Arachnid’s Challenge: Crab Spiders
The Arachnid Group at Redbubble just finished another challenge. The latest subject? Crab Spiders! Check out the top 10!
Garden Beast VI by Ken Boxsell
Crab Spider on Frangipani by Frank Yuwono
spider in paradise by valandsnake
The Victim by robmac
Please Don’t Hurt Me! by Baynanno1
Come Into My Pink Parlour by Vanessa Barklay
Goldenrod Crab Spider eating a Fly by KaneSlater
Don’t forget to check out these photographer’s other great works!!
“I’m Expressing My Creativity”
Everyone expresses their creativity in their own ways. Sometimes it can be taken too far, but where do you draw the line?
The other day I was working on the computer while my 4-year-old daughter was sitting, back against my arm, watching cartoons. Well I thought she was watching the cartoons. When I got up to get something, she turned into the couch like she was hiding something. When I looked, she had a marker in her hand and was drawing all over herself. I mean EVERYWHERE! I asked her what she was doing, and she said she wanted to be a pretty picture. I couldn’t keep a straight face, it was just too adorable. So instead of punishing her, I told her if anyone asks, to tell them she is expressing her creativity. Then of course, I had to take pictures!
She just looks so proud of herself, doesn’t she?
A couple days before this little expression of creativity, she was playing in her room very quietly. Suddenly, she comes out to the living room to tell daddy she has his pencil. Instantly I knew she drew on something. I asked what she colored on, and she looks at me all innocent like and says “On paper only, I only draw on paper.” Of course I didn’t believe her and asked her if she was coloring in her books again (which she recently got in trouble for). Then she says yes, but it was a coloring book. I told her to go and get it for me so I can see. She runs down the hallway, and I hear her opening up the closet where I keep the coloring books, then she runs back with one. She opens it up to a page that was colored and says “See, I colored in my coloring book.”
First of all, I never heard her get one out and put it back. Second, she said she colored with daddy’s pencil, and the coloring book was colored with crayons. I let it go, assuming she colored in one of the books on her shelf that she had already colored in. I really didn’t feel like yelling and punishing her at the time. I know, I know, you should never let a 4-year-old get away with something because they’ll just push it further.
Later that night, when I went to tuck her into bed, I found what she really colored on. One of her walls, in her recently painted bedroom, is now sporting a mural of people holding hands, and flowers. It was just too cute to punish. Man I can be a softy sometimes.
Here are a couple pictures. Her walls are Pepto Bismal Pink (not my choice) and the flash left a glare, so I had to make them black and white so you could see the drawings.
Honestly, I really don’t let the kids get away with drawing on things they aren’t supposed to, but come on? How could you resist these? She’s just expressing her creativity! My little artist in the making…..
New Day, New Work
Man I had to go through the old posts to see what was the last new work I posted about! I guess it’s been a while. Unfortunantly, I don’t have a whole lot of new work. Not that I haven’t been out taking pictures, because I have, just nothing seems to be turning out all that great.
The latest images I have posted on Redbubble are:
Fender made some neat Zazzle Products too.
I’ve also been practicing with my Infrared Filter I bought last fall. My camera isn’t the best for digital IR photography, but I seem to be getting a little better each time around. Here are my last two pictures, the second is much better than the first in clarity, but I get the big ole hot spot in the middle.
And I was able to catch a couple cute pictures of my daughter.
Sad day for me.
I got my postcard from Festival of the Arts today. All four of my entries were not accepted. I thought for sure, at least one would get accepted. Oh well, life goes on right? I guess my submissions just weren’t what the judges were looking for. These are the four I entered.
Echinacea Dark Dreams – 20×30 print matted to a 24×36 frame
Ephemeral Partings – 20×20 canvas print
Pale Perception L – 12×24 print, gatorboard mounted, framed, no mat
Death of a Light Bulb – 12×20 print, framed, no mat
I know, when I dropped off the work, there was some confusion about where to place these pieces. What media to claim them as. I had written Photography for all but Pale Perception L, I just listed that as digital. One person wanted to put them all in with the photography. I know they placed the 3 as photography, but I never found out where Pale Perception went. I did tell them there was no form of photography involved in that image. I didn’t see any of the other entries, so I don’t know if there is a lot of photomanipulation, or if my images are too edited for this competition. This thought process got me thinking, there really aren’t a lot of art competitions that favor digital art. My abstracts are all digital, and I know they aren’t bad because I have sold quite a few, but where do they fit in in today’s art world? I need to find someplace, or a competition for strictly digital works. Maybe I should start my own 🙂
Getting my rejection letter today really depressed me, but then I reminded myself of the sales of my work. If I wasn’t a very good artist, then I would not have sold anything. This being the first time I have actually put myself out there, in the ‘real world’ as an artist, just made it that much worse. But, I have to remind myself, I just didn’t suite these particular judges tastes. Maybe next time, if I decide to try again.
Themed Feature: High Key “Objects” Challenge
The lastest and greatest High Key group’s challenge was Objects. I figured, since we’ve done animals, children’s portraits, and flowers, objects was the next best subject matter. It is quite fascinating to see what people will photograph with a broad subject matter, such as objects. So on to the top 10!
Listed from 1st place to 10th place. If you would like to see all the entries, click here.
Ballet Shoes by Francesca Rizzo
Death of a Light Bulb by Karri Klawiter
Perfectly Orange by Jen Cannella
Candy Cane Heart by Tamara Brandy
Don’t forget to check out these great artist’s other work!!
I can’t cut a mat!
If you recall, I mentioned before that I recently ordered a bunch of prints to get ready for some shows/competitions.
I have been trying to get everything put together. Frames, backing, mats, etc. The first thing I am entering is Festival of the Arts here in Grand Rapids, Mi. Entries are due this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. This is my very first juried competition, and I’m SO nervous! I don’t really care about winning anything, I just want to get accepted. I have four pieces picked out to enter. Although, I am still questioning one of them. I’ve got my frames and everything I need to put them together, but I can’t seem to cut that mats! I really only have one I need to do. It is a double mat for a 20×30 image, matted to a 24×36 frame. I went out last week and purchased the mat board and a hand held Logan Mat Cutter 2000. I can’t cut a straight line if my life depened on it. So my first try on the first mat was awful! Just cutting the mat board to the 24×36 square turned out bad. I was trying to do it, on the floor, with a 24 in framing square for a straight edge. HA! The inside cut ended up slightly crooked and jagged because I had to stop, move the ruler, and start again. Or the stupid mat cutter would slide under the ruler. Not good. So the top mat ended up being pretty much useless. The bottom mat wasn’t too bad after getting the hang of it a little better, but I over shot (yes, even with the little line guide) the corners, and it’s really obvious looking at the front. So there went the second mat.
I went back to the store Saturday and bought 2 new mat boards. My husband asked me to wait for him before I try cutting them again. Well today we got around to attempting it again. LOL He had just as many problems as I did, only opposite issues. I couldn’t cut the straight line, even with a ruler to guide, but he could even without one. (by the way, he pulled out a longer ruler, moved the mats up onto a table and used clamps to hold it in place, ‘duh! I should have thought of that in the first place!) My cuts were crooked, but they were smooth. His kept getting frayed. I should have just paid someone else to do it!
I was able to get the second bottom mat, and so far I don’t see any obvious flaws. I really don’t want to go back to the store and buy a 3rd top mat. So my choices are to either figure out a way to fix one of the 2 that got messed up, figure out some creative way to cover up the mess ups, or go without the top mat. I really don’t want to go without it, but that’s looking like my best option. We were discussing, purposesly fraying or ‘roughing up’ one of the ones we screwed up, to give it an aged look since the image was done as an aged image. But I am not sure how to go about doing that, and keeping it looking nice. Any suggestions?
Anyone out there know how to fix/prevent the frayed edge problem?
New Work 🙂
It must be the weather. We’ve finally gotten out of the dreary Michigan winter, and spring must bring forth some creative juices. I have a couple new pieces to share! Yay! So here they are:
Preconcieved Illusion (the last one if you can’t read the title) has become an instant fav of mine.
All of my work can be puchased as premium art cards, and most are available as matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints, canvas prints, framed prints, and posters. All in varying sizes. To see more work and/or purchase click here. (or click on a particular image)
And don’t forget to check out other great products featuring these images at Karri’s Zazzle Store!
What’s New?
I haven’t posted in a while, so I thought I would do a quick post on what’s new and going on with me. I haven’t gotten out with the camera much this winter, but I did set up a couple floral shots. Hopefully, with the weather warming up, and grass getting greener, I’ll be able to get out and get some new work!
For more Zazzle products featuring these images click here.
And one candle image, that is only available on Zazzle.
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I also worked on a new photomanipulation. This was intended to be the ‘sequel’ to Ephemeral Partings, but it seemed to get away from the oringal design a bit.
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There are also a few new digital abstracts.
For Zazzle products featuring these images click here.
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I also have a few new t-shirt designs on both Redbubble and Zazzle.
Of course the designs are available on other products too.
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I was also asked to illustrate a Fire Saftey coloring book, which is in progress, and was able to create some products featuring 2 of the characters.
For more of my firefighter Zazzle products click here.
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I also started making business cards designs on Zazzle. You can view them all here, but here are a couple examples.
As you can see, I like the black cards. All of them are customizable, and the colored ones in the middle can have their background colors changed.
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Geesh, I guess I have been busy! But I have found time to take my kids to the park.
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Additionally, I just sent out a bunch of images to be printed. I hope to be hitting the art show circuit this year. I already have a few lined up. Wish me luck!!
Arachnids Challenge: “Hairy Little Beasts”
The Arachnids Group at Redbubble just finished off their latest challenge. With the theme of the challenge being “Hairy Little Beasts”, the turnout was spectacular, and the images incredible. But alas, only one image can be crowned 1st place. If you would like to check out all the entries, click here.
Now onto the show! The top 10 are as follows in order from 1st place to 10th.
“Don King” Jumping Spider by robkal
Wooly Predator by Frank Yuwono
Garden Jumping Spider by Andrew Trevor-Jones
Don’t forget to check out these great photographer’s other works!
Plant a Tree – Earth Day
Earth Day is coming up, and what better way to celebrate this glorious planet we call home, than planting a tree. Remember the days when you were sent home from school on Earth Day with a tiny pine tree to plant? Mine never survived, not to mention there really wasn’t room in the yard for another tree. So if you want to help contribute by planting a tree, but don’t have a place to plant one, buy a T-shirt!
A T-shirt? What the heck does a T-shirt have to do with planting trees? Well, I will tell you…
Zazzle has gotten together with American Forests to create “Tree-Shirt Releaf.” This will give customers the opportunity to have a tree planted for every T-shirt they buy between April 16 and Earth Day on April 24! At check-out use the offer code “plantatree09”.
Personally, I think this a wonderful idea! You get a great new shirt, and help the planet! If you want to go a step further, Zazzle offers organic T-shirts! (The all-organic cotton classic t-shirt. 100% organic fine jersey cotton, combed for comfort. Flattering, stylish fit on virtually any body type. Made in the USA by American Apparel.) When you find a shirt you like, just look through the shirt options!
Additionally, in celebration of Earth Day, many of the Zazzle contributors have created some great designs. Check a few of these out!
For more Earth Day designs click here.
Even if you don’t buy a T-shirt, GET OUT THERE AND PLANT A TREE!!!!