It's alive!!!

Years ago, I began to experiment with developing a paper robot sculpture. I made one around 2001, and then let the idea sit. I have been trying, to no avail, to get back around to the idea for the last year or so. Finally, I found a few moments in the last few months to work out some details and make some new prototypes.

Now I have the first of the Paperbot 3000 Kit series available in my Etsy store. You get 3 sheets of robot parts which you can cut out, fold
and glue to make your own little yellow robot.

Hopefully, I will be releasing other colors and models later in 2008.

The Final Reminder...

One last little reminder that the last day for the BOGO sale is tomorrow, 12/31/07. It's your last chance to get free John W. Golden art for a while. Probably. :)

But seriously, I've got to take a break from the BOGO thing for a while so I can get some new artwork out and do some housecleaning in the Etsy shop.

Hope you'll take the opportunity to get some free art while you can.

Wii got one!

After an incredibly grueling rush to get my holiday orders out in time (packed and shipped 96 orders in one straight 36-hour stretch, and that was just Tuesday and Wednesday, I was sleepily standing in the checkout line at our local Toys R' Us.

We had long ago given up on getting a Wii for the kids. We did not even try. I had spent the last 45 minutes trying to see if an alternate gift was in stock, which it was not. Many decisions made that morning (Dec.22), had they been made differently, would have put me standing somewhere else when a man walked by with a Wii under his arm.

I debated asking a cashier if they had Wiis, envisioned the stampede and that special humanity that only holiday shopping can bring out in the best of us, and instead slipped out of line and strolled back to the video game section. A stack of papers in a little plastic sleeve answered my question. We were getting a Wii.

I called my wife and gave her the "meant to be" speech, and fortunately she agreed.

I got my Wii and snuck out quietly, keeping a wary eye for poachers in the parking lot. That's kind of a joke, but we did have some thefts locally when the Playstation 3 came out.

So, even though I am still busy with getting the art out to the world, I have had a few moments to play with the Wii. It's cool and fun, but so far the best thing is that it gives my son and I access to GameCube games that we could not play before. Pikmin is addicting.

It's sad though how sore I am from fake bowling and boxing. And my kid is already beating me at fake Tennis.

BOGO Sale is going down!!!

Just a quick post to put out a little reminder that the biggest and longest BOGO sale in John W. Golden history is ending soon!

I'm finally calling it on this one. Thanks to everyone who participated!!

The sale will end at 12:01 am EST on Jan. 1, 2008. This is probably most likely your last chance to BOGO for a while. :)

I'll be posting soon on what's coming up in early 2008 and what I have been up tyo lately.

Scottie is up...

I have been stealing a few spare moments between dropping different kids off at different schools to get more dogs done. This morning's dog was a Scottish Terrier. Check it out on Etsy.

30 60 90...

I have begun to add to this series, which I have never officially named...

I really enjoy creating pieces in this look, which is kind of a mix of Russian Propaganda posters and Carnival/Sideshow Art. I've got a few more pieces in mind, and the latest is 30 60 90, a little tribute to the cassette tape.

I had my "musical awakening", if you want to call it that, during the heyday of the cassette. I made many a mix tape in my day, sometimes for me but most often as an amorous expression.

Probably 80% of the music I have written and recorded in my life ended up being preserved on cassette, and occasionally I will find a stray cassette and spend a few hours re-discovering songs that I had forgotten and no longer remember how to play.

This weekend I played some of those songs I do remember with some old bandmates at a show in Boone, NC. It was a whirlwind stop for me. My son and I drove 6 hours up on Saturday
morning. I practiced with these guys while my son visited with friends. We played the show, and the next morning it was 6 hours back to home.

It was well worth it, because all proceeds were donated to the family of Drew Newell (1985-2007). Drew was a friend and employee of
Ken and Wendy Gordon, old friends of mine, and he was killed Thanksgiving weekend by a drunk driver as the Newell family returned from Thanksgiving. Drew's father was critically injured.

The show became an impromptu fundraiser, as a pitcher was passed among the audience that raised $275. It was discussed and decided that the take at the door should go to the fund, and Ken and Wendy personally donated to bring the total to $1000.

Holiday Shipping Deadlines, and some new stuff...

Holiday shopping is in full swing! Based on what the folks at the postal service tell me, the following will be my shipping deadlines:

Inside the U.S.: Items ordered by 5:00pm EST on Dec. 18th will ship in time for delivery by Dec. 22nd.

International Orders: The cut-off for delivery before Christmas is Dec. 8th at 5:00pm EST.

I have recently begun to sell sets of select 3" x 3" images from a few of my series. These are available at Etsy. I hope to create some new pieces for the bird collage series soon, but I suspect I won't be doing much besides shipping between now and the shipping deadlines.

Lots of dogs are on my list now, and hopefully I can get them out in time for the holidays.

New Collage: Alpaca

Got some newer collages available now, one of which is the Alpaca you see here. These have been available only as the little prints I include in every Etsy order. Now they are available in my Etsy store...

Latest news and new work...

I have been staying super busy keeping the Etsy store running, but I do have some new work. Here's a new dog, an Irish Terrier. I also have a Tri-color Springer Spaniel. Schnauzer and Corgis are next. Hope to have many new dogs in time for the Holiday season.

Thank you Target!

My family loves Target. Can you say "discounted Halloween stuff"? As a retail store, they utilize a lot of great graphic design and designers, so I always enjoy browsing the store.

Now I have another reason to love Target. Thanks to Little & Company, a design firm that does work for Target (They do those cool gift cards), some of my work was featured in the latest edition of Red, a Target-produced magazine, in an article on Etsy. This edition is the campus edition and is distributed through nationwide college campus newspapers. It goes out to approximately 1 million college students.

Also featured were Etsy members Sugarloop and Tinymeat. I am honored to be included with these 2 amazing Etsians.

100th Post, and more monsters...

I finally made it to my 100th post on this blog! As irregularly as I post, that has to count for something. Here's a resolution to post more often.

I have 2 new monster prints available. They are available at Etsy.

The BOGO sale is still going on, and keeping me pretty busy during daylight hours.

In other Etsy news, I got my first Treasury yesterday, and had a chance to help showcase some of my favorite artists on Etsy. It actually is a lot of fun making a Treasury. You can view mine here.

Monster Heartbreak

I have long wanted to do something with monsters, and finally have started with the first in a series. "Monster Heartbreaks" uses some of my urban textrues with a simple illsutration style. I am still figuring out exactly what this series will be.

You can find this at Etsy.

BTW, the BOGO sale is still going on. Details in my store description.

ACEO ATC Backgrounds...

Some of my collage friends begged me to make some of my urban textures available as card backgrounds for Artist Cards Editions and Originals and Artist Trading Cards. So, I did.

These were a lot of fun to make, and I can't wait to see what people will do with them.

$7 gets you 9 backgrounds on which to build your next great masterpiece. There are 2 sets to choose from. Each texture is a composite image made from at least 3 urban texture photographs that I have taken.

Available on Etsy.

Art Greeting Cards now available...

I mentioned cards early this year, and finally...they are becoming available in my Etsy Store.

Right now, I am starting with a Pick your Mix set of 4 from the Fido Series. You can pick 4 of the current breeds I offer. I will be adding more sets of my choosing, and an option to Pick your Mix from almost every image I offer.

These cards are made by me, using hand-tipping (pasting) to apply the fine quality print to each card. Set of 4 envelopes included.

Cards are blank inside and have a small URL for my shop on the back side.
Your recipient can frame the art later if they want. These are the same high quality prints and papers that I sell in my shop, just sized for greeting cards.

Do I really want to bring another robot into this crazy world...?

Well... of course I do! Robots need love too!

This series was without one single lady robot, as was pointed out to me by way of a request, so now Doreen makes an appearance in the Etsy shop. More to come, and maybe a robot dog, too!

I love New Yorkie...

One of my most frequent requests for my Fido Series is the Yorkshire Terrier. Finally done, and on Etsy. This was a good exercise, as long hair was not something I had done yet with the dog series, so some stylistic figuring out was required. This will make a Sheepdog and some other dogs lots easier to do.

Poodles...

This is by far the hardest breed I have done! It took several days to get the hair on the top of the heads right. But they are finally done and available on Etsy.

Waking the sleeping giant...

Years ago we jumped onto the world wide web with thegoldengallery.com. It was pretty much a portfolio site for our gallery. People in a hurry could briefly visit the brick and mortar gallery and then go to the website later if they liked what they saw.

Problem was, they couldn't buy directly from the site. This was pre-Paypal. Well, after years of laying dormant, we are going to re-launch the site, hopefully soon. It will feature my work, my mother's work, some of my grandmother's knitted scarves, my dad's audio CDs, and my son's and daughters' artwork. We will also have some of our long-time employee Melissa Manley's metalsmith work.

The re-launch may coincide with our 30th Anniversary celebration (more on that later) in November.

You can see the beginnings of the new homepage here.

1000 orders...

Last week, quietly and with no fanfare at all, I passed 1000 items sold in my Etsy store.

So today...TA-DA! Fanfare. Thanks to everyone who has purchased a print from me over the life of the store. I am planning a customer appreciation sale in the near future.

For now, you can take advantage of the BOGO sale going on in the Etsy Store.

Custom Art for Kids - Mot and Dot

About 5 years ago, my wife and I collaborated to make a cute little fairy princess print for my daughter. Then we ended up making them for our friends' daughters.

Everytime we made one, I would think that customized characters for kids would be a cool way that parents could get art for their kid's room that meant something special to each kid.

So...in typical John W. Golden fashion, I let the idea stew for 5 years until some nudging in the right direction by my wife brought about our new collaboration, motanddot. We have a growing collection of little characters that can be personalized for your little character.

Check them out on motanddot.etsy.com

Time for more BOGO...

It's time for another BOGO sale. See details in my Etsy Shop description...

This sale has no set end date, but it is subject to end without notice.

This is a great time to get some holiday shopping done early...

Soapbox Derby...

I have always loved soapbox derby cars and the roundness of the racecars of the 1930s. That's what inspired these 4 collages of some racers that I designed. These are new and really have a masculine bent to them.

Available at Etsy...

More birds...

I have added two more birds to my catalog – A Red Wing Blackbird and a Wren.

These can be found at Etsy.

Memories of New York...

Another Spring Break trip, this one with a college Sociology Class. Was way into photography by then, and New York was full of texture. I was beginning to move away from close-up abstract photography to more recognizable subjects.

This one is called New York Windows No.1, and is updated here for the Rovinato Series.

Available on Etsy.

Memories of Paris...

During My senior year of high school, my sister was spending her junior year of college in Paris. We took a family trip to visit her over my Spring Break. At the time, I was rather disagreeable, as I wanted to spend my Spring Break the way high school seniors do.

In retrospect, it was an amazing trip. My dad took a lot of photographs. My interest in photography was yet to blossom, and I was extremely jet-lagged.

Fast-forward to now – I have the slides my dad took, and a style that I think would fit a collaboration. So, I have added some of these images of France to the Rovinato series.

Available at Etsy.