Thursday, December 24, 2020

It was 1984...

I was working full-time as a Production Artist for a man - who I will not name - was very well-known for his highly-collectible statues of clowns (eeeek). 

Oh, for sure, it was not the best job, though it paid fairly well (assuming you met your daily quota of how many you were supposed to paint and complete by day's end). During my two-plus years there, and in spite of being systematically worked to death, I had a reasonable amount of fun at this rather grueling job in a suffocatingly hot (read: NO AIR CONDITIONING) warehouse in the San Fernando Valley, California, where summertime temperatures usually got to 105+ degrees or more for weeks on end.

 I worked with about 15 other artists crammed into an area of said warehouse at large desks, which we loaded covered with as many statues of said clowns as we could fit. Some statues were bigger and more intricate to paint, and paid a little bit better than the small simple ones, and you were paid extra for as many extra you could manage in a day's time. That's what I strove for, to paint each statue perfectly in as short a time as I could, and to do as many as I humanly could push myself to do. Believe me, it was not easy, but I felt it could perhaps be a stepping stone of sorts to a better "Job as an Artist" that may be waiting for me in the near future to get away from this sweatshop job (ha, that was not to happen for a long while, but hope is what drives the human soul, so you should never, ever deprive anyone of hope) as well as out of a very abusive marriage (which I thankfully did a few short years later).

During this time, I was trying to be as creative as I could, both at the job and at home, where I painted and drew almost constantly. I'd come up with a series of Christmas time paintings featuring cute woodland animals, one of which I'm sharing here from the holiday season in late 1984. It's ink with acrylic paints on heavy-stock paper, and as I took a quick scan of it (sorry for the poor quality), I realized that I never really finished it; so add that to my list of resolutions for the coming year. And, if anyone was interested, I'd be happy to make prints of it as well.

Anyway, just thought I'd share the "A Critter Christmas" here. Happy Holidays, y'all!



A Critter Christmas 

by Ellen Gee - 1984



Tuesday, December 22, 2020

My Winter Special magazine is published and available! -


Autumn Brilliance magazine's 

"We Wish You a Scary Christmas"

 

I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have been able to feature the talents of so many notable Halloween and holiday artists in this issue (as well as the premiere issue, which was published September, 2020). Each and every one of these amazing artists have been wonderful, as I got to know them personally and learned of their unique intricate process of creating their works of art.

My deepest love and thanks go to the artists who participated in this magazine:

Nicole Johnson - Audrey Swarz - Susie Krichbaum - Mandy Palumbo - Karen Steinkraus - Jacqueline Patrick - David Anderson - Ethan Black - Lauryn MacGregor - Helen Terlalis Dorn - and to both John Davis and Kristen Stafford for the fabulous, fun and informative articles submitted that helped to further flesh out this publication.  

It was most certainly a labor of love, without a doubt! 

I'll freely admit that having completed this latest venture, I'm TIRED! After having worked on two big issues in a row (which I put together myself, 100%! No other graphic artists or office assistants here, folks, just me in my little home studio), I am definitely pooped.

But even so, hard as it is to not want to instantly jump into another publication, I'm forcing myself to relax - just a bit - and take the rest of the year off (ok, well, it's only about another week till year's end)  before I dive headfirst into the next. Oh, to be sure, there are plenty of things scheduled to come to fruition in 2021, but for now, it's the chill pill for me. I'm going to set about clearing and cleaning up my office, it needs it!

Don't know if I'll post again until the beginning of the coming year, so until then, my love to all. Be well, be happy, be safe, and most importantly, please be kind to others. Here's to making 2021 a thousand times better than this one was!

To access your FREE flip-book copy of the magazine, click the link below. It is full of live links that will take you directly to the artist's web page where you can see and purchase more of their work. 
 

 https://autumnbrilliancemagazine.blogspot.com/

 


 

Sunday, December 20, 2020

Good tidings to all!


 Wishing all a warm and blessed

 Winter Solstice