Tag Archives: folk art

how’d it get to be november already?

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sigh. the last time i wrote here it was the end of september, i was in the 2nd week of the find your joy course and loving it, and i was looking forward to my vacation to new mexico mid october.

well it’s a month and a half later now. the find your joy class is finishing up week 8 (of 12) though i’ve only just today managed to finish week 5. (week 7 was an integration week for folks to catch up so i’m 2 lessons behind at this point.) and i took my vacation, which was glorious and if you follow me on my personal instagram or my personal facebook, you’ve seen all my photos… i had so much fun with my dear friend dix and was gobsmacked by the beauty of the region.

but… i returned already fighting off some kinda crud (allergies? altitude? airplanes and airports?) and then had a very intense week of work and an ill-advised if fun weekend of social activity which sped up my illness and landed me really REALLY sick for the past two weeks with severe bronchitis. like sicker than i can remember being as an adult outside of hospital stays. two urgent care visits and two courses of antibiotics later (well i’m still in the middle of the second course), and i am starting to feel better. but i worked sicker than i should have for several days – it was miserable. i am grateful to feel like i’m coming out the other side now but also overwhelmed by how much money it cost me to be sick (urgent care visits, prescriptions, over the counter drugs, ordering out cuz i was too sick to cook, canceled walks, turned down petsits, and several weeks of missed time in the studio) and how far behind i feel.

thankfully i don’t have any work this weekend so i trying to get caught up while also resting. i finally did some vacuuming today and i hope to do laundry tomorrow. i did lesson 5 in FYJ today and posted my results on my art IG and played around with some other stuff in the studio, generally relaxing and not exerting myself too much. tomorrow i hope to tackle lesson 6 and maybe do the dishes. baby steps.

so i don’t have a lot to share here about art cuz i haven’t done a lot in the past month and a half. however… i am considering joining in on a midcity art studio stroll that’s being planned for saturday december 9th from 12-6pm, so i guess that’s what i can talk about. i haven’t done any art markets or pop-ups in years and years and i actually think the last time i did one was also at my house during the holidays. the last time i did it, i was still living just in the back of the house, so i really had no choice but to do it in the backyard; i had folks come down the alley along the side of the house to enter. if i end up doing it this time, i do have a front porch now and a living room and office that i could use to display stuff, but it would require me to really clean up before then to allow folks into my house. so i might just do it like last time, around back, since the studio opens up to the backyard. we’ll see. i have some pet work scheduled that day so i have to figure out if i really think i can do both.

if i do decide to do it, i will have a mix of old leftovers from the crafty and t-shirt printing days plus newer paintings from the past few years of dabbling in abstract work.

i’ll keep you posted if i do end up doing it.

that’s all i got. til next time! and happy thanksgiving!

it’s back… #keeplovingkeepfighting

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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!

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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!!

more stickers!

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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!

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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!)

here i go!

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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!!

new stickers for sale!

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lastnightabrassbandsticker

one of the rewards i am offering my $5 and up patreon subscribers is stickers. so the first new sticker i have made is that of my “last night a brass band saved my life” design. it’s slightly different than the t-shirt design i ran on teespring last year but basically the same – the background is black with the lime green trumpet, and the trumpet is a bit more ornate than the one i used on the t-shirt design. but i am pleased with it and think it translates well to a sticker. (and yes, you can still order the t-shirts via my teespring storefront and i will run the campaign and promote it actively a little closer to french quarter fest and jazzfest.)

so my patreon subscribers will get a handful of these free this month. the rest of you however will have to chip in a little for one, so i can start raising the money for the next sticker i will make next month – my “less internet, more art!” design that i stenciled on a few signs years ago and then never did anything else with. what with my 2016 push to get back to my art and creativity, seems like that slogan is a logical one to put out there in the world and put in front of myself to remind me to focus and not get distracted.

this batch of stickers cost me $113 for 200 of them (via stickermule), roughly 57 cents each. so i am asking $1 a sticker if you get them from me in person, cash. if i have to mail them to you or you have to pay me via electronic means, they will be $2/each or 3 for $5 or 6 for $10, to cover the stamp, envelope, electronic payment fees, and/or tax.

these stickers are 3″ x 4″ so big enough to put on a car bumper but also small enough for scooters, bikes, computers, and other applications.

you can order them from me via this paypal button:


quantity of stickers



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

JUST MAKE SURE I HAVE YOUR CURRENT ADDRESS TO MAIL THEM TO YOU. sometimes folks don’t update their address via paypal and then i end up sending stuff to the wrong place. and squarecash doesn’t have your address on file so you have to send it to me. best to jot me a quick email at: mags@artbymags.com and tell me what you’ve ordered. thanks!