Weekly Wrap Up 2/8/10

It's been a while since our last Weekly Wrap Up blog post, so grab yourself some coffee or tea and settle in to catch up with all the latest news:

Cancellation of Coconut Grove for Exciting New Project
First things first, we're sad to announce that we're canceling our participation in the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in Miami, Florida this weekend. The good news is that we're canceling because of an exciting project with a major fashion label that emerged at the end of last week. We cannot reveal too many details as of right now, but suffice to it's a compelling and multi-faceted brand partnership for the fall of this year. In order to meet their deadlines for phase I of this project, it's just not realistic for us to drive all the way to Miami for Coconut Grove. So, we'll be thinking of you all in sunny Florida and drinking an extra 8 ounces of orange juice each day in your honor.

Valentine's Day Artwork
The other positive outcome of staying in Chicago this month is that we can continue to ship Valentine's Day orders (and non holiday orders too of course) throughout February. Here's a few suggestions from our Valentine's Day guide on Etsy.

For Her:

Back Porch Bouquet (Blue) BOX PRINT reproduction

For Him:

Kentucky Road Trip BOX PRINT reproduction

For Your Teen:

Girl with Sunglasses Panel Painting

For Your Grandchildren:

Desert Ramble 9 x 12 Paper Print Set

New DG MINI
We have a phlethora of DG MINIs coming out this month starting with this wintery work:

Sleigh Bells Floral DG MINI

this was the 2009 holiday sale gift on orders of $100 or more

New Artwork This Week
Also on the Etsy front, we'll be updating the shop this week with additional Panel Paintings as well as new artwork. If there are any Panel Painting themes you'd like to see more of, drop us a line. We're happy to oblige.

January Art Giveaway
Congratulations to K. Sandlos of Chicago, IL, the winner of our January newsletter subscriber giveway. Ms. Sandlos will be receiving a free April Evening I and II DG MINI set via mail this week.

East Nashville Arts Fest Poster
The poster for the first annual East Nashville Arts Fest May 22-23, 2010 is now complete and mighty nice lookin' if we do say ourselves. Dolan and I have been rounding up our artist posse to join us in Nashville for the inaugural event. If you're interested in exhibiting, click here to download the artist application.

Fall Commission

Scrolling back through updates from 2009, I realized we never posted some photos we promised. Below is a commission completed in November for a client interested in a large, bird-themed work with tactile, 3d elements. The end result was this piece, Cherry Tree on Brighton Creek, one of my personal favorites from 2009.


New Retailers
We'll continue to introduce new retailers in our Support Brick and Mortar column of the blog. In the interim, check our locator page for our growing list of stores. Here's a quick recap of our newest partners:

:: 101 Main Street (Potosi, WI)
:: A'Mano (Birmingham, AL)
:: bluehouse (Towson, MD)
:: Box Turtle (Little Rock, AK)
:: Divertido (Pittsburgh, PA)
:: Enid (Fredericksburg, TX)
:: swag (Northfield, MN)

screenshot from Enid blog

Thanks for the Love
Thanks to Fiona Richards of Cartolina for this recent blog post. Cartolina is her collection of greeting cards and paper goods sold in hundreds of stores nationwide (like Anthropologie, ABC Carpet and Home, and Paper Source to name a few). Every design is a "exotic collage of colorful inspiration" and printed with high standards of environmental stewardship including FSC certified recycled paper and vegetable based inks. We're honored to inspire such a nationally acclaimed stationery designer.

paper goods by Cartolina