I just LOVE my week-ends!

I LOVE my week-ends.

I've 'claimed' Saturdays as 'ME' days...

it's the one day of the week I devote to myself.

No work...unless that's what I 'feel' like doing...

I catch up on emails...

read and comment on my fave blogs...

putter around the house...

(this past Saturday I made homemade chicken noodle soup..

fresh dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls)

I write a few blog posts and schedule them...

I can always 're-schedule' if something more 'pressing' comes up...

(with my schedule being what it is...I can't always find the

time to post something new each and every day)

but I try not to schedule more than a couple a week.

I take a nice long relaxing bath....

do my laundry

(since I only have myself to do laundry for...once a week is plenty)

anyway...you get the picture...Saturdays I mostly

spend time with myself.

Then...every other Sunday

(unless a holiday sneaks it's way in there)

we have 'family' day.

The kids and grandkids come over..

we have some kind of dinner

and just 'hang out'.
(Jaime has to come over every Sunday...

we do have to 'meet' once a week..

since our businesses are somewhat intertwined...

and besides..

she has to bring over whatever she's printed for me..

any supplies she's included with her own orders..

that sort of thing.)

I wished my week-days were as relaxed and laid back!

Ah well...it is what it is.

Custom Requests

For the longest time I took on very few

special orders or commission paintings.

I learned...the hard way...that,

in the time it takes

to create a custom digital

or commission painting...

which, for me,  is 2 to 3 weeks...

a lot of folks often have a 'change of heart'.

What they were very excited to order in the beginning...

has cooled to the point of..

'Oh, yeah, I forgot I asked you to do that and...

I've actually changed my mind.'...

So...there you are...sitting there with a painting,

with a green background 

(when I usually do golden backgrounds),

a creeper with his bloody heart in his hands and a 

huge bloody hole in his chest.

This was actually a special request I agreed to do

a couple of years ago.

Now...mind you....that is something I never would

have painted under usual circumstances.

Long story short,

they 'changed their mind' and didn't want it after all...

WTH am I supposed to do with it???

And...I hadn't even asked for a deposit...

So...I declined ALL requests for the next two years.

Then, last fall...someone purchased a painting

I had listed in my Etsy Shop.

He and his wife loved their new painting so much,

that they just HAD to have me do a special painting

for a friend who was coming home from Iraq 

shortly...

something with Jack the Ripper and Sweeney Todd.

I said 'no'....over and over again...I said 'no'.

They finally 'convinced' me...

(I think it was the Iraq thing, )

so

I collected the full purchase price up front

and let them know it would take me 3 to 4 weeks.

They must have like it...they have purchased two

other custom paintings since.

The point of my post today....

I've worked on several digital 'samples'

over the past month,

that took about 18+ hours of my time.

So what happened with them...?

nothing at all.

I spent 18+ hours that I could have spent working

on something else,

for 'zilch'.

 I've always had a problem asking folks for money

for something that doesn't 'exist' just yet...

but

I'm going to have to 'get over that'.

For custom paintings...I have to get the money up front...

to order canvas and paints...

(and 'incentive' to get the painting done as quickly as possible,)

so I'm not as fussed about that as I used to be.

I'm either going to have to say 'no' to all

digital requests

or

request payment before starting on anything...

I'm just not as fast as I like to

think that I am.

So I created a little free website
 especially to
address custom requests.

I'm Excited about My New Series

These aren't my pieces...

but they do 'give away' the new series

I'm about to start painting.

My creepers have 'joined the carnival'

and they are part of the

side show attractions.

I am going to paint these pieces

on 6" x 6" Museum Canvas,

which means they are thick enough to sit on a

shelf or hang on a wall,

I tend to like to use this size as shelf pieces...

but collectively they would make an

impressive wall collection.

Anyway...

my canvas doesn't get in until the first part

of next week...

but I am hoping that I will have one or two

to list by the end of next week.

I'm very excited to get this series

painted.

Enchanted Glass

I do very few art pendants

because they are rather 'tricky' for me.

My daughters used to do some pendants...

and probably will again, 

for the fall arts and craft shows,

but with everyone as busy as they are,

I don't know that I will have any for

my shops anytime soon.

I have worked with the lovely Jaci,

at Enchanted Glass,

for almost a year now.

She has 8 of my images that she

is offering as pendants,

in her

Enchanted Glass shop.

We change them up from time to

time...

so give her shop a visit...

she has some really cool pieces there.

Shop Update

You may

or may not have noticed...

I have pulled a lot

of pieces out of

my Rustic Goth Etsy Shop.

About once or twice a year I evaluate

everything I have listed in my

Etsy Shop 

and decide what I want to do 

with each piece.

Well...it's that time again!

I have either pulled

or I'm in the process of pulling

a number of pieces.

I like to have a manageable number

of items in each of my shops...

and when the shops get too unwieldy for me..

I 'clean house'.

So...if there was a piece you were 

'in love' with and you don't see

 in my Etsy Shop...

you can check..
Rustic Goth Zibbet,

1000 Markets,

or

Rustic Goth Artfire.

I have a LOT of artwork...

and much of it isn't even being offered anymore,

plus...

it didn't make sense to have duplicate artwork

in my shops...

so

I am in the process of

making each one of my shops unique

in the art that is being offered.

Some of the same pieces will
be offered on merchandise in my
Zazzle Shop...
and will eventually be offered as a
Print on Demand print
at
Fine Art America.

I like that collectors will be able
to purchase Canvas Art Prints
at Fine Art America,
as soon as I have signed up for the
print on demand program.

So...that's an 'update' on
my shops...
and I'm hoping to have everything
all 'restructured'
by the end of next week.

Wordless Wednesday 9

A Quiet Week-end

I had a pretty quiet and uneventful week-end.

We had our 'family day' on Sunday...

wouldn't you know that was the only day

of the week-end that was a bit chilly and damp?

So..the kids were pretty much stuck inside...

they weren't real happy about that.

But..we did our birthdays for the month...

tried to go to the cemetary (but it was closed...really??)

Granted...it was after 8...I didn't see anything about

'hours of operation'...

so I'm not sure when they closed the gates...

so I'll save the visit now for Father's Day.

Didn't get my poppy again this year...

I went looking...but didn't run across

any of the Vets with their bouquets of paper poppies.

Spent Memorial Day alone...

used it to try to come up with some new pieces...

but

didn't have a lot of luck.

That was my week-end...all in all

very quiet.