I have a few drawings sitting around that I've been unsure how to color, then I thought of using some lovely scrapbooking papers for the background. I picked up some paper, then printed out a few copies of the journal drawing I posted here earlier. I cut out the oval setction for the background paper. It was quite fun to be able to slide a new paper behind the drawing and change the whole feel of it. Here are two that I thought suited the drawing ~





I think it would be fun to use a different piece of paper for each one, but I'm not sure if the craft store has enough that would look good. I'm afraid that if I say it is one-of-a-kind, it will happen to be the one thing that sells really well, and I won't have enough papers to use. Though, I could always use fabrics too...

I am also not sure how to list these. They are half-print, half-original. If I mixed in a few more things, like rick-rack and buttons, then I would list it as a collage.

I also thought it might be neat to fill in every section of a drawing with colored paper, like I do with the fabric appliques. Each copy would have to be done by hand, because of copyright laws (would not be able to make copies of the paper), but I don't think that would be a problem. It seems like whenever I come up with one idea, I have to come up with 5 variations!

I may be getting some resin tonight ~ woohoo! And the mother ambigram is ready just in time. (Wait, I've said too much)

The last few days at work, I've been in this weird kind of limbo, waiting to see what the mail brings. All of my custom ambigram orders are mailing checks, yet none of them are arriving. Friday I ordered some corduroy on eBay for my sewing order, and it is not arriving. (I know, I just ordered it Friday, but since they charged me Georgia state tax with the order, I'm assuming it is coming from Ga to Ga, which usually takes *1* day.)

I should mention that our mail comes anywhere from 9am - 4 pm (Usually between 12-2). You have to keep an eye out for the mailman, or else don't bother checking until 5.


I did have a few Paypal payments this weekend,
and created these ambigrams~

"Jason" and "Jawz"

Created for a tattoo? ("jawz" is his nickname)

"Cerberus"

Created for a business logo


And I got this painting edited on the computer, and prints up in the shop.


You may remember the digitally colored version of this drawing. I think I may like the digital version better! (Though I do like her jeans!) What do you think? I am also unsure about the watercolored vs. digital colored version of the other fairy print.

Here is a new drawing ~ I hate naming things.


It is listed in my shop

I mostly wanted to experiment with the colored paper, first trying gouache, then pulling out my new white paint pen. It felt very odd & backwards to color in the white section ~ with the print, I might as well have colored in the background purple on a white paper instead. But the original does have nice textures that you would not get that way.

One bad thing about the paint pen ~ it does leave an occasional fine spray of paint as you work, much like a new Sharpie. I don't think it would be much of a problem if you are just doing outlines and details, as I was planning, but not great for so much area. I also had to cover the whole area about 3 times, and probably used up most of the pen!

Whenever I'm looking at someone elses drawings (or paintings), I usually think "I wish I could draw like that!" and feel like I have no talent. But when I sit down and actually draw, I'm usually pretty pleased with the results. Sure there are flubs, but considering how little I've done lately (out of practice!), that is fine with me. I just need to *make* time for it.

Here's a little drawing I did in my sketchbook the other day. I think she is adorable! She also reminds me a little of Emily from The Black Apple, which was unintentional.

I am really happy with the pen I used ~ I feel like I was able to create freer flowing lines, and not worry about being precise and having no mistakes in my lines. I do still like the look of thin, trailing lines I see on other's illustrations, but my work with a thin pen has not gone well.

I think she will be digitally colored. I don't want to try to re-draw or trace her onto watercolor paper becuase I'm afraid she would loose something in the process. (The oval was added in on the computer). I am just worried I'll never get around to coloring her. I think the design might also look neat one-color, screenprinted on a t-shirt. For that I might add a little more detail to the oval border, some small decorations.



Here is some good news ~ my ambigram site is on the front page of Google search for "custom ambigrams"! I submitted the site a while ago, & kept checking, but couldn't find it on a search... and now it's at the top! No wonder I've had so many orders lately. (I'm going to have to figure out a way to balance my sewing and ambigram orders during my work hours, and leave after work free for drawing and other crafts.)



Hank and Mary - remix
I know this is the... fourth time you've seen these names, but she is getting a tattoo and wanted to see how the names looked in the same font as "Stephanie and Gregory" (which has been very popular). The other three versions were me just playing around. I like the first version better.




Carrie
Created for a tattoo design ~ she wanted the same font as "Sarada", which I've had people ask for before, but it is very hard to do. "Sarada" only has three letter combinations, so a 'font' is hard to create for a new set of names, especially when they do not have any of those letter combinations. Here is what I came up with ~

I try to avoid using one of the letters as a border or decoration if I can, but sometimes it is necessary. I have seen some ambigram-sters who use it for *everything*, almost all of their designs try to hide lettering or strokes in the border, which seldom works well.

"Everybody Poops" colored with watercolor gouache (previous version was digitally colored). I have "Fairy Dust" all re-drawn and ready to color as well, but it got put aside for house cleaning and ambigrams. (EP was painted quite a while ago, but I didn't have a change to edit it before)







In other news, I ran across this link on the Etsy forums ~
http://crochet.about.com/library/weekly/aa041500.htm
(And the discussion on Etsy ~ http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5048174 )

"Many USA crafters, who are thinking about selling the items that they make, may not be aware that there are labeling laws requiring them to attach certain labels to most textile (includes made with yarn) items that they sell. These labeling regulations are not only for the large manufacturer but the individual handcrafter selling items is required by the government to follow these labeling laws, as well."

It goes on to say that you need to include your business name (on clothing), fabric content, care instructions, and "Made in USA" on your tags. The good news is that the tag/label only needs to be attached until the time that the custom recieves the item, which seems to indicate that you could have it printed on a card and clip it to the item.

Very interesting. Someone brought up the point "Just curious, but here when we... list what it's made out of. Doesn't that pretty much cover these laws, at least for online purchases?" I doubt that the rules are different for online sales, but they should be. If you list all of that information on your site, do you really need to pin something to the item saying the same thing? Would this apply to wallets, bags, coin pouches? Something to think about.

This has been a pretty fun week for me. I am not working on customs right now, & so I've had some time to really sit down and get a lot of things knocked off of my to-do list. One such thing was adding all of my dresses, skirts, and bags from this year onto my patchwork gallery pages (at least the good ones). I also have a ton of zippers that have been sitting here for years, so I've been whipping up some appliqued coin pouches ~ but you'll have to wait to see those ;)

Last night and this morning Justin has been away at a conference with our church, so I've been busy, busy! I don't have pictures of everything yet, but these two can be found in my shop.



Justin bought me two shirts to screen-print for Christmas, so I went ahead and put the Robby image on both of them. The second shirt is a gray athletic tee, which I'll add soon. I am getting together a list of all of my t-shirt ideas and will start drawing them out soon. (The emulsion only lasts for a few months, so I need to make a lot at once!)

I also got this painting ready for prints ~ "Rainbow Hair"

Finally got this painting edited and up in my shop!



For the background I used a piece of lace as a stencil. I had to flip and overlap the lace three times , blocking out the parts of the pattern that didn't repeat. I left the edges on the top & bottom since they lined up well, rather than repeating the design again.

The original is silver (gray for the prints), and I love the way it changes with the light. I'm wondering if I can work the silver into the prints at all, without a lot of added time.

I painted the girl first, and was planning on stenciling the lace design on, but it only produced blobs of paint. So I traced the girl and cut out a piece of paper to block her, then used spray paint for the background. I like how the design is crisp in some places, and hazy in others. It turned out just like I hoped!

Ahhh. I can sit back and relax a little now that my painting is done.

It took much longer than I had planned on, but that is my own fault for being so darn picky! I am sad to say that the paper still got a little wrinkled, even though I taped it down this time, so I'm not sure if I'm selling the original. I decided not to use an ink outline this time, only gouache, and I'm so glad.



There are a lot of nice details in it, I'm not sure you can see it all from the tiny picture.
My favorite part is these two ~



You can find prints in my shop, as well as a few more detail shots. I decided to go with both stories, you can decide for yourself ~

"Wouldn't moving be so much easier if you had some cute woodland creatures to help? But maybe there is more to this story ~ are the animals just helping out a friend, or does the little girl have some mysterious power over them, forcing them to do her bidding? We may never know."


Speaking of my Etsy shop (and re-naming it)... a name I've been considering for a while is my actual name. I don't want to create something cutesy on the spot, because I know I'll get sick of it and it won't fit me. I can't get tired of my name, it just is. I have also thought that down the line I might want to create a site with all of my work in one place, (or at least a gallery of sorts) instead of having everything spread out, and use my name for that.

I love, love my new printer!

Last night I tried printing best quality on cardstock (which my old printer had trouble handling). It picked it up & shot it out so fast I was sure it had messed up & I was going to run it through again. Nope. It printed out a beautiful, quality print in a few seconds! (Let's just say I have very high standards, and it met them!)

Here are my two newest drawings.



This was my first try with gouache. It was inspired by this story by Ashley G. I don't know if I like it ~ seems too 'coloring book' to me. However, Justin was raving about it, so I will add it to the shop later today, and probably do a new version later on.


This was inspired by the Japanese movie "Dark Water" (Honogurai mizu no soko kara, 2002... also re-made in the US in 2005, but I've not seen that version yet). The style of the girl is very different for me, but I thought it fit the subject.

The original had some shading in the background, but it would not pick it up on the scanner. It also warped oddly, so I won't be selling the original. I am too lazy to prepare a peice of paper for watercolor, and the squirrel painting straighted out nicely. I guess I'll have to do it from now on.


I've started a new piece, but I'm a little unsure about it. I thought it would be fun to do a few drawings where cute animals are waiting 'hand & foot' on a little girl. My idea was that, for some reason, she has control over them. Or I could say that they are friends and are helping her out. I think the first story is more intersting, but Justin was not a fan of forced animal slave labor. I'll have to wait to draw her expression until I figure out which story I want to pursue.

Finally! Here she is ~



I think it took as long for me to edit the colors of this picture as it did to paint it.
The computer was acting up, and then I needed to take pictures of the sides.

To cover up the staples on the sides of the canvas (and the origianl pink background color) I decided to add some ribbon along the sides of the painting. I found the cutest polka-dot pattern and I love the way it looks. I added a hanger on the back and now it is ready to go up on the wall without a frame. She can be found in my Etsy shop.




I tried working with glazes of color with the acrylic paint and I really enjoyed it (Acrylic dries so fast it is really hard to mix colors sometimes). I didn't have any actual glazing medium, so I mixed it with the fabric medium I had. I got it to work, but I would not recommend it! It does not adhere as strongly to the paint, so if I pressed too hard with the brush it would peel away the color. I've got another canvas ready to go, whenever I get another break!

It was not a bad night after all!

( Toilet Seat Tree )


( Girl with Blue Ribbon )


And, I set up a myspace page!
http://www.myspace.com/tiffanyharvey

Check it out and tell me what you think. I had a hard time thinking of favorites, my brain always freezes on things like that ~ I'll have to ask Justin when he is home. If anyone can help a newbie out ~ how do I change the background & what is the best way to find people to add?

And give me links to your pages so I can add you ;)

Two new drawings!


"Fairy dust gets into everything" ~ the title and the writting along the broom.
Inspired by a comment by the lovely tarotbydiana.


"Octo-puss"
This guy makes me smile.
The poor print turned out with a neon yellow background instead of the pale buttery yellow. Hopefully the changes I made will look better.


As much as I enjoy creating these, they can be such a pain ~ I nit-pick over every color, get the prints made and they are way off. I try to alter the colors to make the print more accurate, get them made and check them, wasting money and time. Sometimes, though, I will find I like one of the print's colors better, it is always nice to get a new perspective on things.

I don't know where else to get them made ~ most girls get them done at a photo place (flimsy paper and waiting a week or so for prints), or print them at home. I wish we could afford a nicer printer and I would print them here on fancy canvas or watercolor papers.

Justin was not happy to hear me fantasizing about what printer I would get and caculating how many sold prints it would cost to buy one. We definently need to spend the money elsewhere. Perhaps I'll stick that on my Christmas list instead of the graphics tablet (which probably won't work on my computer anyway), and probably not get it.


Prints will be in the shop tomorrow morning.
It's too late tonight!

I've been working on coloring my pooping fairy... and creating some cutesy curly lettering to go at the bottom. I love the way the lettering turned out :) I am pretty happy with the whole thing.



Edit: I decided it was finished, & added it to etsy this morning ~
http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=519880

& here is a close up version of her face ~

This is another drawing I did on Saturday ~ I just got it into the computer and colored it. Orginally I was planning on each cat being a different color, but when I colored them it did not look good. I think they look pretty good white and black on a colored background.

I am thinking about adding some music notes ~ to further show that they are dancing and add a little more to the image. Probably a simple decorative border in black ink with a white around the edges.

Now I can't decide if I like the green or the orange background better ~





I'm not sure if the orange is quite the right shade either...

I've been wanting to start drawing again and make some prints. Yesterday we bought a sketchbook and a smaller ink pen ~ I've never been much of a sketchbook person, only kept them for classes when I had to, but for somereason I am just longing to carry this thing with me everywhere and fill it with beautiful creations. Perhaps because I have no school notes to doodle on anymore ;)


At lunch I was trying to explain to Justin what I had been thinking about drawing... fairies in situations you would not normally see them in. Justin says, "what, like on the toilet". I laughed so hard, I figured someone else had to find the idea as amusing as me ~ this is not meant to be offensive or over the edge. (I'm not much for bathroom humor and felt a bit dirty drawing this one!) Just the idea of a beautiful mythical creature living a more normal life, and well...
( Everybody Poops. )

I am going to color it on the computer ~ I haven't quite decided on all of the colors. I think it would be funny to write the title (you know it by now) in cutesy curly letters along the bottom, and help tie the whole thing together. (One of my first ideas for the fairies actually involves a shower, so it will make a lovely set of prints for the bathroom!) ;)


So, let me know what you think ~ it's not too brash, is it?

(A continuation of this post...)

Here are some of the paintings from the art show I had senior year of college (called "80 Days"). The show had paintings of women from around the world, done in black and white with one item of color. There were two sizes of canvases ~ one size had women in more traditional/stereotypical clothing of their country, the other size had women in more modern clothing. (The pictures are the same size here, but it should be easy to figure out)
There were 15 paintings in all, ( here are 8. )

I wanted to get some of my older work on here, so I thought I would post some that I have digi-pics of.
( Here are some drawings & paintings from college ~ )