Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Internet Defamation can carry a Big Price Tag

Interesting article I read today:

"A Florida woman who won a lawsuit against a Louisiana woman, who posted messages on the internet accusing her of being a "crook" and a "fraud" said of the State of Florida’s Broward Circuit Court jury award of $11.3 million "People are using the internet to destroy people they don’t like, and you can’t do that."

Read the rest here:
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/2452

I thought some of my blog visitors might be interested in reading it.

Jai

Saturday, October 14, 2006

A most unique treasure....

Today I received a wonderful treasure - all the way from ISRAEL! A lovely ring, called the Lotus Ring, made by David at Ka-Gold-Jewelry.com. My ring is absolutely beautiful! It has a moonstone in the center and it fits perfectly! I feel so honored to own this stunning piece of jewelry, and it was made just for me! I highly recommend David and his work - now that I've seen it "in person", it makes his pieces much more special and I think you'll agree if you purchase one of his unique creations.

Thanks David - it is such a wonderful ring and I will treasure it forever!

Jai

P.S. David is the one hosting the jewelry design contest - check it out on his site - my entry "Birth Journey" is in the contest, too!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Playing Around With Digital

This morning I've been playing around with my Wacom Tablet. I painted the two paintings shown here using my airbrush in PSP.

The little bluebird was going to originally be painted into my Zodiac series of paintings. However, I decided to paint the bird digitally and use it as part of the logo which will appear on the bottom of the prints where the name of the print goes (as I have a border there across the bottom of all my prints). The background of the bird is the same background of the border I place my logo and name of the painting on. I think he turned out pretty cute!

This sunflower painting is a quick, roughly painted piece, actually based on the same sunflower which will be in the Leo Zodiac painting. I know....you've probably looked at the sketch I shared the other day and said "HEY! That's not the same flower!" Well, you're right, as yesterday I completely redesigned the first painting in this series! Something was bugging me about the original design. Composition wasn't right, and I didn't care for the woman - she wasn't quite right for what I perceive as a Leo woman. So I sketched an entire new design, and then spent the rest of the day fretting over colors...which I finally decided on last night. Today, I'll actually start painting it. It's a 16x20, btw, and each painting in the series will be a 16x20.

For some reason I got it in my brain this morning to play with the sunflower part of the sketch using my computer paint tools. (I used to paint digital works many years ago and got away from it) So I've been doing that all morning, and now I'm primed and ready to begin the actual watercolor on canvas painting for Goddess Leo in the Zodiac series. :)

Anyway, just thought you guys might like to see my "playtime activities"....LOL. Yes, I paint all the time and am always thinking about painting, art, and design. Can we spell a-d-d-i-c-t-e-d? Haha!

Jai

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Coffee Thoughts ~ Wednesday

I hear my northern friends are shakin' off their shovels and sending some cold dust down my way.....UGH. Time to dust off the sweaters I guess!

I've been working on revising the LEO design a bit - I've changed up the sunflower on her dress and adjusted the dress a bit. I guess today I'll start the actual painting.

Yesterday I added a guestbook to my website - it appears at the bottom of each page in my shop. Maybe I'll get to hear some comments from people who stroll in there. I've also added it to the bottom of my blog pages here. So drop me a line! Let me know where you are from and what you think of the artwork I've been doing!

Yesterday I also added 29 of my prints to Ebay. One of each of my favorite pieces of art is now available at a discount price on Ebay....yes, just one of each. I'm hoping to get some sales here and get my art into some "new hands"... and don't see why it wouldn't happen - At only $10 per print (normally $32) and they are 8x10 and matted in 11x14 coordinating mats - ready to frame - I think that's a bargain!

I've also finished updating the "For Business Owners" page on the site, and prepared a flier I'll be mailing to business owners to advertise my mini prints.

I have a ton of originals here now I need to get frames for. Even though some of my canvases have sides which are painted, I still like to frame them up....and the canvas board paintings need frames too. Sigh. I wish I had a "frame maker" in the family....it gets expensive when you have to frame as many as I do!

Well I guess I'm off here to get started on my day. I didn't get as far on the Leo art yesterday as I wanted and I want to make more progress today.

Jai

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Taming the Ego is now complete! Click the photos to see larger versions. The original is available for purchase from my website. I also have matted and signed 8x10 prints available for purchase.

Don't forget our new service offering for business owners - our mini prints make wonderful gifts for your customers and we have numerous art selections available on the website!

Jai
http://www.jaiart.com

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Leo Sketch in Progress


While I've been having my coffee this morning, I've been working on this sketch for my Zodiac series. I always do a Leo design first (since I'm a Leo!) when I work on anything Zodiac.

Just wondered what you all thought of this design? I was going to make her a fairy or an angel, but, I think I'll leave her this way....like a goddess. :) This is a small piece - only 9x12 - and this design is sketched directly on the canvas board. I'm wondering if I should go larger with these in this series? Decisions, decisions......

Jai

P.S. 3:11 pm - I've decided to go larger with this one and the others in the series to a size 16x20. Since I posted the sketch this morning, I've finished it, as well as designed a totally different painting (also will be a 16x20) and I've now finished the horse's wings in "Taming the Ego"! Hooray! Onto the details of this magnificent creature!

P.S.S. 9:09 pm - Taming the Ego is now complete. It will be photographed tomorrow and 8x10 matted prints will be available at that time.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

"Taming the Ego", in process (yes, still!)

Taming the Ego, still in process....I told you all, it's a big painting! Very detailed, still a lot of work to do. View previous drawing and in process photo via the links to your left for previous posts.

A side note: I've redesigned my website, and added a new product option for business owners (see "For Business Owners" on the left menu on the site). Please take a look at http://www.jaiart.com and let me know what you think! I've also placed several of my previous original miniatures up for purchase there.

I'd also like to add the following pieces are now at the gallery for sale - please contact Rachel Dickson if you would like to purchase these original paintings:

A Little Bit of Chocolate Goes a Long Way - framed
Chocolate Mint Delight - Framed
Bluebell Lane - unframed (sides painted, gallery canvas)
Autumn Jewels - Framed
The World Out There - unframed (sides painted, gallery canvas)
Ten Pointer - Framed
Bluebird Portrait - framed
Patience - framed
The Edge of Emotion - unframed (sides painted)
Lavender Field - unframed (sides painted)

Prints are available from me for all works on the site - they are 8x10 and all are matted in coordinating color 11x14 mats. These make wonderful, unique Christmas gifts for the upcoming holidays - AND all are signed by yours truly! Enjoy!

As always, thank you for looking at my work!

Jai

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Taking a sabbatical for a while

Good morning everyone. I'm going to stop making posts in this blog temporarily due to a family member and his associates who are hitting my blog sites constantly, watching everything I say and do. I've asked them to stop and they continue. When they do this, each time they load my pages which have images hosted by my main site, they are using my bandwidth and it's costing me more money. Not to mention, I am really good these days at sensing energy - and when they are hovering around every day, I can feel it long before I ever even look at my stats! So in order to deter them from coming around, I'm going to have to not give them anything of interest to read about.

So, for now I've deleted some images off of here, and I'm taking a sabbatical from posting - the only thing I will post here will the images of my new paintings (which will be hosted by blogger). See, they aren't interested in me and my art...so just looking at paintings will bore them relatively quickly. They are only interested in anything I might say because they have become obsessed with my brother's ex - whom I'm close to. So they are using me to try to find out things I might say about her, or might be doing with her, etc. Their doing so has cost me money, however, and I'm not in a position where I can handle that right now. (despite the fact our new Prosperity Pendants are working, I'm still playing catch up on other bills)

My thinking is if I take away the food (which is my "words"), the flies will go somewhere else. :) I guess for a while you can say I'll be "speaking through my work". I've always had a lot of opinions on things in our world and I love to share those with others and get responses. But for now, I'll just say what I have to say via my paintings.

I invite you all to sign up for my preferred customer newsletter at my main website where I will be posting updates each month about new work and news about events and such. I also have another mailing list you can sign up for where I post more frequently about new work as well as auctions when I run them.

Thanks for your patience, and I hope the situation will be resolved soon. The archives are all staying in place at this blog for your reference - they are accessible through the list on your left.

Jai

Monday, October 02, 2006

Taming the Ego...In process painting

Thought you all might like to see an "in process" painting on this one. I don't normally show these photos because I am so dissatisfied at this point in the work. But overall, I DO think this piece is coming along nicely so far. I'm taking my time and not rushing.

It's been a rough past couple of days. One of my dear friends has had to go through a very trying circumstance in the last 24 hours, AND......my dog got sprayed by a skunk and got in the house before we knew it. YUCK! So, I've had two things I'm dealing with.

As for my friend - without going into details, please pray for her. She desperately needs the support of others right now, as do her children. So please, just say a prayer that she will have the strength to deal with what life has delivered her.

Jai