Australian Zazzle
I’m wondering what all you Bubblers think of zazzle.com.au and if you are a member of Zazzle will you be swapping or using both. The Australian Zazzle is supposed to be attuned to the Australian Market but obviously the American Zazzle has more visitors and probably always will.
Greeting Cards - The Inside Story
Redbubble cards are great, but currently anyone wanting to combine a picture with text to convey humour or an idea is forced to do it on the front of the card. I think that the capacity to have messages on the inside of cards or to upload monochrome images for the same purpose would be a valuable addition to RB.
I have put this suggestion on the feedback forum so if anyone feels that it is a …
Puffins Partying in Canada
I recently received a bubblemail from someone at the David Suzuki Foundation They are organizing a number of events for World Oceans Day.
_World Oceans Day, June 8, is a time to remember the life-giving role of oceans. This international celebration, declared in 1992 at the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has grown from a ripple into a tida…
Eagles are Go !
Many years ago, before I started painting in earnest, someone who ran a gallery in Sydney advised me to paint colorful birds like parrots and rosellas because birds of prey didn’t sell. I took her at her word.
After I sold my Golden Eagle watercolour and gouache painting at Christmas, I reassessed and decided to do an oil …
What will sell and what won't?
I give up… I don’t have a clue!
I have just sold a painting which I almost didn’t bother to frame because I thought no-one would buy it because it was too dark. Don’t get me wrong – I always liked the painting myself, but I thought that people who bought bird paintings would want brightly coloured parrots and dainty wrens bathed in sunlight. At Christmas I sold one which I thought was a bit…
Return of the Possum
Great news. Herbert is back in his Gladstone bag. He’s looking older and a little frayed around the edges, particularly his feet, but I’m sure it is him as he has one ripped nostril (visible in earlier photographs).
The dead female possum I found must have been another unfortunate.
Here he is...
The Unvarnished Truth about Synthetics
I’m still sleuthing my undercover story (couldn’t resist the pun) about varnishing and came across a technical article from the American Institute for Conservation on the removal of synthetic varnishes from paintings.
It has some interesting points to make about the changing solubility of synthetic varnishes over time. It’s pretty dry to wade through (the article that is – not the varnish of c…
Anyone for Varnishing?
I have been using the traditional dammar varnish to protect my paintings but haven’t found it entirely satisfactory. I had read about Gamvar varnish based on research at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA and it sounded good. I have been searching for an Australian Supplier for a while and have now found one here.
A video of how to apply it is…
Take Courage
I’m sure there are lots of Bubblers out there who have thought of exhibiting their work but who have never quite got around to it. We all know that there are a million reasons we can find not to do it… time, framing expense, fees, family commitments etc. But most of all FEAR, after all you will be exposing yourself to your local community and that is frightening. I’m no more insecure than the…
Picture framing and the Orangutan
In the two weeks running up to Christmas I held a small exhibition of my paintings. Because of the expense of framing I ended up making my own mouldings from second-hand Oregon door frames. However I also spent a bit of time researching framing materials and was alarmed to find that much of the framing timber still used is ramin.
‘Many consumer products sold in the U.S. are made from ramin, a …