Introducing: Free Shipping. All the time.

Free shipping on everything. From small paintings to big paintings. From now on. (And I didn't raise the prices to adjust for the free shipping--no worries there.)

http://artsafire.etsy.com

- and -

http://artbyjay.etsy.com



Be sure to read the next post down about my trippy space dreams. They're pretty entertaining.

Dream Recap: Trippy Space Dreams

Lately I've been having a lot of space dreams. Really crazy, sometimes terrifying, space dreams. And then, of course, there was the "Professor Snape is trying to kill us with an electrified dimension-hopping piano!" dream.

So, for posterity, and kicks and giggles, here's a recap of my last week or so of dreams (and nope, not pregnant):

1) I had a dream that groceries cost $1599 because sour cream rang up at $1107. Instead of just putting the sour cream back, I said, "Wow, we're only shopping at Costco from now on" and we abandoned our cart. And then, as we left the store and Jeremy went to get the car, evil transformer-like things that absorbed people (like Cartman's evil trapper keeper on South Park) took over the world and I have no idea where Jeremy went. I ended up in space with Stan from South Park (who had been absorbed by the trapper keeper evil transformer, but turned the machine good) in a Chips Ahoy galaxy with a caramel swirl center (we got there through a really trippy wormhole) and Kyle (also from South Park--noticing a theme?) was the commander at the resistance headquarters in space and I had to jump down no less than 8 swirly canyons to get away from the evil robot chasing me and I hit a lot of trees on the way down. Overall, it was terrifying and quite painful.

2) I had a dream that our friends Derek and Tiffany were illegal spicy burrito dealers. They got their burrito supply from Mexico.

3) I had a dream that I was an intergalactic foreign ambassador to the alien nations and I worked for NASA. I drove a Z06 Corvette (that looked more like an Audi R8 than a Corvette) through space as my primary mode of transportation. And my name was Jane because "Sara" was offensive to the aliens, and I cared more about my "intergalactic foreign ambassador" dream job than my name. I went to a space school to deliver something and ran into my old old old friends Justin and Cameron, neither of whom I have seen or spoken to in years. Then Justin made me miss my flight to Minneapolis.

4) I had a dream that wasps took over the world and when they stung people they turned them into zombies. So we had to build an underground shelter to escape the wasps and the zombies. It took eight years to complete and there was a lot of close calls (running from wasps and zombies). And then when we finally got down to the shelter and we realized we didn't have any batteries. So we had to go topside again.

5) I had a dream that Professor Snape was trying to kill all of us (students) with an electrified piano. The piano was basically a black baby grand piano and when you played a certain note, electricity would shoot out and wrap around your arms and suck you into a blue and black wormhole that sent you to another dimension. And when that didn't work, he tried to kill you by pouring watered down popcorn on you. I don't really remember how that worked...So, after saving people and running from him (all around my grandparent's house, which is where the entire dream took place), I told him that I wished he'd die because he was evil and he tried to put watered down popcorn on me. When I woke up from the dream, I fell back to sleep and the dream started up again--but Spock had taken the place of Snape.

I'll let you know what happens tonight.

New paintings!

Today I listed three new paintings on Etsy, all of which I think have a certain fall flair to them.

Ray of Hope - 8 x 10 - Currently on Sale through Friday - Textured canvas with black, brown, and gold accents around a solitary tree on a dark plain

Fall Leaves Under Glass - 8 x 10 - Currently on Sale through Friday - Under drawing of fall leaves with an overlay of clear crystal gel, painted with fall colored airbrush paints

Abstract Butterfly Collage - 8 x 10 - Currently on Sale through Friday - Textured canvas with an iridescent cream/gold glaze, with paper collage decorated with dark blue tar gel and cut out in the shape of abstract butterflies on branches

Tomorrow I'll blog about the process of creating the Fall Leaves Under Glass painting. For now, though, it's nap time. I have a flu-like something and my head is pounding and I'd like to sleep through some of it. Have a wonderful day! And don't forget to visit my shop. My sale is good through Friday, and everything is on sale, even my new pieces!

"Process Blogs" this week! And simply the best coat ever.

I've been creating various paintings this weekend and I'll be "process blogging" about how I created them throughout this week. Here are some in progress pictures. I'm currently waiting for layers to dry on all of these so I can start the next phase.

Underpainting awaiting various glazes

Crackle paste in the process of drying/cracking, awaiting a mosaic overpainting

Modeling paste textured canvas with distressed glaze awaiting foreground painting

Under drawing with clear granular gel being applied

As the clear granular gel dries, it becomes transparent and awaits glazes and paint

To be kept up to date about new blogs, paintings, and news, visit ArtsAfire's Facebook Page and become a fan! Fans also get exclusive coupons and sale codes!

My inventory clearance sale is still going through October 30th! Be sure to visit throughout this week for new paintings that will be introduced on sale. :)

On an unrelated note, my birthday is in a little less than two weeks and I've found what I want:



My husband and I went shopping a couple of weeks ago and he found this coat at Anthropologie. It's simply the best coat ever (along with my yellow Ann Taylor coat, but that's more of a "Fall jacket" than a winter coat) and I need a warm winter coat. I always go for cuteness, not warmth, so finding this gem that offers both is pretty much a once-in-a-decade event for me.

New ACEO prints! And a bathroom remodel!

I've made my pointillism flowers available as ACEO prints! They're for sale individually and right now, to coincide with my sale, they're 20% off! Only $4 for these beauties! With an oversized mat, these make a really elegant statement. In fact, I'm thinking of framing one to put next to my pretty silver lamp on my bedside table in lieu of a vase of flowers, which I think is actually too overpowering on my bedside table since my lamp is of a larger size. When I get it framed I'll take a picture. Anyway, here they are!

You know how I get bored and instead of moving I remodel a room (so much cheaper in the long run)? Well, I bought a new shower curtain. It's black and white and vintage Mickey Mouse. Trust me, it's classy. It's not one of those plastic ones like most Disney shower curtains--it's a heavy fabric and it's got really pretty designs around the edge. Anyway. I liked it so much that I bought the matching rug. But that's as Disney-fied as I'm going to make the bathroom (it makes us really happy, though). But now I'm itching to change the rest of it up! Make it more sleek and clean and less frou-frou to better match the new Mickey Mouse shower curtain and bath mat (really, it's Disney, but it's not frou-frou--it's making me look around at my bathroom and think, "PINK? REALLY?!" And yes, it's a really gorgeous coral-y Anthropologie based bathroom. And I still get completely giddy over my matching rugs and towels from there, but I think it's time for a change.) So, over the next month I'll be buying new accessories and towels. Replacing the pink with black and white with a touch of green. And replacing flowers with milk bottles and other pretty glass containers.

Can't wait to post pictures!

I love California

And this piece right here, totally reminds me of the California sun. (The word "totally" also reminds me of California because of it's "Valley Girl" connotations.) It's only $16 right now. Can't pass that up. Just click here. :)

Just got back from a business trip to California where I had an intensive day of Redtail CRM training. I've come to the conclusion that California and I get along well. I mean, I'd like to avoid L.A. I think it might be scary living there. I feel safer walking around in NYC late at night than I do going into a gas station in L.A. That's where I was this weekend.

But I would still like to live in Southern California. The fact that it's near Disneyland is a big bonus, too, since that's our favorite thing to do. We're going back for my birthday in 2 weeks.

My official "birthday season" started this weekend. Yes, my birthday is a big event. Jeremy and I went shopping and I got two new pairs of shoes from ATL, two necklaces and some gorgeous earrings from Anthropologie, and two new shirts ($12 and $14 on sale at Ann Taylor Loft and NOT summer clothing--sale on fall clothing!). Overall, it was a good haul.

If you'd like to contribute to my birthday fund...

my sale is still going on!

Just click here. I have things from $4 on up. And everything is 20% to 50% off. Really, it can't be beat.

byhand.me

I don't know much about byhand.me, but I've been meaning to look more into it. Today I received a message from WinterGarden on Etsy saying that she was a big fan of my work and had included me in her byhand.me spotlight!



I think it's curated gorgeously and I'm so honored to be a part of it! It all looks so great together!

I was looking around the byhand.me site and I really like it! I still need to do some more looking into it to fully understand what's going on there, though. Does anyone have first hand experience with byhand.me? What kinds of things do you do there? Is it a very big community?