What you Get is What you See

"Opaque" - Paola De Giovanni

This photograph by British artist Paola De Giovanni captured my attention the minute I saw it. On one level it reminded me of sitting in the back seat of the car as a child, wiping away the frost of the window with my mitten. On a technical level, I thought about photographic clarity. One of my early photography instructers had the idea that one needed to learn how to take a crisply executed photograph before getting into taking a deliberate fuzzy one.

If what artist Ildikó Kalapács recently told me in an interview is true, and I do concur with her thought, is that "art is not necessarily about whether or not you like it, but what you take away from it," then critiquing art is boiled down into some pretty basic elements and not nearly as complicated as some people want to make it.

Some art, and literature has a multi-layered effect on us. Sometimes this is deliberate by the creator, and sometimes it is a happy coincidence. But I tend to be attracted to art that I can view many times, and always come away with a little something new or different than the previous time I viewed it.

What are your thoughts?

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

From Alaska to Australia

Handpainted Silk Camisole - Kathy Davis

It never ceases to amaze me how far spread buyoutisdethebox.com visitors are. While looking at some stats recently I couldn't help but enjoy that on one far end of the map, Alaska, to the other far corner, Australia; we had visitors. I immediately felt a connection to such faraway places of the world, knowing that our website users were viewing and choosing the same great artwork that I look at every day.

We study trends on the Internet, as well as the trends that pertain specifically to our site. For instance according to a recent Nielsen//NetRatings, a global leader in Internet media and market research, The biggest online shopping day of this holiday season was December 12th with 30.4 million unique visitors to the eShopping Holiday Index. On that day, eBay led the top shopping destinations with a unique audience of 12.4 million, followed by Amazon with 6.1 million unique visitors, and Wal-mart.com
with 4.0 million.

Our own peak shopping day was a week earlier, on December 5th. I would like to think that is an indication that our holiday shoppers are a little more organized than the general public.

Knowing our buying market, is just one aspect of running a website that specializes in Creative Consumerism™. Our bottom line is to showcase beautiful art and fine handmade things to those that appreciate such things. From there the art sells itself.

Take a look at these beautiful handpainted silks by artist Kathy Davis. A brilliant fashion statement in any season, Kathy's wearable art silks will make you stand out in a crowd. I know I own one myself. Everytime I wear it someone notices the stunning camisole.

Take Care--Ruth Mitchell

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Can Learn from my Dachsund

What's the point of life if you never stop to enjoy it? I rarely take the time to ask myself this, but this past week I was given a reprieve from my routine, making such thoughts more available. Right now it is pouring down raining outside, the dogs are a little buggy and I've just let them in from a brief stint outside. They're hyper! Lucky Man is in the middle of the room barking at unseen ghosts, and Chili Pepper is racing around the house at a hundred miles an hour, his oversized dwarf paws pounding on the wooden floor. Now he has done a little bunny hop up onto the couch and is nursing a relationship with a juicy chewy bone, the way some people wrap their arms around a stiff scotch high ball.

Suddenly Lucky Man notices Chili Pepper has the bone and he's in the middle of the room barking like a fool. Seeing the error of his ways, he walks over to the couch coyily, inducing the Pepper to roll over playfully, artistically on his tummy, releasing the bone with the alacrity of a seductress. Lucky Man slips the bone out of CP's grasp, taking clear possession of it and idles over back to the middle of the room, where he ignores the bone now that he's in control.

The point being that there is a hierarchy here but not competition. Chili Pepper is allowed up on the couch because he is a lap dog. And Lucky Man is just that, the alpha dog with the bone. No jealousy, no pouting, just pure play.

There will always be another bone to tussle over and life goes on. Is there anything else anyone needs to know?

Back to being idle. I don't really know how to do that, but I did take a bubble bath this morning and have made a date with myself to stop at 2:45 to make a big bag of microwave popcorn and watch an old movie. How great is that.

Oh, I didn't tell you yet, but I have the most beautiful portrait of Lucky Man and Chili Pepper. We commissioned artist April Shurgar a while back to immortalize the two imps. What a good job she has done!

Express yourself!--Ruth Mitchell

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

2007 - Start with Art

"Slightly Off" - Art Quilt by Nancy Billings

Chances are you got some new gadget for Christmas that you either didn't want or don't understand. Maybe you got a blender so you could make your spouse those fruit smoothies she loves, or maybe your experienced the all time high of receiving a vacuum cleaner under the tree, by some poor mis-guided gift giver who didn't think through their purchase. My husband still complains about the wooden toilet seat I gave him back in our salad years. He said he wanted one, so I took him for his word. He wanted one, he just didn't want it as a present under the tree.

Whether or not you were the miscreant giver or giftee, here's your chance to make it right, either for yourself or the one you mis-gifted. Check out some of the wonderful art on the beautiful pages of buyoutsidethebox.com. I say with confidence because so many times I hear it from first-time users.

We couldn't agree more. '07 is already a good year for buyoutsidethebox.com and we want to share the many wonderful works of art made by talented artists from around the globe who have created these works.

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved