It seems disappointment prevails this month.....still no one looking at my apartment and the one I was scheduled to see yesterday got rented before my appointment to see it.......bummer.
On the bright side all the little paintings I had on ebay sold so its time to get some more done.

I got a couple more paintings done and listed......

the pears and the colander ones have sold.

I'm still distracted by the want/need to get out of this apartment and into something more affordable.  There's no one scheduled to see mine until the 15th which means I'm having to pay this months rent.  I'm scheduled to look at another apartment on Friday.  Although I love the Victorian one I posted below, this apartment is only $550 a month.  It too will be compact but for a different reason....its on the third floor and has those low ceilings that drop into the room at angles....not sure what you call that but its part of the pointed roof line....does that make sense?  Anyway it makes the room feel smaller when you can't utilize all the space........here's what I mean...this is one of the pictures posted in the ad

It doesn't have the charm of the other place but I'm all about not stressing over money anymore.  As it is I can't do anything for Christmas this year no tree, no decorations...no gifts even for the grandkids :-(

OK...back to painting, I gots to earn some money!

I'm trying to stay focused on getting some more ACEO paintings up on ebay this weekend.  I managed to get one new one up on Friday

and I did three others yesterday but I'm not totally happy with them yet so I'll see what I can accomplish today.
I'm distracted by this want to move to a less expensive apartment.  I looked at a place last week that had two apartments available and incredibly they were in a old Victorian house that I had lived in about thirty years ago...damn I am getting old!  I adored both apartments and they are both priced lower than where I am now.  One is a studio and the other a one bedroom......oddly enough I'm drawn more toward the smaller one. This charming little two room is only $665, it would mean a savings of $230 a month....that would be huge.

The trick is going to be getting my current apartment rented before either of these get rented.  In order to get my deposits back on this place (I'm breaking the lease) I need to stay until its rented.  There was someone scheduled to look at my place on Friday but he turned out to be a no show.  I was hoping we could get someone in here and me out of here right away so I wouldn't have to pay the rent here, here it is the 1st and I don't have it.....not all of it anyway.  Can't wait to get off this merry-go-round!
All you artists out there who have spouses/partners in your life that affords you the freedom to focus on your art, you give them a great big hug and kiss and never take them for granted!!

God....5am....I daydream of a cough free night.  Its been a week now of feeling awful but its back to work and actually its back to the home where I think I contracted this whatever it is, I hope this doesn't reactivate things.
Between feeling ill and the distraction of a move soon I got no painting done this past week.  Yesterday I spent half the day staging and taking pictures of this apartment for the landlord to post in his ad....not sure he'll be able to use them all, its pretty hard staging when you don't have much......trying to make two chairs look like a room full of furniture is a true test of creativity.  Then I spent the rest of the day looking online at my new home options.  Wish I had money......a nice long Jamaican holiday sounds good about now.........hot sun, cold Red Stripe, reggae in the background, ahhhhh yes :-)

Still fighting whatever this is that I've got...flu?...virus? 

I'm not getting much sleep with this constant nagging cough and work is proving to be a challenge......but this too shall pass.
The apartments I looked at aren't an option.  The first one just wasn't nice, tiny bathroom that was obviously built in a closet, literally and it had an electric stove which I hate cooking on.  I was taken next door to another efficiency apartment in a converted house and this one was charming, bay windows, non working fireplace, hardwood floors, gas stove, very cute except another teeny bathroom built in a closet.  And this place forgot to mention a $300 additional fee if you want to use air conditioners....that would mean paying $825 (not $765) a month for half the year, not much savings there.
The second apartment just didn't speak to me either.  It was in the back of the building and your views out your windows were just the building right next to you.  And before I even looked at the apartment they were asking if I brought 3 past pay stubs......sorry, you don't get pay stubs when you're scrubbing toilets for a living and I'd sort of like to see the place first ya think.  I was told a tax return would work but since I only made a whopping $19,000 last year that wasn't going to work.  They require that your one weeks net pay is equal to the rent amount.......lets me out of living in one of their properties, cross them off the list.

Hoping to get some painting done today.

Sunday morning 7am and sick as a dog since Friday.  I don't think I was sick once last year.....of course I was living an isolated life as a house manager in an empty 10,000 sq ft home in NY then.... this is the second time I've been sick in less than two months, its just one of the things I don't like about cleaning peoples homes to supplement my income, exposure to all those germs.  Boo-hoo right?.......things could be worse.

Anyway today I'll shower and try to look healthy because I'm looking at an apartment this morning, I decided to move from my idyllic little town of Narberth.  I asked to be released from my lease so that I could find a more affordable place to live.  Today I'm looking at a studio apartment HERE

 its not my best option for saving money at $775 but it does include utilities (I currently pay $895 plus utilities) but I love the look of this building and apparently several artists live here so I'm going to take a look.
Tomorrow I'm looking at a small one bedroom HERE not far from that location.

 It could prove to be a better option, it'd be nice to not live in a one room apartment and even though it does not include utilities at $665 I think I'd save a bit more...utilities here are not very high, at least half what I experienced in So Florida.  So this one I'm more anxious to see.
Its all going to be a bit tricky lining up a new home, although the landlord agreed to release me from my lease I have to wait until he finds a new tenant before I can leave with my deposit, which I need to secure a new place. Its been five days since I asked to be released and I don't think he has the same sense of urgency that I do because he hasn't started advertising it yet.....he said he could anytime.  Sometimes I do believe people with money forget (if they ever knew) what its like to have $28 in the bank.

So no painting this weekend I have no focus, hopefully during the week after my 'real' work is done.  Here are the last few I've done and I'm still happy to say that they continue to sell.......ok, still only on the average for about $10 some higher some lower but I think they are slowly rising and I'll keep at it. 

My goal?.......to be able to make what this woman does for her ACEO paintings.  Can you believe it, here's one of hers that sold for $383.00

Here are a few of my latest......

If I don't post sooner, have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

A couple of new ACEO paintings on ebay and some prints are available HERE

First my thoughts are with those you've suffered loss along the east coast.  Being a Jersey girl I have many fond memories of the Jersey Shore and wish everyone a quick recovery.  Having gone through a couple of hurricanes while living in So Florida I know how difficult it is to suddenly be without electricity, water and all the comforts we sometimes take for granted......stay strong.

Some new ACEO paintings.......

And I made my first international sale on ebay a couple of days ago to Australia!
I also got a notice yesterday that I had a sale via fineartamerica.com and made $45.  This was a very nice surprise because I honestly didn't expect to sell from this website.  A 21"x 24" print of the following is going to Arizona.

And two steps forward one step back...........my cars thermostat gave out yesterday no surprise, if its original to the car it would be 21 years old!
So with missing some work because of Sandy (I didn't lose power but clients did) and having to get the car fixed.........you guessed it.......rent will be late.  Bright side?.........I'm grateful the car died near my job scheduled for this morning AND that there was a garage a short walk away from that job where the car is getting fixed and that I had the funds (well sort of) to get the car fixed.  The home owner where I'll be working this morning was also generous giving me a lift from the garage to my home yesterday and picking me up this morning......nice :-)

Some new ACEO paintings and to view current ebay auctions click here

The second set of prints arrived from artwanted.com and while the quality of the prints are good something went wrong in the sizing....probably my fault. You can see that the photos on the left side of each page got cropped a little, chopping off part of my initials in some cases rendering them un-usable.

And although the prints are bright and crisp I like the feel of the giclee prints I ordered from iprintfromhome.com. The ones above would need to be backed with something while the giclee prints are done on a weighty watercolor paper and are almost indistinguishable from the actual paintings once covered with an acrylic finish.

I added a new painting to the ebay auction and tweaked and re-listed a couple that I had removed last week.

I also added some prints for sale of ones that have sold plus prints of some of my other work.  You can see and bid or buy HERE.

The giclee prints arrived today along with a nice packet of the companies sample prints. 

I think the printing came out very well, but I'm not loving the matte finish. 

I took one of the orange prints and gave it a few sprays of clear glaze and I think it gave it more richness/depth...guess its hard to tell from this photo.

I'm wondering if I'd like them better as a glossy print or even a matte photo print (which still has a bit of sheen) but then I'd need to do the work of giving them a backing.  Guess I'll stick with the spray finish for now, with the car needing attention now there's no room for spending anymore money.

I haven't heard a peep from the other printing I ordered other than the paypal confirmation of payment......that doesn't put them at the top of my list for doing business with.

The magnets I ordered from cafepress.com arrived yesterday and I'm pleased with how they turned out.

I checked my account from iprintfromhome.com and the giclee prints are due to arrive today, these are what I'm most anxious to see.  I'm so hoping the quality of the prints will allow me to easily sell them on ebay, I need them to sell.
Yesterday I noticed a problem with my dear little 21 yr old car......its overheating......damn!  Its funny because just the other day I was thinking to myself that just one event like this could throw everything off.......not being able to get to my 'real' jobs......the rent being late......not being able to afford the mechanic fees.......and here we are, facing the situation.  My 'job' today is close so I can make it to that and then I'll stop at the neighborhood mechanic around the corner on my way home.  I repeat.........damn! 

Two more today........

As you will see below I've gotten a few more ACEO paintings done and now I'm turning my focus to printing.  I now have a total of 50 ACEO paintings and its time to think about doing some limited edition prints.  I have virtually no experience with printing companies so I'm doing some test runs.  First I have to tell you there are not that many printing services that offer printing of ACEO cards but I found two that I'm going to try first.
The first option and the one that offers the most options is iprintfromhome.com and the fact that they do (offer several options) sort of earned my trust, so I gave them three of my images to turn into giclee prints.  You have a choice of what you want them printed on and I chose somerset velvet (I had to look up what that was due to my lack of experience) and I ordered one sheet of each image.  Each sheet contains eight prints and each sheet was $10.....a $30 order gets you free shipping :-)  They also offer 'regular' prints eight on a sheet for just $2.
Then there was a site called artcardswanted.com .  They offer prints on kodak paper with only four images per sheet, but you can also order cards printed on both sides (more $) or a bulk order of 500 cards printed on both sides.  I also ordered three sheets from them because they have a minimum order of $5 and each sheet was $1.60.
So obviously the first option was the better deal, but quality is also important so I want to check out as many places as possible. 
I'll post pictures and a review when they arrive.