A NEW ART TRIBUTE TO THE LEGENDARY GENE SIMMONS AND KISS

I have always loved the drama and stage costumes of the band, KISS. What fun to walk around in cool leather costumes and a mask of face paint. It appealed to my artistic mindset.

I also always kind of secretly admired punkers for their dress code and the courage to look like wild post-apocalyptic denizens of the dark. I want spiked hair in purple and magenta!

I had a little fun with this pop art of Gene Simmons, a man I have grown to admire for his manipulation of marketing and for his intelligence as well. This is a man who knows how to market his brand and promote himself. Rock on, Gene!

I wanna rock all night and party every day!



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Stop By and Listen to My RETRO POP CULTURE TALK SHOW

TRIPPIN' DOWN MEMORY LANE

A Pop Culture Talk Show that will
Blast you to the Past

Take a nostalgic journey back to in time
with your host
POP ART DIVA

WHEN: July 17th
10:00 a.m. (MST)
1 p.m. (EST)

WHERE:
www.blogtalkradio.com/popartdiva

Call in to share your memories
(347) 326-9293

or simply log on to listen and enjoy the nostalgia: www.blogtalkradio.com/popartdiva

Chat available - Online talk available

Be there or Be Square!

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FREE SHIPPING AT MY LIFE IS LIKE ART SHOP!

Just in case you've been wanting something from my store. . . there's FREE shipping on all CafePress orders over $65 from today, July 8th through July 20th to any order shipped within the United States.

Use the coupon code FREESUMMER.

So stop by the Pop Art Diva BOUTIQUE where you can get all my pop culture art on gifts and apparel or my Life is Like Art Shop below.

Buy Great Art Inspired Products at The LIFE IS LIKE ART Shop - Free Shipping within the U.S. until July 20th!

I'M DOING ART - IT'S CALLED WEB DESIGN

It's summer and I don't do a lot of work for art shows in the summer - and frankly I think I'm retired from art shows altogether!! I've been planning to stop because I'm getting older and the physical demands are getting too much for a baby boomer with a damaged back.

The economy may just have sped up my retirement plans - high gas prices tends to make art shows a low priority destination! Thank God I got my web businesses started a few years ago!

I've planned to go entirely into my web enterprises within a short time anyway. I just finished creating all my online stores and have linked all my blogs to them (you'll see a link to my free CafePress store for this blog at the bottom of the post). I've spent the last month revamping PopArtDiva.com to help promote my art, my online stores and my other sites as well and I'm almost finished with that revamp - probably the end of next week!

This image above is a screen shot off one of my new product pages that I took while checking the code live - I've streamlined the shopping card and shipping information and created an image based navigation system in addition to the top nav bar - people love to click on icons and pictures! Every piece of art has several links to the online store page where that art is on cups, tees, cards, aprons, coasters and more merchandise, as well as posters for $25!

In this economy it's good to have your art on merchandise in a wide price range instead of just giclees on gallery wrap canvases that start at nearly $200!

I may also add a graphic design page - I've had so many requests from my online friends and business associates to do mastheads and graphics like the ones I've done for my sites and blogs that I've decided to add that service. I'm working on the fee schedule right now but it looks like I'll have fees starting as low as $250 for an animated masthead of a company logo up to $500 for a simple logo design. I've already started on 3 projects for my Baby Boomer Diva sisters.

So that's where I've been - just in case you've wondered if I fell off the face of the earth - I did, I fell into cyberspace and just came up for some fresh air before I dive back in later today!

Now go buy a tee shirt, cup or poster at my store and help support the arts by supporting an artist - ME!

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YES, ART IS WORK. NO, IT'S NOT ALWAYS FUN

People think that artists don't work. They think we sleep 'til noon, have a few lattes, throw some paint at a canvas and call it a day. They think we doodle for a few hours and then party into the wee hours of the morning.

I'd love to have them follow me around for a week or two. Right now I am in the middle of revamping PopArtDiva.com. I do love doing my websites but there is more drudge work involved than pure creativity. I just spent the last two weeks resizing and organizing all my images for the new pages. Bah. Total drudgery. Not fun at all.

I do not sleep until noon, I work about 16 hours a day sitting at a computer screen. My coffee is slurped in between keystrokes. I haven't done a fun, creative thing since I started to lay out the templates, resize the art and burn files to DVDs. I'm saving my party for when I upload my shiny new website look.

Prior to the web revamp I was building my online store at CafePress. More work and long hours. Next I will start the designs for the three new domains I just bought. In between I will allow myself the luxury of designing some new pieces for my stores and websites and posting to my blogs. Oh, and I might sleep a little and catch up on all the Top Chef episodes waiting for me in my DVR!

Oh, btw, the design above is one of my abstracts I did when I actually was having fun as an artist! I call it Robin Williams Shirt because it was inspired by comic Robin Williams shirt!

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ART CAN DARN NEAR KILL YOU!

I came across this article in Yahoo news about Mexican artist Filemon Trevino who wanted to create a drawing that would get him in the Guinness Book of World Records. Trevino created a drawing that is over a quarter of a mile long on the human heart and circulatory system .

He says that his attempt to break the existing world record became an obsession that led him to neglect his health. He spent over 6000 hours and used over 800 pencils in the course of his masterpiece, was hospitalized seven times for dehydration - he became so obsessed he forgot to drink water!

Now that is true passion for one's art! I admit that I can become so involved with my work at times that I will not stop even when my body is demanding rest, nutrition and a break from the tension and hunching over that is a habit with me when I work, but I've never been hospitalized as a result!

Don't ever let anyone tell you that art is not work or that it's easy! Just tell them about this truly dedicated - though slightly over obsessed - artist, Filemon Trevino!

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ART IS ART IS ART - If you make it pretty they will come?

I haven't been in the studio for a few weeks but I have been making art! I've been creating some images for my navigation icons on my new shop - the PopArtDiva Boutique and for the redesign of PopArtDiva.com.

Summer is generally the time I work mostly on my web spots and online enterprises because I have fewer art shows. This is especially nice when you live in Arizona - you get to work at home, inside, awash in air conditioning! It gets so hot here that it's not even fun to go out to the movies because you end up soaked in sweat just walking to the car! So I'm happy with my keyboard and my Wacom tablet and a cold Pepsi!

The image here is the icon you click to enter my Pop Art Section! I took several of my pop art images that are featured in the store and combined them and added the type for navigation. I plan to use the same icons on my website's homepage - I love to be able to use one image for more than one purpose! Check out the store to see some of the other icons I designed.

When you have a large site you have to break it down into sections and the best way to point people where you want them to go is by an image, or icon if you want to use computer vernacular. Images are really critical on a web page - they keep people's interest and they can create focus on important areas. You have to known how to keep them small and still get your message across. A picture really is worth a thousand words on the web so you want a relevant image or combination of images that are clean and viewable at a smaller size.

When I created the icons I used art from the sections that was going to reduce well, have a dynamic impact and give the best impression of what images were available in that section of my store. These are things you want to think about when you're creating composite images or icons for your sites.

So, a little lesson in designing web images and a little update about my artistic activities! If you want an update on my personal life and my other obsessions stop by The Martini Diva and The Diva of Tiny Foods!!!

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