The Original Art of Patrick E Zatloukal

Today is my late husband's birthday.

Usually...on his birthday

and often, on the anniversary of his passing,

I upload a video of him.

'Behind a Picket Fence'

This year I decided to show a few of the paintings

that he painted (and sold) in the year before

he was diagnosed with cancer.

 "Harvest Moon"

"Contemplating Nature"

"Sundown Silhouette"

"Life in Red, White and Blue"

"Ebony and Ivory"

"Tranquil is the Night"

"In Memory of Trees"

"An Age of Wisdom"

"Bring Me To Life"

All of the paintings shown here were sold on eBay in

2005.....as were a number of other pieces not shown.

He was diagnosed in May and continued to paint until

that fall.  

After his surgery, (which took place at the same time Katrina was making landfall)

he painted very little, so these pieces are very precious indeed.

'Eye of the Dragon'

One of his last pieces, sold in early 2006, to someone at MTV...

he was very 'stoked' about that.

To see more of his art, you can go here...

I had other things on my mind at the time...and many of the paintings

that sold didn't get marked as such...

luckily though, I do have a few of his paintings that hang in my home.

We really had so much fun...painting together.

I'm so happy to share a little of his art with you all:)

The 'Never Ending' SALE

If it seems like I've got a

'never ending Sale'

going on in my Rustic Goth Etsy Shop...

in a way...

I do.

See...I do make my living selling what I create..

mostly through my Etsy Shop.

And...occasionally I'm fighting to keep this utility on

or paying my rent in increments

instead of in one lump sum...

For the most part though...

it does seem to pay the bills.

What I don't have though...is the 'extra'...to get myself

a new computer and my own Pro Printer.

So...I have Sales...almost constantly...

because I am 'determined'.

When my husband fell ill...I was selling my art on eBay.

And...at that time it was Great!

Put the bottom dollar price as the starting bid...

and sometimes it would go far above what I thought I'd ever get

for my art.

Everyday I listed new paintings...and almost everyday

I sold paintings.

One of the things that gave my husband comfort...was knowing

that he didn't need to worry how I was going to make a living

when he was gone.

Neither of us had any idea what would happen to eBay...or the economy.

But...I'm a bit of a 'fighter'

and I do what I have to do

to pay the bills...

even if it means having one Sale after another.

Man in the Moon

I was reading an article on Etsy about

'telling a story'.

It concerned item descriptions...

and what makes an item 'unique'.

After giving it some thought...it occurred to me that,

while I intend for each work of art to 'tell it's own story'...

perhaps I should also include something about what

inspired me to create each piece.

So...I started with the

'Man in the Moon'.

Someone commented on my Facebook page

about what I would do with a 

Lovecraft 'Cthulu' subject.

I really didn't know the subject...so I

looked it up in the wiki.

And..I 'accepted' the challenge.

While creating the piece...I thought about 

the demons and fears

most of us face during the course of our lifetimes...

and about 'embracing them' instead of running from them.

So..I guess there really is

'more to the story'

on every piece of art I created...

sometimes it's conscious and sometimes it's not...

but the 'story' unfolds all the same.

It's going to take me more time than I care to think about...

but I will be including those little 'stories'

in my descriptions 

(if I think it 'pertinent' to the piece)

Maybe I'll shoot for 4 or 5 every day until I get them all finished.

And..from time to time...I'll post a blog about

those that I would like to share with you all:)

Extending the Sale...

So...

since I was without internet

all week-end...

and there's a 'chance' it could

go out again...

with all the wind...

I decided to extend my Etsy Shop Sale

until later in the week.

I got so backed up on everything...

plus I NEED to finish the commission painting

I'm working on

(yes...I should have finished it while

cable was down...)

it's just that

I have a 'certain' way I work on things...

and if something is out of sync...I tend to

obsess about it...and consequently...I don't get anything

else done.

Anyway...with everything I have to do first...

it will probably be Wednesday or Thursday

before I can put the regular prices

back on the items...

in the meantime...anything new that gets

listed...

will be listed at the 'sale' price.

I Keep Changing Banners

I've used each one of these banners

for my Etsy Shop banner 

at some point this past month.

What I'm trying to do is establish

some kind of 'identity'

for my Rustic Goth art.

Honestly...my art styles are so varied 

there are times I feel borderline

schizophrenic.

Before I lost my husband..I did very little

'dark' art...

The first two or three years

after... I did very little 'light'

art...

but..this past year my dark art has

gotten lighter and lighter...

I guess I've reached the

'acceptance' stage.

But...anyway...

I don't want to do away with

my different styles...

I have fun doing them all..

but I do need to find 'homes' for all of them

and that's what I'm working on now.

Rustic Goth in a 'Capsule'

I wrote a post, on my other blog,

a Squidoo Lens

I have...

it then occurred to me

that I haven't posted...or linked...my

Rustic Goth Squidoo Lens

on this blog either.

It's kind of a

Rustic Goth 'capsule'

with a few pictures..some info...a few links

and a couple of videos.

I think it's a neat little site..

but I've been so busy lately that

I'm afraid I've neglected it terribly.

Bookmarks at Best Art Studios

Mike and Jaime now have some very

cool bookmarks listed in their

Bestartstudios2  Etsy Shop.

These really are so very cool..

I just HAD to 'share'.

EBSQ Blogger of the Week

This is a piece

I began working on a couple of weeks ago.

I've been having so many intermittent internet problems..

and I'm working on several custom orders...

so I haven't had a chance to finish it yet.

I was able to complete an interview

with this fine artist,

to become this week's

EBSQ Blogger of the Week.

It was fun to do...

I hope you like it.

The 'Aviator' Won Patron's Choice...

I am so very flattered

'The Aviator'

won Patron's Choice Award

on EBSQ

in the 'Grey' Show.

It isn't so much that I need

the affirmation..

but..I didn't enter many of the shows

until a couple of months ago..

because I thought..

"oh..what if people really don't like my art?"

So..it doesn't matter how old we get..

I think most of us still like to know

that someone, besides ourselves, like what we do.

 

My EBSQ Portfolio

I was updating my EBSQ Portfolio

recently

and noticed something a bit

disturbing.

I have 53 pages of art listed in my

portfolio...and

more than 40 of those pages are

for paintings I painted while I had a shop on eBay...

and I haven't been there since 2007.

I only have about 12 pages of art

since joining Etsy...

(so...out of the 1254 pieces of art on EBSQ

only

about 288

are for pieces on Etsy.)

What that translates to is...

how hard I had to work to keep my head

above water while on eBay.

point being...I am planning on painting a lot...lot...LOT more

in 2010.

List of Prints...Being Retired

I've made my decisions

about which Rustic Goth prints

will be retired in 2010.

I've shown a small sampling of those prints

in the picture here.

Last year, I didn't retire nearly as many

pieces but...as a result...

my computer has gotten really 'bogged' down

because of the space it takes

to store so many prints at such large sizes.

(I need the large size...to make the best prints possible.)

And...since I do have more than just

my Rustic Goth site

offering prints...I have somewhere between 175 and 200 LARGE prints

stored in my computer.

At least, that many more large prints are stored on my

little Zipfile thingy I recently purchased...but it's already full

and I'm going to have to get a couple more.

Anyway...I do go on and on at times...

yes..

I'm retiring the following prints for

Space reasons...but also for...'freshness' reasons.

Those pieces are…

1. Heart Strings
2. Sweeney and Jack
3. Are We Running Out of Time
4. Another Time…Another Place
5. The Waiting Begins
6. Desdemona
7. Gathering Stars
8. Where My Heart Lies
9. It’s Here If You Want It
10. A Long Forgotten Past
11. I’ll Give It To You
12. Show Me Yours
13. Birds In The Winter Woods
14. I’m Only Trying To Get A Better View
15. Alone On My Swing
16. This Isn’t Something You Play With
17. Burying My Past
18. Requiem for A Lost Friend
19. My Paradise Lost
20. Going Fishin’
21. A Melancholy Spirit
22. Give and Take
23. Inside My Asylum
24. Creeper Joe Walks His Crow
25. This Won’t Be Easy

Rather than post individual links for each print..
it is easiest for me...
and possibly for you..
 to click on this link to my Shop
and type the title of the print
into the search bar.

I did a new video...

I decided to do a new short video of some of my art...thinking it had been

a while since I did my last one...

Wow...I checked my You Tube videos and the last one

I did was

November 2008...

I really need to get better about doing them a little more often...

I have subscribers that might like to see some

new ones from time to time.

Back to Business

After everyone was 'done for the day'

and tucked snuggly in their

beds

I stayed up and worked

on some new

digital pieces.

I've got them listed in the Shop.

A Couple New Paintings...

'We Each Have One'

9" x 12" on

Acrylic Paper

"All That Matters"

on

5" x 7"

Wooden Plaque

Believe it or not...I do have canvas to paint on but...

I also have so many little wooden plaques...

and I just bought the pad of Acrylic Paper

(much like Watercolor Paper)

and had to give it a try.

Both of these will need to be framed...maybe

I'll see what I can find when I make my next run to

Hobby Lobby.

I'll probably list these pieces today (Saturday)

and then turn my attention to

finishing a bunch of new pieces that I'm doing

for the show next Saturday.

We're doing some different ornaments...

the older crowd aren't as crazy

about my 'art ornaments'...

so we'll do a few different kinds and see

what happens.

Heaven knows I have all kinds of materials

leftover from my 'crafting days'

that I could probably do something with.

Among them...about five or six unfinished bread boards...

I'm thinking...

Snow Scenes or something.

We'll have to figure out how to do a

'Christmas Corner'

so the new stuff doesn't 'clash' too bad with

our current styles.

She Dreams of Art

Jessica Moreau-Berry is a very talented
artist...
she does some of the coolest jewelry ever...
check out
her Etsy Shop...
Junque Revival.

She's also a writer and has a monthly
column called...
"She Dreams of Art"
where she features brief little
bio type articles on several artists
the first Sunday of each month.

This month
I am one of the featured artists in her column.
With so many talented artists on the 'net'...
I am quite flattered to be
one of the artists featured in her column.

Check out her column
and her blog...
I found both to be very entertaining
and informative.

Across The Universe

I got a good look at this painting
at our last show
and I was quite fascinated.

I had seen photos of Jaime's pieces
with the
"paper swans"
but didn't realize
until looking at one of her paintings
"up close"
that the paper swans were "origami".
I just
"fell in love" with them.

So I'm giving her
and her paintings
including
"Across the Universe..Pt 1"
2 Thumbs UP!!

Teaming up...

Thank goodness
Jaime had some wonderful pieces
to bring to the Fair.

In spite of the fact that she
has been ill for several months...
she's managed to get quite a few
items for the Fair
while keeping up her Etsy shop.

She finally got an MRI a few days
ago...and she's waiting to find out if it
showed up anything.

New collaboration

I just started
collaborating with
Jaci
at Enchanted Glass.

The above piece is the first
of several more to come.

Jaci has some really
cool pieces in her
Etsy shop.
Drop in and see for yourself.

New print in shop

This is a print....very different background...
of my
"Necromantic"
painting.

The background has not been
altered...
I took the first photos of the painting
without the flash...
and I liked that background better.

Since it did not show the actual colors in the painting...
I decided to turn it into a print.

I Need A New Computer

You would not believe how fast 'My Pictures' folders
fills up...and slows my computer to
an absolute crawl.
So...I zip them...then whenever I need to use one
I have to go through files and files and files
to find it.
I really need a new computer with enough
space that I can keep my pictures intact...
of course...I also need to be more organized...
I keep thinking I'll get organized...
and then..something else comes up.

My house has never been so messy in all of my years...
I NEED a vacation...albeit a working one...
a clean house and a new computer...
that's what I need!
Sales wouldn't hurt either:)