I’ve been very sick and unable to keep this blog updated over the past week.  Today I woke up in a pool of sweat, shivering.  Not good.

2009 has been a terrible year for artists…personally, it’s been downright devastating to watch my page views dwindle to less than 1/10th of what they were a little over a year ago, while my work continues to get better and more expensive to produce.  People are more interested in Tiger Woods’ driving abilities than anything else, if I’m to believe what’s on my television.

I’m not quite sure if there’s anything I can do to turn my situation around, especially while the economy is still in shambles.  The uncertainty of the future has caused me so much anxiety and depression, and I’m well aware that broadcasting my self-doubt to the world is NOT a good business strategy. On the other hand, I am inches away from rock bottom and every opportunity somehow ends up with me getting royally shafted because I’m the reclusive artist who gets discovered after they die.  I don’t have much to lose, I’ve got just a tiny shred of hope left, and I’m sincerely asking for your help.

Please, please, please share my art with anyone who might be interested.  If you’re a past client who’s pleased with your purchase…this will uphold the value of your investment.  Have a blog?  Link to my website/auctions and I’ll reciprocate.  On Facebook?  Add me as a friend.  This is also about spreading good karma.  I’ll be giving away free ACEOs and maybe even full-sized painting(s) to anyone who can turn my luck around.

I’m currently listing a lot of reasonably-priced “New Hope” breast paintings – these will make fantastic gifts for those hard-to-buy-for people on your Christmas list.

Here are a few of my current listings:

“New Hope #255″ – breast painting – 12″ x 12″

“New Hope #253″ – breast painting – 12″ x 12″

“New Hope #240″ – breast painting – 16″ x 20″

“New Hope #251″ – breast painting – 12″ x 12″

“New Hope #260″ – breast painting – 10″ x 20″

“A Little Bit of Insomnia” #24 – sleep deprivation ACEO

“A Little Bit of Insomnia” #25 – sleep deprivation ACEO

“A Little Bit of Insomnia” #26 – sleep deprivation ACEO

“A Little Bit of Insomnia” #27 – sleep deprivation ACEO

My eBay listings

TurtleKiss.com

Facebook

Don’t know what else to say.  Fingers crossed.  Thank you.

“Insomnia #7″ – 16″ x 20″ –  sleep-deprivation painting

“New Hope #221″ – 14″ x 18″ – breast painting:

These photos were taken at Black Pond during the Leonid Meteor Shower.

Paintings are here.

I decided to stay up and watch the Leonid Meteor Shower last night.  I only saw 3 meteors (and caught 0 fish,) but I took some photos of the Black Pond swans while I was there – they’re all grown up and the babies are flying now!

These 7 day auctions were all listed last night:

“New Hope #214″ – 18″ x 24″ – breast painting

“Insomnia #4″ – 4″ x 4″ mini sleep-deprivation painting

“Insomnia #5″ – 4″ x 4″ mini sleep-deprivation painting

Start the bidding on eBay.

The December ‘09 issue of MAXIM should hit newsstands on Tuesday – it will have a small interview with me and a photo of one of my “New Hope” breast paintings.  Past/future client are encouraged to buy an issue for documentation purposes – keep it with the Certificate of Authenticity (after you read it, of course.)  Leave me a message if you got here from there – I’d love to know when the issue is out.  If this is your first time here, these links might be of help to you:

current eBay listings
TurtleKiss.com (my website/archives)
my Facebook
YouTube
e-mail me – still taking orders for custom “New Hope breast paintings with delivery in time for Christmas
XBox360 Gamertag: TurtleKiss
PS3 Gamertag: TurtleKiss (Don’t expect me to abandon Modern Warfare 2/360 anytime soon)

These are the 5 ACEOs I listed tonight:

“A Little Bit of Runoff” #11

“A Little Bit of Runoff” #12

“A Little Bit of Gilded Insomnia” #4

“A Little Bit of Gilded Insomnia” #5

“A Little Bit of Gilded Insomnia” #6

I’ve been busy playing Modern Warfare 2 for about 5 days straight, but that’s a perfectly acceptable excuse for not updating this blog.  As usual, these are either ending very soon or listed recently.  All breast paintings!

“A Little Bit of Hope” #134 – ACEO (enlarged to show detail)

“A Little Bit of Hope” #135 – ACEO (enlarged to show detail)

“New Hope #237″ – 16″ x 20″

“New Hope #240″ – 16″ x 20″

“New Hope #242″ – 8″ x 10″

Relisted – “New Hope #242″ - 14″ x 18″

Want to play Modern Warfare 2 with me? My gamertag on XBL is TurtleKiss. I’m usually online late and I play a lot of team deathmatches, so send me a friend request.

The paintings are available on eBay.

Still taking custom requests for custom “New Hope” paintings.  Contact me here.

The “Entropy” series is created with many, many, many layers of mixed media on canvas.  These were so time-consuming (and expensive) to create - they’re heavy, textured, delicious, and opulent!  Thanks to Adderall, I spent countless hours refining teensy-weensy little details that probably look unintentional to everyone except me.  I don’t know if that makes me a fool or a creative genius.  Regardless, I’m really happy with how they turned out.

“Entropy # 7″ – supersparkly – ultratextured – multilayered

“Entropy # 8″ – supersparkly – ultratextured – multilayered

“Entropy # 10″ – supersparkly – ultratextured – multilayered

“Entropy # 11″ – supersparkly – ultratextured – multilayered

“Gilded Insomnia #1″ – 11″ x 14″ – supersparkly – ultratextured – multilayered sleep-deprivation painting

in my eBay store

Short & sweet, since no one reads this anyway…

“A Little Bit of Hope #128″ – ACEO – breast painting

“A Little Bit of Hope #129″ – ACEO – breast painting

“A Little Bit of Hope #130″ – ACEO – breast painting

“A Little Bit of Hope #131″ – ACEO – breast painting

“A Little Bit of Runoff #7″ – ACEO

“A Little Bit of Gilded Runoff #2″ – ACEO

“A Little Bit of Gilded Insomnia #3″ – sleep-deprivation ACEO

“New Hope #218″ – 4″ x 4″ single-transfer breast painting

“New Hope #219″ – 4″ x 4″ single-transfer breast painting

“New Hope #220″ – four 6″ x 6″ canvases – breast painting

“New Hope #244″ – relisted – 14″ x 18″ – breast painting

Interested?

Many new pieces to share this week!  Some of these are ending in a few days, so hop on over to eBay and have a look.

You may recognize this first piece from my business card…it’s been hanging on my wall for well over a year.

“New Hope #106″ – 2008  - 18″ x 24″ – breast painting

“New Hope #244″ – 14″ x 18″ – breast painting

“New Hope #248″ – 8″ x 10″ – breast painting

“A Little Bit of Hope #124″ – ACEO – breast painting

“A Little Bit of Hope #125″ – ACEO – breast painting

“A Little Bit of Hope #126″ – ACEO – breast painting

“A Little Bit of Hope #127″ – ACEO – breast painting

Proudly presenting 3 new crossover series…

“A Little Bit of Gilded Hope #1 – ACEO – gilded breast painting

“A Little Bit of Gilded Runoff” #1 – ACEO – gilded runoff painting

“A Little Bit of Gilded Insomnia” #1 – ACEO – gilded sleep-deprivation painting

“A Little Bit of Gilded Insomnia” #2 – ACEO – gilded sleep-deprivation painting

Many more pieces to come!  I’m feeling pretty good, although I still have trouble sleeping about twice a week – including right now (6 a.m. and I’m bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.)  I have many great new projects dancing around in my head, and I’m eager to get started on them.  I’m much less excited to list the creations I’ve finished…although many of them are quite lovely.  I never stop complaining about computer-related tedium, do I?

Don’t wait to schedule your painting session for a commissioned “New Hope” breast painting.  These are the perfect gift for those impossible-to-buy-for people on your list!  I’m also taking requests for one-of-a-kind beaded jewelry.  I’ve got LOTS of semi-precious stones, beads, Swarovski crystals & .925 Sterling Silver hardware that wants to become a special and unique keepsake for you or someone special.  Got any other requests?  I’d love to make your holiday shopping virtually effortless.  :-)

“New Hope #241″ – 14″ x 18″ – breast painting:

“New Hope #243″ – 14″ x 18″ – breast painting:

“New Hope #181″ – 18″ x 24″ – breast painting

“New Hope #200″ – 18″ x 24″ – breast painting

Still available – “Insomnia #8″ – 12″  x 16″ sleep-deprivation painting

Still available – “New Hope #233″ – 12″ x 16″ – breast painting

Still available – “New Hope #235″ – 16″ x 20″ – breast painting

It’s all here.

Over the past 2 weeks, I’ve manually (and individually) updated all 470 pages on my site. I ran into a lot of unexpected problems & I had to fix issues that I’ve been delaying/unaware of since February 2008.  That’s when my web host stopped supporting Frontpage & I needed to convert to Dreamweaver wayyyyy faster than I was comfortable with.  TurtleKiss.com isn’t perfect, but considering it’s functional and built on a foundation of questionable online tutorials, it’s decent. I’m thankful I was able to take the time to make the design more consistent and professional in appearance.  Can’t wait to see how long it takes for the code to become a mess again.

I plan to transfer & organize all of the photos from my old computers (five hard drives!!!!) to one external drive.  I’ve set up my 4-computer network and reconfigured my firewall & router to play nice with the new computer.  I’ve got all computers sharing files with each other, as well as the with the printer, Xbox360 and the PS3.  Even the Nintendo DS is picking up the Wi-Fi signal again.  I had forgotten how nice it is when things run smoothly (it’s been a while.)  I’m not a fan of Vista, but I’ll be upgrading to Windows 7 as soon as Dell decides to send to me.  I had the same exact situation with Windows Millenium before XP was released.

My break from eBay was fantastic – I did NOT miss the tedium of listing auctions!  However, I have many (30+) full-sized paintings to list before the Christmas shopping frenzy begins.

Just a reminder: My breast art will be featured in the December 2009 issue of MAXIM magazine, available November 17.  Please don’t hesitate to reserve your session for a commissioned “New Hope” breast painting.  These are great personalized gifts for investors, collectors of original art, creative individuals, and the person who has everything.  Requests will be scheduled on a first-come, first served basis.

The “UGH” section starts here.

You will no longer be seeing “similar items” from other sellers in any of my listings.  These “similar items” too often lead directly to the auctions of scumbag parasites. I am DONE helping plagiarists market their unoriginal, copycat GARBAGE.  I was recently told I “might enjoy” a gilded breast painting from another seller today!  Are people seriously incapable of thinking for themselves? I haven’t even listed a single piece from my “Gilded Hope” series yet ( or “Gilded Insomnia,” “Gilded Entropy,” & their respective ACEO crossover equivalents.)  Stealing ideas from an honest person must be a “unique” and “unorthodox” feeling.

I was not surprised by this revelation:

The last bit of this post’s title refers to that “artist” who’s been profiting off my ideas in a seemingly symbiotic, amicable, & harmless manner for quite some time.  I’ll save the screen captures, fun webcrawler tags, and details for another entry, but if you can figure out who I’m referring to (it’s not too hard)…view her feedback & see if you can spot a very suspicious ending price (on a painting that’s gone unsold since February.)  The painting in question allegedly sold for about 60 times the seller’s average selling price.  Yes, sixty.  That exact same painting (identical photo/title) is currently listed as “unsold” on a 3rd-party gallery site linked directly from another of the seller’s sites.  The Buy-it-Now price there is about 1/10th of the fake final “sale price” on eBay.

Did I mention that this painting more than DOUBLED in SIZE since it was originally listed on eBay and the other site?  That would certainly account for the increase in price – I wish I knew where to get these magical expanding canvases – even the depth increases!  Note to seller – you forgot to change the size in eBay’s Item Specifics from “medium” to “large.”  Also, it’s painfully obvious (visually) that this painting was done in the smaller (pre-magic spell) dimensions.  Keep that day job.

For those of you who haven’t seen this a million times like I have: This is called shill bidding.  The seller is trying to artificially increase the perceived value of her worthless junk by having a friend bid an unrealistic amount on it. She can then just give the painting away as a gift or something.  She and the “winning bidder” both pretend it was an in-person cash transaction, they leave each other positive feedback, and hope no one like me notices how damn shady the whole situation is.  In return, the seller gets undeserved Powerseller status, discounts for being a fraudulent “Top Seller” and an ego trip associated with deception of unsuspecting buyers who believe her lies.  Can you tell I’m a little miffed?  I worked my way up from the bottom, and it took a long time because I didn’t take dishonest shortcuts.  Shill bidding is unethical to honest sellers, it’s against eBay’s Terms of Service, it’s illegal in some places, and it’s just plain greedy to think anyone would pay that much for a painting by someone who charges for COAs and only profits from the loosely modified ideas of other artists and outright theft of Trademarked logos and images. I’ve already filed a report, but I also plan on following through with eBay Powerseller support because I’ve got way more time-stamped/dated evidence than their little form allows.  This could not be more obvious, clear-cut shill bidding, and I will make sure eBay gets all of the pertinent info.

I gave her the benefit of the doubt & I’ve been letting her subtle rip-off  ”pity art” slide for a long time.  That’s coming to an abrupt end, and I’m fully prepared to support my statements with facts.  I’m used to being a victim…and unfortunately I’ve gotten good at handling it in ways that are both professional and fair.  People like this don’t go away, they don’t get punished, and they never stop coming out of the woodwork.  Why do you think I’ve got 5 hard drives worth of screen captures and documentation of my ORIGINAL ideas?  Yes – partially due to insanity, but there’s a little common sense & self-protection thrown in.  I’m also dealing with a ridiculous amount of non-paying bidders lately.  I think that someone is trying to make me look suspicious by having random people open eBay accounts, bid on ONE of my pieces and nothing else, then win the auction and NOT PAY.  I report all NPB’s to eBay and now need to actively cancel bids from ZERO feedback bidders who don’t contact me prior to bidding. Legitimate bidders – thank you for your support & understanding.  I’m prepared to defend myself & confront anyone who thinks they can manufacture success out of thin air and lies.  I have no cushy job to fall back on – I’ve been a full-time Internet-based artist since 2003 and making ends meet has been ROUGH enough without these pesky little wannabes mirroring every little move I make.   Will someone please tell me what I did to deserve this?  Is there a sign on my back that says “Steal My Ideas & Betray Me While Discrediting Yourself in the Process?”  I’m annoyed, not flattered.

On a brighter note:

My husband and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary earlier this week.  I’m so fortunate to have snagged myself such an honest and hardworking studmuffin!

I love you NES – my density! <3

I donated 3 paintings to some great fundraisers this month:

Medicalodges Bike Show – breast cancer awareness (Eudora, Kansas)
CT Children’s Medical Center Storybook Gala (Hartford, CT)
HRC Annual Dinner, Gala & Silent Auction (San Antonio, TX)

So, that’s what I’ve been up to – sorry it hasn’t been too exciting.  My next post will have photos!  This was just meant to be a quick recap.  Here’s my currently available artwork:

Sorry, no magical expanding canvases here.

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