tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51058730156160863392024-03-13T17:50:37.764-05:00Inspiration and Originality Underlined a blog celebrating creativity Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-91585966799911892322015-05-10T15:59:00.001-05:002015-05-30T18:39:54.804-05:00Stuck for Inspiration? Don't Forget Your Roots - Here Are 5 Key Ideas for Photographers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>By Eric Cross</i><br />
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There is a famous quote that alludes to the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, while agreeing with this quote, it is essential to state that a well taken photograph is worth much more than a thousand words. Indeed, an excellent photo has the ability to not only express beauty, but also store the fondest of memories. Photography is an art which requires skill and technique. To help you gain the necessary skills, here is an article outlining 5 basic ideas for photographers.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: center;">photo: <a href="http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/34298" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Peter Trimming</a></td></tr>
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<li><strong>Acquire the best camera</strong><br />It is quite hard to talk about ideas for photographers without mentioning the camera; for it is the device through which photos are taken. Cameras come in various sizes, shapes, color and most importantly resolution powers. There is no doubt that technology has revolutionized the photography industry because it has spearheaded the manufacture and production of high resolution cameras which have the ability to shoot crisp-clear photographs. Therefore, the first and most essential idea to great photography is to ensure that you are equipped with a powerful camera.</li>
<li><strong>Detail</strong><br />Taking a great picture is about capturing that particular detail which will make the difference. Every photo should be taken with absolute creativity to ensure that all the details are captured. Even when there appears to be no outstanding detail, try to look closely and you will certainly find one. Just like drawing a picture to represent a thousand words, creativity goes a long way in delivering a memorable photo.</li>
<li><strong>Light</strong><br />Cameras directly depend on sufficient lighting to produce excellent shots. While this is not to say that photos cannot be taken during the night or in dark places, it is important to confirm that light is an integral element of photography. If you intend to take photos in locations where natural lighting is alien or limited, you have to use an artificial lighting source such as electricity to increase your chances of taking a beautiful picture. Although technology has brought us powerful cameras which are capable of independently taking photos in dark locations, you have to keep in mind that the trick here is to shoot great pictures with these 5 great ideas for photographers.</li>
<li><strong>Background</strong><br />Almost always, a great photo has an amazing background. Here, two aspects of photography come into play; instant and selective. There are times when you have to take photos without having the option to change locations or backgrounds for that matter. A case in point is when you are taking photos of people attending a certain ceremony. You are required to make use of your creativity and alertness to produce high quality picture, but when you have the freedom to choose from various backgrounds, be sure to go with smoky or watery backgrounds as they bring the best out of a photo.</li>
<li><strong>Photo framing</strong><br />Of these 5 ideas for photographers, photo framing is definitely the easiest to implement. This is largely because framing the photo adds a touch of creativity and design to it. Different photos require different frames for them to be great. You need to exploit the use of various frames to determine the most suited to fit on a particular photo.</li>
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In conclusion, there are numerous tips, but the outlined 5 great photography photo ideas will give you a perfect start to taking awesome pictures! Once you master these basics you can start looking towards more advanced techniques like trick photography and special effects.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ezinearticles.com/members/mem_pics/Eric-Cross_1501979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="photog" border="0" src="http://ezinearticles.com/members/mem_pics/Eric-Cross_1501979.jpg" title="Author and photographer Eric Cross" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Author <span style="text-align: left;">Eric Cross</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Eric Cross is a budding photographer who balances his time taking photographs with time spent writing about taking photographs,</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> putting together a free tutorial guide for everyone wanting to learn about trick photography and special effects. </span></blockquote>
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-3341502816663562692015-05-09T12:01:00.001-05:002015-05-09T12:41:29.852-05:00Matthew Graybosch: Interview Part II: Inspiration, Influences, Environment, Tools of the Trade <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Continued from Part I </i>>> <a href="http://www.iouart.co/2013/10/matthew-graybosch-better-fantasy.html"><b>Matthew Graybosch: Better Fantasy Through Science</b></a></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What inspired the name of your series "Starbreaker"?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I stole the name from a song by Judas Priest, from their <i>Sin After Sin</i> album. It sounded suitably badass for a weapon capable of killing demons from outer space - instead of just destroying their avatars.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Like I said in <a href="http://www.iouart.co/2013/10/matthew-graybosch-better-fantasy.html">part one of this interview</a>, "Stormbringer" was taken. I'm already too close to writing "Elric on a Harley" for comfort.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What's your typical writing session and environment like?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm a lunch break novelist. I bring a laptop to work with me, and drive down the street to a nearby pizza parlor to eat a slice of pizza and belt out a scene. On a good day, I manage between 500 and 1500 words of raw text in about an hour.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'd love to be able to write at home after work, but I rarely manage it. After a full day as a software developer, my brain shuts down once I come home. I'm more likely to curl up with my wife and read, play video games, or mess around on the net than I am to write.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When I'm writing, I put on headphones and try to find music that suits the scene and character I'm trying to write. My playlist usually includes music by Iron Maiden, Iced Earth, the Blue Oyster Cult, Judas Priest, Queensryche, Bruce Dickinson, Iced Earth, Nightwish, Without Temptation, Delain, Nemesea, Blind Guardian, The Worshyp, The Protomen, Savatage, Black Sabbath, Therion, Joe Satriani, Megadeth, Dream Theater, Coheed and Cambria, Ayreon, Symphony X, Nobuo Uematsu, and Shoji Meguro.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I tend to turn off wifi when writing. I don't think much of Jonathan Franzen's fiction, but I suspect he might be right about the difficulty of writing good fiction while jacked in.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfit5WEwkHT_WbZTGmiL6r5wivH04Mz9AeYdnFGu_DfthUDucMJUrh3HI99HlbFcrffXIQAmDp5l85PTx4fzxkojvJXhKWAVzCuHfSjlFClo5jkQkFgJG7LlxcraryCA-x0eWFKSC4WhY/s1600/milgrambattery_rickygunawan.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfit5WEwkHT_WbZTGmiL6r5wivH04Mz9AeYdnFGu_DfthUDucMJUrh3HI99HlbFcrffXIQAmDp5l85PTx4fzxkojvJXhKWAVzCuHfSjlFClo5jkQkFgJG7LlxcraryCA-x0eWFKSC4WhY/s1600/milgrambattery_rickygunawan.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="The Milgram Battery" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfit5WEwkHT_WbZTGmiL6r5wivH04Mz9AeYdnFGu_DfthUDucMJUrh3HI99HlbFcrffXIQAmDp5l85PTx4fzxkojvJXhKWAVzCuHfSjlFClo5jkQkFgJG7LlxcraryCA-x0eWFKSC4WhY/s1600/milgrambattery_rickygunawan.png" title="The Milgram Battery" width="231" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Tell me about influences, if any:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'd have to be especially arrogant to claim complete originality, free of any influences. However, when you ask any novelist to name their influences, you impose upon them a nigh-irresistible temptation to claim a part in the literary traditions of the authors they most admire, while omitting any mention of authors they despise.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'd love to claim that I draw upon European Romanticism and the daring SF and fantasy for which such authors as Michael Moorcock, Roger Zelazny, Stephen Brust, Robert Heinlein, C. J. Cherryh, C. S. Friedman, and M. John Harrison are justly famous. However, I might not have proved as successful in escaping the shadows of Tolkien, Donaldson, Jordan, and Goodkind as I hoped.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">An accurate account of the influences on my work is a task better left to critics, and not to novelists seeking to promote their own work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What is the most unexpected reaction you have had to your writing?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My writing is how I've met every woman with whom I've been intimately involved, including my wife of nine years, who I courted for four. Catherine and I met on a Yahoo! forum for aspiring fantasy writers, and started out by reading each other's work. It's a long story, and perhaps beyond the scope of this interview.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Do you have any regrets pertaining to your writing?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I sometimes suspect I picked the wrong trade for a day job. Software development gave me valuable technical skills, as well as experience I used while writing <i>Starbreaker</i>, but it's a bad trade for writers. The demands on one's time and intellect often leave little time or energy for writing, even when I avoided working in Silicon Valley and in start-ups in favor of taking jobs involving government contracts which should only require a forty hour workweek.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Aside from that, I have no regrets. I needed to do <i>something</i> with my life, and writing gives me a sense of purpose. It allows me to indulge all of my nasty little control-freak tendencies without actually hurting anybody.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What plans do you have for future work?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Without Bloodshed</i>, the first Starbreaker novel, comes out in about a month or so. Curiosity Quills Press is currently doing a new cover. I'm working on <i>The Blackened Phoenix</i>, as well as a short piece called "Tattoo Vampire". For Christmas, I've started kicking around some ideas for a story called "Cardigans" in which we'll see a young Morgan Stormrider knitting. I'm thinking of expanding a novelette, <i>Steadfast</i>, into a full-length NA science fantasy novel starring Naomi Bradleigh called <i>Silent Clarion</i>. I also have to plot and eventually write the last two main-sequence Starbreaker books:<i> Proscribed Construct </i>and <i>A Tyranny of Demons</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After that - let's just say that chronicling the life and crimes of Imaginos could be a lifetime's work. I could write a Michener-style epic about Nationfall, the social/political/economic collapse that sets the stage for the rise of the society in which Starbreaker is set. I can do with Starbreaker what Tolkien did with Middle-Earth, only I cheat by taking our world and screwing around with history.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What is the best advice you want to share with aspiring authors?</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This first bit should be obvious, but for the love of all the demons ever venerated by humankind, <b>READ</b>. Read your chosen genre. Get acquainted with its tropes and cliches. Figure out what readers expect, so you can screw with them if you want to. Once you're done reading within your genre, read <i>outside</i> it. You might find ideas and elements you can import into your chosen genre, and exposure to different styles and voices will help you develop a richer style of your own.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Half of what you hear about building an author platform is arrant nonsense, but I can't tell you which half. I've had people tell me Google+ is a waste of time, and that I should use Facebook and Twitter instead. I ignore them, because I've tried Twitter and Facebook. Twitter is the men's room wall of the internet. Facebook is how the Daleks will justify our extermination. Google+ is where I found <i>my</i> audience, which is currently about 18,000 followers. Maybe a tenth of them will bother to buy my book, but nobody builds an empire overnight.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Some people will tell you that fanfic is a good way to develop your technique, but I don't agree with them. I think working with an existing setting and existing characters makes it harder for writers to learn how to develop settings and characters of their own. Instead, I recommend the pastiche. Instead of taking Kirk and Spock as is, and working around them, use these characters as <i>templates</i> for new characters of your own creation if you lack the confidence to start from scratch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'd suggest learning a bit about computer programming. You don't have to do it for a living, and I lack sufficient sadism to suggest that aspiring writers take on software development as a day job. It's thankless work, and frequently makes writing unnecessarily difficult. However, learning to code requires learning <i>logic</i>, which serves writers as well as it does mathematicians, scientists, and programmers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Be ruthless in pursuit of your art. Defy everybody who opposes you, and never give them time to discourage you. The converse is also true: <i>acknowledge and treasure everybody who has ever supported you</i>. If you're lucky enough to have a lover or spouse who's willing to help you, don't screw up that relationship.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>How do you promote your work both on and off the internet?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I've focused the vast majority of my promotional efforts online, especially on Google+. I got my publishing deal by posting bits and pieces as I wrote them. Afterward, I'd talk about the plot as I worked on </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Without Bloodshed</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">. I'd also post dialogue stripped of narrative context using hashtags like #ShitMyCharactersSay.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Since I'm a metalhead, and music is incredibly important to my writing, I also make a habit of posting YouTube videos of songs that helped me develop some aspect Starbreaker, and discuss why these songs matter to me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I worked with artist Harvey Bunda of Gunship Revolution, commissioning portraits of several of my major characters. I use this character art in posts about my work and characters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I help promote other independent writers and musicians, recommending their books and music. Sometimes they ask, and sometimes I come across them, check them out for myself, and decide they're worth mentioning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I also comment on current events, especially if they apply to the <i>Starbreaker</i> setting for some reason. For example, when Google Glass was first announced, I linked it to Witness Protocol, a technology in the Starbreaker setting that allows people equipped with implanted computers and the appropriate software to record everything they see and hear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What are your favorite writing tools?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My laptop runs CrunchBang Linux, and I tend to write my drafts in plain text files formatted with a markup language called Markdown, which I can convert to HTML and other formats using freely available tools like pandoc. When I'm ready to submit a piece for editing and publication, I use LibreOffice, which can cope with Microsoft Word's formats and includes "track changes" functionality.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I also run a dict server on my laptop, which allows me to get definitions and synonyms by typing a command into a shell prompt, such as "dict bazooka". Because I write my drafts in plain text, I can use any text editor I choose, even heavy duty programmers' editors like vim and emacs. I currently favor an app called PyRoom, an open source clone of Hog Bay Software's <i>WriteRoom </i>app for Mac and iOS. It's a full-screen plain text editor, which allows me to focus on my writing without distraction.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirXZy3t2sDxtCMNAXGSZlRfd_uId5aiNoiscf_dmtVqy9F9-XpYSur_gJF1Cmy8dHlkDvoIEmOLvJnrEQCVxt6ZQvkjIDH0DFlh-Vk6RHsHQ23ufpAMOKFanV6nXbagx2bswg6Y9BiWEo/s1600/claireashecroft_harveybunda.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Claire Ashecroft" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirXZy3t2sDxtCMNAXGSZlRfd_uId5aiNoiscf_dmtVqy9F9-XpYSur_gJF1Cmy8dHlkDvoIEmOLvJnrEQCVxt6ZQvkjIDH0DFlh-Vk6RHsHQ23ufpAMOKFanV6nXbagx2bswg6Y9BiWEo/s1600/claireashecroft_harveybunda.png" title="Claire Ashecroft" width="207" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Because I run a Unix-based OS, I can use the OS itself to organize my work. I have a documents directory, just like you Windows and Mac users. In it, there's a "starbreaker" directory. In that "starbreaker" directory I have directories for each story using the Starbreaker setting. For novels like <i>Without Bloodshed</i>, the directory consists of a file containing the title named "00.title.md" (.md for Markdown files); a "scenebreak" text file consisting of a blank line, a line with three asterisks, and another blank line; and a directory for each chapter, named so that the OS orders it for me: "01.theunforgiven", "02.norefugebutaudacity", etc. In each directory, I have another "00.title.md" for the chapter number and title. I also have a file for each scene whose name is based on the order in which the scene occurs, and the viewpoint character's name, such as "01.morganstormrider.md", "02.naomibradleigh.md", etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I can then put it all together using a small shell script written so I can use it to convert any story I write into a single file for conversion to standard formats. It uses the "cat" (concatenate) command. If I want word counts for scenes, chapters, or the entire story, I can use the "wc" (word count) command. If I need to do a find, I use "grep". If I need to do a story-wide find/replace affecting more than one file, then I use "sed".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I started using Linux in 1999, after my first computer (an secondhand IBM PS/ValuePoint running PC-DOS 6, if anybody cares) died by my hand. I was trying to swap out the hard drive when my cat bit my toes to get attention. This startled me, and I ruined the computer by driving my screwdriver straight through the main board. I had to build a new one, I didn't want to keep running DOS and writing, I didn't want to pay a hundred bucks for a copy of Windows 98, and I couldn't afford a Mac. So I bought a copy of Linux on CD (Red Hat 5.2, if anybody cares), installed it, and alternated between writing and tinkering.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Since my day job involves software development on Windows, I trust Microsoft's offerings as far as I can throw them. Macbooks are nice, and I used one from 2006 until 2012, but overpriced for the hardware you get inside the pretty case. And if George R. R. Martin can keep using WordStar 4 on DOS, why shouldn't I use Linux?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Is there anything else you would like to share?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I think you and your readers are thoroughly sick of me by now, but you might also be interested in interviewing some other independent authors whose work I enjoy and recommend: Michael Shean (the Wonderland sequence), Lynda Williams (the Okal Rel saga), K. H. Koehler (the Nick Engelbrecht series), Charity Bradford (author of <i>The Magic Wakes</i> and <i>Stellar Cloud</i>), and Michael Reeves-McMillan (author of<i> Realmgolds</i>).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">However, if I might beg your indulgence a bit longer, I'd like to mention that while <i>Without Bloodshed </i>is not yet available, I do have a story entitled "The Milgram Battery" available in the Curiosity Quills Primetime charity anthology. Five bucks gets you twenty short pieces of weird fiction, and ten percent goes to reputable no-kill animal shelters across the United States.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">How to find Matthew Graybosch online...</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4vHa_6yFr0QTzXBIrcNhyphenhyphenHjwMXxHgk39M1cXm_uuNCxENFMrmph80_nOQqKzlbJHtBy4fiHMcMsknKSkzPdNx412QSPCWqhQmKwykVfueMwV7jxaC_GclcMffoL2giLu1di38sYLTrU/s1600/author.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="author in new york, matthew graybosch" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4vHa_6yFr0QTzXBIrcNhyphenhyphenHjwMXxHgk39M1cXm_uuNCxENFMrmph80_nOQqKzlbJHtBy4fiHMcMsknKSkzPdNx412QSPCWqhQmKwykVfueMwV7jxaC_GclcMffoL2giLu1di38sYLTrU/s1600/author.png" title="Author, Matthew Graybosch" width="240" /></a></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.matthewgraybosch.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Author Website</a></b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.starbreakerseries.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Starbreaker series Website</a></b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><a href="mailto:mg@matthewgraybosch.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Email: mg@matthewgraybosch.com</a></b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://plus.google.com/103251633033550231172" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Matthew Graybosch on Google+</a></b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://twitter.com/MGraybosch" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter @MGraybosch</a></b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/matthew.graybosch" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a></b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/matthewgraybosch" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></b></span></li>
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Available on Amazon:<br />
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<script charset="utf-8" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_ssw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Finspirandorig-20%2F8003%2F45502b41-b918-4329-9c16-15ca1d438e06&Operation=GetScriptTemplate" type="text/javascript"> </script> <noscript><a HREF="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_ssw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Finspirandorig-20%2F8003%2F45502b41-b918-4329-9c16-15ca1d438e06&Operation=NoScript">Amazon.com Widgets</A></noscript>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You can also try conjuring me, but the last person to try squiggled a line that should have been straight while drawing his summoning circle. The poor schmuck ended up as a chew toy for the Hounds of Tindalos. So it goes.</span><img border="0" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=DUcx1O63qSc&bids=323058.47851&type=2&subid=0" height="1" width="1" /></blockquote>
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-87523734608859532802015-05-06T18:33:00.000-05:002015-05-09T08:53:58.898-05:00Why Do Artists Take Part in Free Art Movements?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So you may have heard about the Free Art Friday Movement and now you are wondering - what is the point? Aside from just being nice, why do artists do this? Here is what I have gathered from those I know who have participated.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It is an opportunity to share art with others removing the financial and time constraints from the transaction. It allows people who would not otherwise be able to spend money, or who are perhaps unable to make it to local art shops or shows, the chance to still own a piece of art. The connections of the <i>local </i>artist with their <i>local </i>art lovers and the ability to bring them together in an unimposing public space are a <b>reward</b> in itself. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The accessibility is unconditional. When the internet is incorporated there is the magic of bringing the artist together with their locals initially from and then away from the internet which is another great connection. It is not unheard of for a public <i>hand-to-hand </i>Free Art Friday transaction to occur either. An artist can strike up a conversation and talk about their art and if they see the other person have a true interest, offer their free art piece. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguSkcBEtmk4OI0oeh-eII3FcZ0dhTy9bJrmAHLNDxprrUI-OPAIAfGJemO-OcIgDV_majkViXkChV1RxwLVPxS9APfQlUcLodQdLVJdAY52NCoFTPVsrAEyPzAxNaOYAO4WgGcBXSkffaF/s1600/my+world.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="copper rings intwined my world your world inside background pier and copper railing" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguSkcBEtmk4OI0oeh-eII3FcZ0dhTy9bJrmAHLNDxprrUI-OPAIAfGJemO-OcIgDV_majkViXkChV1RxwLVPxS9APfQlUcLodQdLVJdAY52NCoFTPVsrAEyPzAxNaOYAO4WgGcBXSkffaF/s320/my+world.jpg" title="My World Reaches by asboluv" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My World Reaches by asboluv</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For the most part, it is simply</span><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> FUN</b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">. And at the end of the day both parties are happier for it. The artist knows that something they created has a home with a philanthropic association. It makes for a great story, so the art and artist are going to be talked about. It is much like a free sample. It serves as a fun activity, like a game, which gets you out and about searching for art-treasures hidden in public places. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To find out more about this art movement in your area, I suggest doing a search for “free art Friday (name of your city).” This movement has rippled all over the world, and sometimes involves a group decorating a public area together all at once or sometimes it is held on different days. "Free Art Night" is about as popular as Free Art Friday. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It is NOT an exclusive group or movement - </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Anyone</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> is welcome to join in. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>To learn more about the Free Art Friday Movement</i><b> <a href="http://www.iouart.co/2014/03/finders-keepers-free-art-friday-movement.html">Click Here</a>.</b></span><br />
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-80972497966040660592015-05-06T17:32:00.002-05:002015-05-09T12:22:40.531-05:00Methods of Inducing Theta Brainwaves to Boost Your Creativity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Brainwave <i>entrainment</i> or "brainwave synchronization" are methods aimed to induce brainwave frequencies to fall into step with a stimulus with the same frequency. Alpha, theta and delta are slow, and in the slower frequency ranges the right-brain and left-brain communicate better. This would allow both <i>macroscopic</i> "big-picture" and <i>detail-oriented</i> thought processes equal consideration. It can also bring <b>harmony</b> to ideas of logic vs. emotion. When awake and alert, a <i>pure</i> theta state is not possible, but there are ways to get the brainwaves to <u>alpha and theta togethe</u>r both relaxing the brain and turning it on.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU1NVO6322u5lWDRYrkKSTNHUt0HkZVcuC43X8dDH-7xLrkUELvU-kBHfMVoYux46ewzoXk0qRcarlK46CrFGwY9m9bF-No7FPs4x1HRl_h8AHvrBySvBOs2Tn9_rwlVxO0onbDnW3y-hH/s1600/carol-mike-werner-biomedical-illustration-with-a-brain-switch-turned-on.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Illuminated image of a person's head By: Carol & Mike Werner" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU1NVO6322u5lWDRYrkKSTNHUt0HkZVcuC43X8dDH-7xLrkUELvU-kBHfMVoYux46ewzoXk0qRcarlK46CrFGwY9m9bF-No7FPs4x1HRl_h8AHvrBySvBOs2Tn9_rwlVxO0onbDnW3y-hH/s320/carol-mike-werner-biomedical-illustration-with-a-brain-switch-turned-on.jpg" title="Biomedical Illustration with a Brain Switch Turned On " width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illustration by: Carol & Mike Werner</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Binaural </b>beats or <b>isochronal </b>tones are a highly regarded sonic form of brainwave stimulation. Music with steady beats, especially with layers of pulses will tune brainwaves to theta. This is possible because the brain has a "frequency following" response to aural provocation. There are also visual stimuli that can create specific brainwave response. For instance here are combined <b>audio-visual entrainment </b>video examples on <a href="http://www.squareeater.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Squareeater</a> - for theta waves I would recommend trying out the <i>Lucid </i>square. Use headphones.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sensory deprivation tanks, or <i>float tanks</i>, allow for an extended <b>theta </b>state experience. Letting go and exploring a different state of consciousness can be a way to let the mind truly wander, completely withdrawn from sensory input. Up until the age of six our primary mental activity is done in theta which explains flashbacks to early childhood memories occurring while in the float tank. If you opt to try sensory deprivation, take a means of recording your immediate ideas that result as you may not hold onto them for long similar to the difficulty of recalling a dream once awake. In our daily lives we are bombarded with overwhelming <i>sensory agitation</i> so a float tank is the opposite extreme that can help to open the mind to internal instead of external ideas. Of course you cannot actually practice artistic endeavors while in the tank; the benefit you get is the state of serenity and the ideas that you hold onto directly after.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Runner's <i>high</i> or the sense of elation felt during vigorous athletic activity or physical exertion is another way to experience a theta state. Other examples of ways to achieve theta are with self-hypnosis and practiced <i>meditation</i>. Although meditating helps people find long periods of theta, this can take the better part of a lifetime to learn how to accomplish.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/64/6475/WRB6100Z/posters/carol-mike-werner-illustration-showing-the-attributes-of-left-and-right-brain-activity-in-humans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Illustration Showing the Attributes of Left and Right Brain Activity in Humans " border="0" src="http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/64/6475/WRB6100Z/posters/carol-mike-werner-illustration-showing-the-attributes-of-left-and-right-brain-activity-in-humans.jpg" height="240" title="Left brain vs right brain" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://ow.ly/uEdCM" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Illustration Showing the Attributes</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://ow.ly/uEdCM" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> of Left and Right Brain Activity in Humans</a></span><br />
<a href="http://ow.ly/uEdCM" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;" target="_blank">by Carol & Mike Werner</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With the aid of the <b>theta brainwaves</b> we can break outside of the limitations of the physical senses and expand or shift our perception of reality. Everyone can train their brains to awaken a latent ability and believe in <i>boundless possibilities</i>. In doing so, creative people can surpass their mental blocks and pick up the tools of their trade and materialize something inspired from the realm of the imagination.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>To read more about how theta brainwaves affect creativity</i> <b><a href="http://www.iouart.co/2013/07/theta-brainwaves-and-how-they-can.html">Click Here</a></b>.</span><br />
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-71630381906188106182015-05-02T15:47:00.000-05:002015-05-08T17:03:38.149-05:00Helene Ruiz: Making Visual the Otherwise Unseen and Artist Collaboration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Today I am so excited to introduce you to Helene Ruiz, an acrylic painter based in the United States. At the age of 57, she is not certain the exact moment she began to use her medium of choice - acrylic paints. She does recall this story tracing back to her childhood:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"My father always taught me to think creatively and he himself was an artist. When I was a kid <span style="background-color: transparent;">and wanted</span> colors I extracted colors from comic strips, nature, coffee, teas, etc. My first painting kit was not actually purchased until I was about 11 years old when my father took me to Pearl Paint in Chinatown, Manhattan and bought me watercolors and brushes, of which I still have some of the brushes for memory's sake. I played with them until I discovered oil paint, which I found each time I used it - I would get sick. Apparently I am allergic to them. So then, when I used acrylic for the first time, I fell in love with them. They were perfect for me! The fact that I paint a lot and live in a small space makes acrylic a perfect match for someone like myself, since they dry so fast." </span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy8P9CMkZnHTzL3Myea2wQqxHW5a40l05ABoGgonJYGF627Nm36IOZz56INTIyln5fStmGiwHoA5WqpL994rYmK_4_peLyHJxS2_88jE5r9jpkS0qui-x9mhEkS3jUDJJjWha_bysRuAY/s1600/send+in+the+clowns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Acrylic painting on black background with two clowns dancing around sad face balloon with heart hanging in center" border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy8P9CMkZnHTzL3Myea2wQqxHW5a40l05ABoGgonJYGF627Nm36IOZz56INTIyln5fStmGiwHoA5WqpL994rYmK_4_peLyHJxS2_88jE5r9jpkS0qui-x9mhEkS3jUDJJjWha_bysRuAY/s1600/send+in+the+clowns.jpg" title="Send in the Clowns by Helene Ruiz" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Send in the Clowns, © Helene Ruiz</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA0W3tYAFf8TE1j8zaXpdhq44y-yb8OlrD7twKI_RWx22hX6Mi4xeVBsO18qoPvFab5beRktsI47ttsNet6A5wNsDuqmsxNFzTeYu6MEwAf_dSVE4bYGuN921cczKLvUoeI4rvkJQ9Vf0/s1600/Expired+Fool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Jester or fool garbed sleeping or dead character reposed in yellow bathtub with heart outside of chest on black background" border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA0W3tYAFf8TE1j8zaXpdhq44y-yb8OlrD7twKI_RWx22hX6Mi4xeVBsO18qoPvFab5beRktsI47ttsNet6A5wNsDuqmsxNFzTeYu6MEwAf_dSVE4bYGuN921cczKLvUoeI4rvkJQ9Vf0/s1600/Expired+Fool.jpg" title="Expired Fool by Helene Ruiz" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Expired Fool, <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">© Helene Ruiz</span><br />
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Helene is working on a collaborative project with artists all over the world, that I find so very fascinating. This interview will delve into that in detail since it is an event taking place <u>Now</u>. If you are an artist who wants to participate, find out how by reading on. First, let's get to know Helene Ruiz, the artist, a little better - she assures me there is an entire book's worth of uncharted stories within her...<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Would you tell us about your most memorable artworks?</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have used so many materials... it is actually difficult to say which would be my most memorable pieces. I suppose those are the ones I do to try and <i>show what is unseen</i>. I try to express my take on life and how I perceive life's take on others as well. Anything can trigger me... environment, politics, love, pain, illness, etc</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What has been the most unexpected thing that has happened in relation to your creating art? </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Funny, I find this </span>question<span style="font-family: inherit;"> here, especially now at the end of April 2015. Because just about a month ago, on March 28th, I almost lost my life and was rushed into emergency surgery. I am still recovering and doctors say it could be six months before I actually do recover fully. I have another surgery to go through in June to put me back together again so I can feel human. So, this experience, right now, is the <i>most challenging</i> of all life's events thus far! Only today have I attempted to begin to sketch out a painting... it will not be easy. I will be forced to do it in small steps, but it will be the first since March 28th. For me, I usually do at least two or more pieces per month, so this has been a long spell of not creating art for me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>You are currently working on a large collaborative exhibit, within the concept of the<i> exquisite corpse game</i>. </b></span><b>What is your favorite thing about this project</b><b style="font-family: inherit;">? </b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am so looking forward to this project as it lends opportunity for us to work together, and to work <i>internationally</i> with artists as well, since we can mail to each other. <span style="line-height: 15.6933336257935px;">When working with an artist internationally, it is a wondrous feeling of having the ability to collaborate with someone on a project with no concern of language barriers or distance where otherwise this may have been impossible.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4M3D8-BVHFV5pwM-DiDPYau-3x7wZT0aaVeQjU7AMs53xqFIjlY2uMWonOUBodbKHvN7RyTTaBIuKOKTpC96DItyhdz0t4anUQCD07onY8HApLfgnKzZhfH_JGU7vLdyOoMFCDgGtZVU/s1600/balancing+acts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Hands reaching up in busy background seeming to juggle or grasp for many cluttered objects lady looking up sadly black background acrylic painting" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4M3D8-BVHFV5pwM-DiDPYau-3x7wZT0aaVeQjU7AMs53xqFIjlY2uMWonOUBodbKHvN7RyTTaBIuKOKTpC96DItyhdz0t4anUQCD07onY8HApLfgnKzZhfH_JGU7vLdyOoMFCDgGtZVU/s1600/balancing+acts.jpg" title="Balancing Acts by Helene Ruiz" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Balancing Acts, <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">© Helene Ruiz</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Can you share more about the process and h</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent;"><b>ow each stage of this project works? </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The concept is </span>fairly<span style="font-family: inherit;"> simple with some very interesting outcomes. One artist will start a half of an artwork, covering their half and leaving only approximately one inch or less for the next artist to continue from and complete to make one cohesive piece. After that artist completes, they </span>then <span style="font-family: inherit;">remove the covering and reveal the finished work. I absolutely love to play this as a game when entertaining and also kids enjoy this as a game. It is great to play with kids because it teaches them how to work together. Psst... it also teaches adults... though they may not want to admit that. *smiles*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What is the timeline for creating this work?</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It depends, if I use as a game, we time 15 minutes for each participant. For this particular exhibit, </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">the show will open on </span>Sept. 25th 2015. <span style="font-family: inherit;">Deadline to apply is in August. There is lots of time to produce works. There is still </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">opportunity to participate to artists out there since this interview was recently published! Just email me for info -</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> I have given the open call and details here: </span><b><a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=106lY8vlkKCCs2TA3VRqoqo0b2hdg7f8fi1yS0I7rUN0&authuser=0" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The </span>Resurrection<span style="font-family: inherit;"> of The Exquisite Corpse Document and Instructions</span></a> </b> - feel free to share with others.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It all depends on how many join in; I will have several </span>prominent<span style="font-family: inherit;"> poets coming in from NYC for the opening reception doing some collaborative poetry and engaging the public to feel free to play along if they like. Amazing Poet and writer - Mr. William "Wah Wah" Washington will be directing the poetry aspects for me in this project. I will have musicians performing some </span>collaborative<span style="font-family: inherit;"> music pieces at the opening and dancers </span>performing<span style="font-family: inherit;"> collaborative choreographed dance routines as well. I want to show how expansive this concept can actually be and how interesting the turnout is. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz38U7bDxx0r6SA8sFfUPYZ0Tm4sDHJzwQ38J2QQ3wA4hbblRuqBw4hXXTKvtG9_loB5MYamvsidXEXgJGfNVXwqDpOE6SeoJjCBAEqEULbQmGUEjEeTya4Z71LdVEhZRGAfvTLMtYmYQ/s1600/the+wind+cries+mary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Visual illustration in acrylic paint on black background of characters from the Jimi Hendrix song of the same name" border="0" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz38U7bDxx0r6SA8sFfUPYZ0Tm4sDHJzwQ38J2QQ3wA4hbblRuqBw4hXXTKvtG9_loB5MYamvsidXEXgJGfNVXwqDpOE6SeoJjCBAEqEULbQmGUEjEeTya4Z71LdVEhZRGAfvTLMtYmYQ/s1600/the+wind+cries+mary.jpg" title="The Wind Cries Mary by Helene Ruiz" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Have you been involved in other collaborative projects other than the journal? </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have collaborated in many ways I suppose in the past and always enjoyed the challenge. A fellow friend and artist of mine - who lives overseas - invited me in an exhibit in Amsterdam a few years back. She and myself also held a workshop on this in Harlem's NY State Office building as well. </span><br />
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<b style="font-family: inherit;">Do you have any advice for artists about staying focused to meet deadlines while working on collaborative projects? </b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes... I say never stress... just be free and enjoy the process. If you have <u>passion</u> as your main medium - it will show in your work. If you don't enjoy it, then do not do it. That is it.<br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Any other professional words of wisdom or encouragement?</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Passion, passion, <i>passion</i>... love what you do... appreciate your gift and do not waste your time. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUL8NrgL8OpP582gTh0oUVS9iiQ2Sey1L7xRSiehohfHJFIda1qTsbSEcSEIStSE25mzFsoWucdmBrZ1ZQEjMd8NLe14-_HBaa4ut2GxXiwQFjPM7LCiV5cqRRMnndzt9z_wKGUzYNei0/s1600/the+jokers+strings+along+the+heart+of+a+fool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Acrylic figurative painting of woman wearing fools cap reaching for her heart that is caught in string attached to spool. Predominantly purple color with black background." border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUL8NrgL8OpP582gTh0oUVS9iiQ2Sey1L7xRSiehohfHJFIda1qTsbSEcSEIStSE25mzFsoWucdmBrZ1ZQEjMd8NLe14-_HBaa4ut2GxXiwQFjPM7LCiV5cqRRMnndzt9z_wKGUzYNei0/s1600/the+jokers+strings+along+the+heart+of+a+fool.jpg" title="The Joker Strings Along the Heart of a Fool by Helene Ruiz" width="154" /></a></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: inherit;">Where can readers find out more about your art online?</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My works can be found on my website and also you can google me "helene ruiz artist." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Please visit these links as well:</b></span></div>
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<li><a href="http://www.redbubble.com/people/heleneruiz" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>Helene Ruiz on RedBubble</b></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/artistfromdabronx" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank"><b>Helene's Facebook page</b></a></li>
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-32394251281676135562014-08-31T20:06:00.000-05:002019-01-04T12:32:36.421-06:00The Art of Selling Art<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img alt="[GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0] via Wikimedia Commons" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir8F-mD2wK_34aUa501RehVPAhnhNhKI3hc5HiGV5uDvEIRghV4kJrRBqZomsqF2bPIEZHJdO4x3jOIOVXUkXRinE_nkKDViFnm4QXSrtVo6XgkD2_Oo33KcuoL6Vc-r2HTY6VV-V-Hivg/s1600/All_Saints_Garden,_Art_&_Craft_Market,_Cambridge,_England_-_DSCF2219.JPG" title="By Rept0n1x (Own work) " width="400" /></div>
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The aim of these five tips is to help you talk about your artworks,
and <i>sell </i>them. Artists anxious in regards to speaking about their art should
definitely pay heed to these ideas presented in this article. Many artists find
it is not easy to discuss the meanings and themes within their artworks due to
the personal nature of the artistic process. However, it is the artist’s own
story that is most compelling and intriguing when it comes to their own art.
So, in order properly promote you own artworks it is imperative to keep in mind
that buyers wish to understand the art they add to their collections.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<li>If you hope to effectively speak about your art, first write down what your art is about. The exercise of writing forces one to
articulate what goes on in your creative minds. Include whatever is important
to you processes. If you feel that your story must tell how you came to work in
your current medium, what your primary techniques are, who influenced your
work, if you use themes, what your art education is, or who has taught you methods and
skills that you use now then include these things and anything
else that comes to mind when thinking of your art. Putting this information down on paper will
help you find what points you wish to emphasize in telling the story behind your
work.<br /><a name='more'></a></li>
<li>See yourself as others see you. If you are about to present
your work, it is good to practice talking to a friend or even in front of a
mirror beforehand. Use your passion about your work and allow your face, hands
and body to freely demonstrate this excitement.
Giving a dry or flat delivery of your story is as bad, if not worse,
than no story at all. In order to sell
your art, you need the buyer to be at least as thrilled about your work as you
are.</li>
<li>Focus on how your work relates to the prospective buyer; it
needs to be more about them, not you. In speaking about your art draw the
potential buyer into the conversation helping to connect them to the artwork.
People typically do not want to purchase anything that they are unable to
relate to. You have to learn about the
person you are speaking to, ask them what they like about it and discuss these
things further. Make sure to maintain a positive tone and do not point out any
perceived defects or adopt a posture that will make them feel less enthusiastic
about buying it. It may kill the sale also if they detect you are anxious to
sell it. Only present works you know you feel in your heart you are ready to
send out into the world.</li>
<li>Always have your artist bio and statement on hand. Some people who are experienced art collectors
will look for it and may even ask for these. If these are on your website, that
is fine, but you want to actually have one showing in person so as to not
confuse your customer about how to get more information about you. Remember,
you are the artist so meeting you in person should be the best and most thorough
access to learning more about you and your art. Having a plaque or framed version of your
statement and bio on display is standard practice and expected. Every artist
must have a portfolio, and this can be another place for you to have your
artist statement available. It is a tremendous impact for an art buyer to see
you have one prepared and on hand. This way the buyer can easily understand
where you stand as an artist, and by having this insight into your background,
they will feel comfortable in knowing what they should expect.</li>
<li>Art should be a natural and enjoyable experience. Whatever
you do, do <b>not</b> pressure someone into buying your art. The immediate impression
will turn the perception of your work from art into mere product. No one wants
to come to a sales show, or a sales gallery.
The art is first and foremost and some people only want to look and be
left alone with their browsing. It is best only to talk about price and
previous sales if you are asked. This also includes the practice of upselling;
do not try to wheel and deal to get your buyer to purchase more. If they ask if
you do any combination discounts or have any specials then that is another
thing altogether. At a market or vending event you can certainly have signs
which inform about this upfront, but again, do not be pushy and do not try to
force the additional sales. You may lose
your initial sale, and worse, you may make them so uncomfortable that they
never return or refer anyone to you.</li>
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To be able to market and sell artworks, artists need to be
able to present and keep the buyer interested. With this article, I hope that
you feel better prepared to explain what your art is about to other people. Not
only in how to get started doing so, but also in an effective manner which
allows you a better chance to connect with a buyer and make everyone involved
feel better about the sale.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-38201700924031688632014-08-19T20:34:00.000-05:002015-05-09T18:12:37.624-05:00I, Ritter: Gorg Huff, Science Fiction, Magic and The Final Frontier!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Talented author Gorg David Huff of Austin, Texas has agreed to an interview to tell us about his adventures in writing. This is a road not traveled alone and he reveals to us how others have affected his writing career along the way. Rather than be a man of many trades, he decided to put his all into writing and it has become his life's work.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib5IReq3aq50h9gkiUwWEN8QHxJhGjB0EK1u894v8qkVp2E1LSTkhkD0JH6ULwpt6_59QZDojSzzE6_BUaHhKjGlWMVK26-egq2sQOfqzaODbD3BGXJS5iDJVY2dD8c-hjvCJ5CQNuZfI/s1600/Viennese.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="1636: The Viennese Waltz (The Ring of Fire) Gorg Huff" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib5IReq3aq50h9gkiUwWEN8QHxJhGjB0EK1u894v8qkVp2E1LSTkhkD0JH6ULwpt6_59QZDojSzzE6_BUaHhKjGlWMVK26-egq2sQOfqzaODbD3BGXJS5iDJVY2dD8c-hjvCJ5CQNuZfI/s1600/Viennese.jpg" title="1636: The Viennese Waltz (The Ring of Fire) " width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Book #18 in the multiple New York Times<br />
best-selling Ring of Fire series<br />
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<br />
<b>What is your genre? </b><br />
<br />
Now that's a question that is subject to interpretation. If you mean writing, painting, sculpting, music, then it's mostly writing with a bit of cartography and some painting. As to type of writing, it's science fiction, mostly alternate history, but also magic and space opera. The painting is mostly impressionism to abstract. <br />
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<b>What can you tell us about "Ritter" in particular?</b><br />
<br />
A decent respect for the opinions of mankind compels me to define Ritter. A ritter, in this case, is not a German knight, but a writer who can't spell. Not being able to spell, as you might imagine, makes the writing process somewhat more difficult. It makes or made for most of my life, being published not just impossible but unthinkable. Even now with the literally amazing advances in spell checking, I'm still close to unpublishable without my co-author Paula Goodlett, who can spell as well as find the many and varied other errors that creep into anything I write.<br />
<br />
<b>How long have you considered yourself a writer?</b><br />
<br />
From the moment someone paid me for a story. In my case that was the publication of "The Sewing Circle" in the first Grantville Gazette electronic version. If I recall correctly, I was paid two and a half cents a word. The paper version of GGI was published in 2004, so the electronic magazine was probably in '02 or '03.<br />
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<b>What inspires and motivates you to write?</b><br />
<br />
Money works really well. But that can't be all of it because I have been trying and failing since my twenties at least. See the whole ritter bit above. And no one pays for unpublishable stuff.<br />
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<b>How did you start out?</b><br />
<br />
If you mean successfully, it was an argument in the 1632 Tech conference on Baen's Bar. I and someone were discussing the effect that the introduction of sewing machines would have on the tailors of the seventeenth century. If I remember right, I was arguing that it wouldn't hurt them all that much. Oops. Anyway, someone butted in and claimed it didn't matter because it would be at least a decade before anyone in Grantville would have time to even look into the issue.<br />
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That upset me greatly, because the tone of the post implied that we shouldn't be taking up bandwidth with our silly arguments. So I sat down and wrote up about a thousand words outline of how some kids and an old woman might do it with very little input from the "important people."<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW6hlXjbSKiQr_tGg5mLxhZ6SlfQxwzP29yQfq9pjn99ofkKJF_6XJXeloe3ulVsQNjWc-vdG663Y18ddOdxoiieYQehX0FugMDvkWdKczTBMn-ptIYD_WwengTw-IQ7PZf5u-LOzmxBA/s1600/HotCat.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Original Art by Gorg Huff" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW6hlXjbSKiQr_tGg5mLxhZ6SlfQxwzP29yQfq9pjn99ofkKJF_6XJXeloe3ulVsQNjWc-vdG663Y18ddOdxoiieYQehX0FugMDvkWdKczTBMn-ptIYD_WwengTw-IQ7PZf5u-LOzmxBA/s1600/HotCat.png" title="Art by the author" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original Art by Gorg Huff</td></tr>
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<br />
At that point, Virginia DeMarce asked if I could expand it. I explained that I had covered most of the technical issues in the previous post, so really all I could do was expand the characterization.<br />
<br />
Virginia said to go ahead and add the characterization. So I did. It was still more a game than a real writing job, but it turned out to be something they wanted. If you look back at the posts on 1632 Tech at the time, much of it deals with the questions that they were talking about then.<br />
<br />
<b>What was the publishing process like?</b><br />
<br />
Amazingly gentle, which is truly unusual. Virginia had just made the grid (a listing of all the up-timers that came through the Ring of Fire) and I was told I had to use characters from the grid, which is how Trent and Brent became brothers. That actually caused some problems, because the original plot had Sarah interested in Brent and both the other boys interested in Sarah. In any case, I kept expanding and put up a post of the next bit every day. People on the Bar would comment. Kerryn Offord was editing my posts and fixing the errors as I posted them, expanding, adding characterization and the like till it came in around 34,000 words and then Eric bought it. It was my third story, I think, when things got a bit less gentle. I got an email from Eric Flint telling me my spelling, punctuation, and so on was simply unacceptable. And wanting to know if there was a real problem, or if I was just too much of a lazy bum to do it right. Not in those words, but that was the jist as I remember it.<br />
<br />
At that point I figured I was screwed. Because as it happened, when I was in college an English teacher had me tested. She read my stuff and determined that no one could write that well and that badly at the same time if there wasn't a problem. The test came back dysphasic/dyslexic class four. That's the least disabled category that's still considered disabled. Whatever that means. Many years of grim experience have taught me it means that with lots and lots of work I can get closer to the literacy line, but I will remain on the wrong side of it.<br />
<br />
Those same years had taught me that there were two basic responses people had to being told someone is dyslexic: "Oh, I have that too." or "Oh, that's just a scam. An excuse for people that aren't willing to put in the work to learn to do it right."<br />
<br />
Of the two the first is most irritating, but the second is most common and most damaging to your prospects. Eric didn't have dyslexia. He, in fact, has a reputation for turning in unusually clean manuscripts. So, I was expecting number two to land on me hard. But, with nothing to lose, I wrote Eric back explaining the problem. It turns out there's a third response. "Okay. If there is a real problem, we'll find a way to work around it."<br />
<br />
<b>What’s your typical writing session and environment like?</b><br />
<br />
In general what happens is that Paula and I each sit down at our computers. Me in Austin, Paula in Florida, and call up whatever document we are working on in Google docs. Then one of us calls the other on Skype, and we talk about what we are going to write. I write the first draft in confusion, Paula translates it into English. At the same time we are discussing what the various characters are doing and why, what we need to show to bring the reader into the story and make things make sense.<br />
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<b>Tell me about influences, if any:</b><br />
<br />
Robert A Heinlein, J.R.R. Tolkien, Ayn Rand (That's right I was a Randite when I was fourteen. A truly misspent youth.) Eric Flint, Anne McCaffrey, David Weber, David Drake. Lots more.<br />
<br />
While I have long since outgrown Ayn Rand, I still think she is perhaps the best at selling BS of any writer I have ever read. My favorite example is a flashback scene where the heroine Dagny Taggart, the villain James Taggart, and major supporting character Francisco De Ancona are teens discussing what they will do when they grow up. Francisco says he intends to "Make money." James Taggart scoffs saying "Any scoundrel can do that!" Francisco responds. "You should learn, James, that words have exact meanings."<br />
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The neat thing about that little vignette is that it is wrong on three levels at once, but she still manages to sell it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz1lKE7S3-1JSxTBxQddH-MDcrQdUjTcd_qFLyB97ds84G_HxaJNxxR_haa-V_gjiKx3-FWTiNZMafK4NFJNhB-BG-RAzYuD2DOB3fMFCkLqR2euP_1lnBStkq8ggj4vhrQDKpNsGA8fg/s1600/Image1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="gorg huff" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz1lKE7S3-1JSxTBxQddH-MDcrQdUjTcd_qFLyB97ds84G_HxaJNxxR_haa-V_gjiKx3-FWTiNZMafK4NFJNhB-BG-RAzYuD2DOB3fMFCkLqR2euP_1lnBStkq8ggj4vhrQDKpNsGA8fg/s1600/Image1.png" title="artwork by the author" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original art, by Gorg Huff</td></tr>
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On the most basic level, words almost never have exact or precise meanings. What they have is a shotgun blast of multiple meanings, sometimes related, sometimes not. That's why we have phrases, sentences and paragraphs to refine and select between the meanings of words. It's also how pejoratives work, by the way, by tying together meanings that aren't actually related.<br />
<br />
The meanings she chooses are the wrong ones. "Money," for instance, can mean bills or coins, it can mean bank accounts or bonds, but is generally less inclusive than the broader term "wealth." So, building a house or a car or running a copper mining operation, wouldn't fall within the definition of making money, because it isn't adding to the money supply, but to the wealth in the world.<br />
<br />
"Make" can indeed mean "to create," but it can also mean "to acquire" or "to gain." But if he is going to make money in the sense of acquiring money, then James' criticism is spot on.<br />
<br />
The phrase make money, by long standing general usage means to acquire funds, not to create them. An exact definition of the words make money, were one possible, would leave Francisco working for the treasury department, or a counterfeiter. The proper words for what the reader was expected to take away as Francisco's meaning would have been "create wealth." However, that wouldn't have elicited the response she wanted from James.<br />
<br />
And through all that she manages to leave the reader with the impression that Francisco has a mind like a steel trap and James is the sloppy thinker. It's brilliant in its simplicity. She slips it in while the reader is deep in the reader's trance, leaving us with a set of assumptions that we don't even notice we have. Assumptions that help support the primary assumption of Atlas Shrugged. Which is that there only a few real people, people who matter, and the rest are drones. And if the microscopically few who matter stop doing their thing, the world will collapse. It's a very attractive scenario for a fourteen-year-old who is convinced he's one of the few.<br />
<br />
<b>What are your favorite writing tools?</b><br />
<br />
For anyone, but especially for me, line editing your own work is difficult to impossible. But Textaloud by Nextup.com is very useful. Letting you hear what's really there, not read what you thought you wrote.<br />
<br />
Google Docs, for the fact that it can be accessed from anywhere, the fact that Paula and I can both access it at once, and for its spell checker, which I am starting to think is an emerging intelligence. It's certainly better than any other spell checker I have ever seen. For general resources the net and Wikipedia. Wikipedia is accurate, but not authoritative. Something that the authorities are uncomfortable with. If you're actually doing something rather than turning in a bibliography for a grade, it works well. I encourage everyone to donate a few bucks to its continuation.<br />
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<b>What exposure or recognition have you had?</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL808M27OYh0YsjmEww4BZAdmckGkOS1q4_jNJY0I0nodK413_H0PnCOOu4qUwusriIjyDa17ah0nyUznt-uHJ7EVltA-xxfLSVZPSY3Jtk84N7BzSjEeXJOE7jSjY0PncCipK7e4fQ3g/s1600/kremlin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="cover art kremlin games gorg huff" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL808M27OYh0YsjmEww4BZAdmckGkOS1q4_jNJY0I0nodK413_H0PnCOOu4qUwusriIjyDa17ah0nyUznt-uHJ7EVltA-xxfLSVZPSY3Jtk84N7BzSjEeXJOE7jSjY0PncCipK7e4fQ3g/s1600/kremlin.jpg" title="1636: The Kremlin Games " width="131" /></a><br />
Just pay. Oh, and <i>1636: The Kremlin Games</i> made it onto the extended New York Times Bestseller list. But no awards.<br />
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<b>What is the most annoying remark made to you about your writing?</b><br />
<br />
Individually, it is probably the Amazon Review of "The Slavery Attractor" where the guy says I say things that I don't. More generally, it's the assumption that stuff won't work. The Air Cushion Landing Gear on the Monster is just one example.<br />
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<b>Do you have any regrets pertaining to your writing?</b><br />
<br />
That the opportunities, support and technologies that allow me to work at this didn't happen sooner.<br />
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<b>What plans do you have for future work?</b><br />
<br />
When Eric Flint opened up his 1632 universe to new writers, it gave me my shot. So, in the spirit of "pay it forward," I came up with the merge world multiverse. The merge world multiverse is designed with the intent that it have room enough for a lot of authors to play without interfering with each other too much, but with enough structure to provide a commonality of interest for the readers.<br />
<br />
In the Merge World, the magic of a fictional fantasy roleplaying game called WarSpell suddenly started working. (We, Paula and I, made up our own RPG rather than use D&D, Runequest or GURPS, because we don't want to be sued, but characters and adventures from other games would work as the basis for stories or books.) It's called the Merge World because not only did WarSpell magic start working but everyone that ever played WarSpell merged with one of the characters that they played. Even if they had only played one game on what turned out to be a really sucky date.<br />
<br />
That produces a situation on Earth not that dissimilar to the X-Men, a sudden minority of people who have special powers and abilities. And rather a lot of reason for the rest of the world to fear them.<br />
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At the same time, the merges worked both ways. Just as the players got the memories and abilities of the characters they played, the characters got the memories and knowledge of the players who played them. So there are millions of game worlds that now have one or two, or up to a couple of dozen, people who suddenly have memories of technology and what it can do.<br />
<br />
At this point we have a book, Ante Up, at Advanced Reader Copy stage about one of those other worlds and several stories about the merged earth and how it is responding to the Merge. What we don't have is a publisher for the series. At some point, and sooner rather than later, I need to set up a website or subscription blog with the basic introductory stories for free and then for those interested new stories as we get them written. And hopefully other stories by other authors in the merge world multiverse. Also other science fiction and fantasy stories by Paula and I.<br />
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<b>What advice would you give to aspiring authors?</b><br />
<br />
First, write. Like any other talent it works best combined with skill, which is produced by practice. It's said that you don't know how to write till you've written a million words of crap, and I think it's probably true. Certainly, I'm a lot better at it than I was when I wrote "The Sewing Circle."<br />
<br />
Second, try a limiting genre like alternative history or a predefined fantasy world. It's like composing music in a particular style. The limitations can help you control your writing while you build the skills involved. That is another reason that the 1632 universe is so helpful to so many writers, and also why things like Star Trek books are often a good place for writers to hone their skills. Writing, especially, science fiction and fantasy writing is potentially very free form. You can do anything and it's tempting, very tempting. That makes it all too easy to end up writing something that reads like an acid trip. Writing a western or a murder mystery can have the same basic restraining effect.<br />
<br />
And when we get the blog online magazine or come play in the merge world multiverse. *wink*<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjziiqFDfnwLmMC4tFwdTQ34sHWrskUtDsYtC7vSFQNQv-qqVFGqThZVMZ4jUbqwoKi1BjztpIHm86FnrnRCa9yrw8387hOzbvRYB2QI0CMOUgESTRqA2a01Aa6zRvd1KLnlWWJyRIamnM/s1600/sand+art+02.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Original Art by Gorg Huff" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjziiqFDfnwLmMC4tFwdTQ34sHWrskUtDsYtC7vSFQNQv-qqVFGqThZVMZ4jUbqwoKi1BjztpIHm86FnrnRCa9yrw8387hOzbvRYB2QI0CMOUgESTRqA2a01Aa6zRvd1KLnlWWJyRIamnM/s1600/sand+art+02.png" title="Sand art by the author" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sand art by Gorg Huff</td></tr>
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<b>How do you promote your work?</b><br />
<br />
Not nearly as well as I should.<br />
<br />
<b>Have you sold any of your books? If so, how?</b><br />
<br />
<i>1636: The Kremlin Games</i>. We started out by writing a continuing serial in the Grantville Gazette. Then Eric told us to expand it into a book. So about half the book was sold as shorts before the book was brought up as a book.<br />
<br />
<i>1636: The Viennese Waltz</i>. We had the contract for Waltz before we had the contract for Games, but these are books that fit in a series and Waltz was set in Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Not off in Russia where no one much cared. Actually Paula and I did write it as instructed and Eric put it on the shelf because the rest of the series hadn't caught up. The rest of the series still hasn't caught up with our original version, but a few months ago Eric decided that we could take the first half and expand that into a book.<br />
<br />
So we did, and it's turned in and Paula has the page proofs. It will be out in November, last I heard. And you can pre-order it on Amazon.<br />
<br />
<i>1636: The Barbie Consortium</i> is a companion piece to 1636: The Viennese Waltz that Baen is putting out strictly as an e-book at the same time they publish 1636: The Viennese Waltz. It's mostly rewrites of stories already published in the Grantville Gazette but with several thousand words of new stuff. The new stuff ties the stories together into a cohesive novel.<br />
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<i>1637: The Wild Wild East</i> we have an agreement on but not a contract yet. Paula and I are finishing it up and will send it to Eric this month probably. It won't be coming out till 2016 maybe.<br />
<br />
Honestly, the way we got published is by having a patron, Eric Flint. Sorry that's not more helpful.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRnUYrStqJV1yOswx85TqlIxZxEqTHM6T_XlAGFCp5sKxOSkXve5nUjt2ZX9MNMGPCoJFre7y0lizwKTnGtWs9nrrV3TjdvfHyGc9BqxdOxsw-bqrGWcVfF3-5iNxnezrN_OT9mtFhtVM/s1600/Image04700.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="gorg huffs art" border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRnUYrStqJV1yOswx85TqlIxZxEqTHM6T_XlAGFCp5sKxOSkXve5nUjt2ZX9MNMGPCoJFre7y0lizwKTnGtWs9nrrV3TjdvfHyGc9BqxdOxsw-bqrGWcVfF3-5iNxnezrN_OT9mtFhtVM/s1600/Image04700.png" title="art by the author" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original art by Gorg Huff</td></tr>
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<br />
<b>Which of your books are you wanting to focus on the most right now? And which are you personally most proud of?</b><br />
<br />
Probably <i>Viennese Waltz</i> and the<i> Barbie Consortium</i> and I have added descriptions of the eBooks up on Amazon.com. Paula and I also have several self published eBooks up on Amazon.com:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i>Anoria (A Family of Wizards Book 1) </i>is a tween book about a little girl adopted by a wizard. I have more books in mind for Anoria and the world she lives in but unless rather a lot of people start buying Anoria the later books are unlikely.</li>
<li><i>Cordelia Cooper: Born in Magic</i> is a prequel about the adventures of the old lady that adopts Anoria when she in turn was a youngster. Cordelia is a bit more grown up then Anoria and a bit darker I would call it a YA young adult book.</li>
<li><i>From the Badlands</i> is a short story about Sam Merchantson who rode into the badlands on Porky trying to lose a posse. He should have died, but his luck was in and the sensors were out. Sam lived in a world of riding pigs, cattle-rustling and and muzzle-loading pistols. But it hadn't always been that way. Once it had been a colony world, filled with the fruits of advanced technology... then the enemy had come. They had gotten most of the colonists and almost all the tech. There will be new new things coming into the world when Sam returns From The Badlands.</li>
<li><i>Murder For Magic:</i> In the Merged World, magic suddenly started working and everyone who had ever played the role playing game WarSpell was merged in mind body and spirit with one of the characters they had played. All the memories and skills of the fighter, priest, wizard, or criminal they merged with suddenly became a part of them; two lives merged into one. Not all the characters were heroes and neither were all the players that they merged with. Magic can be a quick route to power and there are those who will do anything to get magical items. There are even those who will enjoy doing anything.<br /><br />In the game you could get magical items by a sacrifice of life force and some of the gods demanded the life of sacrificial victims. Those gods often give magical trinkets in exchange for those tasty treats. It made for exciting games of WarSpell, but after the Merge it made for one heck of a mess as police and investigators had to deal with serial killers backed by evil gods. People who were willing, even eager, to do Murder for Magic.<br /><br />Jason Alexander was seventeen before the Merge. After the Merge he had the memories of Sir Jason Cartwright of the Scottish Investigatory Magical Corps. It was Sir Cartwright's job to track down and stop those who do Murder for Magic and Jason Alexander was willing enough to pick up the torch of duty. If only he could get the cops to pay attention to a seventeen-year-old kid.</li>
<li><i>Jildijard, </i>A story about a boy and his car and the girl who rear ended them. Adrian is the girl, Baranth is the boy and Jildijard is the car that travels through universes.</li>
<li><i>The Slavery Attractor</i> is a look at economics through the lens of chaos theory, and I have worked rather hard to make it as short and as clear as I could manage. The article is only around eight thousand four hundred words and makes very little reference to hallowed experts. This is not a learned discourse on what the experts have said about economics. It's a simple look at economics and how they work.
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</li>
</ul>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86kgr1CFUgy6K5p_Z1fNLTXhzxQxNFNtywS3jBvHXYcjYM9k5VqKY-kYI8g3BCrW1isoLHCarv45__6e-2Fohcf_n8dhv515GaGI1PE6c5eqItgFZkZcRL5fgVI_23xe2YDdQLYcjAk8/s1600/profilehuffg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="armadillocon 36 austin author dillocon" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86kgr1CFUgy6K5p_Z1fNLTXhzxQxNFNtywS3jBvHXYcjYM9k5VqKY-kYI8g3BCrW1isoLHCarv45__6e-2Fohcf_n8dhv515GaGI1PE6c5eqItgFZkZcRL5fgVI_23xe2YDdQLYcjAk8/s200/profilehuffg.png" title="Author Gorg Huff at ArmadilloCon" width="181" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: center;">Author Gorg Huff at ArmadilloCon</td></tr>
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<b>Find Gorg Online: </b><br />
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0Austin, TX, USA30.267153 -97.74306079999996729.828484 -98.388507799999971 30.705822 -97.097613799999962tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-76676769984995196532014-06-18T11:15:00.000-05:002014-07-24T18:33:12.476-05:00Finding Your Way Through the Writer’s Black Hole<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">For a while I wrote about the <strong>writer’s life</strong>, noting its ups and downs and the lessons learned along the way. You can read about them in the <span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><strong style="color: black;"><span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><a href="http://droppedpebbles.wordpress.com/other-writing/essays/" target="_blank">Essays</a></span></strong></span> menu but some of the most popular are:</span> <strong style="color: black;"><a href="http://droppedpebbles.wordpress.com/2013/12/27/writing-is-life/" target="_blank">My Real Writing Life</a></strong> <span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">and</span><strong style="color: black;"> <a href="http://droppedpebbles.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/the-real-real-writers-life/" target="_blank">The Real, REAL Writer’s Life</a> </strong><span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">and</span> <strong style="color: black;"><a href="http://droppedpebbles.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/final-thoughts-on-the-real-writers-life/" target="_blank">Final Thoughts on a Writer’s Life</a><span id="goog_1476380348"></span><span id="goog_1476380349"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></strong>. <span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">During my time away from blogging I continued to learn writing’s tough lessons, ultimately surviving what I now refer to as the Writer’s Black Hole.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS9CY8uWsH8e_dwI5LEoIELFRaUkNKzpvRgyL2BI1a813zQbpGpkmYX-jy0q7yQ65LnMFxljGa_S4IcWLjqjQOjTbFtR3Y2R0RlsmzVuhZ2E0N6JjWezgInz5jd2fhOM4NBTJYqgOtdB9d/s1600/youthvoices-net.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image from youthvoices.net" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS9CY8uWsH8e_dwI5LEoIELFRaUkNKzpvRgyL2BI1a813zQbpGpkmYX-jy0q7yQ65LnMFxljGa_S4IcWLjqjQOjTbFtR3Y2R0RlsmzVuhZ2E0N6JjWezgInz5jd2fhOM4NBTJYqgOtdB9d/s1600/youthvoices-net.jpg" title="Astronaut hovering over a black hole" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">In the posts mentioned above, I was very honest about my struggles. I had thrown myself</span> <span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">into writing, trying to learn the craft and the business aspect at the same time. Like most, I sacrificed a lot--money, family time, energy and sanity to move the mountains necessary to succeed at this thing. The more I pushed to ‘make it’, running around like a possessed chicken without its head, two things were happening: 1) I was burning out, and 2) I was beginning to accept that success doesn’t happen overnight, no matter how hard I wished it to. Notice I said <em style="border: none; color: inherit;">accept</em>. See, I’d already realized that truth on a <strong>brain </strong>level but not at an <strong>emotional</strong> one, and the latter is where the magic happened this time around. Both points were excruciating to swallow.</span></span><br />
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But that’s the great thing about life experience. You can learn from it and grow stronger…<em style="border: none; color: inherit;">if</em> you allow it. I hated being in that Black Hole. It happened during a rough personal time (I was recovering from surgery which kept me off work for 3 months) and when I felt I needed support and encouragement the most, nothing happened. My blog seemed to lose steam, some good writer friends had gone in different directions, and I just didn’t have the energy to actively pursue promoting my book and maintaining social media, are some examples. After going so hard for so long, it felt like I’d been cruising along in a manual transmission car that had suddenly broken down and was now stuck in idle.</span></div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; color: black; font-weight: bold;"><a data-mce-href="http://droppedpebbles.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/oprah-winfrey-quotes-sayings-experience-life-famous-e1402254800274.png" href="http://droppedpebbles.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/oprah-winfrey-quotes-sayings-experience-life-famous-e1402254800274.png" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; color: #743399;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img alt="image from stylebizz.com" class="size-full wp-image-2827" data-mce-src="http://droppedpebbles.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/oprah-winfrey-quotes-sayings-experience-life-famous-e1402254800274.png" src="http://droppedpebbles.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/oprah-winfrey-quotes-sayings-experience-life-famous-e1402254800274.png" height="164" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 5px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" title="Oprah says..." width="225" /></span></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">image from stylebizz.com</span></dd></dl>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">It sucked. I hated every minute of it. But as the walk through the Black Hole continued, I started to see the benefits. With the frenetic pace slowed to a crawl,</span> <span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">I had <em style="border: none; color: inherit;">time to think</em>. I had <em style="border: none; color: inherit;">time to assess</em> my journey. I was able to <em style="border: none; color: inherit;">make choices</em> about what was really important to me and what wasn’t. And best of all, I finally felt free of social media’s yoke. Don’t get me wrong. I love using it to stay in touch and it’s a great resource, but for a long time I felt like it was mastering me rather than the other way around. I almost did a happy dance once its reign of terror was over.</span></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, how did I spend those quiet months? I got busy in other, more effective ways. I revised <span data-mce-style="color: #993366;" style="color: #993366;"><strong style="color: black;"><em style="border: none; color: inherit;"><span data-mce-style="color: #993366;" style="color: #993366;"><a href="http://droppedpebbles.wordpress.com/rise-of-the-papilion-wolfs-bane-book-2/" target="_blank">Wolf’s Bane</a></span></em></strong></span>, the sequel to<a href="http://droppedpebbles.wordpress.com/rise-of-the-papilion-trilogy-the-purple-morrow-book-1/" target="_blank"> <span data-mce-style="color: #993366;" style="color: #993366;"><strong style="color: black;"><em style="border: none; color: inherit;"><span data-mce-style="color: #993366;" style="color: #993366;">The Purple Morrow</span></em></strong></span></a>, twice—once before sending it to beta-readers and then again afterwards; I beta-read my friend’s manuscript; worked on the final book in the <strong>Papilion</strong> trilogy and finally named it (<em style="border: none; color: inherit;">Berserker</em>); launched my <span data-mce-style="color: #993366;" style="color: #993366;"><strong style="color: black;"><span data-mce-style="color: #993366;" style="color: #993366;"><a href="http://dyegirl1373.wix.com/dyanefordewriter" target="_blank">writer’s website</a></span></strong></span>, and a whole lot more. I did all that on my time and because I wanted to.</span></div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; color: black; font-weight: bold;"><a data-mce-href="http://droppedpebbles.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/www-saiadolugar-com-br-e1402254561990.jpg" href="http://droppedpebbles.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/www-saiadolugar-com-br-e1402254561990.jpg" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; color: #743399;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img alt="image from www.saiadolugar.com.br" class="size-full wp-image-2825" data-mce-src="http://droppedpebbles.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/www-saiadolugar-com-br-e1402254561990.jpg" src="http://droppedpebbles.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/www-saiadolugar-com-br-e1402254561990.jpg" height="169" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 5px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" title="Success!" width="225" /></span></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">image from www.saiadolugar.com.br</span></dd></dl>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Last thing: when I used to watch <strong>Dr. Phil,</strong> something he often said stood out in my mind and it relates to how we define success. Before I descended into the Black Hole, I thought the only way to feel I’d ‘made it’ was to have sold tons of books, to be featured here and there, or to have the words, “best-selling” after my name. The Black Hole experience caused me to confront the biggest demon of all, answering the one question I’d been trying to avoid: “What happens if I fail?” After all the work I’d put in over the years failure simply wasn’t an option.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">The beauty is that facing that question is what led to making it out of the Black Hole. Once I was able to say, “So what if I fail?” the anxiety drained away and I was able to see and appreciate the things that <em style="border: none; color: inherit;">were</em> working. Like, there are certain online friends who just seem to know when I need a boost because that’s when I’ll get an encouraging email, or a Like on FB or a Share on Google or a surprise mention on some other social media platform. Or, I’d remember the people who told me how much they were moved by one of my stories. </span><span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">Last night, my aunt left me a FB message thanking me for pursuing my dreams. It’s not the first time someone has said that to me, which reminded me how privileged I am to do what I love to do. Last week, I posted an interview featuring local writer </span><strong style="color: black;"><a href="http://droppedpebbles.wordpress.com/2014/06/02/author-interview-with-montreal-interstitial-writer-su-sokol/" target="_blank">Su Sokol</a>,</strong> <span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">and later that same week we met for coffee and talked for two hours about writing.</span></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And last Friday, I visited my daughter’s class to talk about writing. It was fantastic! For the activity, they broke into groups and wrote a story based on writing prompts they came up with (I will be blogging about this soon). I’ve written it before and I’ll do it again: something magical happens when we take writing out of cyberspace and into the real world. Try it and you'll see what I mean.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Success? <em style="border: none; color: inherit;">We define it for ourselves,</em> not the world. And if we keep looking ‘out there’ for it, we’ll miss the ways we are successful close to home, which, in most cases, are the most important. My daughter was proud that I came to her class. How do I know? Because she confirmed that I hadn’t embarrassed her. For anyone who has an 8 year old, you know how much that speaks!</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyway, more on this line of thought to come as it has totally changed my outlook on what I write and why, as well as what I hope to achieve. But in the end, I just hope that anyone who is wandering through their own Black Hole will take heart and see that it’s not all bad. In fact, in can launch you to places you never could have gotten to otherwise.</span></div>
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<strong style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How about you? Have you walked through a similar journey through the Black Hole? Share your story below!</span></strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01427451377134565881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-19807636010123413742014-06-17T09:52:00.000-05:002014-07-24T18:42:50.342-05:00Artists: The Benefits of Using Online Art Galleries<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Online art galleries are very important modern tools for artists in addition to traditional offline art displays. Uploading art images to online art galleries is a prime opportunity for otherwise little-known artists to establish a presence on the internet. Before the internet came to be widely used as it is today, art viewing and purchasing was limited to local showings of an artist's work with some exhibitions that would travel city-to-city. Aside from the in-person method, artists also have long used catalogs that show works from various artists made available to the general public. These methods are still good practice and getting out and taking your work to shows is always a positive, yet, the artists are<i> limited </i>in the number of people they can reach and the length of time their art display will circulate. A very important point to consider is that when using offline methods much of the control shifts into the hands of curators and gallery owners and the entire process therein is subject to be approved or rejected by them. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3WiAHxY2jKf7bOSZ3qck7sCwafM93d7r6P-RMRTgFOuxpgNAgMghx-01ZrOCu6o4-UizCMuybeKD8b1Lfz4NTA1dFBexEebpzkxMgXtQS9PmDmF5-npXpODzbEa65ILaA7dDjAhJpGLfZ/s1600/ASCmembergalleries1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3WiAHxY2jKf7bOSZ3qck7sCwafM93d7r6P-RMRTgFOuxpgNAgMghx-01ZrOCu6o4-UizCMuybeKD8b1Lfz4NTA1dFBexEebpzkxMgXtQS9PmDmF5-npXpODzbEa65ILaA7dDjAhJpGLfZ/s1600/ASCmembergalleries1.png" height="255" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Example: A Singular Creation <a href="http://asingularcreation.com/Gallery/index.php?cat=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Member Galleries</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Showing your art can be an intimidating thing, especially when there is a likelihood of being hindered by the limited vision of others. Online art galleries hand over control to the artist instead. Curators, gallery owners and even collectors are no longer the only ones with the ability to show and sell artworks. An artist holds the reins and can choose whether or not to share the profits and build an improved reputation as an artist in their own right. Having an online gallery is an outstanding way for artists to build a name for themselves by showing their work all over the world as opposed to limited audiences as was the only option in the past.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There is a general opinion that the way that art is created has improved due to the utilization of showing online. This is due to artists not feeling impelled to “sell out” in order to have their submitted work accepted for exhibition. Artists dread being asked to tone down aspects of their art in order to simply be attractive to a more general public. A self-curated online gallery allows the <b>artist </b>to self-express in whatever way they wish due to the fact that people searching online for a particular type of art can now find said art. In essence, the tables are turned; the artist has become the audience’s target. Also with an online gallery the aspect of keeping more profits is a benefit to keep independent artists motivated and funded which leads to producing more art. Practice, practice! – It is how to attain mastery, and naturally creates better art. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">More artists are displaying their vision pure and unfiltered online. These galleries by their very nature have made the art world a better place. Discovering a new artist by looking into these galleries all around the globe is easy for anyone to do from a computer or mobile phone. Online art galleries give the artist more control, enhance freedom of expression, allow an unlimited number of people to find the art they are looking for and make it possible to generate increased revenue from art sales. If you are an artist that hasn't started an online gallery yet, there is no time like the present.</span></div>
Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-89708446660225842062014-06-15T20:17:00.001-05:002015-05-09T14:53:42.213-05:00Follow-up Interview: Tanya Davis: Figurines and Illustrative Art<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It has been over a year since our <a href="http://www.iouart.co/2013/04/tanya-davis-and-munnyworld-experiment_23.html" target="_blank">first interview</a>, when <a href="http://www.tanyadavisart.com/" target="_blank">Tanya Davis</a> was first expanding her creative work from sculpting and painting figurines to applying the same skills onto vinyl platforms. After all this time and <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWxb11SGy69okPRgWBAMrqaRtpcTqPt2LLtC5V_9OA-mak9l6Khu76OM3oOrCJZwEiCX0dDqwp4LXvxyjn0gxCUT6vqZD8PuLskH15jjddjRHrWzMdvHNTCdp_QRW2rcvp_t5gxf7TYZOR/s1600/penguin_engineer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Penguin Engineer steampunk drawing penguin wrench watercolor pencil" border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWxb11SGy69okPRgWBAMrqaRtpcTqPt2LLtC5V_9OA-mak9l6Khu76OM3oOrCJZwEiCX0dDqwp4LXvxyjn0gxCUT6vqZD8PuLskH15jjddjRHrWzMdvHNTCdp_QRW2rcvp_t5gxf7TYZOR/s1600/penguin_engineer.jpg" title="Penguin Engineer by Tanya Davis" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Penguin Engineer by <a href="http://www.tanyadavisart.com/" target="_blank">Tanya Davis</a><br />
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checking in regularly, there has truly been no pause in her actively making new art. In this interview I will attempt to bring our readers up to speed with her latest artistic endeavors.<br />
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<b>How far has your experiment with vinyl platforms taken you?</b><br />
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It is still going and I am still trying different platforms. Most recently, I am tackling going larger. Outside of the initial MunnyWorld brand, my most successful work done on blank vinyls has been the Google Android mascot and Zukie bases. My most recent droid is a Penguin Engineer based on an illustration I created by the same name.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMWJbeLHUDRbo_zD7kvd3ZXqvnYcFp_knPhpjhYqaZDKUlpi7OS365hRAcDmcZVGq7fEP74xDxEuKfbA1W8WF4iDYtDAl1S-bdwEmSk8N7SEb8hRyB156E-MsDVYXbNQx7ox6MwkplJac/s1600/penguin_android.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="Penguin Engineer Droid Tanya Davis android figurine" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMWJbeLHUDRbo_zD7kvd3ZXqvnYcFp_knPhpjhYqaZDKUlpi7OS365hRAcDmcZVGq7fEP74xDxEuKfbA1W8WF4iDYtDAl1S-bdwEmSk8N7SEb8hRyB156E-MsDVYXbNQx7ox6MwkplJac/s1600/penguin_android.png" title="Penguin Engineer Droid by Tanya Davis" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Penguin Engineer Droid by <a href="http://www.tanyadavisart.com/" target="_blank">Tanya Davis</a></td></tr>
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<b>Illustration, that is something new. How did you get into that type of art?</b><br />
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It was more about me practicing drawing and also giving my hands a break from sculpting. Aside from chiefly commission figurine work, illustrative drawing and painting is my main art form right now.<br />
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<b>Since the beginning of 2014 which one of your illustrations is your personal favorite? </b><br />
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My Penguin Engineer because it is the first original character I created that has a completely developed background. It was done free-hand from start to finish on the illustration board without any transferring. It was also the first one I did with the Derwent watercolor pencils. This illustration is currently available in limited edition signed watercolor prints done by local printer <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MindzaiATX" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mindzai Creative</a>. Right now (mid-June 2014) there are 18 left. I have them on hand when I publicly show my work or you may obtain this print <a href="http://tanyadavisart.storenvy.com/collections/219986-all-products/products/5910592-penguin-engineer-6in-x-9in-watercolor-art-print-signed" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>.<br />
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<b>With new forms come new tools and materials - so what are you using now to make your illustrative art?</b><br />
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My Prismacolor markers are used to create the "underpainting" of my illustration. Then I go in with the Derwent watercolor pencils to add depth and detail. This produces a watercolor painting effect. I have set up a table across from my workbench which is specifically for drawing and painting. I have just started using the "Van Gogh" table easel.<br />
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<b>What things tend to inspire you the most? <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlO601_bAEgaDej95i8xnevQmFsuFesQC_sv0631ms3_WCdE6SsM3NPvYEb2aGBBRNB9XEHm26zuXt3vsSJNqoxeEBJCHjwbOL7-5poxn4_U1TgLPi1hw2xCEV93Po6yRemg2Q3rZxSxl5/s1600/TheDUKEmultiview.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The Duke on Zukie platform, based on illustration work by Tanya Davis" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlO601_bAEgaDej95i8xnevQmFsuFesQC_sv0631ms3_WCdE6SsM3NPvYEb2aGBBRNB9XEHm26zuXt3vsSJNqoxeEBJCHjwbOL7-5poxn4_U1TgLPi1hw2xCEV93Po6yRemg2Q3rZxSxl5/s1600/TheDUKEmultiview.JPG" title="Panda Zukie Figurine "The Duke"" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Duke on Zukie platform, <br />
based on illustration art by <a href="http://www.tanyadavisart.com/" target="_blank">Tanya Davis</a></td></tr>
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Most of what I am drawing and sculpting are anthropomorphic animals and robots. These are usually easy to identify and relate to for many people. I also like to create fan art which comes from sources such as cartoons, movies, comics and sometimes television. In certain instances I can find inspiration in requests for custom pieces. I think the commission for the android penguin, which was something I had never done before and it made me nervous at first, was fun in a way going outside my comfort zone and trying something new. The challenge to make the desired piece using what I already have pushes me to hone my skills.The penguin's cartoonish face required painting small facial features involving much detail beyond that of my steampunk robot droids. Facing something new opens up ideas I had not realized I could accomplish before.<br />
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<b>So it is safe to say drawings and paintings are a growing part of your artwork being created on a regular basis and presented to the public, correct? </b><br />
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Yes! And I still enjoy creating figurines and have lots of ideas left.<br />
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<b>Do you have any recent or upcoming exhibitions you would like to tell us about?</b><br />
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There are a couple of paintings I have entered into the Omni Art House block exhibition this year which were mailed to them and viewable online or when shown in and around the state of Maryland. Locally, I have two entries of sculpted Tesla-Punk duck figurines in the <a href="http://artsciencegallery.com/event/the-tesla-project/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Art Science Gallery</a> here in Austin, July 5th through July 27th, 2014. I have built many connections through the RAWartists local chapter and also from going to events in town and meeting new artists. This has opened new avenues for me to show my art publicly and you can expect more to come. Here is some video footage from the most exciting event that I participated in December of last year (2013).<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/rUFGKnDVTcw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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In closing this insightful follow-up with Tanya Davis I wish to invite you to check out her main site <a href="http://www.tanyadavisart.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.TanyaDavisArt.com </a> which was completely re-done at the start of this year, so if you have looked at it before please look again! She also had new logo graphics created which polish her professional look. If you have ever wondered about how she started out with polymer clay sculpting, please read our collaborative review of that influential guidebook she picked up years ago here on <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/crafting-book-steampunkery-by-christi-friesen" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">So Crafty Magazine</a> (newly acquired by HubPages). Thank you so much for being interested and reading this interview today!</div>
Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0Austin, TX, USA30.267153 -97.74306079999996729.828484 -98.388507799999971 30.705822 -97.097613799999962tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-87468682908398809192014-05-18T10:45:00.000-05:002014-07-24T18:33:42.282-05:00Quilt Art – Not Just Bed Coverings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MxqHG6dQznpYdPp3k2qipZuztE22jDpvKyXjJHOVEU5r-Jmm6Cc0AwpmdsjpTS-vll5lnQjBk2ZINmAthXqANBm4nl7lmQoXdXQ4rpVgrUuyOocKHrL0rUsSRzULn2_I-ItSgadesoPE/s1600/quilt_museum.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="Texas Quilt La Grange Mural Art courtyard" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MxqHG6dQznpYdPp3k2qipZuztE22jDpvKyXjJHOVEU5r-Jmm6Cc0AwpmdsjpTS-vll5lnQjBk2ZINmAthXqANBm4nl7lmQoXdXQ4rpVgrUuyOocKHrL0rUsSRzULn2_I-ItSgadesoPE/s1600/quilt_museum.png" height="400" title="Mural at Texas Quilt Museum" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Mural on the outer wall at the Texas Quilt Museum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After a recent visit to a local quilt museum, I feel an enhanced awareness of the artistic work of quilters even though I had already known it to be an <b>art form</b>. Quilting experienced developments boosting the skill to a fine art as recently as the 1970’s and 80’s. Today there are active collectors of quilts old and new. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The place I visited, currently the only quilt museum in the American Southwest, was the <a href="http://www.texasquiltmuseum.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Texas Quilt Museum</a>. I am not able to share pictures from the exhibit as photography is not allowed inside, but there is a lovely courtyard with a mural of quilts that I did capture a photo of in the main image here. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">They house a selection of antique, historical quilts in one area; however, the main halls showcase a themed exhibition much as you would expect to see at an art gallery.</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> From the start of my tour I saw modern works with subject matter not typical to what I had seen in quilts before, such as savanna animals depicted in unusual hues of pink and works with photography and mosaic elements included.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> The proper lighting and orderly fashion of the general presentation relayed how seriously this art is taken. As my group explored the displayed works it quickly became apparent to us that modern quilters are using a wide array of materials beyond fabric alone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A thought that came to mind in view of these works is the similarity of paper and canvas with fabric which are all made with woven fiber. Though traditionally fabric is a tool of the tailor or dressmaker, it is not exclusively so. The world-renown <a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/q/quilting-and-patchwork/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Victoria and Albert Museum</a> of art and design fully recognizes the significance of the art of quilting, and have a great deal of information on their <a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/q/quilting-and-patchwork/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">site</a> if you should wish to delve deeper into the history, variety, how quilts are made, etc. Quilting exhibits do change as themed showcases are slotted limited time periods, so a new experience is in store with every trip. I encourage you to seek out a quilt exhibition, show or festival in your area and see for yourself the incredible creativity which advances these works from mere bed covers to artistry worthier of hanging on the wall.</span><br />
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<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Perspectives_-_Art,_Craft,_Design_and_the_Studio_Quilt.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Perspectives_-_Art%2C_Craft%2C_Design_and_the_Studio_Quilt.jpg"><img alt="Perspectives - Art, Craft, Design and the Studio Quilt.jpg" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Perspectives_-_Art%2C_Craft%2C_Design_and_the_Studio_Quilt.jpg" height="331" width="640" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Perspectives_-_Art,_Craft,_Design_and_the_Studio_Quilt.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Perspectives_-_Art%2C_Craft%2C_Design_and_the_Studio_Quilt.jpg">Perspectives - Art, Craft, Design and the Studio Quilt</a>" by <a class="new" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Mfjames&action=edit&redlink=1" title="User:Mfjames (page does not exist)">Michael F. James</a> - <span class="int-own-work">Own work</span>. Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0" title="Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0">CC BY-SA 3.0</a> via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/">Wikimedia Commons</a>.</span></div>
Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-19038044404810085062014-05-06T17:42:00.000-05:002014-07-24T18:34:00.715-05:00Josh Mason: Creating Immediate Experiences With Nature-Inspired Paintings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Joshua Mason is a painter who s</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">tudied Fine Arts at Gwen Frostic School of Art and currently </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">lives and works on the coast of Southern Michigan with a summer studio in Northern Michigan. He teaches painting and likes to emphasize the field as an artifact of spontaneity </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">in his</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> lessons</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">. This summer Joshua is teaching a workshop exploring found materials and land art. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"I like to create my own interpretation of the projects or lessons alongside my students. What I enjoy most about teaching is the atmosphere of active creation as a group."</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIqtxtrjlVT3vNH91_ujLsvABS_RPyLHak7rj9_CC1H7yJY9XLkMfJgfv891LSiGyN6COuOwOCxnrBn9N7SMNGu9hR87peHnX_9SmRsJqwuAYVwyIRdRuG4CQSjEOlyh4bpL-SpDKgYDc/s1600/Riverside+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Materia Forma - Riverside I" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIqtxtrjlVT3vNH91_ujLsvABS_RPyLHak7rj9_CC1H7yJY9XLkMfJgfv891LSiGyN6COuOwOCxnrBn9N7SMNGu9hR87peHnX_9SmRsJqwuAYVwyIRdRuG4CQSjEOlyh4bpL-SpDKgYDc/s1600/Riverside+3.png" height="300" title="Painting by Josh Mason" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Materia Forma - Riverside I</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Tell me about your first experience painting:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">My mother used to paint crafts and nick-knacks and some of my earliest memories are sitting on her knee watching the brush go back and forth. Another early experience was a book by Werner Haftmann called </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Painting in the Twentieth Century. </i><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At what point in your life did you come to consider yourself an artist?</span></b></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Probably around the time I went to art school. I studied with others and was influenced by a few professors and began to aspire to be an artist. There were also profound changes in my consciousness then and I sought to find myself outside of my role as a mere consumer caught in the personalization combines, and the only way to do that was to be creative. There is a difference between considering art as some kind of profession and <i>being</i> an artist. Like Nietzsche suggests, he <i>is</i> it - art is a very particular kind of being in the world. You must live it. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What is your preferred medium(s) and why?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />I am interested in painting, sculpture, installation and sound. I explore painting because I am interested in exploring surfaces that combine color with dirt and earth, as well as pigments from natural items, as potential fields of erosion - in painting you can destroy to create. I explore sculpture and installation as a means of experiencing space as a poetic speech, and through those mediums I often explore found materials. Recently I had the privilege of assisting the land artist Patrick Dougherty in an installation using saplings of varying sizes and this has really influenced my approach to space and materials. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhupjmQkTTSn_fcBDfAVWe5UUqAj4KH1kDTfPCXFGlDvzDg-Xt4XeRBvZumi0Ejojpv6adEBf8ey-Wl72baYoTDuYEtHbRoFDAzyM5HfnK-QApOukFPpp0UsEGq6Sbhg8B5fHAk_6bv2wM/s1600/Fons+Sapientiae.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Fons Sapientiae" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhupjmQkTTSn_fcBDfAVWe5UUqAj4KH1kDTfPCXFGlDvzDg-Xt4XeRBvZumi0Ejojpv6adEBf8ey-Wl72baYoTDuYEtHbRoFDAzyM5HfnK-QApOukFPpp0UsEGq6Sbhg8B5fHAk_6bv2wM/s1600/Fons+Sapientiae.jpg" height="400" title="Painting by Josh Mason" width="381" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fons Sapientiae</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What things inspire you the most as an artist?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="color: #222222;">Other artists - looking, feeling and experiencing their work. I am also inspired by the forests and great lakes. I am inspired by the 'arboreal Gothic' sensibility rather than slick classicism: I prefer the wild heath to the marble steps.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What story do you intend to be told by your art? What does it mean to you?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b></b><br />I don't necessarily want to tell a story. I'd rather explore an immanence through materials that needs no story other than its own revelation. I am interested in presence and it has no time for stories. As much as possible I'd like to explore 'emergent' processes that I then add upon with my creativity, in the pursuit of arriving at sensation and affects in the felt presence of immediate experience. When I am painting I am not thinking of stories and I never have an image of what it will be before I begin. Of course I may have inspirations and influences, but during the act, the happening of the event that paints, there is an immanence of affect flooding across me. Every relation is a translation: it eventually generates meaning for me, of course, but any meaning that surrounds it is totally different from someone else's meaning, which ought to reveal to us the perspectival nature of being. Outside of informing people on my influences and interests, I want to invite them to form their own meanings, or, maybe, if possible, reside outside of meaning.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpdsDY0I5owkDk7vwZ6HGwYU7hhr-mwp4gswETGiPCP604olAZAl94W7n7ItF78B0F0o3OgyslnbVtacT0eyeKsG_RFd4PL9ZjI83beNNuPrM73olb3cK94g8lCg7AOI9vPV3PwJJAqac/s1600/Cascade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Cascade" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpdsDY0I5owkDk7vwZ6HGwYU7hhr-mwp4gswETGiPCP604olAZAl94W7n7ItF78B0F0o3OgyslnbVtacT0eyeKsG_RFd4PL9ZjI83beNNuPrM73olb3cK94g8lCg7AOI9vPV3PwJJAqac/s1600/Cascade.jpg" height="328" title="Painting by Josh Mason" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cascade</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What other artists have influenced your art?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My influences are so vast that it would be difficult to condense them down to a list, but if I was pressed I would quickly cite a few. I am influenced more and more by the artists I have met or have gotten to know, or through direct experience of works of art. I am influenced by philosophy and the history of ideas and anything that allows thought to tease itself about the nature of art and reality. I am interested the potential of magic in material things.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Do you have any regrets in your life as an artist?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />I have no regrets in either life or art because everything had led up to this moment, which is a gift of mystery.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What do you have planned for the future of your art?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My wife has had a great influence on my views of creativity and together we have intiated our own studio, Fieldwork Studios, in order to explore, express and create in whatever medium. My plans for the future are to keep creating art, showing and exhibiting. Also, I currently teach art and would like to continue to do so.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiO6ZZ1S_zRJJLgm57sj_hD-hbfAu-C8UTH8q0IkXDtlrgg-R8COsrCaVParrb4X4lscjGJXjjhUhKK4_PqmyLvIwrtklIYhmGWyIr2nYiJice3D74-5P8LthvlAiWrFxJTeCJ0Meslq0/s1600/Riverside+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Materia Forma - Riverside II" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiO6ZZ1S_zRJJLgm57sj_hD-hbfAu-C8UTH8q0IkXDtlrgg-R8COsrCaVParrb4X4lscjGJXjjhUhKK4_PqmyLvIwrtklIYhmGWyIr2nYiJice3D74-5P8LthvlAiWrFxJTeCJ0Meslq0/s1600/Riverside+2.jpg" height="296" title="Painting by Josh Mason" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Do you have any advice for emerging artists?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b></b><br />Yes, be honest with yourself because that is the only way to find your own voice - don't try to be something that you are not, especially for the sake of recognition or popularity. Be passionate about your interests. Don't become an artist if you want a career, become an artist because you cannot do anything but and it rattles around in your core. Explore as many techniques and mediums as possible.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How should people find you online….</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7avn9EzgZPa2cPWzFTAU3VqfW524Orimdj9dGrLbFoIpZiayLTU1QBLq9wTdRC5BcOf_-Hi-3ympPznebRev-AS0wW8x-3pxmfDNYTPpiurVjHNjrEVWc0WAlyOodGMosNoLimmZQSSA/s1600/artist+portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="profile photo, Josh Mason, Artist, Painter Teacher" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7avn9EzgZPa2cPWzFTAU3VqfW524Orimdj9dGrLbFoIpZiayLTU1QBLq9wTdRC5BcOf_-Hi-3ympPznebRev-AS0wW8x-3pxmfDNYTPpiurVjHNjrEVWc0WAlyOodGMosNoLimmZQSSA/s1600/artist+portrait.jpg" title="Artist, Josh Mason" /></a></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Website: <a href="http://www.fieldworkstudios.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.fieldworkstudios.com</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">all images © Joshua Mason</span></div>
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0Michigan, USA44.3148443 -85.60236429999997738.5324593 -95.973458299999976 50.097229299999995 -75.231270299999977tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-12909539112696365772014-04-30T21:28:00.002-05:002015-05-10T16:01:49.390-05:00Tips on Calligraphy Writing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">By <a href="http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Edward_Ashcroft-Hamilton" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Edward Ashcroft-Hamilton </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Calligraphy is not simply writing but more a type of stylized writing. It is important that a beginner understand this concept well to calligraphy write the letters. It is a process of putting different letters together to form a perfectly patterned and well placed set of angles and letters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The difference between normal writing and calligraphy writing is that when you calligraphy write you literally draw your letters artfully, rather than just write your letters. Calligraphy writing requires a certain amount of adherence to styles and form in writing. It is necessary that the beginner studies the shape of each letter thoroughly and considers them as pictures rather than letters, or as a collection of pictures rather than a collection of words, meant to represent an idea.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwXULKmStJcvcgdQMcYTNrPhx6FdCkvlMeGxzNSEp-lUjrIzLac1Xrlk8hZbtSsOpnPQ4AYYfJ2kKPO9zHanDvna3eRacMQsVSWn7R8xVgjRvWmJ-zfOSlHAsporCbIsK_3daOkokO7g_n/s1600/Calligraphie_latin.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Western calligraphy" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwXULKmStJcvcgdQMcYTNrPhx6FdCkvlMeGxzNSEp-lUjrIzLac1Xrlk8hZbtSsOpnPQ4AYYfJ2kKPO9zHanDvna3eRacMQsVSWn7R8xVgjRvWmJ-zfOSlHAsporCbIsK_3daOkokO7g_n/s1600/Calligraphie_latin.JPG" title="Western calligraphy" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Western calligraphy by <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Alliance_fran%C3%A7aise_de_Wuhan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Alliance française de Wuhan</a></span></td></tr>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In order to achieve proficiency in calligraphy you will first have to learn the use of the calligraphy pen to calligraphy write. Importance should be given to the angle of the pen to allow the hand to move freely and smoothly while practicing to draw the letters. The pen should typically be held at an angle of 45 degrees when writing. The paper should be kept straight and you should begin the process using vertical strokes. This process should continue while the pen is held in the correct angle. This process provides training for the hand's small muscles, much like crawling gives exercise to a child's large muscles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Once you are familiar with this exercise you can calligraphy write by adding serifs or small lines that are added to the end of each letter for style. This should be in proportion to the other letters to obtain uniformity in the style of writing. The next point would be to practice to draw circles of equal size. For this purpose you can use different nibs from thin to thick ones and check the outcome of the exercise. You will notice how well these nibs have contributed to letters that have appeared on the paper and the way they feel in the hand.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Gothic 01 307" height="294" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Gothic_01_307.jpg" title="Gothic calligraphy" width="400" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Example of Gothic calligraphy, note the vertical lines</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">image: Public Domain</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Vertical lines pertain to Gothic calligraphy and they are usually much easier to draw than the circles which are used in the Carolingian calligraphy style. Both these styles can be incorporated when learning to calligraphy write, or you can choose whichever is easiest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The pen is crucial when learning to calligraphy write. There are some pens that are provided as starter kits and these are particularly useful for practice writing. There are still a few pens available today that have cartridges containing dye-based ink that have a tendency to fade over a period of time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you want to calligraphy write and plan to keep at it for a long time, the best choice is a metal nib that comes in sizes ranging from thin to thick according to the choice of the user and the style of the lettering. Sometimes metal nibs can be problematic for the beginner, causing blots on the paper. This problem will wear off sooner or later with proper practice and learn how to maintain a smooth and consistent flow of ink.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggz-wLyP3MnVaL2-qR-jO2BAI5b5lwMKvvNysAmrmKA7VL5lP3wU8LegmTsM2iFf165-Nkb_UYbdCGX8z1Dc9qYjOCc9h-5717yL66DFXrN_YH7pcUTMVFvz4u8-hNtuKWRW_nS-jiI2CW/s1600/Stipula_fountain_pen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="calligraphy pen" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggz-wLyP3MnVaL2-qR-jO2BAI5b5lwMKvvNysAmrmKA7VL5lP3wU8LegmTsM2iFf165-Nkb_UYbdCGX8z1Dc9qYjOCc9h-5717yL66DFXrN_YH7pcUTMVFvz4u8-hNtuKWRW_nS-jiI2CW/s1600/Stipula_fountain_pen.jpg" title="stipula pen" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> A Stipula fountain pen lying on a written piece of paper<br />image: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Power_of_Words_by_Antonio_Litterio.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Antonio Litterio</a></span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://ezinearticles.com/members/mem_pics/Edward-Ashcroft-Hamilton_561033.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Edward Ashcroft-Hamilton, calligrapher" border="0" src="http://ezinearticles.com/members/mem_pics/Edward-Ashcroft-Hamilton_561033.jpg" title="Edward Ashcroft-Hamilton" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Edward Ashcroft-Hamilton is a professional calligraphy teacher with over 25 years experience. Click the following link for more great tips, tutorials and advice when you <a href="http://www.calligraphywizard.com/calligraphy-write" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">calligraphy write</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://ezinearticles.com/?Tips-on-Calligraphy-Writing&id=4008046" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Article Source</a></span></div>
Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-6521350691173138422014-04-25T05:06:00.001-05:002014-12-27T16:33:25.655-06:00Two Simple Methods For Mounting Needle Art<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Needlework artists use needle and thread in creating their art similar to how a painter uses brush and paints. This kind of work is also often referred to as needlepoint, cross stitch or embroidery. This time-consuming art produces treasured pieces that may be passed on as family heirlooms. As with paper art, textile art needs to be protected from acid-burn which will yellow the fabric over time. It is important to always use acid-free boards and adhesives.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5xeaxBZreQdM9TBZba4S8uabhwzLZ-T7ol64mYpsY3o3VP9WM8cU5dsTG5398LPkc4nYUwk0pG3Cy3MdjpsDUvE5Uxp3cSKkqBIS2Pri8_14_lRX3Wt9qtLeEspwKFd-JCkUqvTK-sE78/s1600/cross+stich.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Cross Stitch - Flower Fairy" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5xeaxBZreQdM9TBZba4S8uabhwzLZ-T7ol64mYpsY3o3VP9WM8cU5dsTG5398LPkc4nYUwk0pG3Cy3MdjpsDUvE5Uxp3cSKkqBIS2Pri8_14_lRX3Wt9qtLeEspwKFd-JCkUqvTK-sE78/s1600/cross+stich.jpg" height="314" title="Cross Stitch - Flower Fairy" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Flower Fairy by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/30486689@N08/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stephanie Clifford </a>(CC BY 2.0)</td></tr>
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Properly mounting needleart requires knowing the right method for doing so to maximize protection of the work to be framed. There are readily available books on how to frame needle art. This article will cover two of the simplest methods: quick mount board and pinning. For a more detailed explanation and other needle art mounting techniques, here is recommended further reading: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Needlework-Framing-Library-Professional-Picture/dp/0938655027" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Needlework Framing Volume 3</a> by Vivian C. Kistler.<br />
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<b>Quick Mount </b><br />
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The easiest method for mounting needle art is using an acid-free quick mount board. In quick mounting the edges of the needle art are attached to the back of the board with adhesive. There are some quick mount boards claiming the fabric may be lifted and re-applied indefinitely. Remember, if the adhesive becomes permanent with time, this mounting method will be irreversible, therefore your piece could be ruined if disassembled. For valuable antique needle art be wary of this method, as the results of using pressure sensitive adhesives is still questionable. Some of these boards come with batting attached to the board. Be sure the batting is heat bonded, if it is not, it may migrate and push through through the surface of the needle art causing what is called a "beard."<br />
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<b>Pinning </b><br />
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Pinning is another simple method that is also reversible and includes a variety of needle art. For this you will use acid-free foam core or rag mat-board and stainless steel ballpoint pins. Ask your local art store to show you the several brands of quality mat board available. Rag board, which is made from cotton fibers, is best for fabric art. Here are the steps for the pinning method:<br />
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<li>Cut board to a half inch larger on each side than the mat window.</li>
<li>Locate the center of each side. Start at the top and stick a pin through the fabric into the edge of the foam core or rag board. Leave the pin sticking out.</li>
<li>Stretch the needle art towards the bottom side and pin.</li>
<li>Working from the center to the corners to tighten and keep the grain of the fabric straight (or the design, if the grain and design differ.)</li>
<li>Pin the other two sides.</li>
<li>When the needle art is stretched and straight, push pins all the way into the foam-core or rag board.</li>
<li>Pull any loose <i>corner</i> fabric on the back towards the center of the board and pin at an angle, taking care not to go through to the front. (Do not use staples because they may cause tears and cuts in the threads of the fabric.)</li>
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If the needle art is heavy, adhere two acid-free boards together with a pH neutral glue, adhesive transfer tape, or double-sided tape in order to prevent the board from warping.<br />
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Do not mount needle art on the following boards: Unsealed wood, "upson" board, masonite, corrugated cardboard, news-board, recycled boards, chipboard or sponge-covered board. These are all acidic and over time will discolor fabric that is mounted with them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/30486689@N08/2931677047" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Cross Stitch - Red Tulip Botanical by Stephanie Clifford, on Flickr"><img alt="Cross Stitch - Red Tulip Botanical" height="320" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3230/2931677047_1ec118ddbf_z.jpg" title="Cross Stitch - Red Tulip Botanical" width="254" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Tulip Botanical by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/30486689@N08/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stephanie Clifford </a>(CC BY 2.0)</td></tr>
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I hope this article has given you a good start to getting your needle art mounted in a way that will both showcase and protect it for many years. <b> </b><br />
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<b>Please share any additional advice in the comments below.</b><br />
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-51962980805746603742014-04-12T14:43:00.000-05:002014-12-27T16:48:11.472-06:00Avoid Worst Practices When Selling Art Online<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu3GBjyoYpZQf8Et9Z84bVZ9Qv0Fcdj5-gE4-_8zWwRi_2ZWz6LwBIyDxDRrybfRJEbNLq7DobB3Y6BfLKC4on1mHXYJ4Kb7WURqoaD5lkXuXndxKOuvQGkPvQHNjWoOpeSkS2bk_jkcFe/s1600/800px-Watermark_sample.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu3GBjyoYpZQf8Et9Z84bVZ9Qv0Fcdj5-gE4-_8zWwRi_2ZWz6LwBIyDxDRrybfRJEbNLq7DobB3Y6BfLKC4on1mHXYJ4Kb7WURqoaD5lkXuXndxKOuvQGkPvQHNjWoOpeSkS2bk_jkcFe/s1600/800px-Watermark_sample.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sample of watermark to lower value of image<br />source: wiki user Canoe1967 </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When a potential customer lands on your site, you want them to engage, browse, click around and ultimately convert to a sale. That is pretty simple to achieve, right? Well, hang on a minute, and read this quick article to make sure you are avoiding using conversion-killers. These are some seemingly harmless things that we can unknowingly be doing to sabotage our own success online, and here they are. Read on to see if you are using anything that can kill your conversions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When you are selling your art you do not want to obscure the actual image with your @ or .com or copyrights. When looking at any retail sales papers, catalogs, magazines or websites do you see them watermarking all over their photos? Although there is a possibility that people would use your photos without permission, the people that do that generally don’t care whether it’s watermarked anyway. So if you must put anything on it try to include it in the image name, such as jamesculverpaintingblueturtle.jpg or maybe a website or attribution name below the image if you can include a white space around the digital. That can help with tracking for you and for people that may see it shared on social media and wonder who made that? The exception to the rule would be a watermark which was semi-transparent enough to not mar your images, and show that you are serious about protecting them. As far as what I have heard artists say, the general rule to follow when putting your images online is not to upload high-resolution. Only make the resolution high enough to look good on a computer screen, not one that looks brilliant if they were to take it to the print shop and order a professional print on their own.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When a visitor “bounces,” that means they left from the same page they landed on. So they did not see anything else on your site! A high “bounce rate” can be directly associated with auto-play music. It is much like trying to find a nice spot at the beach and someone next to it has a boom box blaring and therefore the search continues. So, do your visitor and yourself a favor and avoid having a soundtrack on your website. This goes for musicians too! Let your fans pick what audio files they want to hear by you, saves them the hassle of finding the stop or mute button when they don’t want to have the soundtrack you have chosen playing at them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Loud / Obnoxious Color Schemes</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The colors you choose for your site should not take precedence over your great presentation of your work. Important information is best represented on white or light-colored backgrounds. It is possible to be too dark, it can make your visitors automatically disinterested. If you have different galleries for series of your art offerings you may want to have complementary colors for those. A certain level of uniformity is important though, so that your site visitors do not feel like they have left your page accidentally.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Animated GIF Images</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">GIFs images are fun for personal enjoyment but they do fall short of professionalism. Customers that are serious about browsing your artworks for possible purchase are not looking for a cheap giggle. This means no dancing llamas, baby sloths, or otherwise hilarious animated GIFs should be displayed on your site; unless, of course, you are an Animated GIF artist…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Some of these things, I am sure you thought "well that is simple, of course I avoid those faux pas!" Maybe there is something I covered in this piece that you did not realize could jeopardize your e-commerce art business. It is best to avoid these aforementioned things in order to make a better impression on potential customers who visit your site to view your art. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Maybe you have some ideas that were not covered here? If so please feel free to mention them in the comments section.</b></span></div>
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-56439091727651446262014-04-07T22:16:00.003-05:002014-04-09T05:42:17.325-05:00Building Fine Art Photography Portfolio<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Author:
<a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/rafal-maleszyk-fine-art-photos/1176453" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Rafal Maleszyk Fine Art Photos">Rafal Maleszyk Fine Art Photos</a> </span></strong><br />
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<span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="satchel, portfolio" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhULLuXmvphH0wLq4yudw0CyHzzEJUt0JkJAdvAvXtLQBkoJkTgdPe3iORz13LQR9lI1YWUIQKdGaiuuSrr01eQX6IR30Vst7AE9CZAup6C5zzkBX_x17vjd4hXJUe0VJ9beXbnpHLB0eSI/s1600/satchel-154732_150.png" height="173" title="" width="200" /></span><strong></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It takes a lot of determination and persistence before you can call yourself a <strong>fine art photographer</strong>. Like every passion and profession this one is no different. It is a very unique hobby, hard to define, measure or describe. Success in art always has been hard to define, it is something you cannot measure in money or quantity and quality is hard to define too. Here are some </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">things you will have to do before you will be recognized as fine art photographer...</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1. Build a strong portfolio that is original and artistic. </span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You will need to take art or photography courses and decide what it is that you like the most. When you find it that will be the first great step, sometimes hardest to achieve. After you decide what gives you the most satisfaction, you will start creating strong work. Some people are fortunate enough and do not need schools, they acquire their knowledge by experimenting, reading and analyzing. </span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2. Submit your photos to contests, fellowships, awards and grants.</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There are thousands of places where you can submit your work online. Prepare carefully, read the rules and understand what the judges are looking for. Your work can be exceptional but remember, you have to submit only the pieces that follow the guidelines. The biggest mistake you can make is to submit work that does not fit the topic of the contest.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3. Find fine art magazines and journals.</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editors are looking for great work everyday, yours can be the one that they have been waiting for. Find magazines that feature work that is in the same genre of your work. It will take hundreds of magazine submissions before you will be accepted but trust me, the first publication will feel great. It will be easier to find magazines that are available online only, those places are not limited by the number of pages, the cost of print is zero so they can include 100 pages or 200 pages without raising the cost of production, as long as your work is strong and original you have a high chance.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fabio2005/353459282" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Flickr Slideshow Generator by Fabio, on Flickr"><img alt="Flickr Slideshow Generator" height="303" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/139/353459282_44ed71b009.jpg" title="Digital Photo Portfolio" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Example of a digital Fine Art Photography Portfolio online.</span></td></tr>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4. What is a strong portfolio?</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Your portfolio will be a collection of your photographs that have something in common. If you have many strong images that show very different topics, divide your portfolio into series of photographs. This kind of portfolio with a common topic is strong are highly appreciated because it can make a bigger impact on a viewer and is much more difficult to create.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AFaukner_Jan_portfolio_2010-00009.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="By Jan Faukner (Jan Faukner OTRS) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons"><img alt="Faukner Jan portfolio 2010-00009" height="241" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Faukner_Jan_portfolio_2010-00009.jpg/512px-Faukner_Jan_portfolio_2010-00009.jpg" title="Themed photo collection" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Images with a common theme<br /> make a stronger impact.</span></td></tr>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">5. Find an art gallery.</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When you complete the above you are ready to show your work in art gallery, select carefully, do not be desperate, art gallery managers take advantage of artists all the time. There are no clear laws protecting the artist, as a matter of fact there are no laws at all. Art galleries have been in business for long time and if you are new to it, they will feel it. Do not be desperate, if you do not feel 100% confident that your work will be properly represented do not come into agreement with the gallery just for the reason to have your work shown. There are better places where you can expose your work. <u>Always sign a contract.</u></span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">6. Submit your work to museums.</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is one of the highest rewards you will find at this point, when your work is shown at a museum or included in the permanent exposition. This will raise the prestige of your work and help build your carrier.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">About the Author</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rafal Maleszyk is a <a href="http://www.rafalmaleszyk.com/index.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">fine art</a> specialist, his work has been awarded and published in numerous magazines; Silvershotz, LensWork, Camera Obscura, Black & White Magazine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/digital-photography-articles/building-fine-art-photography-portfolio-5402758.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Article Source</a></span><br />
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-9302414185669357912014-03-30T18:17:00.000-05:002014-03-30T18:23:48.722-05:00Small Image Transfer with Carbon Paper Tutorial <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="pen tool being used for carbon paper transfer" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8CCqV0eBJm1uV6HgQd6oKrdyHNINJntRijkaC5UjZQoNcsk3adKGbMXqosNNkg1jp8A2DCQHGKpNwbzZPj8fKtbnTZbl7vpypuHjfvQHUbVPe_yIu4lX3aPxazmhaXMrZlkxREx_PkHc/s1600/Transfertutorial1.jpg" height="238" title="Tanya working with embossing pen tool" width="320" /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">So you have drawn something into your sketchbook or on loose scratch paper that you wish to transfer to either illustration board or better paper, but you aren't sure if you can do it free hand again? I have a solution for you that I learned in one of my drafting classes in college. This process is best for transferring onto paper or illustration board; I have not used this process on anything else. I have also only used it for small images. The largest size has been 8.5 x 11 inch, however, art and drafting stores will have larger sheets of Carbon paper if you want to go larger. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This technique is also helpful when you have traveled from home or don't have a nifty light box for tracing. </span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Image you want to transfer</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Carbon Paper - find at craft or office supply stores; the sheets are reusable and 1 package can last for many years</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Drafting dots or tape specific to painting - for easy removal</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Embossing pen tool</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eraser</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pens (if inking)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="three images showing how the carbon paper transfer occurs with the resulting image." border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwxobhfnhzkcHGaZGvyFlQtf1MjuHp9MDqJU8J49rfEkmu-CSECvmffgsl9it9SKpmUP5Yy7zPgWd7pmoqn0W7aI4wyn8ZyzJ6Uh-0uehWhUoAIy76R_jBtttA8rguo_LGx3FrsEUtv7E/s1600/Transfertutorial2.jpg" height="320" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Process of small image transfer with end result." width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Tracing with embossing tool (top), close-up detail <br />(middle),transferred image (bottom).</span></td></tr>
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<li style="line-height: 1.15;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Take your drawn image and make a photocopy of it. This way you can change size easily and position it on the desired paper easier.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Place a sheet of carbon paper darker side down and set it aside, but </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not on your target area</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> yet. Carbon paper is also available in white which is useful if you are transferring to a black or simply darker target.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trim the excess paper from around the copy of the image. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Using the drafting dots take the copy of your drawing to the carbon paper. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
Remember </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the dark (inked) </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">side should be lying on the work surface.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now position the carbon paper </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">gently</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> onto your chosen medium. Gently place tape to at least two corners so that it is secure.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>*Do not rub or press too hard on the image as this will transfer*</i></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Without pressing too hard trace your image with the embossing pen tool. It is best to plan where you are to start and what path you will take. This way you can be sure to transfer the whole drawing. You can lift the paper to also see progress as you go, but try not to do so too often because you could accidentally move the image the image. When done remove the carbon paper. If inking by hand go ahead and do so using the eraser to get rid of transfer lines. I use a gum eraser for my work. It doesn't leave smears or residue. They also work better at taking up lines.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>*If you press too hard during the tracing they will NOT erase - be GENTLE*</i></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point if you want the final artwork to be painted - just paint.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although there are many different transfer methods, this is one that I have been adept with since my days in architecture classes. This is easy, fast, without needing much space or set-up ahead of time and it can be done anywhere. I like to share information about tools and materials I use.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and if you have any questions feel free to ask!</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All images © Tanya Davis</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13520471077711336511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-9779498681090470152014-03-29T16:36:00.001-05:002015-03-21T16:29:29.078-05:00How to Take Pictures of Artwork<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Having a method to get photos of your work transferred to digital format is highly important for artists for many reasons including, but not limited to, promoting art for sale and for duplicating original works in printed format. Most artists will use a scanner to capture a high-resolution image. In the place of that, you may use a camera for times when said piece of art is too large for scanning or is already framed. Anything that is in the round, of course will have to be photographed to be shared apart from in-person viewing. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Here are some steps to follow if you want to do it yourself with decent results. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For starters you should use what's referred to as a Pro-sumer-quality digital camera, meaning one that has output of 6 Megapixels or greater with either a zoom feature or zoom lens. Find an open space to work in where you can either hang your artwork level and flat as you can. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">You will need a tripod in order to line up the center of your artwork to camera’s position.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHBmFGkBp0_9VbXK88oadhPvFB1VgtmrzTA18c7H2TuFqKbpy9P6T_QtOex4a1dQYg41eQF-ld0oRLltbJuXq3jG5sNgxJb2D7PtBRBu_g78SfBrejo0s5BCUVn6P9JD6jk1czNem2YHAh/s1600/settingupcameraart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img alt="How to photograph artworks: Photography demonstration with Becket Logan" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHBmFGkBp0_9VbXK88oadhPvFB1VgtmrzTA18c7H2TuFqKbpy9P6T_QtOex4a1dQYg41eQF-ld0oRLltbJuXq3jG5sNgxJb2D7PtBRBu_g78SfBrejo0s5BCUVn6P9JD6jk1czNem2YHAh/s1600/settingupcameraart.png" height="320" title="Setting up camera to photograph artworks" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seeminglee/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">See-ming Lee </a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">(CC BY-SA 2.0)</a></span></span><span id="goog_965731620"></span><span id="goog_965731621"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you are able to capture the photo outdoors, in the morning just after dawn or early evening right before dusk will get you a better type of light, yet might take some experimenting. Indoors, you will need to have a diffused light source positioned so that there is no glare on the art itself. Focus your lens so that your art is totally within the focal plane. You may need to change the lens length so that your image is not distorted. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">White balance is usually automatic in digital cameras. If you shoot with a mixture of light sources present it can cause the auto balance to struggle and cause an orange tint which commonly occurs when working indoors. This means block your windows as well as you can to control your light source from outside as well. If you can, you may wish to build a lightbox around the artwork to isolate it. Lightboxes are great so long as you can fit the artwork within it, providing an easy to control environment for the photo-taking.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADIY_Lightbox.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="By Tom Marshall from Chonburi, Thailand (DIY Lightbox /2) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons"><img alt="DIY Lightbox" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/DIY_Lightbox.jpg/512px-DIY_Lightbox.jpg" title="lightbox set up" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Ready-made lightbox set-up.</span></td></tr>
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Once you have obtained a digital image you will want to import it to your computer and into the editing program of your preference. Photoshop, Aperture, Lightroom etc., you may even just find everything you need in a basic editor such as MS Paint. Here you can change the size desired and color correct if needed. Brightness and various other factors can be manipulated varying according to the filters available on your program of choice. At this point you will want to crop the image so only your artwork is showing. Choose a resolution quality that is at least 500px in RBG for printing. If you have a high quality color printer set up you may print a sample to proof your work. If you are sending it to a professional print shop or print on demand site check with them for the resolution and size requirements.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMQdisrzv8gcj5uS-IVPPenv19rfarL_nVzVgIUekKWImmTwd_dPriI1mkyZgX6yX7MxD_r7H2Y__0NIku8p59RW9MvOQZrnT_5vFpiNWF1SG-L8RzaFfP6z0qpkMWkiDWoRKfkAxTT4S/s1600/lightbox.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Building a Lightbox, DIY" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMQdisrzv8gcj5uS-IVPPenv19rfarL_nVzVgIUekKWImmTwd_dPriI1mkyZgX6yX7MxD_r7H2Y__0NIku8p59RW9MvOQZrnT_5vFpiNWF1SG-L8RzaFfP6z0qpkMWkiDWoRKfkAxTT4S/s1600/lightbox.png" height="240" title="Self-made lightbox" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Example of a self-made lightbox </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tbuser/4536669563/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tony Buser</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">(CC BY-SA 2.0)</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Here are some tips for overcoming a few obstacles that you may run into when photographing your art:</span><br />
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<li><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Glass</b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />Sometimes you just haven’t taken a photo before sending the art to the framers. Glass can be difficult in the picture-taking effort, even as it protects the art. The first things to look for are fingerprints, dust and smudges which you should use a cloth to hand-wipe clean from the glass. Glare and reflections are two other problems photographers run into with glass-encased subject matter. If you have access to a Neutral Density (ND) or polarizing filter you can work with that is what the professionals do. Lenses with vibration reduction are particularly useful when using slower shutter speeds. Another neat trick is cupping your hand around the top or side of your lens, however, these methods should be applied at a minimum – just enough to reduce the glare. <br /><br />There is also the simple matter of how to keep one’s reflection from appearing in the photo. Avoid your ghost in the camera by shooting from a slight angle. And, be alert to any reflections of people or animals moving around the vicinity creeping into frame on other sides of the item you're photographing.<br /></span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Dark environment</b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />Okay, this is for exceptional instances where you just can’t get the lighting right no matter what due to a <i>lack of light.</i> Let me state here DO NOT use flash. This is a situation where you will need to slow your shutter speed and use longer exposures to get the best image possible. If your camera struggles to pick the right exposure try bracketing to get your shot.</span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Proximity</b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />Standing too near to the subject can cause problems with lens distortion so stand further back and don't use a really wide focal length. This is why working in an “open space” is key - you need to have the ability to get the proper distance for the best shot. If you have a zoom lens, use that to pull the artwork in so as to fill the image as much as possible. Using a smaller aperture will increase depth of field, ensuring the sharpness of the work you're photographing in its entirety. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In composing this article I gathered information from many artists who shared their methods and found some advice on this from photographers as well. However, most artists I have mentioned this to are still working it out, not really confident with how they are capturing images of their artworks. This could be due to many different ways for getting good results and also various limitation factors. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Have you found photographing art a tricky matter? Do you have advice you would like to share or suggestions to add here? Let me know, because it really matters, and I am always open to more input. Thanks!</b></span></div>
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-17823624224609315382014-03-27T18:22:00.000-05:002014-03-27T18:24:57.941-05:00Morgan Allain "The Inkling Girl": Geek Art, Portraits and Birds! Oh my!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpv41vKBrQuOBKDICahXEAnBI-Sy1Koo_o7Qojztk2rfcdfXTAbT0kdIx05eK5eRWMB14BknHBrwFq3yrNdTS246b0PM_s4b1YV8b4a5aY6r0ebgJznBRxJ9JEPAAL_1aJEV4nNBaeACk/s1600/Blue+Wild.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration art of blue peacock by Morgan Allain" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpv41vKBrQuOBKDICahXEAnBI-Sy1Koo_o7Qojztk2rfcdfXTAbT0kdIx05eK5eRWMB14BknHBrwFq3yrNdTS246b0PM_s4b1YV8b4a5aY6r0ebgJznBRxJ9JEPAAL_1aJEV4nNBaeACk/s1600/Blue+Wild.png" height="400" title="Blue Wild" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Louisiana native Morgan Allain, a.k.a. The Inkling Girl, is a self-proclaimed "nerd" and she reflects this in t</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">he geeky nature of her art. I had the opportunity of discovering her art at the 2013 Wizard World Comicon here in Austin. There were so many cool artists in the Artists' Alley at Comicon and Morgan's booth was an instant favorite. From the first look through her artist portfolio I could appreciate her unique artistic style. It is with this creative flair that she re-creates images from television and movies. She also makes wonderful original depictions of animals. Her preferred mediums are watercolor, ink and colored pencil. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It's a family affair, being that her husband Danny is an artist as well and sometimes they get to work together. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Where did your artistic journey begin?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Drawing is something</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> I have enjoyed for as long as I can remember. My grade school teachers would comment on that, in fact. I started becoming really interested in it around 14 and just kept at it. Took lessons here and there, but I was really just self-taught until college.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I attended McNeese State University and I have a B.A. in Art; my concentration was printmaking. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Mostly relief printing; linocuts were my favorite. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Never took painting of any kind in college. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Printmaking was too expensive for a recently graduated newlywed working at Starbucks. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I b</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ought a watercolor set after I graduated, just to tinker with.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXs_S3j-FrFzkVLBJoN1CwUvWYbYaqeAoWFH09OUeTRK2Zfi1s0m1Js6S6CmzP6KJyvxcXRmWpmavnFb3xIcHU92MEuVN1J-Desui7nLfqbQQZysBziDxNXTt4PEzHj7twXXuRHeJ4ZPs/s1600/Skull+candy+kitty.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Morgan Allain original art cat skull illustration with rainbow colors streaking downwards" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXs_S3j-FrFzkVLBJoN1CwUvWYbYaqeAoWFH09OUeTRK2Zfi1s0m1Js6S6CmzP6KJyvxcXRmWpmavnFb3xIcHU92MEuVN1J-Desui7nLfqbQQZysBziDxNXTt4PEzHj7twXXuRHeJ4ZPs/s1600/Skull+candy+kitty.png" height="400" title="Skull Candy Kitty" width="300" /></a></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">How would you describe your style?</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ooh. I don’t even know if I have a style! I guess maybe it’s sort of pop art inspired. I feel like my style is always evolving and changing. I really enjoy</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> finding people that appreciate art that showcases stuff I've loved since childhood. Artists who have influenced me are Audrey Kawasaki, Glenn Arthur, Olga Noes and Tony DiTerlizzi.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>What things inspire you to create art? </b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I find inspiration in many many things: Books, Movies, television, animals and other artists. I've been a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer since my teens, so I have a whole series of portraits of the characters. I love the movie Labyrinth and have created many pieces from it. I love painting birds! I don’t think I’ll ever tire of painting birds.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>At what point did you begin to consider yourself an artist?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gosh, even now I don’t always consider myself an artist. Most days I’m just me: a total geek, a wife and mom… just a girl who loves to create. I think the day I start putting “artist” in front of all my other roles is the day I need to chill.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What is your favorite project created in your current medium? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx9DBNy_rDXUzM4sG31exFLQLdvSsKLT-w6myXNDHG9Ojpcxh7CG8PtxcpJuQRyQDDIk_HpTpayJod9hq2vBMIkgYyhUL9d6J65xW28ij9BUw4hnVfjloP1MROnkOHgpNH30hB6Y_YtoU/s1600/Drusilla.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Morgan Allain Buffy the Vampire Slayer Fan Art Portrait" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx9DBNy_rDXUzM4sG31exFLQLdvSsKLT-w6myXNDHG9Ojpcxh7CG8PtxcpJuQRyQDDIk_HpTpayJod9hq2vBMIkgYyhUL9d6J65xW28ij9BUw4hnVfjloP1MROnkOHgpNH30hB6Y_YtoU/s1600/Drusilla.png" height="400" title="Drusilla Portrait" width="300" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Usually whatever the last thing I drew/painted is my favorite. I’m most fond of my peacock, “Blue Wild” and “Skull Candy Kitty” at the moment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Would you like to share a little about collaborating with your husband on artwork?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Danny and I collaborate once in a while. We both always have some projects or commissions going on, so we can’t combine forces often. The last collaborative piece we did was called “Cherry Bomb.” Danny did the initial drawing, which I then transferred to watercolor paper and painted. We were both really pleased with the final piece; it was so much fun to see our distinct styles mesh that way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fun fact: when Danny and I were being interviewed by the priest that performed our wedding, he (the priest) asked each of us what we loved most about one another. I said something sweet about how Danny is so genuinely kind, blah blah blah. Danny said, and I quote, "she's good at drawing!" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yep. That's what he loves most about me. Haha!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What is your creative process like from start to end?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It tends to change from project to project. Portraits always begin as sketches on scratch paper which I then transfer to watercolor paper with the help of a light box. I usually paint the background first, then start with the shadows on the face and slowly build up with many translucent layers. With the birds, I just wing it (ba-dum-tshh!). I grab a colored pencil and do a messy sketch on my watercolor paper and just go from there. I rarely plan what I’m going to do, and I never know where it will end up. I just let it happen. I almost always listen to audiobooks while I work. Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Sabriel, Sarah Dessen books… I’m such a nerd!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What exposure have you had?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi67qZ9QKWu2w8s7QOcBt6ruR2o76HGjofI4DguvhMaiXryQSjXE5Hn2Dp8UJVK7t4MkEKzIJYf-0102A5wopqCZ8LZFBjh2QLiYO6uN5y22AMkPLfvbxnCQle5Fqos7UhJBR5fcjC4nO8/s1600/Tumnus.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Morgan Allain Illustration from Narnia Chronicles" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi67qZ9QKWu2w8s7QOcBt6ruR2o76HGjofI4DguvhMaiXryQSjXE5Hn2Dp8UJVK7t4MkEKzIJYf-0102A5wopqCZ8LZFBjh2QLiYO6uN5y22AMkPLfvbxnCQle5Fqos7UhJBR5fcjC4nO8/s1600/Tumnus.png" height="400" title="Tumnus" width="300" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ha! Um. I've only been in a few shows. I’m terrible at proactively promoting myself! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Do you have any regrets in your life as an artist?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wish I had made more time for it before my daughter was born. I really slacked off from college graduation until she was born. I still painted, but not nearly as much as I do now. I worked a lot and used that as an excuse. Since then I’ve realized that was a pathetic excuse, I can nurse an infant while painting!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What plans do you have for the future of your art?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My only plan is to continue creating, continue growing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Do you have any advice for artists just starting out?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Draw as often as you can. Find other artists. Push yourself, branch out!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>How do you promote your work both on and off the internet? </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the internet I promote myself via social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, DeviantArt. Off the internet, well… Unless I’m at a con or festival, I don’t really promote myself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbw8ixVXZcooDaIg10bYTVGHi9La3NnY9-9G2e4Z5qswUUiBKMDX9WGLU8TWDiyRP0ylOc9vY_bVJ9sj-1X8b1-rtkis2Vg6-DmRJvWjOBkcwlGKnolMygeU_elmVWj6yODeLahi16q_M/s1600/Veronica.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration from Veronica Mars, Morgan Allain art" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbw8ixVXZcooDaIg10bYTVGHi9La3NnY9-9G2e4Z5qswUUiBKMDX9WGLU8TWDiyRP0ylOc9vY_bVJ9sj-1X8b1-rtkis2Vg6-DmRJvWjOBkcwlGKnolMygeU_elmVWj6yODeLahi16q_M/s1600/Veronica.png" height="320" title="Illustration based on Veronica Mars" width="246" /></a></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>See more of Morgan's artwork at the following links:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT9-kdm0Kr-qUbR0T3Snn19DdfUu8QorKhZuO0eRKf1YZX0f9UEQYwQe_j6mAf3eiQF3v-me5XfACbcD7ocINc_NaXJpWJPVo2cipfFCY-7zwqfDtD2r5_KWlMseHmgMclX-aAsDj74q8/s1600/MorganInkling.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="All images © Morgan Allain, the inkling, inkling girl" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT9-kdm0Kr-qUbR0T3Snn19DdfUu8QorKhZuO0eRKf1YZX0f9UEQYwQe_j6mAf3eiQF3v-me5XfACbcD7ocINc_NaXJpWJPVo2cipfFCY-7zwqfDtD2r5_KWlMseHmgMclX-aAsDj74q8/s1600/MorganInkling.png" height="200" title="Artist Morgan Allain" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://society6.com/theinklinggirl" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Inkling on Society6</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/TheInklingGirl" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter: @theinklinggirl</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/theinklinggirl" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook page</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/theinklinggirl" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Etsy</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://instagram.com/the_inkling_girl" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram: @the_inkling_girl</a></span><br />
<div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All images © Morgan Allain</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com2Southwest Louisiana, USA30.9842977 -91.9623326999999924.0246352 -102.28948119999998 37.9439602 -81.6351842tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-77045741184132518762014-03-25T17:33:00.001-05:002022-03-20T12:42:05.168-05:00Not Quite Extinct: Comic Book Creator Phil Machi Talks Dinosaurs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.iouart.co/2014/03/not-quite-extinct-comic-book-creator.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Austin Artist, Phil Machi" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDnHi0yRxHlDgNsPLXZs7VehcMKi_plRgjWw_Tx1PyzAQuCqAMEXAMnWqT5B-lzJve-2IUo_ynuuc6IBT-wMFjrbKm8l5RqwkAeQ9ELtxFnfYo4u2DTl0EXjoNNKEeiUkoXZh4f6Owit74/s320/philmachiprofile.png" title="Artist, Phil Machi" width="320" /></a><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">One of the great things about living in a city with a thriving art culture is being able to get out and meet great local talent. </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">Today I have the pleasure to bring to you an interview </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">with Phil Machi, an artist I met earlier this month at the Staple! exhibition in Austin, Texas. </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">Phil has a unique talent of combining drawing with storytelling as he has done with his comics <i>Retail Sunshine </i>and <i>Livestock</i>. </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">Phil received his degree in Digital Art from Bowling Green State University in </span><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">December 2003. H</span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">e lived the whole 32 years of his existence in Ohio until relocating</span><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"> to Austin, Texas in July 2013.</span><br />
<b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, Phil what drew you to Austin, Texas?</b><br />
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">I needed a life-reboot. Austin was the perfect combination of art, music, metropolis and better weather! </span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><b>I have seen some of your dinosaur drawings, what is your current project called?</b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">"Not Quite Extinct" is the name of this book. If it continues as planned then it will gain an obligatory "Book 2" after the title, and so on...</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><b>Now is this a illustrations-only kind of book or will there also be accompanying text?</b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">There's definitely text involved, but this first volume is going to feel a little mixed because there is a section with only pictures and it doesn't help that one of the main characters is mute.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><b>You are not diverging too far from your usual creative work then. Will "Not Quite Extinct" have a comic book feel to it? </b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">As far as my usual "all-audiences" style is concerned, it fits in line with that, to be sure. But it's more epic than my previous comics and certainly less cynical than "Retail Sunshine." I am formatting this book in the traditional vertical comic book format which is also new for me as my past comics had a horizontal arrangement.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Illustration of three dinosaurs which are characters in the story Not Quite Extinct by Phil Machi" border="0" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZv6ENB_Hy-6AmWxxjG_Obg7e6GA7H4NEgJq-6jaBNZi9zY9ietQm1wfDGAdu4ugDrF3-ANNNjgkKfbGYKI1YDLcYF_YVpzy4aA45KLoH4ik1FPHYluvrGq5WDcpQ5WlCM24wpW8fFPmU/s400/nqecover.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Not Quite Extinct Preview © Phil Machi" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All images © Phil Machi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And why dinosaurs?</b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Ahhh, why dinosaurs indeed. </span><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">You want the long version or the version you would actually
want to read... </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">I'm only kidding. So, believe it or not, this project goes
all the way back to when I was in 2nd grade! </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">My teacher Mrs. Divis taught us a segment on dinosaurs and
it was absolutely love at first sight for me! </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">I knew instantly that I wanted to make dinosaurs my
life; that or stand-up comedy. I kid
you not, for years that's what I told people, "Paleontology or stand-up comedy!" </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">I don't remember everything from that age but I do recall
getting into drawing more and more. I was practically raised on animation and
Sunday comic strips!</span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Dinosaurs give us a
glance at what was - I can see the
inspiration.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Oh, absolutely! </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">I was enthralled with their shapes and sizes not to mention all the
different varieties. </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">One of the projects for Mrs. Divis involved making hand-made
books.This was also a big deal for me
and so I took it upon myself to write a story about 2 dinosaurs that become
friends and go on an adventure. O</span><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">ne of those characters was a Stegosaurus.</span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">What does
incorporating dinosaurs into your work mean to you personally; what sense of
purpose is driving this project?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">For years, I was obsessed. I remember running around in my back yard pretending that I had turned
into a Stegosaurus! </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">I used to go around saying things like,"If I can learn
more about our past, I can maybe see where our future lays." </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">I have also had a life-long fascination and love for
animals. </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">Combine my love for animals and understanding them with my
dino-obsession and passion for drawing... you can see where this is going. The
problem was I never felt I had the proper skill level to create or draw
dinosaurs the way I wanted to so this idea has continually been shelved.</span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">So
how did you come up with the mute dinosaur and why include such a character?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">I'm not sure what it is about me and mute characters. It's
like a "thing" for me. If I
had to guess, I would say I grew up watching characters like The Pink Panther
Tom & Jerry and Wile E. Coyote. They
were typically mute and I think that resonated with me because when they would
occasionally end up speaking I always felt the dialogue ruined the impact. </span><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">I used to think "that's not what that character should
sound like!" There is something inherently magical about pantomime... it beckons curiosity. </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">I would say facial expressions have always meant more to me
than words. I try to carry that into my own work.</span><br />
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<img alt="Stegosaurus cartoon with a large insect that looks like a dragonfly on its snoot" border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8slyUMKkDryDGy1pOsve7Yoq86PdfCW-CkkWmV2OZhalgLoead_iJF3pRD90HAt5an5s-k7OvX_6r28wpYNAvGvuhm1IXDIEWGYYt13DileXMB4Z12EaJj0gM2L_k6hKsRmM7lipjEEM/s400/stegnose.png" title="Not Quite Extinct Preview © Phil Machi" width="400" /></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">I bet that can be a
real challenge to your skills too. Do you find that you often challenge yourself?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">I have always felt that I've been striving for an idealized
version of the characters I create. </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">I continue trying to capture their essence and whenever I
get it right, I just get so excited and at the same time I fear I won't be able
to repeat it. </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">It's difficult with this project because I don't want there
to be an obvious growth spurt throughout the book. I am doing my best to make
it feel like one continuous story. With
my previous comics, it's clear that I was finding my way.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">But at the same time, in doing so, I AM growing. I can see
it happening from panel to panel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Has anyone else's
work influenced you in this endeavor?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">As for other artists... John K. (creator of Ren &
Stimpy) was a big influence for me. Also,
all of the classic stuff. I grew up on
Warner Bros. cartoons, Disney classics and that left a big impression on me. <o:p></o:p>Not to mention countless illustrators and comic strip artists. Specifically, Berkeley Breathed, Gary Larson, Robin James, Jim Henson, Mike Peters and James Gurney.</span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">How do you hope
people will react to your "Not Quite Extinct" dinosaur comic?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Everyone is so quick to label things these days, and I would really love to defy those labels and create something that children of ALL ages can appreciate. I would love it if my drawings could keep their attention as
much as, if not more than, a paragraph of dialogue. I've often seen people leaf through comics
and it just kills me inside because I know how much time goes into each and every
panel, not to mention writing and re-writing dialogue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Yes you are right,
this is a fast-paced world with especially shorter attention spans.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">I was talking about this very notion with a good friend of
mine the other night. I grew up with
programs like The Muppet Show and I Love Lucy. When you go back and watch those shows, it feels slow but at the same
time, if you pay attention and give it a chance, there is a lot happening in subtle nuances that I feel like nowadays it wouldn't work. But there is so much value in a quality
production, something that has real integrity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<img alt="Small toothy cartoon dino with ferocious or mischievous look." border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4If3AmHnlRUWGh1BfqyC-iZSwsRyHpX878KmLWVLiiVrZrdKxXJleD6-n3WuJgkdvDUhhMI74x7dQeSAdtfxjkGa20wZOsALI2YjPcu3v8Iri89HFqDgJm1Ueg24VjLEe6aGG8nIm144/s400/raptor.png" title="Not Quite Extinct Preview © Phil Machi" width="400" /></div>
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Tell us some more
about panel creation. Describe your typical drawing session and environment.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">My drawing session varies, honestly. Usually, it's a back-and-forth session of
making a few marks here and there in between social networking and internet
browsing all while playing tons of music. Eventually, I can get myself into a sort of zone where I am just drawing
and everything else around me fades away which is when I really lose track of
time. </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">So my environment is my desk. I don't travel with my drawings too
much. I like my flat surface with my
computer and all my dinosaur figurines around me.</span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">I like that you have
the figurines around you. Are they like totems?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">I would say the Stegosaurus is my totem animal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">What kinds of drawing
tools do you like to use the most; what are the most important items on
your creativity bench?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">My tools of the trade are a non-photo blue pencil, Bristol
smooth paper and an assortment of Micron pens. Of course, I use my computer a bit, but that is primarily for arranging
panels, adding text and cleaning dust and debris from the drawings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">My most important items? I would say that my figurines are right up there, but I love to get into
a zone with just the right music. Besides that, I need to be ready to "play" because I believe
the energy I am feeling is transposed to the paper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">I try not to "work out my frustrations" too much
when I'm drawing. When I'm inking it's
OK because at that point I have the majority of the drawing planned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Could you share a few
of your top creative-process music selections?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Music... well, I listen to a lot of film scores, modern day
classical, as I think of it. But I also
try to keep things upbeat as well. Lots
of Oingo Boingo, Punch Brothers, Nickel Creek, Rockapella and of course Weird
Al.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">So from the past into the future, what else would you like us to know about your upcoming comic “Not Quite Extinct"?</span></b></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">I did want to mention that "NQE" has been resurrected a few times. In high school I planned on making it into a comic strip, however, it never made it past conceptual designs. In 2004 I pitched it as a TV show and it didn't fit the goals of the networks. At that point I attempted the graphic novel and became frustrated with it after 13 pages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Yes graphic novels go long.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Well it wasn't that. It just wasn't gelling. So this is a big project for me because it is this life-long unfinished saga. It has followed me for years.</span></div>
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<img alt="Sleeping Stegosaurus Illustration for Not Quite Extinct by Phil Machi" border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyCHC6gI2fJAuss4QjCej69vV9RUW_fSbnVJ0eiFxsm0ODQKgnWoA7bWhweqKO6a8LFnL3qewVvqdVmxS6It89PC6587ZGLcxzKDYApLpKFB9PyT36ZxERiBbrNVN5Hk15Dw1RV4NzUyY/s400/stegsleep.png" title="Not Quite Extinct Preview © Phil Machi" width="400" /></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Do you have any regrets in your creative life? </span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">My only regret is that I haven't created MORE! I have so many other projects in my head and unfortunately I am a slow and meticulous artist. </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">So whenever I complete a book, it is special for me because I just proved to myself that I could focus my mind on a single task and see it through to completion.</span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Have you learned something of value from missteps that you think emerging artists can benefit knowing about?</span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Missteps... well, for a while I was having a real difficult
time prioritizing my life. My art would
take a back seat to video games or TV. This is no longer a problem. While I am a little sad I don't do those
things as much, what keeps me going is the result. I can watch TV for hours and have nothing to
show for it, which frustrates me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Would you say it is important to highlight the achievements to keep future goals in focus?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">With a project this big, it's all about the little victories! It is so easy to get overwhelmed by a massive goal but the trick is to just break it down and make each individual section into a goal. Celebrating those little achievements can help you feel that you're moving forward. Personally, I'm not good about highlighting my achievements for very
long. It really is sad to me because no
sooner have I celebrated then I am off to the next thing! I like keeping busy but it is sort of like
never being satisfied. But yeah,
creation for me has always been its own reward. I don't get as much of a high off of compliments because at some point I
had the realization that they're all just opinions and if *I* wasn't happy then
nothing would sway me from that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Well it is not a bad
thing to be self-motivated towards being happy with your work.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">True, but there is part of me that wants to celebrate a bit
more. I just know that I have a little
fear around getting an inflated ego. I've been reassured from close friends this will never happen but I
always keep myself in check. <o:p></o:p>Ultimately, I try to bring a smile to my own face with my creations. I make it a point to be true to myself and in the end I know I am putting work out there that I can believe in. The icing on the cake is when you meet someone else who believes in it too.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Locally is limited to word of mouth when I meet people and
find an appropriate time to bring it up; but also in conventions. Conventions
are a great way for people to discover new art and I love being in that scene.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Where can readers see more of your work?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">NQE has its own page here: <a href="http://facebook.com/NotQuiteExtinct" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">facebook.com/NotQuiteExtinct</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">Phil Machi (philmachi) on Twitter </span><span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif"> </span><a href="http://twitter.com/philmachi" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">twitter.com/philmachi</a></div>
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com4Austin, TX, USA30.267153 -97.74306079999996729.828484 -98.388507799999971 30.705822 -97.097613799999962tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-46240251359557163542014-03-24T09:55:00.000-05:002014-03-30T07:05:39.952-05:00Final Thoughts on the Real Writer's Life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: black; font-size: 16px;">I’m back! </span><span style="color: #444444;">I've been out of commission a few weeks but that doesn't mean the old brain has stopped thinking about writing or blogging. Spending days alone in a hospital room—by some miracle, I lucked out and was given a private room—I had PLENTY of time to think. And to think some more. So, what conclusions did I come to during this time?</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVFIyw7QCL1FoAOxjmtOfhbWP_8ntBnKaF9hf9qAX4FzrnkuNMoiwAuTG2O9TJHBwpKI8ggsBMnSMlBOBchSofq2OU4HCgcEwIp_qH40wfPz_A1uob03dJknuOEhbmRwQiwDEoeZwvVg0/s1600/black-woman-thinking-wearing-glasses.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt=" woman writer looking thoughtful author pondering from www.genevieveng.com" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVFIyw7QCL1FoAOxjmtOfhbWP_8ntBnKaF9hf9qAX4FzrnkuNMoiwAuTG2O9TJHBwpKI8ggsBMnSMlBOBchSofq2OU4HCgcEwIp_qH40wfPz_A1uob03dJknuOEhbmRwQiwDEoeZwvVg0/s1600/black-woman-thinking-wearing-glasses.png" title="Writer thinking" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">from www.genevieveng.com</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Well, I decided it was time to close the book on my ponderings about the </span><a href="http://droppedpebbles.wordpress.com/2013/12/27/writing-is-life/" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" target="_blank">writing</a><span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><a href="http://droppedpebbles.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/the-real-real-writers-life/" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" target="_blank">life</a><span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> for the moment, and that this last post should do it. Like anything new, understanding the writing business and my place in it took time but I think I finally came to grips with something important.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Brace yourselves.</span></div>
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<i style="border: none; color: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I concluded that it’s entirely possible that this dream of making it as a successful writer could end up being little more than an expensive hobby.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gasp!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Somewhere in the backs of our minds we already know this but hope, passion, and drive shoves the possibility aside. Only, once you get your feet wet, once you start putting in the real elbow grease to sell your books, that’s when reality really hits. <i style="border: none; color: inherit;">This is really hard!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">It’s aggravating. When I think back over these last few years and what they involved, it was the hope of success that pushed me through each challenge—I climbed those mountains because of the carrot dangling at the end of a rope. And that’s not to say that I have failed, nor is this sour grapes. I achieved my life-long dream of writing and self-publishing a book (</span><i style="border: none; color: inherit; font-size: 16px;"><a href="http://droppedpebbles.wordpress.com/rise-of-the-papilion-trilogy-the-purple-morrow-book-1/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Purple Morrow</a></i><span style="color: #444444;">) and I am proud of it. I've gone ahead and written the sequel and started the last book of the series. I plan to write and publish those and the other books I've got brewing in my head. I’m blessed that </span><i style="border: none; color: inherit; font-size: 16px;">Morrow</i><span style="color: #444444;"> is selling, and, thanks to you all, my blog is doing well, and people like my stories. It’s just that the business part of this writing gig involves so much time and effort (and money!) and it doesn't always pay us back in kind—in other words, we don’t always receive according to what we've put in. Or worse, more is required before we begin to see any form of meaningful return.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">Do you see where I’m headed? I don’t know about you but I've got a full-time job and a family to support. Luckily, I've made back the investment to produce my book but therein lies the truth we keep hearing all over the web: writing is also a </span><i style="border: none; color: inherit; font-size: 16px;">business.</i><span style="color: #444444;"> In order to make money, you have to spend money. Which involves </span><i style="border: none; color: inherit; font-size: 16px;">risk</i><span style="color: #444444;">. Realizing that any further investment in time and money might not bring in a decent return gave me pause. How far do I want to go? How far </span><i style="border: none; color: inherit; font-size: 16px;">can</i><span style="color: #444444;"> I go? These are some of the questions that every serious writer should be asking themselves.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I’m not at all saying that we should only write to make money. But there is a difference between writing as a <i style="border: none; color: inherit;">hobby </i>because we love it and writing because we want to <i style="border: none; color: inherit;">publish</i> so we can reach larger numbers of readers <i style="border: none; color: inherit;">and</i> earn something for our efforts. Most of us write because we love it. So much so that we lock ourselves away from our own families and the rest of the world to ‘live’ in another, made-up world. And that’s the way it should be, at its heart. We do what we love <i style="border: none; color: inherit;">because </i>we love to do it. I just think it’s important to know <i style="border: none; color: inherit;">why</i> we write so that we can know what to expect <i style="border: none; color: inherit;">before</i> jumping in with both feet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So… is this post all about discouraging people from wanting to publish their books? Not at all. As usual, my goal is to share of my own experience for the benefit of someone else. If even one person comes away from this with a clearer and more realistic picture of what awaits them, then I’m good.</span></div>
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<b style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you are thinking about writing seriously, here are some things to consider:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="color: #444444; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: underline;">Writing is competitive:</span><span style="color: #444444;"> There is a ton of competition out there. Anyone can publish a book these days, and for reasons unknown, even poorly written books suddenly strike it rich. Does that mean quality doesn't matter? No, it definitely does. Putting your name on a book will associate you with it until the end of time. Write your book but write it well; </span><i style="border: none; color: inherit; font-size: 16px;">your reputation is at stake</i><span style="color: #444444;">. Also, success or failure aside, it’s important to do your best to produce something you can be proud of. Just know that no matter how well-written your book is it might not sell as well as you’d hoped. Reality check number 1.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;">Writing is time consuming:</span> It takes time to produce something of quality. This is true whether you write part-time or full-time. You will write, rewrite, edit and re-edit until you can’t stand you story anymore, but these processes are essential. I think readers can tell when a story has been thrown together versus one where the author took time to nurture and develop the world and its characters. I think any reader who lays down money for a book <i style="border: none; color: inherit;">expects</i> to be treated to a well-told story, so be certain you put in the time needed to properly craft your tale.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;">Writing is expensive:</span> There are many ways to publish books. There’s doing it for free on a site like CreateSpace, there’s hiring a company to help with editing, book covers and formatting, or the traditional way of going through an agent to maybe one day get a deal. In any of those cases, <i style="border: none; color: inherit;">a quality edit is needed</i>—again, regardless of the format chosen, it’s important to have a manuscript that is as clean and free of plot holes and content errors as possible. IMO, this means paying a qualified person to do the work. Friends and family might be okay for a beta read and to build the morale, but if you are asking readers to lay down their hard-earned money to buy your book, do them a favor and get a good edit. Again, your rep is on the line, and after all the hard work you put into the story, you deserve to have your manuscript shine in the best light possible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="color: #444444; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: underline;">Writing is full of disappointments:</span><span style="color: #444444;"> As high as we can feel after creating a piece we love, there are some intense lows that come hand in hand with writing. Rejection after rejection letter from agents, publishers, magazines, are some examples. A story that didn't get the attention or reaction you wanted, or a book that didn't sell as well as expected, are others. There are no guarantees in any venture we undertake, but knowing that the road ahead is not all sunshine and rainbows can help us better prepare mentally and emotionally for the ups and downs.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;">Writing is taxing:</span> We all know this. Not only do we have to write well, we have to market well, we have to find and connect with the new markets, we have to connect with our readers, we have to… the list goes on. And on. And on. There is never ANY end to the number of things we have to do. And those who have more time to dedicate to it all naturally have a leg up on those who don’t. They say that writing should be considered as a second job, and in a lot of ways, it is. If you add up the hours spent writing, platform building, and in social media I’m sure you’d be surprised at how much it added up to. And we wonder why we are always tired!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So what is a writer to do?</span></div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img alt="What is a writer to do? Writer with question marks all around their head. www.picstopin.com" class="size-full wp-image-2484" data-mce-src="http://droppedpebbles.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/scratch-head.jpg" src="http://droppedpebbles.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/scratch-head.jpg" height="240" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; height: auto; margin: 5px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" title="" width="187" /></span></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">www.picstopin.com</span></dd></dl>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That’s what I have been struggling to figure out these last few months through my posts. I have been slowly coming to the conclusion that perhaps writing just might become an expensive hobby. Or, that it might take a lot longer than expected before there are important returns on the investments I have made and will continue to make. It’s sobering, but as far as I can tell, it’s the truth. I haven’t yet decided on what to do next, or how to handle this possibility, but I am taking the time to re-evaluate my priorities and expectations. I think, for the moment, that’s the best I can do.</span></div>
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<b style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How about you? What do you think? Where are you on your publishing or self-publishing road?</span></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01427451377134565881noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-70214653583949190422014-03-22T16:51:00.000-05:002015-05-07T22:57:40.617-05:00Finders Keepers: The Free Art Friday Movement<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Free Art Friday is a movement where artists gift pieces of original art to the public. You may associate it with Random Acts of Kindness. The idea is to bring some joy to someone by brightening up their day with a piece of art that upon finding, they can keep it or leave it. It is not a secret event and you can, as an artist, decide to do it on your own in your own way. However, in order to be part of a group of artists that have an organized approach to the event, you do need to make connections within the local art community. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6TvPovDAx82Tyiiev6BYUjYbVPyQSvhHlF5WPlMeCrD4LV-j7sR1FAblz5FuHUtu2yM1qIkhyphenhyphenQ_1QR0_2DlFZJOJqMJe_HcTNR35nLYb0siR-5YUAjjU36ml9UOKxZY_lxWYBH5q-Zlj/s1600/fafgivemewings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Free Art - asboluv stencil on hardboard" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6TvPovDAx82Tyiiev6BYUjYbVPyQSvhHlF5WPlMeCrD4LV-j7sR1FAblz5FuHUtu2yM1qIkhyphenhyphenQ_1QR0_2DlFZJOJqMJe_HcTNR35nLYb0siR-5YUAjjU36ml9UOKxZY_lxWYBH5q-Zlj/s1600/fafgivemewings.jpg" title="give me wings" width="287" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Give Me Wings by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/asboluv/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">asboluv</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Typically it is organized by an artist collective or sometimes an art supply store or someone who is otherwise connected to the local art scene. This will vary from town to town, city to city. In order to be a finder, you may be “in the know” about the local organized event, or just happen to find the art by chance. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Artists have been leaving art out for many years, however, the modern version of the Free Art Movement and the coining the phrase of "Free Art Friday" is attributed to online artist <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mydogsighs" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">My Dog Sighs</a>, a.k.a. MDS. Back in 2006 he started his group on Flickr which has carried on the tradition ever since. Here is the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FreeArtFriday" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Free Art Friday Facebook page</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here is how it works for artists:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Chose a piece of art to give away.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Write on an attached note "free art for the finder to own and enjoy." By choice you can include name, website, email, etc. If participating on social media, you may want to give @names and #hashtags to enable the finder to thank you or give a shout out on social media should they desire to do so. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Place the art somewhere in public either outside or indoors, the how and where is entirely up to you. You can hide it or leave it in an obvious location.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Some make a scavenger-hunt game of it leaving clues on Twitter, Facebook, and more recently Instagram (which can also be shared to the aforementioned social media).</span></li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.staticflickr.com/1/189248436_34777df1e3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Free art Friday" border="0" src="http://farm1.staticflickr.com/1/189248436_34777df1e3.jpg" height="256" title="not so empty shop window" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Not So Empty Shop Window by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/asboluv/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">asboluv</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For those who wish to scavenge up some local art, just follow the artists! Something important to keep in mind, </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">is what Free Art Friday is </span><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">NOT.</b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> W</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">hen the word "free" is used some folks can get carried away</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, so please keep in mind that it is not meant to </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">exploit</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> the generosity of local artists. Please don't be a greedy art-hoarder. Also, know that a </span><u style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">copyright is not transferred</u><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> in the free transaction, so do </span><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">not</b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> pick up an art drop with the intent to reproduce the art image. The intellectual property belongs to the artist themselves only.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i>To find out why artists participate in Free Art movements</i> <b><a href="http://www.iouart.co/2015/05/why-do-artists-take-part-in-free-art.html">Click Here</a>.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Share your thoughts and experiences with Free Art Friday. Have you participated? Are you going to?</b></span></div>
Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-23100530490133560452014-03-18T21:00:00.002-05:002015-03-16T11:42:28.711-05:008 Essential Keys to Transform Creativity Into Online Success<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So you have done the hardest part of all - being creative and you have gotten good at it. The next part is the tricky business of presenting your work and offering it for sale on the internet. There are entrepreneurial strategies which are specific to entering and harnessing the potential of the online marketplace. Much of it is relative to setting up shop in a real-world setting, yet here I will list eight exceptionally important things you must do to achieve prosperity with your creative work online.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDUNeOcdAsPKTPUSgSAd73WbxJlRSwpahZsWu5e7OTXPo4KzkQXQwqqpJnRisyl15HsmzgRJ1pDvHr7dFQmAn3Ev5pIMBbHrcV7kgCeNhhCEyRiEmn4aHsk7EWXwE2InDxYyQ_uVY_qDEX/s1600/webstorelaptop.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDUNeOcdAsPKTPUSgSAd73WbxJlRSwpahZsWu5e7OTXPo4KzkQXQwqqpJnRisyl15HsmzgRJ1pDvHr7dFQmAn3Ev5pIMBbHrcV7kgCeNhhCEyRiEmn4aHsk7EWXwE2InDxYyQ_uVY_qDEX/s1600/webstorelaptop.png" height="290" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://society6.com/paintingforyou?utm_source=iouart-co&utm_medium=blog-post&utm_campaign=s6-affilliate&curator=rebecca-knight" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Visit Online Store Example Here!</a></span></td></tr>
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<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">First of all you must have technological acuity. It is essential for doing business online that you are comfortable with the internet and your computer. Also get used to using digital photo images. From taking the photo, to using image editing software - digital photos make the biggest impact when all a customer can see is what is online. Also keep digital photos as visual records of your completed work. This may serve as a point of reference for if you need to do something similar at a later date and also is very </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">valuable to have on hand in case of theft</i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">. Social media will be something else imperative for you to familiarize yourself with in order to start a buzz of people commenting about and sharing links to your available online work.</span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8175/8034786848_8c4d66e081.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8175/8034786848_8c4d66e081.jpg" height="319" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">source: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/statusengage/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Social Engage</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CC BY 2.0</a></span></td></tr>
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Accept this truth - the <b>more places </b>you appear on the internet the <b>more easily</b> your work can be <b>discovered</b>. Of course, some places are more ideal than others and so your main focus should be on those. Just keep in mind the internet is a vast arena where many other creatives also sell their works, so <i>get all over it</i>.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Know <b>who</b> is your most likely customer base - you need to know who is probably going to buy your work. This data is necessary when choosing keywords and, by association, putting your items in the <i>best online location</i>. One way to research where to sell is to find sites where others sell a similar style of work.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Get used to<b> talking</b> about your work. Practice with friends and family, do interviewing (mock or real), participate in forums or social media groups with similar interests. Read niche articles, posts, zines etc and after a while you will get the idea of the basic language and terms - but only <i>you</i> can offer <i>your story</i>. Communicating your personal relationship with your work creates more value and appreciation. Practice this online by typing in a compelling description to accompany each listing. This is a great way to <b>stand out </b>from the crowd! Learn more about how to approach doing so in this article, <a href="http://www.iouart.co/2015/03/the-art-of-selling-art.html" target="_blank">The Art of Selling Art</a>.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2278/2445215840_9721debcbf_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2278/2445215840_9721debcbf_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">source: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/quintanomedia/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Anthony Quintano</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CC BY 2.0</a></span></td></tr>
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Go out of your way to take care of people in ways that will exceed their expectations. This makes a huge impact with online customers who already have lessened their hopes for great service due to being removed from in-person transactions. Surprise them and increase your <b>reputation</b> which will usually lead to referrals and repeat sales.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Price fairly, based on quality of materials, level of skill and amount of time put into producing work. Try not to draw a foregone conclusion that you are a celebrity and can bump up your prices just because you have had a show or won an award. Sticker shock will not do you any favors. Keep the traditional supply and demand concept in place to help determine when to push up your prices. Be ready to <i>explain</i> how you determine what to charge as well. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Keep<b> documentation</b> on what you do. This way you can easily retrace steps to repeat what works best and also identify things that do not. This includes analyzing what links are visited the most and what type of marketing and back-linking is bringing the most visitors to your store.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Have patience and persistence. The best way to accomplish big things is to <i>break the larger tasks down into simple steps</i>. This is how you combat becoming overwhelmed, as there will always be multiple things to take care of at the same time. Your online store will require regular attention, so make sure you keep it up and and create a schedule for doing so.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Taking strides to incorporate into practice these eight factors will improve your chances for success. As an artist who has already created the products what is left is for you to master these key elements. Doing business online is rewarding and <i>worth the effort</i> and I hope you enjoy much <b>success</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;">If you are looking for a good site to sell your creative work on then check out this article, <a href="http://www.iouart.co/2014/02/review-where-to-sell-online-comparing.html">Review: Where to Sell Online? - Comparing Etsy, StorEnvy and Big Cartel</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5tiXUfKVxusRNyETtpovtSkGaYaKqQVVJ4CwDWm1kThyphenhyphenDpZ2aNs9yLvavBz4wvd8oHDBUKPks-9BZpFpErlCspGAJubU4bktynyQVjn-slMZEccYzXw9OkH0OiBGqB74rqOSVjMeB4mP/s1600/basket-156835_150.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5tiXUfKVxusRNyETtpovtSkGaYaKqQVVJ4CwDWm1kThyphenhyphenDpZ2aNs9yLvavBz4wvd8oHDBUKPks-9BZpFpErlCspGAJubU4bktynyQVjn-slMZEccYzXw9OkH0OiBGqB74rqOSVjMeB4mP/s1600/basket-156835_150.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Public Domain CC0</span></a></td></tr>
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-15258809997432185632014-03-14T17:20:00.000-05:002014-03-14T17:26:43.258-05:00Dazed and Confused: Dealing with the Troll Review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.6363636363636365; margin-bottom: 18pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Being a writer can be an amazing and rewarding experience. We write something clever, moving, or terrifying and then sit back to wait for the responses. “Awesome job, man!” or “Oh my goodness, that was soooo scary!” are all things we crave to hear. Only what happens when we get a review where the person hates what we’ve written? And not only do they hate it but they let us know in the meanest way possible?</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8gFWXzdbj0-kVIVOdtK9oM0bE2p2ZGFMFiFuOWzi9Om8J0Q3AmwygfwksUm8dRIQT0Mcf8zm9RcI2mhzx1RZyMt29rZ7Vjzhh06Ho47aCmDQukl3gRDFW6Y8PVEiuG6g4SbuVRJ-uqSI/s1600/Internet-Troll.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img alt="internet troll, trolling writer submissions, content troll, online trolling" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8gFWXzdbj0-kVIVOdtK9oM0bE2p2ZGFMFiFuOWzi9Om8J0Q3AmwygfwksUm8dRIQT0Mcf8zm9RcI2mhzx1RZyMt29rZ7Vjzhh06Ho47aCmDQukl3gRDFW6Y8PVEiuG6g4SbuVRJ-uqSI/s1600/Internet-Troll.jpg" height="320" title="Caricature of an "Internet Troll"" width="312" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">from <a class="_sg irc_hol" data-href="http://www.technobuffalo.com/2011/09/09/the-pitiful-life-of-an-internet-troll-a-delightful-rant/" data-ved="0CAUQjB0" href="https://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=eD2-zqsd6S6FwM&tbnid=Xix0v0q2EgtzLM:&ved=0CAUQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.technobuffalo.com%2F2011%2F09%2F09%2Fthe-pitiful-life-of-an-internet-troll-a-delightful-rant%2F&ei=6DcjU6qtCoPRqAGBlIHYDw&bvm=bv.62922401,d.aWM&psig=AFQjCNH7eHWvqHq2Z30GBcAZxGO0dQE9Rg&ust=1394903184948447" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: #; color: #; cursor: pointer; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;" target="_blank"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">www.technobuffalo.com</span></a><span class="_tp" style="background-color: #; color: #7d7d7d; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;"> </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, I am talking about the dreaded Troll Review. You know, the one we all secretly fear but will likely encounter at one point in time. There are a lot of articles out there about how to deal with them, and most of the ones I’ve read are quite helpful. In my opinion, though, they often deal with the ‘head’ aspect, the reasoning behind how to make an appropriate response. But what do we do about how we </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">feel?</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Isn’t the main reason those reviews or comments are so difficult to shrug off </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">because</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> they hurt?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.6363636363636365; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I decided to write this article because I believe that responding properly to a tough review involves </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">both</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the head and the heart. Even if you choose not to address the reviewer directly, internally some sort of response is required on our part or it is difficult to move past it. I’ve</span><a href="http://droppedpebbles.wordpress.com/other-writing/essays/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">written before</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> about the fact that when we write, the end product is extremely personal to us. Some even consider it their ‘baby’ or a piece of their own soul so of course harsh comments will feel like salt in a wound. So how do we move from the point of feeling crushed to the point of accepting the review for what it is–someone’s </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">opinion</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of our work–and moving on?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.6363636363636365; margin-bottom: 18pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first time I was Trolled, I felt mortified. Horrified. I sat up in the middle of the proverbial road, looking around in confusion for the train which had just stream-rolled over me. I remember thinking, “Is it possible my book is that bad?” Once I got up and dusted myself off, it took a long time to get my head back on straight. My confidence was cracked; I couldn’t tell how much of what the person had said was valid or a crock. Nor could I understand how someone could so flippantly belittle my work and all the effort I put into it. I knew not everyone would love everything I wrote, but I had expected people to be respectful in how they let me know. I certainly hadn’t expected to be lambasted!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgzMKRGIm68jpGVaP24YoaDMSEFTF8TDIBLoYLSejPA49AYZE0BTdQq5znJHrk5AQ7DRPTJeuBbI5OLfi-o49yiM5D_o11I8jCIZ1DWEO6KLX4_VjmO4r35ENhO0F2nj7pdKw8WAMzdQ8/s1600/SelfRespect-focusmagazine.org.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img alt="respect is a two-way thing, respect me, respect you, we respect, I respect" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgzMKRGIm68jpGVaP24YoaDMSEFTF8TDIBLoYLSejPA49AYZE0BTdQq5znJHrk5AQ7DRPTJeuBbI5OLfi-o49yiM5D_o11I8jCIZ1DWEO6KLX4_VjmO4r35ENhO0F2nj7pdKw8WAMzdQ8/s1600/SelfRespect-focusmagazine.org.jpg" height="195" title="Respect" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">from focusmagazine.org</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.6363636363636365; margin-bottom: 18pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In truth, I should have seen it coming. On the writing site where the book is uploaded, I had received polite reviews which mentioned some of the problems with it, and even my writing buddy tried to warn me: “You write really well, but the story builds really slowly. Some readers might like that but just know you might lose some (readers) because of it.” “Yeah, uh-huh,” I’d said, “but this is how I want the story to read. This is my vision for it.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fatal last words. I came to see that, often, when we hold so tightly to an idea or a concept that we refuse to change it despite evidence we should, we can expect it to come back to haunt us. Though it hurt, I reread that Troll Review a few times. The thing is, I started to see that, despite its obnoxious packaging, the reviewer was actually speaking the truth. Her comments jived with what my writing partner and the other polite reviewers had told me but which I had refused to accept. So, I had a choice to make: continue to bemoan how I was treated and ignore what turned out to be good feedback…or swallow my pride. I chose to drink a big glass of milk to help that bitter pill go down, then I sat down, reconsidered the story…and then wrote the hell out of it. Many times. It was my first book so it needed a lot of work, but I was determined to show myself–and everyone else–that I could do it. In other words, I transformed that negative situation into a positive one which I then used to my advantage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Still, we have to be careful. Not every Troll Review is useful. But then neither are all the fluff reviews and feedback we can also get. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every piece of feedback has to be scrutinized and broken down so we can see what is useful and what is not.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> My point is that just because something is said in a rude way doesn’t mean we should ‘throw the baby out with the bathwater.’ Take a deep breath, read it and reread it until you can see past the crap to whatever nuggets of gold might be hidden underneath it. Then wash them off and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">write the hell out of your story.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Harsh feedback doesn’t get easier to take over time, at least not for me. But the experience has made me grow, enabled me to become more critical of my work and to consider points of views that are different than my own, which in the end actually benefit my work.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How about you? How have you dealt with Troll Review? Do you have any words of wisdom to share with anyone who might be dealing with this issue right now?</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01427451377134565881noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5105873015616086339.post-58981104261682005842014-03-05T23:11:00.001-06:002015-05-10T16:34:36.792-05:00What is Lowbrow Art, Who Makes it and Where Can it Be Found?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">There is a visual art movement on the rise that is made up of artists who are not concerned with whether The Art World recognizes their art. The main defining characteristic of Lowbrow art is that most people <b>generally do </b>consider it art. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Lowbrow refers to underground, tattoo, comic, cartoon or street art. In the midst of this relatively new art period there are still critics who choose to largely ignore Lowbrow art. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ironically, Lowbrow being deemed as a <i>legitimate movement</i> has been decided by The Art World. It has garnered the attention of </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">many art collectors who understand the way an emerging art tends to transition from thumbing its nose at fine art to it itself becoming fine art.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Impressionism, Dada, Expressionism, Surrealism, and Fauvism progressed in a similar manner as Lowbrow finds itself in progress today. Traditional art critics in Europe literally lowered their brows at the French Impressionists. These same people rejected the work of Van Gogh. During the modern art movement at the start of the 20<sup>th</sup> century Dadaists found acceptance by the curated art world and became highly promoted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aresauburnphotos/2678609109/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Rat Fink by aresauburn™, on Flickr"><img alt="Rat Fink, At the Harrah's Auto Collection essay" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3261/2678609109_f525bf3c55.jpg" height="320" title="Rat Fink At the Harrah's Auto Collection in Reno, NV." width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Photo Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aresauburnphotos/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nick Ares</a><br /> </span><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">CC BY-SA 2.0</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In the 1990s artist Robert Williams founded the Juxtapoz art magazine showcasing Lowbrow artists. Prior to that, Lowbrow art can be traced to the hot rod and surf cultures in Southern California creating Rat Fink and Kustom Kulture in the late 1950s. During the 1960s, Lowbrow underground Comix like Zap were conceived. Over the years, Lowbrow has taken on many influences from pop culture such as psychedelic art and punk rock culture. With what is referred to as Retro, Lowbrow artists are keeping the legacy of the 20<sup>th</sup> century alive. Most lowbrow artworks are 2D, yet there are also sculptures and art toys - notably the customized vinyl toys.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lowbrow artists typically poke fun at convention. Perhaps taking a cue from Pablo Picasso:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> "Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist,"</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">...they know the "rules" of art, and purposefully choose to break them. If you have a sense of humor, then there is something from the Lowbrow movement for you. Humor is always present whether in a joyous, childish or sarcastic manner. Lowbrow art is commonly labeled in various different ways: underground, urban, Kulture, Neo-Pop, anti-establishment, pop surrealism, visionary, alternative and even "Nobrow."</span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpaumier/5111381228/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="APExpo 2010 014.jpg by Guillaume Paumier, on Flickr"><img alt="APExpo 2010 014.jpg" src="http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1440/5111381228_e34e9dc74d.jpg" height="212" title="Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco, California" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Alternative Press Expo 2010 in San Francisco, California</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Photo Credit: </span><span style="background-color: #fefefe; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpaumier/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Guillaume Paumier</a></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">CC BY-SA 2.0</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The critical mainstream art galleries tend to not embrace Lowbrow art. There are a growing number of exceptions to this being seen on exhibition most notably in Los Angeles and South Florida. Comic Con conventions which travel from city to city feature "Artists' Alley" sections featuring artists working with comic, sci-fi and other pop-culture influenced art. Alternative Press Expo organizes with Comic Con.</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcNsvPibCvyK0nOrYP-ul97ADsjYBygKrLY0z08s3VOuXGEZzBExDVfqTlNY1iFr-CjYxVasSZHYOva9NMOF_HxTpNo1VRmRfGBLbhbz-CzmhaqN5ISwMFlyio6NRzSTQ2Ly5Dufvbwko/s1600/Staple!2014.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Staple! Independent Media Event in Austin, Texas, Anissa Bryant" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcNsvPibCvyK0nOrYP-ul97ADsjYBygKrLY0z08s3VOuXGEZzBExDVfqTlNY1iFr-CjYxVasSZHYOva9NMOF_HxTpNo1VRmRfGBLbhbz-CzmhaqN5ISwMFlyio6NRzSTQ2Ly5Dufvbwko/s1600/Staple!2014.png" title="Staple! Independent Media Event in Austin, Texas" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Staple! 2014 in Austin, Texas,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Photo credit: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AnissaBryantArt" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Anissa Bryant</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://staple-austin.org/" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">Staple!</a>, <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a strictly indie-focused exhibition in Austin, Texas has been held </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">annually </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">since 2005. Its founder and lead organizer </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Chris “Uncle Staple” Nicholas makes it a point to highlight the creators of alternative comics, webcomics, zines, fan art, toys, crafts, games, animation and graphic arts <i>without </i>having to <b>compete</b> with celebrity appearances and "special reveals" of the more mainstream Lowbrow art events. Nicholas founded the Southwest's Staple! convention for both professional and amateur independent artists,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> "a showcase for the folks who publish comics and zines and possible literary masterworks out of their own apartments."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What qualifies as Lowbrow currently includes a wide variety of artists all concentrated into one. Currently a</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Lowbrow</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> artist who designs decals may be sanctioned in the same category with an artist who creates technically skilled urban murals. With time sorting different sub-classifications within the art movement itself should be expected to occur. At the present it is time to notice and begin collecting Lowbrow art to celebrate the time period from the late 50s to now to be able to pass the art and its story on to future generations.</span></div>
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Rebecca Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09809821376396260196noreply@blogger.com2