20% Off Sale at My Etsy Shop December Only

To reward my faithful customers and help to spread some cheer, I am holding a 20% sale at my Etsy shop. The sale is good for December only, so rush right over and load up.

Enter coupon code "MMA20" for your discount.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/nikblack

My thanks to everyone for your support this last year and may 2011 bring lots of good things your way.

LINK TO MY NEW ETSY STORE

I felt so defeated after posting my last missive that I had to sit down today and tackle the Etsy monster for good. It wasn't too bad after all. Taking the pictures was the hardest thing, but I think the shop looks good. The pictures are cohesive and fit my style really well. Now I get to sit and fidget, worrying about whether anyone is going to buy anything.
So, to get the ball rolling...tatatata

http://www.etsy.com/shop/nikblack

I did it! I got my Etsy shop open

New Art for the Fall 2010

I've been really busy lately creating lots of jewelry and my "JuJu Jars" for sale. If you see anything on this blog or in my Facebook "My Creations" album that you want to know more about, please contact me at nikblack@hotmail.com.

You may ask, why doesn't she just open an Etsy store? Why indeed? Because the whole affair has been a royal pain. Getting the photos the right size has been a huge challenge. They want one size for the store and one size for the gallery. I think. Oh god, I don't know, I'm so confused.

For right now, I will keep it simple and send any interested parties a Paypal money request.

I'm back for more

Wow! Has it been a year and a half since i posted? Please excuse me, mon amis. I had a lot of life things come up in the last year and there have been a lot of changes as a result.

I left the Art & Soul family in Oct 2007 with some unresolved emotional fallout which set off a six month bout with my TMJ. Oh, the pain.

I slipped on a wet kitchen floor in March and tore a ligament in my hand. I blame the cat for that one. Silly Louise and her water high jinks.

I left all of my local art groups.

I passed on Art Garage this year.

I finally got to New Orleans in April. A big shout out to my family, ya'll. The city looks beat up but the people are full of hope. Not sure why, since they keep getting dumped on by the government. We were there for the French Qtr Fest which is the best deal ever. Days of free music and lots of yummy regional food to be et up with way lower prices all around than during Jazz Fest.

my sentiments exactly

I took 2 wonderful classes with Stephanie Lee in May where I finally learned how to make a bezel. Yahoo!

I've been purging my studio since February. I moved my metal station out to the garage and sold off a lot of unused assemblage stuff. What a huge relief! I was feeling paralyzed by all the extraneous crap lying around.

Now, look at me. I just got back from Art & Soul and I'm so energized, it's crazy. I've been doing a lot of visual journaling after 3 days with Juliana Coles and I'm working on 2 pieces for the Guardino Gallery's "Day of the Dead Show" that opens on Oct 27.

That brings us up-to-date. I have more, but I'll keep it for another day.

Hot Summer Daze

I’m back in the saddle again. Yes, it’s been awhile. It really has been a busy summer. Let’s see, what’s been going on?

I’ve been filling in at the natural food store while my friends take vacation. They keep asking me to come back full-time but I don’t want to be a bookkeeper ever again. I like to help out, but I am an artist and I don’t do well when I have to sit at a desk all day. This just reiterates how grateful I am that my hubby makes enough money to support us so I can work at my craft.

Lee’s friend, Maillo came to visit from PA in May. He’s this amazing 6 foot, gay, bald, black man who wears tied dyed robes. He’s an artist, too. He does homoerotic art and I don’t think he got my stuff at all, but then I didn’t get his either. It’s all ok, though.

Quarry Publications has accepted 5 of my visual journal pages for the new book called “1001 Journal Pages”, due out next year. I also sent in some pics of my “House Divided” altered book for a new book by LK Ludwig. I should hear back from them soon if they are going to use it.
I had 3 paintings in the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts this year and nothing sold. I did price them a bit high but thought that the fat cats over there in rich suburbia might reach into their deep pockets and come up with the scratch but noooooo…..

I had a real come-to-Jesus experience about my weight over the last 2 months and have been trying hard to get more exercise. I’ve been walking every day to and from the store, the library, the post office, the bank and best of all, our gorgeous local park. Although I just might have to kill some people if they DON’T QUIT FEEDING BREAD TO THE DUCKS!!! This is causing a bad case of toxic algae in our pond and driving the ducks away.

I’ve been living with a bad case of TMJ these last few months. I decided to take a whole body approach to try and heal my jaw. I’ve been doing the rounds at my chiropractor, acupuncturist, and the dentist and signing up for some yoga classes to deal with my stress. I have no idea why I should be stressed. My life is pretty damn unexciting and laid back.

We had to re-fi the house to get out from under a line of credit that had an ARM that was spinning out of control. The finance company said we got out just in time. We may see some double digit inflation next year. Thanks, Bushie!

Just got back from seeing Roger Moore’s new film, “Sicko”. This is a must-see if you are concerned at all with your insurance coverage. Oh, and you will be wanting to move to France as soon as possible.

Well, that’s all the news fit to print. I am going to try and stay on top of the blog from now on, but we’ll see how it goes. And threats to steal the horsie out front are NOT going to get you on any mail-art lists!!

making friends with the trash can

Well, the art is taking another turn. After the last year full of a spontaneous and loose style, I've happened back on to the grid. You'd think that I would be done with this approach after spending 4 years at UCLA graphic design school having it pounded into my brain but I'm finding it oddly refreshing. It's kind of like filling in the blanks for me now. I still have to mind the colors and think about that nasty focal point but I feel like I've found an old friend. I'll keep to the painting but it was never easy for me to let go and be messy. The grid appeals to my sense of order and I'm also finding that it is a great way to use up a lot of those paper bits that I have lying around.

Speaking of stuff lying around...I'm feeling overwhelmed with all of the half-finished projects in my life. In the past 5 years I've accumulated tons of supplies and partially created things that I've started in classes and never finished. This is rare for me because I like to finish stuff right away but there are still a few odd assemblage pieces, the repousee book with one cover done, the canvasses with only the backgrounds painted sitting there staring at me in their mocking little way. I used to be so anal about these things. I couldn't continue on to another project until the last one was done and dusted but these days I've become yes, a slacker. Is this progress? A way of letting go? Can I move to the next step and actually remove these things from my sight? I'd say that trying to tie up these loose ends now would be taking a step backward. I know in my heart that I've learned all I can learn from them so trying to complete them would only be making my "grandma voice" happy. I'm thinking that now is the time to make a big donation to SCRAP.