Art cards // A GIVEAWAY

My mum has pretty good ideas. At the end of last year she helped me get 10 of my illustrations turned into cards - just in time for the Dreamers Market. 

They have since become my best selling products. 

I am working on some new things, which I will get into more when I have some work to show you! 

I am running a give away on facebook (/eleanormccomb.art) and instagram (@eleanormccomb) and I would love to know which of these cards is your favourite. I have been really surprised by what images people identify most with, and it would help me out to know a little more about what people think of my work!

At the end of the month I will draw a name from all those who comment (on FB, IG or here on the blog) and they will win one of each of the TEN cards that I sell. Bonus entries for those who share the image (or this blog post) on social media. 

The cards are all pictured here - so take a look and leave a comment!

Thanks!!

Postal loving

On my mum's side of the family there is a cluster of cousins who are all the same age. Like five of us within six months. One of those cousins was born exactly a week before me, the Boxing Day to my New Years day.

We neither of us like our birthdays so much.

That's not the point that I was trying to get at.

This cousin of mine, Tom, he married this amazing girl called Jess. I'm confident that he agrees with me when I say that it is probably one of the best things he's ever done. I think so for totally different reasons I'm sure, but I'm very glad that she's part of my family now. She has a blog called A Heart Full of Frost.

She's having a competition on her blog at the moment where you can win some of my art. Mailable art. In the form of a six month subscription (there are two up for grabs and every month they include work that you can't get anywhere else) so you should go and have a look and get into it. 

Yes. That envelope is addressed to YOU at YOUR HOUSE!

It all came about because of my affection for what I call the 'LOST ARTS'. That sounds really kind of witchy and magical, but it's far more mundane than that. I mean things like letter writing, conversation, and other old school things that are under-appreciated these days.  I mentioned this earlier ... several times in fact.
I enjoy digital mail too, don't get me wrong, but nothing really compares to a letter.
It represents thought and effort well beyond that of an email or facebook message, and lasts longer than a phone call.

I get wistful while watching Jane Austin films not only because of the restrained romance of the whole thing, but because conversation was an art form. An art form which has, in large part, been lost. People thought for longer before they spoke and the more well spoken they were the better it seemed to reflect onto them. Somehow this has flipped around and despite the often high levels of intelligence contained within people's skulls, only slang, cuss, and heavily abbreviated nonsense comes out of people's mouths.

"Oh em gee Eleanor, it's IRONIC"

Get. Out. 

My mourning over the laziness of the written word in communication is even more profound. For speed and ease we have sacrificed beautiful words for abbreviations, txt, and bastardised spelling.
 (I am a terrible speller so I have to call myself out on hypocrisy here... in fact I just spelled 'hypocrisy' wrong until I checked the suggested spelling. Thanks Right Click.)

I'm not a great writer, but I am a prolific reader and I love reading well put together phrases. Especially when they are put together just for me, then wrapped up in envelopes and delivered into my real life in-box.

That's why I started subscriptions. To motivate some postal loving.

So check out Jess's blog, and check out my etsy store.

Photo magic

Selling things online can be challenging because people don't get to wander through your shop touching things, trying things on, or testing for quality.
I sell art, so you don't really 'try it on' but everyone likes to know what things would look like on the walls of their house - in context.

My cousin Analiese is a talented photographer (she did my sister's wedding last year) and so I asked her if she would take some photos for me.

She's a magician. Seeing my work in her photos actually makes me feel like an actual artist, instead of the fraud I feel like most of the time.

I have them up on my website { http://www.theelmtree.com.au }

Here are some.

And you can see her blog post with more photos here. I totally recommend looking through the whole blog, there are some really lovely photos - and as Analiese travels to Queensland fairly regularly you don't have to live in Sydney to hire her. Check her out!

Subscribe to the elm tree!!

I love getting mail. I think my mail box gets hungry for real mail though, and by that I mean not bills, and not advertising material.

I used to have a subscription to New Scientist (because I'm like - nerdy or something) and Better Homes and Gardens (which always used to make me covetous of people with houses) but they both expired and in the end I had a whole lot of magazines that I didn't know what to do with... so I have come up with a way to feed the hungry mail boxes of the world.

Now you can subscribe to The ELM Tree. 

No, it's not a magazine. 
It's art. It's prints, stickers, postcards, illustrations, paintings, drawings, and all sorts of other creative goodies delivered direct to your mail box every month.         

Pick you own 3, 6, or 12 month subscription over at my etsy store, or even just get a one off delivery of artiness for you or as a gift. 

There will be some specials related to this coming up so keep your eyes peeled. 

                                                                    

Just a minute Mr Postman

Sometimes it seems like a struggle to maintain positivity in life. I don't mean that in an 'emo' way, but just in general there are so many things that are always going on, so many directions that you could possibly be pulled in, that if you gave in to it, you would never fail to find things to be unhappy about.

I would like to think that finding things to be happy about is just as easy if you apply the right frame of mind, but it doesn't always seem that way.
I have recently been reminded just how important friends are, and the wonderful ability letters have to really lift spirits. (Thanks Gwen :) )

So I thought I would make up a few more mini art canvases, which like the others, are made especially to be inexpensively posted to those awesome friends who live too far away.

Bit blurry, but you get the idea. I totally dream of living in a place like that.