Thursday, September 20, 2012

Happy Cats Bringin' Their Mojo to Ebay

Today I had fun making these teeny little collages for this month's Nibblefest Art Contest (NFAC).  A big part of the contest involves listing them in ebay for 99 cents each...the contest is to see which of us gets the highest number of bidders competing for one item.  You can click on the title of the artworks below if you want to see the ebay listing for them,




Each of these collages are ACEOs (Artist Cards Editioned or Original).  I really enjoy the challenge of working in this traditional small format.

"Artist trading cards (or ATCs) are miniature works of art about the same size as modern baseball cards,[1] or 212by 312 inches (63 × 89 mm),[2] small enough to fit inside standard card-collector pockets, sleeves or sheets.[3] The ATC movement developed out of the mail art movement and has its origins in Switzerland.[4] Cards are produced in various media, including dry media (pencils, pens, markers, etc.), wet media (watercolor, acrylic paints, etc.), paper media (in the form of collage, papercuts, found objects, etc.) or even metals or cloth. The cards are usually traded or exchanged. When sold, they are usually referred to as art card editions and originals (ACEOs)."  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist_trading_cards)

When I do these I start with a printout of an original sketch reduced to fit the small format.  I then grab a bunch of decorative papers in the colors I feel like working in for the day.  I also gather tools: scissors, xacto knife, glue stick, old phonebook (for gluing surfaces), cutting mat, sharpies, matte medium, paint brush, transfer paper and bone folder for burnishing.  I decide what papers I will use in different parts of the artwork then trace the parts onto the papers, cut the parts out, assemble like a jigsaw puzzle and glue them onto the substrate.  When the glue has had time to adhere firmly I make embellishing marks with sharpie pens then seal with acrylic matte medium.

If you want to see more artworks cleverly built around this month's theme and very afford-ably listed with starting prices of just 99 cents then go to ebay and do a search for NFAC.  You can also see a cool little Nibblefest widget in their blog right here in blogspot:  

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Artists Beware!!!


I just have to comment on those little "terms of use" agreements that we accept without reading when we sign up for websites, especially the business and social networking kind.  These sites can be great places for us to meet artists and encourage collectors so they do provide a service but what is the cost?

So I get an email from someone at bizspeaking.com who was looking at my ArtFire.com shop. The email invited me to post images of my work within their business networking site...I was considering this until I read the terms of use...

"You retain your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed).

You agree that this license includes the right for Bizspeaking to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Bizspeaking for the syndication, broadcast, distribution or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use.

Such additional uses by Bizspeaking, or other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Bizspeaking, may be made with no compensation paid to you with respect to the Content that you submit, post, transmit or otherwise make available through the Services."

REALLY!!! By using your site I agree to give you and 3rd party subcontractors the royalty free right to PUBLISH my images without compensating me for such use? Hello this is our bread and butter!!!  Do they think artists are stupid!!!  Well I guess we are if we check the little box accepting internet “terms of use/service/etc without reading all that legal “mumbo jumbo.”

We ARTISTS must be very wary of sites like this and before you post your images online make sure to watermark the heck out of them first. You may also want to make sure they are very small low resolution images as well... It’s a difficult choice and a fine line to walk, post images that make our artwork shine in the best possible light or protect our artwork from copyright infringement by making it unusable for illicit reproduction…