In the good old days of college it was a very energetic time. One of the most energetic and inspiring people I met back then was Shaylind Standing.  Today she is up to some adorable stuff over at ConstantDreamer, selling prints of her colorful illustrations.  She does it all from her home and she's been such a positive influence on me, I have to share her stuff. Her illustrations are the epitome of cute!  Right now she is having a BOGO (buy one, get one) FREE sale on her prints... so go check her out!

Every year my alma mater, The College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota holds a Holiday Art Sale as a fundraiser for their scholarship fund. This year I am participating with a small (but very noticeable) display of my fabulous new Art Cards. All 5 of my designs will be available along with lots and lots of art by fellow CVA folk. It's an open gallery kinda thing, so come on down and wander through! Art is such a personal and unique gift to give and I think my cards will be an affordable choice. It's my first craft show or sale like this of any kind, so wish me luck!! Here are directions and more information.

If you can't make it down to CVA you can still buy individual cards or packs by contacting me here or visit my Etsy Shop.

As I mentioned above, I have a display in the show... but what I didn't mention was that I made my display by hand. Yes, it's made out of cardboard which is a pretty impermanent thing, but it's cheap! I am going to keep the actual full-size display as a surprise, but for now here is a photo of a little mock-up I made as part of the process. Take a look at this and I challenge you to see if you can find it in the sale this weekend. Happy art hunting!

Wish hole, here's another.
Deepest well,
what do i want?
I've come a long way to reveal this desire.
I am only a man.

From my youth, can you take this hunger?
From one path
bend me anew
wiser, warmer, move me around.

I'll make a curse my blessing,
or a blessing
into wings.

-Brett Engle

Last weekend I found a new place that will allow me to open up a shop for little or no cost. Artfire has some cute stuff for sale and I'm happy to be a part of the community.

★ Holiday Sale On Now!
★ All prices and shipping costs reduced for the season!
★ FREE SHIPPING on USA orders over $10*
★ Now Until Midnight CST Thanksgiving Day

(*Shipping charge will be refunded after checkout on USA orders over $10)

My Art Cards are large 5 x 7 inches, made of 100% recycled cardstock, feature bright colors and are beautifully printed. Each handmade illustration is one of my personal works of art. Suitable to use as a greeting card or keep for display!

Individual cards: $3.75
5 pack of cards: $18.50

★ And I'm still offering a free bookmark for my first 25 customers! Yay!!

http://SpiritualAnimal.Etsy.com

Hey if any of you kids are into the Flickr.com craze, then you'll be happy to hear SpiritualAnimal is now on Flickr too!

If you don't know what Flickr is, it's a very easy to use website (kind of like Facebook) but just for image lovers. It's easy to spend way too much time looking through all the amazing photos. Check it out!

Thanks, Brett

Pictured above: Peace On Earth, Art Card by Brett Engle
Available now at SpiritualAnimal.etsy.com

Let me tell ya, my September was very productive and very fast! Last month I spent over 100 hours working in the SpiritualAnimal workshop.  My tasks included: making new art, product cost estimating (yuck!), researching other product possibilities, figuring out packaging, assembling my first actual products (almost ready!), preparing marketing pieces, and lots more.

Here we are 13 days into October and I am alllllmost ready to unveil my hard work with all of you.  It's been very exciting to chase this dream.  I am pretty darn blessed to be able to do what I love for a living.

Most of all I wanted to share a reoccurring thought I've had recently: the world needs more art.  It feels like a very shapeable time in history, doesn't it? We all need to offer our positive creativity to the world and treat each other with respect.  To me that means making art to share with others.

About two weeks ago I started going through every sketchbook I've ever kept, as well as every graphic file in my computer.  I sorted through thousands of pages and scanned in a couple hundred that were of interest.  From there I pared it all down to just over 275 individual illustrations that are either finished works or concepts I hope to develop further some day.  It was amazing to see them all together - you can see them tiled in the background of the image on this post.

Please stay tuned to my workshop and thanks again for your support!

My physical health has come to be a great concern for me. Being active is an important new priority I need to work into every part of my life. To keep me accountable I am proclaiming to embark on 29 very special walks before June 12th, 2010. Some will be alone, some with people I care about, but all 29 will produce a treasure in some way.

You'd think I was waiting for a miracle to actually begin this project!  It finally got going - by accident on September 11th, 2009, accompanied by none other than the infamous Mr. Joseph McGreevy.  He is a dear friend, a vibrant source of inspiration and I greatly cherish our time together.  We have had some awesome adventures in the past and it was absolutely fitting that he would be there to start me on this new journey.

We walked along the Mississippi River in Saint Paul, Minnesota on a day that was uncharacteristically hot and humid for September.  Dripping with sweat we meandered around and eventually decided to assemble some sticks into the shape of a heart.  It was a great day indeed.  And autumn is just around the corner.  Thanks Joe and here's to me getting into better shape!

After a few friends asked me what happened to my old name 'cloudboy', I decided to explain the journey visually by creating the timeline above. It all began pretty casually in 1995, using the nickname on BBSs and getting to know this thing called the internet. In creating this chart I figured out I've been sharing my art online for almost 15 years, since I was 15 years old.

But that stopped about a year ago today.

Elderly neighbor woman,
you must have a table by your windows.
A vase of flowers (perhaps not real) rest in the center at just the right height for me to see.
I imagine your table is made of a sturdy wood, like Oak.
I cannot see what else is on your tabletop, but I'm sure it is kept as tidy and spare as your walls are.
You have hung only a few picture frames, the contents of which I cannot identify from our parking lot.

I am curious about you, to be honest.
Do you park in this lot or the one on the other side of your building?
Do you drive?
You are often sitting at your Oak table, looking down at what is before you,
reading I hope.
Your white hair is permed like my own grandmother's was.
Several times I have seen you standing, dressed for bed in your nightgown, usually early in the evening when I have come home from the grocery store or dinner.
Do you need a friend?
I think I would be a good one; if I wasn't cowardly in my own apartment writing about you.

-Brett Engle