Monday, April 18, 2011

Giveaway #5: Art Print (5x7)

I cannot say enough about the beauty of Am's artwork, including pictures of brown kids! Meet Am:

I am a mom of four living in central Illinois. My husband and I have a blended family- I have two girls and he has two boys. Aside from drawing and painting I love photography and reading in my spare time. Though with four kids, there isn’t an enormous amount of ‘spare time’ in my life.

The name of my shop is The Extent of Silence . It actually started out as just charcoal, pencil drawings, and portraits. Over time my art has evolved into a more colorful and ‘illustrative’ style. My first love is charcoal drawings and portraits, but illustrations are way more fun! Also, illustrations do not require the precision and perfection that portraits do so it is much more relaxing and less stressful.

Even though I always wanted to be an artist, I was originally a Psychology major in college. I thought that this would allow me to have a ‘steady’ job while doing art on the side. However, when I finished college and landed an ‘office’ job I realized it wasn’t for me. Being in a cubicle all day was so boring and weekends were spent cleaning my house and running errands. I soon realized that a forty hour work week just didn’t leave any time for art. After about four months in an office I decided that I had to give ‘Art’ a try. I wasn’t sure ‘how’ I was going to do it, but I was determined to find a way.

After quitting my office job I spent quite a bit of time researching different ways to sell your art online. I ran across another illustrator’s web site (Stephanie Fizer) and she had a link to her Etsy shop. I had never even heard of Etsy before, but after checking it out I really liked what I saw. I sent Stephanie an email and asked her what her experience had been, and she had a lot of positive things to say. She was very helpful and patient with my million questions! It hasn’t always been easy. There have been times I thought about giving up, but I just have to keep trying!!

My Etsy shop is unique because my illustrations are my own personal style. Some of my work is cute and colorful and happy, and other pieces have a lot of ‘mood’ and are more wistful. I often draw on my own childhood. This is especially true with my illustrations A Whisper On the Wind and Take Care, We May Never Pass This Way Again.


GIVEAWAY ITEM: One 5x7 of the winner's choice.

WAYS TO ENTER: 1: Becoming a blog follower and leave a comment telling me you did so. 2: Post about the giveaway on Facebook and tell me you did so via a comment. 3: Post about the giveaway on your blog and leave me a comment telling me you did so. 4: Visit Elizabeth's Etsy shop and tell me what your favorite item is.

WHEN, WHERE, and HOW: Enter up to four times on this blog post from now until noon on April 22. A winner will be posted on April 8th. The winner is responsible for setting up an Etsy account and contacting Am to claim her prize. Special thanks to Am for supporting kids of all colors by making beautiful products!

6 comments:

  1. I follow your blog!
    geddes032500@aol.com

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  2. I came across your blog from the transracial adoption group- so glad I did! I'm now a follower via google reader!

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  3. I love all of her stuff, but I think my favorite is "the girl who liked to read"
    adorable! I was wishing there would be a piece with a brown boy- it's so hard to find artwork for my son's room that looks like him :)

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  4. blogged about ya http://www.maternalmaddness.com/2011/04/transracial-adoption-blog.html

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  5. The girl who loved to read is really beautiful...although there are several I like.

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