ATTENDING A IMPORTANT ART LICENSING WORKSHOP TOMORROW

Hey guys...I am going bonkers with nerves tonight. By the time you read this, I will be attending an all day intensive art licensing workshop. There will be 7 other women and fellow artists as well. I do not know any of them.  The trip takes an hour to get there and I am so-so with the driving directions.  I am so excited and so nervous at the same time!  I have no idea what to expect and the anticipation has got me all tangled up.  I have never done this type of thing before so, I am bracing myself for the all day experience.

The woman who is holding this event is an artist named Tara Reed.  I don't know her, however I have read her art licensing blog a few times and I have seen a small bit of her work.  Her blog is excellent and chock full of information about the art licensing industry.  If you are interested in licensing your art, you have to read her blog!  She covers everything you can think of and all aspects of licensing and you will surely find a lot of answers to your questions. I highly recommend reading as much as you can.  You might wonder why I have only read the blog a few times? The answer is complex and complicated. I was out of the art licensing pursuit for a couple of years. You can check out my licensing website at http://lorenfidalgoportfolio.blogspot.com  and my MIND GIGGLES blog at http://lorenfidalgo.blogspot.com  Without going into too much detail here in this post, you can read more aboit it here, I believe that after my head injury and my sudden obsession with painting, I needed to focus on that for some time to develop my skills and see where it led me. Also, I was becoming uncertain as to how I wanted to proceed since I was not having too much success finding an agent. It has only been recently that I wanted to get back into the pursuit of licensing my art and paintings.  I am attending this workshop to see if art licensing will work for me with this new medium of painting and whether I need to get an agent or not?  I will write more about this when I get back from the workshop. I don't know what will happen tomorrow and where my mind and heart will be.  I hope I come away with a clear direction and path to take the future of my art career.  Wish me well.

Cheers,
Loren
   

NEW LOGO + BUSINESS CARD DESIGN

Hi there.  I wanted to give you a peek at my new logo and business card design.  I am so excited to have finally completed it and it is ready to be given out to the world!

I wanted this card design to coordinate with my blog, my Facebook site and my etsy shop, so I used the same painting that is on my etsy banner and my Facebook cover page.

The cards fold in half and I decided to print them myself so I could create them with a fold and blank inside.  The inside is white and is for jotting down notes and info. that someone might want to remember.  Possibly, the might want to jot down a painting that they liked or wanted to purchase. (that would be an awesome use of my card)!

The front of the card has my new logo and very little type. I wanted to keep it simple since the painting is detailed.  On the back, I added my blog address, etsy shop, email and Facebook site. Lots of information.  Now with social media and the internet there is so much info to put on one little card.

Back in the day, when I first designed my logo and business cards and letterhead stationery, there wasn’t as much info to fit on a small card.  I have been trying to track down a copy of my first card and logo, but no luck yet.  When I do, I will post it on my blog.  You will get a glimpse of where I was at at that time and where I am now.

Thanks for looking at my business card design and new logo.  Please feel free to leave feedback, it’s greatly appreciated.!

Live life!

Loren

MY HEAD INJURY AND MYSTERIOUS OBSESSION WITH PAINTING

As I have been wanting to do, I would like to share some more info with you about the head injury I had some 3 years ago. In a nutshell, I had a huge, at least 7-10  lb. ceramic vase/vessel fall on the top of my head or "clunked" me on the head, while I was loading some pottery on a wobbly shelf.   If you are interested to learn more about how it happened, check out the post in my blog MIND GIGGLES TM.  There you will get the details of the accident before and after it happened.

THE SECRET
OIL ON CANVAS 30x40 
(c) Loren Fidalgo 2010
Since the "clunk" on the head,, I have had an addition and change in the direction of my creative passion and interests.  Prior head injury, I was primarily passionate about graphic arts, and illustration.  I was mainly pursuing a career in art licensing working with pastels and colored pencil. I never thought of painting as a medium for myself and I was not interested in the fine arts as a career.  But, something changed in me after the injury, some thing that I do not have an explanation for.  Although, I  still working on illustration and graphics, I have begun to furiously start painting and working in mixed media.  The ideas for painting have been coming from my heart.    Some time soon after the injury, I signed up for a painting, drawing and watercolor class which was "odd" for me, and although I was painting still lives in class, which I now loved (also odd for me) I was painting images from a deeper place in my heart at home from a deeper place in my heart.  You can see some of these still life paintings here and my fantasy paintings here. 

After being "clunked" on the head,  I have found that I want to create more meaningful and thoughtful images and pieces of art.  I am much more interested in expressing my emotions in my work.  I feel compelled to express my deeper feelings, thoughts and ideas.  I have made changes and choices in the ideas for paintings and mixed media works and they have also taken a turn in subject matter. Although, I have always been strongly interested in concept and ideas,  I have now become interested in expression of feelings and life experiences.  This is an amazement to me.  I have been shocked at the depth of my despair at times that has been coming out of my heart and soul and portrayed in my work. I find myself compelled now to express not only my joyful and exuberant feelings but now my sorrow, depression, pain and challenging feelings about my life in a way that I did not know existed. I am having to face and question some of my experiences of my life presently and as most artists do at some time, I am also facing experiences from my childhood traumas.  (UGGHH!!! this is a topic that in full is still too deep to share here).  Although I am not one to often wear my deep feelings of sorrow on my sleeve, and share it with others, I am for some reason expressing it in my paintings and art. Go figure! 

SEARCHING FOR MEANING
OIL ON CANVAS 18x24
(c) Loren Fidalgo 2010

 So as you see, things have changed creatively for me and I am just hanging on for the ride.  I wonder if anyone has experienced this same sort of shift in consciousness and focus from an accident or head injury?  I was "clunked" on the left side on top of my head and since I did not show signs of a concussion, it appeared that nothing was injured internally.  The only signs and symptoms are these changes in my obsession with painting and mixed media, and a change in my perception of color. which I talk about it in my blog MIND GIGGLES TM  So, as I have said, "Is my huge obsession with painting a coincidence or a direct result from being "clunked" on the head from a 6 lb ceramic vase? You be the judge."