Crafty Art

This past week or so, everyone here at our little gallery has been working on crafty items with our artwork.

We started by taking a trip to the Rebuilding Center and Scrap, which is another non for profit which sells used art supplies for pennies on the dollar. We found a lot more items and ideas then I expected, and then we started crafting all over the place... There are many more crafty items that we've been working on, but here's a few to give you a peek before they're all available. (Some are available on etsy now).




First, here are a few of the necklaces we made. Most of them are made using ceramic tile and images from our artwork. One of them is under glass, which I'm very happy with and plan on making more of just as soon as I get a handle on the whole cutting glass thing. The edge is lined with twisted metal which came out much prettier than I anticipated.





I wasn't sure how these would come out, as generally I haven't focused much on mixed media or crafts (I'm always using a pencil or brush), but I think the fact that I keep wearing them is a good sign that it went well.

You can see them at my Etsy store at www.SiennaMorris.Etsy.com

We also made "hangable art" from tile as well, like these. They are all about 3 or 4 inches and ended up showing off the numberism detail as well as the color depth of Tab's pieces quite well.





And fun little extras like magnets and key chains. Doc keeps eying the key chains. I think I'll have to let him keep one of them...




So that's a peek for now. The whole crafting thing is much more enjoyable then I thought. It's very relaxing and low stress. I can sit down and make a few necklaces while I'm taking a break from working/drawing (I don't like being idle for too long... it's a bad scene).

Anyway, I think I'll keep this up, so if you have any requests that you want to see on necklaces, or something else you have in mind, the feedback is welcome.

I'm sure most of these will be available on my Etsy account soon enough. In fact, I might make a new one just for our crafty side.

Valentine's Day

Oh Valentine's Day, I remember when I used to avoid you. Now, however, I just try to get enough time to celebrate with my husband. We generally have some project going on that gets in the way. In China, while we were shooting a music video, it wasn't until 11pm that we realized it was Valentines Day, and it was our Chinese Translator who informed us. I think at the end of the night we grabbed a bottle of wine, but we were still with the crew for most of the night. This is generally how it goes. Not that I'm complaining. It happens to be that Tab and I like working together. It's one of the reason we have a reason to celebrate our relationship. Maybe we don't need a highly advertised day to celebrate how lucky we are, but hell, I'll take any excuse I can to get some quality alone time.

So I'm going to make a point of putting some time aside to spend with my hubby this Valentines Day. Maybe we'll go for a hike on this trail we found the other day, or go see one of the many performance shows I've seen going on of late (I noticed a Mozart performance, "Cosi Fan Tutte", Love With A Twist, at the Portland Opera House).



Who knows, but if all goes to plan, we won't be working. We will however, be working before Valentines Day, and we've set up a couple places to be before Valentines Day for you to find us.

I mentioned before that you can find us at Last Thursday on Alberta.

We are also going to be at the Urban Grind Valentines Day Gift Fair January 31st with Valentines Day Cards as well as our usual work from 12 - 4pm.

We still have our online sales going on, so you're welcome to pick something up there as well. Be sure to order it in time for us to ship it to you before V Day. (about 5 days before hand).




As a side note, I know I said our gallery would be open in January, but we all decided we needed a bit of a break. So the FrogFaith gallery is closed until March. You can still order prints to pick up at the gallery or call/email ahead if you would like to come in.

For those of you who would rather Valentines Day take a dirt nap this year, I happened to notice a few events you might be interested in. I also saw a few in WW that looking interesting too that I don't have here.

Sat Jan 30th Hate Roller Derby: Complete with Hate Cards and Hate Poems





LOVE STINKS, LET’S DRINK ANTI-VALENTINE’S DAY BARFLY BUS TOUR
Dancing, Karaoke, and from the sounds of it, so much alcohol, you won't remember enough to regret it the next day.

Windy Days of January...

Some news of late.
Tab and I went to Seattle last weekend, to a warm welcome from local Seatelites. Thank you all who came and said hello. :) As a side note, I had some of the most amazing steak chilly there and munched on fresh vegetables all day.

Unfortunately, we won't be coming back for the next two weeks as we have other things to do here in Portland.


January 21st and 22nd


This Thursday and Friday , you can catch us at the Sylvania PCC, setting up our booth. We will most probably have some sort of Student Sale going on...


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Last Thursday (January 28th)

As long as the weather allows, we're also planning on hopping over to January's Last Thursday in NE Portland, which we haven't been to since November I think, maybe even since October! I think it's high time we come back. The wind has been a little crazy lately, but as long as it subsides a bit, we'll be there.



Urban Grind (January 31st)


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The following Sunday, we will be at Urban Grind coffee house at 2214 NE Oregon Street 97232 with a group of artists and crafters. I will most likely have my new Numberism Valentines Day Cards as well as some Calendars I'm trying out. Come down and take a look and tell me what you think. We'll be there from about 12 to 4pm.



Let's see, let's see... what other news is there? Ah, Tab and I are nearly finished with The Teenagers Guide to Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse's first issue! Which I'm very excited about. It has been a long process, having started it during our busiest time of the year, but it's really come along, and I'm looking forward to having more time to hammer out issue 2 (which really jumps into the story!)

Yesterday I started to also dabble in some work that I'm thinking about using for my next series. I'm not sure yet if this will be it, but it merges my obsession with numbers and the chance to use more oil paint. I'll have pictures of it up soon. It focuses on the consequence of wasting a moment, rather than just the benefit of appreciating it.

Beyond that, I've gone sale crazy on our online shops. Not sure exactly what spurred this, but everything on every site has been knocked down.

At our FrogFaith Site, all work has been brought down to booth prices or lower, as well as our shipping and handling. (The collections and limited editions have been seriously cut)

I've taken half off shipping and handling on everything in my Etsy store (sometimes more). Etsy has a selection of my available works and prints. The full series, my paintings and Tabulanis's work are all available at FrogFaith.com/gallery


At my Redbubble shop, I've cut everything down 10%. This is where you can buy T Shirts, Greeting Cards, Redbubble Calendars, Posters, Framed Prints, Mounted prints and Canvas Prints. All of my work is available here.

That pretty much covers all news I think. You're always welcome to email me with questions. I hope that 2010 is proving to be a great year for all of you.

Come Rain, Come Shine?

Tab and I are considering going back up to Seattle for this weekend's Fremont Sunday Market, but we've been following the weather and it looks like it's going to be raining Sunday. We don't mind getting a little wet, but our question to you, is whether or not you do.

So to all the Seattleites on my email list; will you brave the weather to come see us this weekend? If enough of you email back that you will, then Tab and I will be happy to come. I might even bring the latest painting I've been working on. :)

Send me an email at Sienna.Morris@Gmail.com and let me know if you'll be there. By Saturday, I will send out an email letting you all know whether or not we're coming.

New Toy

I spoke to a woman today in marketing and soaked up some good advice. Felt inspired and active so I fixed up my website a bit with some of her critques in mind.

It's always been difficult to show people my numberism work through my website, because you just couldn't get the feel and reality of all the tiny little numbers on images and screens that small. I've also had customers come to me, saying that they were trying to describe the technique to their friends but that the idea just wasn't coming across. All that is in the past now that I have Zoomify (real name, I'm not making that up, though it is nifty to say). I've taken my high resolution scans and dumped them into this program so that you can now zoom into even the smallest areas (given I had a good scan before selling the piece).

It's officially my new toy, and I keep playing with it, looking at numbers there's no way I could have seen with the naked eye.... which makes me wonder how I drew them that small to begin with...

Anyway, it's up now, so you can go to my website's Portfolio , in the Numberism section (and only numberism), when you click a thumbnail, you get to see the full glory and madness of numberism.

Seattle Fremont Market

After successfully finding a new vehicle, Tab and I decided we will take a trip up to Seattle for the Fremont Market. We're heading up this weekend for Sundays' show.

So if you're in Seattle, stop on by and say hello.

Also at our booth with be Seattle artist, Christen Shaw, whom I mentioned earlier.

Progress in Oil Paint

I haven't painted in a long time. Not since I started Numberism. A friend of mine posed for me a while back and my friend, Ian, took the lovely photographs. Just last month my mother sent me oil paints from my late grandfather, and all the pieces fell together. Opportunity to pick up that brush again.

I'd say my greatest weakness as a painter is a lack of patience. I was always too eager to see the final product, always seeking instant gratification. I suppose Numberism helped me with that. With each row of numbers, more light, more shadows and more dimension came through. At any point, if I were to become too eager, too rushed, the piece would have been ruined. I had to keep my excitement at bay and slowly let the image appear.




Sitting in front of my easel, I feel calmer. I can take my time. There's never been a rush afterall. I have all the time in the world to finish this painting.

I draw a page of the comic book, take a break and put down another layer. It was a painting, after all, that got me the gig drawing the comic.





It's not finished. A lot of this is under painting, but it's getting there. Time to pull out the linsead oil and smooth out the light on her chest.