Working on St. Patrick's Day designs for dog and cat lovers. This Chihuahua was eager to send luck o' the Irish wishes!

Kiss Me I'm an Irish Chihuahua!

Art, Generosity, and Success

Kindness matters. Generosity makes a difference in the world. Why? Because it makes the world a better place to live in. That's got to be a good thing. Good work.There are a lot, a lot, of talented artists and designers in the world. Many of them are now online, so standing out gets harder to accomplish every day, but I know I am most drawn to work by designers who are also nice people and generous of spirit. I think a wonderful measure of success, beyond income and audience, is how many others you genuinely care to help toward their own goals and success. I've met a few artists who fit that category. I want to share some of these artists and their work here.

"Success is relative. Try to enjoy the ride."

Corrie Kuipers is one of the most talented, prolific, funny, and generous artists I've met. Her
high level of skill and output always amaze me and her work just makes me laugh. And laugh.
This is one design a crafter would love! You can get it here.

Another artist whose work I enjoy is Jen Goode. A genuinely nice person with a strong social conscience who also helps a lot of artists/designers gain exposure with Inside Designer Minds, an interview column on her website. She's always been very helpful and generous with her time since I met her on Great Gear, a group for POD designers and shopowners.

I hope you check out their work. It's Friday--have a great weekend!

Swine Flu and Animal Terrorism?

Last week there were stories of Swine Flu all over the news. Being an artist, I wanted to try to draw something in response. Something that wouldn't be offensive, as it is a serious illness and people have died. It was the fear and panic in all of the newscasts that bothered me the most. We're constantly warned of new threats and it seems we need to live in fear of something at all times. I've seen it referred to as "a culture of fear". It's impossible to really"live" in this mindset. So, humor was the only way I could respond to it.

I was playing with some design ideas and as an animal lover, I wondered about this animal connection--mad cow disease, avian flu, and now swine flu. What if... the animals were getting back at humanity for the long history of poor treatment. What if...they all got together, organized, and...voila! Terrorist animals. It was kind of a fun idea. Let me know what you think.