How to use this Page

Good Evening:

Here it is, February 2nd, (Groundhog Day here in America) and I've yet to find out if the Groundhog saw his shadow or not. February 2nd is also my mom and dad's wedding anniversary. It would have been their 63rd. My dad is gone and my mom didn't remember the date today.

So...the day started off a bit melancholy from the get-go...maybe I'm even a wee bit grouchy. But hey, don't we all deserve a good go-round with the grouchies every so often? My cat Bonzo has a go-round with the grouchies every single day...



Even with a bit of melancholy hanging on my heart, I managed to continue my "studio clean-up". In today's clean-up, I found my son's long lost copy of "Zombie Haiku". I haven't the slightest idea why it was so comfortably hidden on my studio desk under stacks of Somerset Studio magazines and old photos, but there it was....



I love sharing my daily listings from my MustyBoxesEphemera Shop on Etsy. Here is my favorite listing from today.



Well, I'm off to prepare tonight's dinner. Pork chops, baked potatoes with all the fancies, egg noodles in chicken broth, corn on the cob, green beans, and hot rolls.

Until next time:
Kim
Garden Painter Art
Musty Boxes Ephemera

Good Morning:

As I tap, tap, tap on my computer keyboard, I am finishing my second cup of coffee. The sun is shining and the windows are open. I can hear, what sounds to be, one thousand and fifteen Goldfinch fighting over the thistle feeder hanging in my front tree. As is normal for a Saturday morning, somewhere in the distance is the hum and growl of a lawn mower.

I have already taken advantage of the fabulous morning. I took a stroll around my yard with my trusty camera. I discovered that the Praying Mantis babies that we hatched and let loose in the garden last year are thriving still......






I'm sure some of you remember my mini-schnauzer "Junior". It looks like he took advantage of the cool morning as well. He's been out in the side garden under the Cape Plumbago, no doubt hunting for the non-existant garden fairies that he often imagines!



If any of you have experience with Cape Plumbago, then you know that each and every one of those blue flowers are as sticky as school paste. It will take many hours and even more patience to rid Junior of his cool blue decoration.

With no new art to show, I will close this post. I am off to list some vintage photos in my Etsy shop.

Thanks ever so much for stopping by, as it is truly appreciated.
Kim
Garden Painter Art

Good Morning Bloggers and Artists:

I just wanted to take this opportunity to check in and give a few updates. As many of you know, my mom has been on and off of hospice due to an end stage autoimmune liver disease. Since I last posted, she became a fall risk and we moved her in with us in late June. By mid July, she took a fall here at my home in the bathroom, and of course, broke her hip. So....off to the E.R. Surgery was the next day, but due to her low Hemoglobin and very low blood pressure (all due to her illness), the surgeoun truly didn't expect my mom to make it off the operating table. I, on the other hand, knew better. I've witnessed my mom rally back more times than I can count! Well, she survived the surgery and went on to therapy. When she was released from therapy, she came back to my home and was put back onto hospice. That's basically where I'm at right now. I have nurses and "the bathing lady" in and out of my home almost each day. In between their visits, I care for my mom. She's been given the green light to put full weight on her broken side, so I'm helping with her home therapy. She still has the end stage disease, and eventually, it'll get the best of her, but for now, she's coming along.

Honestly, all that you've just read really is making a long story short. There have been other struggles, and I feel we're slowly but surely coming out of this long, dreadful and dark slump.

I haven't had the time to visit my studio in close to a year. No new art to show.

I'm running a vintage photo shop on Etsy called MustyBoxesEphemera, and it's doing well.

So, my intentions are to work my art and my blog back into my daily life. My husband and I are working on making some visual changes to my blog. Different background etc...

I have some ideas going round about in my head for a new collage, so I am hopeful to find the time to clean my desk and get back to life!!

Thanks so much for stopping by:
Kim
Garden Painter Art

Good Morning:

I've been wrestling with an idea for quite some time, but I'm still unsure if it's a wise decision. So, I've decided to bring my idea here, as so many of my readers are artists as well. And those readers who aren't artists have prized opinions as well!!

I've been playing with the idea of changing my business name. I've been Garden Painter Art for about 5 years now. The name came from the fact that each and every one of my collages has an image of my garden somewhere within. I love the idea of that. BUT... I think my name is mis-leading. I think people see the name Garden Painter Art and they assume I do floral paintings. I just don't think my name is fitting for my art.

I don't have a huge following, of course, but I do sell quite a bit. I feel like, if I'm going to change my name, I should do it now. Of course, as Murphy's Law would have it, I've just ordered business cards!! This is a long term makeover project that I'm starting. I feel like I need to do some cleaning up of loose ends and get myself stream-lined.

So...I would truly love lots of honest opinions. From artists as well as readers in general. I need to be able to see how a name change would be perceived by the public.

Any ideas would be truly appreciated. If you like, you can email me. Just go up to the left hand corner of my blog and click the email link.

I'm hopeful to get lots of opinions, as I am not sure if what I'm thinking is a good idea or not.

Thanks so much:
Kim
Garden Painter Art (for now)

Saturday May 17th, come check out Montreal’s Anarchist Bookfair with over 100 vendors (book sellers and independent presses) that promote “values of mutual aid, direct democracy, anti-authoritarianism, autonomy and solidarity.” If you feel like setting up a workshop, presentation or panel discussion, send in your proposal by March 3rd.

- DD

Good Morning:

Well, here it is, the 17th day of December. Only a few more days until Christmas and I've yet to buy a single Christmas gift. Money has been extra tight over the last few months, so we are doing a "Christmas Simple". Meaning, less gifts and less expensive gifts. I won't even start my shopping until this Friday. Normally, I am well on my way to being done with my shopping by now. This has been an unusual Christmas season so far...But, I do think that we've been able to enjoy the season for what it is, rather than being caught up in "consumerism". That's a good thing!

********************************************

One good thing...my Etsy shop has done fairly well this year. I've sold many prints and even a couple of my original collages. I'm off to the post office today, hoping that what I'm mailing will reach it's destination before Christmas. The two originals that I sold were bought for presents!!

********************************************

I have some new prints being offered in My Etsy Shop. They are all new to print:

"And The Birds Are Singing" ~ 6" x 8" collage print


"Simple Bird #16" 2.5" x 3.5" ACEO collage print


"Chickadee At The Manor" 2.5" x 3.5" ACEO collage print


"Simple Bird #2" 2.5" x 3.5" ACEO collage print


********************************************

This will be a short blog today, as I really need to get to the post office. For those of you who tagged me recently, I haven't forgotten and I'll be back with my answers soon!!

As always, if you are interested in purchasing any of the art you see here or in my Etsy shop, but you don't have an Etsy account, feel free to email me directly for information. Just click on my blog profile and from there, you can email me.

Until Next Time:
Kim
Garden Painter Art

So Shameless is the feminist magazine and blog for teens that I wish had been around when I was a wee feminist myself. I’d be dating myself if I told you how old I was when Sassy finally rescued me from magazine hell, so I won’t.

Not only are the contributors of Shameless smart, feminist, and yes - sassy - they also know how where the good activist resources are and how to find them. I quote from a recent Shameless blog entry from Tuval, one of their contributors:

Last night I watched an old film I’ve been meaning to see for a long time. And I got it from my favourite movie store, the public library.

That’s right - the public library. (Where you can also find a print copy of Shameless at a healthy selection of library branches.)

And the film in question is Not a Love Story, by Bonnie Sherr Klein, mother of activist Naomi Klein. Coincidentally, I viewed this film about the same time I was reading Sassy.

Do check out (no pun intended:) both of Sherr Klein’s films, Not a Love Story and the more recent, Shameless: the Art of Disability.

-PC-

For fans of the hipster indie publisher McSweeney’s, oodles of books and other emphemera (like a one line apology to your girl/boyfriend written by Miranda July) are up on the hawk block. In their words, “every single thing we’ve got is on sale”.

Why the madness? Independent news source Salon.com writes a great piece about how the small press world is dealing with the bankruptcy of Advanced Marketing Services, the parent company of Publishers Group West, that took care of the sales and marketing for approximately 130 independent publishers. According to Salon, it wasn’t the fanciful, bright eyed, ’support the little guy distributor’ PGW that was in financial trouble.

“Ironically, PGW — the largest American distributor of independent publishers — was by all accounts having its best year ever, and the financial troubles of AMS, a corporate giant that mainly distributed to wholesalers like Costco and Sam’s Club, brought it down. AMS filed for Chapter 11 on Dec. 29, a result of being unable to bounce back from SEC and FBI investigations into its advertising accounting practices — which led to three executive indictments — and a class-action suit on behalf of its shareholders. As Horowitz points out, ‘It wasn’t the indie distributor; it was a big, old-fashioned corporation with accounting problems.’”

Un-fans of McSweeneys might want to throw their support to another indie publisher, like Cleis. However not every small press outfit was equipped to deal with this; the mergers and additional bankruptcies have already started. Salon.com reports that Soft Skull, Hugh Lauter Levin and Inner Ocean were absorbed by larger publishers, while Carroll & Graf and Thunder’s Mouth, two Avalon Publishing Group imprints, folded.

The good news (sort of) is that another company, Perseus, took PGW over keeping much of it intact. The downside is that this results in consolidation of distribution for 300+ indie publishers under one company - a bit precarious for the industry should Perseus run into trouble.

McSweeneys approach is a testament to how any bunch of creative and independent maverick thinkers would deal with such a blow. To illustrate … (and yes, I like lists).

1) through derivative ideas. according to the McSweeneys website, Fantagraphics salvaged their company from a similar situation a few years ago.
2) using the Internet. cyberspace being a quick and effective ad hoc distributor of a shout out (but no substitute for the actual distributor).
3) through community. with love and support, their authors and loyal readership have come to their aid in a jiff.

Despite the alarm this raises, the deals to be had are awesome. Collection development librarians and avid readers alike can pick up some interesting titles by ordering online.

i) 50% off backlisted books
ii) 30% off new books
iii) $5 off subscriptions - including an ‘instant gratification’ subscription if you haven’t gotten your fix lately
iv) gift certificates - why limit your gift buying to birthdays and special occasions?

All of this flags the challenge for librarians in keeping their collections diverse in the age of outsourcing. Discussion around this issue calls for its own post, me-thinks. In the meantime, here are a few articles.

Rude, R. I. (2001). Academic libraries and social responsibility: The what? so what? and what now? Catholic Library World, 72(2), 94-98.

Manoff, M. (1999). Outsourcing selection in academic libraries. Technical Services Quarterly, 16(4), 67-70.

Knuth, R., & Bair-Mundy, D. G. (1998). Revolt over outsourcing: Hawaii’s librarians speak out about contracted selection. Collection Management, 23(1/2), 81-112.

Atton, C. (1994). Beyond the mainstream: Examining alternative sources for stock selection. Library Review, 43(4), 57-64.

Hitchcock Mort, K. A., & Mort, K. A. H. (1983). Small and alternative press acquisitions. Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory, 7(3), 233-238.

-PC-