Etsy Shop Facelift

As an Etsy seller I always find January and February to be a good time to review the items in my shop, Curious Portraits. I have learned to keep track of things that I notice need improvement during the holiday frenzy when there is no time to address them. Then when things slow down I can tackle them one by one. Two weeks ago a spike in Halloween themed sales had me up-dating item descriptions for all of my goblins, pumpkin men and skeletons. This week I've been looking at my Christmas ornament listings. I have been feeling the need to re-photograph them for awhile and realized while doing so that if I photographed the non-Christmas themed ornaments in a non-Christmas setting that I could re-list them as wall decor instead of Christmas ornaments. This was very timely as Etsy recently re-vamped their categories and I had to re-evaluate my old ones anyway. I also re-titled them as Portrait Miniatures instead of Christmas Ornaments. Since I am in the process of designing a new, higher end line of Victorian inspired Portrait Miniatures for the shop these can now act as ambassadors for the new product! As soon as I get my hands on some holly or red berries I will re-photograph the Christmas themed ornaments as well since I do like a little Christmas cheer in my holiday listings! Here are the before and after shots, let me know what you think!

New Portrait Miniatures Listings

I used a damask stripe that I had designed for another project and printed it out in soft, neutral tones for the background.

New Portrait Miniatures Listings

Former Christmas Ornaments Listings

For the new Christmas Listings I will keep the red ribbon and add in some greenery and red berries (if I can find any in February) but put them on a cleaner background, perhaps the same damask stripe that l used in the Portrait Miniatures of which I am so fond.

The Writer's Chronicle

I am so pleased with the new issue of The Writer's Chronicle which features an illustration by yours truly. It was such a pleasure to work on and I couldn't be happier with the layout and the beautiful script they chose for the cover story title.

The title essay explores all the ways the image of the window has been used in nonfiction beginning with Forster's Room With a View, one of my favorites up to the present. It was a challenge to illustrate and initially I thought using an actual window would be too predictable. My love of repeating patterns however kept drawing me back to the possibilities presented by a curtain and wallpaper if a window was viewed from the inside out.  As I sketched out different ideas  I kept coming back to my original thought of using a lace curtain as a sort of veil between the inside and the outside. The essay mentions captivity vs. freedom as one of the concepts a window could represent and I thought incorporating the motif of keys and locks into the lace could be a subtle and graceful way of portraying that.

The second essay was even more abstract. It explored all the different elements a writer must consider in creating a character's identity in a story. I decided to continue the theme of a repeating pattern that I had used for the cover and incorporate some of those elements including location, religion, home life, occupation etc. This was an engaging project and the art directors were a dream to work with. I am so excited to be part of this issue of the magazine!

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Two Wonderful Blog Posts about Yours Truly

I want to mention today how honored I am to have been featured on two wonderful blogs this week!

The first is by Evelyn Pelati, a talented jewelry designer who has a knack for finding interesting artists, craftsmen and designers to write about on her blog.  Just click the image to read more of her post about yours truly! You can see her beautiful jewelry on her website: evelynpelati.com

The other one is called Papoose Clothing by Ashley Duggan Smith who makes the most adorable and charming children’s clothes. Just click the image to read more of this wonderful post. You can find her unique clothing line in her Etsy shop Papoose Clothing.

Thank you Evelyn and Ashley for your very kind words about my work!