Took my sweet time...

Yeah, the finished "Sugar and Spice" and "Not Very Nice" paintings sat around for a while. (The ones from the previous post...)



They are in the shop. I could have worked on them for weeks and weeks, with all their little critters and flowers and stuff. Everything always needs more highlights and lowlights and splatter. If I didn't stop myself I would ruin everything by overworking it until it was a mess.

I think they turned out cute. I have plans to make them into an object a little later on today...

But first I have to ride the streetcar (I heart the streetcars so much in the summer.) and buy fancy envelopes and art supplies. My silkscreen experiment failed miserably. I had bought a new big screen, but then my photo emulsion refused to harden after being exposed. Grrr. So I need to redo the whole thing again. I would LOVE to just pay someone to burn my screen for me, but I am cheap.

Ok, ok, enough procrastinating, its 1:44 in the afternoon and I am still wearing pyjamas...

Peek into Batcat land...

Here is a little project I am working on right now.

(My silk screening project has been put on hold. I made an image too big for any of my screens. DUH. I will have to buy new ones. The ruler is a very important tool i should pay more attention to. haha.)

Anyway, here is what I am doing instead. Dual Batcats!!



This is one of them, the "nice" one. You can see how in depth some of my roughs are. *snicker* I had just started to ink it when I took a picture...



Here is the "bad" one. I have a plan that uses both of these as prints and also as a two part mystery object. Of course, it always depends on how they turn out. There are always a lot of happy accidents in my paintings.

So now to paint.

Can there be too much bat stuff?

Wow. I was totally lazy this weekend. I turned into a mushroom and hid from the sunlight.

Like this bat that should be out finding bugs to eat and seeing its bat friends, but instead he just hangs around and feels sleepy and bored...

The "in progress" bats were completed a few days ago, and I have been lazily posting them to my Etsy shop.

Some of them are sold already. Bye!

And one little guy was the first item I added to my brand new iCraft shop! OOOH, new Canadian online craft site. I get so few Canadian buyers, I thought this might help me find a few more. I still wrestle with the term "craft" though. I think it still has a negative connotation to me. As in macaroni art. Also I hate it when people do crafts on TV and exclaim "Its so easy, anyone can do i!" No, only I can do it. WELL. hee hee.

I have one more bat I am working on, and an adventure in silk screening (which I really suck at.) But first I have to redye my hair pink. I have my priorities. haha

Bats! Work in progress.

Bats! Work in progress.
Originally uploaded by blacklilypie

I am currently working on sewing up a big batch of Stuffy Bats! I often take forever to finish my stuffed dudes. Sometimes they sit in this half finished state for a long time...We shall see if that happens.

Two of my three ceiling lights burned out and I have 10 foot ceilings (or something) and I can't reach them myself! It is dark like a bats cave in here! Maybe this will get me in the mood to sew little fangs onto these guys.

No picture of me though.

This weekend will be known as the "haul weekend."

Thanks to this guy.

He drove our little party all over the place, never a meep of boredom even when we endlessly discussed makeup and boring girl stuff.

Friday, secrety makeup sale. You could make good money scalping these tickets...I am sure people do. Here is my (and my dude's) haul...

Not too shabby. I could have bought a ton of stuff, but you know, not made of money. Plus after the doors open, the good stuff rapidly gets hoarded by women who suspiciously buy 10 of everything. Don't think thats for personal use honey. RESELLER! If you want to know what all this stuff is, you can check out the notes on Flickr.

We scrapped the museum visit, because when we showed up there was a swarm of people in line, and we were too good to wait in line.

Saturday.


We got up early, which is rare. And zoomed around town all day.

Chinese malls are so fun. They were crazy busy though. Doesn't seem like the "crackdown" on bootlegging has really made any real difference either. More than EVER. So much cuteness crammed into these places.



Ooh, candy!! My first stop and most favorite part of the Chinese mall is going to the candy store and buying all the awesome stuff from Japan, Korea and anywhere else that sells a food with cute characters on them. How fantastic is this packaging? Plus I snagged two cute scarves. Tip for having fun at the Chinese mall, bring CASH. ;-)

See this?? I have never seen it before, I swear!! Hahaha. Its pretty much the exact same as my heart shaped face batcats and bats. What cha gonna do huh?I haven't ate the candy yet, its too cool to rip apart.


Love the little bag that my scarves came in. Its so sweet with little kids in love, and swearing.

So after the mall we went to Ikea. Yeah, we are basically keeping that place afloat with our purchasing. But I was tired of having dresser drawers that don't actually open. The furniture we bought seemed big at Ikea, and ENORMOUS in our little apartment. Our apartment predates closets, so we have to have dressers to store our "substantial" amount of black clothes.

So the house is in absolute chaos. Half finished furniture everywhere, no clean dishes, and generally looks like squatters are building a shanty town in every room. SIGH. At least I have candy. :-)

Its my Friday.

Ok, I did the art. But I didn't assemble them.

Cell phone charms!

A lovely Etsy seller named kittycrossbones and I did a trade for these. They are like a one inch button, but on a spinny little disc that attaches to the little leash. There are a ton of uses for them. I haven't even added them to the shop yet. I think they will come in a set, so you get both images.

Rocko the Cat checks them out.

Hmm, everything seems in order....

I also made a new BIG bookmark today. (Also not even in the shop yet...) Wow, I really need to be better at updating that baby.

Once I got that striped ribbon, I knew this bookmark was gonna happen. Its funny, I actually try to *not* overdo stripes. Thats scary. Could you imagine if I actually used stripes as much as I wanted to?? We would all go blind.

My weekend starts now! I am going to an invitation only industry makeup sale, going to the museum (oooh, architecture voyeur webcam?!) and generally get driven around and eat good food and drink. One of my favorite feelings is being excited for fun stuff to happen. Its often way better than actually doing the stuff.

Alright, going to update the shop.

Its like, cold up North.

Easter is over and it was tiring. PHEW!

I was also blogged on Pikaland while I was away, which is super awesome!! :-) I feel all special today.

So maybe I will take *just* one more day of vacation today. You know, to "work on" that chocolate... hee hee.

The dead rise and review...

Oh no! I think its alive! I think its coming this way. I think its wearing a band t-shirt?!
A zombie lives with me, and periodically rises from the grave to give you...

Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts

"Ghosts" is a sprawling instrumental double album, an extended experiment in mood and texture. Most of the tracks (there are no traditional 'songs') tend to be a good deal less abrasive than the bulk of the Nine Inch Nails discography and wouldn't be out of place on an Aphex Twin or Brian Eno album. While well-executed, "Ghosts" is less interesting to me as a piece of music and much more interesting as a ground-breaking example of the potential next wave of music distribution. Trent Reznor self-released the album March 2nd without any prior advertisement through his own website and on Amazon as a digital download ($5 for the full album). In addition to offering a number of "real" CD options involving various types of fancy packaging, he also simultaneously made the first 9 tracks available as a free download on The Pirate Bay - take that, recording industry. This is not music for everyone, but it just may represent how we'll be getting our music in the near future.
-N. Zombie

N. Zombie will be reviewing only zombie approved awesome albums weekly, to brighten your dreary existence. Or the opposite. Or whatever. :-)

*tumbleweds*

Yeah, so its been quiet.

Every day I start to post a blog entry, then go "nah...I will wait another day."

But this just happened, so its going to get immediate attention.

Rocko the Cat is amazed.

8oo sales at my Etsy shop!Woo hoo! Every milestone is awesome for me. I feel like a big shot. I light my cigars with dollar bills (Or I guess $5 Canadian bills, since a loonie isn't really flammable.) *Struts around all cocky*

Ok, now that we have that back patting out of the way I can let you all down and say that I am not taking any custom orders for a few months. I have a TON of custom orders on the go and I have too many ideas that are sitting in the back of my brain getting overwritten by Family Guy quotes.

And of course I decide not to do custom orders right when Alchemy comes back to Etsy . (Alchemy is the custom order part of Etsy where you can ask for special stuff or offer to make it for people.) Its like they planned it to make me look mean! :-P

Now, where is my cakie?

Monday.

Want to see a masterpiece of unrivaled beauty, inventive design and incredible insight?

Yeah. Welcome to my Monday.

Working at home has a million benefits, one of the biggest is that I am able to waste time doing garbage like this. BUT the downside is that you live at your work, and its tough to get creative and productive when there is an ocean of peanut butter cup wrappers and dirty socks on everything. They mock me.

So every Monday I wake up with all this drive to finish projects and rule the world through drawing cats on things. Then when I stumble out into the dump that is my apartment, I get all disheartened and just end up drinking a pot of coffee and thinking how to approach the whole mess.

So its noon and I have yet to DO anything but think about doing something. Damn.

Martha needs a new pet

What do you think?

With Etsy founder Rob on Martha Stewart today, I can't help but notice the surprising LACK OF BATCAT! I mean, how can you even have a segment about Etsy without ME?? I am sure that someone is going to get fired over this.

Lets hope that this mainstream press will allow me to stop explaining Etsy to each and every person I mention it to. "Its like eBay, but not really..." is how I usually how it comes out, and thats lame and untrue.

I have all my eggs in the basket of another 27 year old who isn't me.(Rob of Etsy is 27) OMG Yikes. I think my plans to open a personal web shop is going to happen in the next little while. I heart you Etsy, but now ten billion Martha watchers are going to open up shops and crowd my cute crap. I think Martha would approve of my business expansion.

Sigh, who knew making adorable goodies was so cutthroat. *runs off to sell stuff*

Introducing...

shuffle...shuffle...shuffle....
creak.
scratch.
grrrrrrrrrr.
Oh no! I think its alive! I think its coming this way. I think its wearing a band t-shirt?!

Introducing, a zombie who lives with me, and periodically rises from the grave to give you...

The Horrors - Strange House

For my first review, how about my favourite album of the past year? This album sounds like pointy boots, smudged eyeliner, sweat, and dark clubs. The Horrors came roaring out of London last year with a distinctly retro sound, filtering '60's rock through blasts of punk dissonance. "Jack the Ripper", a lurching Screamin' Lord Sutch cover, is an impressive opener, and first single "Count In Fives" is led by a driving organ (!) line. The unhinged, crashing "Sheena Is A Parasite" marks the album's high point. Singer Faris Badwan's howling baritone is worth the price of admission alone. "Strange House" is more than a little bit campy, but it's also a bloody good ride.
-N. Zombie

N. Zombie will be reviewing only zombie approved awesome albums weekly, to brighten your dreary existence. Or the opposite. Or whatever. :-)

Colourful Cat Bodies

I made two new sets of bookmarks!



Black an white set with fat braids of soft yarn. The black one really gets me. He is so cute and naughty.


And a gray and orange pair of stripey brothers. Their tales are wool yarn. I love stripey cats the best, don't really know why. Maybe its because they seem more wild (in spirit and in design) less of a pet and more of a little weird animal who agrees not to eat you as long as you feed it.

AND

Coming soon.....

My co-author of this blog makes an appearance. How exciting!! I hear him shuffling this way...

Sara and Schipperke

Here is my messy desk, working on a painting....



And here is the final!



Acrylic and ink on illustration board. I don't know if its finished or not. I might add a background digitally. Schipperkes (skipper-key) are the best dogs that look like little flying foxes to me. I just love their super black fuzzy fur and they way their legs kick out when they run. I will sit through a dog show on TV to see one.



Admittedly, sometimes when I finish a print, I look at it and think "Who would buy this?" I mean, except someone with my exact interests. Haha. People SHOULD have the same interests as me!!

I think this might be my first dog ever? Can I still be a cat lady?

*UPDATE*
I added a nice striped background and listed it in my shop...

Brain Vacation

I didn't go anywhere, but my brain did.

I just haven't been in the mood to make things, and when that happens, you just gotta go with it. Forcing yourself to "be creative" or whatever you call it, makes you hate making things. And thats no fun. It always passes.

Then I finally managed to make these dudes...

Batcat bookmarks! (Yes, more Batcat Bookmarks...)

I wish you could buy your own stuff and somehow make a living that way. I love this little design, and would pay money for it. Too bad I have to ask other people to pay money for it...


His tail is a soft and nubbly acrylic yarn, which was hard to photograph. I love it to bits. maybe I should learn to knit so I can buy yarn more often.

So aside from organizing supplies, making zucchini muffins and cursing my dashboard widget for showing me only cold temperatures, I have been completely useless the past week or so. Is there any way I can write those off as "personal days" or something. Normal people get them, I should too.

Wait, does looking at Flickr count as shop promotion? Scratch this entry, I am a workaholic.

Alley walk

Alley walk
Originally uploaded by blacklilypie

I thought it was only fair to post this pic of me after complaining that people never post anything on regular days a few blog entries down. My guy and I were walking to the drugstore though an alley full of slush, its just not a black velvet and lace kinda day. We also got coffee from a drive-thru Tim Hortons. Just keeping it real.

MORE!

Yeah, I wasn't kidding. I am going to go memo board crazy...

Available in my shop.

I am trying to get more involved with my Flickr account. If you want to add me go ahead! I also started an Etsy Goth group, in hopes that I can round up some of the sellers who make goth-ish items to chat and shop and get to know each other. Join, join, join!

Oh, thats what it is...

The post below has a little sketch, which turned into THIS!

It a dry erase memo board!

Now that I made a few of these I am all feeling all Gollum-like, wanting to hoard this idea all for myself. Its my wonderful idea and no one else shall ever make another memo board. (Haha, if I put that in writing it will come true right?) I am selfish like that. I feel like this one worked so well, I am going to make more and more!

Yeah, its another "cakie"

700 sales in my Etsy shop!

Even though it had been agreed that there doesn't HAVE to be a cookie for ever hundred sales, I got one as a surprise... Yay! I wonder why the person who piped it put the 700 so high on the cookie? I mean, thats just bad cookie craftsmanship.

I am working on a little project to be laminated tomorrow. Yay for lamination!What is this creepy girl up to?

Inked....Hmm, what could it be???

I spent most of the day fighting with BOTH my printers which ganged up on me and clogged on the SAME DAY. A microscopic flake of ink kills an entire day of work. So I basically want to smash everything in the world to dust right about now. Especially this guy...How can a small cat be so annoying?? Let me translate what he says to me all day. "Mom!mom! mom!moooom! mom!MOM! MOM! MOM!" GAWD, child! Get a hobby! Being a person who works in a studio all day and having a cat that hates when I work in the studio is not a good combo. Look at that face. Imagine that staring at you from a dim hallway like 12 hours a day. Its creeepy.

Yeah, so I am thinking of getting another cat. Think they would gang up on me like the printers did?

New Toy!

Now...What else can I laminate?A laminating machine is fun, even if you are not in kindergarden.

I have a bunch of ideas of things to laminate, and I guess I will have to get moving on them so I can Hurry up an play with my new machine!

The above photo is a set of five bookmarks that I am going to be adding to the shop shortly. There are five different "Batcats and Books" themed illustrations. The paintings were super tiny! They were all about 3 or 4 inches tall in real life. I did them all on one big piece of illustration board for some reason and it was a pain in the bum.

I am going to make myself a fake ID now.