We are back from our last show of the year and I want to thank you all for coming out in the snow to see me! It really meant a lot and thanks so much for all your support. We learned now why we never do shows in December...packing back up in the show wasn't much fun at all.


Well we still have some items we need to clear out so we are having a little sale:

ALL Palm Wax and Soy Wax candles are buy TWO get ONE free (of equal or lesser value)

Just purchase the items you want to buy, then in the notes section of the checkout list the items you want for FREE. Did you just checkout and forget? Can't find the notes section? It happens. Just shoot me an email with the free items you want. Just list FREE items in the subject line so we can keep track.

No video blog this week, I am just too worn out from yesterday.

I am reposting this from a community I watch. This guy needs a home ASAP. He served his country and deserves nothing but the best. If I had a fenced in yard he'd be with us, Please repost you never know:

I was just contacted by Ron at The American War Dogs Association, and he needs our help with a rescue adoption.

The Naval Submarine Base in Groton, CT has a 5 year old Dutch Shepherd that they need adopted ASAP. If you’re from the Northeast, or are willing to travel to CT get the dog, contact us ASAP!



This brave soldier’s name is Sam, and he’s a retired patrol/explosives detection dog. His dedicated service has brought him to locations across the globe, but none are more important than his next journey (home). He’s VERY friendly, loyal, and loves to play, but as a working dog he’s active so potential homes should not have small children. If you or someone you know can give a young, healthy, friendly retired soldier a good home, please contact me at belicbear HAT gmail DHOT com ASAP!

PLEASE contact everyone you know and let’s see if we can find Sam a loving family!

Thank you!

Belic

Info:
MWD: Sam, USN (Ret)
Tattoo: K197
Age: 5
Breed: Dutch Shepher
Color: Brindle (Black w/Brown stripes)
Weight: 75 lbs.
Training: Patrol/Explosive Detection

Hi Everyone,

Zazzle is having a HUGE mug sale. This would be a great time to stock up on Ash Evans design mugs.
Mugs!!Buy 1 Get 1 Free! Today 12/4 Only! Use Coupon Code - 12DEALS2MUGS http://www.zazzle.com/phoenixxfire24

Today I have been designing some new products and starting to pack up for the show tomorrow. We are setting up tonight. After Sunday I am DONE will all this craziness and I am getting back to painting. All my files that needed to be done and product designs and all the hullabaloo will be over and I can get back to it. I am getting to a point where I need some help. Johnnie does everything he can and goes above and beyond but he has another job. He LOVES his job and wouldn't leave it to come work for me so I am going to have to struggle through it for a while more yet.

We are totally jazzed with the new products we will be coming out with. I will be listing the stuff that will be no longer available. We will be saying goodbye to some stuff. We are saying goodbye to some shows but when a door closes a window opens...blah blah. Trust me it will be totally cool!

Anyway You won't be hearing from me tomorrow as we will be at our show.

Have a great weekend

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to remind you that my LAST show of 2009 is this Saturday.

We will be at:

The Winter Craft Show
Glen Burnie High School
7550 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd.
Glen Burnie, MD 21061

The show will be from 9am-3pm

We are booth number 101 in the Media Center.

Pickups: We are allowing for pre ordering and pickup at the show. This is the only way to guarantee that you will get a specific item. We will bring original paintings for pick up also. Otherwise no originals will be at the show. Quantities of a lot of things are very limited. If you want us to bring something specific for you you can email me at ash@ashevans.com subject line Show Order. List the items you want and you can pay and pickup at the show. Please include your first and last name in the email.

Today I have been running prints, we set up for the show tomorrow evening. I am very ready for it to be over that is for sure. I have been totally mobbed with all sorts of show stuff for next year. It seems like EVERYONE wants their money NOW!!! Its insane and it hasn't happened the 5 years I have been doing shows. Yeah we are going into year five, its crazy.

There are a lot of amazing and exciting things on the horizon for 2010. They are going to take a lot of hard work though that is for sure. I don't see myself painting anything before Christmas. We have a lot of stuff coming in and I really need to go thorough everything in the studio and organize and remove some stuff. I think this coming year is going to be the BIGGEST and BEST year yet!

With the exception of this Saturday, 12/5, I will not be attending any events, making any appearances or vending at ANY shows for the remainder of 2009. I am BURNED out. I need a BREAK. As grateful as I am to any and all of you who invite me to things there comes a point in time where I have to say enough is enough. I have been traveling since March and I have other things I need to focus on.

I am taking 2010 events into consideration and I have a new email for event and convention invites. It is booking@ashevans.com. I will say I am not willing to travel to or vend at any shows from January 2010-March 2010. I need to paint some time.

Also a reminder the Buy one get one free sale ends TONIGHT at 12pm EST. All orders will ship out on Friday 12/4.

We will be at the Holiday Winter Craft show at Glen Burnie High School in Glen Burnie MD Saturday 12/5 from 9am-3pm

We will be in the Media center.


We will close for the holidays 12/18/09 and reopen 1/5/10


Thanks for all of your lovely comments on the holiday show, we had fun making it. I will make another one on Sunday telling you all about the last show of the year.

Will be posting holiday decorations and stuff soon. Hope you like the show!

So I had some technical issues with my web host and apparently my mailing list is wonky now too...sigh. Sorry for the mess they are fixing it.

So here is the deal. I am extending my Black Friday sale THROUGH Midnight Monday 11/30 EST

Everything but originals and Calendars (they are from LULU not me) are buy ONE get ONE FREE.


In other news we have booked and are totally confirmed for the following shows

Imagicon 2010 Birmingham AL
Dragoncon 2010 Atlanta GA
Faereicon 2010 Baltimore MD

Remember I have my last show of the year a week from today at the Glen Burnie High School in Glen Burnie MD from 9am-3pm

We will be filming and airing our Holiday Special tomorrow! We are also decorating the exterior of our house today and some other things. I will post pics later.

Hi Everyone,


Tis the season for crazy sales and savings so I have a great one for you!!! This is my first ONE DAY ONLY Black Friday Sale!!

EVERYTHING ON the website is buy ONE get ONE FREE! The offer is for TODAY only and ends at midnight EST. To take advantage of the offer follow these easy steps:

PURCHASE ONLY the items you want to BUY
When checking out in the NOTES section of your check out process list the FREE items.

Did you forget? Was it confusing?? No problem just email me at ash@ashevans.com subject line FREE and I will make sure everything gets in your order. This is the biggest sale we will have this holiday season so take advantage.

The offer excludes original art. Everything else is fair game. There are NO limits to what you get FREE.

So have at it folks

http://www.ashevans.com


EDIT******

Have holiday questions? Wanna chat with Ash? For the next hour you can IM her on Skype: darkhartphoenixx See you there!! Starts 2pm EST and ends 3pm EST

Today is Thanksgiving and I wanted to say I am thankful for all of you! There are things about this holiday I am not a fan of IE Lets celebrate how much food we have by eating as much as we can cause the more we eat the more thankful we are..and the turkeys those poor poor turkeys. I think when we have a farm we will have to like rescue one every year or something. But I DO like people reflecting on what they are thankful. There really aren't a lot of holidays that teach people gratitude and for that I am thankful. Last night I couldn't sleep so I thought I would reflect on my year and what it has brought me that I am thankful for.

I am thankful for all of my friends and fans that keep track of me and my art on the interwebs, especially since there is so much on here to distract you elsewhere.

I am thankful for our stellar show season despite the recession and that I still get to do what I love for a living. Not many people get to live their dream but I do, every day.

I am thankful for my rad husband who helped make it a stellar show season, who cooks for me because I hate it and once upon a time told me it was OK to paint unicorns for a living. Without him I would not be here talking to you now with over 150 paintings and licensing. He checks your orders and inspects figurines, cuts mats and lifts heavy stuff. He never bought into that traditional house wife crap despite murmurs that since I am at home I should be cooking and cleaning in some frilly apron while I doodle for my "hobby" He is also great to have in a bar fight if you ever need it..not that I do.

I am thankful for my pets who are like our furry kids and since we aren't having kids are fun surrogates I could put in a kennel and not go to jail. They keep me company in the studio and model for my paintings. They are inspiration wrapped in love and I love them!!

I am thankful for my business savvy dad who lends an ear from time to time and helps out.

I am thankful for my in laws who we can leave our pets with and not worry. They always make me feel welcome and make sure there is something at the dinner table I can eat.

I am thankful for the art supplies that just came to the house too!!

Well I could go on all day but that would be boring!! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and tomorrow the holiday season officially opens!!! Less then a month till Christmas. PLEASE PLEASE place your orders early I don't want sad people who waited too long, I always feel so bad!!!

Peppermint Wyrm
Original mixed media on illustration board 75.00+shipping


Midwinters Frost
Mixed Media on watercolor paper 150.00+ shipping


Igor's Holly mixed media on Bristol board 25.00+shipping


Winter Winds mixed media on watercolor paper 300.00+shipping I will give a discount to anyone purchasing all four seasons which are available.


Frost Fairy Acrylic on canvas sheet. 200.00+ shipping

So today I had a ton of stuff to do. Booking shows, emails, calls, orders painting...you name it. My mother needed me to come over to get something for Thanksgiving so I thought I would make the most of being out and about and shipped some of this weeks orders (the post office was on the way) and then I tackled the remainder of my holiday shopping. So I am DONE! Aside from the decorating, wrapping and baking everything is taken care of and not a moment too soon if you ask me.

Johnnie and I are getting our live tree Saturday. We usually get it the first weekend in December but we will have a show that day so we might as well do it on Saturday. I am also planning on stuff for our holiday special video. Here is the thing, a lot of you know I used to be a singer in a band and have been BUGGING me to do a song video so I will make you a deal: My holiday special video gets 200 or more hits and I will record something for you all for the following week. I won't settle for anything less, so you have one week from Sunday to get the hits to 200. Johnnie will be in the holiday show as well as some of our pets and of course our holiday stuff. So stay tuned!!

We are in the process of booking and confirming shows for 2010. I can tell you 100% for sure we are doing Imagicon and Dragoncon. There are about 10 more but we don't say a thing until we know for sure.

So this evening I will be wrapping gifts, cleaning and writing a bio for Imagicon.

My husband has told me I look tired and puffy in this video. Sorry about that folks I have an eye infection and I was up all night with a nasty case of food poisoning...but like they say the show must go on!

Stay tuned for our Holiday Special next week!!!

I have been doing the less fun side of art the past few days. I haven't had time to art. I had to do stupid things like call people and go where is my money? Why haven't you paid me? and hey your credit card got declined. Fun! I hate this side of the business but hey I need to get paid too! You got to juggle in this biz but man lately it just seems like orders, admin stuff, shows and now hounding people for money have taken the place of actual art. It is frustrating! I need a minion.

I have had some meetings about new product development and shows. I will be making announcements shortly. We will also be submitting some breakage reports to China and what they do to compensate us will depend on if we will do or get more statuary next year. Sheesh! Another thing I have to take care of and not paint. But hey we had some pretty substantial damage this time around and I am not letting it slide.

Johnnie is working from home today, sick and tap dancing to his Ipod.Its like freaking Stomp over here. Minus the trash cans. It is enough to drive anyone insane. Sniffle, stomp stomp....AAAAAHh I am guessing the majority of the day will be spent hiding in my studio. After I go to the post office and run some errands. I need some more airborne to fight off Typhoid Johnnie's germs.

I better not get sick, I can't I have too much to do! I am almost ready for my holiday show which is nice. We are putting together our 2010 schedule which is also nice. Things are coming together. Next week is black friday so orders should really go crazy then. I talked to one of my licensors yesterday talking about new products which was also made of awesome!

Lots to look forward to.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

I forgot to post this little guy I did for Furfest. It was because as soon as it was try it was matted and shipped out on our way out the door to Faeriecon. I am really hoping all of my stuff goes at Midwest Furfest. Next year I hope to be better prepared for the show and kind of just assume I am in and paint accordingly. It is much better then scrambling at the last min with another show at the same time that is for sure!

Today I feel like crap. I think whatever Johnnie has spread to me and I am fighting a loosing battle. I am going to an art opening this weekend come hell or high water so I guess that means me sleeping a lot up until I can do that. I should have known it was coming. If Johnnie's stubborn donkey like immune system can have a bite taken out of it I am screwed. He is out in the world exposed to all sorts of germs and I live in a bubble at home. Oh well I hope to be well soon...I need to be.

Just a heads up I have made it so that regular 8.5x11 prints have free shipping as well as the matted velvet prints. I am going to try and keep it that way from now on. We will see. Also one month from TODAY I am shipping out the LAST of the orders for the holiday and then we "close" down until January 5th. We should be doing our Holiday special this weekend unless I feel like death warmed over. Also just remember that we are going to a holiday show on December 5th. Anyone in MD or coming to the show wanting to PICK UP a holiday order sans shipping can email me to arrange for that.

At night we have been continuing to go through the figurines. We are 1/2 way done with those. I am applying and looking at shows old and new for this year. I am getting quotes for new products and we are seeing what to let go.

I am sad to say Fabric Blocks and Scrapbook pages are not going to be an item anymore. The company isn't making them anymore. I have already taken them off of the site. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Purrsnicketys perfume oils are buy one get one free until they are gone. Just list what free ones you want in the notes section OR send me an email. I have the one oz size they don't even carry anymore so this is your chance to stock up. Once they are gone this formulation will be no more. They are being replaced with the Black Cat series.

Well I am off to bed again. Take care everyone!

Last night we had a lot of fun celebrating Johnnie's birthday. I even refrained from fiddling with some antiquing solutions so that I didn't have stained hands and arms for the occasion. I can't make any promises of that for Thanksgiving AKA the turkey genocide. Once upon a time I was a vegetarian and the holidays were especially fun for me in a family who all are meat. They even put meat in the stuffing they put in the bird! Heck even today I don't eat any sort of Mammal...IE Beef, Pork....(the warm fuzzies) and I STILL am cooked for my birthday meals things with chipped BEEF in them. I haven't swallowed a cow in over 15 years!!! Anyway I guess the point is that even now that I eat poultry and fish I still feel the Turkey Guilt of the holiday. Sooooo many turkeys! I always hate that the President "pardons" one like it is a crime to be delicious or something...I bet in turkey lore this day is talked about in hushed whispers. Do they know it is coming?? Anyway I wanted a tofurkey this year and my husband who would pretty much eat anything that was once alive was totally against it so no tofurkey for me. I'll have my two slices of white meat with a side of guilt but I still think the mass turkey consumption is a bit much to swallow. Poor things..

I had a schedule today, with hours and everything. That got shot to hell when I got up at 4 am to see the meteor shower and then went to bed again. IF I had gotten up when I wanted to I could have gotten SOOO much done. It is my fault. I hate schedules. I guess serving 12 years in Catholic schools make you resent any semblance of order. I have to buck my own system! Oh I could tell you stories of my youth that would shock and amaze you...I didn't take to the uniform another brick in the wall crap very well. The most hilarious part, I myself, a kid who almost got expelled more times then I can count, who got accused of inciting a riot AND found enough loopholes to get the handbook revised every year, was asked to speak to the impressionable youths on career day. I didn't even finish college! I declined because I am afraid of what I would tell them. Apparently they don't peruse the ol school record before they ask speakers to speak..SEE I KNEW those things weren't permanent! It was terribly flattering but I don't need a few dozen angry parents with pitchforks coming after me for undoing all that expensive programming they have been shelling out for all these years.

Now that I am "behind" today I guess I get to play catch up now. Oh I got a Lulu press sample calendar for 2010 and they turned out really nice!!! To purchase: http://www.lulu.com/content/lulustudio-calendar/the-fantasy-art-of-ash-evans-2010-calendar/7231210

WE are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

Arthur O'Shaughnessy. 1844–1881

Anyone can make art!! It takes bravery, determination and passion but with these traits and a little bit of magic anyone can do what I do. We have this odd elitist perception of art and artists that they do the impossible. I always hear at shows oh I can never do that. Sure you can! If a cat can make music any of you can. If an elephant can paint any of you can. People buy art because it speaks to them. If you have a message people relate to you are all set. Talent doesn't hurt either ;)

In a few years Johnnie and I are planning on moving so I can have a bigger better studio. One with a floor that is easy to clean so I can make an art mess and not go OH FRACK the carpet...Also so that Rio can start painting. He LOVES paint!! He wants to make art so bad but we can't let him ruin the rug so he will have to be patient for now.

He just makes sure I am doing it right:




Also I wanted to wish Johnnie a Happy Birthday!!! He is 35 today and we are having a nice dinner this evening :)

Late I know but I do what I can!

A few years ago I started my journey into the world of art and I was a very different person then I am today. My style has changed, what I want in life has changed and I have grown into a better stronger person. Still people cling to the first impressions I have left with them about myself, as an artist and my art. I don't like the box people are trying to make me fit into. I just am who I am. I really identify with this song and thought I would share it with you along with an art sample to show you how much I have changed.

Then:


Now:


Things are different now. I am different now. I hope several years from now I am different from what I am right now. That is the point. To grow as an artist and for things to grow they need space and time and air and nurturing.

I finished a piece I started today. It is for Johnnie's birthday on monday. He loves donkeys. He got it a little early so I can have it matted and framed for the actual day. I have never done a piece just for him before so that was a first. Digital from scratch in photoshop. Prints will be up on the site shortly.