mandalagal

I got away from updating here for a while because I broke my arm and had surgery on it. Thankfully, not my drawing hand! But I've been preoccupied with updating my blog, drawing new things, and physical therapy. Now that my day job has started again, and I'm working two jobs, I'll try to post an update here every month. For more frequent news, check out jeannekasten.com.

I'll have a display of some of my larger works at the Lackman Branch of the Johnson County Library in Lenexa, KS during August. Stop by if you're in the area and check out the magazine room!

I have continued working on very small items, ornament sized, and I've mounted several of them to sell on Etsy. My Etsy shop is here: www.etsy.com/shop/Mandaladream…. You'll also find the jewelry listings, and in the future I'll probably expand the store to include some items from my collection of vintage ephemera.

Thanks for taking a look! You can always get in touch with me and give me suggestions at elisekasten@hotmail.com.

I finally got going with a WordPress blog. Take a look and let me know what you think! I'm trying to highlight some work that hasn't been seen publicly before as well as make sure people know what I have for sale. jeannekasten.com
It looks like those tiny pieces I was talking about earlier might make good tattoo designs. I'm trying to figure out how to make the files right for the stencils that go with them. Are any of you into tattoos? Have you made your own artwork into a tattoo? I'm interested in hearing more about the process. The website Create Your Tattoo turned down my first two submissions. One they said went outside the design (they did not understand what I was doing I think) and the other one the sizes didn't match on the stencil and the tattoo (my mistake, of course). Since I don't have any tattoos, I'll need to get some input from an actual tattoo artist.

For several weeks I've been working on very tiny pieces, the size of an ATC or thereabouts, instead of larger pieces which are more difficult to find time to finish. My idea was that these might be more affordable, and without matting and framing, would give the buyer more flexibility as far as how they are presented.
I've also been told this is a lousy idea, and that people don't have enough imagination to figure out how they want to display things on their own, so they should be presented in a more traditional manner instead of just loose drawings. I've been encouraged repeatedly to eschew trying to promote sales of my original art and instead make t-shirts, mugs, etc. I've also been encouraged to invest money that I don't feel comfortable spending at the moment to finish more of the larger pieces and get them to the galleries for sale. But most of the folks who admire my work and are excited about it don't have the funds to buy any of it, and much of the extra cost is associated with matting and framing.
What's your opinion? You can see a few of the tiny things as well as some larger items and jewelry on my Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/pages/Jeanne-…

I would really appreciate some feedback from other artists. Since the reactions to my own ideas so far have been all negative, please don't feel that I will be offended by your responses.
Jeanne

I've been spending most of my free time working on several new drawings. There is a deadline for an exhibit application coming up soon and I can submit up to three for the application fee. I've also made a new series of greeting cards, using photos of the drawings and the manipulations, which are ready to sell. I have a box full of pendants but haven't found a good place to show them off yet. Although I enjoy showing off the jewelry, some exhibit spaces are only set up to have something that hangs on the wall, so I needed new material. It feels good to be working hard on it every day. I dread my fall/winter schedule which doesn't permit as much time to do the work.

I've moved away from doing large scale work lately and have gotten into soldered glass jewelry using my mandalas and other designs. Most of these are 1 or 2 inches in diameter and I'm practicing  glass cutting so I don't have to buy pre-cut glass. I have so far been putting art work on each side of the pendants, but I'm going to start making some pins which will have a brass metal backing to mount the pin on.