Happy New Year!

I found this

very short...and very cute...

New Year's video

to share with you.

Wishing everyone

the Best New Year Yet!!

What's New....

I've started doing digital backgrounds and collage sheets

that I'm offering in my

Rustic Goth Artfire Shop.

I only have this

Steampunk ATC/ACEO collage sheet

currently available...

but I have a batch

of digital downloads

almost ready to list...I'm hoping to

have those up by the 1st.

I'm going to offer

a select number of

them also in my

Etsy Shop

for a limited time.

Recently I did an interview

with the Wall Street Journal...

that appeared yesterday..

here's a link to that article

complete with a photo of me

sitting in the floor of my studio.

I have sooo Much Work to Do!

I tend to 'forget' that my large

family like to get together at my house

over the holidays.

Here...I had all of these 'plans' to get

a bunch of new paintings...etc...

ready for listing at the beginning of 2010...

hello...

we'll be celebrating

New Year's Eve

and

New Year's Day...

we always get together for

games

when everyone gets some

time off of work...

so..

my new pieces may not be

right at the beginning of the year...

but

they ARE coming!

For my Followers and Fans

I know there have been

some problems with everyone

getting their calendars.

So..hoping to resolve

this issue

I have put the calendar on a site

I don't use too often

at Deviant Art.

The calendar is available

for download here.

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.

Merry Christmas!

I checked You Tube...for what I felt a 'heartfelt' Christmas
story to share...though I may certainly be among the last to hear
this poem...I thought I'd share these 2 little videos anyway.

Wishing all a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year!!

UPDATE on Calendar Giveaway....

I wanted to give a quick update on

the Giveaway...

The 3 hard copy calendars will be

sent to the winners right after the Christmas Holiday...

via USPS First Class Mail.

I have sent the

Printable Calendar

to all of the other entrees

as a zipped JPEG file.

(The PDF files weren't sending so I had

to switch to JPEG.)

PLEASE let me know if you

entered the giveaway

and still have not received your

Printable Calendar

in your email.

Email me at my

RusticGoth

email address.

Have a Wonderful Holiday Season!

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.

A Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It is a 'most wonderful' time of the year...getting ready to spend

time with family and loved ones...

wrapping up what has been a pretty good year...

making new friends...

I've packed and shipped all of the items

purchased from my Rustic Goth Shop

so that ends my

free upgrade to Priority Shipping

special

I was having.

My house is still a bit "upside down"...I needed to clean

it really good

for the Christmas Holidays...and the beginning of the New Year.

The Babylonian believed that

'what you do the first day of the year...

has an effect on the rest of the year'

led me to make a New Year's Resolution last year...

and I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions.

That was to 'become better organized'....

and I have.

I have a more specific list of resolutions

for 2010..

and I wanted to 'begin my New Year' very organized

with a Clean House!

I recently had my

2010 Creepers Calendar giveaway

and

Carol...(one of the winners)

at Drearydom Larks

wrote a wonderful blog post

featuring a few pieces of my art...with her

superb dolls.

Check it out here.

And...the WINNERS of the GIVEAWAY are...

It was a bit after noon...

okay..it was almost 2 p.m....

but..

I've drawn the winners

of my

2010 Creepers Calendar

and they are:

Carol Mae

MoonArt Design

Drearydom Larks

Even though these were the names drawn...

all those who
entered the drawing
(by the 12/17 deadline)
are
WINNERS
of

a Printable

2010 Creepers Calendar.

Just shoot me your email address,

if you haven't already...

and I'll send you

3 emails with a Zipped File JPEG Download

(the PDF files are coming throug
so I've had to send a high resolution JPEG file instead)

ALL Winners

please send addresses

to:

RusticGoth@yahoo.com

If you didn't get your name in
for this drawing
keep an eye on my blogs and I
will be having new drawings in the coming weeks.

Nightmare Before Christmas -- Carol of the Bells

I haven't seen the movie, so I decided to go and watch a few 'clips' on You Tube...enjoy!

2010 CREEPERS CALENDAR and a GIVEAWAY

My 2010 CREEPERS CALENDAR

is now listed in my

Rustic Goth Etsy Shop.

In celebration of many things...

that I won't go into...as I do tend to 'ramble..

I am having a Drawing

for (3)

Calendars

on 12/18

the week before Christmas

at 12 (noon) CST.

(I want to be able to get them out in time for the New Year!)

This is my

very FIRST Give-Away!

How it works...

just LEAVE a COMMENT

...and...

shoot me an e-mail

(so I have yours)

to

rusticgoth@yahoo.com

I'll use a

"random selector"

...I'll be picking names out of a hat...

to

select the winners

on

12/18.

And...I'll post the

winners

on my blog

later in that day

or the following day..

depending on my

'level of business'.

Thanks so much to everyone who

follows and reads my blog...

I really do appreciate it!

Jaime's Holiday Banner

I visited Jaime's Etsy Shop

and saw that

she made a wonderful Holiday Banner for her

shop.

I was so tickled by it that I had to blog about it.

I know her work well enough to know that

this is a combination of

four different paintings...

some Christmas lights

and clever fonts.

Choosing This Year's Christmas Card

I'm needing to

get my cards ready to send

to immediate family members...

I haven't sent too many cards

since I've been working from home...

The top card is my favorite...

it's my

'Rustic Goth' card.

I'm pretty sure my family members

wouldn't like it as much as I do though.

So...I will choose...

I really like the simplicity of this

card...I designed it last year

for CMZart.

And...I like the colors

and the

'touch of whimsy'

of this card.

I'd better decide soon....I usually

send my cards sometime between the

15th and the 20th...

and time is really flying by.

Jaime has already made her cards

and the cutest little gift tags..

see them here.

I thought she did a really great job...

I am MOST impressed!

This was the card I made

and sent

last year.

It's probably still my favorite!

I'm Working On A Calendar!

With the shows...

and a bunch of other stuff going on...

I had put the calendars on the

'back burner'.

But...I sooo wanted to do one

for 2010...

so, I finally set aside some time

to go through all of my

'creepers'

and select twelve pieces that I thought

would go together nicely in a calendar.

Now..I've sent the selections to Jaime...

and I'll let her

'work her magic'...

she's figured out a few shortcuts to doing the calendars...

so

it makes sense to have her do them for me!

As soon as they're ready...

I'll be listing them in the

shop.

Some New Digital Originals in the Shop

I'm Not Crying
Gloomy Sunday

All In the Moment

Love Can Touch Us One Time

Here are a few of the newest pieces I just

finished...now listed in

my Rustic Goth Etsy Shop.

I based each of these pieces

on a

'sad' song title

or a lyric from a

'sad' song.

I really do like how they turned out

and I've included them in

my

Etsy Holiday Sale!

Purchase Directly From Me!

I have had several requests to purchase

my artwork

directly through me,

rather than going through Etsy.

Sooo...I set up a

'Buy Now Button'

on my blog for those who wish

to buy directly from me.

It is currently set up ONLY for 5"x7" Prints,

and it works

like this...

1. Select the 5x7 Print(s)

you wish to purchase.

2. Click on the

'Buy Now' button.

3. In the Notes...list the

Title of the Print(s).

4. Complete transaction.

I am offering them at the

50% Sale Price

I currently have going in my Etsy Shop.

Please note...if you do have any problems

with check-out

(as I'm not a PRO at setting up PayPal Services)

please shoot me an email

mailto:RusticGoth@yahoo.com

I'm Retiring...

Well....I"M not retiring...but

some of my prints are.

At the end of every year...

I 'retire'

some of my open edition prints.

I do this to 'make room' for new pieces.

I'm a little OCD about the number

of items I have in my Etsy Shop

at any given time.

I like to keep it between 140 and 150...

that's about maximum for me to be able to manage.

Since I have to have Jaime do

my printing for me...it's also easier to

'zip' all of my old pieces and just keep the pictures

on my computer..of the pieces that are current.

And..

heaven knows...I already have a three or four day job

ahead of me...to go through all of the prints

that are currently calling

my laptop..home.

So...I'm going to spend a few days

making decisions...

which prints are staying..

which are to be 'retired'.

Once I have it all figured out..

I'll list the

'retirees'

here.

I've Been Working...

This little piece is a

"work in progress".

I've been working on it

'on and off'

all week-end...

I know that I am late...trying to get

a 2010 calendar together...

but

this one is going to be used for

February...

maybe.

Art For Human Rights

This is the painting

I recently completed to send to

Art For Human Rights.

It is titled..

'The Red Forest'.

The auction will be held in

Chicago

February 19, 2010.

I'll post a link on the side panel,

in the near future,

with more details.

Last Show of the Season

We've got ONE more show this Season.

It's this Saturday and Sunday..

which means..

Friday afternoon and evening is spent

setting up our space.

It's colder this show...so I'll need to really

bundle up...it really gets cold in

the building.

As with most shows past...I'll be pulling

all items that can't be

duplicated...from my Etsy Shop...

for the week-end.

Etsy Holiday Sale

I'm going to be pulling

a few of my pieces...sometime between now

and the end of the year.

I like to 'retire' pieces

every so often...

usually this time of year.

Just putting a 'heads up'

out there for anyone who might

be interested.

For this reason...I will continue my

'Etsy Holiday Sale'

on all of my prints...

through the rest of the year.

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 Lovely Thanksgiving Week-end

This is me

and

count them...ALL 1-2-3-4-5-6

of my kids!

And 7 of the 9 grandkids...

(the oldest 2 are actually 'step'-grandkids

who live with their dad)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving..

played some Balderdash...

laughed a lot..

had great culinary delights...

All in all...a great week-end...

but

now I'm ready

to get

back to business.

My daughter-in-law, Becky...

figured out how to use the timer

on my camera

(who knew I had a timer...)

and so we were all

able to get into the picture...without having to

grab someone off the street to come in and

snap the photo!

Great job Becky!!

Family Week-end!

I am MOSTLY taking the Week-end

to spend with my

children and grandchildren.

While 5 of my 6 children live

less than 10 minutes away...my oldest child

and his family...

live 12 hours away

so we don't get to see them as often.

At the 'last minute'

he decided that they would

come home for Thanksgiving.

It's been a year and a half...so

I'm taking the week-end to spend with

my family.

I am Thankful....

This Thanksgiving...

as with all Thanksgivings past..

I am most

thankful for..

the Blessings

of

Family!

The pictures upload so very small...

but

This is MY Family!

The 'gorgeous' couple in the top middle is

my husband and me...

and

we are personally responsible

for all of the pictures

that came after.

My children

and

my grandchildren.

Etsy Holiday Sale

I am having an

'Etsy Holiday Sale'

in my

Rustic Goth Shop.

On Everything....

Check it out!

We have ONE Show Left!

We had an 'excellent' show this past week-end...

what I particularly LOVED

was that our business was Steady!

This year we started with the smallest

of spaces...since we weren't sure how we would do.

Fortunately...we were able to

get a little extra space at all of the other

shows...

which gave us room to spread out a bit..

and not feel as 'claustrophobic'.

But, for this show..

we GOT exactly what we paid for...

a 10' x 10' space.

We discovered, we REALLY need a 10' x 15' space

to maximize our display...

so..next year...for MOST of the shows we opt to do...

we'll go with the 10x15...

then...if we end up with a 10x20

(as some of the local shows probably will)

I'm considering using the extra

5x10 space for something completely separate...

We'll see.

I just want us to get acclimated to a 10x15' space,

so we can get our display

EXACTLY how we want it for our future shows.

Our LAST show of this season

is December 5th and 6th!

Thanks to all of our new friends...collectors

and other artisans alike...

who have made my 'return' to "live shows" a most

wonderful experience!

I had quite forgotten how much I LOVE to interact

with people...and I intend to do

MUCH more of it...in 2010!

At The Show....

I'm ALL day at the show...

and

we have to tear down

afterwards..

A long day and late night..

for sure..

Maybe I'll just take the

WHOLE Day off tomorrow!

Jaime took some pictures of our booth...

I'll upload some when I get them

from her.

The "Plan" for This Week-end.

I listed a 'select your own'

Postcard/ Mini-Print Pack

in the Shop.

Just an F.Y.I.

The 'plan' for this week-end...

I am going to 'pull'

my jewelry..

mirrors..

and original paintings

for

(1) day only.

Since it is only a 1 day show...I want

to go ahead and pull

all of the (1) of a kind...

items.

(I know this doesn't apply to the mirrors...but, since

we have to order those in...don't want to end

up selling out at the show...and not be

able to fill any shop orders

until I order more.)

Besides...I have some new items

in the 'works'

that I want to put into the

Shop next week.

Getting ready for the week-end!

Got a one day show this Saturday...

that means...

we'll be spending today doing last minute

finish ups...

Got to do a bunch of varnishing...

and need to pack and get all orders shipped later today.

Wow...this is going to be a

crazy..busy...day!!

A couple of "LOST" paintings.

"Annalea and the Raven"

"Cicely"

I was going through a book today and ran acrossed a couple

of

"Original Small Works of Art"

paintings that I did a while back.

I did them on art paper...so I'm sure I put them there

to flatten them...and got busy with something else.

Anyway...I went ahead and listed them

so they are in the

shop.

Addition====It took me overnight to remember...

I actually did these two pieces

when I decided to get a site on Artfire...

they were intended to be Artfire exclusive...

yikes!!

I'm going to do a couple of digital pieces

and replace them on Etsy...

this is why I've started my 'Making It Work' blog...

I've got so darned much going on

that I'm losing track of what it is I'm actually doing!

Grigio Design

I have been the 'subject'

(or...rather..."my art" has been the subject)

of several blogs

over the past two years.

I've been rather shy about doing

something similar but...

I've decided...

Beginning with

"Grigio Design"...

I want to 'feature' a

'fellow' Etsy Seller

in my blog

every week.

The picture above...

MADE it to Etsy's FRONT page...

it is

'Dragonfly Samurai'

by Grigio Design.

She has created so many very cool

jewelry creations on her

site..

check out her shop

and see for yourself!

I "Heart" Hedgehogs!

As anyone who has seen more than one or

two of my paintings has probably figured out that...

I 'heart' hedgehogs.

These little 'cuties' appear in many of my

'creeper'

paintings...

(which brings me to another matter...

I don't know why I call them

'creepers'....and I really need to think of something

a little less 'creepy' to call them..)

but...anyway...

I have seen this video before...and maybe you have too...

but I thought I'd share

for anyone who also 'hearts' hedgehogs..

and may have missed it..

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.

Call me Crazy...

Call me 'crazy'...

I've started 'yet' another blog.

Why????

It's a long story..really.

I wrote my very first blog post

back in 2005...

without meaning to...these posts

became 'updates' for the doctors and nurses

caring for my husband.

With everything we had going on...it was hard to

keep track of what happened...when.

More than once I had to 'refer to my blog'

to answer those questions.

Since I do earn my living online...

I find that it has become necessary for

me to create something similar

to try to keep a record of

what I'm doing...and why...

and a blog seemed the logical solution.

It worked for me before...

so..

'fingers crossed...

maybe it will work again!

I Have Never Seen ... 'Nightmare Before Christmas'

At every show we've done...this year...I hear

over and over and OVER...

"your art reminds me

'The Nightmare Before Christmas'..."

and you know...

it really doesn't...

I am a Tim Burton fan...but I have never seen

'Nightmare Before Christmas'.

I've seen 'Edward Scissorhands'...'Beetlejuice'...

'The Legend of Sleepy Hallow'...

but...nothing more than a You Tube

clip of 'Nightmare..'

What I have gotten a 'kick' out of

are Tim Burton's other

characters...

'Stain Boy'

'Match Girl'

'Oyster Boy'

'Staring Girl'...

I think I've seen all of

'The Adventures of Stain-Boy'.

Nothing but the Best....

'Can U Fix It?'

by

Mike Best

'Dream Come True'

by

Jaime Zatloukal Best

I do the shows with my youngest daughter, Jaime...and her husband Mike.

Here is a sampling of their art...

They've got an Etsy Shop...

'Best Art Studios 2'

and they recently did an interview

with the

'Handmade Gift Guru'.

Jaime gives me far too much credit for

the (1) art lesson I gave her a few years ago...

she is pretty much

completely self taught..

and

not to be 'bragging'..

I think she has taught herself

quite well.

You can read the interview

here.