New website - yay!

I'm loving my new website.....I can update it easily and it has links to my Etsy shop (prints) and my Soleyne shop/gallery (canvas originals). Plus it has a place for news, exhibits, etc. I'm going to keep it updated (not like I ever get behind up updating things like my blog lol), and use it as the primary gateway for my artwork instead of Etsy. I think it looks great as well as being user friendly :). I had a really beautiful website before but I wasn't great about keeping it updated. It also had a shopping cart where the new one just lets you purchase at Etsy or Soleyne. It felt somewhat redundant to be able to purchase at my website and at Etsy since you were purchasing the same thing.

Anywho, here's some artwork I've been working on :


Tangled Up in YouJuicy Summer
Through the Looking Glass

New Website!

'Cream'



So, I'm in the process of setting up a new website, it's not quite ready to go yet...it's going to be really cool and pretty though. I'm working with an amazing website designer named Richard Johnson - I really love his ideas :). More to come on that later.

Nothing really exciting or fun has happened this week, I've been a little under the weather it seems like. I had some issues with UPS sending me some of my photos for a big order completely bent and beat up. There were seriously indentions of a cart wheel on the outside of the envelope....I'm going to put a picture in here so you can see what they did. If this were a South Park episode I would have said 'those bastards' lol. And of course it was an order that needed to be there by July 15, that I had put a rush delivery on and everything. My printing company handled it beautifully though. All I had to do was send photos of the damage and they replaced all 3 photos absolutely free of charge ( large 16"x 16" photos) AND they arrived the very next day. Pretty darn amazing :). I will love them forever and recommend them to anyone who asks :). Look at what UPS did :




outside of envelope - see the cart wheel track in the corner?!



back of one of the photos

A Lot of Changes in the Past Week

Well, I did it. I quit my day job. I'm going from being a photographer for a photography company to being a freelance photographer. Wow, huge change. I've still not adjusted to the fact that I don't have to get up at 3,4, or 5 am anymore. I can get up whenever my eyes pop open and I can focus totally on my photography and selling my artwork on Etsy and wherever I can around here. I'm really going to have to start focusing on that aspect of it. I found out that artists can set up booths at the Farmer's Market in Knoxville every Wednesday and Saturday, that it's only $20 on Saturdays and $15 on Wednesdays. You have to apply to do it but that's definitely something I want to explore further. I'll have to get my art framed and matted though, I don't want to sell the photographs by themselves. So once I get several together, I'm going to apply.

I'm so excited. I feel like I have a whole new life starting now. I'm so glad I did it now instead of waiting. I was really unhappy there. Although working there certainly forced me to be more confident and I learned my way around Knoxville and surrounding areas. Those were certainly benefits. And I really like everybody I worked with. I'm going to miss that aspect of it. But that's all I'm going to miss. The time was right for this.

So now that's all behind me, I'm going to have absolutely so excuse for not posting in my blog LOL. I've been focusing more on summer art lately. Here's what I've listed:

So we have the beach and the meadow. I really love the one with the waves crashing. It's called "A Sense of Calm Washed Over Her". I love the warm grays in it. It's how I feel right now after leaving my job. Calm but at the same time excited about what the future holds :).

A lot of photos this weekend!

I've had a long weekend (4 days woohoo!). I went all over the place with my camera, looking for good angles, beautiful skies, and new blooms. I took lots and lots of photographs. I'm so excited about giving them that vintage feel and listing them! I have several already done and I'll give you a peek here. As usual, click on my Etsy shop to the right and you can see further descriptions, prices, etc. I really love these :):

'Just Be'

'Spring Romance'

'Landing'

'Japanese Spring'

'Growing Happiness'

'Strength'