I’ve got bad news and … bad news
Well, K just got laid off. Since she was our breadwinner (I’m more of a crust-snatcher), we could be in serious trouble if she doesn’t find a new job in two months.
Also, since my paycheck is so craptastic, I am also going to be looking for a new job as of right now. So you may not hear much from me for awhile due to the above, plus my art projects, plus, oh, hey, I actually have real work to do at work, appearances to the contrary.
So, anyway, I’ll be back to the wonderful world of job hunting, along with K. She’s really depressed. But I know she’ll come out of it. Everyone gets depressed facing unemployment, mounting debt, and possible homelessness. She said this morning, “I don’t even know how to spell ‘laid off’.”
I missed the last two days of making October’s art cards. K found out about her layoff on Monday, which means I’ve been focusing on her, so, sometime today, I need to make three cards to stay on track. I refuse to let speedbumps in the road of life distract me from my calling. Preach it, brother!
I tried to make one last night using Pitt brush pens on Multimedia Artboard (“will not bleed”, the advertising says), but the ink feathers so damn much, even on the smooth side, that I just wind up with a mess. I glued paper over it for a fresh start. I’ll just collage over it. I can’t figure out why the ink is feathering so badly. It drives me insane. Maybe I need to coat the board with gesso or acrylic medium to make it less absorbent. Grrr! I’m trying to learn a lot of different media so I can decide what I like. So far the Pitt pens are a disappointment, but maybe they’d work better on a different surface. Can’t think what. Bristol board? Mat board? I certainly can’t buy any more art supplies for awhile.
Oh, yeah, and I did buy some ACEOs (Art Cards, Editions, and Originals), which are the pay-for version of ATCs (Artist Trading Cards), which I said I would never do. They are supposed to be traded, you know? But I simply could not resist. This artist, K.L. Turner, is amazing. His imagination and use of color really draws me. Plus, I completely agree with his artistic philosophy. He calls his store Eclectic*Arts because he wants to express himself as he feels at the time, and doesn’t feel the need to concentrate on one particular style. I feel the same way. So maybe I might make it a policy that my cards will be ATCs (to be traded with other artists for theirs) or ACEOs (to sell to people who want to collect small, inexpensive works of art). I read somewhere that an artist should never give away his or her art; that’s like a shop giving away merchandise or a restaurant providing free food. Which, I think, can still be done, but in moderation. Like it or not, art is not only food for the spirit and exercise for the mind, it’s a commodity, unless the artist is a hobbyist.
I’m pretty sure those words will come back to bite me one day.
