Monday, March 29, 2010

"Beau Bradley"

I'm on a dog drawing kick at the moment.

This here is Beau Bradley- doesn't he look like the most comfortable dog in the world? Makes you want to be a dog, doesn't it?

This was done on 8.5" x 11" paper, using 4B, 6B, B, and HB pencils.

Hopefully (if work will allow), I'll have a few more dog drawings to share this week (although if today was any indication as to how the rest of the week will go, I won't have any time)

I know I said I would post original photos with the drawings, but I just didn't have time to get it all together today (like I said...work was busy).
Hope Jessica and Joe like the drawing...as it's for them (much like the last one, Abigail Raine)

The blog looks great, huh?

Anyone notice anything different about the blog? hum? Only that it looks fantastic, right?
Yeah, that's because Joe from Funkyfinds.com was kind enough to help a girl out and fix my blog! He's awesome, and very quick! It's painless, I promise.
So if you are needing a blog rescue, you should really contact him. Click here for a price list and details for his services.
I'm over the moon with how my blog looks! Thanks Joe!!! You're the best! (He even blogged about my last drawing!)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Friday, March 26, 2010

About the Open Air Market tomorrow

Due to unforeseen circumstances A Shade Better Than Stick Figures will be unable to set up at the Open Air Market in Grapevine TX at Cannon Elementary tomorrow. I'm sorry to all who planned on attending, hoping to see us. I encourage all of you to go and support the wonderful local craft and art community- I'm hoping to make an appearance at some point tomorrow to at least do a little shopping and to stop by and say hi to my pals Tania and Richard at The Curious Cake Shoppe. I hope that you all have fun on Saturday.
Stay tuned for more information on A Shade Better Than Stick Figures next show which will be April 17th and 18th. Details coming soon.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Surprise drawing

This is a surprise drawing for the awesome Jessica of FunkyFinds.com

I had so much fun at that show, and being that it was my first- how that day went determined whether I would ever do another show again...You know what? I'm doing more. (One tomorrow for instance...Cannon Elementary 9am-3pm in Grapevine TX)

Thank you Jessica for making my first experience in the craft show circuit amazing!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

1st Annual Cannon Elementary Open-Air Market This Saturday!!!

Sorry for the late notice, but I really hope everyone can make it out- this weekend is supposed to be nice...

This Saturday A Shade Better Than Stick Figures, and our friends at The Curious Cake Shoppe will be setting up shops at the 1st Annual Open-Air market at Cannon Elementary:
1300 W. College
Grapevine, TX 76051

Lots of crafts and art will be found. Children's Clothing to hand made jewelry; home decor to fresh made grain foods; art work to diaper cakes (hehehe, see how I snuck that in there)...you'll have a lot for the eye to see. We are really looking forward to it, and hope to see you out there. Feel free to stop by and say hello! We'd love to say hi back!
The event will be open from 9am-3pm- ample time to check us out.

Stay tuned for more info on even more events that we will be at this year!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

"Olivia"


"Olivia" was done for my friend Casy. It was completed on 8.5" x 11" white inkjet printer paper using HB, B, 2B, and 4B pencils.
She wanted me to omit the hands holding the baby as well as the background (well, technically I always omit the background...so yeah.)

I was scared that Casy wouldn't like the drawing, but I received an email from her a few days ago letting me know that she did in fact like it. So it is now in route to being with Casy and Olivia in person. I hope it looks as great in person as it did on computer screen.

So you might notice...there's a photo displayed next to the drawing :O Oh my! Yeah, I realized after doing the funky Finds show that people really like to see the comparisons between drawing and photo...sooooo....yeah, I'm going to try really hard now to remember to post a photo with the drawing, so you can see the comparison and let me know of anything I might have missed while drawing it...you know, because that happens from time to time.

Monday, March 22, 2010

problems with website- please be patient

***Update!!! Gonzo is a life saver and figured out my ftp in like 1 minute...so the website should be working...Thanks Gonzo!***


I hate MobileMe for Mac. I'm just going to put that out there. It's up for renewal, which is where I have my website from, and decided to start spitting out these horrific email messages saying that I needed to renew right now, RIGHT NOW, RIGHT NOW! So I unchecked automatic renewal as I'm going to migrate my site to a much cheaper, and more reliable web hosting service. But in doing so MobileMe decided that it was going to end my site hosting now. So my site is down. I apologize for any inconveniences that is causing anyone. If you have questions just email me: ASBTSF@gmail.com
I've supposedly got people that will help me update my ftp info to get my website up and running but iWeb is kind of like MobileMe, it's decided to take a giant crap now that I no longer want to pay for MobileMe...jerks. So yeah...as soon as I find someone who wants to design a website for kind of cheap, or in trade (for drawings), I will dump iWeb as well. But for now, it's iWeb, and hopefully new hosting...soon.
Just what I need after being sick all day...

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Funky Finds Spring Fling 2010 (aka my first show)

I had so much fun doing my first show!!!! Thank you to everyone who came out to the show! Your support is so so so very important and very appreciated! You guys are wonderful!

It was a great learning experience. And I have ideas for the next show (which I don't know exactly when that will be)

The first picture is the table I had set up with all of the original drawings. None of which sold, so I will be posting them for sale on my website a little later this week.

The second picture is the print stands (ignore the shirts hanging in the background, that's a different booth). Originally I had them on the floor, but they were way too low for an adult to look threw them, but kids would have been able to reach them (as well as the many many dogs that showed up). Anyway, I'll have to figure out something for prints at a later time.
I had plenty of prints (probably too many for one show), so I may also put them up for sale on my website later this week, or I may even open an etsy store specifically for my prints; but Funky Finds is a very real possibility for selling my prints thru their website- I'll let you know which way I go. There are plenty of animals, cars, the caterpillar and the pirate, as well as "Head Above Water". But you will see that at a later date.

Oh, I also have a new logo (which you can see from my awkwardly placed header on my blog- I'll fix that when I have some time). The logo also comes with my own personal mascot "amber"...I kind of love it, and not just because it's mine...

I didn't really know how to set everything up, but I did have a display side, so people could see what I can do, in case they wanted to order a drawing of their own, or for gifts or whatever. I got rid of a bunch of business cards and brochures, so hopefully that's a good sign.

Richard and Tania from The Curious Cake Shoppe are in the background over there- it was so awesome that we got to have a booth next to them, they were great! Such great company. A huge thanks to Richard for going to get us all lunch from Chipotle! That was awesome! (The food at the show wasn't the greatest in variety, but there was food there, just not anything we wanted.)

The last pic is a close up of the display items. Some of you may recognize drawings I have done for you in the past. Thank you again for letting me draw for you, these are just some of my favorites. Someone at the show asked me which one was my favorite, and you know what? I didn't have an answer. These drawings are like my kids. How can I pick my favorite? I've poured my heart and soul into each of these. The answer I gave was picking one and then instantly saying "well I like this one too, and the one over here I really like too- you know what? I don't have one favorite, I love them all".

Anyway, I think if I do another show I'll have walls and lower prices.

There were so many friendly and helpful people at the show. A huge thanks to Jessica from Funky finds for putting on this great show and getting so many creative people in one building. I didn't have a lot of time to walk around and look at things, but the few quick laps that I did make I saw so much great stuff. Oh yeah, and Gonzo entered the raffle, I think he bought 20 tickets or something, he won. 5 times! Granted it was all girly stuff, so he gave most of it to me. But yeah, he's my lucky charm.

Thank you again. The people I met at the Spring Fling were great, and wonderful, and the vendors were so creative. A great inspiration and a great motivator. I'll keep you posted on any upcoming shows that I might decide to take part in, and I hope to see even more of you at the next shows :)
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!

"Tattoo Leg"

the original photograph for this was also taken at the 2009 Texas Thaw in Denton TX.
I don't know if I like this one too much. I thought it would have made a cool drawing, with some candid moment happening with a girl partially getting out of her car, and she just so happened to have a tattoo on her leg.
I used B, 2B, 4B, and 6B on white inkjet printer paper.

I'm still not sure if I like it, but...it's done.
Hope you guys are having a great weekend!

For Starters

This is going to be a multi-part blog. I'm going to start with the stuff I did last week in a couple of posts.
This is from a photo that David took in 2009 at the Texas Thaw at the drag strip in Denton Texas.
It was freezing that day, so I'm glad this years was a lot warmer.
Anyway, this is an 8.5" x 11" on white inkjet printer paper.
I used HB, B, 2B, 4B, and 6B to complete this drawing.
It's been a little while since I did a car, so it was a little hard to get back into the swing of things, but I think overall it turned out pretty good.
What do you think?

Friday, March 12, 2010

Funky finds spring fling!!!!

Don't forget tomorrow (Saturday the 13th) is the Funky Finds Spring Fling in Ft. Worth Texas!!!!

That's right, my first arts and crafts show- I have plenty of prints and a ton of original art work for sale...I also have plenty of business cards if you aren't ready to buy what I have on hand but might consider having me do a drawing for you at a later date. Also I have buttons for people who stop by my booth and say that you saw my blog :)

http://funkyfinds.us/springfling/2010/



I hope to see you all out there! Don't be shy, come say hi! I'm next to The Curious Cake Shoppe- we'll be in the almost dead center of the building...and Gonzo will be helping me, so you can meet him as well.

Woo Hoo!!!! (Ok, time for bed now)

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Is it Saturday yet?

There's less than a week to go...3.5 days left exactly before the Funky Finds Spring Fling, and while I feel like I have almost everything ready to go, I know I am totally going to forget something on the morning of the show...and this event is not close to my house. It's like 30 miles or more away. gonzo may make fun of me for making check lists, but let me tell you- I don't want to forget anything for this show!
Anyway. I'm reporting in today to let you know that I have new stuff to share with everyone, but I'm holding off until after Saturday and after the maddness.
Did you know this weekend is that whole "spring ahead" with the clocks thing? Seriously? I think I might cry. I heard it on the news this morning in my pre-corn flakes and banana's groggy mind- phase and thought I mis-understood them, but then they carried on a 10 minute discussion of not changing the clocks this time and that they would be fired because they would then be late to work- after the weatherman said they would be an hour early if they didn't partake in the changing of the clocks...I was not amused. So I'll be super tired come Monday...but I will have new stuff to share. Promise.
So please, if you are in Ft. Worth this Saturday between 9am and 3pm, you should really come and hang out at my booth...or one of the other 120 vendors that will be there (but seriously stop on by and let me know that you've heard of A Shade Better Than Stick Figures- I might give you a free button (I only have 35 of them though, so you know...show up early?)). It's at the Will Rogers Center in Ft. Worth...in the poultry barn- if that makes sense...here's the link again: http://funkyfinds.us/springfling/2010/ Are you ready for it to be Saturday yet? (a collective yes was just heard because everyone is sick of the promoting already...I promise- you may hear this one more time on Thursday afternoon or Friday and then just a recap of how it went...then no more, ok? ok.)

Monday, March 01, 2010

March is coming in like a lion!

Does that saying even hold up in the state of Texas? I know it did in Wisconsin, but whatever. I'm really getting tired of this weather not being able to make up it's mind. This weekend was in the 60s here and today it's in the 40s and raining...so sick of this- my sinuses will thank you weather when you make up your mind (just please don't make up your mind to be 110 degrees with 100% humidity...that's all I ask).

I do want to apologize for the lack of blogging, or showing pictures recently. I don't know if I have any readers out there like me, who tend to wonder what could have possibly happened to the author of the blog when there hasn't been a post in over a week...or a month...or over the last few months. There's some blogs that I read that I personally know the author and know that they are usually busy- or just don't care to update every day or what not...and then there's other authors who I don't know personally who religiously updated daily and then dropped off the blogging-universe for a month and that makes me wonder what happened to them- if they are ok, or if they are ever coming back to type something again. My imagination is a little crazy sometimes.

Anyway. I haven't dropped off the blogging-universe. I've been getting everything together for the Funky Finds Spring Fling which is less than 2 weeks away. I have to be honest. I will be very thankful when this event is over. It's been way more involved than I think it should have been for getting ready for it. I hope that it goes well, and that I at least meet some cool people...maybe sell a drawing or two.
To destress from all the crazy, I've been knitting an afghan. I'm about 1/2 way done with the thing and can't wait for it to be completely done. All of my other knitting projects and drawing projects have taken a back seat to the afghan. When it's done I'll post pictures...but hopefully I'll get some drawings done before then so you can have something pretty or interesting to look at instead of words to read :)

**Update**- I spoke with Gonzo last night and he has never heard of the phrase "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" or vice versa...apparently that's a Wisconsin thing. Sometimes I really miss that state.