After Forever, I Finally Was Able to Play With my Mat Cutter - Connie Seabourn Artwork

I had the usual things on my agenda yesterday - grocery shopping, cooking, and bit of housekeeping. I decided to make some of my baked pork chops because it's easy, tasty and doesn't take up a lot of refrigerator room. My refrigerator room is being taken up with cut-up honeydew and cut-up watermelon. I took the time I had left in the afternoon and worked on the presentation for two small Connie Seaborn pieces. I'm very happy with how they turned out, although I'm still slightly off square on the mat cutter. I'll have to play with that a bit more and see if I can get it 100% square. 

This first piece is titled "Pueblo Dawn". It's 
a lovely small piece with more depth every time I 
look at it. I chose an off-white texture for the 
inner mat, on top of a blue/purple for the outer mat.
 The mat choices are identical for the pair. 

The first piece is called Pueblo Evening. It's in blues and purples on her hand-made watercolor paper. The finished size is 8-1/2 x 11, and I'll try to find a frame tomorrow for it. I know what I want, but would rather not have to order it. 

This is the companion piece - Pueblo Evening. 
Although I'm framing them at the same time and
purchased them together, I doubt they'll be sold as a set.
I think that would be cost prohibitive for most of my
customers. In this piece, you get the sense of
timelessness that I always feel when I'm
visiting the pueblos in New Mexico. 

The second finished mat is for Pueblo Evening. She's pulled out the warmer peach and pink colors, keeping the basic blues and purples, making it a bit softer and more like a moonlit scene. 

I'm using my C&H Signature mat cutter for these. 
I took it completely apart last week and cleaned 
everything. I'm pretty happy with this first attempt 
at a mat, although it's still very slightly out of true 
90 degree cuts. I'll have to work on that a bit more 
tomorrow to try and improve it. When adjusted properly, 
it should give me perfect 90 degree cuts. Adjustments 
are very fussy, however. 

Ideally I would have preferred to frame the two small watercolors as a single piece, but they retail for $125/each unframed, and the combo framed would retail between $375-$450. That's a lot for small pieces, even if they are original watercolors from an established artist. Will I actually get what I'm supposed to when I sell it? Who knows? I know their worth. DH doesn't like her work, so as far as he's concerned, it's money wasted. I actually have quite a lot of her work still to frame - larger pieces, mostly. I thought I'd start small while I'm still fine tuning the equipment. 

Connie Seabourn is a well-known, respected watercolor 
artist based in Oklahoma. I'm not finding tribal identification 
on her website, so she might have married into the tribe. 
I know she was exhibiting at events that required tribal 
identity. Given her area of the country, I would say that 
she's Cherokee or Choctaw, but she doesn't have to be 
full-blood to be Native American and qualify for the shows 
where I first met her and her artwork. 

So, I'm off to the pool for my final swim of the week. We'll possibly have showers, but if there's no thunder or lightning, we'll still be able to swim outdoors. Have a great day and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

We're Driving Ourselves Crazy - Who Would Think It Would Be So Hard to Quit?

It's June, almost July. We're on a tight time schedule, and we're SO behind. *sigh* I've been working on my first tale for the current LJ Idol, and I'll get something posted today, but will it be my best work? Highly unlikely. Still, I'll have put something out there, and hopefully it will be enough to get me to the next round. I know I can't devote the time I would like to writing this time around, but I've always been good at coming up with something under pressure. I hope that continues to be true because my pressures are only going to be increasing over the next few months. 

I have no idea why I chose this quote today, but it 
seems to just fit, so here you go! 

The goal is to be out of the store by Thanksgiving. That means a LOT of bits and pieces are going to have to fall into place before that can happen. We'll also probably end up renting a temporary storage room for items we'll want to bring to the Southwest for auction. We'll have to see how the first auction goes - I don't recall which dates we sent items down for, but we did do that. 

We sent a variety of items down to Santa Fe Art Auction 
for an auction scheduled for this summer. I have no idea 
how they will sell, but if they do well, we have a lot more 
items that we would like to bring to them. Many of those 
would be better if we rented a truck and drove them down 
ourselves. Items that are too fragile to really ship with 
any confidence. 

Our problem is the artwork. We'll be able to sell or donate the beads without too much problem. Beads are very popular and everyone loves a good sale. Of course, we have 1000's of types/styles/colors and materials. As I said in an earlier post - beads just started taking over from the artwork. 

We've sold down a lot since this photo was taken. This was 
from 10 years ago and it's on our Google page (along with 
many other photos). A couple of the photos even have me 
(blurred, but with hair and no tattoo!). We still have a lot 
of materials available, but it's nowhere near as packed 
as it was then. 

But the artwork is varied, both framed and unframed. We have signed limited-edition prints, we have serigraphs, we have originals in watercolor, gouache and acrylics, and we have some very well-known Native American artists in that collection of items. DH spent a solid three days looking for the invoice for two Amado Pena watercolor and pen pieces. He knows which gallery he purchased them from, but needs information about what he paid for them and the exact media the artist used. No luck. He drove himself crazy with it, and it's simply nowhere to be found. 

We have two lovely Amado Pena pieces and just 
can't tell if they're originals or lithographs. We 
can't find the invoice, so it's a very uncertain 
valuation. *sigh*

I, in the meantime, have Etsy which is suddenly becoming a bit more active for us. My customer from the West Coast who ordered the MASSIVE amount of crystals has received her box and is happily unpacking everything. I had a smaller Etsy order yesterday morning and mailed that one out on my way home yesterday night. I don't always check my Etsy page daily, but happened to catch this order right away. Yeah! Sometimes I do things right - LOL. 

On that note, I'm off to eat breakfast and start a busy Friday. Have an excellent day and I'll be back to wrap up the week tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Please Vote, Black Friday and a Decision About Adornment

It's the final day of voting for my current story. I'll not win this week, and if I end up getting sent home, I've made a valiant effort this season and it's been a blast. Right now, though, the season is catching up with me. Thanksgiving is next week, and I'm still unsure about what to have featured for our Black Friday/Small Business Saturday annual sale. I'll have to come to a decision "right quick" because I'm totally running out of time. 

Black Friday is quickly approaching. It's less important 
than in the days before a lot of online shopping, but it's 
still an important retail day. Next week! I'm nowhere 
near ready for this. 

A customer earlier this week told me that Virginia Stroud passed away earlier this month. I knew she was getting on in years, but it was still a sad thing to hear. I adore her art and have carried her prints for years and years. She always had a loving and playful outlook through her art - celebrating her Cherokee culture while embracing her own unique style of artwork. She'll be missed. I still have quite a lot of her prints available, but I won't be restocking them now, and I won't have a chance to chat with her and catch up on the "wahoshi" any more. It's one of the drawbacks of getting older. 

Virginia Stroud had a very gentle way of 
portraying the older ways of the Cherokee 
people. Her style was unmistakable, and 
her love for her heritage came through in every 
brush stroke. She'll be missed. 

I've had a second hole through the lobe of one ear since post-grad times in New Mexico. I had it done in conjunction with a friend at a place in Lubbock, Texas. Whoever pierced it did a horrible job with their piercing gun. It never really healed well, and has always bothered me a bit. But it's been more than 40 years that I've put up with it. I just purchased a set of small 14K hoops, thinking that might resolve the discomfort I feel in that ear, but it's not going to work. I can't even get the slightly curved wire through the wonky hole. So, I've decided to just leave it alone and naked. It's probably going to try to close up on me, like any wound, and at this point, I'm totally OK with that. I'll wear earrings, as I always do, in my lower holes of each ear. That's enough garnishment for this old lady - LOL. 

When my friend and I decided to split the cost of a 
piercing and got my second hole in my right ear, 
it should have been in this position. It wasn't - it 
was a bit higher up, and it was poorly pierced. It 
never healed properly, and has always bothered me. 
Time to give it up and leave it totally alone to 
close up on it's own. I'll just use my lower hole 
which was done properly more than 40 years ago. 

So, I'm off to the gym and the pool. One of our "group" decided to get a listing together of all our phone numbers, email addresses, and physical addresses so that we have a basic swimming address list for those of us who are here every single day. We're hoping to fend off issues like we had with dear Rosemary last week. It was wonderful to see her looking hale and hearty (as much as any 80 year-old woman who weighs under 100 lbs can look). She's sprightly, a real firecracker, and we were all horribly worried about her last week. But she's OK, and very touched that we all were so worried about her. She was the catalyst for this new group. I think it will be a good one to be a member of - lots of friends on that list. Have an excellent Wednesday, I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and please, if you haven't voted for my most recent tale, please do. The links are in a post from the past five days or so. 

International Women's Day - My Thoughts Are Here and There

Happy International Women's Day. I'm not exactly sure why we celebrate it, but I'm totally in favor. Men might think they rule the world, but it's women who make the world actually work. We all know that if you let the guys have their toys and their feelings of achievement then life is easier all the way around. At least, that's the way it is in my household, and I suspect it carries through to the households of many of you as well. 

It's pretty obvious that equity still 
needs to be achieved, but we do 
seem to be working at it. Some 
nations, of course, are more 
successful than others. 

Guys are pretty handy, though. It's nice to have a foil to bounce ideas around with. Getting that different perspective can be essential to a successful project. Would I want to base a project of mine totally on the ideas of DH? Hell no! His vision is NOT my vision, and he really doesn't understand my art. But, he has a good eye for some aspects of it, and since many of my art pieces are also constructed and he's good with construction, his assistance and advice can be invaluable at times. 

I'm NOT a fine art artist, and this is NOT one of my 
pieces, although I really like it. No, I'm an artist, but 
I'm a multimedia artist and the traditional materials 
such as paints and pencils are not my forte. 

I haven't had an opportunity to work on my art for several years, however. That's disturbing to me, but we're winding things down at the shop and we'll be calling my retail sales pro guy soon to get onto his schedule. Things are progressing, although that smooth road has been anything BUT smooth. Not having a printer at the shop capable of printing price tags is a time sink, but we're working around it. I'm taking the price tags printed onto regular paper home with me each night, and using the copy aspect of my home printer to transfer them to the price tags at night before I settle down to watch a bit of TV before sleep. It's not an immediate resolution when we need a tag NOW, but it's working. 

I was finally successful in pairing my new 
watch with my phone, so now it's displaying 
the correct time and I can see how it does in 
the swimming pool today. Baby steps - LOL. 

I finally got my new watch to sync with my phone, so I'm happy. It's functional, and has the correct time. Today will be its' first time in the swimming pool. It's rated for the swimming pool, but not outdoor open water. That's just fine - as you know, I'm not fond of outdoor waters and swim in the pools (indoors or outdoors) only, not the lakes or the ocean. I suppose I'll have to remove my watch if I ever go back to the shore, but if I do, that's still in the far future and I'll probably be on another new watch by then. I do change watches regularly. 

So, on that note, have a fantastic day and I'll be back tomorrow. It's my errands and housework day, so I'll be a busy bee until I talk with Aearwen late this afternoon. Enjoy your day and Slava Ukraini, I'll be back tomorrow. 

A Look Through Some Native American Artwork

The first batch of Holiday Cards got mailed yesterday, the remainder will be mailed on my way home from work tonight. I need additional postage - they're heavy and require double postage. No problem, except I had enough postage on hand for them if they had been normal weight. The insert that I made is heavy, but I love it. I wish I had a bit more time with them - another five days would have been lovely, but they're already late, so off they go. 

We have a lot of artwork by Arthur Begay, 
as well as Harrison Begay. Both of them specialize 
in traditional Navajo scenes. Here is one by 
Arthur featuring a Navajo woman carrying a 
young lamb. Everything is traditional - from 
the moccasins to the concho belt to the 
hairstyle. DH adores their work, so we have 
several at home. I like some of it, but am very 
much a take or leave person for the Begays. 

Because I need to pick up more postage before I unlock the store today, things are a bit more rushed than normal. That's not a problem - the post office opens at 8:00 am and I don't unlock the store until 10:00 am, but it is a swim day, and that's always a schedule crunch. It's worth it though - my swimming is wonderful and I absolutely love it. My arms aren't flabby any more - LOL. 

Duane Dishta is a Zuni artist who paints scenes 
from that tribe's ceremonial calendar. Both of us 
have loved his artwork for more than a quarter 
century. He died in 2011. I think we have at least five 
of his pieces in our personal collection, and I know 
we have one for sale. Dishta's scenes such as this 
were unique. The posts sticking out of the wall are 
actually 3-D on his originals, and protrude from 
the surface of the painting. 

DH is spending every available bit of time perusing the auction websites of those auction houses that specialize in our types of artwork, i,e, Native American art and crafts. We're trying to get an idea of reasonable pricing for a multitude of artwork we need to sell. When I first started Stormcloud Trading, I had a lot of wall space and we did a lot with artwork. When I opened my Mall of America store, we also sold a lot of artwork, although there we sold them framed and ready-to-go; not either framed or just the "naked" prints. Our current location has walls, but they're high - 12-foot high - so instead of a lot of artwork, we put up Navajo weavings. (Easier to put up and take down.) We've sold some over the years, but weavings are always a harder sell than paintings. We have a lot of paintings up too, but the artwork took a weak background to the craft supplies that became our bread and butter.  

Rance Hood is a Commanche artist, still producing 
today at 80 years of age. We have a signed 
litho by him as well as a small original. Prices for 
his work are all over the place, but he's popular 
and quite collectible. We'll need to do research to 
figure out the correct pricing for the original we have. 

We need to find out the approximate value of what we have because we're probably going to end up putting a lot of the artwork out for auction after we shut down next year. We also need to decide how much of a discount (if any) we're going to be willing to take on these pieces. There are a few things we look at and wonder "What was I thinking when I bought these?", but fortunately those items aren't common. 

Allen Mose is still producing artwork. I've had several 
pieces by him over the years. I think we have at least 
one still in the print drawers. He does these fabulous 
blended backgrounds with strong foreground imagery, 
often featuring Navajo blankets or weavings. 

Since today is a bit rushed, I'm going to sign off here. I hope you have a tremendous day, that you're kind and joy-filled and helpful, and that you return here tomorrow happy, on reflection, with how you spent today. I'll be back tomorrow and I'm sending *hugs* to each of you. Mitakuye oyasin. 

It's My "Day Off", But I'm Sharing More Artwork Too

Going outside to put the trash can at the curb this morning, I saw a field of white. *Sigh* snow. Actually, it wasn't very much - just a dusting, but I did grab the shovel and clear the drive because tire tracks can become ice in no time and I don't like a lot of ice on my driveway. I looked at it as an opportunity to get a bit more exercise this morning. 

This sculpture is called "First Generation" and 
is located along the Singapore River in Taiwan. 
I love the balance of the piece, the joy of the 
boys as they jump into the river and the 
usual hi-jinks that kids will play when they 
are carefree and happy. 

Today is my standard "day off", meaning laundry, grocery shopping, housecleaning, etc. Of course, I still don't have a functional clothes dryer, so I'll be carting my wet clothes over to the laundromat once again, to get all of the loads dry at once. It's efficient for the drying, but produces a LOT of folding all at once. Still, clean clothes are well worth it. My "Dryer Duct Witch" people are scheduled for Friday morning, and if I'm really lucky, that'll be all that's necessary to get my dryer back up and operational. Crossing my fingers. 

This fascinating sculpture is called "Nelson 
Mandala" for rather obvious reasons. It is 
located near Howick, South Africa, positioned 
along the road where Mandala was arrested by 
apartheid security police in 1962. He remained 
imprisoned for 27 years. 

I have a lot to accomplish today, so I'm being fairly focused. I'm hoping I can do miscellaneous stuff later this afternoon, but my morning will be spent on all of the stuff listed above. Oy! Reading through the list, it doesn't sound like much of a day off. It's a good thing I get my Fridays too or I'd be going slightly (well, maybe a bit more than slightly) insane. 

I was really torn about which sculpture to choose for 
my final photo, but had to go with "Metamorphosis", 
located in Prague. It's made from stainless steel 
layers that rotate 360 degrees, occasionally aligning 
to form a huge head. I just love the entire concept. 

I enjoyed finding those large sculptures for you yesterday, and decided to plug some more of them in today's post. I hope you enjoy the artwork and that you have an excellent Wednesday. As always, please be kind, stay safe, and wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow.