Goodwill And Discount Shopping

Although it is in my genes, this economy is helping with the ol discount shopping. Lately my cousin and I are hitting all of the discount shops. Our favorite place to go is Goodwill. Not only can you find really great stuff, your purchases help a great cause.

We are lucky, we have quite a few Goodwill stores in close proximity to where we live, we also have a few "Goodwill Boutiques" to go to as well. WOW. So this weekend we were out and about and I was looking for a chair for the CHAIRish the Arts fundraiser, I didn't find a chair for that but I totally scored some chairs for our house. $40 a piece, including the ottomans. Unheard of! They do have to be reupholstered, but still what a score. I am learning though, that you need to buy it when you see it, cuz the good stuff doesn't last. I recently lost out on a great $50 table and chair set cuz I wanted to "sleep on it" - they were gone the next day.

Another great place to shop is Ocean State Job Lot, but you have to be careful because some of their stuff is overpriced. BUT this weekend they had slipcovers on sale for $25 versus the $150 you'd have to pay at Target/Walmart etc. So yes, I did go out and splurge on a few slip covers for the house, mainly for the new (free - thanks peter and Terry!) couch we got for our basement last week. Here are a few pictures, including a shot of some $1.00 baskets I bought to decorate our wall in the basement. And by the way, the slipcover has been jump tested by my 3 year old, that's why it looks so lumpy.

Focus

Been very busy and have been rethinking my fifi's business plan cuz it's not working! Having attended Surtex last year I find I've been very scattered and unsure of my direction (Surtex can be overwhelming from an artists perspective). I've been drawing, painting, doing graphic design etc, but have not felt that I'm making any progress.

Through The Art Of Licensing group (on Yahoo) I connected with Suzanne Cruise an artists agent and owner of Suzanne Cruise Creative Services (cruisecreative.com), she was so generous with her time, and gave me fabulous advice. FOCUS! Find the one thing you love to do and work to be the best at it. Simple huh?!

So I'm going to focus on my illustrations - the pumpkins, veggies, bees and crazy characters will be back in action. I also decided that I was going to focus my energies locally first, gain some traction here, before attacking something like Surtex again. I'll be attending the Glastonbury Applefest this year and will also participate in CHAIRish The Arts tour and auction. It's all good.

I'm also thinking of drawing weeky coloring pages, that will keep me moving. Here's one of my first. Stay tuned for more!

Flowers

This time of year, all I can think about is flowers. Here's the latest in the series of stylized flowers!!

Spring has Sprung!

Got to love Photoshop and family members!

Happy Spring!

Been working on a series of inspirational greeting cards, have done a few more logos and newsletters etc. Am also exploring social media opportunities for artists - boy, there are a ton of ways to get the word out about what you do! Focusing is becoming harder every day! Here's a few samples of the inspirational greeting cards hope you like them (the words and images are all (c) fifishead), let me know what you think!! Email me at aileencasey@fifishead.com

Working on Collection of images

I'm working on a collection of images based on some photo's I've taken at cemeteries. The images are meant to be inspirational, not depressing. If you look at headstones outside of their "context", you can really see the craftsmanship and beauty in the work. I'm hoping these images convey that.

Another Logo Completed

I'm having fun lately working on logos for small businesses. Al Frazza from Page 17 Design connected me with the folks at North Jersey Handyman and I was able to design the logo for their website, I've also been able to do a couple of others lately as well -- citadel packaging llc and media design works, llc .

These are fun to work on for many reasons, mostly becuase they put a face on a business!