Friday Night Cocktail

My goodness, is it Friday already? This week has flown by!

Since this is my "Birthday Party Weekend", I'm going to offer one of my favorite drinks in the world - nigori sake.

Most people probably know sake as a clear rice wine served hot, which tends to ease a bit of of its sharp flavor. In truth, the higher quality sakes are served chilled, including nigori - an unfiltered variety.
"Nigori" translates roughly as "cloudy". The bottle must be shaken before serving to properly blend the sediments at the bottom, resulting in a milky, finely grainy liquid that has a smooth flavor and subtly sweet flavor you won't find in other in other sakes.
It is so easy to drink, and paired with good sushi, it's heavenly. Seriously, there is a special kind of nirvana that can be reached only by eating great sushi and drinking nigori sake in good company.
A wonderful way to keep your nigori cold is to use a clever little bottle, like the one pictured above, which has a little pocket in the center that you fill with ice.
Another nice touch is to drink it from masu, traditional box-shaped cups made of cedar. These unique drinking vessels have been used for celebrating in Japan for centuries, and impart a delicate cedar aroma and flavor to the sake that is delightful and invigorating.

Kampai!

The Art of Can Tabistry

“Tabistry - [tab - us - stree] noun, plural -tries, verb, -tried, -try·ing.

• the art of creating versatile textile out of ordinary pop (soda)/bear/soup/fruit/other can pull tab woven together with fabric, ribbon, cord, wire, jump rings or any other material.
• a fabric consisting of can tabs which are woven together by hand to produce a design, often wearable, used for clothing, wall hangings, furniture coverings, etc.
  
• to furnish, cover, or adorn with pop tabs.”
  

So Tiffany defines her unique art form, but you really need to see to believe the extraordinary clothing and accessories she artfully weaves from such humble materials!
Truly a case of Trash to Treasure, and a wonderful way to creatively recycle all those beer or soda pop tabs most of us generate every day.
The result of her innovative technique evokes chain mail, mermaid scales or jewel-encrusted fabric that gleams and flexes and shimmers.
She includes the cost breakdown for some of her projects and they are astonishing. Imagine making an entire Ren Faire costume for $25!

Inspired? Want to try your hand at it? Tiffany offers an in-depth tutorial to get you started here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28080979

The Art of Can Tabistry Blog:
http://tabistry.blogspot.com/

Hilda

In the late 50’s, pinup artist Duane Bryers created Hilda.

Unlike the standard sleek, sophisticated sylphs common to pinup art, Hilda was a pleasantly plump country girl – unabashedly silly, perhaps a bit clumsy, and utterly charming.

Whether doing household chores or enjoying the pleasures of the coutryside, Hilda seems to posses a carefree joie de vivre that’s completely adorable and extraordinarily sexy.

You can sense the affection as well as the attraction the artist feels for the character…there is a loving, fondness in each composition that’s quite wonderful.

You can explore some of Hilda’s delightful adventures here:

http://members.tripod.com/hilda_art-ivil/hilda.html

and here:

http://www.artofteasing.com/pages/pinup_hilda/duane_bryers.html

Friday Night Cocktail: Frisky Angel

On time this time!
Tonight I'd like to share with you an original recipe - our House Cocktail, if you will...the Frisky Angel.
It began as a"This is all we have on hand" experiment and was so tasty that it has become our regular Adult Beverage. It's easy, relatively inexpensive, refreshing and low in calories (as cocktails go, anyway - you're basically only getting the calories from the alcohol, as the mixer only has, like, 2 calories!).

Ingredients:
(makes 2)

Vodka
Black Cherry Fresca
Peach Citrus Fresca

Method:
Half-fill 2 pint glasses (or in our case, plastic tumblers because I am notorious for breaking glasses) with ice
Pour in 2 oz. or so of vodka into each
Fill the rest of each glass with half Black Cherry Fresca, and half Peach Citrus Fresca
Stir and enjoy!

You can also use a single flavor, but we like the mix of the Peach and Cherry. I'm not fond of the Original Citrus (grapefruit) flavor.
If you want to get fancy, garnish with a wedge of lime or lemon, or a cherry.
You could also use flavored vodkas...we've tried it with vanilla vodka before and it was a bit sweet for my taste, but perhaps it could be balanced with a squeeze of lime?

I guess I'll just have to test that theory sometime!

Enjoy your weekend!

Please Score My Design!

My first submission to Threadless.com has just been accepted!
Check it out!:

http://www.threadless.com/submission/222485/Yoga_Pretzle

If my design is printed, Threadless will pay me $2,000 for it!
I could sure use the cash right now, so please help me get my design printed by going to Threadless (see link above) and scoring it.

The best score is $5: that means you give it a score of "5" and mark the "I'd buy it" checkbox. Comments are also helpful - if they are positive, anyway!

This is an awesome way to support your favorite (I AM your favorite, right??) artist without spending a dime!

Any support you can offer would be VERY MUCH appreciated!
:)

A Note About Watermarks

FYI: the watermarks (my signature + copyright symbol overlaying the image) and website URL are only placed on images displayed on the web.
These are devices to help prevent the unauthorized use of my artwork.
It is impossible to keep people from "stealing" images off the web - adding these (somewhat intrusive, I realize) elements is an effort to at least make sure I am identified as the artist and let people know where to go to find more if they like the art.
It can kind of function as a form of advertising, even if people are spreading the imagery around without permission.
In this day of wildfire internet memes, one can only hope that one’s artwork causes a web sensation and ends up proliferating through MySpace like a viral epidemic!
As long as my name and URL are on there, such “promotion” could possibly lead to greater recognition and hopefully, sales!

Of course, there are some people who think nothing of removing any identifying info from art they come across. It is true that the watermarks often obscure part of the image and this can be annoying. Artists have been forced to place the watermarks over integral parts of their images because if they don’t, the info can be easily cropped off, and unfortunately, often is.
There are even those who go to great lengths to excise the watermarks from art they find, removing signatures, copyright notices and URLs from the work (even if it requires extensive Photoshopping to remove overlapping elements) before posting them on their own sites/profiles/pages.
I consider this extraordinarily disrespectful (not to mention illegal).
If you like the work enough to post it on your MySpace page (or whatever), why would you do the artist such a petty disservice?

Whenever I share someone else’s artwork, I make every effort to discover who the artist is and include that information, as well as any relevant links to more of their work.
Not only should we all give credit where it’s rightfully due, we should try to encourage folks to find out more, if their interest is aroused.
And if you want to see the artwork in its full glory, unblemished by such unsightly intrusions, you should pay for it. Artists deserve compensation for their work, just like in any other profession.
Support the artists you dig! Spread the word! We can all use all the help we can get!

*(Steps down off soapbox and clears throat)*

The watermarks and URLs do not appear on my fine art prints, cards or apparel (though there is a tiny, unobtrusive copyright notice at the bottom of the apparel designs).

If you want to share my artwork with others, by all means point them to my website and/or post an image with my watermark and URL.

I even offer free avatar images for use in profiles and sigs, etc.:
http://www.cristinasangels.com/FreeAvatarsPage.htm
These images do not include any identifying info, but I ask that you give me credit and/or put a link to CristinasAngels.com somewhere in your sig or profile, if possible.


On behalf of all my fellow artists, thanks for listening!
:)

"Emma" Art Prints & Cards Now Available

My original "Emma" design featured a rounded "arched doorway" shape that looks really cool on the apparel (see preview image in previous post), but on a matted and framed print would have left blank white triangles in the upper corners, so I altered the design slightly for the prints and cards.
Also, my apparel designs generally include a "Cristina's Angels" logo, while the art prints and cards to not.

I invite you to check out the cool FineArtAmerica Greeting Card interface, which allows you to customize your cards with a personal message printed inside, as well as choose a background color and adjust the size and orientation of the image:
http://fineartamerica.com/showgreetingcard.php?id=489735
These features are available for all of my art print images.

More info:
About FAA Greeting Cards:

• FAA greeting cards are 5" x 7" in size and are produced on digital offset printers using 110 lb. paper stock.

• Each card is coated with a UV protectant on the outside surface which produces a semi-gloss finish.

• The inside of each card has a matte white finish and can be customized with a text message up to 500 characters in length.

• The artist's name and the name of the image is printed on the back of each card along with the FAA logo.

• Cards can be ordered in a horizontal or vertical configuration. Cards can be ordered with a white background or black background.

• All greeting card orders ship within 48 hours!

• Each card comes with a white envelope for mailing and gift giving.

Prices start at $4.95 for a single card. This is as low as I can price them and make any money (and while I do create my art because I am driven to and enjoy it, a gal has to make a living!). At first I thought this may be a bit prohibitively high, but a recent visit to my local greeting card store set me straight. Most of the cards I found were in this price range, or more, and those were mass-produced and non-customizable.
Also, if you buy the cards in packs of 10 or 25, the price-per-card goes down dramatically.
A 10-pack is $24.50 - that's $2.45 per card - less than half the individual card price!
A 25-pack is $50.00 - that's brings it down to $2.00 per card.

If you think you have no need for this many cards, think about how many people you know who would appreciate the artwork. Giving someone a unique card with cool artwork and a little "thanks for being my friend" note is a great way to make the world a better place - certainly worth $2.00, especially when it's supporting the artist!

Also - I'm working on holiday cards that would serve well as invitations and other special occasion designs, so stay tuned!