art is life

As we all know there are plenty of good things about consignment stores.

Great deals, unique buys, an eclectic collection of items from yesteryear…And it’s also cool when you can sell your work there too. I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with a few consignment situations like Paperie & Co. and Art is Art. I’m also pretty lucky I didn’t sign on to Red Cat Consignment in East Dallas.

It has come to my attention, via comments to an earlier blog post here that I wrote in July, that this place has shut it’s doors apparently and the owners seem to have disappeared with everyone’s stuff. This is all allegedly but I can’t help but write about it because of the comments I was getting. I previously wrote about this place because I loved it. At the time I wrote it I thought the people there seemed cool. Then some things happened along the way and I started to get a bad feeling. I never hung my stuff there. And that’s a good thing.

So if you are reading this, and previously posted comments to said post from July, it has been hidden. I have kept it for “just in case” but it is no longer visible. Feel free to continue the conversation, but please know I was NOT an employee of theirs nor did I have any other association with them other than purchases which now I feel need saging off.

Thanks.

Here it is Jan. 4 and I haven’t posted here since Dec. 1.

Time isn’t just flying…it’s disappearing.

As a single chick, this is the only Valentines Day coming up that I will actually look forward to because I plan to make a lot of gushy,  gummy Valentines images. And hopefully get them done before the end of the month. Still trying to figure out juggling this feat with my budget and time at the office (gotta pay for the gummies some kind of way).

The goal is actually to get folks/business to buy them first before printing, then they pay for themselves because they would be made to order.

Art is always a gamble in a sense.

I look forward to a new year of opportunities that I just have to be patient for, pray about and work to make happen as best I can. There is always a way and I plan to find it.

You can now order my Gummy Greeting Cards via a PayPal requested donation of $3.50. Please send this post to everyone you know! It’s super easy to order.  Just take a gander at the following images and see which one you like. Then just click the PayPal donation link below to purchase! And you don’t need PayPal to do this at all. There is a place at the bottom of the PayPay page that directs you to how to pay without an account. Drop me a line at artsbyjphotography at gmail dot com and tell me which one you would like and feel free to email me if you also have any questions!

Gummy Lights

Snowglobe Gummy

Gummy Free-For-All

Gummy Gift

This is a first for me.

I’ve recently been chosen out of hundreds of talented artists and photographers for a juried show this Friday.

I have entered juried shows before, not many, but a few, and I’ve never got into them and since those “failed” attempts I have learned how to grow.

But I’m happy to report that “Gummy Bonding” will grace the walls of Kettle Art Gallery in Deep Ellum as part of this Portfolio Review. I am really honored because I’ve always wanted to show there. And I’m also thrilled that professionals thought my gummies were worth choosing! It’s not that I don’t think the gummies are great, I just wasn’t sure a panel of tough pros would think so too. And to be quite honest, my body of work has really started to take on a new face — literally — so it was exciting to have a platform to test the waters on whether or not I was crazy…Well, I am still crazy, but you know what I mean.

I just want to continue growing and learning from my experiences. And I really want my love of these little sugary, gummy, cuddly things to one day take off in a crazy direction that I would not even have imagined. Look for Christmas cards soon. And here’s to whatever life will (hopefully) bring.

:: CHICKTALKDALLAS – Real Women. Real Discussion. (click this)

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Gummy World has made another blog debut. This time by a very cool online local mag called Chick Talk Dallas.

Everyone has a dream. I guess I didn’t really think mine would involve candy. Not only that, I know that this is a very popular “art form.” What I hope to accomplish one day is more than just making a business for myself…I just like seeing people’s faces light up.

Just this weekend at Arts Goggle hosted by ArtLoveMagic in Fort Worth, a man snuck by our table, bought “Gummy Daydream” and stuffed it in his shirt to surprise his girlfriend later. That is what I love about this. The fun, playfulness that comes out of all of us when we look at those funny little, cuddly, gummy faces.

I just would like to take this moment to say I think I prefer it over Google. The gummies prefer it too. That is all.

I’ve got some fun things you can purchase through my Web site, http://www.artsbyjphotography.com.

Tote bags
Magnets
A 20-sheet sticker page…

You name it, I’ve got it. And in your favorite gummy bears. Just take a look around.

http://tinyurl.com/gummybearphotog

When you visit the site and see a photo you want to purchase, just click buy and then the link for merchandise. That’s where you can find all kinds of cool stuff like playing cards and coasters.

Even though this is rubbery candy, it is also fine art. Please remember that as you browse. If you see anything you JUST HAVE TO HAVE but find your pockets on the light side, just email me at artsbyjphotography at gmail dot com. I may can work with you…

Hope you enjoy!

Growing a business is not easy. Let alone when you are the only partner!

Nor is it profitable in the beginning — especially when you are working a full time job and a possible part time one. But I’m  keeping the faith while making efforts to gain exposure. I haven’t checked on our gummies at the Paperie & Co. in a little while but the owner still seems confident they will do well in her shop. And many wonderful friends have purchased them.

In the last few weeks good things have been evident.

One: I will be the strolling photographer at Arts Goggle next month, an art and music event my cousin Riki Johnson, who is an artist, is producing. The gummies will be there too, up for sale in all their glory.

Two: The wonderful Laura Heymann has given my Web site a face lift! Check it out. I’m still working on minor things I amlooking to add but I could have NEVER done any of this without her. I loved my father’s hands but it was time to rework the site to show more of the things I do. I don’t ALWAYS stick gummies on things…or people! I happen to shoot portraits, weddings and events too.

Three: I love these people. Just read it and find out why.

Four: I’m hoping as well as praying big things will continue to come. And I will keep on peddling  Gummy World to gift shops around the area. At the moment I’m helping put to gether a benefit called Barn Aid which kicks off tomorrow.

It’s been a very busy month. Here’s to a little down time to get things gearing upwards and onwards! But who am I kidding. I never slow down…

I am not the first, nor the last, to shoot a gummy bear.

And the concept really came out of stress relief at work. I have to say that when I started doing it, I didn’t think I would have greeting cards in a shop or anything. But I want to keep pushing onward. That said, I know there is a guy who is currently on Facebook promoting his work and wrote on his Web site that a fellow photog considers him The World’s Leading Gummi Bear Photographer. The Facebook page was created not too long after mine was which I’m sure was a result of my getting the word out about my art.

I will give credit where it’s due, they are awesome shots. And he’s super talented. I’m surely not competing and I didn’t discover him until I recently googled “gummy bear photography” and found one of my posts on the first page under him. He was shooting them before me, but not that long ago. It is uncanny really. Maybe there were gummy bear cosmic forces at work or something.

I’ve been noshing on gummies since Amazin’ Fruit. He’s 10 years younger than me. Go figure. I’m slow!

Gummy Crying

Though I love his work, I think we are in different playing fields. His stuff is crisp and shot in a studio-like setting. I like to think of the gummies as folks like you and me, in an environment that coexists with humans. So they are bears among us and not separate. Silly as that sounds. That’s how I see it.

And in my Gummy World, it’s not clean. You might see people in them. Or more recently, a duck.

I hope the two of us can coexist. Maybe even meet each other one day. All in all, I’m just having fun. And I know he is too. Besides, he lives in the Czech Republic. I don’t mind being the World’s Leading Gummy (no “i”) Bear Photographer for the US.