First things first. Let’s stand and applaud Sara R and the Kos Katalog team. Then let’s applaud all the wonderful people who make a point of supporting the arts by supporting the artists in their communities, whether local or online. Good business. Good art. Good community. It’s all interrelated.
My business is multifaceted. As a creative self-employed person who works from home, my work is my life. I am a painter first. I am an ambi-brained artist who is equally at home with mathematics and poetry. I have written books on expanding creativity, as well as business advice for other creative souls. And I am a professional freelance graphic designer and web developer. Everything I do is intertwined. All these things are simply different sides of the same ball, each visible and connected to and from the other; create, teach, design. Intertwine. Sometimes rhyme.
My name is Alexandria Levin when it comes to art and design. The name is Painted Jay Publishing, LLC, when it comes to books. You know me as asterkitty. It’s been a while since I’ve written a diary, but I have been creating these banners for various and assorted Daily Kos groups for awhile now.
The bare URL for this multifaceted world is www.alexandrialevin.com. You can get everywhere from there.
I am listed in five different categories in the Kos Katalog: Books, Fine Art, Jewelry, Services and Web Design.
Art
I paint dark and beautiful, strange and colorful magical realist oils; featuring stuffed animals, still-lifes, semi-abstract landscapes, trees, urbanscapes and other abstracts. There is also a Special Sale section on my site, with 36 paintings (some new) being offered at low discounted prices for Kossacks and other friends. To see a pictorial history of my work as an artist, click on the ‘evolution’ link on my site.
From my artist statement:
Painting has always been a means of story-telling about my life, my dreams and visions, and my observations of the world. I process things visually. My natural inclination to allegorical, narrative work has continued to deepen over time. For awhile now, I have been playing with mixed realities, and I seem to be developing a gritty magical realism in some of these pieces. Personal and social issues remain prevalent in my work.
For me, art is thought made visual. The sensual act of painting is one of balancing truly being able to see with giving form to that which is unseen. My easel is my cello, the paintbrush is my bow. The brush strokes are the melody, while the nuances of color are made of individual musical notes. I paint to sing. I paint just to breathe.
Autumn Rush, © 2012, oil on panel, 12x16"
My painting website is here: www.alexalev.com
Lavender Rabbit is part of the Special Sale mentioned above. The link to that section is here: www.alexalev.com/special-sale-still-life.html
Graphic Design and Web Development
I am a graphic designer, web developer, art director, fine artist, writer and creativity coach with organizational and project management skills. With years of experience in designing and producing a wide range of print and presentation materials from business cards to booth display, I have worked with an equally diverse clientele from individual artists and non-profits to universities and municipalities.
I have been consistently involved with website design and development for the past fourteen years. I create custom websites based in HTML and CSS. I am now in the process of mastering Responsive Web Design, and will be offering this service early in 2015, when the new Inside-Out Center website has been launched.
My expertise is in being both logical and creative, intuitive and pragmatic. I work to seamlessly combine visionary and perceptive aesthetics, informed by a finely-tuned color sensibility, with an organizational approach that considers both the minute details and the big picture. The result is work that is clean, colorful, functional and professional.
Along with client testimonials, you will find my design portfolio at: www.alexandrialevin.com/designportfolio.html
Website I created last year for Witness to Innocence.
Books
In the spirit of DIY, I own a tiny little publishing company called Painted Jay Publishing. I have written and published two highly-recommended books for artists and other creative folks; ‘Pricing Your Artwork with Confidence’ and ‘Drawing Out the Muses’. Both are available in print and ebook formats. More books will be published over the next few years, including poetry. Creating books comes from both the artist and teacher in me.
Drawing Out the Muses
Find and develop unlimited creative inspiration from the everyday world
In the book; Drawing Out the Muses, you will find a clear understanding of the nature of visual creativity. With over 300 projects, both simple and complex, each designed for the purposes of seeing, thinking, doing and/or awakening creative potential, you will have years worth of exercises to follow and a lifetime of knowledge for developing your own creative ability.
For all artists by any definition, and from beginner to professional. Designers, students, hobbyists, educators, workshop leaders and event planners will also find great value in Drawing Out the Muses.
Pricing Your Artwork with Confidence
An extensive step-by-step guide to pricing artwork and fine craftwork
Pricing Your Artwork with Confidence is the only detailed guide dedicated to helping artists understand and calculate the actual cost of creating their artwork. This one-of-a-kind book is the path to clarity on a subject that all-too-often has been shrouded in mystery. There is no reason for guesswork anymore.
Written by an artist with a mind for math, logic and perception, as well as a deep interest in fair-play for her fellow artists, this book lays out step-by-step means of coming to a solid pricing structure. Pricing Your Artwork with Confidence is a must-have book for any artist serious about their professional career.
My author’s page at Amazon, with links to the books and ebooks. Both volumes are also published as ebooks at Nook. Or go to my site;
Painted Jay Publishing.
Click here to see samples of my writing at LinkedIn Pulse. This include excerpts from my books.
Jewelry
Jewelry was a side business when I lived in New Mexico, but it has since been turned back into a hobby. I still have plenty of beads. Beads are candy you can wear. This is where I explore color and pattern in glass and stone. Click here to see beaded jewelry.
www.alexandrialevin.com/jewelry.html
Stone and glass earrings, slightly larger than life-size.
Location of business
With all this talent, hard work and ability, you would think I would be rich by now... or at least safely ensconced in the middle class. Instead, and with a combination of supporting an elderly family member since I was young, the lovely things the banks have done to all of us, and being in the wrong place for the past twelve years... I am just scraping by. Fortunately, I am doing the things that I love to scrape by. But still...
Which bring me to the question of location, which was in the outline for these diaries. Location does not matter in terms of business. There is internet, there is phone, there is mail, there is shipping. Just the same, location does matter in terms of getting my painting career back on track and being in a generally supportive community. I am unhappily stuck in Philly. I want to move back to New England, specifically just north/northwest of Boston where I have people, where things feel right to me, where things feel like home. I want to go home.
Support any facet of my business, and not only are you going to get something wonderful that you want and/or need, but you will be supporting a lifelong dedicated artist. And for that, my gratitude is immense.
(all images in the diary above and in my own comments below are © Alexandria Levin, 2004–2014)
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Kos Katalogue: November 2014
The Holiday Season is almost here! Please consider buying your holiday or celebration gifts for friends and family from the Kos Katalogue.
Kos Katalogue is an online catalog of businesses owned by people who cherish and promote liberal values. Handmade or original gifts include pet supplies; fine art; quilts; jewelry; children's department; arts and crafts; stationery; books; clothing; craft supplies; electronics; food and drink; household sundries; yarn, knitting, crochet, and weaving; freelance services; software and webdesign; sporting goods; and music.
Below are four examples of these handmade or original gifts. Thanks for your support.
Community Quilt Project David M Bowman Studio
Wings: Hands on Silver Laughing Coyote Woodworks
Please remember to republish these diaries to your Daily Kos Groups. You can also follow all postings by clicking this link for the Kos Katalogue Group. Then, click 'Follow' and that will make all postings show up in 'My Stream' of your Daily Kos page.
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