Sweet Magnolias!

Yesterday I was riding my bike, and saw a magnolia tree in full bloom, with branches that were low enough for my short-self to actually get close to the blooms! Of course the camera was nowhere on me, so I had to ride back home and get it. :) I captured a few photos (okay, so it's more than a few...these are the only ones I've published so far) and I thought I'd share them here with you all, since I've been negligent AGAIN. (read below for more on that!)

This first photo, titled "Sweet Magnolia", looks like a painting - which was what I was after when I was shooting. I love magnolias - and I am nutso about magnolia paintings. One of my artist friends from here in Jackson does some AMAZING magnolia watercolors...we call her "the magnolia lady". :)

Love, love, love this second photo! I titled this one "Lure". I can't tell you how long I've tried to get decent photos of bees! So here I was photographing the flower and here came this little fella...in fact, I didn't see him until AFTER I snapped the photo. Nice surprise to find him there and that his photo is clear.

This third photo of a magnolia which has lost its petals, I titled "Time to Rest". Which is what I really should do. :)

But first, I wanted to say this: I won't be adding any more work to Cafepress. You'll notice the above links go to my Zazzle store. This is who I'll be having do my print-on-demand work from now on. In short - Cafepress's recent decision regarding paying artists only 10% (when we do all the work, including product design, SEO, description, etc, in addition to creating the art to "decorate" their plain white merchandise), is not one I agree with. Therefore, I am moving all of my work - actually I'm redesigning my website and everything will be hosted there in a gallery style, with a link to buy or license each image I put up. I've already pulled out of the Cafepress marketplace, but you can still purchase my items on products for a limited time via my two shops directly: here and here.

So that's one reason I haven't posted as much...I didn't anticipate having to do all this administrative work. The good news is, Zazzle is much easier to use and I have my shop set up properly now. Oh, and a little bit more good news...today I won a "Today's Best Award" at Zazzle for my African Grey Parrot digital painting on cards. You can see the cards at the link...but you'll have to hurry if you want to see it included in the awards page - it only stays up there for today!

InJoy,
Jai