Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Heading to Necronomicon 2016

Me at last year's Necro.
Yes, I know, I should have posted this before now. But I've been working on getting ready for this!

In just a few days I'll be heading to the Necronomicon, a sci-fi/fantasy/horror/gaming convention in Tampa. I've been a guest author there the last few years, and will be again this year. But this time I'm also participating in their art show, which means I'll have my paintings, mixed media, and wands on display and for sale!

If you want to see the wands and mixed media that will be there, check out my Etsy shop (which will be on vacation while I'm gone so I don't double-sell anything). Also, if you can't make it to Necro and are wanting something from my shop, might want to grab it now...Just sayin'. 

If you want to see examples of my acrylic paintings, visit my Fine Art America page. No, not all of those will be at Necro, and there are a couple paintings that will be there that aren't available as prints. But this will give you an idea of what to expect.

Another thing to expect is a lot of geeky fun, including a vendor room full of cool stuff and costumes everywhere--like these from two years ago:





And now, the details....

Necronomicon 2016

Grand Hyatt, Tampa, FL
October 28-30, 2016

Click HERE for more info and registration. 

My panel schedule:

Friday 1:00:00 PM Maintaining Mystery without Losing Your Reader
Friday 4:00:00 PM Writing for the YA Market
Friday 6:00:00 PM Point of View: Head Hopping  HOST
Friday 9:00:00 PM Plotting a Mystery
Saturday 12:00:00 PM Writing Novels: Ending it Right 
Saturday 3:00:00 PM Why I Write Short Fiction
Saturday 4:00:00 PM Characters That Aren't a Reflection of You
Saturday 6:00:00 PM The Fine Art of Exposition
Sunday 11:00:00 AM The Care and Feeding of Your Creative Process
Sunday 1:00:00 PM Seeing What Nobody Else Sees: Art in the Eye of the Artist

Hope to see you there! 

BTW--I won't have an author table, but I'll be running all over the convention area the whole weekend. Don't be afraid to hunt me down if you want signed books, or just to say hello!


Tuesday, October 11, 2016

My Art For Sale Online! #Etsy #FineArtAmerica

As you can see,
I can use some more "favorites."
And sales.
And I need to charge my phone :P.
I've spent ages thinking I needed to start an Etsy store. Well, I've done it!

Jumping Rails is now officially live, and stocked with:

  • My mixed media art (on 6"x6" and 8"x8" canvases)
  • Pendants that feature my drawings, pendants that feature images from my book covers, and even a few that are designs painted directly on the glass
  • Hand-crafted Harry Potter type wands (although, no, none of them are replicas of actual HP wands)
You can see examples of all the above in my previous blog post


You may be wondering where the name of my store came from...

Well, I think I told you about my experience at the end of the 2016 Realm Makers conference. I, along with two other Realmies, needed to catch a train back to the airport, but the side of the station that train stopped at was opposite the side of the tracks our dorm at Villanova was. Which normally wasn't an issue as a tunnel runs underneath the tracks--but that morning, the tunnel was flooded.

The train was due in just a few minutes and we couldn't see any other way across. (I later found out there was a bridge farther down, but even if we'd known about it, I don't think we'd have had time to truck over, across, and back, dragging all our luggage.) So, we jumped this fence:


I recounted this tale in a Realm Makers forum, and then in another, completely unrelated conversation, I used the phrase "I don't mean to jump rails here" and someone cleverly replied, "Oh, you know all about jumping rails."

It got me thinking, that yes, I do. I'm constantly jumping rails. In college, I jumped from art education as a major to biology, then worked teaching math, then started homeschooling, then writing, and back to painting....and my art itself ranges from drawing to painting to mixed media to pendant-making to woodworking. I am forever jumping to a new rail.

 To see all I have for sale at Jumping Rails, click HERE.

AND....if you're simply wanting prints of my paintings or drawings, I have some posted on Fine Art America. You can order a variety of sizes, and even have those images put on different items such as phone cases and pillows. To visit my Fine Art America store, click HERE.