Some Artprize Musings

So I didn't do it for the money, let's start right there. Since artprize began last week, I've seen some really awesome pieces of art in the limited areas I've traveled downtown Grand Rapids. There's been a lot of controversy surrounding some of the artists, some of the rules and voting procedures, how the contest is set up, etc. I'd like to draw your attention to this article over at the Grand Rapids Press that pretty much sums up how I feel about artprize so far:
http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/09/artist_asks_to_be_withdrawn_fr.html
Lots of artists have been given free press from the news stations around here, the papers, all other various media outlets, like Rob Bliss with his 100,000 paper airplanes and the huge table and chairs setup atop the bridge. (I'm too lazy to look up the actual name of that one, sorry. Just look at the top 25 artists on artprize.org and he'll be one of them, I promise.) So basically what this boils down to is: If you are an artist participating in artprize and you aren't at the BOB or the UICA or the Old Federal Building as your hosted venue, or you don't have huge sculptures outside for all the world to see, you aren't going to get any prize money, publicity, or votes. I'm not trying to sound bitter, but this is absolute fact. We'll find out for sure Thursday based on who the top ten artists are.
Besides all of that, this is a wonderful opportunity for people to get their names out there. I am so thankful to Independent Bank, especially Nickie Leppek, for hosting me at the Monroe Center branch; I had 100 business cards sitting out by my piece, unaware that they would all be gone in two days! I was utterly unprepared for the huge response artprize has had on the people of Grand Rapids. Makes me proud to live here. :)
There's one more day to get registered and vote, but even if you don't, please take some time to scope out the little known venues, because lots of them are packed with some really great artists. Who cares about the prize money and which artist was the most popular? It's about the artwork and the joy it brings people to see it.
All of the art will be up until October 10.

Artprize is TODAY

Please stop by 86 Monroe Center at 6 PM tonight to vote for my Tarot Cards!!
All the info you need for locations, voting booths, and venues is here
Directions to the bank are here (Just change the starting address to wherever you are coming from)
I really hope to see lots of people there tonight! Wish me luck!!

Important artprize Update!

Sorry about the lack of posts to the one or two people who actually check my blog! Anyways, I wanted to take a minute to inform you about artprize and how I fit into it.
Artprize is basically this huge art contest where the public votes on who should win. It's based solely in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the artists display their works at different businesses, local parks, or buildings that paid to become official artprize venues. Thousands of artists are taking part, and I am one of them.
My venue is the Independent Bank at Monroe Center. The address there is 86 Monroe Center, Suite 101, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503. I was lucky to find a venue at all, and the only reason I secured the bank is because I work there. (At a different branch) My completed Tarot card deck will be on display as my artprize submission. (The cards are all printed into decks and I will take some pictures soon.)
Artprize begins September 23 and runs until October 10. The first week, the public has to register to vote at one of many registration booths, and after that they can vote for as many artists as they like. (Only once per artist, however.) You can either vote online at artprize.org or via text messaging. Voting works like this:
"To vote online, an attendee can search your name or the name of your work and vote right on your profile.

To vote by text message, each artist will have a 5 digit code that attendees can type into the body of a text message to either vote up or vote down your work (read more about voting up and down below).

Attendees will send all votes to 878787

Your voting codes to include in the message:

vote32111 (vote up)
vote32110 (vote down)"

I really hope you can all make it out to the bank to see my artwork. I would really appreciate your votes!
Here are some helpful links:
map to Independent Bank Monroe Center
locations of voter registration booths
voting information

I'm done!

Yes! I finished my Tarot card set this week! The work isn't over, however; I have to get them printed (and based on my first quote, it will be quite costly) into decks. I also have to find someone on the artprize venue list who is willing to host me. :( I'm getting depressed thinking that all of this work will be for naught ...
Anyways, I won't bore you with the sad details of my life. I'll save that for a later date, hehe. Firstly, here's a "Christmas face" shot of Ona as she got her birthday present, a light up, music playing shopping cart for her to walk around with.
And here's the last of the major arcana cards. Next week I'll post the Aces, then the Twos, etc. If you really want to see them all in their colorful glory, however, click here.

So where did I leave off ...?

Oh yes, Tarot cards, of course! I'll get to the images in a second. Firstly, some news. I've only got FOUR MORE CARDS TO GO! That means I'm all the way to the Kings, and rolling right along ahead of schedule. Now, to pay the 50 bucks to enter artprize and find myself a venue ...
After the cards are done, I've got come commissions on deck to get started. There's one more pencil illustration to be finished for Heroes of the Jade Oath, and then I'm working with Chris Field once again for Black Tokyo II. No rest for the wicked, eh? It's fine by me. Because of all of this commission stuff, I haven't fallen into my yearly art funk. That's cause for celebration.
On a different note, my equally creative (only in the film field) husband Rory is hard at work on his latest movie, T.A.R.D.S. I've read through the script and it is hilarious. I know as soon as he's all finished, he'll be posting it in segments on Youtube. (Currently the script is 45 pages long, which equals about a 45 minute movie.) You can check out his progress at the T.A.R.D.S website here. (The site is also a work in progress so check back often for updates!)
Now, back to the Tarot-carding!

Grumpy

The title says it all. I'm having a Monday for sure. I'll post some more tarot cards to make up for my lack of posts last week. I'm getting a little burnt out, but I only have 7 more cards to go! Full speed ahead, I say. Lots of personal stuff has been making me sad, thus the crankiness. Needless to say, the last three weeks have been dragging on and on.
But, to help cheer me up, I'm gonna post a more current picture of my beautiful daughter Fiona. She'll be a year old July 19! I can't believe it!

Heroes of the Jade Oath

I'd like to take a little break from the Tarot cards to showcase a set of commissions I've recently worked on for Rite Publishing's Heroes of the Jade Oath. It's a Chinese fantasy setting that I was asked to illustrate in pencil, which is a slight deviation from my normal, stark black and white inking. I haven't done pencil shading since college, so it was an interesting step to take as far as remembering my skills. "White Hair of the Deadly Lotus." "Shenxue Adventurers"
"Monks of the Jade Oath""Sutra"
I have one more illustration from this batch, so look forward to seeing that in the next few weeks!