Change of Scenery: This Blog Has Moved, Sort Of

In the interest of simplification, I have finally completed the copying of all relevant blog posts from this blog to my Explorer's Notebook, and, although I have left many posts here intact for their comments (since I can't copy those but they boost my ego, so I want to be able to come back and visit them), or to keep other people's backlinks intact (far be it from me to be a link-breaker), this blog is essentially closed.

Please come visit me over at the "new" place, which isn't all that new, anyway.

Insert Cheesy Title Here, Like...

"Ch...ch...ch...changes!"

or

"The Tides of Change"

or

"The Winds of Change"

or (my favorite)

"A Rolling Blog Gathers No Moss"

etc., etc.

My original intent in having two blogs was to keep business and personal life separate, but the truth is that I don't necessarily want to do that, as an artist. I'm actually doing my best to live an integrated, whole life. So I am combining my blogs, slowly moving posts from this one to The Explorer's Notebook, which will be my main place until I get a web site up and running. I know that it still isn't the good old Paint&Ink blog, but it seems to be the best solution for now - so many blogging friends visit me there, and I hesitate to move out of two blogs at once.

(I feel like I should send out change-of-address cards.)

I will leave the posts with comments here in duplicate, because I can't copy comments nor can I import them, and I will also leave the post about the starry table, since so many people seem to find their way to that one (makes me proud!) but from this point forth, please look to my other blog for new posts, as well as all of the posts from both blogs. It won't be an overnight change, but it is already about 30 percent done.

I look forward to seeing you over there!

Sailing the Vivid Sea

Every time one of my items is featured in an Etsy treasury, it's a thrill and a compliment and a pat on the back all wrapped up in one. And when someone features my artwork in their blog, it's even more exciting. Lynne Davies of the Etsy shop skully and the blog Autonomous Artisans has featured my map of the Vivid Sea in a wonderful story in her post "Sailing the Seven Seas" with a bunch of other really fun piratey treasures, including the dangerously sweet Thomas Tillerman and a dress that I love (I already have the stein to go with it, you see...). Check it out!

Sweetness, Indeed.

The first time I had an Etsy order from someone I didn't know, I thought it was a mistake. Actually, what I thought was that someone had used MY Etsy and PayPal accounts to purchase something from someone else. (It seems so silly now, but at first glance, that's what I thought.) I was floored. And then, after reading the e-mails over and over again, and figuring out what had happened, I was still floored. Only much, much happier than I had been ten minutes earlier.

That customer, April Meeker, who sells her own wares on Etsy as secondsister, commissioned a second painting almost immediately after purchasing the first one, thereby doing wonders for my self esteem and my hope for my future as an artist.

And she has done that again by featuring my artwork this week on her blog, secondsister suaviloquy. (Suaviloquy is the coolest word, isn't it?) Many thanks, April. It's an honor.

Still Mapping, and Soon, Exploring

It's been a whirlwind two months around here, and I'm about to head off into the tropics to celebrate my birthday with some hands-on exploring of Hawaii (surely island travel falls under the category of business research, too?), but before I go, I thought you'd like to see what I've been doing around here. My latest paintings:

Realm of Good Cheer, 8" x 10", (reproduction)

(This original has been sold, but reproductions are available in the Interimaginational Institute Shop. These others are all originals and available; reproductions of some will also be available when I return from my travels.)

Marvelopolis, 5" x 7", ink and watercolor on paper

Fortune Isle Treasure Map, 8 1/2" x 11 1/4", ink on wood

Tall Ship No. 1, 2.5" x 3.5", ink and watercolor on paper

And a special map just in time for Valentine's Day:

Realm of Love, 5" x 7", ink and watercolor on paper

(This is actually one of two love-themed maps - I have yet to scan the second, which I like even more, but I'll share it when I do.)

Happy Travels, all.