thank you 2009

by tm on January 9, 2010

Botanical Lily No. 7733, ©2009 Tricia McKellar

Botanical Lily No. 7733

A wonderful year! 2009 was a big year for my art business. My photography sales exploded and I gained confidence that my dream of being a full time artist would one day be possible. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone that helped make that happen.

I was thrilled to contribute to a wonderful cause! N.E.D. (No Evidence of Disease) is a band of six doctors rocking to fight cancer. My art was selected for the cover of their cd!

It was a big year for press and publications for me.

2009 started off with the publication of Art Quilts at Play. The wonderful and talented Jane Davila and Elin Waterston invited me to collaborate on art for their book Art Quilts at Play.

Photojojo named me in their article 20 Photographers Whose Work You Can Actually Afford.

Jen at the Indie Fixx blog invited me to contribute art to her Feed Your Soul free downloadable art project. Feed Your Soul caught the attention of Apartment Therapy and my art was featured in an Apartment Therapy Unplggd post.

Daily Candy featured my photography in a weekend guide.

My digital collage art (the Plans & Diagrams series) was featured in Somerset Digital Studio, Vol 3, August 2009.

And I’m especially thankful to the many bloggers who had kind words about my art:
Poppytalk
The Bright Side Project
The Bowerbird Stories
New Dominion Blues
Magnolia Square
Pangea Handmade
Allyson Meier
Wee Sparrow
Oh Chalet
Moxie Photo and Design
Indie Fixx
The Experts Agree

In 2009, I started a project that’s been on my mind for a couple of years. Wonder Thinking is a blog of business & marketing tips for artists, crafters, indie designers. It’s in its infancy and I’m looking forward to seeing how it grows.

On a more personal note, it was a little bit of a tough year, though there were some silver linings.

My 19-year-old daughter went to Disney in Orlando for 6 months to work a co-op. I missed her terribly, but the bright side was that Fred and I had so much time with just the two of us.

My father’s wife’s adult son was diagnosed with brain cancer. I spent two weeks in Florida with my 84-year-old father while my step-mother went to visit her son. It was the longest time I had spent with my dad since I was a teenager.

My mother had some health challenges. The good news is that she had major surgery in December and is doing very well. The prognosis is good.

All in all, 2009 was a wonderful year for me. I am thrilled with the progress I made in my art and in my art business, though I know I have so much work to do in 2010. :)

How was your 2009? What’s your Year in Review? Did you blog about it? Please leave a link to your blog post in the comments :)

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wonder thinking

by tm on November 19, 2009

Botanical Lily No. 7820

Botanical Lily No. 7820


Hi there! I’ve started a new blog of indie biz tips called Wonder Thinking. If you’re a creative entrepreneur, it may be your cup of tea.

Thanks to some gentle nudging from Lesley, I’m working again on my Lily series.

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botanical lily photographs

by tm on November 12, 2009

Lily No. 7719

Lily No. 7719


I started working on a series of lily photographs in August. About 8 images have been published so far and I have maybe ten more images to work on. I bought several lovely lilies at the Whole Foods market and shot them over a couple of weeks. It was amazing to see the buds, then the blooms open, diminish, and fall away.

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zombie blog!

by tm on October 30, 2009

I’ve been taking a break from this blog for months while I work on my photography, cope with an empty nest, sell lots of photography prints on etsy, take care of my parents, & think about what I want this blog to be… It’s a zombie blog. Stay tuned. Changes are coming soon.

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new postcards for fall

by tm on October 20, 2009

Postcards: Birds & Landscapes

Postcards: Birds & Landscapes

New postcards of birds & landscapes for fall. Available in my etsy shop.

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feed your soul

by tm on July 20, 2009

Feed your soul. Free downloadable art. A fabulous project from Jen of Indiefixx.

Pink, the image above, is my contribution to the Feed Your Soul vault of wonderful imagery. Visit Indiefixx to download a high resolution image file of Pink. Free! Thanks for this opportuntity Jen!

And a big thanks to Apartment Therapy Unplgged for featuring my art in their post about Feed Your Soul!

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daily candy!

by tm on July 9, 2009

screenshot

Holy cow!!! I was featured on Daily Candy today! Thanks Daily Candy!

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summer

by tm on July 8, 2009

The birds along Lake Wheeler Road continue to catch my eye. I live for sunny days that I can pack up my camera bag and ride around with the windows down looking for whatever is out there.

I’m so often amazed that my photographs are better if I start with an “empty cup.” A really wonderful artist once told me he starts every day in the studio by setting a tea cup upside down to remind him to let go of his old ideas & be open to new ideas.

The image above is Summer, new in the Departure series (on flickr, on etsy). The slowness of Southern summertime and yearnings of flight and wander inspire these works. Original photograph with digital painting.

I’ve been honored to get some really sweet mentions on blogs & I’ve been remiss not to post these wonderful links on my own blog. Thank you!

5 O’clock Crows

Emmy Lu

Heather-Elaine

The Experts Agree

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light & dark

by tm on July 5, 2009

New seashell photographs on flickr! The shells are also in my etsy shop.

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tulips

by tm on March 24, 2009

Tulips. More wonderfulness from last weekend’s still life photo shoot. The thing that turns me on the most about photography is that it’s easy and difficult at the same time. The more I learn, the more I realize I have yet to learn. It’s so cool when I see that my work is improving. :)

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still life with tulips pears & roses

March 22, 2009

I’ve been venturing out a little with my photography– setting a high ISO, trying more high-key work, working on my still lifes… I tried a lot of variations of the things I bought at Fresh Market– pears, lemons, strawberries, bouquet with roses, gerber daisies, variety of greens, tulips,…

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photojojo

March 3, 2009

A big big big thanks to photojojo for including me in their list of 20 photographers:
20 Photographers Whose Work You Can Actually Afford
photojojo.com/content/buy-this/20-affordable-photographers
Happy day! :)

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my art at Duke Raleigh Health Center

February 23, 2009

Pigment prints from my Luna & Insect Machine series are in Duke’s permanent collection and hang in the Duke Raleigh Eye Center.

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wonderful day

February 9, 2009

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Temps in the 70s. The entire day off with my honey. We spent the day driving around with our cameras. We first headed down to Bentonville Civil War Battlefield and then took the back roads home. Happy day.

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nearly

February 5, 2009

New work in the Departure series.

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