Artist, Beware!

Last week, my friend Jen asked me to tea so she could pick my brain about getting into the artist biz. I immediately said "Yes, buy me a Starbuck's and I will tell you anything you want to know!" I believe strongly in mentoring. What good is having success in life if you can't pass on what you know to someone else?

Besides which, I think that success is always a shared thing-no one gets where they are without the help of others, whether it's someone who supports your decision to express yourself, or the person who gives you good advice, the person who helps you with the grunt work or someone who inspires you to follow your dreams. No one gets where they are without support-look at any of the big time awards shows-there's always a long-winded thank you speech that comes after a win!

Anyway, Jen and I spent quite some time talking about various aspects of the biz and one thing I talked about was branding. Alot of what I know about branding I learned from my pal Deb Trotter. Deb's done a ton of research on what artists should know about building a name for themselves. What I know, I passed on to Jen. Still following me? Okay now I'll get to the crux of this post:


It's come to my attention that someone out there on the world wide web has decided to take the name "Tattered Edge" and start a blog.

On Sunday, I emailed her and politely explained that I had spent a long time building my business and my name. It's out there in the world-I've taught, designed and published under this name. I gave her the benefit of the doubt that being new to blogging (her blog was just started this year) she probably didn't know that she should have at least Googled the name to see if anyone else was using it. Had she done that, lots of hits would have clearly shown her that Tattered Edge is synonymous with Lelainia Lloyd.

When she replied, she told me that she had changed the header on her blog to read "(her name) 's Tattered Edge" and figured that would suffice. I explained that that wasn't really what I meant when I encouraged her to change her blog name. I told her that if slapping your first name in front of someone else's business name was okay, I could go around calling myself "Lelainia Starbuck's" and expect the Starbuck's company to be okay with that. We all know that's not going to fly! Well, she didn't seem to like that an made some snide remarks about me not being kind. She said she thought the art world was a friendly and welcoming place. Well it is, if you have respect for other people and don't try and take what isn't yours and try to pass it off as your own.

Thing is, I am not disputing her right to have a blog. More power to her! I just wish she'd have the good sense to stop using a name I've worked so hard to build. I've been blogging as Tattered Edge since August 2004-anyone who looks at my archives can see that as plain as day. I was blogging in the dark ages of blogging when most people didn't even really have one, much less mixed media artists! It really irks me that someone would do this, be called on it and then have the bad taste to try and make me feel like I was in the wrong.

When I shared this with friends, Jen was quick to say how ironic this was, seeing as we'd just discussed the whole concept of branding and how it works only days before. I guess I forgot to mention the part where you have to deal with this sort of thing. What I want you to know this experience is not specific to me! Sadly, I've known several friends who have fallen victim to this same sort of thing. One friend has a self portrait image swiped off her blog and used in the form of greeting cards on Etsy. It took several cease and desist emails from her and a number of her friends to get the seller to stop.

Another closed down her Typepad blog, the address of which was her name and someone stranger quickly swooped in and snapped it up. This meant that all the traffic that belonged to her-people who were looking to her blog for art-were tricked into viewing a blog bearing her name that had morphed into a site selling stuff, using her name. It had nothing whatsoever to do with art or her personally and there was nothing she could do! She frantically emailed everyone she could think of that had linked to her blog and asked them to disconnect the link, but the damage had been done.

Yet another friend has recently discovered that art is being marketed and sold bearing her trademark. She has posted info on her blog so that people can be sure the art they are buying is indeed hers so the money they are spending is not supporting the person producing the knock offs.

So yes, there are people out there that are doing these kind of things, some of them unwittingly and some of them on purpose, but it's affecting our community whether you've been aware of it or not. I honestly don't know what we can do to stop it, other than to back one another up when it does happen and to be aware ourselves so we don't inadvertantly do the same thing to someone else.

So...if you see something like this happening, please let the artist know and when you make a choice about a blog you visit, or the art you buy, when in doubt, check with the artist to make sure it really is the person you intend to be supporting. If there's no support for knock offs, (be it blogs or actual art) then hopefully it will fizzle and die on its own, as it should.

The good news is that, as my friend Penn always tells me, I've got a very distinctive style and anyone who reads my blog or sees my art knows me in an instant. What you see here is always 100% pure, authentic Tattered Edge. Accept no imitations!

Birthday Goodness

So in lieu of art content of my own, I am posting some pics of art gifted to me by a couple of my very talented girlfriends. But first, I wanted to show you this mug I bought myself from Starbucks. I saw it a few weeks before my birthday, but when it came time, my guys couldn't find it. I saw it again the other night while I was out and snapped one up for myself.

I love the colours! It's just so cheery and it's become my favourite.

Okay, so getting back to the birthday art! This gorgeous mixed media book wrap came from the gorgeous and talented Pilar*. It's got layers of gauze, paper, paint, fabric, wool and stitching.

Here's a close up of the wool felted heart. That's a medal piece in the center with the tree of life.

Isn't that just yummy?!? The layers in it are incredible. I have another friend, Tracy, who is a real sweetheart. She made me a set of signature pages for an exchange we did and I think they will fit perfectly inside this cover. (I haven't taken any photos of them yet to post, but I will!) I will have to make some more pages to flesh the journal out, but I love the idea of combining the talents of two people I adore. After I create my Olympic ROD journal, this is next on my list.

Yesterday my friend Penn (who is uber creative) and I got together. It's the first chance we've had to hang out since the Games. Penn had a whole bunch of little gifties waiting for me. This adorable wee "mixed tape" wool felted pin was one of them. I am a music junkie and this is so delightful! It measures about 1 inch x 1/2 inch.

Penn also made this little red apple book. She even included a worm hole in it!

Washi tape! It's a new addiction I have. Can't wait to use it in my journals.

Penn also recently bought herself a button making machine and has been making me little buttons for my ever-growing collection. Love 'em!

She also gave me a copy of Grey's Anatomy. I love, love, love medical stuff. I will be using the images in my artwork here and there. It's a keeper!

I am very spoiled and thankful for all the lovely, thoughtful gifts. There's nothing I love better than handmade presents.

*If you'd like to have some of Pilar's magic for yourself, visit her Zazzle store or Etsy!

Messages: A Labour of Love

A couple weeks ago, I got an email from the executive director of the agency that oversees our local crisis line. I served on the lines from January 1998- April 2004. Our provincial government, in its infinite wisdom {insert sarcastic font here} decided in December to cut the funding for our crisis line. As a result, this vital service, which has a thirty eight year history of invaluable service to the people of this city will be closing at the end of March.

I was asked if I would help create something to honour the crisis line coordinator, who will be leaving the agency when the line shut down. Tammy Lohnes is an amazing human being and one of the finest and smartest women I know. She has been a friend and mentor to me and to hundreds of others who served under her gentle guidance over the years she's been involved with the lines. It was my extreme honour to spearhead a project to let her know just how much her contribution meant to all of us who had the pleasure of working with her.

I decided that the most meaningful way to express our appreciation for Tammy was to create a collaborative book. I designed the pages to look like phone messages and invited everyone who wanted to, emailed me their well wishes, comments and memories, which I then formatted into the pages of the book. In addition to the messages, I also included photos of the training groups, parties, award ceremonies and pictures of Tammy.

I also decided that I wanted to make a wrapping to contain the book, so I painted and stamped and sewed a couple of manila folders together to create an envelope for the book. This is the envelope in progress.

I loved adding layers of pain and water soluble oil pastels.

I used my foam rubber stamps to add the phone number of the lines on the envelope.


More stamping...


Some detail of the layers. I always have so much fun playing with paint!

I also used some paint combs, plastic bottle tops and the like to add texture.

I like splashing water on the layers to remove dots of paint here and there.

I zig zag stitched the seams with black thread.

Then I added a close with vintage buttons and some silk sari fibres.

I wrapped the book in a plain paper bag to protect it from any paint rubbing off on it.

A tag glued down on the paper wrapping.

The cover of the book. I used a black coil which looks alot like a telephone cord.

Here's a sample of one of the pages. It's actually a yellow colour paper, but for some reason, it looks white here. I chose yellow so it would look like those pads of phone message paper and I used handwriting fonts to mimic a handwritten note.


I pulled the whole thing together in 5 days flat! (Though that was working on it all day, every day for 5 days!) As you can see, it was nice and chunky. The party for the crisis line, which was a reunion of sorts was on Thursday and they presented Tammy with the book at the party. She was really surprised!



What cracked me up was that the director had absconded with the photo album so I could use the photos in the book. Tammy kept asking about it-she knew she's seen it, even had it on her desk at one point and it was driving her mad trying to figure out where it had disappeared to. She said she'd thought she was losing her mind. It was at my house the whole time!


Anyway, Tammy made a point of telling me how much she liked her gift and I am so pleased. It meant alot to me to be able to do that for her and I hope that she will take it out and look at it from time to time and remember how much we admire and respect her. She's a gem.



I wanted to update my blog earlier in the week, but i didn't want to post anything about the book till she had it in her hands because I was afraid she might read my blog. It's a good thing I held off because at the party she told me she'd been reading all about my Olympic and Paralympic adventures! Whew! Good thing I waited!



So, sadly, it's the end of an era. I will always look back on my time on the lines fondly. I met and worked with some great people there-it's where my best friend and I met and I am still close with a number of folks, even after all this time. The lines is like a family and no matter how much time passes, there is always a sense of "going home" when we're all together. I am hoping that despite the fact that the funding is gone, we'll still find ways to get together every now and again and to celebrate our legacy.



If there's anything good to be drawn from this, it's knowing that all of us go forward in our lives, taking with us the amazing skills we developed in caring for others. I know mine have served me well.
THANK YOU TAMMY! xo

40 Things Before I Am 40.

( A recent perfect day.)

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!

Yes, as of 6:30 a.m. this morning, I am 39! Woohoo! In honour of my 39th trip around the sun, I decided to devise a list of 40 things I want to do before I'm 40:

1. Make some new art friends 2. Get a tattoo (though first I have to find out if this is feasible, given my health.) 3. Go to the Olympics4. Meet some athletes 5. See Barenaked Ladies perform 6. Write & publish another zine 7. Keep my ROD journal till it's filled up 8. Brush up on my Spanish 9. Work on a large canvass 10. Learn a new art skill 11. Go swimming in the ocean 12. Go on a picnic with my sweetie 13. See the Olympic Flame 14. Watch the Olympic Torch Relay 15. Cut my hair short again 16. Host an art project over the summer 17. Take a day trip somewhere local but fun 18. Carry the Paralympic Torch 19. Ride the Zip line 20. Purchase and teach myself to play a harmonica 21. Make a journal out of my Olympic ephemera and journal in it. 22. Submit something for publication 23. Host a swap or two 24. Photograph my favourite trees in Stanley Park to show the progression of the seasons 25. Create a calendar from my own art for 2011 26. Print photos that I have taken from the Games so I can use them in my journal 27. Do one project that's outside my comfort zone this year 28. Host an art party 29. Spend a weekend playing with paint 30. Learn a new skill 31. Make and send away some RAKs 32. Discover some new magazines/zines and buy/read them regularly 33. Take my laptop and/or journal to a funky coffee shop and write 34. Sew myself some cool pillows 35. Clean out the closet in my studio and reorganize it.

As you can see, some of the things on my list are already crossed off. I actually started keeping this list in January. I figured given the state of me, I needed to have a running start at it. I have 5 more things left to add, but I want to leave room for ideas that might come to me in the next while.


Feel free to play along if you're celebrating your 39th this year and see what you can accomplish before your next birthday! If you do post a list to your blog, give me a shout and I will link up with you!

You know, it's amazing how many artsy people are born in the month of March. Sisters Linda Woods, Karen Dinino, Tracy Roos, who is also celebrating her birthday today, Tricia Anders...we Aries are the do-ers and the Pisces folks are the dreamers. It makes for some pretty prolific art peeps!

I had some lovely goodies, via snail mail from friends that I will share tomorrow. I'm off to celebrate this morning with my best friend. We're going for pedicures and then lunch. Sounds like heaven to me!

One More Games Adventure

Yesterday, my husband and I headed downtown to have our last official Games related adventure. We'd planned to go early to the Mint pavilion to see the Olympic and Paralympic medals, but when we arrived, a full hour before opening, the line had wrapped itself around the entire building. If you knew how large that library is, you'd appreciate just how long that line up was. As disappointed as I was to have to skip it, I just couldn't justify wasting 3 or more hours standing in line. Life's just too short.

Instead, we walked up the the Vancouver Art Gallery and got into a really short line to see the BC pavilion. The photo above is the pretty fountain at the back of the gallery grounds.

Next to the fountain is the Olympic and Paralympic countdown clock. I figure I'd better get one last photo while I still could.

In addition to the BC pavilion, the art gallery also has the Leonardo Da Vinci show on, which I was dying to see. I am a huge "fan" of Da Vinci.

This is some projected wall art in the BC pavilion.

More of the projections. You can see Science World, which was home to Sachi House during the Olympics, as well as the Stadium where the ceremonies were held. The twin peaks are "The Lions", mountain peeks on the north shore.

Some more wall art, though this is actually on the wall and not a projection.

Salmon! These are projected on the floor and when you walk amongst the spawners, they actually swim to avoid being stepped on.

Here's one avoiding my foot. I believe it's the same technology that was used to create the spectacular illusion of whales in the floor during the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. *Very* cool!

Because BC is known for its forestry industry, the use of wood was a key component to our games. The medal podiums were made from the 6 main types of trees logged in BC. This funky chest reminds me of Dr. Seuss.

Some First Nations' art.

The gallery has beautiful architecture.

Gorgeous!

The view of the rotunda from above on the 4th floor.

After we saw the BC pavilion portion of the gallery, we went downstairs to see the Da Vinci exhibit. It was really interesting. There were pages taken from his diaries, suspended between two pains of glass so you could see both side up close. It's amazing to think that he once held these pages in his hands and put pen to paper to record his ideas for posterity. I wonder if he ever dreamed that almost 5 centuries later
his work would still be in existence?

We finished off our day heading into Richmond to shop, which I told you about yesterday. It's hard to believe the games are officially over, as of this evening. I taped the closing ceremonies and will be watching them tomorrow.

I have to say that going into this whole crazy adventure, I never imagined I would be rubbing elbows with athletes, witnessing the ceremonies up close and personal, or carrying the Paralympic Flame and becoming a part of history. It's been a bit surreal (and often exhausting!) at times, but I am so glad I did it. I have a ton of wonderful memories to show for it and the satisfaction of having served my country, my province and most importantly, the athletes of the world. I got to do everything I ever wanted to do at an Olympic games and more. I can definitely cross this off my life list with a big, happy check mark!

Shoppin' Good Time!

This morning we had our last official "Games" adventure, which I will post about tomorrow. In the afternoon, we headed into Richmond to poke around in Daiso, home of the $2 shopping spree.

I picked up some of these "A5" sized plastic cases to sort some of the ephemera for my ROD journals. I figured that it would be easier to find things if I can sort stuff by size...or something. Maybe it's not easier, but I like sorting and organizing stuff.

I was mainly looking for cheap art supplies. These are printed glassine envies.

Little pseudo "post it note" strips.

Grid labels in two colours and sizes.

A date stamp that I got because I like the shape of the numbers.

A roll of paper lace border.

Cute, cute wee printed tape with houses, buses and trees on it. I would have bought more of this, but alas, there was only a single package.

Neon scotch tape. Odd but fun!

Small days of the week wooden stamps.

Then on the way home I popped into the Michael's. They had these stamps on for $1.50 a package.

I found another roll of printed packing tape to add to my collection. $1.50/roll!

I purchased these at the Michael's close to my house yesterday, again for $1.50/roll. Love them! Especially since I found another store was selling printed packing tapes for $4.50/roll, so this is a steal!

Good stuff to play with! I just have to finish a top secret project that has a deadline looming before I can play with any of my new goodies. It's going to be hard not to get distracted. After I finish this particular project, my Olympic ROD journal is next! I can't wait!