CrashOctopus Blog

Mimic Octopus by Meg Lyman

4×4″ gouache on board

$35 – e-mail me*

Here’s another of the 100 Cephalopods! The famous Mimic Octopus. It disguises itself, using its stripes and its arms’ ability to make cool shapes, as various poisonous sea critters, like snakes, lionfish, and stingrays. AMAZING

This was my first try with gouache on Aquabord and let me tell you, it’s like they’re made for each other. Great surface to work on with gouache/watercolors. Absorbent enough to *not* rub off (see my earlier posts re: gouache on Gessobord) and sturdy enough to scrub back to white if you make a mistake. I recommend!

*My e-mail was broken for a few days. I am in the process of updating my website, which is why it says “under construction” or something when you go to meglyman.com. I was puttering around in FTP and deleted something by accident. I had to call my hosting provider and they charged me $75 for a backup restore. They only keep the tapes for 3 days. Lesson: BACK UP your website. ALL of it. I backed up the directory where my viewable files are stored. However, the thing I accidentally deleted was in the root directory. Important things live there. Back it up too.

Greentopus by Meg Lyman

Oil on teeny tiny 2×2″ canvas

SOLD

Well, that was fun. Volunteering at a convention or other art-related event really makes it more enjoyable. You feel like you’re contributing, you meet all sorts of cool people, and you get the satisfaction of a hard day’s work spent helping others. I also went to fish class at the Georgia Aquarium and am now certified to stand by the cuttlefish tank for 4 hours, engaging guests about our charming cephalopod friends. I cannot think of a better way to spend 4 hours.

At FWA I did a lot of doodles and sketch commissions and even sold a mini painting of a blue leatherback turtle. Did you know they’re the largest turtles on earth? I didn’t, but now I do and so do you! Also I learned that boxer crabs have anemones growing on their claws and they look like little cheerleaders and I totally have to paint that now. Little skirt and all.

I’m going! It’s been crazy prep this week for FWA, where I’ll be volunteering in the Art Show and selling things in Artists Alley. Plus I’m mailing art in to Imagicon, which is the next weekend. I did all Limited Edition prints for the show. It’s so much easier (and affordable for the buyer) than sending originals. CRAZY!

Plus I have 6 new little oil paintings to show you soon. They’re all half done because the oil takes so freakin’ long to dry. But it’s worth it.

So I’m at it again… I broke out the oil paints. Every once in a while I get the urge. Sometimes it’s just that I want a break from gouache (as much as I love it), and sometimes it’s as simple as “hey I’ve had this cool-shaped canvas sitting here for months! I shall do something with it!” Since gouache doesn’t stick to canvas, I have few options.

Oils have this delightful quality to them that’s hard to explain. It’s something about the glowy transparency of the oil that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The ability to layer and create large, smooth areas is a great perk, which I take advantage of every time, since gouache can’t do that. And they smell good, too.

BUT. I don’t break them out too often. The main reasons: They’re such a mess. They try my patience. And they take up a too much real estate. The mess: oil, thinner, and sticky paint that doesn’t dry fast enough and all the sudden you put a thumbprint in your masterpiece trying to pick a cat hair out of it even though you painted it 3 days ago. Patience: see above about drying time. When I want to paint, I want to paint NOW DAMNIT. And space: again with the drying time and needing someplace to set it for 3 days that I could be using for my smaller gouache commissions. And everything’s bigger.

Oil on left. Gouache on right.

Here’s a comparison list of what you need to paint with each:

OIL

• paint
• canvas or masonite or etc.
• gesso
• palette knife
• thinner
• oil medium
• dryer (i.e. japan dryer)
• varnish
• brushes to paint
• brushes to blend
• brushes to varnish
• extra brain cells to replace those destroyed by inhaling varnish
• patience

GOUACHE

• paint
• paper
• brush

But despite all that they’re out and I’m enjoying it. Maybe it’s the Spring in the air, or maybe I’m just due for a little crazy.

I did my art business-related taxes on my own this year. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. The key is to keep good records throughout the year. Here’s a quick list of some things I’ve learned when filling out a Schedule C. For every art transaction you make, into your coffers or out, record the following:

• Category of expense – i.e. travel, supplies, marketing, merchandise
• Gross profit (or expenditure)
• After-sales-tax profit (this is what you record as profit – sales tax is a transaction directly between buyer and state or locale; you’re just the facilitator)
• Any commission fees
• Any miscellaneous fees (Paypal fees are included in this category, as is convention attendance and art show hanging fees)
• E-Marketing (website etc.)
• Paper Marketing (business cards, flyers, etc.)
• Travel expenses (airfare/hotel are in the “travel” section and mileage/parking are in the “automobile” section)
• Shipping/postage fees
• Where the sale was made (i.e. at a convention or on the internet)

Also, keep all your receipts. Paper, too. When the contents my hard drive were lost last December, I lost all my e-records for the year. I hadn’t backed up in a few months, so I had to reconstruct several months’ worth of profit and loss from Paypal records and paper receipts. KEEP THE PAPER.

You may not need all this info for every transaction, but it’s a great idea to make a habit of recording it all. That way you know exactly what you did on March 2nd of last year even though you can’t remember it for the life of you. Your wallet will thank you.