Time to dig out an old but fun project, and subject it to public ridicule: Flame Banner, from 1995, rebuilt slightly in 2003. A very few people might have seen the early version of this hanging in the 1995 DragonCon art show (or maybe 1996, I don’t remember.) Dimensions: approx. 60 h” x 11 w”…
Read More Flame BannerI’ve blogged about how industrialization has simplified the process of making art and craft: hobby stores gave us relatively cheap and pre-prepared art materials, artists like Bob Ross showed us how to cleverly fake our way toward a sense of achievement, and Ebay and Etsy give us outlets to peddle the results. Sometimes it’s a…
Read More Pour a drink and lift a paintbrush (language advisory)First, y’all know what a revenge query is? Revenge queries are the boomerang query letters that a relatively seasoned (i.e. jaded) writer has lined up, to send out to new markets the same day that the first query comes back with a rejection letter. Rejections are a lot like band-aids, turns out – it’s better…
Read More More art I should not be doing.Courtesy of Scottsdale Estate Collection and their great Ebay site, you can now find some of my beaded jewelry for sale online, including pieces seen on this blog. There are well-meaning folks who insist that fine jewelry can only be gold, silver, diamonds, etc. Sure. I’ve even made some of it. But a cadre of…
Read More My beadwork jewelry for sale onlineI just found out that one of my fiber art pieces has been juried into the wonderful new show Eco Editions, which will be seen at my friend Laura Russell’s 23 Sandy Gallery, in Portland, Oregon, from November 15 – December 28, 2013. I’ve been in 23 Sandy shows before, and they’re always beautiful and thought-provoking examples…
Read More Art and the Animas RiverUse every pre-made tool you can, but learn how to make your own tools and components. I have mixed feelings about assemblage art: collage, stampcraft, scrapbooking, 3-D mixed media, and similar techniques. I love them. I’ve made money from them both in the corporate art world and in freelance work. I benefit enormously from the…
Read More Craft credo #2 (adult language advisory)(Beginning an intermittent series about making stuff. These are my personal philosophies about art and craft. As such, they are guaranteed to piss off some people. Please don’t feel singled out, and please feel free to answer me with your own thoughts on the matter.) Credo 1: The more we call some artifact or process…
Read More Craft Credo #1 (adult language advisory)Like many writers, I do lots of other creative things. I’m a gluten-free cook always looking for the best and most affordable ingredients (there will be posts on that later, I promise). I’m a costume and props maker. As a fiber artist, I’m under contract to provide award ribbons for a major twice-yearly regional art…
Read More My art for sale onlineIt’s an old love, going back to my discovery of silversmithing back in 1979. I first had to learn on copper scrap and wire. (Thank you, Hunt Brothers, for jacking up the price of silver back then. You taught me frugality when I started using the good stuff.) One of my earliest jewelry obsessions was…
Read More I love silverApplicable quote heard yesterday: “YouTube and Spandex are a responsibility, not a right.” Applicable parable (paraphrased from a kid’s book I can barely remember and can’t track down): There once was a vain and clever gaucho who won admiration at every festival he attended, for the intricate ponchos he wove and flaunted. But weaving was…
Read More Cosplay, Manufactured Drama, and the Lazy GauchoI had meant to add this information to my earlier ‘Banned in Russia?’ post, but there was just too much going on. It needs its own post. The Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church are working together to hold power in a stalled if not decaying country – and they’re blaming homosexuals, ‘atheist scientists’,…
Read More Banning Russia, or why we shouldn’t look the other waySci Fi Con PSA! Phoenix area! Affordable and fun! Got your attention? For those of you in the east to southeast Metro Phoenix area this upcoming weekend, I’d like to point you toward CopperCon Revolution, a local science fiction and media convention with a long history – both with me and the SSF community. My…
Read More CopperCon RevolutionOne of the busiest groups I’m on in Yahoo is the Love Romances Cafe group, which seems to have a million members. (I won’t link directly because it is an adults-only group. Check out their blog instead.) There is always a party going on. It’s probably one of the best free marketing tools this lazy…
Read More Love Romances Cafe swag! (adult content advisory)I write about things that cannot possibly exist in this universe, as passionately as if they did. I make art that directly references myths, folktales, and alternative beliefs that I do not believe in. And then I sell that art to people who, presumably, do. They and I have one certain link: our appreciation for…
Read More Little rituals and mind-mapsI don’t know how many readers are familiar with the art phenomenon that was Bob Ross. Love him or hate him, the guy made painting accessible for millions of hobbyists around the world, with formulas that relied on brushwork tricks, simple colorways, and solid composition. Cheesy as they were at best, Ross paintings of trees,…
Read More In praise of happy treesWords fail, but I’ll try, anyway. Paramount and Annapurna Pictures (the latter brought us the Cheney Apology-Fest that was Zero Dark Thirty) want to update the Terminator trilogy. Here’s the link: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-57591478/terminator-to-get-a-trilogy-reboot/ Now, CG has advanced to breathtaking levels. There’s a new crop of action heroes and heroines waiting for a shot at career-defining roles. Or…
Read More Terminate ThisI create artifacts. I don’t believe any of them have mystical properties. To me, they are interesting assemblages of fun materials, as make-believe as the fantasy worlds I create in my writing. I love special-effect props. I judge movies and shows not only by plot and action, but by the quality of the props. (Warehouse 13…
Read More Prop magic wandsFinish what you start, Crane. This will mean absolutely nothing to most readers, since it’s meant more as a reminder to me. I have so many writing and art projects that when I scribbled them down on the studio whiteboard, the list made me a little queasy. But if I acknowledge them in public, I’ll…
Read More Projects happenThis time of year, I live in a blast furnace. I never know what kinds of art or media gatherings I’m going to end up at, but the need for a folding fan is a constant for at least the three months bracketing Summer Solstice. I have plenty of folding fans, from lovely old carved…
Read More more steampunk goodnessI’ll get to the story about emerald, trust me. Well-meaning folks ask: ‘What’s your favorite color?’ I have the same dilemma, from the other direction, as a completely colorblind friend. My friend stalls, or says the question has no meaning – it’s all shades of grey according to my friend’s perception. I’m a visual artist.…
Read More Hello, Emerald!