it’s back… #keeplovingkeepfighting

insta-keeploving

well here we are, almost a week after the fascist won the white house. the news keeps getting scarier and scarier every day.

starting at 3am the night of the election, i’ve had a run on my “keep loving keep fighting” shirts on etsy. i’m down to only a handful left in a few sizes, so i decided to make a teespring campaign to be able to continue to offer the design for those who are finding solace in its message. (it’s the busy season for my pet biz so i’m working nonstop and don’t have the time to handprint more shirts, so i’m outsourcing it.)

https://teespring.com/keeplovingkeepfighting

for every shirt sold, $1 will be donated to the ACLU.

there are womens as well as mens cuts of shirts, and a few different color choices. there’s crew and vneck options, and even a hoodie.

i know it’s a little early to be thinking about holiday shopping – and also, who can even think about christmas at a time like this? – but if you are going to be participating in the upcoming gift giving season, please consider shopping locally and supporting independent artists and businesses, as well as those owned by minorities and women. (and realize some of us choose to utilize print-on-demand/drop shipping services like teespring because we don’t have the resources to run a full-fledged tshirt shop.)

beware the pussy!

ok, first things first.

i’m not very good at updating this site. if you want more timely news about what i’m making, probably best to tune in to my fb biz page or my instagram. or if you really wanna know about my creative process, you can support me over at patreon and get all kinds of behind the scenes info and even get cool stuff like stickers and original art mailed to you from time to time.

but now that i’m here… lemme tell you about my newest design!

beware the pussy!

this came to me after seeing a neighbor’s “don’t tread on me” NRA flag flying – i felt like i needed to counter with a warning of my own. and with all the talk about pussies grabbing back and voting and doing all kinds of things to ivanka’s dad since that videotape surfaced of him exalting sexual assault, this seemed an appropriate mantra. (also, i have two fat indoor cats who wouldn’t hurt a fly and i thought it would be funny to have a feline beware sign on my gate. so it serves a dual purpose!)

i hand painted the original on a repurposed plastic political yard sign, but then later sketched it out in pencil, inked it over, and digitized it so it could be turned into assorted merch.

and voila! you can now buy womens as well as mens/unisex t-shirts, hoodies, coffee mugs, and stickers with this design on it, here via teespring.

i can’t wait to get my own! especially the coffee mug!!

latest design – keep loving, keep fighting

IMG_4409insta-keeploving me_keeplovingkeepfightingshirt

 

 

 

 

for the last couple of months i’ve been focused on this design, which i sketched out by hand in the days after the pulse nightclub shooting in orlando back in june. in the week following that horrible event, i was using #keeplovingkeepfighting as a hashtag on social media, in solidarity with the victims, the orlando community and the greater lgbtq community. i drew the graphic as a visual representation of the hashtag, knowing as soon as i drew it that i wanted it to be a t-shirt design… which i originally hoped to print up to wear to our own gay pride parade here in new orleans.

well, that didn’t end up happening – it took me a lot longer than i expected to get the pen and ink design worked up properly and then a screen made so i could print t’s - and in the mean time, #altonsterling and then #philandocastille were shot and killed by police and i attended a rally first in new orleans that drew thousands to lee circle in support of #blacklivesmatter and then in baton rouge, la which turned into a super scary standoff with heavily militarized riot police. i wished again i’d had the shirt ready to wear by then, but instead i made signs to hold at both rallies that simply said “keep loving, keep fighting.”

i realized that this hashtag, this phrase, embodied the sentiment i most wanted to put out to the world in the wake of all the awfulness happening around us. and i realized that it was a sentiment that transcended many different social justice pursuits. because it is a reminder to both keep loving – ourselves and each other, taking care of ourselves and each other, with love always in our hearts – AND to keep fighting, keep persevering, keep struggling for our rights and for justice. it is a sentiment of inspiration, of hope, of strength, of resistance, of community, of love.

and so, finally, weeks later, i had made a screen and got some blank shirts and printed some up. i wasn’t even sure it was going to look right as a one-color t-shirt design, but as it turns out, i think it looks great. eye-catching. i’ve sold a few here and there via fb and word of mouth, and now the rest are up for sale in my etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/artbymags. i have both red/black and grey/black versions. $20 + s/h… while supplies last. (limited supply so don’t sleep!)

i’m working on an order for stickers with this design right now, and intend to make some 12″ x 12″ paper prints using spray paint backgrounds, so stay tuned.

more stickers!

so the latest stickers i’ve made for my patreon $5+ supporters are in! they get some for free for their support of my art life, but you can get some too for just a few $$ by using the button below. (or if you are local to new orleans, contact me to arrange for an in-person sale.)

LESS INTERNET, MORE ART! is a slogan i’ve been using for years. i just randomly said it to myself one day when i was noticing how i get sucked into social media on my computer, so i made a stencil and used it to make signs on wood that i used to sell when i did the art markets around town. (one hangs in my bedroom still to this day.) i revisited the design recently when i was doing a brief facebook fast and decided it had to be my next sticker.

these are professionally printed by stickermule.com and are excellent for outdoor or indoor use. they measure 5″ x 2″ so they are a good display size, and the colors absolutely pop on these! mine is already on my car bumper!

use this handy paypal “buy now” button below to order yours now!

and don’t forget, the last night a brass band saved my life stickers are still available too!

Quantity



or if that doesn’t work for you, you can paypal me $ at: paypal.me/artbymags.

or you can squarecash me $ at: cash.me/$mags – (but if you use squarecash, make sure to send me your shipping address!)

because it’s festival season…

i just wore my “last night a brass band saved my life” t-shirt out to the downtown super sunday / keep n it real 2nd line and had several folks take my picture and ask about the shirt – yes i handed them business cards – so i though maybe it was time to offer it up again.

the campaign is live for 7 days. various brands (american apparel, canvas, bella, hanes), styles (crew neck, v neck, mens/unisex, womens, t-shirts, tanks) and colors (royal blue, several different shades of grey, and i think even one chocolate brown) of shirts here, so be sure to scroll through them all. i tried to change some of the offerings but apparently teespring won’t let me do that – i have to just run the same as i had last time- so this is what it is for now. (and please note that the hanes t-shirt does go up to size 5xl.)

also don’t forget i have the stickers available for purchase directly from me.

happy spring everyone!

****edited to add: i’ve decided i’m going to donate part of the proceeds to the roots of music program here in new orleans, an after school music education program for kids age 9-14. i’ve seen and heard the roots of music marching band in mardi gras parades and at other various events around town for years and think it’s an awesome program doing great work filling a gap in the new orleans elementary and middle school system post-katrina. check them out!

here i go!

universesaysyes

so if you’ve been keeping up with me (read previous posts on this blog or this one) then you know i’ve been reawakened to my creative aspirations in 2016 and have been craving more time to focus on the making of things. after several months of trepidation, i launched a patreon campaign to get support to scale back my work schedule to give me a few more hours in the day to do this. the campaign has been a success so far but i haven’t reached the amount of $ i would need to cover cutting back a few walks a day to free up some time. but the urgency of it all hasn’t dissipated either, so i’ve been talking to my clients and, well, the universe somewhat intervened this past week by sending one of my set of clients on vacation, and…

i’m doing it. starting monday, my work schedule will end around 1:30 or 2pm most days, giving me the rest of the afternoon and into the evening (now that daylight saving time kicks in tonight) to create! i’m so excited but also super nervous about willingly letting go of $600-$700/month of pay. but i’m hoping i will get more productive in the creative arena and perhaps come up with some things that folks will want to buy. or that maybe more folks will want to sign on to my patreon campaign to get free rewards and support me at the same time.

either way, it’s time to hustle. so i will be doing all manner of peddling in the coming months. and hopefully i can make this work.

so yay to taking big risks, stepping out of your comfort zone, waking up and staying awake (or as the kids say, be woke/stay woke), being in the present, and following your dreams. here’s to working towards the life i want, doing what i think i’m meant to do. and here’s to the universe being with me every step of the way, saying yes, loudly, repeatedly, until i finally hear it.

yes!!