layout - design - illustration
Today was a long work day. When I got home I decided to wander around the yard taking some reference photos of whatever critters I could find. My summer is measured by spider varieties. We are now wholly in the Season of the Daddy Long-legs. They are everywhere. Young orange ones, and rather older ones that look cranky. I hung out with this fellow in the goldenrod for a while. A nice place to recover from the news headlines.
Because my brain wasn't fried enough from reading the news, I decided it was time to make some decisions about how and where to sell online. I'd been hemming and hawing about what I wanted to handle, and tried to be realistic about how much time I want to spend on packaging and shipping versus having my free time to actually make art.
Having time to make art won out. Except for the notecards, I love handling those!
So, this will be announced more formally on here in a few days, but I am opening a "store" on Zazzle, where I had already been printing stickers, my snail stamp, and now grocery tote bags! My mugs will also be available there (folks who had placed orders and waited patiently, you should see packages a week or so from today!), as well as several designs on bags and magnets. Feel free to ask about having illustrations on other items!
I'm still setting up products, but you can take a look by clicking here!
... But I did chase daddy long-legs around the outside of the house this afternoon... There were young ones and old ones and a few that held poses just long enough to get photos... the smaller orange ones were bobbing up and down rhythmically, I have to look up what they were doing... Other than practicing their dance moves...
Time for an adult beverage. Shared with friends, of course.
Change can be hard.
I'm still experimenting with what to put my little muses on, and had an opportunity to try out some tote bags... I am loving this one except for the short handles BUT through connections on Facebook I have a lead on a Vermont silk screening company, and THEY have a grocery tote with long handles... stay tuned...
In other news, I forgot to fill the hummingbird feeders this morning and all H-E-double-hockey-sticks (is that how the saying goes?) has broken loose. I went out for a breath of fresh air and almost had a Deranged Hummingbird lodge himself in my ear. And then he yelled at me. Yes, the sugar water is cooling. Everybody calm down. Namaslime.
Stretch and Sketch. I think this needs to be a workshop. With coffee, of course.
All systems went down this weekend. I am one of those fortunate people who can usually sleep at any time, for reasonable lengths of time. Twice a year I stop functioning for 24-48 hours. I sleep. I've felt on the edge of getting sick for a while now, my brain wasn't keeping up with my schedule, my body hasn't been feeling normal, and I've been making more mistakes than usual. I started physical therapy for a shoulder that's been giving my trouble, and on Friday morning I had an amazing massage and electro-stimulating I-don't-know-what-treatment. Then I worked. I dog-walked. I met up with friend for dinner and got home around 10 and fell asleep.
And slept until 10 a.m. I woke up, had coffee and breakfast and at noon decided to take a nap. Until 5:30. Then I got up and made popcorn for supper and was asleep again by 6:30. And didn't wake up until 8:30 on Sunday.
My subconscious had a lot to work out. I had some pretty epic dreams, and my brain feels like it finally emptied 6 months worth of trash out of it's hard drive.
If anyone placed a mug order in the last week and a half, I apologize for the delay... there has been a small hiccup with the inventory at the mug company and I am in a holding pattern... I'll update you all as soon as I am able to!
In honor of the web that was built outside the front door, attached to the clothesline...
Everyone in the yard is trying to hide from the mosquitoes. I found a yellow crab spider hiding under a leaf with mosquitoes buzzing all around her...
Chilly summer mornings in the bee balm look a little like spring break beaches... Hungover bees trying to remember what exactly they did last night...
Someone asked me about my hobo spider, and why it only has 3 legs on one side...
In mid- to late-summer we have a lot of daddy long legs, and since they don't trigger my usual "flee" response to spiders I'll sit and watch them. I noticed quite a few had less than 8 legs... but seemed to be getting around just fine, so I queried the internet for more information and found this.
They can lose a leg when attacked and then make a safe get away. The legs don't grow back. When I was sketching up my hobo I knew he was a survivor, so that's why he only has 7 legs!
Nature is pretty neat, huh?
I've been wrestling a bit about why I decided to start selling my notecards. I got caught up in printing emails, shipping packages, making deposits, coordinating with the mug printer... and started feeling rushed and overwhelmed. "This isn't fun" I told my friends. "This is why I didn't want to start selling anything." My work deadlines were looming, and summer seemed to be passing at a record rate (it still is!). I've had a few days where there has been a long enough pause for me to say "it's all good" and actually mean it. But not many. Lately my default energy level is "Panic."
However, today I had a longer than average pause. I had some time to clean out my Inbox and do some filing. I started sorting through the box of emailed orders that I had printed out, and found the stash of notecards that some people had sent along with their checks.
And I read through my print outs. One of my favorite emails included this: Your work is enchanting, magical! At my advanced age it awakened feelings in me I thought were long gone - dew on grass, a snail's slimy trail, the strange madness of hummingbirds. That brings me so much Joy it hurts.
So thank you, all of you, who were part of this recent crazy part of my life, your support means the world to me, and I can't wait to keep sharing my illustrations of the slimy and quirky world around me.
In My Nature has it's own space on Facebook! Just Search for "In My Nature"... and maybe I'll see some photos of you using your mugs!
The company I've been working with (Carved Solutions, check out their monogramming and personalizing!) is located in Vermont, and I'm so happy that it's all come together so that I can offer my illustrations on mugs! Thank you all for your patience, it's been a bit of a learning curve, the best things always are ... I will still be updating my "Mugs" page over the next few days as I pick up more samples and take photos of them. Just like the notecards, the best thing to do is email me at abrah.work@gmail.com with any questions, or with your order (!) and I will let you know the total cost.
Finally getting some sketches out of my brain and on to paper!
Site by In My Nature and Word & Web.
