100 Artists Featured to Date - Wonders of Whimsy

According to my calculation, I've profiled exactly 100 artists at this site since I started my blog last November. They are all listed in the left sidebar under Great Sites to Visit, spilling down the page, all of them talented, joyful, and superbly optimistic.

Here's just one of mine from way back, 'Gallery Opening', which is fitting for today, I think.


During my own hiatus from painting while I got back to writing, finding other artists whose work inspires me has been a delightful exercise. I've used Etsy a lot for my research, but other sites, too. The cute thing is that I'll often find an artist on, say, ArtFlock, or ArtWanted, only to find they have an Etsy store as well. I think, once this recession is over, Etsy is going to prove the most successful with an explosion of sales for artists. During this time, people are still looking, as you know. They mark you as a favorite, or scribble your shop ID down, knowing they'll be back eventually.

I suppose some of you dream of being in a high-end gallery. Nice to have someone else promote your work, and bring in the customers. Etsy is a bit like that - it's just that there are so darned many of us taking up wall space! But I love them all, however crowded it is.

There are auction sites, of course, but there it's usually difficult to receive proper compensation for all your talent and hours spent on each work. So, I guess this is a plug for Etsy. If you want to know the truth, the camaraderie there is what I appreciate most, sales or not.

And, to celebrate the 100th artist feature, I'm going to show a current piece from the list, every Monday, starting with the very first - Jenny of Wonders of Whimsy. Jenny uses much of her sales revenue to finance her cat rescue scheme, which you can read about on her site.



I don't talk about my writing at this site, since I began my separate writing blog, but I need to tell you - because it's huge! I have an agent!

On Saturday I received an email from England offering representation for my novel, Hafan Deg. I've been querying agents for it since February. Needless to say, I've been over the moon all weekend, and only just came in to land this morning.

I did the art for the cover of my book as it appears on my website and writing blog. Now I'm wondering if I might actually use this, when/if my agent secures a publisher (nothing's certain in the writing journey). It would be so nice to have both sides of my creative self reflected in one book.

See you Wednesday.