It's Getting to Look A Lot Like Christmas....

Like prim? Here's a primitive handpainted decorative piece. Painted on a wooden sled. It's 6 inches and ready for hanging. I just love the flag waving snowman with the crow on top! :)

Quest Challenge Competitions in our Dawg Group

QUEST Challenge

What is a QUEST you say?

A Challenge to our members of the Dawg Pound!

We like to challenge our Dawg Group Gals with helping them to reach out of the box when it comes to painting or drawing, so every other week, we do a Quest Challenge.

We recently just finished a wonderful challenge of Marie Antoniette. They were some wonderful entries in this Quest. We ask members to donate aceo originals to our prize pool so we can give prizes to our winners of the quest every other week. Winners of the Marie Antoniette Quest is

lst Place Joann Wheeler

2nd Place Sue Taylor

3rd Place Marlene Hawkins

Look what beautiful work they did on Marie Antioniette! This times Quest is Indians We have some awesome entries on them too! Check out our member's stores and see if they are on sale.

We have so many talented ladies in our group! I am blessed to have them in my group and have them as my friends! God is GOOD!! Lisa

This is a last minute blog! Hello???

I am not really sure what to talk about here since I gabbed it all last time...lol. But let's see...I was reading today how you can make a living online selling things. Of course, they were referring to things you buy from distributors, but I was thinking...wouldn't it be nice to make a living by selling our art or wonderful craft items on a regular basis?

How do we accomplish that little fantasy? We can do it by just what we are doing now, networking, making friends, and doing all we can to advertise our creations. Earlier, someone mentioned places like MySpace. I have had a membership there for a very long time, mostly for my writing and a few of my kids. I do get other writers wanting to be "friends" occasionally, but I also get a lot of junk mail and spam invites. I don't really think I get much off of My Space. It is more for socializing and too many people can view it that maybe aren't interested in our art at all. I consider it more of a dating/keeping in touch type place. It is just one more thing to keep up and I am overloaded right now.

I think this DAWG group on Ning, getting our items listed on Etsy, eBay, and perhaps joining one or two of the eBay groups that we spun off from, would be the main source of acquiring traffic to our sites and our art/crafts. One other possibility and it used to be free is Classmates.com. Now some of you live in the same place and have all your life. But some of us have moved from state to state, and lost track of those we went to school with. The worst part of Classmates is that it costs to be able to see who is trying to contact you. I think it is approximately $13 for three months, the more months you pay for in advance, the cheaper it becomes. I actually ran into a few old classmates there. It was very cool because we are coming up on our 40th year high school reunion, not that I will be in California next year, but it was fun to catch up, and I did sell a few books and gathered interest in my eBay art. Just a suggestion and not for everyone.

Seems to me, if you spread yourself too thin trying to advertise you will have no time to create. I am not finding much time at all between family and trying to keep up with the few places I do belong to. So, I am prioritizing. I am choosing eBay, ETSY, DAWG ...and once in a while, I will check MySpace.com or Classmates.com to see if anyone has tried to contact me.

Another good thing I have is a "free" website (I use the free one I got with Register.com for registering my name with them for the next ten years!) I use my website mainly for my romance books, but I am considering adding a few new links to my art as well. I get quite a few hits on my website, but royalties pay so little that you would never know I sell any books. I make more nowadays off my ACEOs...Lol! :)

One more thing... I have noticed a lot of the more "established artists" doing, you know, the ones who have regular bidders and get $$$ for their art, they are finding places like CafePress.com and taking their more popular art work and having magnets, key chains, etc. made with them. I used CafePress years ago for a romance writer's conference I went to where we needed tons of promo stuff in minimal time. CafePress does really nice work. I still have two of the coffee mugs with the cover of Whisper of a Tryst on them. Nice stuff. :)

Oh, and get some business cards. You can go to: http://www.vistaprint.com/ and they offer 250 free business cards for the cheap price of S&H (only about $10, if I remember right). You can pay to have your own "logo" put on or you can use their free ones with quite a wide selection of styles to choose from too. It is worth it, trust me. Then drop a card into the little bowls at Daily Grind, Starbucks, or any little restaurant that offers the "drop in your business card for a free meal" deals. I have also set them up in places where they will allow me to: bookstores, cafes, wherever creative people hang out.

Oh, and I used to send my business cards in my bills. Don't laugh! I worked for a bank once and the things people put in the mail...heck, it is free advertising -- plain and simple. What can they do but toss it? Just like we do all the stuff they stick in our bills...lol. But, maybe, you will catch the eye of some bored secretary or whatever, and she will buy your book, or your art, or that beautiful piece of pottery.

Okay...if anyone else has thoughts on this subject, please jump in and share. If I have repeated anything please excuse me...my mind tends to get cluttered. Have a great day/night/whatever!

If you want to visit my website just for fun and read some excerpts from my books it is: http://www.christinepoe.com/, or peek at my continually changing cat art on eBay. My eBay URL is: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcatdancing51, and my user I.D. for ETSY is also catdancing51, just like on eBay. Oh and if you go to ETSY.com please "HEART" me? And I will do the same! Toodles!

Halloween is Just Around The Corner

Here are a few of my Halloween Aceo's plus some information on Halloween and how it got started! Very Interesting Reading!

Matilda The Witch is Ready

To Come Spook For Halloween

For Sale on Etsy

Jackie The Pumpkin Lady

On sale at Etsy

Aceo Crow Dark and Mysterious Flying

Your Way Original Artcard

On Sale on Etsy

Did You Know This about Halloween?

Since the eighth century Christians have celebrated All Saints' Day on November 1 to celebrate the known and unknown Christian Saints. Saints are not just those whom the Church has canonized, but all members of that "cloud of witnesses" who proclaim Jesus as Lord - including you and me!
Almost as old as the celebration of All Saints' Day is the tradition associated with All Hallow's Eve. ("Hallows" mean "saints," both mean "holy ones," as in "Hallowed be thy name." "Eve" means the evening before.) So, Halloween means "the evening before All Holy Ones' Day." Today we call that festival Halloween (Hallow's Eve) and we have many fun secular ways of recognizing it in addition to religious ways. However, it's important to remember that its celebration has a long, positive history in the Church.
What sort of history is that? Like many of the liturgical festivals (Christmas and Easter included), All Saints' Day and All Hallow's Eve have some connection to pagan festivals. People of many races and cultures have remembered their dead and have had superstitions about death itself. Christians remembered death itself on All Hallow's Eve and celebrated Christ's victory over death. During the Middle Ages, Christians would gather in Churches for worship and they would remember the saints' victories over evil. Likewise they would put on little displays showing Jesus' victory of Satan, often using unusual masks and costumes to act out the story.
Thus, the festivities on All Hallow's Eve were the Christian's way of laughing at death and evil, something we can do in certain hope of Christ's victory over the powers of darkness. The Church for centuries, however, has seen All Hallow's Eve not as a glorification of evil, but as a chance to affirm eternal life in the face of the death of our mortal bodies. Just as Easter is a celebration of Jesus' victory over death and evil, so is Halloween!

Tips For Selling Artwork Online

I know selling artwork online isn't an easy task for most artists.

So I thought I would share some of my own

fundamental tips on the subject.

1. Make the most of your keywords! I know it has been said a hundred times before, but this is so important! When selling on Cafe Press, Greeting Card Universe, Ebay or even from your own website, make the most of your keywords. Try to include as many words as you can pertaining to your subject matter, including colors, titles, objects in your paintings, etc.

this will help people find your artwork when looking online as they search the net.

2. Networking! It may seem a bit trivial to you to socialize with peers or people in general, but believe it or not, this is one of the key elements in selling your art! Using sites like Facebook, MySpace, You Tube- it is all free advertisement! Add friends, connect with other artists and advertise! Use bulletin boards, videos, emails, and blogs to post new items that you have produced! Tell people about yourself! Let them get to know you. Now this doen't mean you have to divulge very personal information, but let people see the real you- why do you like to work with a certain medium, who are your favorite artists and why, where do you buy materials to work with, what inspires you? This information lets people see what kind of person you are and helps them connect with you. Join groups and team up with other artists to help advertise your websites! Traffic will increase to all of your members sites!

3.Emails, Advertisements, & Blogs! Make the most out of all of the websites you are selling on! Create email lists for customers to let them know when you add new items or prints to your store! Create a signiture in your regular emails with links to your shops! Don't just advertise online! Get yourself some bumper stickers with your websites url address! Hand out inkpens, carry a totebag with your store's name and url! Add your url for free to major search engines- like Google! Create business cards, flyers, postcards, newsletters, etc. to hand out to people! Put them in artshops where people can find them! You have to sell yourself, and in order to do this- you have to be visible both on and off the net! And bring your shops together on a blog! Add links to all of your sites so that people can find you! Use your blog to take surveys, polls, find out about your customers, and what they like! Ask for opinions, let people see what you are working on. keep an art blog diary of your artwork! Do tutorials on how to create a certain kind of artwork, such a batiks or paintings! Do you have a method of creating collage artwork? Tell people how you work! And don't just limit it to artwork! Add a forum for other things, maybe keeping craft rooms neat & clean, how to organize your painting utensils, etc. How to make a drying rack for paintings...anything that will help draw interest to your blogs and get traffic to your sites!

4. Be persistant! Probably the most important key to remember is to be persistant! Building any business takes time and extreme patience! So give your business time to grow! As you create new artwork, add it to your sites. And keep advertising. Utilize your images so that they continue to help your business grow! Jpg Images can be used to create many new items, such as greeting cards, t shirts, prints, mugs, etc. Create your own lines of apparel or dishes, etc. Keep your sketches and make coloring online coloring pages available for kids! No matter what you do- just keep creating and trying! Never give up!

Good luck to each and every one of you! And if you have your own ideas or tips, please feel free to share them here!

Susan Alison Border Collie dog art - 'I wonder what’s around there…' and 'Puppyflies on the Dahlias'

There's nothing quite like a Border Collie. And there's nothing quite like watercolours, or even watercolors - put the two together and you get all sorts of adventures............



I WONDER WHAT'S AROUND THERE...



Click here for ebay auction; also Buy it Now items

All my artwork appears on the Border Collie blog: www.montyandrosie.blogspot.com

Thanks for looking.



PUPPYFLIES ON THE DAHLIAS



Click here for ebay auction; also Buy it Now items

Click here for collieish present ideas at Cafepress

Thanks for looking. It would be lovely if you left a comment below for us to drool over or even to bark back at.

Or drop us a bark

Adventures in Watercolor

Hi! I'm Lee Pierce and I've been playing with watercolors for more than 10 years. Painting the same subject several times will prove that it's an adventure. Watercolor has a life of it's own and you can go with the flow or try to control the outcome. I love both options.



In the Sun

Watercolors are portable. Paint on a road trip? Why not?

Cataldo Mission
Look what I found in Idaho, just outside of Coeur d'Alene. We were headed for Montana and found lots of picturesque spots on the route. A Spanish Mission in the Idaho panhandle took me by surprise.

Watercolors are versatile. They clean up easily and encourage a little experimentation.

A Sparkling Swim


Playing with watercolors and wax on sumi papers like unryu and masa for Batiks. They look fine matted and framed but can be very appealing in a float frame with all the deckle edges visible.

ACEOs or Art Cards are lots of fun to create and collect!

Hurricane Warning











Creating and collecting these affordable bits of art is what brought me to the Designing Artists Womens Group (affectionately known as DAWG)!

Stop in here often to check out all the beautiful and varied work this wonderful group of Artists has to offer.

Tam Moody Greeting Cards

I have been spending much of my time designing greeting cards for GCU (Greeting Card Universe).

This is one of many fun birthday card designs I have available in my store!

You can visit me at

Tam Moody's Greeting Cards

I also have birthday party invitations,

bachelorette party, wedding attendant invitations & many other invitations available!

Not to mention a vast selection of Thinking of You, Missing You, Friendship Note Cards

& Thank You Cards

So I hope you will drop by and take a peek! Mark a few favorites, leave me a comment, or even drop me an email through my store feedback to let me know you visited my little shop!

I'm always happy to hear from all of you!

Oil Paintings for Sale

I love oil painting, so much so that I have tons of paintings thru out my home......landscapes, seascapes, florals, wildlife, pets portraits and people portraits. I have been teaching painting classes for a good number of years too so that adds up to more paintings........Paintings for sale can be found at http://www.paintwithbarb.com/ or at one of other sites like http://paintwithbarb.etsy.com/ Here are a few of my paintings......

Poppies, 20w x 16h

Jade Seas, 10w x 8h

A 20w x 16h landscape

This cute little boy was my first portrait and got Judges Choice at our county fair! And yes, it is the only painting shown here that is not for sale.

John Wayne, 16w x 20h

ACEO Artwork Unlimited Possibilities

Check out my Daily Blog http://creationsbylisak.blogspot.com/


LisaK's Art

One day the little artcards on Ebay caught my eye, I have always loved to draw and paint. I never seemed to have enough time to finish a larger painting so I started creating these small works of art, once I did I was hooked! They allowed me the time to finish one and move on to another creation that was floating around in my head. Then I started seeing Altered Art ACEO's and then I had more Ideas coming to me. If you are an artist of any kind it seems that when you start something they just start abounding from you. Well this has been the case with my aceo's I have books of them that I have completed. Today I will share with you my latest altered art ones I have listed on Ebay.


Thanks for taking the time to look at my art. I enjoy working on so many types of creations I have several shops of items to share with you, here are a listing of my shops when you have a moment drop in and see what else I have to offer.

http://www.artbylisak.etsy.com/

http://www.lisakgallery.ebay.com/



http://www.blushingbridepoems.etsy.com/




http://www.therubyboutique.etsy.com/

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ACEO Altered Art Your Inner Calm Fairy



On Sale At Ebay

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ACEO Altered Art Beautiful Maiden
















On Sale At Ebay




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Funny Marge The Fairy On Sale At Ebay

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Sensual Butterfly Maiden

"Because All Women Are Hot"

On Sale At Ebay

Over the Fence Barbara Haviland OIls

For this oil painting, I stepped out on my porch and looked across the street. I did not like the driveway so I left it out. I did like the looks of the hedge coming across the fence and the houses. The painting measures 11"x14" and is available here for 145.00+12.00 shipping.
Thanks for looking
Barbara

http://barbsgarden.blogspot.com

Original Western Paintings for Sale!

"Majesty"
oil ~ 12" x 16"
$150.00

Howdy DAWG Art Bloggers!

Growing up on a farm has instilled in me a passion for equine and western art.... Here are a few of my originals that are for sale at the time. To see more of my artwork you can visit my website at www.elizabethhannahcreations.com.

"Peaceful Pair"
oil ~ 22" x 28"
$600.00














"Choosing A Mount"
oil ~ 16" x 20"
$200.00

Welcome to the Dawg Team blog for August 17, 2008.

My name is Marlene Hawkins and I am a proud member of the team. Have you ever had one of those mornings where nothing goes right? Well for my first blog I feel that way. This will be the third time I have tried this. Computer is not acting very nice this morning and it keeps shutting down and I lose everything I have written. I am definitely getting my lesson in patience this morning.

I am a self taught artist that lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with my husband and yellow lab, Daisy. We have four children and nine grandchildren.

I love doing these small works of art and enjoy using all kinds of medium from watercolor to color pencil and artist ink pens. I also enjoy doing collages and altered art. I had a really neat slide show of my art made, but that program is not working this morning either so, hopefully here are a few examples of my work:









To see more of my art you can view it at my store on Etsy (seller ID lazyhawk) at:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5596335

You can view my auctions on Ebay (user ID also is lazyhawk -keeps it simple) at:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZlazyhawk

Thanks for reading and hopefully you will check out my listings. While you are at Etsy search for dawg team to view other members wonderful artwork. I am going to close and post this now before anything else happens.

ACEO Artist: AnnaMarie Armstrong

I'm a proud member of DAWG (Designing Artist Women's Group) A group of talented female artist from around the world.

Mostly I paint those little jewels called ACEO's.

ACEO's are 2.5" x 3.5" works of art. There are many artist and collectors of these tiny treasures. They are affordable and quite addicting to paint and collect!

I am a self-taught artist born in Niagara Falls and now live in The Heart of Dixie (Alabama). Many of my works are of the great Niagara Falls.

I have a passion for parrots which I love to paint. Alot of my parrot paintings are of birds I know personally. My favorite parrot subject is my parrot Poppy.








I also love to paint florals and flower close-ups. I am the leader of Ebay artist group BUDZ (Budding Artist Floral Group)

I started making these beautiful little albums for ACEOs when I couldn't find any small albums for sale. They are perfect to take your art anywhere! Web search ACEO Annamarie to see all my offerings online. Or click Links below to take you to sites where my art is listed for sale.

MyArtProfile.com - mrsvalpique - Home

ACEO Artist : Annamarie Armstrong

Etsy :: ArtByAnnamarie :: Art by AnnaMarie Armstrong

Original Art Cards by AnnaMarie Armstrong - Real Paper Greeting Cards

eBay Seller: art-by-annamarie: Art, Sporting Goods items on eBay.com

Thanks for checking out our blog for DAWG!

Susan Alison Border Collie art

I am soooo Cool!

My name is Susan Alison and I'm from Bristol, in the South West of the UK.

I'm a member of the DAWG team and a fascinating membership it is, too.

We're learning about our respective languages - I am, of course, especially interested in apple crumbles - actually, I prefer plum crumbles - but my DAWG friends call them crisps. Apple crisp. I would never have guessed what that was.

However, it's all the same with loads of custard - oh, and ice cream and cream as well.

I mainly paint ACEOs at the moment, mainly of dogs, mainly Border Collie dogs.

This could change at any moment, but doesn't look likely...

Puppyflies on the Sunflowers

See www.MontyandRosie.blogspot.com - Monty and Rosie are my Border Collies - they keep a record of all my artwork on their blog.

See www.stores.ebay.com/susanalisonart for current auctions and for my ebay store which has prints, greeting cards and all sorts in it.

This is my etsy shop www.susanalisonart.etsy.com

You can put whatever words you want into cards www.greetingcarduniverse.com/susanalisonart

And just in case you want a t-shirt-wearing bear (or a mug or a tile etc) with Border Collies on go here www.cafepress.com/susanalisonart

In the Light of Day

Thanks for looking. It would be lovely if you left a comment below for us to drool over or even to bark back at.

Tuscany Wine and Poppies by Barbara Haviland

Hello Everyone,
My name is Barbara Haviland and I am a member of the DAWG team. We love to create paintings and ACEO's. I do mostly larger paintings in oils.
I have a blog: http://barbsgarden.blogspot.com and please stop by. I offer paintings daily on my blog. I am retired from real work and so is my husband of 45 years. We have 3 grown children and 5 grandchildren and 1 grand dog.. I am very active in our local art guild. I would love to chat with you and thank you for stopping by our blog.
Barbara

Hot out of the Kiln! :)

Here we go my latest listing for Etsy. It's a china painted tape dispenser. A blue berry design. Painted on both sides. This tape dispenser hold standard tape refills. It's in my Etsy shop for $9.99. It would make a great gift for man or woman.

Visit my shop JYWheeler for more beautiful hand painted china, decorative painting & ACEO's.

Hello, fellow bloggers!

My name is Christine Poe. This is my first time blogging and I am not really even sure what to say. I am a published author of romance books and most recently an artist. Writing is and has always been my main passion, until I discovered drawing ACEO cards on eBay.

What is an ACEO? Art Cards Editions and Originals, and they are all 2.5 x 3.5 inches, the size of a baseball card. Any medium of art is accepted and the talent of the artists is fantastic. ACEOs are as fun to collect as they are to create. And a very inexpensive way to collect art or give it as a gift.

For some more samples of my art visit my eBay: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcatdancing51


I am the writer in my family, my mom, brother, and little sister were the artists, and my older sister was wonderful at decorating and interior design. I write to entertain myself, to entertain my friends, for good grades, to relieve stress and just for fun. One day I decided to become a published author and submitted to many editors with encouraging results. I was tickled when my first publisher bought all three books I submitted. Seeing my writing in a real book was an awesome experience and I am hooked on writing...forever. I have always been a fast reader too, and I devour books of all types when I am in the mood, so research is never a problem.

You can read excerpts from my books at my website: www.christinepoe.com

Finding time to write can be difficult with my large multi-generation household, but that is where I find drawing comforting. I met my second husband 11 years ago and together we have seven children and fourteen grandchildren. It can get hectic at times. :)

I love animals, nature and wildlife, and I enjoy creating them in my art, especially cats. No matter where I have lived, I have always had cats. They seem to find me as though I wear a flashing neon sign that reads "all cats accepted here"! I have included cats in several of my books as well. At present we have far too many cats, but which one do I turn away? We live on a large farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains and our property backs up upon the Shenandoah National Park so wildlife abounds. It isn't unusual to look out the door and see a herd of mom and baby deer, or a black bear scratching his back on the tree, or a raccoon begging for handouts on the deck.

I grew up in Long Beach, California, so living in the near wilderness is a perfect life for me. I moved away from the "big city" years ago because I couldn't stand the crowds of people everywhere you go, the noise, and the pollution. Okay, so I am a tree-hugger, sue me...lol. Lately, it seems we are experiencing a population growth because of the Washington D.C. folks wanting a bit of the "quiet life" too. I can't blame them, but I hate to see the wonderful old farms turn into sub-divisions or worse -- commercial expansion. :(

About me personally: I love the ocean. I miss the smell of the fresh salt air. I miss the sticky feeling of sea spray on my body as I search the sandy beaches for shells. I miss the ocean sunsets, they seem to go on forever. I love the mountains too, both the Rockies and the Blue Ridge. I love the smell of pine trees and the crunch of the dry pine needles underfoot. I love the inspiring views from the mountain tops. I love the sunsets across the Shenandoah Valley below with the river twinkling in the dimming sunlight. I love the rain, the sound of it on the metal roof, the sweet smell of the meadows once it has been and gone. I love the thunder too, it reminds me of the ocean's roar as waves crash upon the shoreline. I love the moon and the way it winks mysteriously down upon us. I love all creatures great and small, to quote a fellow author, even the ornery ones. I love children. They are my worst weakness, or maybe they are my strength. I have enough children and grandchildren of my own, but I seem to collect strays here and there along life's journey. All children need love and encouragement, and I am a sucker for them and their needs. They bring such joy into your life, it far overwhelms the trials they create. I love life and am happy I can experience the things life offers me.

That's about it. I love to talk animals, I love to write animals, and I love to draw animals, especially cats. Come visit me!

Elizabeth Hannah Creations

Hello everyone out there in Blog-land!!!

My name is Elizabeth Hannah. I currently live and grew up in the beautiful Ozarks of northern Arkansas. I have had a love for art all my life and started playing around with all types of medium at a very young age. I developed my love for working with oils as a teenager and even though I dabble in other mediums, I always seem to go back to oils. I pray that my artwork will represent the beauty and wonder of God’s creation and also that it will bring a spirit of peace to it’s viewers.

I create and sell original and commissioned oil paintings and teach oil painting classes.

To view more of my artwork, you can visit my website at www.elizabethhannahcreations.com.