Artful Adventures

Another Celebration!

Turns out that my birthday last week end, was shared not only by my "birthday sistah", the one & only Annie Lockhart ,if you ever meet her, you'll love her, but be prepared for her practical jokes-I still owe her one!  The date also marked the 5th anniversary of MMCA, which started out as, and continues to be, a group of artists brought together to share their collective knowledge, exchange ideas and techniques, as well as mentor each other.  The group has grown over the years and branched out a bit, quite a bit!  It now offers a Marketplace so that anyone can set up shop to sell their art, and a blog that offers interviews for us to read, free images to use in our art, and everything in between.  The most recent interview was by Sheri Gaynor, it's a great interview, as they all are.  I've got Sheri's book, and recently posted about it, so I was pleasantly surprised to see her interview-made  it a good day for me:)  Now that I think about it, I should let you know that if you care to join us in the Marketplace, there's been some changes-the best one is that you have the option (there's several payment plans to choose from) of not spending any money up front!  Just apply (all the info is on the front page of the Marketplace), let Debbie build your shop page while you create, and not pay anything until you sell something-good deal with Christmas looming ahead!  The MMCA group itself, like any group, you can participate in as much or as little as you'd like-my favorite kind of group, life gets busy sometimes!  But pop in, check us out, meet some new friends, say "HI" to some old ones, and you just never know what's going on-like right now there's a drawing for a month long class, LK Ludwig's Point & Shoot Journaling class.  I'm in the class this month (and LOVE & it!) recently posted about it, you can find it here.  Hmmm, I got a lot chattier than planned, and threw out a lot of "linkie love"-so click away and enjoy:)

Want to win a free E-Book?

Then you'd better be quick:)  This past week, the MMCA Marketplace posted another great interview, this time with Kelly Watson of Womenwise Marketing.  She just released her book, "Small Business Blogging Blueprint: Your Step-By-Step Guide To Building A Blog That Skyrockets Traffic And Sales".  The drawing will be tomorrow, Oct.13, all you have to do is go the Marketplace Blog, read Kelly's interview, leave a comment, and the lucky winner will be pulled from the names of those that left comments.  Quick, easy, and the interview is fantastic besides!  Win-Win situation if I ever saw one!

New Interview with Misty mawn

If you've been following along and reading the MMCA Marketplace blog, you already know that there's been a series of interviews which have been very well recieved, and most recently there's been the addition of free digital images for you to download and use in your art, so check in often to be sure not to miss any!  Today, there's a new interview posted with the wonderful Misty Mawn, so if you'd like to know more about Misty and see more of her art (and who doesn't?) hop on over there and get a dose of inspiration to start off your day.  Enjoy!

Treasures!

 

This past week, the mail was good to me, but so were my friends:)  For Christmas, a friend of mine, Tammy Vitale, got the equipment needed to make her own beads.  In just over 2 months look what she's making already-a goddess bead!!!  She was generous enough to send it here to live with my growing collection of special little things, all things that were gifts to me that one of these days will be turned into a necklace of my own.  Thanks Tammy, she went to a good home!  And while we're talking about Tammy, be sure to click here to read an interview that Tammy did as a guest artist for the MMCA Marketplace blog.  It's a great interview, you'll enjoy it!   

An old friend of mine was cleaning out her closets and decided to get rid of broken and/or jewelry that she wasn't going to wear anymore, so she boxed it all up & sent it my way.  It's funny how a pile of someone else's cast offs can look & feel like such a treasure, but it really is a treasure to me.  Something I can rummage around in, and pull a piece from here & one from there, and put something together that's wearable-now that's fun!  It's funny though, I don't think I've ever owned that much jewelry in my life, let alone have that much laying around to get rid of.  As good of friends as we've been for well over 30 years, she was always a girly girl with tgeh perfect clothes, make up, jewelry and wore about a size zero.  Then there was me, just about the complete opposite, but we did have fun!  In the box with the jewelry, she also sent along an old photo album with every page filled with her family pictures of her ancestors.  That's here for a visit, long enough for me to photocopy or scan the pictures and then it's out of here!  A generous act on her part to trust me with this, but it makes me nervous to be responsible for someone else's treasure, and it really is a treasure.  Another project for me to get done relatively soon and then send it back to it's home.  Even though I have a ton of old pictures, having some "new" ones to play with is always a treat, isn't it? 

An invitation----

As I've mentioned before, I have art for sale on my own shop page, within the cyber walls of MMCA Marketplace, a very cool online business set up to help us artists get as much exposure as we possibly can. The Marketplace is accepting new applications, so if you're thinking of looking into a new & different online venue, read on, go check it out, and see what you think!

 Invitation to Join the MMCA Marketplace

You've been hearing all the buzz lately about the up & coming MMCA Marketplace, and now we'd like to extend an invitation for you to join in on this exciting online marketing venue. If you are an artist who is committed to producing quality, original art, we welcome you to apply for membership now while we're doing an open enrollment.

Applicants are judged on quality, style and value to ensure that our Marketplace can effectively represent you, and so that we can offer "something for everyone" who comes to the Marketplace to shop. We strive to represent those artists who are devoted to their work and are constantly refining their skills. Artists accepted into the Marketplace will be coming together with the current members, adding to the already widely varied background of styles, mediums, and pricing, making it possible to offer our clients quality art in the medium of their choice.

While our standards are high, our membership costs are not. Benefits of belonging to the MMCA Marketplace include:
•Your own shop page including your branding logo and short bio
•Local, Regional and National Press Campaign
•Website, blog and contact links listed on shop page
•20 images with short product descriptions with Buy Now buttons
•Featured Artist rotation on Marketplace Blog

Some of our more recent promotions are:
•We made headlines in local, regional and national publications
•Our artists participated in a gallery exhibit in Central Pennsylvania
•We advertised in a nationally published magazine

To accommodate various budgets, we have three membership options. If you believe you belong with us, please consider submitting an application.
Marketplace Application

New Jewels

 

After what seems like forever, there's finally some new art to share.  Six new necklaces to be exact, that are listed over in my shop at the MMCA Marketplace online shop.  I was going to wait for my new DVD from Sharilyn Miller to see if I could quick learn some new techniques to incorporate into these, but it got hung up somewhere in Minnesota, most likely due to a snowstorm.  But it was fine, I used a few new to me techniques from this DVD instead, and now I can concentrate on learning more for the next round.  But first I need to get away from the jewelry for a little while and get back in the studio & sling more paint.  I hadn't worked in that room for a week or so, and when I walked in there the other day, it actually felt welcoming, I'm hoping this is a sign of good things coming! 

 

These past couple of months I've had such a hard time concentrating on making art, at first because I was worried about this blood clot, but I can't control it, so I'm trying hard to not think about it, whatever happens, happens.  But being blasted non stop by the media about this recession makes it difficult to think about anything else.  Yes, there's the option of turning off the TV, not watching the news or reading a paper, but it's not enough.  A good friend of mine is losing her business, and foreclosure proceedings have started against both her business property & her home.  Another friend's husband lost his job before Christmas and neither one of them has been able to find full time jobs.  And we just sit & watch our hard earned 401k shrink at an alarming rate.  And I'm sure that you all have similar stories & experiences, and it breaks my heart to see these bad things happening to good people.  So what do we do?  I say we try our best to keep a positive attitude, hope & pray that this starts to turn around and keep people in their homes.  The good news is that most of us have such a stash of art supplies, that we can keep working, creating beauty if for no other reason than hoping it'll bring a smile to someone's face.  We can keep working to get better at what we do, move forward, and someday soon look back & say we did it-we survived!  So lets have some fun, create, share, learn, and hang on for dear life. 

An Interview with Izabella

I'm sure most of you are familiar with Izabella, but if you're like me, you can just never get enough of her!  Here's your chance to get to know her better in a wonderful interview posted here on the MMCA Marketplace blog.  This is the first in a series of artist interviews that will be posted on the blog, so make sure to check the list of "coming soon interviews" on the sidebar to see who's coming up next.  This is going to be a feature that you won't want to miss!

MMCA Marketplace Gallery Exhibit at Arts on Union

 

 

MMCA Marketplace Artists are scattered throughout the nation. In February, their work is under one roof for the first time and it is happening in Central Pennsylvania.
Middletown, PA - Not only have most of the members never met in person, the MMCA Marketplace Artists have never shown their work in a gallery as a group. This month, Arts on Union Gallery and Studio, 203 N. Union St., Middletown, exhibits their art. An opening reception will take place Saturday, Feb. 7 from noon to 5 p.m. There will be free refreshments and artists will be on hand to talk about their work.
MMCA Marketplace Artists opened for business in mid-2008, as the Dow was plunging downward. Its charter members were already online acquaintances through the MMCA, a larger network of artists who share tips and news and offer critiques on the work of other members. National and regional online and print publications have featured the work of the group.
The MMCA Marketplace artists exhibiting at Arts on Union have successful exhibition, publication and teaching credits. Despite the economic downturn and the frenetic pace of life, they continue to live and work as professional artists. Among the group are two Middletown artists, Elaine Brady-Smith and Christine Goldbeck. In addition to mixed-media paintings and collage on canvas and paper, the Arts on Union exhibit includes jewelry, note cards and three-dimensional work.
“It felt like Christmas all over again when the art for this exhibit started arriving from Wisconsin, California, Florida and other places. I am so glad to be able to show the work of this group and I am in awe of the talent and skill each has. The necklaces one artist sent are amazing. She hand drills each pearl, for example. The craftsmanship in these pieces is incredible,” Goldbeck, who owns Arts on Union, said.
Arts on Union opened in February 2008. Visit Christine Goldbeck for more information about the February exhibit and workshops. Mixed media collage and mixed-media painting workshops are on February’s studio calendar to coincide with the exhibit.

The above photo and press release, were provided courtesy of Christine Goldbeck, who was also kind enough to host this first time exhibit featuring artists from the MMCA Marketplace, an online marketing venue owned by Debbie Overton, that I'm very pleased to be a part of.  Now if I could only find a way to get to PA in time for the opening reception this Saturday:)  So if you live anywhere near Middletown, PA, please stop in and take a peek!

A new month/a New Year!

 

January was a bust, in every sense of the word, so for me on this day of Feb.1, 2009, I'm declaring this as my New Year, and will start all over again, there's no doubt that it'll be better.  Plenty has happened, the good, the bad, and the ugly.  One of the good things was that Gary had a birthday on Thursday, but the celebration will be delayed until sometime later this month.  A couple of weeks ago, his aunt, who was truly more like a 2nd Mom to him because she finished raising him when his own Mother died when he was just 16, fell & broke her hip.  At 92 years old, that's a hell of a hurdle to get over, and she couldn't do it, passing away early Tuesday morning.  The funeral wasn't held until yesterday to allow time for out of state relatives to attend.  Making this past week feel like a lifetime-waiting.  To complicate matters, with the stress level high, I screwed up on taking the correct amount of Warfarin, which sent my bloodwork plummeting right back down to close to the level that I had in the hospital.  It's corrected now and all is well on that end, but between that & the blood clot, I wasn't allowed to attend the funeral.  Even though I knew I couldn't go, the tremendousus guilt that I feel for not being there to support Gary when he needed me the most, is something that I'll have to live with.  It's a shame that it takes something so dramatic in life to realize just how fiercely you love someone, and want to protect them from anything that hurts them.  After being married to him for over 30 years, and as angry as we can get at each other, sometimes wondering what's the point, now I know without a doubt that the point is-we really do love each other.  A good comforting thing to know. 

After several phone calls & a little sit down with the docs, it was explained in a language I could understand, that my version of taking it easy & theirs, wasn't the same.  To keep everybody happy, I haven't left the house much at all (they hadn't explained that car rides were bad) and now have  footstools in several places all over the house, so that no matter where I sit I can put that foot up.  We even have a drafting table set up in the living room so now I can do art with my foot propped up under the table.  But the best was getting a laptop, so now I can get back to spending some time on the computer, back to posting here, and catch up on the rest of you-all with--you quessed it-with my foot propped up.  But January wasn't all bad, I got art shipped to PA to  Arts On Union for a show that runs the month of February, featuring the artists of MMCA Marketplace, how exciting!  But more on that tomorrow:)  And I can't let the good things go by without thanking Amanda for being coming here to work on art together, for sitting with me yesterday while everyone was at the funeral, in general for being a friend and going out of her way to help-thank you again!  Lots more to tell, but one day at a time, in the meantime, being cooped up isn't so bad when I have these kinds of views right outside my window. 

A lot of Linky Love Today

In the last couple of days, I've been out & about online trying to play a quick game of catch up, in between everything else I'm doing here.  It's been fun so I want to share some of what I found.  First, did you know that Bernie Berlin of A Place to Bark Animal Rescue is running a charity auction on Ebay, with all the proceeds going to help build a new kennel for her animal rescue effort.  The auction consists of artwork that a lot of us donated to Bernie to help her raise funds for the rescue.  So if you want to add to your art collection, and help the critters at the same time, this is a great way to do it!  She's got the piece that I donated up for auction right now, so click & see, and make sure to go back often as many more pieces will be added throughout the month.  If you want to do even more shopping, go check out my shop over at MMCA Marketplace.  There are 14 shops to choose from, including Sue Minier who was featured in a recent Cloth Paper Scissors article with her beautiful fabric collages.  The one featured in the article sold right away, but there's plenty more to see-I'd love to own one of those myself!  And while you're over there, click on over to the MMCA blog and read Christine Goldbeck's book review, which is the first in a series to follow soon.  In the meantime, Andrew is doing his own interpretation of an advent calendar, as only Andrew would do, and also posted a photo essay today.  If you're not familiar with his blog, you'll be fascinated with the photos that he takes & the art that he makes.  My friend Debi, has a brand new website for her shop in Houston, Yaya Chique, if you're in the area, I'd be running over there quick to see her work in person!  And while your at it, check out her blog & see some of her home decorations.  Valley Ridge Art Studio has their 2009 line up of classes posted, how do you choose from this selection of some of the best teachers around?  Have you stopped by this blog yet, I love it over there!  It's fresh & fun, with recipes & tips in the sidebar and some wonderful free images to use, a very generous offer!  There's more, but just one more for tonight.  Last but certainly not least, Christi made a beautiful post about 29 days of giving and yes, she's giving something away for 29 days, but go read about it, the project is growing!  This should keep you busy for awhile, and if you find any fun or interesting links, let me know, remind me if I know them, but better yet everyone who reads the comments can then find even more places to pop into!