Stephanie Fizer Illustration

Chilly Things

Of the many things I LOVE about this apartment, there are two things that I HATE:  it is freaking cold during the winter months AND although we have a washer/dryer hookup, we can't fit them into the allocated space.  Nice, right?  So every Thursday I get up at 7 am go here:  

I go to the laundromat at 7am because if I don't, I end up having to deal with an assortment of crazies who inevitably want to chat with me.  So I go at 7am and I catch up on my reading while I wait.  Or sometimes on chilly mornings like this one, I'll grab a toasty hot chocolate to sip while I wait.  

Have I mentioned how cold it has been getting here?  Last night the low was 27 degrees, not cool and not even close to as cold as it will be in a couple of months.  Ick.  But on the plus side I get to spend plenty of time in this:  

Very cozy sweater I bought a few months ago for $10.  I found it in my closet a few days ago, tags still on, and even though it makes me look chunky, I will probably wear it almost every day through the winter months because it's warm.  

And although it's been cold our lovely little daisy looking mums are blooming away outside our front door: 

It's really a big scraggily bush of mum because the landlord doesn't do yard work and I"m a plant killer so I try to avoid touching things.  But it's still really lovely when it blooms :)  So I guess the cool weather hasn't been all that bad :)  

Today's Doing List:  

-listen to the new Cure record and the new Snow Patrol record several times over because they are both truly enjoyable

-work on some smallish paintings including a certain tiny mermaid ;) 

-package orders

-find something new and exciting for dinner tonight

-steal a few months to curl up with a blanket and a book

-be thankful that next week the temps will be up in the 70s

Snowy Things and A Few Lists

First a couple of snowy things since frost has already been on the ground for several days here:  

Snow Bunny Flat Notecard Set includes 8 Snow Bunny flat notecards measuring 3.5 x 5, 8 Round stickers and 8 Kraft brown envelopes.  Sets will be available in my Etsy shop later this evening.  

Snow Bunny Gift Stickers for holiday gift giving.  These are available in sheets of 30 stickers and will also be in my Etsy shop later this evening.  I know it's a bit early to be thinking so much about Christmas but honestly I'm almost finished with all of my shopping and am preparing to wrap gifts soon.  I assume that others are in the same condition and might also need some tags :)  

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As the weather gets colder, I've been thinking about changing the format on the good ole blog.  I don't fancy myself to be a great writer and honestly sometimes trying to find things to blog about is quite the task for me.  I can always think of little random snippets, but never a coherent post so I've decided to let the randomness run this blog from now on.  

You'll still find new work posted here and shop updates, but the new look will include more pictures and less words, probably in the form of shorts lists in each post.  Who doesn't love a list, right? ;) 

So here's a good start:  

This is my current reading stack:  

-Mary Engelbreit:  The Art and the Artist:  It just arrived in today's mail and is filled with lovely illustrations and bits of autobiography.  She's a favorite of mine.  

-Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire:  A twist on the tale of Snow White, it's very dark but whimsical.  

-Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone:  a dear friend discovered that I've never cracked these books so this first in the series arrived at my house shortly after :) 

-Dreamscapes by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law:  A watercolor tutorial by an artist whose work is so lovely it makes me want to burn my brushes :)  

Real Simple November Issue.  

And yes, I always read several books at the same time.  

The Infamous Potato Soup

So yeah, remember that tiny little cold from last week?  Well it turned into a never-ending headache and wicked fever by Saturday, so guess what I spent my weekend doing?  That's right, whimpering ;)  Ha!  In general it was pretty crappy but I did have time to dream up some new lovelies for the holiday season including some gift tags featuring the Snow Bunny illustration from my last post!  Those will be prepared soon and ready for posting as well.  

In the meantime, still feeling a little under the weather today, I decided to whip up yet another batch of that delicious potato soup:  

And another enormous chunk of baguette to go along with it: 

The basic idea for the potato soup can be found here.  Being a vegetarian, of course, I made a few tiny adjustments to it:  I added another cup of potatoes and about three carrots, I used veggie stock and buillion instead of chicken, and you can also substitute soy milk for the half and half and it will work just fine.  I also added a bunch of parsley to the soup as well for extra yumminess.  

As for the bread, I just snagged a loaf of French bread from the store, sprayed some olive oil and added pepper, parsley and garlic.  Then after a quick toast in the oven, I had the perfect crispy croutons for my hearty and warm soup that I've been munching on all afternoon.  

I will be painting this afternoon for sure and hope to have some new tiny original artworks to share with you guys soon.  Of course I will have a few new wintery things to share for tomorrow.  The holiday cards have sold impressively fast so I am pondering perhaps ordering another batch before the holidays or perhaps trying a new design all together!  We shall see ;)

Snow Bunny

Geez, sometimes the week just flies by and you don't know where it went.  I honestly thought it was Tuesday when I started my day off. . .but it's Wednesday which means I'm a tidbit behind on my goals for this week :(  Oh well!  

In Googling myself today (yes, I Google myself sometimes) I discovered that my Owls of the Seasons calendar was included on the Decor8 Blog last week, which is pretty nifty :) I always admire all the lovely work displayed on that blog and am honored to be a tiny part of it :) 

And I released a new print in the shop yesterday:  

Snow Bunny is available as a print in my Etsy shop right now :)  Enjoy!

Freebie: Boo To You Printable Tags

Ugh I woke up this morning to frost on the ground but now at 1pm it's close to 70 degrees outside--it's no wonder that I'm nursing a tiny bit of a cold.  Lucky for me, one of Seth's work friends sent these:  

Mmmmmmm, I LOVE baked pumpkin seeds and these were a lovely surprise since we haven't managed to carve our own little pumpkins yet.  Honestly, we are wholy unprepared for Halloween this year and may just forget doing costumes altogether.  It's just been such a busy time that it's been hard to make a concrete plan for costumes and all that.  I think it's especially difficult for me to focus on Halloween because I am currently working on projects for Christmas and beyond, so my head is definitely already in another place.  

I did have Halloween on my mind today though when I made these cute and FREE printable little tags for you guys/girls:  

Featuring my original Boo to You illustration, I thought these would be cute additions as tags on Treat bags but really you can use them however you would like.  Of course, these are for personal use only, no commercial use at all.  

To use them:  click on the image, then when the larger version comes up just right click on it and select the Save Image As option and save it to your computer.  Then you can print them out on your own :)  Each tag measures 2 x 2 inches square and the image above is formatted to regular 8.5 x 11 paper for easy printing.  

If you happen to have problems getting the image, email me (sfizer at gmail dot com) and I'll send over a PDF for you to use.  Additionally, if you use these tags on a cute project I would love to see it so email me a pic and I will post it here on the blog :)  

Enjoy!

Holiday Cards Have Arrived!

Yay my Winter Owls holiday cards finally arrived yesterday so I spent yesterday evening and most of today sitting on my couch packaging them up with envelopes and stickers:  

I'm so thrilled with how lovely the printing is and how snazzy these look with my favorite Kraft envelopes and coordinating stickers, that's right SNAZZY!  They measure 3.5 x 5 inches so they are small enough to tuck inside gifts but large enough to be mailed as well, and they are blank on the inside for your own sweet sentiments.  I can't believe it but most of the sets have already been spoken for but I do have a few that will be posted in the shop later tonight-- packages of 12 cards, envelopes and stickers for $14 plus shipping.   And if there seems to be more demand I will also accept preorders until I get my next batch ordered.  

In addition to the cute holiday cards, I've also been working on two sweet stickers packs that will also be in the shop later tonight:  

Kokeshi Doll Stickers AND. . . .

Alice in Wonderland Stickers :)  The sticker sets are also in sort of limited quantity right now to the tune of only 10 available of each.  All of these items qualify for the Buy 2 or more items Get 1 item free sale that is still going on in the shop.

Enjoy your weekend :)

Just a Cozy Sort of Day

First I wanted to give you chickadees a smallish heads up on a tiny shop update that just happened :)  I got a tiny little box of items back today from a consignment shop as we prepare to swap out for some fall/winter items AND within that box are three little things that were previously out of stock: 

Small Greetings Alice in Wonderland Set-- There are only two of these left and after they are gone, that's it :)  They are also on clearance, marked down from $12 to $8 so grab fast if you want them :)

Hedgie Bandit Print-- It's been awhile since this little guy went out of stock and this is the very last one left.  He is also marked down from $10 to $8.  

Wish Series Print Trio--These were from a special little batch of prints I designed to look like Polaroid prints and they are also the very last ones and are clearanced at $20 for the whole set.  

It was actually sort of fun to get these little items in the mail this morning, especially the cute Polaroid prints because I had forgotten their existence.  More exciting than that, my holiday card order is being delivered tomorrow so I'll be spending the weekend working on packaging those into little bundles for the shop including envelopes and sweet owl stickers.  AND  I will also be working a new set of Alice in Wonderland stickers as I know those have been missed by many.  

Today is the first day when it's been a bit too chilly to throw the windows open and it's also been sort of gloomy and rainy as well.  But it's just the sort of day I've been waiting on-a Soup Day!  I've got a modified--read vegetarian so no chicken stock or milk--version of potato soup that I've really been dying to try and a day such as this is perfect for a hearty soup!  So all of the ingredients including some yummy baguette for dipping are awaiting me in the kitchen.  If all goes well, I'll have a few pics of my creation to share tomorrow :)  

 

 

Alice's Teacup

So this afternoon I was poking around my studio looking for something to paint this on:  

When I discovered a tiny little stack of wood panels I ordered months ago but never got around to working with so I transfered my sketch to one of the little 4 x 4 inch boards to test it out:  

Oh ok I added about 4 layers of white gesso first and then I transferred the sketch which looked pretty darn cute so I laid in a background of my favorite light bluish tealish color:  

Of course what else would I pair with such a background but some shades of red and white?  

And there she is Alice's Teacup all finished up in just a couple of hours :)  There's a simplicity that I just love about her.  And you can buy her here in the shop right now.  This is a one of a kind piece, I won't be offering prints of this painting.  Enjoy!

Notes on Being a Fulltime Artist

It's been a few months since I dropped my dayjob to become a fulltime artist and it's also been quite awhile since I posted anything on the Business of Art, so what better time than now right?  This is just a brief update of what I've learned thus far in my journey as an artist:  

-There will always be something to buy:  paints, pens, illustration board, paper, printer paper, printer inks, pencils, shipping envelopes, cello bags to keep prints safe, ribbon, laminate, notecards, envelopes, sticker paper, magnets and about a billion other things.  It's fun though because I love to shop :) 

-Even when there is more than enough money, you will stress about money.  Mostly because of the previous, there will always be something to buy, or something to pay for.  And because you're no longer getting a paycheck every week or two weeks for the same amount, it's a little stressful.  But as sweet Seth has to explain time and time again worrying does nothing and everything always turns out just fine :)  And I've found as well that as long as you do many things with work and don't just depend on a place like Etsy or Ebay for all of your cash, you'll be just fine.  

-Organization is key.  I actually had to take it down a few notches on being some ridiculously organized because I wans't taking time to enjoy the fantastic experience of working for myself.  But that said, I still keep a daily planner to keep track of bills, deadlines for projects and a daily list of things to accomplish before bedtime.  I highlight important dates, especially deadlines, so every morning I grab my planner and glance ahead for a few weeks to see what I need to be working on, etc.  

-While organization is key for the business aspects of being an artist, it's not so true for the creative aspects.  I started out trying to designate times to paint each day but I found myself staring at blank pages or forcing out wholely uninspired work that I would later throw away.  Then later in the day I would find myself inspired and excited but with a pile of other things to work on leaving me too guilty to be creative.  So no more scheduling, just a list of things to do each day.  It's made my life a lot less stressful to paint when I feel like it, package orders whenever I get time, deal with business things whenever I get time, etc.  As long as everything is wrapped up by the end of the day, I feel great about it.  This also allows me freedom during the course of the day to just take a break to enjoy life :)  

-Keep yourself inspired.  Since the life of the artist is a bit solitary, it's important to find ways to stay inspired.  I tend to read a lot which always sparks ideas in me but I also wander out to the nearby park a few days a week with my digital camera to shoot some reference/inspiration pics.  And I spend time almost every day browsing Flickr, Google Images, and the Deviantart stock photos section looking for inspiration pictures.  I normally don't paint directly from these photos but just use them as a spark or starting point and then if I find I need a reference picture, I'll just snap a quick one of myself because I know exactly what pose I'm looking for.  I've found that magazines can also be great sources of inspiration so I keep a file of images I've torn from magazine pages that I sort through as well.  And finally, I drag an idea journal around with me wherever I go and jot down all the new ideas I have whether for illustrations or for new items for the shop.  Then whenever I get stumped, I just browse until something strikes me.  

-It is so easy to let yourself go physically if you are working out of your own home.  I've found a bit of a lazy tendency in myself, especially when I get involved in working, so I make it a point to remind myself to exercise every day, put on some nice clothes instead of just pajamas all day, fix my hair and put on mascara and leave the house for a few minutes each day to avoid completely losing my mind.  

That said, my life is simple and lovely now.  Quite honestly I don't think I would trade my current life even for a million or so dollars and that's a great place to be :)

Jumping in Leaves Print

So Yuki the Fat Cat spent the day doing this:  

While I spent the day painting some new ACEOs and finishing up this print:  

Jumping in Leaves is a new print inspired by the simple times I've been thinking of.  If you didn't spend hours raking and jumping as child, run out to the yard right now and try it :)  Prints are currently available here.  Enjoy!