Wow, I have missed two days now, that is not like me at all.  I mentioned in an earlier blog how I was sick with bronchitus and was down for like a week.  I swear I got more work done on my computer, website, blogs and other projects that don't entail leaving the comfort of your down comforter, fuzzy slippers, and gentle ceiling fan blowing a breeze on you.  Now that I am healthy it's like a bad nightmare game of catch up.  I spent last weekend catching up on my part-time at home job, and this weekend working on a commission.  Don't get me wrong, I took time to take a ride in Ginger (our 69 Stingray that my hubby & I have) - and had some downtime the last two nights.  I have just spent the days of this weekend painting this 30x30 cat for a commisson which I am very excited to deliver next week.  Sorry I've missed blogging, I am trying to stay very loyal to it.  I am very excited about my Gold Star, YIPEE.  Seven people wrote to congratulate me, how cool is that!  Ebay people are so great.  I will have a new auction coming up tonight and staying in theme with Halloween I have "Black Cat" and I'll run the cat cards and car cards just one more week.  These will be back, but as of this moment I haven't moved this weeks cards so I am thinking of taking a break on posting those until right before the holidays and right after my Holiday shows.

Thanks for reading my Blog-It is a bold mouse that makes her nest in the cat's ear.

I am thrilled to say that I am finally starting to look like a real ebayer with my gold star.  I know that's not a lot, but it's something. I have created a slow growth plan on ebay that started in June of 2007 & all is going as planned.

Short post today.  I would just like to say that I thank you all for your support!

I have three new auctions coming up tonight at 10pm and three ending.  The Cat Notecards are only being offerend at a 1.00 start bid this week (for the last time) - future postings will not be below cost.  Thanks for reading my blog!

Creating a niche’ as an artist is not as easy as one might think.  So when, Maine artist Lori Rae  was looking for a niche’ product for her art business, she wanted to make sure it was a good one.  After a prototype

was created – Lori Rae’s niche’ product was born.

Using pictures from cat’s she has met, Lori Rae renders them in Acrylic or Oil on a high quality 8x8” stretched canvas.  Lori Rae is careful to paint on canvas that is stretched and back stapled, as not to interfere with the composition, which this artist continues on the edges of the canvas.  The paint is quality as well, using interactive acrylics & Holbein h20 oils.  The painting style is wet-in-wet and left to dry and build up on the work as if sculpture on canvas.

Lori Rae has dedicated to creating at least one cat painting per week. According to Lori Rae, It’s amazing the discipline that posting consistently on Ebay has taught her, the more she paints, the more her style evolves. She is painting more than ever, and it shows! Her marketing plan includes posting the work on Ebay for one week, as a way to expand her audience to worldwide.  She explains that just posting work on her website does not give her the exposure that posting Animal Art on Ebay.  After researching the market-place, and attending Ebay Live Boston 2007, the decision to market works on Ebay was one that didn’t take a lot of convincing.  Even when Lori Rae doesn’t sell her $65.00 Cat Paintings on Ebay, she is showing in a variety of summer outdoor shows & a cat show in her local area.  Normally pet portrait commissions pick up around the holiday season.  She is hoping to build enough of an inventory for people to have a bit of a selection by the time the busy selling season is upon us.

So, what’s the niche’ – What makes these works different.  On Ebay, Lori Rae is selling each Cat small art painting with a 10” Table Easel, wooden in colors like Black, Natural Wood, or a Mahogany Stained Wood.  She is also as green as Kermit the frog, using “Cradle to Cradle” Environmental shipping via the USPS Priority Mail.  All the shipping products are non-plastic, with fillers being recyclable rice paper and news print.  On Ebay, 10% of each of the works posted for Auction will be donated to FuRR (Feline Rescue and Rehome.) Daily blogging on Ebay, Wordpress, and Myspace also help Lori Rae get the word out.

She believes that no two artists are a like, her work is unique and she has created a saleable product in an affordable price point.

When I'm really sick, I'm often not productive at things that are creative or require me to use my hands and head (like soldering.)  I haven't felt good for about a week, but started feeling really bad Monday of this week.  I ate soup, slept, listened to a soothing narrorator tell a story through an audio book, took lots of hot bathes, drank countless cups of tea with honey and lemon & was bored to tears!  I took two whole days off from working outside the home and a few afternoons cut short, and I was convinced I would feel better by the weeks end.  Nope-still sick, but one thing that I started doing after I realized there was nothing more I could do to feel better, was worked on my art business.  No, I didn't go into the studio - well, I did, but not to paint, just to look for something or check on my drying commissions - I plopped up some pillows, tea by my side, cat staring up at me thinking my tea was the seafood soup I had earlier & I worked.  I blogged, I planned out my remaining installs for 2007 & tied up loose ends for 2008-I designed layout for upcoming Holiday & Red Hat Cards & most of all I tweaked my production schedule for 2007.  I have organized every future posting, auction, commission & product that will be for sale by my art business this year & the start of next.  HAH, who said you can't work when you are sick.  I have a cough, my brain isn't dead, I have little voice, but my computer spoke for me. The work I was able to accomplish this week over four days were things that I would have spread out over weeks. I did have to work outside the house today for about six hours but I am planning a nap when I get home & I brought tea and soup!

Thanks for reading my blog

Holbein's Duo Aqua Oils are genuine oil color for the professional artist, with the same qualities and characteristics as the traditional Holbein Artist Oil Color. Unlike most other water-mixable oils, each Duo Aqua color carries a full pigment load and has the mixing and tinting characteristics of a professional paint.

Duo handles like a professional oil color, yet it can be thinned or cleaned up with water. To make Duo identical in every respect to its traditional professional grade, Holbein developed a unique additive which works as a surface active agent. Any residue of this additive loses its effectiveness once the oil color is dry.

Mix Duo Aqua Oils with other media, such as watercolor, gouache, or acrylic paints. Experiment with mixing media for a variety of effects. For example, Duo can be mixed with waterbased metallic, pearl, and interference colors that are unavailable in a traditional oil palette.

Duo can also be mixed with traditional oil colors. It retains its water soluble characteristics with an oil mixture up to 30%. When thinned with water, a blend of Duo and traditional oil color permits delicate and fine hatching detail not easily accomplished with an oil color alone.

Duo dries much faster than traditional oil colors — in as little as 24 hours — and the colors dry uniformly. This makes it easier to plan for overcoating, texturing, and correcting. It dries without the solvent odor of a conventional oil paint. A cold environment does not affect its drying capabilities.

Duo can be used with the same brush and knife techniques as a conventional oil paint, and it preserves textures and brush strokes the same way that a traditional oil does. Clean brushes thoroughly after use, because paint left in the brush hardens permanently and cannot be removed with any solvent. Use only rustproof knives, because steel knives will rust. Use a plastic or aluminum palette, because a wood palette will warp.

Holbein accepted a more limited 80-color range for Duo Aqua, and eliminated heavy metal pigments to insure a non-toxic result.

Colors are packaged in 40 ml (1.35 oz) tubes, except Titanium White and Permanent White, which are available in larger sizes.

Note — Holbein's five "Luminous" colors should not be considered permanent. They will degrade with exposure to ultraviolet light. The lifespan of such works can be expanded greatly if they are shielded from ultraviolet light.

I've been working a lot of commission art pieces lately and I have talked about the fact that I use good quality materials.  I have a formula in which I use to price work and when I price out materials (paints, canvas and brushes) - I make sure I take that into consideration in the pricing.  I make what I think is a fair wage for the amount of work I have into the project, and I buy good projects to make my work more effecient with a better end result.  It's funny, I look at some of my older work now and I can see a difference.  Even working with artists through Lollipop Art Productions Management Services, I can tell who is buying decent stuff and who is getting materials that are inexpensive.  Canvas is very telling just by the type of wood that is used to create the stretcher bars that holds it all together.  I recently have a high end commission where the customer is going to be hanging the piece in a bathroom.  I have no control over moisture, etc. but I ordered a piece of linen canvas from a Russian company that is like the Cadillac of Canvas's.  Now I'm afraid I'm in love.  As an Acrylic artist, I like to dabble in Oils, but I don't want to work with chemicals, so I use Holbein H20 water based oils.  These are great and I'll try to give them their own blog in the future.  Canvas shouldn't feel feather light, that's what I think! Anyways, I used to purchase any acrylic paint that was on sale - but now I am in love with Interactive.  I never put a lot of thought into canvas and when I was really broke I would paint on random pieces of wood I would have around my house.  I still think that's ok.  In short, I'm hooked on the good stuff, I think it makes painting a dream.  Thanks for reading my blog.

I have to plug my Vintage Car Cards just a bit.  This is a product that I am virtually selling for 1.00 per card including shipping.  That is under priced in an effort to launch a Ebay-World-Wide exposure for a limited time only.  Retail for Car cards are normally $15.00 per pack of $10.00.  These are really fun & great for anyone old and young.  Vintage Cars normally put a smile on most peoples faces.  Eventually, when the time is right, a small vintage car original painting may find it's way to Ebay (for a matter of fact, I have sold one here before) - but it was luck and only happened once.  I appreciate your support, and I'm not sure when I will end the special, but it won't go past October & may end within that month.  I'll post appropriate notice for any price hikes (fair ones.)

Thanks for reading my blog!

A little more about the car cards:

Professionally printed cards, based on Lori Rae's popular Vintage Car paintings are now available for purchase. Each card does have a slight white border around the image and measures 6.50 x 4.25, and the inside is blank . The back of each card identifies the car make and model as well as the name of the painting, IE: Maggie - 1959 Chevy Impala -

You will receive the 6 cards shown in pictures and 4 cards not shown in similar style. (The four additional cards on shown on the cover card.) Each card comes with an envelope and a great Thank You, I Miss You, or just Thinking of you Card for anyone you choose.

For more information about these Vintage Car Note Cards, see wetpaintstudios.com

Note Cards feature cars from the 50's, 60's and 70's!

I have to say, the Kitty Cat Note Cards are such a bit hit in the non cyber world, that I need to promote them a bit more here as well.  Each image on the face of the card is a former or current painting that has been created in either Acrylic or Oil.  The painting is then photographed and then I format it into a card sized design. These have been professionally printed (in other words, I don't print them.)  Most of the paintings on the the front of the cover card are former commissions.  A person or persons have hired me to create their cat in my own unique art form with input from themselves. As an artist, you own rights to reproduction, however, I always check with my customers to ask if they would mind having their putty's face on some note cards.  The answer is always that they don't mind, and their cat's image is shared with many who purchase these cards.  Each card measures 5.5" x 4.25" fitting perfectly into an invitation sized envelope.  Envelopes are included with the package of eight cards.  With each card being blank inside, these make great "thank you cards" - or really are great for any occasion.  The back of each card talks a little about me, the design, and lists the title of the cat painting the card was based off of.  I come out with a new series of these cards once a year, and my new design will premiere around January of 2008.

"Tuxedo" my latest 8x8" oil painting has just been posted on Ebay!  Tuxedo is now live on Ebay.  I'll post the picture in my blog tomorrow, as Ebay takes a bit to cycle through new postings.  Tuxedo is all black with a white nose, mouth, and chin.  The look on the cat has a very folk-art look, almost Wain-like.  I have enjoyed working on this project, the oil showing the slick black furr of this quirky cat.

I am also selling a limited amount of note cards for a 1.00 starting bid, these are a great way to send a unique thank you or just a hello.  Blank inside with envelopes, you can't beat the price!

Thanks for checking out my blog.

A cat will teach her young ones all the tricks, except how to jump backwards.
Netherlands Antillean