More Summer Sale Goodness

Sun Worship - Ink and watercolor on 2.5" x 3.5" watercolor paper


As part of my huge Summer Sale on Etsy, I'm offering all of my ACEOs at about 50% off my standard ACEO price. See all of my available ACEOs for sale HERE!

PureDecor Products

I'm spreading the PureDecor love around, now with a new Zazzle shop at www.zazzle.com/PureDecor*. I've taken some of the original paintings I have for sale at http://www.puredecor.etsy.com/ and put them through Illustrator to alter the color and simplify the lines to a more graphic look. I'm currently only offering prints and mousepads, but there may be new products in the future.

Below is an example of what you can do with the prints. You can choose your own size from small to huge, the paper quality, from poster to UV papers and canvas, and your own matting, framing and glazing preferences. They have lots to choose from to suit any decor.

In this example, I've selected the largest size, 35" x 35" in Premium Matte paper with a silver finished wood frame (no mat) and UV protective acrylic glazing.

To custom frame your own version of Leaves 3 click HERE

In the next example, I've selected the smallest size, 11" x 11" in the basic cardstock paper, and I've added a double mat (white with green) and a classic black frame with regular acrylic glazing.

To custom frame your own print of Mod Circle 5 click HERE





I've also opened a free shop at CafePress. Just a handful of cool products like the ones you see below. www.cafepress.com/PureDecor

Time flies - and so I am adapting...

...slowly.

It's a hard thing for me to realize there are only 24 hours in a day. The actualization of an idea happens much faster than the accualization of a product. And right now, well, since the dawning of Spring, I've been ablaze with ideas - new ones every day, every hour! Fevorish sketches and notes filling my sketchbook, and almost constant internal tangents that can keep me up at night. (I'm not complaining - I love these thought processes the most - the ones behind your closed lids when the world is still and your mind is still buzzing with inspiration). But tonight, after a little regrouping post launching PureDecor and creating my sale at livefunky, AND thinking about my presentation as a whole - my website, my product lines, etc - I realized that I've got a lot of work ahead of me to get to where I REALLY want to be, and this is the time to do it. And to do it right, I can't put an unreasonable time restriction on it.

What is unreasonable? Me wanting to have 20 new paintings, a revised website and everything else I've got going online updated and sparkly fresh in 24 hours... or a week... or a month. Ummm, no. That's not going to happen. And if it did, it wouldn't serve me well.

So this is my plan for the summer...

Continue with my sale at livefunky to purge all of my older work.
Work on fine tuning my product lines at Zazzle.
Work on fine tuning my website, http://www.livefunky.com/

Work on a new body of work for livefunky/galleries

HAVE FUN AND ENJOY IT

At the end of the summer I'd like to have...

A new website

A new approach to livefunky

A continual flow of new paintings for PureDecor

A solid line of misc. products on Zazzle

Instead of wanting to get to the finish line (by thinking of doing this or that ASAP), I think this deadline is going to keep me focused on my goals for the summer and beyond. What are your creative goals for the summer?

Mod Circles by http://www.puredecor.etsy.com/

Pure Decor - My new shop on Etsy

PURE DECOR - Contemporary Decorative Art by Jessica Torrant
www.PureDecor.etsy.com

I couldn't wait another day - PureDecor has been launched!

Here's a quote from my revised profile on Etsy...

Very recently I've come to a "great divide" as far as creating and selling my work. I have loved being the sort of artist that offers a little bit of everything, and that has worked well for me, not only as far as selling, but most of all, as a creator. I've needed these years of experimental and intuitive creating, trying it all, and finding what works for me. But I've reached a point where I'm ready to raise the bar, and as always, I want it all. I want to offer affordable art as well as gallery priced work, I want to continue the process of cranking out art and I want to hone in on my paintings and make some breathtaking series.

After a great amount of thought and sketchbook tangents, I've come to the decision to have two shops that focus on the two different sides of me and how/what I create. The first is my already established shop, livefunky. The second is my new shop, PureDecor. To answer "What is the difference?", let me begin with the fact that I've always relied on making art to fuel/embellish/relieve any mood (and, like most, my moods run the gambit). There is the art I make because I'm eager to express and GO THERE, and there is the art I make because I need something to help me relax and escape. You could call me a bipolar painter and I wouldn't protest.

There are many other distinctions, but I casually classify the polarity as "sitting down art" and "standing up art". Sitting down art (PureDecor) is meditative, with a slower hand, with a desired outcome, and a formula that can be repeated over and over in new works in new ways. I usually create this art either sitting at a table, or sitting in the half lotus position on my studio floor (the same pose I had twenty years ago in my childhood bedroom, working on drawings of outfits, flowers and cartoons, or the doodles that served as the unconscious foundation for my future abstract paintings). Standing up art is intuitive (livefunky), unpredictable, energetic and intense, with an exploration for new ways of manipulating paint/form/color - never to be reproduced in that exact way again. This is when I paint ever so physically - I truly attempt to make paint dance.

I am a believer in loving art just because it's beautiful. (PureDecor)
I am a believer in loving art just because it moves you. (LiveFunky)

What Have I Been Up To?

As you may have noticed, I took a little temporary break from blogging. Besides working on my big "surprise" (which I suspect I'll be announcing in my next post) these images will show what else I've been up to.

Enjoying my garden and the colors exploding - this is my favorite time of year.

Yucca and Iris

My favorite groundcover and iris.

Yellow iris (these multiplied like crazy from last year's divide and transplant!).

I've also been enjoying the smile on my dog's face after a good game of frisbee and a cool drink of water and bath from the hose.


Life is good.

:)

HUGE SALE!

(as copied from my Etsy shop announcement, www.livefunky.etsy.com)


TAKIN' IT TO THE STREETS MEGA SALE!!

Blow Out, Huge, Enormous, You've got to be kidding me SALE - What a fool believes!

Consider me the silver fox that is Michael McDonald - I'm takin' it to the streets with this huge nope-I'm-not-going-out-of-business-just-transitioning sale. Livefunky is due for a royal makeover and most of my inventory is greatly discounted for a short time (and then it's gone, people. Gone for good!).

Why the great purge? Well, the major answer is I'm ready to take my paintings to the next level. I've been a painting machine for years as a child, student, confused post grad and then for the last 3+ years selling online. I've decided it's time that I stop speed dating paint and actually settle down and get serious. (Paint and I have this dream about a little place by the sea, but we'll see how it goes).

Don't worry. Nothing is going to drastically change as far as the direction that my work has been going in. It's more of a "raising of the bar" as far as materials, time, intention, and yes, my prices as well. If you're a fan but more on the frugal side, you'll be happy to know I've got a special surprise on the way. In fact, everybody is going to be excited about this surprise because it's awesome. You're intrigued now, aren't you. That's why you're going to check back to find out more in the coming week. ;)

:S: If you had no idea what I was talking about when I said "Takin' It To The Streets", "What a fool believes" or the silver fox "Michael McDonald", see below.

As a courtesy to everyone Takin' It To The Streets:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=G54lfxiid_w

And just for the heck of it... The Fox himself:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EXvi9bySjQQ&feature=related

Honoring this sale and the 80's kid in me, and the synergy of those things having nothing to do with each other, I'm going to try and come up with new themes for this sale that will blow your mind in the days to come.

With love,
Livefunky
aka JT

More new paintings

Urban Abstract - Acrylic on 7" x 10" canvas

Intention - Acrylic on 8" x 8" canvas.

The Awakening - Acrylic on 8" x 8" canvas.


Happy Memorial Day! Hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend!

Painting up a Storm

It's been beautiful here and I've been painting up a storm the last two days. I'll let the art speak for itself....



Orange Sun - Acrylic on 16 x 20 canvas

Hovering Circles - Acrylic on 16 x 20 canvas

John's Lament - Acrylic on unstretched 8 x 10 canvas

Blast of Inspiration - Acrylic on 16 x 20 canvas

Abstract Landscape - Acrylic on 8 x 8 unstretched canvas.



I'd also like to thank Erik at Etsy Art for featuring livefunky! http://etsyart.blogspot.com/

New Commission

This painting is a recreation of a smaller mixed media piece I made earlier this year translated in acrylic onto a 20" x 24" gallery wrapped canvas.

365 Sketch - Day 7

We All Wonder - original ink drawing on paper
Available in my Etsy shop

365 Sketch - Day 6 - May 21, 2008

This drawing is available for purchase in my Etsy shop - www.livefunky.etsy.com.

Check it out!

Check out my interview with the fabulous Martha Marshall (aka colorpoetry on Etsy) at www.lookseesaw.blogspot.com!

365 Sketch - Day 4 - May 19, 2008

365 Sketch - Day 4 - May 19, 2008 , originally uploaded by livefunky.

I take that back - Finished.

Patchwork Bliss
Acrylic on 30" x 40" canvas
Available in my Etsy Shop - HERE

Ok. I got my wish for more sun and looking at this painting with fresh eyes I knew - I'm done. If I added just one more block of color, I'd *need* to add a whole new layer. I'd end up losing some of those first layers that are still present in places, and those are some of my favorite "moments" in the painting. So - finis!

I also took a drive out to West Hartford to Jerry's Artarama to get a bunch of new supplies. Since most of the people that read this blog are fellow artists, y'all KNOW how great it feels to get a batch of supplies! It's kind of.... delicious. That feeling plus a cup of coffee (I'm usually a tea drinker so coffee to me = ZING!) has me in a pumped up and sort of spazzy mood. Ready to rock more canvas with my lovely new set of paint. I've got a commission to begin, and that is going to be a lot of fun. I estimated production time to take about 2-3 weeks, but I have a feeling it will be a matter of days. I'm just really excited to jump into this one. Speaking of.... the sun is out and I'm going to go paint! Have a great day....

JT

Almost Finished

This is a new painting I've been working on the last couple of days. I've been working outside and today it decided to drizzle, then rain enough that I had to call it quits. I could have moved back into the studio, but there's other work to be done today, so this is it for now. I need a sunshine to take a fresh look at it, then add just a FEW more elements (you'd better hold me to that, I have a tendency to overwork my paintings!). This is a large acrylic painting on canvas stretched flat on a board (designed to be shipped rolled and stretched by the buyer's framer). It was primed in black gesso which is something I've never tried before and I was very pleased with how it affected my process.

I'm crossing my fingers for a sunny day tomorrow, but we're caught in a long rainy spell here in New England. Hopefully I'll have some good shots of this painting completed soon!

may17 - 365 sketch

may17 - 365 sketch, originally uploaded by livefunky.

Peace, please.

Illustration by Jessica Torrant.

This new design is now available on a t-shirt at www.zazzle.com/artjct*

Let's Try That Again

365 Sketch - Day 1 - May 16, 2008, originally uploaded by livefunky.

I decided to do 365 Sketch again, only this time the moment is right and I'm really ready to go for it! This piece is an ink and sharpie drawing on a recycled paper bag.

Change of Heart

Mixed media on 8" x 10" matboard.
Available at www.livefunky.etsy.com

It was another productive day today. More art papers and I photographed this collage I made yesterday. This is my favorite piece right now. One of the materials I used was cut up pieces of the thick layers of dried acrylic paint I peel off of my palette.

As quoted from my Etsy listing...

"One of my little artsy joys is to peel away the dried layers of plastic like acrylic paint from one of my palettes (a glass pie plate and a frisbee!). I never knew what to do with it besides enjoy the feeling of the chunky texture on one side and admire the accidental beauty of swirls of color on the slick, shiny backside. Now that I've been on this recycling kick regarding my art, I am loving the effect of depth that this raw material creates on an otherwise two dimensional piece. I think you'll be seeing more of these "chunks" in my work in the future. No more tossing out ANYTHING! It all can be reused and manipulated to create new work :) "

Chipping away at the materials I already have has been a fun and gratifying challenge. I've been doing a lot of thinking about living green and what that means to an artist, or I should say, to me as an artist. I don't know where these thoughts will lead me in the long run, but I'm just working with ideas and projects in the moment and not worrying about grand implications. Will I stop working on canvas? Probably not, but you never know. Maybe I'll switch to stretching recycled fabric. Or painting on odd found surfaces. I won't make any promises, I just know what I feel right now is a good feeling and I'm going to try and keep this train of creative energy cruising as long as I can.

On a more personal note, this was my husband's first week working day shift! Our prayers were answered, and it's a real change for both of us - all for the best. Tonight we ate dinner together and I literally cried with joy. Jazz in the background, the sun setting, my love sitting across from me sharing a good meal - that's it. That's what I've been praying for all these years and I feel so lucky that someone was listening...

This evening all I can think and feel is LIFE IS GOOD.

Multi Purpose Art Paper

Tis the season for some serious creative energy! I've been a busy bee over here, and I worked on a few more collages as well as these handpainted art papers.

This is all inspired by the desire to find a purpose for every saved piece of art on paper I've collected over the years. Little drawings are great for my collages, but there are some paintings that are just such duds, they deserved to be painted over completely. Instead of painting over the surface with a new fine art painting (because I'd like to focus on canvas for my fine art work), I've been cutting these paintings up into 4" x 6" pieces (more sizes coming soon) and painting simple designs on them to be used as a supply for all sorts of art and craft projects. By working fast and recycling my materials, I'm able to keep the cost down and offer these original, one of a kind works of art at a very reasonable price. Great for scrapbooking, making greeting cards, decoupage - you name it!

Check them out in my Etsy shop - www.livefunky.etsy.com