One of Patrick's Pieces

This is one of Patrick's pieces. It is one of his eMotion paintings that sold, back when we were still on eBay.

I think this piece is so good...in a creepy sort of way.

A link to his Etsy Shop...Art By Patrick...can be found at the bottom of this blog. Check him out. He doesn't have a large volume of pieces on...but, what he does have, I think, are very good!

Bug's Ear

These are two of of my newest characters...

she is Aria...and the painting is titled 'Oops'..

he is Malcolm...the painting is 'Malcolm's Bluebird'.

Now I think these little folks are as 'cute as a bug's ear'...as the saying goes...so I'm toying with the notion of naming this series...'Bug's Ear'...

'Tis The Season...

This is a REALLY small photo of one of the mugs I have for sale on my CMZ Art Zazzle site. It's only 12.95!

I do like the Zazzle sites.

I have the Tuscan Art site there as well and I haven't done too bad selling on that site. Mostly mugs and magnets.

You can visit my Zazzle sites at the following links...

http://www.zazzle.com/cmzart

http://www.zazzle.com/TuscanArt

The Tuscan Art Zazzle site is devoted to my Tuscan art pieces.

The CMZ Art Zazzle site is for everything else! I just started the CMZ Art Zazzle site, so there isn't nearly as much in that shop as there is in the Tuscan Art shop.

Go ahead and visit...leave a comment or a rating.

I met someone who is Very Special...

I have to confess that I am not as extroverted as I would like to be. I left the corporate world of insurance in 2004, and since then I have become quite introverted.

Partly because of my husband's illness and the year we spent fighting his cancer..and losing.
Partly because, I really don't leave my house very much anymore.
And, partly because...well, I'm not sure why...I just don't have as many 'opinions' as I used to have...so I guess I've become somewhat boring.

Now, I have met a very special person on Etsy. She is a collector...but, most important..she is a kind and considerate person who has offered words of encouragement and all of the help that she can, to further our work in this world. How special is that??!!!!

I wished I were as extroverted as our dear new friend...perhaps I worry too much about rejection...maybe..???

Hope Everyone Had A Wonderful Thanksgiving

Well, I'm trying to get back on track, after a wonderful Thanksgiving. I haven't done much the past couple of days, did enjoy quite the feast and some fun and games.

I've only finished a couple of new ACEO's but hoping to get more done yet today. Tomorrow is another family day, so I always take those off...for the most part.

This wonderful ACEO print, 'Daddy LongLegs' is from the original by Patrick Zatloukal. More of his work can be found in his ArtByPatrick shop in Etsy. I have a link to his shop at the bottom of my blog.

New Paintings and Prints on Etsy

I have some new paintings and prints on Etsy.

The first painting shown here, 'VooDoo Remedy', is a little hard to see with this image. It is a very distressed woman, holding a doll with a pin sticking out of it, her 'remedy' to that dreadful malady, PMS.

It is painted on an 8" x 10" unstretched cotton canvas sheet. With the cost of stretched canvas being what it is, I am offering these little pieces to try to keep the prices as low as possible. I am also offering a Limited Edition (of only 25) ACEO prints of this little gal.

The second painting, "He'll Never See It Coming", is a painting of a sad eyed snowman, with a snowball in one 'hand', a teddy bear (barely holding on) in the other...I think he is fixing to hit the poor little teddy with the snowball...

It is also painted on an 8" x 10" canvas sheet and I am offering Limited Edition (25) ACEO prints of this as well.

Third painting, 'Her and Her Cat", is just that...her...and her cat. Also an 8"x10" original painting on canvas sheet.

The last painting, 'Bella's Bat", was sold on eBay, but I am offering Limited Edition (25) ACEO prints of this painting...it is one of my all time favorites.

I wanted also to clarify a point of confusion to some of my collectors. I am Charlene Murray Zatloukal, listing as both 'Rustic Goth' and as 'CMZart' on Etsy.

My reasoning for both shops is that I felt the collectors of my 'dark, sad, surreal, macabre' art would not care for some of my 'happy, cute, abstract, Tuscan, etc' art and vice versa.

After losing the 'love of my life' a little over a year ago...I have been mostly sad. I cared not to paint anything hopeful or happy because, I didn't feel hopeful or happy.

And, though most of the art I have done since then has been very sad and surreal, I try very hard to find some happy and fun times as often as possible. When I find them, I paint them.

Maybe the 'separation' of the art is something I need to do for myself...I'm not yet sure.

For now, I will keep them separate...just know that I am one artist..with many dimensions.

New Painting on Etsy - Her and Her Cat

'Her and Her Cat' is my newest listing on Etsy.

It isn't as "dark" as I normally paint, but I wanted to experiment on a new support, cotton canvas sheets. I haven't really worked on flat canvas so I wanted to see how it ended up.

I'm pretty happy with the results.

If you are interested in this little gem, you can find her at,

http://www.rusticgoth.etsy.com/.

New Sites for Group Artists

Most of the X Street Gallery Artists can now be found on new sites.
Several now have shops on Etsy.
Others are listing on Overstock.Com
A few have given up on selling their art online.

A few of the Etsy Shop Links, with current updates, can be found at the bottom of this page.

I Sold My Last Painting on Ebay

I sold my last painting on eBay, today. It is the last I will list with X Street Gallery. I believe it is the 'end' for all of the X St artists.

Once a viable income producer for self representing artists, eBay is no longer as friendly to the non Gold/ or Platinum PowerSelling artists as they used to be.

They have opted to restructure 'everything' as far as I can tell...and it is no longer as easy to find things as it used to be...especially original art. Even 'featuring' everything has done no good at all, just throwing good money after bad.

Well, I am getting a lot more views on my Etsy listings than I have been getting on eBay the last few weeks. Hopefully similar sales will follow.

I'm done with eBay though, unless they do some major fixes real soon...and I'm not holding my breath.

It saddens me...

It saddens me to have to leave the X Street Gallery...and eBay. Unfortunately, I could not make a living on either.

I live to paint....I really do...I can't imagine myself doing anything else. But, I also 'paint to live'...and one has to pay their bills.

I have had to put a full time career in art 'on hold' for a good number of years...as I had mouths to feed and there really wasn't a good venue for my art until...eBay. I've had three mostly good years on eBay...until now.

After eBay started doing their different tests...the major art sellers started being able to revise constantly, in order to keep their paintings always out on the first page (and burying the majority of artists who were unable to use that 'glitch' to their advantage) and just seeing the number of visits drop so dramatically..it was as though our items had actually disappeared for most of the time they were scheduled to run...it was just TOO MUCH for me.

So...as of the end of this week....you will not find a C. Murray original listed on eBay.

To find out where you will be able to find my original art...RSS this blog.

I am leaving X Street Gallery

I cannot personally afford to continue listing on eBay, given all of the changes and glitches it has undergone in recent months.

With all of the problems, paintings that used to receive hundreds of views are lucky to reach 100.

Many of the artists who list on eBay are expressing concern..but, no one is listening.

So, I have personally decided not to list anything new...at least until eBay is done with their tests, glitches and whatever else it is doing.

C