Having Fun With ACEOs

I've been taking some fun online art classes and I recently learned from one of my teachers that you can use a deck of playing cards as your canvas. Now being an artist I know that a canvas can be anything...believe me I've painted on so many different surfaces over the years it's crazy! But the idea of using playing cards has never crossed my mind.

One big thing I realized--and perhaps the teacher already knew this fact--is that a playing card has the exact same dimensions as an ACEO.

What is an ACEO you may ask? ACEO is an acronym for "Art Cards, Editions and Originals". An ACEO is a miniature piece of art that measures 2-1/2" x 3-1/2". If you make a small piece of art and it measures any other size then it can not be considered an ACEO. That is pretty much the only rule for making an art card. You can make your art card with any material you choose--wood, paper, canvas, glass, styrofoam or whatever you can think of! It just has to measure 2-1/2" x 3-1/2". ACEOs can be very fun and it's a great way to collect art from a variety of artists. If you'd like to read more about the history of ACEOs check out this website - http://www.aceo.org/.

Meanwhile, since my recent realization I began playing around with a deck of cards we had sitting in a drawer for many years. I shared one of my ACEOs on my blog a few weeks ago.

Then the other day I had a little bit of time on my hands so I began to dabble again with a few art cards I started a couple weeks ago. Here's how the set turned out...

I chose to write the words 'Quite Contrary' on the one because of the color scheme I chose. I had been in a mood to paint roses the last several days. But on this particular day for some reason orange and brown were my colors of choice. Not the colors that come to mind when you think of roses. But whatever...I must have been in a 'contrary' mood that day!

I have a nice variety of ACEOs in my stash and I plan to add them to my website in the near future so stay tuned.

Okay, I have lots of work to do so I best get moving along here. More fun on the way...until then,

Now offering prints of my artwork! Woohoo!

I am now offering prints of my original pieces of art! YAY!

At this point I'm in the 'trial and error' stage and I can only offer art prints of a small number of my original pieces. Things are moving slowly but surely and more prints are becoming available. The process is slow because I don't make the art prints myself...at least not at this point...but that could change down the road. For now I order them from an outside company. It takes time because I have to see how they all turn out before I can start listing them on my website. Yes, that's the perfectionist in me talking! I am very anal about my work and I don't want to sell you something that I don't feel is up to par with what I want. Therefore things can move painstakingly slow!

The sizes I am offering right now are limited as well, but that should change soon, too.

Here's a photo that shows a few of the prints I currently have to offer.

It's just a scattering of some that I have on hand. As I said I'll be getting more made and in a variety of sizes as well.

So please stay tuned...buying art prints is a mush less expensive way of collecting art and decorating your little corner of the world!

More fun on the way...until then,

I don't share this area of my work life often...

I don't share my portrait work on my blog much. I don't know why...I guess it's because this area of my artwork world is the oldest part of my business and I sort of fried myself on it a few years back.

Prior to the housing market decline I was overwhelmingly busy creating house portraits. I sold my renderings to realtors as closing gifts for their clients and to a handful of mortgage companies as well. And then of course my largest customer base was the average everyday customer who was either buying their dream home or selling the home in which they lived for many years and raised their family.

I still get a large number of house portrait orders during the holiday season. And in the spring and summer some of my devoted realtor customers still use my services since that's their busy season. But overall that area of my business has slowed a bit. But I'm okay with that...as I said doing so many house portraits over the years really did become overwhelming and I lost my appeal for that genre of my work life.

Well...that is until recently. A month or two back I got an order for something unusual...not a house portrait but for a vintage popcorn cart. This was something unique and out of the ordinary and it sparked my love of creating portraits again. Here's how it turned out:

Here's the photo of the actual wagon...I love it! I love anything vintage and this wagon was obviously well cared for over the years.

The customer informed me that she and her husband sold popcorn from this darling old fashioned cart at a variety of fairs and festivals during the summer months. They plan to have the drawing I created reproduced into their marketing materials, such as business cards, flyers and letter head. A very interesting idea. I hope to get a chance to see how it works out for them.

So even though my portrait work has been slow I'm hoping it picks up a bit with the warmer weather on the way. That coupled with the positive news that the housing market is improving will (fingers crossed) bring more orders my way!

Okay...now I have to get busy wrapping up orders to be shipped. More fun to come soon...until then,

My Latest Philosopy...

My latest philosophy regarding my art work and art life is to use what I have.

I often struggle as an artist when it comes to figuring out what I want to create. At night when I climb into bed and finally get time to relax a deluge of visions flow through my mind as I drift off to sleep. Unfortunately I always seem to forget my ideas by the next morning. Then when I'm awake and getting through each day I get so busy dealing with life issues that I have trouble letting go and letting my artistic ideas flow.

So with that mental block lingering in my mind pretty much all the time I decided to take a year long series of online art classes to help me overcome my struggle as well as learn some new art techniques.

Meanwhile, I started my business way back in 2001. I have files upon files upon files of photos of all the things I've created since then. For the past several years the voice in my head has been saying "Jane, use what you have!", but for some reason I couldn't figure out how to do that. Thankfully through these art classes I am learning how to do this. And I'm loving it!

I've often wanted to learn how to do collage work but just didn't know how to get all of my ideas to come together. These classes incorporate lots of collage lessons and the art instructors share the idea of 'using what you have on hand'. I've found it very freeing and am really enjoying the collage method of creating.

One of the instructors shared the idea to use playing cards as your canvas. We have lots of decks of cards laying around and we never use them so I went to town...here's one of my favorite ones so far...

The center of the flower is a small green spiral that I cut out of a print of one of my original paintings "Colorful Spirals"...

My "Colorful Spirals" painting has so many colors throughout and I love to use spirals in my work, so it provides me lots of opportunity to go with my new phiosopy of 'using what I have'.

Another thing I found interesting is that a playing card measures the exact same size as an ACEO or art card. So I plan to add the ones I've made as well as prints of them to my website.

Okay...I better get to work. I have some order to fill this week and if I keep sitting at my computer those orders are not going to paint themselves! More fun on the way...until then,

Breathing Life Back Into My Blog!

Goodness! Have I been lost in my own little world or what?!?! I'm sorry to say that I can't blame my lack of posts on being overwhelmingly busy filling orders. Oh, sure, I always have orders to process, but as of late they are trickling in since the holiday season passed. But that's okay...I'm very grateful that my little business is still moving along and not dead in the water.

However, since it's been calm and quiet regarding orders most of my attention has been directed toward getting my home life together...something that was a big necessity! We recently bought a new dishwasher and a washer and dryer. Next on our list is a new refrigerator. I never thought I'd be so excited over new appliances, but most of them were getting really old and worn out.

Along with the new appliances my husband relocated his office space right after the new year so that took my time and attention, too. But that's how life is...change...change...change, right? There's always something! Needless to say, the result of my redirected focus has left me with a very neglected blog.

But I am getting myself back in the game now and I plan to keep my nose to the grindstone regarding my business. I love to create and share things on my blog and I plan to get posts out on a much more regular basis. Fingers crossed that I can keep my word!

Meanwhile, I've decided to share a painting I created a few years ago that reminds me of someone 'living in their own little world'! I call this little story book house painting 'Curly's House'...



Okay...on my way to do some laundry in my new washer and dryer! Woohoo! More sharing to come soon...until then,

"Shortcut to Prosperity"

I recently read a book called 'Shortcut to Prosperity - 10 Entrepreneurial Habits and a Roadmap For an Exceptional Career' by Mark Hopkins.



I began reading this book from the perspective of a small business owner. Since the subtitle has the words 'entrepreneurial habits' I made a general assumption. While I believed that it was written for business owners and business creators I soon realized this book was not intended solely for entrepreneurs...it's completely appropriate for anyone who wants to live a prosperous life.

The author shares his idea of the Prosperity Cycle. He explains that just making a simple start can help you become motivated and set you on the path to reach your goals. He also includes a variety of exercises that assist the reader with finding his or her passion as well as figuring out what propserity means to each of us. As you can imagine every one has a different opinion about what prosperity means. Some may define prosperity as being financially secure. That's certainly one of the first thoughts that comes to mind for me. But the author explains that you have to look at the cost of being financially secure. If you want a fat wallet and an over flowing bank account you will likely have to give up something very important in order to get those things. Think about it...what would you be willing to give up to have the amount of money you desire? Some may think, "I'll gladly work longer hours and take on more responsibility at my job if it means more money for my family." But you have to realize that in return you will have less family time. Less time relaxing. Less time enjoying your hobbies..your life. The author explains this mentality by sharing his own life experiences.

Of all the shortcuts explained in this book my favorite is the explaination for the need to develop your personal vision and the creative tension exercise. This is the part that I feel can be useful for anyone! His explanation of the need to access your reality as it is right now versus where you want to be in the future is so important. You have to be brutally honest with yourself and that can hurt. But it's so important for you to know exactly where you are--right here, right now--before you can figure out how to get to where you dream to be.

In my opinion this book would be a must read for high school and college students. I have 3 teenagers and having a tool like this to share with them is so valuable. The habits and lessons detailed in this book are something every student needs to learn about and understand. The clear explanations of his common sense tools such as "have a good attitude", "how to recognize an attractive opportunity versus when to walk away", "pay attention to, learn from and surround yourself with successful people" are useful easy to understand.

This book has loads of good advice and details about how to build healthy habits that will set yourself up for success and prosperity. It's definitely on my list of 'must reads'!

Okay...I have a busy day ahead...more sharing on the way...until then,

Disclosure: In exchange for an honest review this blog owner was given a free copy of the book.

BAM 10,000 Facebook Fan Auction

I have one of my wood burnings listed in an auction that's being held on the Business Among Moms Facebook Page...

Click on over to see all the wonderful items that are up for bidding!

Business Among Moms 10,000 Fan Auction

My wood burned angel is included among all of the wonderful items. It has a retail value of $36.00 and the bidding starts at $1.00!!

Make sure to click on over and join in on the bidding!

More fun on the way...until then,