Pimped.

My lovely friend Catherine has recently been pimping my art out on Facebook.

Problem is I keep having to explain that I'm not making new stuff and not really selling old stuff. Until I remembered this morning that I do still have two shops that run themselves.

A shoe shop (yay shoes) that sells this kind of stuff:



And an art print shop that sells this kind of stuff:



Funnily enough I only remembered when I took a look at my battered old pair of Keds and decided I needed to buy a new pair of shoes from myself.

xk

Dear Ink and Butter Fingers

Please don't ruin this for me, guys.

I know you love to drip in the wrong spot or think it's hilarious to spontaneously drop the brush (usually when it's laden with bright blue) on the artwork, but it would be nice if just once you guys could coordinate your efforts to produce something nice.






xk

Two good things

Firstly I finally got my grubby mitts on my latest painting purchase - Laninya by Bec Winnel.

Bec and I have been mates for years so I managed to call dibbs on this piece while it was still a work in progress (I knew if she made it to the gallery unsold, I'd miss out!).

The final piece looks absolutely stunning. She's sitting above our computer desk, and Bill and I frequently find ourselves just leaning back in our chairs to stare at her. Thanks Bec!


Laninya by Bec Winnel

Laninya by Bec Winnel

Secondly, after spending a lovely afternoon with Bec (and Olive) and the girls from Just Another Agency, Toby and Melika I came away completely inspired and raring to draw.





Better yet, it doesn't seem like it's just a once off. I've dragged out the paints and inks and pencils and have a few other pieces on the go.

I'm thinking (for the near future at least), I'll just concentrate on drawing and painting and not sell anything. I think it was the pressure of having art as a second career that killed it for me. And I'm already overcommitted with career number 1.

Anyway, we'll see how this goes. Cross your fingers for me folks.

xk

Too close for comfort

To be honest I'm in two minds about making this post.

It's kind of out of character for me (and perhaps a little mean-spirited). But it's been one of those days and I've had too much wine and to hell with politeness and all that.

There's an artist on Etsy who's certainly copied my style and, in a few instances, has pretty much element-for-element copied my art.

Technically I don't believe she's breaching copyright. My understanding of copyright law is that she'd have to be actually reproducing my images. And she's not. So let's get that clear.

But she's certainly 'copying' the art (below mine are on the left, hers are on the right).

And quite frankly it's pissing me off tonight.




I called her on these two some months ago and she said she must have seen them and 'accidentally' copied them. (Sure, if you have a photographic memory.) She took them down quick smart, so I'm guessing she knew exactly what she was doing.

Anyway, I popped over to her shop tonight and noticed this one which takes the pose from 'Lydia'.



And it just annoyed me.

It's not copyright breach

But these are far too close for my liking. Particularly when she also has the nerve to copy my copyright statement:

Mine:

(c) kate lightfoot 2009
This artwork is protected by copyright which does not transfer with sale. In plain English - while you're buying a piece of artwork, you're not buying the right to copy, print or reproduce it in any way. xxx kate

Hers:

(c) mikacoach 2011
This artwork is protected by copyright which does not transfer with sale. In plain English - while you're buying a piece of artwork, you're not buying the right to copy, print or reproduce it in any way. mikacoach

Anyway, i just felt like being a crochety old woman. They're MY girls - even though I'm not drawing them these days - so don't mess with them.

*pokes tongue out*

Rant over.

xxxk

A long time between drinks

Flicking through my last few blog posts, I just noticed that I never posted the final work-in-progress pic of my first big-eyed girl oil painting.

And then I realised I'm close to hitting an anniversary.

In a couple of months it will be a full year since I've picked up a pencil or paintbrush and done any kind of art whatsoever.

A full year, people.

To be honest that makes me a little sad.

While I have no desire to create art, I miss the feeling of having made something out of a blank sheet of paper and some coloured pencil lead or paint pigment. And I was quite pleased with my oil painting - she was coming along nicely until I completely ran out of steam.

Maybe one day I'll have the urge to unpack the paints, finish her off and give her a name.

Until then, she'll just have to wait in my studio window like she has for almost a year.



xk

Meet Safety Pig

He now has his own Facebook page and is gathering support. Just a shame he couldn't officially win today's election.

Who's Safety Pig? The best description I've heard is "he's the pig you need to remember when you're about to do something stupid."

Crumple zones

I am getting back into art little by little, but in the meantime I'm blogging about innovations, ideas and marketing over at the CUBED Communications blog.

Thought I'd share my most recent piece, because it's the sort of thinking that can help arty folk too - whether it's coming up with a new angle for a piece of work, or finding new ways to get your art out there.




I have a confession to make.

I'm obsessed with crumple zones - you know, the weak points at the front and back of your car.

See, before crumple zones were first introduced in the 50s, car safety was all about designing cars to be stronger.

Tougher.

Able to take a crash like John Wayne could take a punch.



Problem was - doing this may have helped the car to better withstand a crash, but it meant the occupants took the full force of the impact.

So we should all thank our lucky stars that Mercedes engineer Béla Barényi started thinking passengers would be safer in a car that could absorb the kinetic energy of a crash. Instead of following the thinking of the time and developing a tougher, stronger, more John Wayne-like car, Barényi designed one to be weaker.

Brilliant!

The weak points at the front and back of the vehicle would crumple in a crash, absorbing energy to protect the passengers.

Now you may argue that this thinking wasn't a big deal - after all, it's based on high-school physics. But high-school physics had been around much longer than the automobile and nobody else seemed to make the link.

Barényi's thinking was revolutionary.

And here's what keeps me up at night:

What else are we looking at from the wrong angle?

What else are we trying to make stronger, when we'd be better off making it weaker?

What conventional thinking should we be putting to rest? Or at last challenging?

60 years ago, conventional thinking said that to make a car safer, you had to make it stronger.

20 years ago, conventional thinking said that nobody in their right mind would trust someone they'd never met on the other side of the world to honour a sale made over the internet. eBay turned that thinking on its head and paved the way for other micro-commerce sites like Etsy and Amazon's marketplace.

Today, conventional thinking still tells us that you must never bastardise a logo, yet Google's very successfully done the complete opposite. Not only has it not damaged their brand, it's built them a fan base!

And just last week, thought-leader Seth Godin made a post about working fewer hours, not more, to compete more effectively.

So what other conventional thinking should we be challenging?

Love to hear your thoughts.

xk

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