I have too many blogs!

So I'm at work right now and loving it... which probably means I shouldn't be sitting here, relaxing, drinking coffee. (I work at a coffee shop, through next week at least) I'll continue sweeping the floor in a few minutes.

I've realized that i have too many blogs for any one person. I consider this my *professional* art one. Then there's livejournal, most of which is private/friends only. I also tend to update BOTH of the myspace blogs (personal + tangerined...). So I'm thinking.. why not just bring some of that over here? Some consolidation couldn't hurt!

The reason I'm sitting instead of busily tending to customers is due to this awful weather in worcester today. No one should be out in this. It's a decent snow overnight that changed to ice and now rain, causing a huge icy mess and mjor flooding. In 3 hours I've had two customers and the local dairy milk delivery. (It doesn't help that I rely on tips for income!) I was also 10 minutes late because there were lakes to ford on the way! The water had to be 6+ inches deep, if not 8... I didn't realise how deep it actually was until I was mid-way through this whole block's length of length. My only option was to speed up (less damage to the car hopefull) and cross my fingers.

Last night I was stranded due to the initial snow. Fortunately, "stranded" really means "awesome fun time in the snow!". We snow-skated and tramped through inches of powdery fluff until some ass came by and actually plowed. Seriously, the nerve of some people.

I am the greatest of mythical beasts!

Or, at least the weirdest...

My new carrot unicorn horn, first in the line of soon-to-come ultimate ridiculousness for my etsy shop.

Why do I only update when sick?

See... I'm really not sick that often. I just tend to forget to update things when I'm not sick. That whole period between november 21st and the early part of last week? Not sick. Since then? OMG teh flu!

The flu is an awful, horrible thing and should die a miserable death.

Ok, maybe it's partially my fault. I *did* just start a new job where I ended up working 11 hours one day, 9 the next with very little food and sleep. Ooops.

Why am I writing this? Oh yes. I wanted to let it be known that I'm sick and currently working a job away from my delicious little computer and studio. My new listings may be sparse for a small amount of time, my responses might take a little longer than normal. My apologies.

<3

Oh! That explains it...

For the past two weeks I've been scurrying around trying to get more uteri earrings and boob magnets finished (along with many other creations!). Unfortunately I haven't been feeling too well. Not *sick* persay, but definitely not well. Well, today it was too much and I went to the doctor. I'm going to file this under GOOD IDEAS because it turns out that I have strep! I've had it for weeks, without a fever. No dying Jim Henson style for me! (I always think of him when I hear of strep...)

So, I hope that explains why my shop is a little less peppy that you'd normally expect to find it. The good news is I have many, many uteri and itty bitty titty magnets ready for the (clay only) oven! Tomorrow they get the heat, and soon after the shop gets new shiny things!

I've also decided to start accepting some custom orders again. Time is limited to get them in if you desire anything for the holiday-time. I'm currently thinking December 5th, but the date isn't set in stone. Probably December 17th deadline for all purchases desiring guaranteed arrival by the 25th of December too.

Sorry, no pictures today!

<3

Yar!

Things are going well... Last week my doctor approved dropping down to only one crutch and the physical therapist said I could walk without it in my house! Whee! It's already so much easier to get around, to cook food... to do everything. Still not allowed to run or jump or really do anything much, but it's definite progress!

So now that I'm feeling better, I'm trying to conquer this world of making things again. I don't have a setup yet for my polymerclay oven, so I'm not sure how or where I can cure things. Hmm... I'll figure it out soon enough. Currently in the process of trying to clean this tiny room I'm living in, with drawers full of craft supplies everywhere and a broken floor lamp that won't stay together. :( the top broke off the lamp, so it just falls over. I've fixed it with duct tape and chopsticks quite a few times already.

Here's some of my pretties that joined etsy this week:






<3

The kinds of things that can keep a girl from her blog...

So that tumor I mentioned a few months ago? I finally had it removed late september, on talk like a pirate day in fact! To prepare for the surgery and significant downtime following for recovery I've done quite a few things... Quit my job, moved temporarily, and given away my precious volvo, because you can't drive a manual with a busted leg.

So I'm 1 month into recovery now, and it's going OK. They removed all the hardware from my leg (it was full of plates and screws!) so maybe I'll be able to bend it like a normal human again, woo! I spend my days doing physical therapy, occasionally visiting friends and crafting when I have the chance! It's difficult to get new work listed promptly when you have to hop around on crutches... Also, most custom orders are on hiatus for the moment for the same reason. Another few weeks and hopefully the getting around will become easier. :)

Here's the sweet new shrooms that I made before the surgery:



More soon, I promise. :)

So I told you I was making things....

So I'm trying to keep the creative juices flowing (eww...) by creating something every day. I haven't figured out yet if creating a listing on etsy for something made the previous day counts as a something or not yet... but leaning towards not.

Here's a handful of my recent creations...



I taught myself how to make peyote stitch beads last night... man those first few rows are complicated. So much fun once you get going though. This one's in "classic" tangerined citrus colors.



I need more non-boob earrings in my shop. ;) These are based on a design I created years ago, and unfortunately have only one of the old earrings left. At least now I can create more...



These weren't actually made yesterday, but still very recently. I was so sad when they came out of the oven in less-than-perfect condition... (but what can you do?) They're still awesome and make beautiful horns though.




Don't tempt the art yo! Don't do it!!! I'll make MORE!

I just finished another wicked-sweet peyote stitch dread bead... this one's much longer and incorporates my two favorite non-orange colors, chartreusey green and brown. Pictures soon, I should have it up on etsy in a few days at the most.

Hopefully soon I'll stop making jewelry long enough to get in a painting or two??? ;)

<3

So busy making things...

too busy to update my blog. Oops.

I found out a few months ago that the evil tumor in my femur has returned, so I've been trying to utilize my mobility to work and have fun in my free time. (FYI: It isn't cancerous, but a bone tumor known as giant cell. I already have a beautiful 9 inch scar and a leg full of metal plates and screws from my first bought with it two years ago) I've been waiting to hear from my doctor for weeks to determine the date of surgery.

So, as you can imagine... that kind of stuff keeps me very busy. Lately the pain has been getting worse though so I've been spending more time inside making things. I'm trying to make something, ANYTHING every day.

Here's some of the new pretties, a few new takes on my old favorites.





More to come soon!

Oh, before I forget. I plan to try and keep the shop open even while I'm in the hospital. Some good people may be acting as caretakers for a week or two.

<3 <3 <3

My day off...

I'm not exactly great at maximizing my days off. Actually, I'm horrible at it. I'm hoping that actually having a job outside of creating things will inspire better time-management somewhere in my brain, a necessary skill of being your own boss.

This morning I finished up a cute carrot necklace and managed to catch enough sunlight to photograph and list it on etsy.



It's inspired by an old friend, who I ran into at a folk festival a few years ago. (yeah, dirty hippies!) I never expected to see another of my old friends with dreads. ;) She's an amazing artist too and recently opened an etsy shop for her beaded jewelry and art.
Her shop is bsidefruits.etsy.com

She makes the cutest peyote stitch carrot bracelets around!


Hmm, I think it's time to organize my beads or something. ;)

<3

The love of a Squid and his hoop...

Cute, isn't he? I'm so glad this piece is done, photographed, scanned and up on etsy! It's painted on one of the bookcovers I picked up from the recycling center. I love the texture and elements it adds to the painting.

In other news, the sun has finally returned and it's given me the chance to take my hoops outside again! My apologies to everyone who catches a glimpse of my practice sessions, totally dorking out with mutli-colored hula hoops spread-out all over the ground. I'm working on mastering two hoops at once and being able to control them separately (yeah, it isn't easy).

Oh yes, and for all those hooper-wannabes...

GO MAKE YOURSELF A HOOP!
http://www.jasonunbound.com/hoops.html

or i suppose you could buy one from a reputable DIY hoop-dealer
http://www.superhooper.org/supergrip.html
http://www.hulahoopla.org/
http://www.hoopgirl.com/
http://www.hooprevolution.com/shop_hoop.html

(or, if you happen to live in central MA, you can order a custom hoop from me!)

<3 and hoops

Work in Progress

I've been working on this painting for a long time. Not consecutively, but it's something that I started over a year ago and never quite felt that it was finished.

This is what it looked like a few weeks ago:
Here's a photo from today:
I don't think it's quite done yet, but I like where it's going.

Makin' the cute

There's something horribly satisfying about making cute things. I can't explain it, there just *is*. Some nights I dream about adorable fruitsy-kids running around as beautiful chaotic self-made works of art. They wear these in my dream.

Man, I need to make some more of these!

Erm so...

Driving a manual car is actually much harder than I thought it was going to be. Sure, I can start the car and get into second without stalling, that's not the hard part! The impossible part is knowing when to downshift, clutch, break, etc. Hills and pedestrians are my enemy.

I've been spending my time as of late making things and looking for a job... which hopefully means I'll be able to provide even better goodies and promote my etsy shop more! Hurray! I find out about said job tomorrow.

I'm probably too discombobulated with the heat and the night-time to write any more, so here's one of my recent paintings and I'm off to bed!

Some days I'm a million different places at once...

Or at least my brain is. This is definitely one of those days.

There are probably 20 different ideas for paintings/drawings/creations that I want to somehow find the way to create all at once, or prior to 6:30 tonight. I have to find a way to concentrate on one idea at a time and get something done.

I haven't updated this blog (I hate that word, it sounds like *slog*) in quite a while, but that'll be changing soon. I've been keeping busy with custom orders, creating bazillions of tiny boobs and painting and selling via etsy. Just last weekend I even got a new (17 year old) car, so I'll be able to attend lots of upcoming craft and art fairs *beyond* walking distance this year! Of course, I have to learn to *drive* a manual first, but I'll figure it out.

#1

Yo.

My name is Ashleigh and I'm a be-dreaded creature of approximately 24 years. I make things. I paint. I (hula) hoop.



I like to tear things down and build them up again. These "things" consist of my environment, my personality, my beliefs, my body, my interests... and lately, my art.

I think that's a good explanation for what I've been doing. I'm learning the basics of creating art again, ditching all that held me back since childhood. It's hard to out grow the fear of a certain style or daring attempt to attack an idea too big for the brush...

the basics:

color
form
composition/juxtaposition
intent
the journey
fun - enjoyment

I'm currently trying to survive off the sale of these works over at http://tangerined.etsy.com

You can see more of my work at http://ashling.deviantart.com

or here http://www.myspace.com/tangerined