Beck-ing Call For An Amazing Painter

I feel so horrid, i havn't written about anyone in a while. My excuse, although not a brilliant one is the Holiday rush. On the bright side, i interviewed Julie Beck, from Julie B Creative ages ago. I found her incredible talented and her work makes me wish i could paint. Looking through her work now, a month or so later, i can honestly say, i am even more impressed then i was the 1st time i saw her paintings. It's even more incredible then i remember!



1) How long have you been crafting?

I have been painting for about 5 years, but as with most people on Etsy, I have been artistic most of my life. Not very good though. I think my drawings as a kid were actually better than some of my first paintings. I'd have to say that only in the past 3 years has my work been "up to snuff."



2) Did you always craft in this genre?

Not at all, I started in acrylics, went to oils, and then back to acrylics. I have absolutely no patience, so the oils were definitely the wrong medium for me. I like the immediacy of water based.



3) Who or what inspires you?

There may not be enough room to list them all but the top few include: books, old trains and railroad tracks, the bins of old photographs that are abandoned and end up in an antique store, flea markets, numbers, ghost stories, The Dark Tower series by Stephen King, farms, bold color combinations. In my daily life, the one tings that always stops me in my tracks is a really good color combination that’s just exisiting...it wasn't planned, it just happened. It's kind of a chaotic natural pairing that makes it so beautiful.




4) What challenges have you found while taking your craft into the business world?

Time management. I work a full time job creating motion graphics. I started offering the custom paintings, which was a really good decision, because a lot of people look for personalized gifts for people...and for so many, like myself, their house is very important to them and it means a lot. It's a place that is somewhat sacred...which is why I started the series. However, each one takes about 8 or 9 hours to complete. This is forcing me to learn how I need to manage my time better so I have more than 4 hours to sleep at night. The nice part about this is I can really start making painting my part time job and cut back my hours at work. It's the one benefit to being a freelancer.




Misc Information:

I took an abstract painting class one time, and I think it really helped my work...the funny part is that the hardest thing for me to do was to not painting "something." Interesting random fact about me: I was valedictorian of my college and have a degree in math.

So head over to Julie's Etsy account, tell her hello and drink in her creative spirit. Enjoy! :)

Pretty New Jewels!

-- Tensha Romantic

-- Dragon Heart

-- Bumble Bee Love

And for the little tykes..

> -- Bumble Bee Jr.

-- Aqua Evening

New Jewels up at Cherry Runway!!! Remember to check out the new website! www.cherryrunway.com, and tell me what you think!!!

Beware Consignment

-- a "handy note" from me.

Okay, just like may other artists i know, i am hoping to pursue this field as a career choice. In order to do so i am trying to hustle and talk about Cherry Runway consistently to become more well known. So when i am accepted or approached by a brick and motor shop that is willing to sell my designs, i am stoked!! The fall back though, which incase you didn't already know of, is that when you hand over your goods, you really don't have a say what they do with them.

Consignment seems like a great idea. Don't get me wrong, I am still quite pleased when i am able to consign my goods, but in some cases it seems like a waste of money. First off, you foot out the bill and time and give someone/someplace your items for free, based on a contact that you hope they will sell your merchandise. Sometimes your goods will be put in the back and not even be put on the floor for days, weeks or months. Sometimes they were never put on the floor and just sent back to you after a while. Unless you visit this place frequently, you really will never know.

I've been a shoppe in South Florida for about 6 months. I was extremely excited and grateful for the opportunity to see at this particular place. I was told that i should call once a month and put my name on the consignment artist list, and someone will call me with an update. I've called once a month for the last five months, and have not received a single phone call back. When i called their shop yesterday, the women i worked with "no longer worked with the company" and the girl at the register had never heard of me or my jewelry. So, i went in for a personal visit. When i got there, a women lifted a small crumpled paper bag and dumped out my jewelry on the counter to compare it to my invoice. $400.00 wholesale, of my hard earned time and money was sitting there tarnished and uncared for. It made me sick.

So please learn from my mistake, check out a store very carefully before you hand over your goods. It may seem like the opportunity of a lifetime, but may end up as a waste of your time.

HOLY COW!

How could i not have posted about my website launch?? Wow, I'm silly. I guess i just assume nobody reads this blog. Regardless, my website was launched on January 1st, 2008!!!! Isn't that exciting?? I sure think so! So far i have gotten some wonderful feedback, but please let me know what you think of it!!

www.cherryrunway.com





This is the ad i posted on my "friends" Myspace pages. So if you are my friend, be prepared to receive one of these beauties :)

www.cherryrunway.com

THE WEBSITE WILL BE UP IN TWO DAYS!!!

Yes! You really read correctly! January 1st, 2008, Cherry Runway will be up and running for business! Our full, shopping cart website will be beautiful, and easy to use. Please stop on by and tell us what you think of it!! I would love some feedback!

www.cherryrunway.com

Fly Away!

Seriously, who wouldn't love a hot air balloon necklace? I've come to figure out this is one of my best selling necklaces.

If my memory serves me correctly, a gentleman and his son create all these amazing clay charms. I found this one particularly stellar! I know you will too!

This is one of my best selling necklaces. Everyone thinks the balloons is a trip, and i don't blame them. It is a really cool necklace!

Busy Lives and Chocolate Potato Chips...

It has been an EXTREMELY busy month! I will never again complain when i work a measly 40 hours a week and only have one day off a week. For, the month of December 07, i only had three days off. Almost all of those wonderful three days were spent being responsible and getting what needed to be done, done. Never again, will i complain about only getting 5 hours of sleep, when this past week i worked three 16 hours shifts and only slept 13 hours combined for those three crazy days.

All of those crazy hours and hard work has [man, i hate to count my chickens] worked out for me though. I am not only being kept on staff at my new job, but i got promoted as well!! It's a great honor and was the MOST determined I've ever been at a job. Thank GOD it worked out!!



This year i tried to make chocolate covered potato chips, which was WAY harder then i anticipated, but everyone seemed to rave about them! This is the recipe i used;



INGREDIENTS
1 pound high quality milk chocolate, chopped
8 cups ridged potato chips

DIRECTIONS
Place about 3/4 of the chocolate into a heat safe bowl, and place over the top of a pan of simmering water. If you have a double boiler, use that. Heat, stirring occasionally until the chocolate has melted, then continue to heat the chocolate. Stir occasionally. As soon as the melted chocolate reaches temperature, remove it from the heat, and stir in the remaining chopped chocolate until melted. Continue stirring until the chocolate has cooled. Touching a dab of chocolate to your lip will feel cool.

Use tongs to dip potato chips one at a time into the chocolate. Place on waxed paper starting at the point farthest from you and working your way in so as not to drip on your finished chips. Cool until set. You may refrigerate if you like.

[I do have to tell you though, that 'use tongs to dip potato chip part is CRAP! I had to literally paint each chip individually because the chocolate was to think and the chips were to delicate. It took over two hours to paint all the stupid chips. They did come out great though.]