Wishing you and your loved ones a bright and happy holiday time ~

And to those of you celebrating this evening and tomorrow ~  a very Merry Christmas from Ashland, Oregon.

love, Marisa and Seanie

You know I rarely do this kind of post, in fact I don’t know if I ever have done a post like this? it’s time I start sharing more... so in the spirit of the season, and the spirit of this blog ~ I want to introduce you to a a very special organization: Half the Sky is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support, encourage, and nurture opportunity, and possibility in the lives of little ones just starting out in China. No one knows this better than Lis, a mama and a fellow creative who made this beautiful video to raise awareness for this organization that is very dear to her heart. If you vote for her video, you will also be bringing her closer to hear dream come true of raising $10,000 for Half the Sky. Organizations that provide so much hope and possibility in the lives of others are very near and dear to my heart as well ~ having these kinds of people and organizations in our world~ there is nothing better.

A highlight of the show this past weekend was getting to meet so many of you! Especially Melissa and Volker who seem to have an uncanny resemblance to my little characters ;)

I’m going to be honest and say I’m a little spoiled with the ease of selling online. You know it’s hard to imagine that before the internet, working a craft fair/show was one of the few ways an artist to could their work with an audience. Thank you *internet* and a BIG hats off to the artists who do these kinds of shows regularly. After a few days of recuperating, reflecting traveling, visiting, packing, re-packing...it was a great weekend and well worth all the work that went into making those two days happen. Now I don’t know if I will ever do it again...but I probably will. As awkward as it is to stand smiling, sometimes yawning, behind your work in a huge room filled with hundreds of other artists, I can’t stress enough how important it is to for an artist to experience this~ especially getting the chance to see and visit with their customers in person.

Thanks to all of you who came out and took the time to stop by the booth and say hello! It was great to meet you!!

And a very special thank you to Liz and Rob {and the little bear}! Sean, Mincy and Kim for all their help and support. Could not have done it without you guys. xo

Literally blogging from the airport right now. That’s the kind of week it’s been. Hours and weeks of preparation and I cannot wait for this weekend, the holidays, time with friends and family...and a very long nap somewhere in there + multiple glasses of wine. Have I mentioned I love this time of year?! since you can only read that and can’t hear the inflections in my voice. That is a genuine statement, with no hint of sarcasm 'for reals'. And speaking of friends I’ll be neighbors with Mincing Mockingbird and Frantic Meerkat at the show. To quote Mincy, they are "tops in my book". And I’ll also be hanging with Sean and another lovely lady more people who are tops in my book.  Look forward to seeing you there!

*seriously, on some days I still cannot believe that I can blog from the aiport* ;)

5 x 5 in.

In the midst of a lot of work and preparation for the holidays and my upcoming trip, I painted for me this weekend. As I’m sure you’ve heard me mention, if I don’t get enough full on actual creative time in...ideas pile up and I start to get cranky. And that is just not very festive ;)

What’s happening is that I’m getting so used to preparing for seasons ahead of time that I’m sure 'lucky cat' is inspired by the coming New Year.  It’s true, I am already looking forward to the New Year. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in the throws of enjoying the Christmas season but the excitement of 2011 is also with me. I am getting so many ideas about what’s next, and now 4 years in, feeling like I might finally have a firm grasp of my 'life with this business', I am so ready to implement new changes. As I do every year, I am expecting a lot of good things for 2011 and I do know of some exciting things unfolding already...I am anticipating a lot of good luck, hence the 'lucky cat'.  I was actually inspired to paint him after I came across this image in German magazine last April. I think he was featured in the background of an article featuring an Asian recipe which is why there’s a bowl of some delightful shrimp concoction in the foreground. 

I’ve always loved when businesses and homes have a lucky cat featured prominently in their space. Now I have one too, and so can you. 

Wishing you lots of luck and prosperity now and on into 2011, and always for that matter ;)

{click here to buy original} also available as a print over at the shop

While tweeting and carrying on, mostly about Wassail last night, I had a request to share this recipe.

As I mentioned this is a Martha Stewart recipe which means it is complicated but so very good. And by complicated I mean that there are a lot of *possibly unecessary* steps to make a simple drink, also her recipes always call for ingredients that I not only do not have on hand but cannot find at a regular grocery store or  in the case of Calvados, most liquor stores. I went to three Los Angeles liquor stores to find Calvados...was still worth it. I finally gave in and ordered some maple sugar which I am expecting will arrive any minute now.  In place of the maple sugar I have been using brown sugar. I’ll let you know the difference when I get the maple sugar. I’m curious to see how different the flavoring might be? Last night I also improvised with some Asian pear instead of apple, also yum. And Sean prefers it with more spice so instead of just allspice and clove I’ve been using a pre-mixed collection of 'mulling spices' from Williams Sonoma.

• Sprinkle 1/4-inch-thick apple slices with maple sugar, and roast at 400º for 15 min. for garnish if desired
• Combine 4 allspice berries and 2 whole cloves in a cheesecloth sachet {since I don’t have cheesecloth sachets on hand I’ve been using a tea strainer from my teapot or you could use those loose leaf tea balls or this mulling spice ball I just found at Williams Sonoma}
• Heat 1 cup fresh cider and spice sachet over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes {Trader Joe’s cider is delicious!}
• Remove from heat; cover and let steep for 30 minutes
• Stir in 2 tablespoons maple sugar, and heat over medium heat until it dissolves
• Reduce heat to low and add 2 12 oz. bottles of ale, preferably Newcastle Brown Ale and heat for 8 minutes
• Add 1/2 cup Calvados, and heat for 3 minutes more. Remove sachet {just realized I’ve been taking the spices out after the cider sits for 30 minutes *whoops* keeping it in would probably make it spicier!}
• Divide among 4 to 6 heatproof glasses, or just 2 really big pint glasses! Garnish with roasted apple slices if using. Serves 4 to 6

Cheers! which according to this recipe is the translation for Wassail! in Middle English. Go figure.

Thanks to everyone who attended the shop update and snatched up some goodies. As promised, they have all shipped out to you! There are still a few treats left, as well as a new shipment of night lights and growth charts that just came in yesterday. Since I’m traveling this year, December 15 is the last day to get your order in before the holidays.

If you try the Wassail, let me know how it goes!

over at the shop!

click here to see what time it is where you are.

{original watercolor and ink painting of mine circa 1980’s ish}

Oi! I have so much to prepare for my shop update tomorrow... but Jan of Poppytalk wrote this incredibly thought provoking post that’s been on my mind since yesterday. When something stirs me for that long, I know it’s time to say something. I could write a very long comment over at her blog or I could just say it here, share it with you and then I recommend if you haven’t checked out her post, and this new one Earl put up to today, please do. There is a great discussion happening over there.

Jan’s post touched upon several subjects that I am equally as passionate about

• Staying authentic and original as an artist, a blogger, a teacher and a business owner
• the internet, how it’s changed things and where it’s headed
• the indie market of handmade goods in particular
• bloggers who make a living with their blogs
• copycats 
• competition
• stealing
• beginning
• and continuing
• big business vs. small business
• staying in business period
• change

Now as you probably already know {me and my 'thoughts on things'} I could write a blog post or 2 on each of these subjects. Where do I even begin?! What I want to do with this post is keep the discussion going. I’ll start by sharing some initial thoughts on how I came to be here as an artist in this blogosphere. Then I’ll share my thoughts on some of these subjects with a whole bunch of bullet points. And I’ll try to do that as succinctly as I can ;) Oh #$%* it! This post is just going to be as long as it needs to be.

Ok here goes:

I am a circa 2006 podcaster and then a blogger, a circa 2000 started my own internet company, and a circa 1996 graphic designer when the web and email for that matter, just began. I’ve been an artist and on computers circa my childhood.

I’m one of these people who owned a typewriter and also owned one of the very first MACs, remember that little box? I drew one of my first illustrations on the computer at age 12. Computers, and the world of technology have felt like second nature to me which is why it makes perfect sense that this present online world feels like home.

In the last 6 years alone the changes that have happened are INCREDIBLE and the speed with which things are continuing to change is super fast. We live in a remarkable time. Without the internet having expanded in the way it has I would not be making my living the way that I now do. It changed my life. 

And what’s the saying? the only constant in life is change. 

In Jan’s post she wrote specifically about 2005 when a lot of this art/design/blogging world got started,  which is exactly the same time when I first became aware of blogging. Although I cannot forget two of my high school friends who started blogging years before and I remember thinking, "what are they doing? journaling online? ~ wow! I could never do that." Which as many of you who have taken online classes with me or listened to podcasts know that blogging was about the last thing I wanted to do. Just go back to my early posts and you’ll see that I only posted my paintings and wrote next to nothing. I’m not a journaler people. In fact given the opportunity to speak or write it I will speak it which is why I started podcasting before I even started this blog.

Let’s just say that in 2006 when I entered the scene not only did I feel like a newbie but I already felt like a late comer, even with all my technological comfort and insight. I can only imagine how those of you entering the scene now must feel. A literal zoo out here with tons of internet hootenanny, the online world has indeed changed A LOT in these last few years.

I find it can feel much harder to get noticed. Then again let’s keep it in perspective,  it is still so much easier to create work that you love and share it with an audience, your audience, and eventually grow it into a full time business. 'Eventually' is the key word here.

Nothing happens overnight people. And even if let’s say some reality show deems you a superstar overnight, you still have to have the chops to keep working when all that initial recognition falls away. 

I recently re-tweeted a quote that said "it takes 20 years to make an overnight success". If there is anything that living in Hollywood has taught me, is that this is true. Just about every 'celebrity actor'  you know about was working a very long time before they ever became a household name.

Look I know better than anyone how the internet can make change happen fast. It must be confusing to stand at the edge of this world, see incredible things happening for people left and right at quantum speed and not think that hey this can happen for me too. And it CAN. Just don’t forget to look at what is behind the apparent 'overnight success' of anyone. Do not assume that by starting a blog and sharing your art with the world today, that you will be making a living by tomorrow. It still takes time. And yes, as much as I am one for ease, it still takes WORK; work that you will LOVE doing but work nonetheless. If I think of everything I did before I even arrived on this scene and then think about the amount of work I have done in the last 4 years alone, I honestly cannot even believe it.

Just to start with I have posted 1,039 times to this blog and have created a body of work that includes at least 500 paintings not including the other original creations from ceramics to clay sculptures to sewing I have also made along the way...I have recorded via audio and video for my podcasts, online classes, and this blog over 100 times...you get the picture. 

And it honestly feels like 4 years in to this version of my business, eleven years into my  life as an entrepreneur, and 21 years working,  right now is when it is really just beginning to come together. 

Why?

Because it takes time. It takes time to find your voice as a person, an artist, a blogger, and a business owner. You have to try, experiment, explore and commit to this journey, before you even begin to scratch the surface of who you are meant to be in this world.

Some of us may be lucky in having the right support early on in life, encouraging us to believe we can be whatever we want. Some of us may trust our own calling long before others do. Some of us have had to try many different avenues that didn’t work to finally find the one that did. Some of us may still be trying. All of it, all of these scenarios are life and from the perspective from where I now stand, the best parts of  life. I wouldn’t trade one nightmare boss, I worked for at least 3 of them, for what I now know and have. Every bit of life experience lead me here, it was all worth it to have the clarity and the knowledge I now have.

In Closing to everyone, and especially to the newbies in this world: {Oh and for the record, these are my ideas based upon my life experience. I will never claim to have all the answers or know the best way to do anything. I am still becoming...and I will always turn it back to you as the best resource to find your own answers with all of this.}

• being a newbie in any world takes bravery and is awesome {when I did my very first podcasts, having never done anything like that before one of the first ones I recorded was inspired by this very idea and it was called "be willing to play like a rookie"}
• never, ever, ever give up on your dreams ~ be willing to let them unfold before you in ways and a timing you might not have expected, but always trust that they can happen
• do not let anyone including me ;) tell you how long it will all take or that you have to pay your dues {for the record in this post I am not talking about 'paying your dues'. I hated that saying when I first entered the career world and I hate it now. What I’m talking about is a willingness to do the work of life: to mature, become wiser and better at your chosen your craft, a process that continues as long as we are alive}
• Even if it takes while for it to happen, good work will always get noticed and recognized
• "There are no new ideas" is something my favorite boss {I had one good one!} told me when I was first starting out in interior design
• I know the best part and one of the most challenging parts about the internet is being able to see and follow everything. What once felt like an original idea, do a little internet surfing and it no longer is so original. So how do we stay original in a time like this? Well we’re creative aren’t we? That’s what we do. We push, we challenge ourselves to come up with the new idea. So do it then.
• Does this mean you will never have the same idea at the same time or unintentionally copy someone? No. It will still happen, especially now
• Do new artists finding their voice mimic other’s styles? Absolutely. Is it part of the process to finding your own voice? Yes, I think it is. 
• Direct copying and claiming it as your own. NEVER OK.
• Will we be inspired and influenced by other artist’s out there? Absolutely
• Will elements of their work show up in our work consciously or unconsciously? probably so. One of the things I loved most in this video of Oliver Jeffers talking about his process, was hearing him identify so many artists who have directly influenced and inspired his work. I think Oliver is a wonderful, original artist and author of our time. Is he reinventing the wheel? nope. Is that the point of becoming an artist? for some maybe, but not for all. Some of us just like to create work that makes us happy and in turn might make someone else happy as well.
• I think today, in large part due to the internet, we are becoming overly afraid of creating ~  for fear that someone might steal from us or that we might be unknowingly copying someone else. With so much creating happening {let’s be thankful for this!} and so much visual archiving and access to such creating there is almost no way you are going to make something that someone might not see something related to someone else’s work, but it can still be ORIGINAL. An artist’s work is to discover and then let that originality come through in themselves and their creatuibs.
• Again because of the digital age, people can steal images of someone else’s work. I just accept that the more my work is out there, the more likely it is that someone could steal it.  But also because of the digital age, I have an entire army of people who let me know the minute someone does steal it. It’s amazing. The times my work has been ripped off someone has brought it to my attention. I have actually never gone out looking for any signs of theft.
• If someone steals my work, I may fight it, I may not. But I will never, ever let it stop me from continuing to create.
• Stealing and copying of your ideas, as vile as it is, does mean that you have good ideas
• It’s a heartbreaking subject, it just is. And I’m glad to part of community that sticking up for ourselves and looking out for one another
• Another design mentor of mine when asked how he handles people who copy his designs simply said "By the time they steal my design, I’m already out ahead thinking of the next one"
• It is our job as entrepreneurs and artists to always be thinking out ahead. 
• I am learning that resting on your laurels and being an entrepreneur do not co-exist
• Copying someone’s business model is absolutely going to happen. Stealing it exactly. NEVER OK
• This goes the same for e-courses and yes I will also say this: teach what you know and make sure you are teaching something that you have experience in. Please do not teach online classes simply because everyone else is doing it. It took me years of experience before l felt like I had  earned the right to be paid to teach.
• Be a trend maker, not a trend follower
• Believe that there is enough room for everyone to be creative, have a business, have a voice, have a blog, teach a course whatever it is. Just be authentic. 

It takes a lot of bravery to speak your authentic voice in this world sometimes, and I just want to say thanks again to Jan for sharing her post yesterday. One of my favorite blogs and one of the few I still visit, I have worked alongside Jan for the last 4 years and she has always been consistent in her kindness and professionalism. In today’s world, that speaks volumes.

I will leave you with what I wrote to her in an email yesterday: "At the end of the day the people who love and care the most about their art, design, and blogging businesses will remain. I think we are going to see a turn, where a lot of people will fall away because you cannot sustain a business built on sand, especially ones that are built on stealing ideas from someone else".

Having your own business, especially as an artist, one that will sustain itself through the ebbs and flows, you have to love it with all you are.

6  x 6 in.

I believed in Santa for quite a few years growing up, thanks to my parents, my mom in particular who took painstaking efforts to keep the magic alive...like leaving trails of tinsel from the tree to the fireplace {remember when we used to put those silver icicles on our Christmas trees? what happened to those by the way?}. I swore I heard reindeer footsteps on top of our house Christmas Eve more than once. In fact, I know I did.

And while I eventually learned the real story of Santa, after arguing countless times with my school mates adamant that he did indeed EXIST, I never lost the feeling of magic. To me the spirit of Santa is that feeling of magic. And the magic moments of life, that is something I will always believe in. Thank you mom for giving me that gift.

In the spirit of Santa, I have painted him a few times this season. This particular santa was inspired by my favorite Santa to date, a vintage ceramic one I found on a holiday outing to Santa Barbara during Christmas 2008.

*love him so*

{original is sold, available as holiday cards here}

handmade, original creations will all be released this Thursday! We’ve got an official Santa’s workshop going on over here.

happy festive weekend!

It’s that time of year when I promise myself that I will move through it with ease, peace and enjoy every second of it. Because I LOVE it.

For those of us in the making of things, particulalry the making of 'giftie things', it is especially fun {and a little busier than usual}. It is also that time where I put my creative hat on or in this case I have put it on a few times over the last several months, to prepare special, one of kind of a kind, creations for you. I get the chance to flex my creative muscles so to speak like in the embroidered illustrations in the hoops featured above ;)

So this is your official invitation to join me for the 3rd annual holiday shop update next Thursday, December 9. Time to be announced. I’ll probably give you some sneak peeks of what will be featured in the update over the next week here on the blog. Also! tomorrow December 2nd registration opens for my e-course "In the Fish Bowl :: Life as an Artist Online".

I’m also preparing for Renegade San Francisco for the first time this December 18 + 19. This means that all online orders for the holidays need to be placed before December 6 for International and December 14 for Domestic. Please drop me a note and let me know if you need it in time to give as giftie, as I am turning orders around as fast as I can with the holidays in mind.

hope you are having a peaceful, happy start to the holiday season this December 1st!

I’m visiting over at Victoria’s blog today. I LOVE her unexpected guest/home tours series. Don’t know about you, but one of my favorite parts of this whole creative blogging world is the chance to peek into other artist’s homes. It must be the interior designer left over in me. I’m a sucker for an inspiring interior space.

Which reminds me, I don’t think I have shared the beginning stages of my art wall with you yet? Earlier this year we let go of a very large armoire in our entry/living room and replaced it with my favorite yellow chest. Guess what was created? *space* and the perfect place for my 'art wall'. You know how eclectic collections of art all on one wall are all the rage? I’ve been wanting one for a while and would’ve chosen my sunroom studio ~ however  ~ it’s proven to be rather challenging. First since it is a sunroom there are more windows than wall space and second, it was literally added on to the outside of the house, and the walls are actually the original exterior of the house which means they are made of some serious cement. I’ve finally given up on trying to hammer or screw anything into them and have resorted to sticky back velcro squares to adhere art. This means that the art can also fall at any given moment...oh who am I kidding? I’ve pretty much used up all my wall space in the studio, and my growing art collection is spilling over and needed a new home. Voila!

Here are some of the artists featured from top then clockwise

Outi Harma

Amanda Blake

Camilla Engman

Matt Adrian aka the Mincing Mockingbird

Michele Genele

Mavis Leahy

Lizzy House

my work

and my crazy "maps to the stars home" vintage sign I found in Silverlake when I first arrived in L.A.

Thank goodness this art wall is attached to a 15' ceiling...because I cannot wait to keep adding to the collection...