I am revamping zee blog , working on art and enjoying my summer and the rest of the 2010. I will take up blogging again January 1st, 2011. Until then. . . Xo Life rocks! Xo

Mizuko in Her Octopus Garden (Click for Supersize) Illio Friday topic – Garden

So I was almost done with this piece just needed a shadow here or there, another blade of grass, etc. I go to turn my computer on and it has crashed. Luckily, after spending the entire weekend working and thanks to information on the internets I was finally able to get it back up and running. Which made me so frickin’ happy since this piece is comprised of about 200 layers and I had added about 50 layers since backing it up externally. Of course I immediately backed up everything!! Must remember to always – always – regularly back things up.
Not sure if she is done yet. . .needs more work I think but gotta step away to decide what needs work. Getting close though. . .

I have been working on some other projects that I should be able to post soon. Also, some freebies coming up that I just did not have time to finish. Here is one of my more recent lighted pieces. Also, click for Supersize.

So before I go I wanted to share some art business-y info and stuff.

If you don’t do bunches of shipping the rest of this post will be hella boring. Sorry!

For the past few months shipping has just been a different world for me. A lot of shipping. . .a lot. I came across a service called Endicia. Oh so awesome! Unfortunately, it is not free, it’s $9/month for the basic service. You can buy and print postage from your computer like you can with Paypal (which is a free service). There multi-shipping service rocks you do all your labels at once and you can set presets for things you ship often but you can only use it for Domestic shipping! Such a bummer! Which is why finding Endicia was just fabulous! When you do your International labels it also fills out your customs form and combines it with your shipping label. Ah. . .no pesky green customs form to fill out by hand for each and every package anymore. Unlike Click and Ship and Paypal it works for First Class International not just Priority Mail. Most excellently with this type of customs form you don’t have to wait in line to give it to an actual person anymore! Just stick in the mail, drop it off at the post, etc.

Both Endicia and Paypal let you print out a SCAN form. Oh the SCAN form. . .how do I love thee. I add Delivery Confirmation to all my packages just for my piece of mind that way I can tell when something was delivered. What a lot of people do not realize though is that Delivery Confirmation is not tracking. It is just Confirmation of Delivery and often times the package will not be scanned until it is delivered. Sometimes even after it has been a few days since the package has been dropped off when you click on the Delivery Confirmation link it still says “USPS has been notified by the shipper to expect a package”. Ugh!! Now to a customer this makes it look like their package has not been dropped off yet. Also, it does not prove you actually shipped the item. The SCAN form is just one piece of paper your print out that contains a master barcode that represents all the packages in a shipment. When I put that with my packages the post scans that and that changes all my Delivery Confirmation links to “Shipment Accepted”. So that eliminates extra emails for me because now the customer can see that the package was indeed delivered and has entered into the Post’s mail stream.

Now that best part they offer low cost domestic and International insurance that you can use for First Class or Priority Mail, etc.

• Domestic – $1.10 per $100.00 value
• International – $2.10 per 100.00 value.The costs get lower as well if you have better plans that is for the standard plan. Oh and also for domestic first class I can use these labels that get 4 to a page. You can also insert graphics, your logo, change the font to spiffy up your label. http://www.onlinelabels.com/ol5100.htm They also have cute circle and oval labels! Of course you gotta pack things cute so labels get cut with my lovely Carl. Mmmmm. . .decorative edges!

Anyway – it has been a life saver since there is not an insurance option from the post when sending things First Class International. Now I don’t have to fret when I send out expensive orders and wholesale orders overseas. Well, speaking of shipping I am done with todays and I gotta go squeeze in some art time. Deadlines! Plus, I really need to get out and visit peoples blogs! I just keep slinking away from the virtual world. I don’t know why I just know that I adore my well. . I don’t what to call it. . my actual world. Back soon. Xo, Tex

Carousel Americana – click for Supersize

This is one of the projects I have been working on over the past month the print is now in the shop. This piece was commissioned for a project that I can not spill the beans about yet. The Carousel is pieced together from old etchings and then colored in Photoshop. After finishing the piece I thought these winged horses would make fabulous Photoshop brushes. They are on the big side as this piece is just shy of 4 gigabytes. I did size the horses down a tad to make the brushes but they are still pretty big. However, I figure you can shrink them down easier than you can enlarge them.

I whipped out a quick set so help yourself – click on the picture for the download. These were made in CS3. I own all the images – of course use them for whatever you want. Commercial, not commercial, credit me, don’t credit me it is all good with me. thumb

It has just been a whirlwind these past few months. Lately, packing is taking about 6-8 hours a day. Which is kind of fun – I usually just jam out to music or listen to books on tape. My last book was Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. I adore his TV series No Reservations on the Travel channel. If you have not seen it before I highly recommend it! Anyway, the book is fabulous – sort of a cross between a memoir and a behind-the-scenes expose of the restaurant kitchen business. He is a great writer and his baritone voice is just right for an audio book. He is funny, irreverent, mildly obscene and crass with quite a big dash of humility. So as I listen to that I pack. . .spicing the packages up with freebies and stickers, etc. Which just makes packing more fun. However, packing tape is always so dull – I have come across a few nice ornamental tapes but I wanted my own. I went ahead and designed some and had a case of it made. Here is a piece of it on black paper – is it not just so cool?

My show at The Boulder Library is still up for a few more days. (I also have the art vending machine there).

November 30-January 6— Legends, Myths and Fanciful Tales Retold (Work by Tiffini Elektra X)
Public Reception: Friday, November 30, 5-7 p.m. in the Canyon Gallery

I am so very excited about it and will definitely post pictures and everything. I am really looking forward to showing some of my new pieces printed with my new Epson 7800 large format printer. It is the most amazing thing. . .ever! An early xmas present lets just say. There is just something so cool about seeing some of these pieces so huge! I just love it and I will be adding large prints to the shop soonish. I am not much for rolling a print up in a tube so I spent quite a lot of time investigating the best methods. I finally have that all narrowed down and I am waiting for my special packing materials so they can ship very well protected and flat.

Before I go a couple of links to suggest:

Trunkt, a juried shopping guide to independent artists and designers. This gorgeous site is so filled with amazing talent and creativity. You can sign up for a free wish list account and rate portfolios and things like that. I am still working on my portfolio it is listed under tartx
I definitely recommend checking it out – just a ton of inspiring beautiful items.

Jenny Hart’s interview at VenusZine. I thought this was just great. It really just summarizes what it takes to start and keep a business going. (This is only the first installment as well – can not wait for more!)

Have a fabulous rest of the week! I will be visiting soon. . .now that the holidays are over. . . I will finally have some free time! Xo Tiffini

I have had the most lovely month off from zee blog. It has just been a frickin’ lovely summer. I have been preparing for a couple of art shows. Ignoring the computer as much as possible. Now I am back on “the internets”. . .a bazillion bloggies to visit. Fall just around the corner. Halo 3 on the way. . . It just does not get better.

After seeing the illio friday topic Visitors it just seemed like a good idea to just take a day, sit down and do a piece. I dig this girl anyway. I used her on this light box and have always wanted to extract her from that old cabinet card. It could still use some work but I am really liking the direction the piece is going. I love the thought of these characters from various fairy-tales living in a perpetual state of wanting to relive their big moment. . .the 15 min of fame – if you will. Always on the lookout for another child to come around and play.

^{Recruiting A New Alice} – illio friday topic Visitors – Click for Super-size.

Also – in my time off “In This House” came out.

Oh I am so happy with it – dang Angela and Sarah did a fantastic job. My work is showcased through Chapter11. My inspiration came from Carmilla, the fantastic short story of a female vampire by J. Sheridan LeFanu. Illustrating the story with old etchings and antique engravings. If you have never read the story – you should it is so fantastic.

You can even download it for free. . although I am not much for reading a whole book on the computer myself. More of a tactile thing reading is – I think.

Oh and speaking of those fabulous gals (Ang and Sarah) they also have a new zine out. It is such a cool format 8.5 x 8.5. I love that size! It came out just so wonderfully. Glossy pages full of fabulous art. I am also honored to be the first artist interview in their new venture. You know, I am so impressed with what I have seen from lulu so far. I also have a friend who used them to put out her own book. Anyway, for anyone looking for a way to self publish something. . scope out lulu.

Well, making this short and sweet. I do have some fun freebies coming soon – just was not ready yet. However, I am back in the swing of things so I will be seeing you very soon. Xo

So I am seeing a pattern. . .with the last two times I have sat down to do some art for illustration friday. Apparently, I seem to be obsessed with fruit and flowers exploding from my art right now. Mehh. . .it’s summer.

illio friday topic – suit click for supersize

I taught a few classes back in November. It was really – really wonderful. . .but at this point I have decided it just is not something I want to do at least not for the next couple of years. I just have so many other things I want to focus on. Speaking of which I was interviewed about my art for The Denver Post recently. The interviewer Dana (thank you Dana) – did a fabulous job.

Okay, back to what I was saying about not wanting to teach. I still want to share knowledge and other art swag. Besides so few things are free anymore. So clicking on the image below will get you the booklet in pdf form that I gave people who took my “Selling your art on eBay” class. For those of you who took it – gracie and well, you got the information eight months before it went public. I have updated it since then as well so you might want to scope it out. Ebay has been amazing for me and I am a complete geek about my feedback (1550 positives, no neutrals and no negatives baby). I actually thought it would die down once I opened my webstore. It hasn’t yet and I am finding that eBay, etsy and a webstore attract totally different people. However, I know eBay is not going to be my focus as much anymore now that I have my shop.

So hopefully this information can give someone else a jump start. P.S. It also has things that apply to etsy and well just selling your art on the internet. Here is the link for the successfully selling your art booklet. I release it into the public domain – share it and use it however you would like. Xo Tiffini

Illio friday topic – citrus collage & paint on canvas. Click for Supersize.

Holy Moly. . .it took me a gazillion hours to sort out my mailings today. International shipping, priority and first class is all different now. For most of my items shipped via first class mail postage more than doubled. First class is just now. . .three different rates. . .sigh. Oh well – I think I have conquered it and everything is on its way.

After getting through the packing it was just so nice to take some time to do a piece of art today. It has just so busy with the new store. This was sort of my “quickfire challenge”. I have spent so much time at the computer that anything digital was out of the question. So I figured I had an hour to spare and a couple of old art books that seemed in need of being chopped up.

I finally broke down and loaded up Google reader. It has just gotten impossible to keep track of what the heck people are doing by clicking on my links. After a couple of hours it is all ready to go – I am so happy. Should make the whole keeping up with blogs so much easier.

Well now for the important part the contest results. . .

Prize 1. The amazing Lelainia. Optical lens - your choice.

Prize 2. The fabulous Besh a 13 x 19 print – your choice.

Prize 3. Drink charms – your choice. The fabulous Elizabeth aka Curiouscuriouer.

Prize four. Bottle cap necklace – your choice. The fabulous Delia.

Prize five. Two pocket mirrors – your choice. The fabulous Diane Duda.

That was too fun! I think I need to just pick someone randomly from each batch of comments to give some tartx swag too! Have a wonderful rest of the week! My wine awaits. . Xo

illio friday topic: wired Vintage black & white photos colored and collaged in photoshop Click for Supersize It had become uncomfortably clear to everyone. . .Sal was wired.

After coming across what seemed to be the 4000th or so post on someone’s blog starting with “I’m sorry I haven’t posted in awhile.” I decided it is time to rethink what makes a good blog and the expectations that have come to be part of it. I am thinking that no one should utter those words again . . .and with that thought I give you Blogging Without Obligation. Feel free to grab a logo, make a logo or whatever you want to do! Take the idea and run with it or walk away. . .it’s all good.

• Because you shouldn’t have to look at your blog like it is a treadmill.

• Because its okay to just say what you have to say. If that makes for a long post, fine. Short post, fine. Frequent post, fine. Infrequent post, fine.

• Because its okay to not always be enthralled with the sound of your own typing.

• Because sometimes less is more.

• Because only blogging when you feel truly inspired keeps up the integrity of your blog.

• Because they are probably not going to inscribe your stat, link and comment numbers on your tombstone.

• Because for most of us blogging is just a hobby. A way to express yourself and connect with others. You should not have to apologize for lapses in posts. Just take a step back and enjoy life, not everything you do has to be “bloggable”.

• Because if you blog without obligation you will naturally keep your blog around longer, because it won’t be a chore. Plus, just think you will be doing your part to eradicate post pollution. One post at a time. . .

P.S. A few people had asked for a little more information about the good music sites so I thought I would post it here as well. What is great about Audio Lunchbox and eMusic when you download from either of them you are not restricted by DRM (Digital Rights Management) like some of the other download services. So you can burn mixed discs easily and you will be safe if your computer dies. Sometimes you will end up losing the music you bought from say itunes or musicmatch if you lose the licences. Also, music from both of these sites will play on anything from an mp3 player to an ipod. Music bought from itunes will not play on Windows Media Player or most mp3 players.

• Audio Lunchbox turns out to be $24.99 for 175 songs (125 a month + 50 free for signing up). So that equals out to be approx. 10-12 albums for $24.99. eMusic has a bunch of different plans and offers a free trial as well. They both have different music so I use both. But there are two things I like about Audio Lunchbox better than eMusic. The way they have it set up to preview albums is easier. Also, they have an option to buy the whole disc for 10 credits which is great for some of the discs that have 20-25 songs on them. But they are both awesome sites to check out.

Recommendations: Cornelius, Smokey and Miho, Beirut, Cat Power, Tom Waits, Dizzee Rascal, Bloc Party, Mark Lanegan Band, The Raconteurs, Gogol Bordello, Queens of the Stone Age, Heartless Bastards, Tricky, Marina Topley-Bird, The Pipettes, Secret Cheifs 3, The Desert Sessions, The Black Keys, Peeping Tom, Jane Jenson, Princess Superstar, M.I.A., The White Stripes, The Blood Brothers, Joanna Newsom, Eagles of Death Metal, The Streets, Jon Spencer, etc.

I could go on and on and on. . .they also both have a great jazz and classical collection. ::

Okay, enough with the bullet points – eh? The snow has finally melted here in Colorado and I am off to enjoy the sunshine. Ciao.

I am enmeshed in finishing up the design of my webstore and site, filling orders and finishing commissions. I am hoping to have the webstore up in February. I am so flipping excited and having so much fun! It feels like a big step even though I do so much on eBay and all that already. It will make life so much easier especially wholesale boutique orders. Oh and so much prettier! I have memes that are piling up as well. I was tagged by the uber talented Emma of benconservito.  Emma's tag (four things meme) I did awhile back – gosh one of my first posts ever! Course that was not that long ago in the archives as I don't post that often. But I figure if I average a post or two a month perhaps I will never burn out on blogging?

illio friday topic – sprout. Click for supersize and yes the snow here in Colorado is awesome but making me a tad insane.

Before I get to the tag – I am so excited I finally get to announce at least one of the secret projects that I have worked on this past year that is going to be published. Lately so much of the art I have been doing is secret! Which is fine but it does not give me much to show on zee blog. My dear friends Sarah Fishburn and Angela Cartwright put together an AMAZING book called In This House – A Collection of Altered Art Imagery and Collage Techniques. You can pre-order it on Amazon and comes out July 1st. There are thirteen artists in the book and we all have a chapter depicting our interpretations using the theme of "Home". Some of the other artists in the book are Erika Tysse, CW Slade, Alice Scott-Morris, Lesley Riley, Jen Osborn, Céline Navarro, Susie LaFond, Kelly Kilmer, Nina Bagley, and Jill Haddaway. Angela and Sarah worked tirelessly on this book and the result is that the whole book is just stunning. I am so excited to be a part of it. Everyones work is so different from the others, so many mediums and so many interpretations. Some personal, some not. I can not say too much but if you read my blog you might know I am a pretty private person. Maybe being an only child or something – who knows?! Let's just say I don't really spill. . I just don't go there. I decided to tell the story of the bad girl on the block (which I like to think of myself as) using one of my favorite short stories Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. It is a fantastic story of a female vampire and although Carmilla is a lesser known and far shorter Gothic vampire story than Dracula, the latter is heavily influenced by Le Fanu's short story. To interpret the story I collaged old antique etchings and other bits keeping it in a black and white palette. I love old etchings they almost appear to made from velvet with such bold blacks and crisp whites. Well. . .the book comes out July 1st – I can not really think about it much more or I will pass out from excitement. 'Till then here is a sneak peak at Carmilla.

Now for the tag from the wonderful and fabulous Carlene . . . 6 weird things about myself.

1. When I was 9 years old our house burnt to the ground. We had to stay in a hotel for 6 months while they rebuilt our house. Although losing everything sucked I was able to have Spaghetti for breakfast, lunch and dinner. . . it was fantastic! I could eat spaghetti every single day! One of the best spaghetti sauces – ever. . . Bove's Vodka sauce.
2. I have no mathematical sense. I always exaggerate amounts and anything with numbers. Just a heads up. If I am saying anything that has anything to do with amounts or numbers assume it is way off.
3. Let's just say I don't keep farmers hours. . .I tend to stay up late every night – like real late 3ish. 
4. When I was ten I faked my eye test. I just really wanted glasses so bad.
5. I really hate talking on the phone. I just don't like it – I avoid it like the plague. I tend to not even call people back. I like talking to people I just hate talking on the phone. Although, I do long to be one of those people with a cell phone full of cute charms and dangles. Oh well next life. . .
6. Every light in my house has a dimmer. I hate bright overhead lighting. I feel like we should be playing poker with the Soprano's gang and smoking cigars. Even if we are at friends houses I am always dimming their lights and messing around with the lighting until it is dealable.

 I finished all my lighted assemblage pieces. . .aka light box commissions. Plus a few extras. I have not gotten all the photos narrowed down yet but here are a few of them. But they will all be there when I unveil the new website. Click on them if you want to go see more.

Have a fabulous week! Off to catch up on zee blog reading. 

illio topic – buzz click for supersize acrylic on canvas with newsprint and neckties. 

I love bees. . .I wanted to do a bee but it just did not happen. When I thought of the word buzz I just kept gravitating towards the feeling I got from cities like New York or Mexico city. The atmosphere is electric. Plus – I did need something to do with all these old neckties. 

A tag from a trade with the amazing Susan Mitchell! I can't believe I own one of her gorgeous tags. I just adore her work. Somebody pinch me. . .

My favorite swag from the holidays. . .

It was a wonderful holiday complete with a few blizzards and 37 inches of snow. I finished all my commissions! Pictures next week. . .and played videogames. Life is sweet.

Oh and before I forget my favorite new site for music. Audio lunchbox. Check it out tons of great music for cheap and its legal. ::