Come back later this weekend for something in PINK.
Finis! I am done with eggplant and Aubergine for a while. I made a suite of three pieces. I haven't named them separately so the name of the suite is Queeny Auberginey and Her Eggplant. (Have I lost my mind AND my muse? Or did I inherit some crazy muse?) I'm not exactly sure how this happened, but it did.
(credits below) copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/6/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use any part of this image without my permission.
(credits below) copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/6/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use any part of this image without my permission.
(credits below) copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/6/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use any part of this image without my permission. These are 5 x 7 collages all using a face from June's Art Freebies, partial bodies from the Library of Congress, legs from my own vintage postcards and moonfaires.etsy.com including some arms, and boots and skirt scanned from found pictures. The wings are from itkupilli.etsy.com and the crown is from keeperofthenest.etsy.com. All of these pieces were reprinted, hand trimmed and hand colored with ink and pastel. The background box is made from a texture from flickr's JoesSistah and some lines I made myself. The column is from paperstreet.etsy.com and the eggplant is from wikimedia.com creative commons.
I like seeing them side by side . . .
Here are the pieces these came from
Okay, so there's a story in here somewhere but I'm not sure what it is in detail. Next, I have to come up with something for an Alumni exhibition at my old Alma mater - this scares me more than you know. Why I accepted the invitation I have no idea. I need to send it in the next week or so too.
I am slaving away. Cleaned and did laundry today, missing my baby girl who has been at soccer camp all week but she comes home tomorrow. Son has senior portraits tomorrow - holy crap! He's a senior? I still cry about taking him to Kindergarten the first day.
I just lowered prices again in my Etsy, just in case you're interested. It has been so ssssllloooowwww lately. After I finish out the next few determined projects, I'm going to start a new Etsy with collage sheets and vintage ephemera and junk. I had no idea how much work is involved in that! It'll be a few weeks.
Be warned, there might be many takes on Queenie Auberginie . . .
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/5/09. All rights reserved. You may not copy, download, or use any part of this image without my permission. This is a 5 x 7 collage using a face from June's Art Freebies, a partial body from the Library of Congress, legs from my own vintage postcard and boots and skirt scanned from found pictures. The wings are from itkupilli.etsy.com and the crown is from keeperofthenest.etsy.com. All of these pieces were reprinted, hand trimmed and hand colored with ink and pastel. The background box is made from a texture from flickr's JoesSistah and some lines I made myself.
My muse is missing again. I cannot find her anywhere. I struggled through my first attempt at Aubergine for the upcoming Somerset challenge. I mean I struuuuugggggllllled. Maybe I am not a purple person. Aubergine is fun to say though. Well, I don't know what I'm going to do with this or what I'm going to try next but here is . . .
Queenie Auberginie
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/5/09. All rights reserved. You may not copy, download, or use any part of this image without my permission. This is a 5 x 7 collage using a face from June's Art Freebies, a partial body from the Library of Congress, legs from my own vintage postcard and boots and skirt scanned from found pictures. The wings are from itkupilli.etsy.com and the crown is from keeperofthenest.etsy.com. All of these pieces were reprinted, hand trimmed and hand colored with ink and pastel. The background box is made from a texture from flickr's JoesSistah and some lines I made myself. The cloud was purchased with a commercial license from Jeanette Bollinger.
That's right. Here in Eagle Rock you can go to Ernie's Taco House for $1 Tacos. That has nothing to do with the art piece below but it's what I have on my mind at the moment. Yeah, I'm not making a lot of sense - I have blogbrain. I visited over 130 blogs yesterday! Talk about head spinning. Oh my! Inspiration galore. It was really fun but I think I am definitely over stimulated (and really hungry for tacos for some reason)
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/4/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use any part of this image without my permission. This is a 5 x 7 collage using legs and arms from my own vintage postcard and a fish from keeperofthenest.etsy.com. All other surface pieces are from Nancy Baumiller's flickr Collage Play with Crowabout and a special thanks to flickr's artchicapoo (Jade Adams) for some great pieces too. These pieces were reprinted, hand trimmed with scissors and hand colored with ink and pastel. They were attached to a background made with a floor from flickr's 'Playingwithbrushes' and a sky from flickr's JoesSistah.
I am still sorting pictures and have several deadlines to meet in the next couple of weeks. (Don't forget about Somerset's Aubergine challenge due the 15th!) So I may bury my head in the proverbial sand again and hunker down and focus on work a couple of days.
Just found out one of my pieces is being featured on Angie's Junkgarden blog! If you haven't been to this blog you must go, even if you don't want to see me there! It is full of eye candy and groovy vintage wonderfulness!
I'm hoping for your forgiveness. I always feel badly collecting such sweet visits from so many nice people and then not making visits myself. But, I actually started blog visiting this morning and got just a few done and my head is already spinning. There are times when I just absorb everything like a dry, dry sponge and I end up with so much inspiration, so many ideas flooding in I just freeze cuz I don't know where to start or what to do first or how to sort it all out or how to just shut them down, take a deep breath and keep blog looking for fear of even more head spinning. For example, I visited Nancy Baumiller's blog about an hour ago and went to visit her links and those links led to other links which led to other links and then so many ideas are spinning in my head I can't focus on anything and haven't left on comment anywhere for over an hour.
On top of getting lost touring through blogland, I have a box full of pictures I picked up for $20 yesterday - FULL of pictures and they're all in a mess on the table in attempt to sort them out - those are calling my name (can you hear them? Maaaarrrrrsssshhhhhaaaaa, oh Maaaarrrrrrrrrrrrssshhhaaa, HEY MARSHA!) as is the laundry already started and waiting to be put in the dryer before it sours or waiting to be folded. I am scattered and overwhelmed in the best sense of the words - good scattered, good overwhelmed. So, if it takes me awhile to visit, not like you're sitting their waiting for me to visit, but just know I have you on my mind, my overwhelmed, scattered mind!
In the meantime, I was recently in an inchie swap and got my beautiful swaps in the mail the other day! I love them! In order they are from left to right top to bottom, Phizzychick, Melissa of Honey Girl Studio, Roc, StampQn, Cathy, and Lauren.
And one last little tidbit, my friend Val of Val Zdero Art is hosting a fab give away. Go check it out!
I had one more person on my list to fairy-fy. My friend and all-too-often savior, Roc of What's Up Roc? I call her RocStar. She does so much for so many people, behind the scenes and without a big parade. Not only does her art inspire me more than I can put into words, but she as a person, wise and kind has been a therapist and role model since I met her. She gives far far more than she ever gets back. She is funny and just the right amount of naughty to keep many of us entertained. Once upon a time RocStar was a real live Beauty Queen or so the legend goes. Some will say she was Miss Congeniality, but it still counts as she is THE Queen to me. So here is Roc . . .
Beauty Queen of Everything
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/1/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use this image in any way without my permission. This is a 5 x 7 collage using a partial body from flickr's Suzee Que, face from Roc, shoes, trophy, and legs from miscellaneous found pictures, crown from keeperofthenest.etsy.com, and wings from itkupilli.etsy.com. These pieces were reprinted in black and white, hand trimmed and hand colored and attached to a background I made digitally into a box from a texture from flickr's JoesSistah and stripes from itkupilli.etsy.com.
copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/1/09. All rights reserved. You may NOT copy, download, or use this image in any way without my permission.
I am slowly marking things off my list of things I wanted to get done. Some finally involving art, but chores that are not of much interest. I have prepped stuff, cleaned stuff, organized, etc. I am working on a minor blog facelift but not quite done. I did get to peek and comment around in flickr finally and talk about inspiration - is it just me or is everyone kicking things up a notch? Holy moly people are making fabulous art! Hubby is home from a long trip and we have friends coming over to stay all night tonight. Tomorrow I'm going to a flea market and Monday I will be catching up in blogland - I know I've missed so much and I'm thirsty for it! So until then, have a good weekend!
