Another Occasional Blog Post...brought to you by the letter "P" (as in "procrastination")

Well, lookit that.  It's only a blog post from me - Queen of the occasional rambles.

While it has been a moderately busy time of late, that's really no excuse.  In any event, here I am, typing at ya.

I most recently was busy preparing for, and then attending, Parisian Promenade in Greensboro, NC.  It turned out to be a really nice day!  Not too hot, although it was a bit humid, and even though we were under threat of thunderstorms, the weather held out and we made it through the afternoon rain-free.  I think this might have been one of the biggest turnouts at Parisian Promenade - at least in the 3 years I've vended there.  It was a busy day, and I had a really good sales day, as well, for which I am very grateful.  It's hard being an artist and making a living at it, and we artists are so thankful for our patrons and fans.  Every print sold means we can pay a portion of a bill, buy a portion of groceries, and can PAINT MORE!

I'm doing more shows this year than ever - after FaerieCon in November, I will have done at least 5 appearances this year (there may be a couple of other opportunities for shows locally between now and the end of the year).  I actually submitted work to DragonCon this year, and was accepted - but, due to the amount of artists applying, and space limitations, I wound up wait-listed.  Still, it was a nice opportunity, and it was good to get feedback from the jurors about what works, and what needs improvement.

The next event is in just a couple of weeks - Greensboro Summer Solstice which is such good fun!  Kids and adults alike come dressed in their faerie finery, and the mood is so light and joyful!  I am really looking forward to it.  If you're in the Greensboro, NC area - you should come check it out - it's free to get in, and a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.  It's on Saturday 22nd June this year, from 3pm until 8pm for the bazaar, and there will be fire dancing and live music afterwards until 9 or 10.

Hope you are all having a lovely late spring!

Another embloggening? I'm on a roll!

2 bloggings in one week. Now...do I have anything to say?

Well, yes, actually. I've just this morning had an email from Indigo Art Services with the preview images of the mousepads that are in production. They are gorgeous, and I can't wait to get my hands (or...mouse) on them. I showed the image of the one with my Hummingbirds on Lantana art to himself (my husband) and he's planning to purchase one as soon as it's on sale. Jen at IAS tells me mousepads will be featured on the website and on offer at $9 each (regularly $10.95) til the end of August. I'll post again when they're available.

Also this morning, I finished "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins; the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy. What a great series that was. Now, I'm looking forward to the film treatment and hoping they do the story justice. Now, what shall I read next? Any suggestions?

I've just rented "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" from Netflix. I did see it in the cinema when it was released, but I wanted to watch it again so the story would be fresh in my mind when I go see Part 2. I'm a bit sad that it's all ending, but looking forward to it anyway. I know JK's got Pottermore in the works, but I really am keen to see what she does next writing-wise. Surely she's got some more stories to tell, other characters to pull us into their lives....

I've been asked when I'll be painting live again. I'm not sure, really. Maybe next week? I'll post at twitter and facebook when I do, and if I can organize myself enough, maybe schedule a time and give you a day's notice or so. Ha - an organized artist?! That'd be a first! ;)

O Hai!

Good grief! Has it really been over a year since I've posted anything?! That just goes to show that I am really pants at updating this blog. To be fair, since I've gone over to the dark side that is Facebook, I find it just so easy to do quick updates there. So, I'd love for anyone interested in what I'm up to to join me there: www.facebook.com/MaryLaytonArt. I'll try to do better about keeping a regular blog, too - but, at least you'll be able to keep up with me a bit better there. I'm also on twitter (www.twitter.com/Rhiamon), so feel free to follow.

I've most recently been playing around with my web site design, updating the look a bit. And, fixing some formatting issues that I'd let go for too long. This meant a 4 day fight with coding to suit the demands of IE. If you want something done simply, and you want it to show up properly on IE...fuggedaboutit. Simple coding commands that work on nearly every other browser will look hideous in IE, I've found. In any event, I seem to have managed to work around the issues, and my site now look presentable in IE, while still looking nice in other browsers. To celebrate, I decided to have a bit of a sale, and if you subscribe to my newsletter, you'll already be aware of it. The sale lasts until the end of the month and gets you 25% off your order at www.marylayton.net - including clearance items. Use code SUMMER25 at checkout. Speaking of clearance items....

Acrylic-cab cameos are on offer, as I am discontinuing them. The reason I am doing this is that I have recently signed a licensing contract with Indigo Art Services for gorgeous porcelain cameos. I've received my artists samples and they are really lovely! They are larger than the acrylic cameos and therefore show off the artwork much better. IAS are also doing mugs with wrap-around designs - these are generously sized at 15 oz. Both the cameos and mugs are available on the site, and if you are a retailer, you can order them wholesale to carry in your shops from IAS. Also, if you enter code 110502 at checkout at IAS, you get a free gift with an opening order of $75.

I have been doing some art shows lately, which is a bit new for me. I am often asked when I'll be at Faeriecon or other big shows, but I haven't done many shows at all so far, and am a bit terrified of the big ones! I need some experience, you see. So, in March I entered the art show at Stellarcon and had a great time! Met some neat people, made some sales, and lost a bit of my fear. Since then, I've done 2 other local events, Parisian Promenade and Greensboro Summer Solstice Celebration, and I am really enjoying it. I will be appearing in August at the August Art Oasis on Davie Street in Greensboro NC and am looking forward to it. I still don't know if I'm ready for Faeriecon yet, but maybe next year.

I'll leave you with some eye-candy - one of the porcelain cameos, one of the mugs, and my current work-in-progress:

Tubes 'n' Tags, and becoming a better blogger

Tubes 'n' Tags


I am thrilled to be plugging FantasyScraps.com. I'm licensed there, and it is the only official source for images of mine to be used in PSP tubes and tags. Fantasy Scraps also features artwork by LA Williams, Brigid Ashwood, Jane Starr Weils, Ash Evans, Ruth Thompson, and Bill Plank. There will also be extensive digital scrapbooking collections to come! If you are a tuber, spread the word about this fantastic new site!

Becoming a better blogger
Yeah...like that's really going to happen. Well, maybe it will. See, it's about Ping.fm. Ping.fm allows me to update several social networks at once. Which means, I can blog, and have it on my personal blog (more on this to follow), LiveJournal, and MySpace in one step, instead of typing up a blog in one place and copy/pasting it to up to three other places. I'll still have to copy into Enchanted Folk and Deviant Art, if I want my blogs there, though - as Ping.fm doesn't update those services. I've got my LiveJournal posting into my Facebook page, so that one's covered, at least.

For my "official" journal - linked to my web site, I'd been using Movable Type, but customizing was a nightmare. I'd had a Blogger account for about 4 years, but had signed up only to comment on my friends blogs. Recently, I decided to play around with it and see if I could make it look like it belonged to me, sort of thing. I wound up customizing it and liking the look, so I started thinking of having it be the "official" blog, since I wouldn't (hopefully) have to re-design the bloody layout after every software update. Unfortunately, I can't incorporate it into my site as designed on the blogger site as it's considered an 'upgraded' template. I know folks have personalized blogger-driven blogs on their own web sites, without needing to dedicate a whole domain to it (Neil Gaiman and his PA Fabulous Lorraine, for example), but I'm not sure how they managed it, and without a nice step-by-step tutorial on doing that (which I've yet to find), I'm leaving the blog on the blogger (or, blogspot, more accurately) site and linking to it from my personal web site. At least the blog now looks like part of my web site! I'm keeping my LiveJournal as well - thanks to Ping.fm, I can update it at the same time with posts to my personal blog as well, and still keep super-personal posts at LJ for friends-only. I've also got a feedburner account, which means one can subscribe to receive my bloggings via email, if they like. So, official blog is now at http://ping.fm/NkaHS LJ for super-personal friends-only stuff, and the MySpace blog will just mirror the 'official' posts (when it works - it's a bit hit and miss for ping.fm to manage a MySpace blog posting for some reason).

Ooooh, pretty Blogger!

I've prettied up my Blogger and found it far more easily customizable than the Movable Type I'm using currently on my web site. If I work out how to import the feed onto my web site's journal page, I think I might like it better. I do know there's a way to publish it under your own domain name, but that involves changing dns records and such if I'm reading the info correctly, and I just want it to occupy one page - not take up the entire domain. I'll keep reading and pester some of my friends who use blogger to see if I can make it work somehow.