JOURNAL REVOLUTION

A few things

One:
There's a feature interview with me on the Aaron Brothers page at facebook. It is viewable if you don't have facebook (yay!), but if you are a member of facebook, please do comment on it there. You will see my curse is continuing because the interview is with an S-less Linda Woods. Ah! A good sign indeed. Here it is.

Two:
The only available copies of Visual Chronicles available in the entire world are what you see in stores or what we have. The publisher is all out of books and will not be printing more. I have some for sale in my etsy shop (signed by me and Karen, the S is free) and some in the back room (I'm only listing 5 at a time). If you want Visual Chronicles and see it in stores or want a signed copy, buy it while you can. Here is my shop. Journal Revolution is still in print and I do have signed copies of that in my shop as well.

Three:
Mercury is in Retrograde this weekend until the end of the month! Drive carefully, back up your computers, be cautious, expect men to act like they have worse PMS than we do.

what to do and where to go

I'm very excited to be the featured artist in this week's issue of The Gay Places.
We are always happy to show our love and support to the gay and lesbian community and I am always happy to tell people what to do. In fact, telling people what to do is one of my favorite things! In this interview I share some of my favorite places to go, do, and EAT in Southern California.
There are lots of great suggestions for places in other cities from other artists in past issues so be sure to click around the site and look at everything. It's a fantastic resource!

You're the boss!

Since my husband has been home, I have been staying up even later than usual and have overslept every single day! I wake up in a panic and think oh no, my boss is totally going to fire me! It's a frightening thing to have that thought since I am the boss. Who else will  do all my work?
Being in business for yourself as an artist involves just as much business as it does art. Some days, it's all business and no art. Some days, around here it's all cookies and Oprah and no art or business but that's our little secret. One very important aspect of a career in art is self-promotion. I have written an article to help artists get started with self-promotion and it is featured on the new, sleek, badass site JAYEL AHERAM. Click here to read the article. When you're done reading the article, be sure to take a look at Jayel's amazing photography and his writings. I am always so delighted by the way he sees the world.

do not pee here

We are back from San Francisco and I know I say this every time I come back, but I love that place. I want to eat it and drink it and sleep all over it. San Francisco still gets so excited about books, art, food and life. It's a celebration that is contagious.Though, someone needs to tell San Francisco that the election is over. They can take down all the Vote for Obama signs. Obama won!  They could replace those signs with  DO NOT PEE HERE.  This year I saw more people  urinating on the  street  or sidewalk than ever before. I am not even talking about  homeless people. I get that most stores and restaurants in SF only let paying customers use their bathrooms, but if you look like a tourist, just pop in into a hotel! There are bathrooms in the lobbies. Really, there is no need to pee all over a city. It's just gross. Some other things I noticed while we were in the City:

~I can't escape balls. They do add a bit of cheer to life so I am glad I see them everywhere!
~People really are not buying anything. We saw very few people walking around with shopping bags.
~Homeless people approach women to ask for money more than they approach men.
~Lots of  people littering. This is totally unacceptable. Use a garbage can! WTF?
~Lots of young people smoking. This is beyond me. I have a lot of friends who smoke and that scares me (but they aren't twenty years old anymore). I don't understand why anyone today still smokes or why anyone would start. Who wants cancer? I really do not understand smoking in a huge crowd of people where everyone is standing so close together that you can feel the heart beating of the person next to you. You know those crowd smokers would be the first ones to complain if you sprayed heavy perfume on while standing next to them, too. I did notice that a lot of the smokers were European and that locals would cough really loud  as smokers walked by. Coughing: it's the new symbol of protest!
~I love watching people take photos. Everyone in SF was taking photos of everything and asking each other to take photos of them with their friends.  Even joggers were stopping to take photos!  Not once was I ever asked to stop taking photos.  San Francisco, will you marry me?
~I had the same conversation about art and cameras too many times in two days. Many people told me if they had a nicer camera they'd be a better artist. Well that is just about the silliest thing I have ever heard and that is what I told them. The only art supply that matters is the one in your head.  It's not like the art masters had the finest Canon digital cameras! Use your hands, use your eyes, use your imagination!
~Things I remember from my childhood about San Francisco are still the same and still inspire me in the same ways they did 25 years ago.
~People get way too excited over the Christmas tree in Union Square. It's not even decorated that great. The one at Pier 39 is cuter!  The Union Square tree was for sure not worth standing around 2 hours waiting for it to be lit up. Soooo anti-climactic. You should always trust the Jewish girls on matters related to Christmas trees.

I'll be uploading more of my San Francisco photos in the next few days and will link to them.

I am thrilled to be an Honorary Gutter Girl this week!  My mission was to create some art about my favorite four letter word. Go take a look and  be inspired by the art of the Gutter Girlz.

determined

I'm determined to leave the house and run a few errands today so I decided I should just take a break from the misery and get back into a bit of my normal routine. I'm almost at the part of my routine that is normal- sitting here writing about myself -but the part that is missing is a cup of tea and peanut butter cups. I will solve the tea problem in just a minute!
There's a new interview with me over at Illustrating Stories. Go check it out. I was still perky when I answered the questions.  Awww. Thanks for a fun interview, Liz!

Also generating some buzz this week is a new print ad campaign for the MFA program at UCR. I'm loving their re-branding! I especially love it because I did the photography for the ads. I put a few more photos (with notes) from the shoot in my flickr.

soft candy

Thanks to everyone who emailed or posted pictures of the article about me in Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion Magazine! It's so hard not to be able to see it when everyone else is. There was a MEHC spotting in my town but I ran out of time today to go hunting for it.  I do see the article is online now.

Prints of some of the art featured are now available in my etsy shop.

I have more to say but not enough time to say it today.  Tonight I realized that I forgot to buy Halloween candy and that is a problem that needs to be solved immediately! I kind of hope I solve that problem and then no trick-or-treaters come! Oh, hmmmm, I guess I have to buy really soft candy just in case we are left with candy after tomorrow night. Yes, just in case. I forgot that I am limited by the Curse of The Cracked Tooth. I can tell you for sure that I won't be getting more candy corn.
What kind of candy are you giving out or hiding for yourself this year?

stolen

Only a few more days until the magazine is officially out but I've been getting emails from people that they have seen it in stores.  Karen and I are going in search of it. If you have it in your hot little hands, can you take a photo of my pages for me? I haven't seen it yet. I stole this photo from Mary Smilove's blog.

gossip!

There's a new interview with both of us up at the craft gossip blog!
Thanks to Sarah Hodsdon for the fun interview questions. She's so cool.

Revived

I have a new print in my etsy shop.

About five years ago, an editor at Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine bought some art from me. At the time she bought the art, I didn't know she worked for my favorite magazine. She eventually approached me about being in the magazine and asked for photos of my cool studio. The "cool studio" I worked in five years ago is the one I am still working in~ a closet. Or wherever the mood strikes me. The  the world is my studio type of studio wasn't as cool as a selling point five years ago and things didn't work out. I had other things going on and it was no big deal. Still, every month when my issue of MEHC came, I wanted to be in it. The magazine was always full of cheery houses with red doors, plates of cute cookies, and lots of art, of course I loved it.
Earlier this year (years later), someone else from MEHC approached me about featuring my art on the pages of Home Companion. OK. It was meant to be. I'll be featured in the December 08/January 09 issue.
Last week came news that the publisher of Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine has ceased publication of the magazine due to economic reasons (the current economy!!!). How sad. I feel so bad for all the people who just lost their jobs.  The final issue will be the Dec/Jan issue.  From what I have read, this collectible issue will be on newsstands the first week of November. Hopefully, there will be a new  publisher found and this won't be the last issue forever (like what happened with Victoria magazine).
On November 1st, I will release new prints and greeting cards of the holiday themed art that is featured in the magazine.

a prize, an iphone, an interview and more

 
Thanks to all your advice on the whole new phone thing, I am now the happy owner of an iphone and after only 2 days, am a total speed texter.  One day after I got my iphone, Karen's Treo died a quick death and she lost all her data and contacts and she is in a very bad mood. She's sure it's because she dissed her own Treo right here on our blog. A giant rock also smashed her windshield, so I am thinking Mercury just went retro just for her.
Thanks so much for all your birthday love and for sharing your lunch and wishes with us. We love reading all your comments. I still haven't had any birthday cake yet but I am planning on it. I have, however, put all your names in a bag and pulled out a winner: MELANIE W. and her club panini!!! Ooooh, I could go for a panini! It is lunch time right now and I am having buttered matzo (and getting crumbs everywhere) with a diet coke as I type this and Karen is at her desk having a Tassimo-made latte, flavored with her special mix of Coffee Mate Hazelnut, Chai and Vanilla Caramel creamers, and a Pria Chocolate Mint protein bar.

We are all over the internet today!  I am honored to be the guest designer at Creative Therapy this week. Click over to  see what I created with their prompt The Best Part Of Your Day. The icing on the cake there is that they are giving away a copy of Visual Chronicles.  Too cool!

Karen and I  are thrilled to be interviewed at TallyScrapper.com! This was a really fun interview with  Rachel and the fun isn't ending with the interview. Check back there tomorrow for an art challenge from me! YES! A challenge and some new samples. And there is even more icing there, the Tally Scrappers are giving away a copy of Journal Revolution to a lucky journal challenge participant. WOW!

Thanks to Creative Therapy and TallyScrapper for being NICE!!!!

I have a new print in my shop. I have some new art on canvas drying right now. There will be original art for sale in the next few days...fair warning!*

*I got in trouble last time for not giving enough warning. You have been warned.