how’d it get to be november already?

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!

EDUCATE AGITATE ORGANIZE tshirts are ready!

educate agitate organize black ink on red tshirts

these EDUCATE AGITATE ORGANIZE tshirts are finally ready!

limited run. canvas red color. bella/canvas brand. short sleeve unisex crew. 100% ringspun cotton jersey. sizes S – 2XL available right now.

$20 per shirt + $4 1st class domestic shipping for 1 shirt. ($5 for 2-3 shirts. 4+ shirts $7.)

if you are local to new orleans and want to pick up, no shipping charge, obviously.

if you need international shipping email me at: artbymags@gmail.com so we can figure out the cost.

send payment via paypal to: mags@artbymags.com (friends/family payment if you know how to do that)

send payment via venmo to: mags504

please make sure to email me your shipping address and sizes when you order!

i’m also taking pre-orders on:

-unisex canvas red sizes 3XL – 4XL. (3XL = $20, 4XL = $23)

-GREY unisex shirts. sizes S – 4XL (4XL = $23, others $20)

-and WOMEN’S bella/canvas relaxed fit tshirts in both RED and GREY, sizes S – 2XL (these are the only sizes available). $20 each.

thanks everyone for the support!

#abolishICE protest graphic

i literally whipped this up last night after a very long day of work and finished it this morning before i went to work. i wanted to have SOMETHING that i had created for this big immigration-themed protest tomorrow, though i’m now realizing i won’t have time to cut it as a stencil and make any posters. but i will try to print at least one out on my fancy new large format color printer and see what they look like, just so i can have one to carry.

this one above is the rectangular version, the original version. but then when i went to put it up on facebook as my profile pic, i realized it needed to be square so i stretched it out and made a low-res square version as well (below). i think it actually looks better as a square but for printing purposes i think the rectangle will probably work better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

if i can figure out how to upload a high res file to my website, i will offer it as a free download. stay tuned. feel free to snatch and/or share one of these versions for online use. i’d appreciate credit or a link back to this site or my fb or insta profiles, but it’s not absolutely necessary.

post mardi gras regrouping…

how did it get to be march already? whew. i hope all the locals had a good mardi gras and the rest of you, i hope you’re hanging in there through these first 45 days of 45’s presidency. yes, hard to believe it’s only been 45 days.

as for me, i put my etsy shop on pause midweek before mardi gras, knowing once wednesday hits, it’s a nonstop marathan of parades and work and parties and costume making and drinking and eating and recuperating and then fat tuesday and then OMGTHANKGODITSOVER. i knew i wouldn’t be able to package and ship any orders that came in until ash wednesday at the very earliest, so i figured i’d pause the shop to give myself a breather. i had to tidy up and drunk-proof my house for my annual endymion party, too, so it all made sense.

and i’m glad i did it, for my mental health. but now, since i reactivated it, it’s a slow climb back to the activity level i had going before mardi gras. everything is back in stock – all the RESIST stickers and patches and shirts, plus i’ve printed off some of the NOT GAY AS IN HAPPY BUT QUEER AS IN FUCK YOU shirts too, in red. i’ve had a few sales, but mostly just stickers, a dollar or two at a time, which, sadly, i don’t actually make money on, thanks to all the etsy and paypal fees. but i’m taking advantage of this lull in activity as an opportunity to work on new things and get my website updated.

 

i’m heading out to a new art supply store i’ve never been to this morning. i have a few hours this afternoon that i want to use to make some new screens for new tshirt designs, but i realized i had no screens! so after googling to find out that the art supply shops i usually go to are all closed on sundays (what’s up with that?), i found a new one that is open and it’s right downtown under the expressway/bridge. so hopefully i’ll be able to nab a few so i can get busy on some new stuff.

i’ve also updated the teespring shop with all the old designs – RESIST, BEWARE THE PUSSY, KEEP LOVING KEEP FIGHTING, and ARMY OF LOVERS – with continuously relaunching (every 3 days) campaigns so they will always be available. and the fact that they will print every 3 days means your stuff will come faster. so feel free to refer friends there when they ask you where you got your shirt!

ok, that’s my update for now. #thesidehustleisREAL

the #RESIST factory keeps churning…

 

i love y’all. you keep buying as much #RESIST gear as i can turn out. i can’t keep up!

thank you all so much for the support and all the love! and thank you for helping me to make some donations to organizations i trust and believe in. so far $50 has gone to the people’s institute’s scholarship fund for their undoing racism trainings, over $150 went to the #J20NOLA coalition that i worked with on the inauguration day march, $25 has gone to the local planned parenthood, and smaller donations have gone to the new orleans abortion fund and the local women’s march committee. so probably about $250 so far, and i’m about to do another round of donations this week to a few different organizations. i don’t set a specific percentage or amount because i’m never sure how something is going to sell and the intermittent way i produce products means i always have some of my money tied up in ordering/inventory, but trust that i’m making regular contributions to nonprofits and grassroots groups with some of what i’m making from this gear.

i am of course keeping some of it too, to grow my art/craft biz, purchase some new equipment so i can keep making stuff, and buy supplies. i might have to use some of it to fix my 20 year old ailing car, too, but it feels like a luxury to be able to do so.

so, updates about the merch:

stickers: i’m almost out of the 6″ matte stickers and i’m not sure i’m going to keep ordering them since they are more expensive to get made. but they are also much faster to get made, so maybe. there’s a few left. i have plenty of the smaller 5.25″ glossy ones (pictured) left. you can get both via my etsy shop but feel free to just email me directly to place an order for stickers. $1 each. (you can paypal, venmo or squarecash me directly – ask me for details.)

embroidered patches just got restocked! i have about 175 left. you can get them via the etsy shop or you can email me directly to order those – $5 each.

as for the tshirts, i’m in constant restocking mode on those. i am trying to keep 3-4 of all sizes in stock at all times but it’s hard to keep up with, so forgive me the periodic outages. you can see the current inventory in the etsy shop in the individual listings for both mens/unisex and womens cuts – i try very hard to keep that tally current daily as things get bought. if you don’t see the listings for the mens or womens shirts, it’s cuz i’m out. just keep checking back. they are $20 each.

i’ve also decided to go ahead and just keep them available via teespring. it’s a less than perfect print-on-demand situation but the quality for one color prints is always good and there’s just so much selection for brands/styles/cuts/sizes of shirts there. visit my teespring store to order. i get paid either way and it gives me a breather from the hand printing.

my friend dix keeps quipping – “who dresses you for the revolution?” at the sight of so many folks wearing my gear at all the marches and meetings. i keep thinking about ways i can work that into a tagline for the business. “dressing the resistance since 1992” or something like that. send me your thoughts!

thanks again everyone!

RESIST shirts + stickers!

my latest design is simple but bold. i actually started working on it BEFORE the election, fully thinking hillary clinton would be our president. but, well, now it has even more meaning. my friend julie recently (post-election) snapped a picture of a sign on a house on st. bernard ave that said: resistance must now become like breathing. i don’t know if this is a famous quote by someone that i should know (i googled it but found nothing), or just the wise words of a local person who felt the need to scrawl it out on a handwritten sign and tack it up on their house, but it’s the truth and it really resonates with me.

i made the above resist sticker for my patreon subscribers, but of course ran extra knowing folks would probably want these. well i’ve already sold out of that initial run of 200 and am half way through the second 200; i now have a run of 500 on the way. pretty sure this will be an ongoing effort. i mean, we’ve got four years of this fascist crap to resist, right?

you can buy them from me directly for $1 each. (they are up in my etsy shop but cost $2 each there due to paypal and etsy fees.) email me if you want stickers.

i also hand painted a screen and have printed t-shirts. for now, what i’m selling are black, 100% cotton, Next Level brand, soft lightweight t-shirts with white water-based ink. i have mens and women’s crew cuts in sizes small through 2XL. $20 per shirt. they are also up in my etsy shop but you can get them from me directly by emailing me.

now is not a time for complacency. or for silence. or for normalizing this incoming administration and president. now is the time for coming together, conspiring, organizing and mobilizing. we must actively #resist.