Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Visit US on Black Friday

Landscape Study #300, 5"x7", Oil on Cradled Panel, 2010

I am an equal opportunity shopper so I am not going to tell anyone here not to spend your money during this shopping season at a mall or at a big box store because sometimes ya just need a big bag of socks and there is nowhere else to find one, even though I am currently boycotting Target, hate Walmart and only go there if I am ABSOLUTELY desperate and there is not even a Kmart within an hour of here either.

Oops, I digress.

But I do hope that you will at least spread your money around and help support artists and craftspeople who pour their hearts into making things while often barely making a living wage at it. Electronics are nice, and I like a good new gizmo almost as much as the next person, but ultimately my most cherished gifts have been the crazy little ceramic pots/sculptures/collages/picture frames/other not quite identifiable objects that my kids have made for me, the earrings that a friend made for me, a necklace made by another friend. My husband has given me wonderful gifts over the years such as a beautiful woodcut by an artist friend of ours from Utah, a painting by an illustrator that I idolized when I was in college. Even though the computer Doug gave me one year was awesome! amazing! useful! and crashed within 2 years! I would ultimately prefer my art collection if I had to choose between the two.

So please visit my little gathering of artist friends at The Fine Art Department and also at the Small Art Showcase; between the two collections you are bound to find something beautiful and creative to give your loved ones, your friends, coworkers, and/or yourself!

I would also like to pass along more links to some other sites:

My old friend (and I mean that literally, we were co-barflies back in Philly in the late 80's, which now makes us old friends) Charlie has gained quite a following on Facebook and Twitter with his unique observations on life and has now put them on shirts, bags, etc at Shot of Wry.

I have never met Sarah in person, but she is a very good friend of Charlie and his wife Cecily who was also my co-barfly and best friend back in the 80's. One of Sarah's photographs hangs in my living room and I often spend some time with it, soaking in the sadness and beauty.

Lately I have been wearing more wood shavings from the hen house than jewelry and in fact I went so long without even putting on a pair of earrings that I had to recently "re pierce" the holes in my ears that I have had since I was thirteen, but that hasn't stopped me from drooling over quite a few items on this Etsy page. I may just have to forward this page to my husband so that he will be able to more easily do HIS holiday shopping this year, heh.

Two of my very good friends in real life make wonderful one of kind, "upcycled" jewelry and clothing, although lately I am seeing way more jewelry at Quirky Works than clothing. If you come to visit our town, you will see that EVERYONE is wearing their creations! Oh and you can like them on Facebook to receive updates.

Julie worked at the gallery in NYC that represented me for about a year and a half before they closed (STILL devastated about that, btw) however I was lucky enough to have made two lasting friendships (the other being the gallery owner) during that time and Julie might currently be my leading collector of small format paintings. Anyway, she has an Etsy page and makes the most wonderful cross stitched ornaments. Go see.....

And the other day I asked for links on my public facebook page and believe you me, there is a TON of shopping to do in the comments section of that post!

Ok, that should be enough to get you started. And please, PLEASE, if you make handmade arts/crafts and have a sales site or know someone who does, post the link in the comment section here. Now don't be shy about it, I WANT you to be able to show your work and now's the time to be flaunting it posting it......

So have a good turkey day in between all this shopping! I will be taking a vacation form my blog, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

8 comments:

Janelle Goodwin said...

May all the good karma come back to you, Tracy. And Happy Thanksgiving!

HELENA TROVAJ (fd Öhman) said...

What a nice painting!

Cheers
Helena

SamArtDog said...

Two things I am NOT thankful for:

I'm nuts for Quirky Works, but I can't figure out how to get my hands on any of their outstanding necklaces all the way out here in the minor outlying US island that is Boulder.

My earholes have also seized up, but given my age (nevermind) and my love of long too-heavy ear bobs, I haven't re-drilled, for fear that my lobes will loop down to my lap. Sigh.

Happy Thanksgiving anyway.

Ruth Armitage said...

Happy Thanksgiving Tracy :) Thanks for putting good ideas out there for people.... Hoping your inbox is filled with orders when you return!

Ruth Armitage said...

oops! Here's my site: http://rutharmitage.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/rutharmitageHappy holidays :)

Unknown said...

I love these paintings! The colors are great!!!

Julie said...

Oh Tracy, I am SO slow that I just noticed now that you included my in your blog post. THANK YOU! You are too sweet. I can't tell you how much I love love LOVE the newest painting I acquired from you. Today I opened it and let out a loud "OH MY GOD." Now I have three, and have given several as gifts, and they are always loved. Plus, when you give one to your boyfriend, who becomes your fiance, well, then your own collection expands when he moves in. (Clever, huh?) So I guess that makes four little ones for me... and counting.

www.kunsthafen.blogspot.com said...

Hi!
Nice blog. I like your stile, and i follow !
Best regards,
Zoltan,
from Berlin/Germany