Week # 11 Hello good people! We are Dylan and Jo...and we sell our art on ebay. I hate to start off this newsletter sounding like an AA meeting, but I get replies now and then to our emails asking "Who are you? How do you know me?" So with introductions out of the way, here are our current auctions, and we'll have more listed on Tuesday: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcartbeforethehorse I wanted to share with you an example of Jo's art long before we started making art to sell on ebay. This piece is back from the days when she never wondered how much something was going to cost to ship or what priority mail box it would fit in. Click the link below to open the picture. These were also the days before she had an organized workstation. "So, do you like it?" she asked. "I do...but do you think that the kitchen is the best place to do this?" I asked as I bit into a sawdust sandwich. Until next week... -Dylan Week # 12 Howdy, art fans! We were hoping to have more to show you this week, but sometimes life gets in the way. Here are our current listings, and we'll have more listed on Tuesday. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcartbeforethehorse This week, while reorganizing our craft room, I happened to come across my set of encyclopedias from the 60's. I was born in 1973, so by the time I was in school doing reports, these books were already outdated. I haven't thrown them out for a couple of reasons. The first is that I like to cut pictures out of them to make collages, like the one on the guitar we have listed now. The second reason is that these books are incredibly entertaining. It's almost as if they were written by a grumpy old man. The entry on Mice was merely a list of household objects that these "disgusting rodents" like to destroy. And don't get the old man started on Communism. He's got plenty of charts and graphs to demonstrate just how evil the rest of the world is...or was. But I love cutting the pictures out of them and making them into something new. A collage was actually the first artistic thing I remember doing as an adult. Until next week, my friends... -Dylan hehe. Dylan thinks he's an adult. -Jo Week # 13 Hey, y'all! I've been working "the morning shift" this past week, and Jo's been working "the night shift"...and here's what we came up with together for you: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcartbeforethehorse The dreaded morning shift is for the one who gets to get up with the kids at the crack of dawn and get them off to school. The night shift is for the lucky devil that gets to sleep as late as they want and stay up as late as they want. I'm on the night shift next, so I'll say hello to David Letterman for you. Yesterday, my theory that my mailbox is nothing but a bill magnet was seriously brought into question. We received a wonderful card and a stack of pictures from one of our art collectors! It really made our day. She was kind enough to take pictures of her Christmas tree for us, which was packed full of our art and the art of other artists found on eBay. The sheer number of art pieces on the tree leads me to believe that special braces were installed in the basement under this load, so don't try this at home. This woman is a professional. Here is a small sample of the pictures for you to see... She even took time to label the backs of the photos with who's who diagrams like this one: Many thanks to her and everyone else out there who is supporting your local (or not so local) artists through this strange electronic market we call eBay. -Dylan If you wish to be removed from this mailing list, please just reply to this email and let us know. Thank you. Week # 14 Good people of the world, Yes, the newsletter is arriving a little early this week. We're about to head out of town for the night to celebrate Jo's 33rd birthday. Our new listings will start at the same bat time on the same bat station. If you win one of our auctions today, we won’t be able to send out invoices until Monday. You can use eBay’s automated checkout, or if you need combined shipping, those invoices will be sent out on Monday. Here's a link to our auctions: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcartbeforethehorse Click on it now to see this week's art, click on it later tonight to see the new stuff...click on it in 67 years to see if Jo lived to be 100. February is a good month for Jo. Valentine's Day and her birthday are less than a week apart. This year for Valentine's Day I gave her a rather strange present, along with the usual flowers and chocolates. Jo wanted to be able to see the TV from her worktable, and the position of her table ruled out running the cable over to a second TV. I told Jo that a mirror on a hinge in the kitchen doorway would allow her to see the TV from her table. She thought that was a pretty dumb idea...until I got the bathroom mirror and gave her a demonstration. Now she can sit and paint, listen to her shows...and when a character says something like "would you look at that!" Jo doesn't have to squirm and wonder what's going on. Here's a picture of Jo's present. I've always been an inventor of odd things. When I was a teenager, I made a flamethrower to take care of a swarm of yellow jackets that were terrorizing the local children. Maybe next week I'll dig up a picture of it for you. Until then, -Dylan Week # 15 Hi-ya, neighbors! Here's what we've been up to this week here on the Curry ranch... http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcartbeforethehorse ...and we should have more listed on Tuesday. Last week I promised to dig for an old forgotten picture of one of my earliest inventions. It's a flamethrower I made when I was about 15 years old. I built it to rid our backyard jungle of a fierce swarm of yellow jackets. I did in fact find the picture just moments ago. I know what you're thinking... "This guy's not only a genius inventor, but a sharp dresser as well!" Yes, if I had the time, I would have doctored this photo and given myself some respectable clothes. That's a homemade T-shirt (meant to look like Keith Moon's from The Who) and a pair of imitation "Jams" shorts. Wow... The flamethrower isn't thought out too much better than my attire. It's a can of WD-40 on the end of a PVC pipe, with a lit candle taped in front of it to ignite the spray. There is a fishing line that runs down the pipe that is attached to a homemade trigger mechanism on the can. Most kids just laughed at the Wile E. Coyote's schemes to catch the Roadrunner...but I was sitting there saying, "You know, with the right leverage...that just may work." Until the next disaster, my friends... -Dylan Week # 16 Hello, art fans! Here's what we've been working on this week. Actually...we worked on quite a bit more, but here's what we finished. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcartbeforethehorse We're particularly excited about our Jester doll. This is as close as Jo will ever come to a clown. She doesn't like to talk about it, but she has this weird fear of clowns. It's not like she was traumatized as a child by some clown named Slappy that wreaked of gin like I was. Her reasons are far more logical. She says that clowns are just out of context. A person with a white face and a red nose just shouldn't be standing in front of a bank with a fist full of balloon strings. They just don't belong there...or anywhere. So let's all give Jo the credit she deserves for overcoming this fear and actually creating a semi-clown like creature. Until next time, -Dylan Week # 17 Hello Snowbirds, Here's what we worked on this week, when we weren't throwing snowballs at unsuspecting motorists. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcartbeforethehorse I know the majority of you have seen snow, driven in snow , and shoveled snow to your heart's content, but it's still a novelty to us. A little less than three years ago, we moved from sunny Orlando, Florida (famous for The Mouse...not snow) to the coast of Oregon. I'm not sure what the coast of Oregon is famous for yet. This is where Lewis and Clark decided to walk home instead of swimming any further west. But the coast of Oregon is not usually known as a snowy place. This past Friday, we awoke to a ringing phone, and the voice of a tired school administrator telling us that school was out for the day because of the snow. We looked out the window... and sure enough, everything was white. This was our kids' first snow day ever, and they made utter fools of themselves taking full advantage of it. They were having a snowball fight on the trampoline by 7:00 AM. My daughter snapped this picture from her balcony for you. Tune in next week when I will fascinate you yet again with my account of a windy day. Until then, -Dylan Week # 18 Salutations, Here are some of the pieces that we've been working on this week. We will have more listed on Tuesday. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcartbeforethehorse I stayed over at a friend's house last night in Portland, Oregon so that he and I could go see a concert. We saw The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Their songs were nearly as long as their name. It was a great rock show, but I'll have to think twice before leaving Jo at home again. Leaving Jo alone with a bunch of art supplies is a lot like leaving a teenager alone with a keg of beer and your credit card. When I returned, every table and counter was covered with bottles of paint, glossy "art" magazines, and plastic baggies full of high grade decorative moss. The refrigerator was filled with chemical glazes...the tub filled with fabric dye...and the dryer clogged with some strange ceramic experiment. I tried to scold her, but she just looked at me with those big ol' eyes, and her bottom lip sticking out like a back porch. How could I be angry? -Dylan If you ever feel dizzy and need to step off of this roller coaster of a newsletter, just email us to let us know. Week # 19 Greetings, We took a few ideas this week, cut them up for bait... and here's what we caught. Hope you like them. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcartbeforethehorse A lot of the ideas we have for things to make come from clowning around with half finished pieces. One of our favorite games to play is called Frankendoll. OK, I just made that up. We don't have a name for it, but it usually sounds like this..."What if this one had this one's legs, this one's arms, and these wings..." We've assembled some really hideous creatures, that usually walk a few labored steps with pitiful sound effects added to enhance the illusion. But this week the star of the show was a true hero called Carrot Man. Carrot Man had many adventures this week, flying around our home's airspace and spouting bad puns in a heroic cartoon voice. The actor who does the voice for Carrot Man was nearly killed recently by a clearly irritated artist that we'll just call "Jo" for now. If you'd like to see a picture of Carrot Man, just click on the link below. Yes, I really am that stupid. -Dylan If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, just email us to let us know. Not even Carrot Man would blame you. Week # 20 Hello again, Didn't scare you off yet??? Good. We've been engrossed in Wonderland this week. Here's what we've been working on: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcartbeforethehorse We even got our daughter, K, in on the act this week. She's making her ebay debut with a little Alice in Wonderland painting on a wood block. Obviously, her name isn't really K. It has a few more letters in it (most of which I remember), but Jo and I both agree that minors' names and the internet don't mix. Her ebay debut has been delayed for a couple of reasons. First of all, she's only 13...so it's not easy to paint when you're plagued by chronic eye rolling and exaggerated exhales. The second reason is not her fault really. It's Jo's fault. K has been dying to list something with our art, but Jo keeps buying everything she makes before it can get listed. Apparently there's a "Buy It Now" button somewhere in this house that I don't know about. She really does have a lot of talent, and I'm determined to teach her something useful (other than my poorly executed moonwalk) before she heads off to college in less than five years. There's nothing I can teach her about painting (that's Jo's department), but I would like to show her how to sell on ebay. Maybe she won't call collect from her dorm room quite as often to ask for money. We won't complain if she does. A phone call is a phone call. Until next week, my friends... -Dylan If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, just email us to let us know. Either that or mail us a dead fish as a warning. Nevermind...the email will do.