Gouache Crazy!

I am terrible at watercolor. I took lessons and um...it wasn't good. But what I am becoming good at is Gouache! Gouache is like a medium somewhere between watercolor and acrylic. It's a water based paint and can be thinned and layered on like water color but it's much more opague which makes it easier for watercolor challenged people like myself to paint something interesting. Above is the painting I did last night called 'Friends.' Hm, there seems to be something slightly sinister about the look in that cat's eyes...

Anyway, I was in the mood to paint. I may paint the Flower Monster Later -ahem, received one rejection and one postcard saying they received the mass...nothing else so far.- I think he would be a fun subject. My Etsy shop hasn't made a single sale thus far so I may have to re-examine the photos and prices later on but now? Happier things!

This painting really got me going on the Gouache. I liked how cute the subject was and how bright the colors are. The original is much brighter then my feeble attempt at photography. Also I liked the subject matter--simple and almost psychedelic in a harmless drug free way. I think I drank diet coke during its creation and maybe some milk...

It inspired me to do another painting called, 'Love or Lunch?' Which features two parrots with different thoughts in their little heads.

I'd love to get a bunch of paintings done and put them on the wall in a coffee shop. I'm in Ocean City, NJ....gotta be coffee shops opening up soon, since it's almost May.

The writing went on the back burner for the last few days. I have a habit of being extremely prolific in one or the other, not both. Apparently it's painting season which kind of throws off my time table for my books in progress.

On happy note two, I sold a copy of my book: Dead Cat Talking and was gratified to find out that the purchaser was freaked out by the stories in broad daylight! Ha! I new I was scary but that is just awesome. The book is 70 pages long, wire-O bound and tiny which makes it a perfect book to stash in your purse, laptop bag or even back pocket.

If you're an Ozmia fan, there's a new design for this year. You can see that on the Ozmia Shop. What else? Oh, I'm reading a book called 'A Pig Tale' so look for a review on Liter Alley in the near future.

Wait, one more happy note: I was recently asked to do covers for the Doctor Who Project. I created two covers and received high praise. If you haven't heard of them, the DWP created a continuing season for Doctor Who after the 1988 season ended on the BBC. They have won numerous awards and are really a great place to read fantastic science fiction based on one of the best lived characters in sci-fi, the mysterious Doctor. I'm in season 35. My covers are for Aurum In Plumbum and Nine Days.

I may eventually write for them if I ever remember to get back to fellow author and best friend Samantha Warner. She's very involved with the DWP. This is what those awesome people had to say about me:

Our newest artist comes to us courtesy Samantha Warner. We're always on the lookout for new artists to join the TDWP team and Samantha recommended Karen Kalbacher to us. Karen sent us a few samples of her work and we were very impressed with what we saw so we invited her to work with us. We're glad to have Karen on board and she created covers for our two historical stories "Aurum In Plumbum" and "Nine Days".

Best review I've had in years, thanks guys!

Making a Stamp!

I see a lot of people doing block prints so I decided to try it out. I went to the craft store and they had an expensive kit. I was holding it, thinking about it but next to it was just the block of rubber you carve. As usual I saw the $4 block as a cheap short cut and took it.

Anyway, I know nothing about stamp making. But this is how it came out:


Not bad for someone who's never done it before. I think it looks pretty great. I'm already working on a new design. Mind you, this is how it was supposed to look:


And I'm not dumb. I did reverse the image to try and get it on the block. But I screwed up in the tracing and was apparently too tired to notice that amazingly obvious blunder. lol. It was fun though so if you want to make one too, this is what I did:

1. Go to Michael's or AC Moore and get a stamp block. I think they're with the Scrapbooking stuff...or the Speedball stuff. Either section should be good for finding one. They come in eraser pink or an anemic yellow. (Ahem, I also heard a rumor you could make a small test one using a pencil eraser...the pink or the white ones were recommended.)

2. I drew an image on the computer. (You might want to skip that and just draw directly on the eraser. Just make sure you don't use a pen as it will most likely cut into the eraser.) I flipped the image and printed it. Now here's where I screwed up--I flipped it to iron it onto the eraser because I heard you could do that...eh, it didn't work at all. So I used a Sharpie on the back of it to trace and ended up reversing my reversed image...Le Sigh. (Don't so that. It's dumb and your letters end up backwards.)

3. I carved out the block using some cheap wood carving tools that I bought a year ago for another half-assed project. (I'm betting you could use an exacto if you have one or a steak knife if your significant doesn't see you doing it. Mine gets mad when I craft with the cutlery --Spoilsport.) The carving was fun but I made a huge mess. Please remember to put down a plastic bag for easy clean up.

4. I used a screen printing textile ink. You could just as easily use any kind of water soluble ink or paint. I had blue, yello and red so I chose blue. I didn't have a roller thing--again I am poor so I like to MacGyver everything. Makes me feel fancy and special--so I used a craft sponge thingee. You know the sponge on a stick thing we all have laying around.

5. Plop it down on the paper. I pushed and wiggled it a little like a real stamp. And bam! Stamped. I laughed when I saw it.

All in all it was a great project. It took me about an hour to carve the block. Clean up was a snap. I just dumped the trimmings into the trash. Rinsed the stamp and wandered off to look at shiny objects. So there you go. Now feel free to hit me back with pictures of your own stamps.

Shameless Plug: Buy my book: Dead Cat Talking and Other Tales over at my cafepress shop. If you do I'll donate a dollar to a guinea pig rescue. My guinea pig Eddie has a very painful infection in his front feet that we're treating and it is expensive! Poor homeless piggies need angels to help them heal because they don't have suckers like my and my significant to do it for them.

Dead Cat Talking & Other Tales

Finally released a collection of my short stories on Cafepress. It's called Dead Cat Talking & Other Tales. I created the cover art myself. The stories were chosen from a group I had found when looking for something else on the computer - go figure, right? All the stories were given a fresh coat of editing and then bundled together into this short anthology. It's only about 40 pages and contains six stories. The first is a flash fiction that was published twice, first in The Eternal Night Chronicles (Issue 14) and again at the magazine for Silencespeaks.com. I thought the reprint would be a great opener.

Here's an excerpt from the book's title story:

Who is Mr. Collins? The cat whispered, her tiny voice shaking in his mind.

“Who is… my boss. Damn it, you know that.” Knife tip flitted around, swirling and focusing on the cat. “Yeah, he was my boss. Is! Is my boss. He’s alive. Alive. Can’t be, can’t be alive. I saw him. He was dead.”

I know a secret. He’s not your...

Blue light roamed the corners of the blade, distracting him from the cat’s secret. Arnold saw himself in it. His suit was old, faded and patched in the ass. No one had noticed the patch of navy over the charcoal cloth. Fussy about his curly hair, Arnold rubbed at it unconsciously. He was next to see the body. Next to see it. The modest line of mourners swam up to the giant dead whale and placed flowers near its watery family. Arnold paddled, unwilling to see the conclusion. The mass had been long, lacking poignancy and believable mourners. Even the priest was indifferent. It touched Arnold’s heart for less than a second. He was bored and Mr. Collins was dead. Neither one having a good day…

“No. I…” Arnold scrubbed at his temples, willing the memories to stay stuck inside.

Killer. The cat hissed.

Pushing into his head with the knuckles, Arnold shuddered. Images tumbled over themselves forcing him to relive it. Ten years of hard labor… Arnold saw himself in the calico’s eyes. Greasy red juices ran down his face, outlining mad green eyes. He watched himself dialing 911. It was going to be an accident. How he had no idea…he’s jammed the knife in again and again carving him like a roast pig on a spit. Arnold threw up next to the cat.

Murderer. She hissed.

I think it's a good collection of mayhem. It's full of murder and crazy people. Besides if you buy a copy I'll donate $1 of the sale to the Have-A-Heart Guinea Pig Rescue. They're a great cause because they help out the animals that get forgotten like guinea pigs, rabbits, and hamster.

Oh, and if you do read it, be sure and drop me a line. I'd love to know what you thought of it.
My piggies!~Digger in white & tan, Socrates in Brown & white. This is when they took their first bath in the big brown tub at out new apartment. Aren't they adorable? Don't you want to adopt one of your own?