Art of the day

Every week the EBSQ site runs a theme, and every day of that week a piece of art is chosen to be featured that day. There is no voting, no expectation of the piece being sold, it is just a celebration of the EBSQ artists' work as it pertains to these random themes.

This week, the theme was "'Tis the Season", and the piece featured was mine!



This piece is called "Virgin" and it is the Virgen de Guadalupe, the same that hung in my church when my son was having all of his surgeries. Whether or not there was actually an appearance in Mexico (or in Lourdes, for that matter) is a matter of conjecture, but I believe that the message of faith, peace and hope to a suffering world, is a good one.

November Pieces

This month was a nice one, and I got to work another swap show, which I love. This one was the annual Portrait Swap , and my partner was S. Key.

Here are the ones she did of me:



Two of them won awards!

And here are the two I did of her:



I really enjoy working swaps because it means I get to take home the lovely pieces that my partner does, and that some of my work finds a new home. That makes me all tingly and happy inside.

I also entered two Photographs in the Bark Show:



And one of my home city in the Two Tones show:

I won a Patron's Mention award for this one! Yay, and thank you, fellow EBSQers!

Art for sale

So, this month I sold a 16x20 print of my "Defiant Rose" piece, on stretched canvas and all hand-touched with acrylic paints. I've also joined the Nibblefest Art Contest (an ebay contest for artists in EBSQ), and today posted one of my paintings on ebay for the first time. I'm a seasoned ebay seller, but most of my art sales have been on recommendations from friends, not over the internet.

However, if you'd like to see the auctions I have up at this point, click here and it will take you to my current auctions. Here's the piece i just listed, an 11x14 with gold accents:

Branches:


Normally the art I do is for me, or for an EBSQ contest, or (now) for Nibblefest's art contest, but I sell very little because I don't have a client base and have not had a brick-and-mortar gallery show. I am thinking of creating a website to host art for sale, but am unsure whether or not it would receive enough traffic to make it worthwhile. Thoughts?

October (another award!)

I took a bunch of really fun fall photos, but only entered three pieces into the EBSQ October shows.

For the Zombie Chickens show, I entered this guy:


Detailed views give a good closeup:



This piece took home a Patron's Mention Award, which is phenomenal. I'm terribly amused that I apparently do very well in the "weird" shows. What does that say?


For the Squash and Gourd show:


And lastly, the Think Pink show that benefits the Susan G Komen Foundation:

Generally speaking, I think "Breast Cancer Month" is over-exposed, and that other caners lack recognition and funding because of SGK's branding of everything from toasters to trinkets, but the piece fit so well, I had to enter it.

I've learned to only enter one piece a show, if at all possible, and I'm already working on a portrait for next month's show. :)

Featured Artist!

Yes, I know it makes me a bit of a geek for being excited by this, but hey, so what? I thought I'd share the screen capture, and encourage you to head on over to the EBSQ site to check the links out. I don't actually have any art up on my EBAY link, but if you're interested, drop me a line here. :)

August Pieces

With the move and homework, I only got three pieces entered in the August shows, and I won't be entering nay in September. Hey, a girl's got to unpack and get her schoolwork done, you know?

However, I thought I'd share the August pieces with you.

From the Pet Show (where artists trade photos of their pets and then paint portraits for each other):

This is a photograph of Collete, and elderly kitty:


And this is the portrait I did:


Tracey has done some MARVELOUS pieces, and I was very excited to get to work with her. In exchange, she painted my puppy, Scurvy, on a stone for me:

One of Tracey's other stone paintings won a Patrons' Choice award in the Pet show!

Here's a photo of Earl and his dog Zeus:


And here's the piece I made for them:


Earl's mother, Susie, entered the two of them in this as a gift for Earl, and I hope he really likes the piece. She painted a picture of Fabio, my inlaws' cockatoo, for me. I think I'm giving it to them for Christmas. It even won a Patrons' Mention award in the show!



Then I entered on piece in the Wanderlust show:

EBSQ statement

They're allowing us to apply to be the featured artist, so I decided to take a crack at the questions:


• What, besides your art, brings you creative fulfillment?
I write, less than I'd like, but am working on two biographies and a fiction novel (putting that English degree to good work). I edit photography and keep a website of photographs up for each of my kids, updated weekly and monthly. I blog and read and daydream, and I'm enjoying decorating the old Craftsman house we bought.

• What are your motivations for creating?
I get this urge, this pull, sometimes, that is nearly compulsive, and then I have to fight to do anything else until a piece is completed. I'll ignore other responsibilities and stay up until all hours of the night working, until a piece gets done. Normally, inspiration strikes at very odd times, but I've found that entering EBSQ shows sometimes gives a direction to my madness, if you will, and encourages me if and when I'm in a creative funk. I especially like the paired shows, since working with these amazing artists is such an honor, as well as a pleasure.

• How do you know when a piece you're working on is done?
I usually have a pretty good idea of what I expect it to look like before I start, and when what is in front of me matches or exceeds what I was hoping to create, I know I'm finished. Sometimes, it doesn't match what was in my minds' eye at all, and I either have to start over, or accept that art takes you unexpected places. Most of the time, I start over, but if I have a deadline, I may decide to allow flexibility in my vision for the sake of actually finishing.

• What do you find stimulating right now? How does this influence your creative process?
I've just moved to the most beautiful city in the world, and I'm looking forward to photographing it, especially in the rain. My husband supports my wild and artistic side, and his love makes me want to create. My daughter inspires me to have patience, my son to be joyful, and my brother reminds me that you never know who you really are until a crisis point. Faith impassions me, and fantasy tickles my creative processes. All these outside forces tend to congeal into one piece, leaving me exhausted until I feel the urge to do another.

• What are some of your artistic goals for the future?
I'd love to sell some of my art, and to get it viewed by more than just the people I deal with on a daily basis. Getting into a physical show would be a high point for me. I'd love to finish up my mother/faith/disability artwork that is just sitting in my computer, and I'd really like to try my hand at some stained glass when the kids are a little older.

And here's my artist profile picture:


I'm in a tree in front of my daughter's future elementary school.

July's Pieces

So, here are the 10 pieces I entered in the July shows at EBSQ.

The Liberty show:

Liberty from Responsibility


Sewn Flag



The Parades show:

Water and Earth Dragons


Red Dragon


Purple Asian Dragon



The "Ripped Off" show:

Nature's Cathedral

Ripping off:


Sugar Skull With Candy

Ripping off:


Sugar Skull With Roses

Ripping off:


Paper Cranes

Ripping off:


Couch Cats

Ripping off:



There were some fun "rips" of some of my pieces, too:


ripping off



ripping off



ripping off


(By the way, if you are one of my "Ripped Off" partners, I owe you a copy of the artwork. I'll get it out next week as soon as I have everyone's addresses)

First of all, let me express that I was stunned with my award last month for "Dead Man's Bells." I was astounded, honored and very, very surprised.

This month I entered 10 pieces, many of which were far, far dearer to me as an artist, and I wanted to share them with you. I was secretly rooting for Couch Cats to take home an award of some sort, and I find it strange and unsettling to find myself sometimes disappointed at not "winning" something. I mean, I had ten pieces that were viewed by a few thousand people, and that should, and usually does, thrill me.

Still, I think because I consider seven of those pieces some of my all-time best, I wish they'd been recognized. They did, however, face some impossibly stiff competition, and I think the winners deserved their awards, and I'm so happy to be part of a community where I can enter pieces in shows every month, and get them seen.

Art going out!

Last week, I ordered some really nice pieces from Giclee Print Net, and while I have a hard time with their layout process (really hard to come up with specific sizes...I guess next time I'll send a CD and instructions), I did get the layout set up and pieces ordered.

They came yesterday, are GORGEOUS, mounted on 3/16 inch gatorfoam, and make the work look marvelous! And, after signing and sealing them, I wanted to share them with you.

Couch Cats and Heron Moon are for my Ripped Off partners. I'll be mailing the cats off today, and the birds whenever I get confirmation from that artist. I still have a shirt for my 3rd partner.


Cherry Bee 1 and Cherry Bee 3 are the 17th birthday presents (along with a really fun novel) for Pablo's cousin Melissa.


Sugar Skull With Roses will be dragged to So Cal for my Godmother. :)


Also, I've entered pieces in three shows this month, Ripped Off (four pieces), Parades (3 pieces) and Liberty (2 pieces).

Thank you for stopping by!

Carissa Martos, Award Winning Artist

Kind of has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

I entered a few pieces in the June EBSQ art shows, in the Macro Bug Photography and Flower of The Month categories.

The Macro bug pieces were good, I thought:





They weren't up to the beauty and detail of the winning pieces, however, and I was just glad that they got judged and seen.

The Flower of the Month chooses different flowers or plants for each month as their theme. For June it was Foxgloves, big pink bell-shaped flowers from the digitalis family. Gorgeous, but poisonous. Here was my entry:

And look here! A patron's choice award! According to the EBSQ.com FAQs, "Patron's choice winners are based on the net number of votes from non-artist registered users for an individual work of art, and is validated by the piece being within the top 10% of the peer voted selection."

I'm honored, let me tell you! I've never before won an award, especially for my art, and I'm pleased as I can be! I've entered a few pieces in July's shows as well, so come back and visit to here how those go.

Also, I'll be mailing out my first Giclee prints later this month, so you know I'll have photos of the signing of those.