Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Dracula is In

While I love the tree painting I did way back in June that hangs over our mantle it gets a bit dull staring at the same thing over and over again.

And with the season nearly upon us, I've wanted something to put the house in a more festive mood. My husband and I first talked about getting a cheap canvas print of a haunted house with a cemetery and hanging that up, but I thought about it and realized I could do it and a lot bigger.

Then the haunted house turned into a haunted castle, and a haunted castle moved to the mountains and got a job as a travel agent.

This is our new Halloween Mantle Painting.And of course because it's a huge 18X24 painting there's a lot of detail missing in this overall shot.

Here's a close up of the castle.
And the moon actually has some darker spots to it giving it a moon like appearance. I swear it isn't just one yellow blob.

Whatcha think? I love the color contrasts of the sky so much I'm thinking I might to do that with a graveyard in front and put that in my store.

Anyone interested in a halloween painting?

Picture a Day - Day 301

Everyone put on your Apoptosis hats and get out your refreshing SDS beverages because it's Kill Cell Day!

I love Kill Cell Day. It's that magical time in lab when everyone comes together to snuff out the cells you've had growing in your incubator for the past two weeks.

The magic starts on Kill Cell Day eve with all the preparations and decorating. While not strictly necessary it has become rather common to cover racks with multi colored eppi tubes and leaving the clear ones for everyday use.

What is tradition is to write in super tiny script on each tube little messages to the Science Gods asking them for a good bounty and a perfect Kill Cell Day.Once those are laid out in order (it's just between you and Martha Stewart if you really have to color code them as I did) it's time to go to sleep with visions of sterological pipettes dancing in your head.

What was that? You dash from your lab bench to find a present from Father Killcellmas, a sterile hood filled with all kinds of goodies.
Everything you could possibly need to finally be rid of those cells that were taking up so much time and energy. There's a bacteria to infect them with and why look at that even some concentrated lysing buffer, a pipetteman to add it all and oh he even included a Sharpie as a lab coat stuffer. You can always use one of those.

It's going to be the best Kill Cell Day ever!
I just hope it doesn't denigrate after a few years thanks to commercialization to nothing more than an excuse to go out and drink til you can't open an incubator and then spend 10% of your gross income on stupid life size replicas of Macrophages and bacteria made out of tinsel.

It'd be awful if Kill Cell Day went the same route as Love Day.

How do you celebrate Kill Cell Day?

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Exciting News

Fantastical Magestical Wonderfantabulal News!

But I can't share it with you for a week.

Aren't I a stinker like that. He he he

In the mean time, for any nerds out there Marvel/DC Season 3 is coming. Could Rorshac and Deadpool finally be getting that apartment together?
Check back on October 8th and I'll share with you my fargasmical news.

I wonder if all this hype will really kill the surprise? Probably.

And since I'm in such a little stinker mood, here's a sneak peak of my latest Super Awesome I can't wait to hang it on the mantle painting:

Picture a Day - Day 300

WOOOHOOO! The Big 300!

I didn't even know I was bowling -- does explain the odd smelling shoes on my feet though -- but there ya have it a perfect score!

Well it's been a great run and all but I suppose it's time I packed it in and . . .

What?

A year has 365 days in it?

That can't be right. Who would pick such an uneven number? It's so . . . sloppy.

Pick back up the balloons and vacuum up the confetti boys. We still have over two months to go.

This weekend was the quintessential fall day, mid 60's with bright sun and a breeze to knock all those autumn leaves in the air. If I could have I'd have saved it up in a bottle but I missed out on the Jim Croce bottle sale that day.Despite both my husband and I being a touch knackered and the wind picking up to a brisk 20 mph we decided to take the puppy on her first Large Park visit.

We loaded her up into the car and took the 20 minute drive to Pioneers Park. Growing up in Nebraska a tree is a sacred and rarely glimpsed thing so getting more than two or three together is cause for celebration which may or may not lead to national holidays.

Pioneers Park is 500 acres of Tree and Path wandering goodness.

Essie was quite excited when we pulled up. She jumped out of the car, her tail wagging and tongue lolling as she planned just how to lick every other person who felt like visiting the park that day.
She's become quite the little model for me. I can usually get her to sit in a specific spot, step back a few steps and finally get her to look at me if I work fast enough. Maybe I'll even have a dog who likes having her picture taken.
We wandered through a pine section of the Park and were greeted with a needle shower. It was rather strange to have small yellow sticks rotate and swirl from the sky heights to the ground.

Es was just happy to find some pine cones to chew on.
We took a little break in a grassy glen, watching as a cavalcade of antique cars toured the park. Essie didn't care too much but she was really fascinated with the bikers. Maybe she'll train for Tour De France.
After an hour we were all about ready to collapse in a pile so we trekked back to the car and headed home for a nice long nap.

This weekend we get to look forward to highs in the 50's and rain so I'm very happy that we bit the bullet and got int he chance to visit the Big Park.

Do you have a nice place to go when you want to just visit nature? How often do you trek out to some of the further parks?

Monday, September 28, 2009

Welcome to the nut house, may I offer you a cracker?

We can rebuild it. We have the Technology. We have the capability to repaint a wedding the mailmen decided to smash into tiny pieces.

Okay Post Office, while I am still mad face at you deciding to puncture one of my paintings with all those knives you juggle in your spare time I am happy to announce that the wedding dress is back and better than ever.But you don't want to make me angry again. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. I might passive aggressively give you a funny look every time you walk past me on the street. Yeah, how you like them apples?

There's more to this post than just a re update on a wedding dress. After watching the Etsy dramaz unfold I've decided to open up a shop at a place that actually tries to only be Handmade.

It's a bit smaller but still has a nice list of shops and from what I've seen no obvious major resellers or tons of crap to wade through to find cool things.

I'd be ever so happy if you'd check out Introverted Painting at 1000 Markets. There's even a wall apparently so you can leave me lots of weird messages, maybe from some happy customers *hint* *hint* *hint*

I only have a couple of listings up right now, but give me a week and I'll have it all moved over there as well.

Has anyone else had any experience with 1000 Markets? What was your impression of it?

Picture a Day - Day 299

I have a deep and unabated hate/hate relationship with shoes. While I hate how they trap my feet and because I was born with nary a Y chromosome I have to wear the most ungodly confusing contraptions when it's dress up time, what I really hate is that by law I am required to wear shoes everywhere I got (and closed toe at work, stupid chemicals).

Truly it is a simple straightforward non functioning relationship born out of an evil necessity. But I always thought I had shoes fooled and they were at least ambivalent towards me or were willing to pretend I didn't despise them down to the tips of their shoelaces.

With winter approaching fast on the heels of a cool autumn, I've come to accept that Essie isn't going to suddenly get over her "I can't go out to pee unless someone is with me" complex before the big freeze.

So I went hunting for some shoes I could easily slip on that would provide a bit more coverage for my toes over my wimpy summer sandals and that were a bit more water proof (sadly no fuzzy slippers for wading in dew/frost encrusted grass).

I thought I lucked out as I found a pair of canvas boating shoes for $7 that should do the job nicely and be able to slip in and out of for quick walks and the like when I didn't feel like fighting with my more substantial tennis shoes.As soon as we got back the puppy really felt that she deserved to go outside, so I figured I'll get the "breaking the shoes in" out of the way and take the puppy on a quick little walk around the neighborhood.

It was a gorgeous day, a brisk breeze to combat the last vestiges of a summer sun. Es was in high spirits, just happy to be out of the house and free to try and say Hi to all the mother's pushing strollers (I think we have an anti-guard dog on our hands. She loves everyone).

But every time I'd take a step I felt a little pinch at the back of my heel. At first it was barely noticeable, just slightly annoying and something I thought I could work out as the breaking of shoes continued.

About two blocks away from home it started to really burn, like someone took a bit of sandpaper to my ankle and rubbed like a mad man before I could kick them in the nose.

In fact it was so bad, I took both of my shoes off and carried them while walking barefoot back home. When I sat down I was able to assess the damage.

This is what they did in under 15 minutes of wear to my right ankle.
Sorry for the blurry photo, it's surprisingly hard to take a picture of your ankle and get it in focus. Who woulda thunk it?

Now when anyone asks me just what I have against shoes I can point to my ankle, with a quiver in my lip and scream "They're trying to kill me!"

Does anyone else have this little problem with flats? I'm thinking I'm going to try rasping down the back so it can't rub so badly while walking (and it isn't because I feel like I have to enact revenge on the shoes by say rubbing a piece of it's skin off, nope not at all). Or maybe wrap the back in a nice cushioney batting layer.

What we really need though is the freedom to throw off our clog oppressors and run free through the grass. Who wants to join me in my million mile march for barefoot awareness? After the first couple of miles you've lost all feeling on the bottom of your feet.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Picture a Day - Day 298

It's Sunday, and as and we all have hams to bake, yards to clean and Norman Rockwells to shoo out of our attics here's a post of nothing but Essie.Our little squirt is over four months old and already she's figured out some of the most important aspects of life.

If something you want is out of your reach . . .
Just jump up on your hind legs to get it.
Scratching can be a nasty habit, so it's best to do it as lady like as possible using your back leg while you remain standing to draw as little attention as possible. Following by a curtsy is strictly optional.
When things aren't going your way a good Elvis lip curl should get the job done.
And if there's anyone you disagree with, people who say get tired of looking at adorable pictures of you, there is only one lady like response.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Picture a Day - Day 297

Hello Boils and Ghouls. Blog Keeper here with a scream of a post.

Why did the ghost go trick or treating on the top floor?

He was in high spirits !

AHhahahahehehhehehehehehe

That one practically buried them. Or at least buried them alive.
We've got screams, creams, and anything else to make you mess your pants before the second act.
So strap in your straight jackets and bite down on the mouth guard, it's going to be a shockingly good time!

AHhahahahehehhehehehehehe
And for no good reason here's a couple of bees getting it on on the screen of the front door.
Until the next time boils and ghouls, pleasant screams.

Ahhahaha . . . eh you get the point by now.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Activision presents Fall Wedding Pitfalls

The Dilemma - You've always wanted to have your wedding take place at the end of an 8 bit Atari game only crocodiles, bats, snakes a ticking clock stand in your way.

Solution - To make it to the end of the aisle and win your wedding day you must find and collect 32 different wedding treasures such as your bouquet, the rings, the cake, and the groom all before the clock runs out.
But standing, sitting or just blinking menacingly in your way are the pixalated versions of crocodiles and snakes waiting for you to plow right into them on your mad dash to wedded bliss so they can kill you dead.

The only hope you have to get that golden ring is to jump, crouch, run, climb and swing your way around the obstacles.

Do you have the mad 1980 gaming skills to make it to the church on time?

Only by playing Fall Wedding Pitfalls will you learn the truth.

Weddings are serious business and so it jumping over a pond full of crocodiles.

Picture a Day - Day 296

You wanna know the worst time to try and bust out a new Martha Stewart approved recipe?

It starts when you're already rushed for time because in a few hours you have a class, preferably a class of a prop making type. You dash around trying to gather all the ingredients only to find some are missing and presumed consumed and do your best to not kick the or step on the puppy who must be under your feet at all times.
Looks rather gorgeous and tasty right? Not to mention simple, it's mostly chicken stock and seafood in a pot boiled for 20 minutes. A determined parrot with a stick should be able to make it.

But you have clearly under estimated my blundering abilities.

It starts with the garlic, that's usually the key to trouncing a dish into a corner somewhere. What you do is instead of watching the garlic roast and pulling it off the heat ignore it and work to give the puppy a few ice cubes and take all the unfinished tombstones off the table.

In that brief second you took your eyes off the pot the garlic will go from a white aromatic to a black charred nose burner. You know when you burn a clove and the kitchen has that horrible smell? Imagine torching 5 cloves to dragon flaming level.

Even the next morning our entire house still has that horrible smell like someone set a vampire hunter on fire.
This was my stock pot, you'll note the subtle differences between mine and Marthas: the black floating bits, the oily residue from a lack of Extra Virgin anything, the whatever was drug from the bottom of the sea lurking just below the surface.
The sad thing is that despite all the giant screw ups and ingredient substitutions it still didn't taste that bad. Okay so it was 90% sodium, and the bag of baby octopi and clams gave it a nice fishy taste but it was still edible.

At least it seemed that way last night. In the bright harsh fluorescent glow of day as my stomach turns and twists trying to break free of my body I'm starting to think it was a really bad idea.

I'm pretty sure the only time one should attempt a Martha recipe is when you've got five hours, a fully stocked grocery store down the block and the kitchen is spotless. Or better have a team of professionals do it while you kick back with a glass of wine and smile on benevolently.

Has anyone else had a not so stellar Martha Stewart reproduction experience (sounds like some sort of horrible breeding program. I shall cross Rachel Ray with Sandra Lee and release the hordes on the world to destroy any and all form of culinary art! Mwhahahah!)?

What are some of your favorite magazines to get new recipes from? I really only get two and I'll at best get one or two ideas from them a month so I'm really looking for something new and exciting.

But really, if I do not receive one million dollars in an unmarked bag you'll all be sorry with my Rachalee clones making you eat Kwanzaa cake and claiming it's Yummo!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Wait a minute Mister Postman

(Stop)
Oh yes, wait a minute Mister Postman
Wait Mister Postman

Please Mister Postman, look and see
If there's a painting in your bag for me
(Please, Please Mister Postman)
Why's it takin' such a long time
For me to get that dress painting of mine

There must be some word today
About that painting from so far away
Pleas Mister Postman, look and see
If there's a package, a package for me

I've been standin' here waitin' Mister Postman
So Patiently,
For just a glimpse or even a picture
Sayin' it arrived in just one piece for me

Please Mister Postman, look and see
If there's a painting in your bag for me
(Please, Please Mister Postman)
Why's it takin' such a long time
For me to get that dress painting of mine
So let me see just what's inside
I've been hoping to give it to the bride
Wait a minute, what the hell?
Take a look at what the painting befell
Mister Postman, look and see
At just the damage done by thee
(Please, Please Mister Postman)
Why's it been run through a shredder?

(Why don't you check it and see one more time for me, you gotta)
Wait a minute
Wait a minute
Wait a minute
Wait a minute
(Mister Postman)
Mister Postman, look and see

(C'mon who uses Tigers as postal carriers?)
Mister Postman
***
I kinda secretly knew it was going to happen at some point but I'm still mad as hell that I had another job piled ontop of my plate courtesy of the US postal service.

Because your package is am important to us as a a tax reform is to a bear.

Picture a Day - Day 295

Buried deep in the heart of our garden beats the heart of a beast unknown to science or man.

Most discount the legend, but some visitors cannot shake the horrible terror that swept through them upon encountering a rustling in the weeds and maybe the disappearance and crunch of a juicy tomato.

This is the only known photo of the monster in its natural habitat. You'll note the elongated body points to something non canine like, almost like a missing dinosaur or maybe a yeti crossed with a coelacanth.You know the beast is about to attack by the rhythmic pounding of the tail, its vigorous muscles waiting for the opportunity to strike and thrash the weeds to death.
It's kinda funny, as our little girl gets bigger and bigger she's finding that suddenly places she could get into she can't anymore. Or even worse she can get in but can't get out.

Like our garden which is fenced all around. The previous owners dogs must have had quite an attempt to get in there so the door is bent inward enough to allow a puppy in.
Whenever Essie decides it's a good night to explore the garden and check to see if anythings changed we get a little re-enactment of an attempted jail break.
Attica! Attica!Pretty soon she's not going to be able to even get in there or fit in some of her favorite spots under the coffee table and that will be a sad sad day for the little puppy.

Does anyone else have an escape artist at home? If you have a lot of weeds in your garden we could rent you Essie, her favorite past time is pulling them out of the ground so she can eat them.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

I thought I graduated out of the drama

The internet has brought many wonderful things; global communication and friendships with people you'd never have the opportunity to talk to if we all lived in sod houses, opportunities to run your own small business with little overhead costs, and who can forget the piano playing cat/bacon meme.

But then there's the evil twin who lives in the attic eating fish heads.

Thanks to my blog and being able to find buyers outside of it, I've been a rather blissfully naive Etsy seller for a while now. I just assumed that everyone must read the rules and that everyone there only sells things they made themselves. They're just that much more talented than one could ever dream.

And if there are a few trouble makers every listing has a little flag so you can notify people if something is not right or misstaged.

I went around thinking that simple things like buying showcases would get me more attention so I could wade out of the drowning pool of resellers and miss-taggers (you wouldn't believe how many prints are tagged as original paintings) but then I stumbled across a website that opened my eyes a bit.

Etsy Call Out - it's been around since April there to highlight all things they find on Etsy that are either obviously resell objects and misstags.

As an example a few days they posted this counterfeit not vintage bag that was up in someones store (and they were asking a good $300 for a fake bag at that).But, why is a blog like this necessary when they have the flag system?

Maybe because that bag had been there and been getting flags since JUNE!

And if you have ever been anywhere near a Hallmark or gift shop store the fact that someone has the testicular fortitude to sell this should make your head spin. It's been getting flagged like crazy for the past few days but nothing.

Yet, if you were to go to the Etsy forums (yeah I didn't realize they had their own forum) and say something to alert an administrator or someone in power to take down the object that is deceiving any buyers into thinking that it is handmade you are called down, the thread is locked and you are kicked out, not them.

It's positively amazing; really, the cliquish it's better to pretend no one is breaking the rules than actually enforce them and welcome any help in finding problems. (Not to mention the fees they'd get if the object is sold instead of nothing if they take it down).

At first I was flabbergasted, then repulsed at how everyone was acting like 13 year olds bickering over a lip gloss, and then the realization hit. I'm associated with this site too. I signed up because of the tagline, "Your place to buy & sell everything handmade." Everyone is assured if they bought from Etsy it would be a handmade object.

Yet, Etsy couldn't give a crap if someone is trying to sell a counterfeit bag or a mass produced gift shop statue.

I'm rethinking if I should do all the work to try and move everything I've worked hard for on Etsy or if I just flag what I find that doesn't belong and hope it gets better. But in the meantime, buyer beware. If something seems off or the pictures look too good, get in contact with the seller and see if they can show that something is actually handmade.

Because; anymore, Etsy's word is about as good as a three year old who swears that pie from the backyard was made from chocolate.

Picture a Day - Day 294

It's the first day of class!

Don't forget your pencils and notebooks and drill bits and skeleton bones! It's been quite a few years since I was last in a class setting (obviously I couldn't just up and quit the college experience -- it's the terror in all their little eyes as they realize just what horrors they've paid through the nose for). But as I prepared for my community college night class with my husband all the old worries and fears came back.
I checked a good five times to make sure I had the date and time right, read through the little blurb to make sure I didn't need to bring in say a cows rumen (animal science will do that to you). Then there's the "Oh God what if I can't find my room?" Followed by the "Well maybe if we leave an extra half hour early if we get lost we should be set."

And then the "Crap we're so early we're the first ones here, quick act like you're gearing up for a 500 mile trek across the desert at the water fountain."This wasn't no boring learning and thinking night class though. No economics to rot the brain, no organic chemistry to turn the fingers blue. It was way scarier than all that.
It's a Halloween prop building class and its very existence is a nice reassurance that my husband and I aren't the only weirdos out there as everyone explained why they were taking the course. Just about everyone stood up and the first thing they said was "Halloween is my favorite holiday" almost as though it was part of a script.

Secretly I was hoping just one person would say "Well Christmas is my favorite holiday but they didn't have a class for that so do you think I could have a grave busting Santa?"

They had a bunch of projects you could make and work on from a rusty lantern (pretty sure I could do that one on my own) to a giant PVC man (we're not quite ready for that).

My husband picked this guy. Boney McNoflesh, the greatest Opera singer who never lived.
Okay so he'll look a lot better once someone puts all his flesh back on. It's a lot easier to hit the high notes with vocal chords.
As for me, I went a bit more traditional and with something that can much more easily be customizable. I'll be making a tombstone.
This is part of the "kit" I got. Hm, is that a couple of paintbrushes and acrylic I see in there? I think I may already have quite a leg up on the class.
Sadly, our instructors forgot the head and hands for Mr. Boneyhands so my husband couldn't get to work right away on his. Instead he helped/watched me get to work on my tombstone.

This takes me back to early highschool art days. I was lucky enough to be in the "smart" kids class which mostly means the teacher figures they can trust you to not be a giant jackass and chop a few fingers off and lets you do cool things like play with real jigsaws.

Holding a nice sharp blade each of us cut out of foam two copies of our tombstone shape. It was starting to look a lot less like Halloween and more like that other holiday who shall not be named but is already starting to show up in some stores.
Once both pieces were cut out, it was more blade time as I dug nice holes into the foam for the placement of PVC pipe to help the foam stay standing and also to provide an easy way to shove it into the ground.
And that was about as far as I got. Our next class is Thursday and at some point between then and now I have to find a good tombstone saying (I have a neat idea) and a good font to go with.

My husband has his own ground breaker homework as well, something with newspaper and duct tape and ribs.

And the best part? No final exam!

Have you ever taken a night class with your husband or S/O? We were the only husband/wife team but there were a couple mothers with their daughters (which is pretty damn cool on its own). What's the weirdest class you'd ever think about taking?

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

TTD Idea

Damn damn damn damn damn!

I just had this fantastic fun trash the dress session involving painting and fingers and lots of giggles but alas it shall only exist in my brain.

Why do all the cool wedding photographers I know have to live halfway around the world?

Do you hate it when you have an awesome idea, but there's just no feasible way it will ever come to fruition?

It's all your fault, yeah you know who you are you Kats and Valeries and Jennas and Megans ticking my brain into thinking outside the box with your awesomeness.

I demand you stop being awesome this very second!

Picture a Day - Day 293

You can trust me.

Put you completely at ease didn't I? Telling you in no uncertain terms that you can trust me always one feel so much beetter. Going up to someone when their back is turned and telling them "You can trust me" while a growing Cheshire grin lights up your face is always like a cuddly blanket of warm fuzzies.

Nothing bad could ever come from that.

But really, you can trust me in this case to give a fair and balanced review of products that I buy with my own money and try on my own time. I really don't have a team of publicists out there trying to get a whole bunch of free stuff for me under the promise of a good review regardless of how much it sucks.

Plus no one knows that we actually have a mail service in Nebraska. Most people still think we have the buffalo express (and it's a little hard to get them into it).

A couple weeks back I wanted to try the latest from Scrubbing Bubbles (I can't have been the only one who thought their mascot would scrub my skin off if I stayed in the tub too long when I was younger right?) their Toilet Cleaning Gel.

I had to steal the picture from Walgreens as I, of course, tossed the box into recycling as soon as I got it open 'cause I'm a thinker like that.

I've been looking for something to help with the horrible water stains our toilets get and I thought this might be the answer. I used to be a big 2,000 (by that we mean more like 500) flushes and turning the toilet water blue (sure helped encourage little boys to go potty with the promise of turning it green) but while painting the bathroom I learned that apparently all those tank cleaning aids will actually void the toilet's warranty.

Yeah I didn't know a toilet had a warranty either.

But it didn't say anything about a glob of goo you put under the bowl.

When you open the box you pull out this little wand:
It's really simple to use, just take the cap off (which I didn't do in the picture below because I was demonstrating, yeah that's it) and push the top into the bowl then push in. The little button on the side should slide up one and there will be a round blob of what looks like kids crest toothpaste in your toilet.
Right off the bat the smell was over powering as hell. After a few flushes it calmed down but if you're bothered by strong astringent cleaning smells this isn't for you.

The package claims that the gel should only last for a week so in theory you'd have to replace it once a week but ours has been in there for two weeks and is going strong. Maybe it's the lack of kids or we need to be having more bathroom parties.

But, while the gel stays in place and probably keeps the water deodorized it hasn't done much if anything in helping to keep the water stains at bay. They still get awful inside of a week and demand attention just like before (the last thing you want to get stains is a bull horn).

I'm not so crazy about the need for a constant re-application and the disposable nature (though that's the name of the game with cleaning supplies anymore) of the product. While it's easy to use and seems to last longer than the packaging claims the scents a bit strong right out of the gate and so far hasn't done much to help my problem.

So final words/suggestions. If you just want to know you're keeping your toilet water clean and are also worried about voiding your toilets warranty (I wonder if accidentally dropping the toilet onto a cellphone would do it too) this is something worth trying. We may just have incredibly stubborn water stains as it looked pretty well liked with the Walgreens reviews.

I'll probably use up the rest of my package and then keep trying to think of something else to combat the horrors of an unfresh bowl!

But most of all I want you all to know that "You can trust me."

Monday, September 21, 2009

The Autumnal Equinox is upon me

I was busy like a beaver this weekend (which made the vaccine boosters our little girl got a welcome reprieve as she slept most of the weekend away). I've been watching the etsy showcases hoping for something halloweeny.

While it's too early for the witches and warlocks they are; however, hosting an Autumn one which I pounced on and booked two spots for this week and next. This all means one thing, I needed more autumn paintings fast. (Etsy is a weird place sometimes with obvious cliques and unwritten rules. I should write about what it's like just selling on there).

First I wanted to make a new pin up witch to go with my other. This one is a lot sexier than the flapper and oh how the hair drove me bonkers.
Actually it's kinda funny, I am terrible at breasts. I always do a lot of erasing the bodice when it comes to wedding dresses and I think I redesigned hers at least five times. Definitely more of a leg woman.

The other painting I made is actually one of my largest at a 12X16 and was a lot of work. I wanted to try my hand at a tree that was a lot more subdued from my usual bright color silhouette pieces. Almost taking a page out of an old children's book (I keep thinking Winne the Pooh should be climbing the branches after a honey pot) I created this autumn tree.
And now that I have a larger autumn profile comes the hard choice of which one do I pick to be displayed in the showcase?

Which do you like best? The new witch, the new tree or one of these old ones?

Harvest Moon:Flapper Witch:Or my original trees:Which do you think would pull in the most customers?