The art inventory from California has finally arrived!

My 500 pound baby arrived! (talk about a long labor!)

Four months later I have just received my entire inventory of finished and in process works - all 500 pounds – from California. Hurrah!

For those of you that have been following this story, the original shippers La Pack Pros, did subsequently go bankrupt and out of business. However, before they closed their doors they had the decency to hire another shipper RT Consolidated, based in California, who promptly took the job and got it done. I made the original arrangement through Uship.com, who by the way, don’t do a darn thing if your shipment is held, lost, or stolen.

As my new website is being uploaded, edited, and the final touches are completed, I will be going through my inventory to ensure the paintings posted are correctly catalogued for the new website so you will know what is available.

Thank you for all that sent helpful information and positive supportive messages. And lastly, if you plan to ship art or any large items, I highly recommend doing some due diligence research and ask questions before hiring your shipper.

Behind the scenes - studio notes

30 x 40 x 3/4 "

as yet untitled, Pure Abstraction Series

(c) Deb Chaney 2009

wired and ready to hang.

Mixed Media, Acrylics, Sand and Oil on canvas

$1200 USD Original Available at date of this post 11/3/09

inquiries debchaney@live.com

Feng Shui Recommendation: Placed anywhere in your home/office this piece supports your inner health and vitality. To further amplify this area of your life, place this painting, with the intention to support your health & vitality, in the center region of your home/office.

I had a nearly two hour tour of Emily Carr University last Friday. As my close friends know and many of my artist contemporaries, I have never had any art school training and have always been curious about the "other side", that is, academic art school. ( I hold a B.Sc. in Earth and Ocean Sciences)

The art school tour was inspiring in that the one very cool thing about art school is that you get to learn a little bit about so many areas - wood work, metal work, sculpture, photography, digital design and so on with access to tools, equipment and technology that would otherwise cost you bundles if you were to pursue it on your own. The sheer enormity of their lending "library" of equipment was staggering - everything from video equipment, cameras, and things I have never heard to to make, record, edit, copy and do your art in whatever form it may be.

The tour ended by a little talk from one of the admissions staff who talked about how the main criteria for getting into this art school was based on your portfolio. I always thought a portfolio was simply a collection of your finished work - in my case- th epaintings I'm done and I'm proud of, not so.

Apparently, what the portfolio examiners are most interested in are your notes, sketches and process that are behind the finished the art that you make. I came home and got inspired to organize the notes I've been keeping for over a year now on this Pure Abstraction art series.

Below is one of seven pages of journal notes - my process behind the scenes - what goes on in my mind - in creating this series of paintings entitled Pure Abstraction.

Painting Inventory - how I keep track of my artwork

No. 8432

Pure Abstraction Series

40 x 30 x 3/4 "Mixed media, acrylics, sand, & oil on canvas

(c) Deb Chaney 2009

Original Available

Feng Shui Recommendation: Placed anywhere in your home/office this piece supports your inner health and vitality. To further amplify this area of your life, place this painting in the center region of your home/office.

There are quite a lot of programs and software options out there that can be used to inventory artist work. I used E-artist at one point when I had a PC but found it pretty clunky and not that fun to use. When I switched to Mac, at a friend's suggestion, I decided to keep things really simple and use Iphoto. Here's what works for me currently and how I keep track of all of my works - completed, sold and currenlty in inventory.

I start by creating a separate album for each body of work. For the sake of this blog and simplicity I'll work with my 'Pure Abstraction' series, since its my most current and what I am adding to and seeling from most right now. When I complete a painting and photograph it, I add it to this album. Then I click on the 'information section' that appears at the bottom left hand corner of iphoto of the particular painting image is selected, and in the notes section I add have the following information based on an "inventory" template I created. I do this for every painting I produce, sell, and exhibit so I can keep track.

Here's the blank inventory template:

Inventory Details

Painting Title:

Belong to group/series:

Medium:

Substrate:

Size: (H x W x D)

Year:

Sold/Selling person/interested:

location:

Feng Shui Recommendation:

Posted:

cafepress Y

Blog Y

website

Other notes -

Here is a specific example of the information I keep on the painting shown at the top of this blog.

Title: No. 8432

Belong to group: PureAbstraction

Medium: mixed media, acrylics, sand, & oil

Substrate: canvas

Size: (H x W x D) 40 x 30 x 3/4 "

Year: 2009

Sold/Selling person/interested: Available

location: inventory Vancouver

Feng Shui notes: Feng Shui Recommendation: Placed anywhere in your home/office this piece supports your inner health and vitality. To further amplify this area of your life, place this painting, with the intention to support your health & vitality, in the center region of your home/office.

Photographed for prints? Y (home done, not great, re-do)

Posted:

cafepress - need to convert RAW to TIF ( find out format required)

Blog - Nov. 17-09

website - TBA

Other notes - Emailed image of this painting to Gail at Pedro's cafe, Granville Island regarding exhibit there- need to follow up.

new Black & White mixed media piece in process

This piece is 30 x 40" on canvas and may still be in process. I just put a thin layer of heavy gel matte to act as an isolation coat and prevent the water soluble pencil ( Derwent) and other medias - gel pen, PITT pen, charcoal, C'aran Dash white water soluble crayon, and permapaque marker from smudging if I decide to paint more layers over it. I was talking to my friend Lyza over Skype the other day - we did art show and tell ( it was so fun and energizing) - and she said "ohhh I love this one, you should paint more" we'll see. Maybe there is another black and white hiding inside me somewhere but I am more excited about some other pieces I'm working on and don't plan a series of these. My friend Steve said I should check out John Virtue's work who paints mainly in black and white. His work is very dramatic and I must say its fun to limit the colour palette and just focus on form and contrast with just the two colours.

Missing Art Works - Possible Theft?

Please note that this blog will be updated as more information becomes available.

Near the end of July this year I made an agreement via UShip online to have my art shipped from Santa Barbara to Vancouver, Canada with a company called LA Pack Pros. The agreement read that the art would be delivered within 7-14 days of its pick up. Its now mid September and I have had one phone call with their office manager, Andre, acknowledging that they did indeed have my art works but have received no information after that regarding where my work is now and when it will be delivered. Regardless of emails and phone calls I have sent, I have had no communication since that call near the end of August.

On August 5th this year my entire art collection of completed works and works in process on canvas and paper plus an original piece by Michelle Williams was picked up in Santa Barbara at my friend Steve Richardson's home by a man who called himself Robin 'Rob' Letcher. According to my friend Steve, he was about 30ish and was a white man about 6 foot, sandy blond hair with dreds. The truck was a white ford ranger about a 1995 with a white camper shell. He left a cell phone number which I have called repeatedliy and left voice messages, none have which been returned.

The information about this shipping company that I contacted via UShip.com and made the original agreement will appear the bottom of this blog entry.

If you have any suggestions, information, as to the wherabouts of my art work, or how I can get a hold of this so-called shipper, or if you are willing to help in any way please do contact me debchaney@live.com. Thank you.

I have begun to file a theft report with the City of Santa Barbara (805)897-2300 (I will post a file # here when it becomes available) and will pursue the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Internet Crime Complaint Center. I have also called the franchisee corporation - Go Packaging - who issues business such as LA Pack Pros their business entity and they are helping me with this.

Any ideas to help solve this mystery: debchaney@live.com. Thank you!

Company: LA Pack Pros Name: Rob Letcher Phone: (310) 673-0615 Alternate Phone: (562) 686-2145 Fax: 310-673-0291 Email Addresses: uship@lapackpros.com; andre@lapackpros.com uship@lapackpros.com packpros@dslextreme.com info@lapackpros.com Franchisor: Packaging Store

Updated October 7-09

Since Posting this blog several weeks ago I have had the good fortune to finally be in touch with Rob Letcher (who apologized profusely) and said that, yes, indeed he did have my art work here. That he had tried to ship it to Canada twice and that it had now been returned twice at the border. WHy on earth he did not contact me about these attempts, I do not know. He since then put my art crate back on uship. com and the bid was accepted by another company and now I am waiting for full details - name, website, etc. Honestly, I was shaking and cried after he called. The funny thing was about the call was I was sitting at my desk at my computer looking at the paper work from the Santa Barbara Police department and reviewing a letter I sent to a layer in LA while in process of writing Rob an Email saying that enough was enough and I was going to be taking some serious legal action. He called just before I clicked 'send'. Interesting universe we live in. The saga continues though...

Interesting enough, I have received two emails regarding this blog post, of people in the exact same situations! Here they are:

Received today:

J. M. Kenworthy (jmkenworthy@gmail.com)
Sent:	Wed 10/07/09 2:11 PM
To:	debchaney@live.com
	1 attachment CIMG0114.jpg (1527.5 KB)

Deb,

I came across your blog because I am in a similar situation. I contracted with LA Pack Pros to take some furniture (including family heirlooms) from San Francisco to Lebanon, OH. A guy named Andre picked up the furniture in a rented box truck on August 22nd. I have attached a photo I took. You can almost make out the license plate. I have not heard from them since. I fear my furniture has been Stolen. I call the 562-686-2145 number about everyday and leave a message, but no one calls back. I did, however, get an address from uship.comfor LA Pack Pros (listed below). Unfortunately, It looks like an apartment building when I use Google Street View.

Have you ever heard back from them since you made your blog post? Its nice to know I am not alone, but I am also frustrated because I don't know what to do next. What email address did you use to get a response from LA Pack Pros?

Here is all the contact information that uship.com gave me.
Rob and Frank Letcher
uship@lapackpros.com
packpros@dslextreme.com
(310) 673-0615
(562) 686-2145
(310) 673-0291
2909 Arizona Ave #9
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Thanks for listening,
Jason

_______________________
J. M. Kenworthy
jmkenworthy@gmail.com

Jason (above Email) even sent me this photo of his shipment being picked up:

and here's an EMail I received last week:

Sean Kaylor (kaylorsean@hotmail.com)
Sent:	Tue 10/06/09 12:49 PM
To:	debchaney@live.com

Deb-

My wife and I had a number of items shipped from Texas to SF, CA. We also can't get a hold of LAPackPros and believe they have stolen our items. Unfortunately, most of the items were sentimental and of no material value.

If you get any word please email respond and I will do so in kind.


Sorry about all the troubles,

Sean Kaylor

By the way, I sent both of these inquiries to Kelly Dafleur who works for the Franchisor 'parent' company to LA Pack Pros. her contact information is as follows and she has been extrodinariliy helpful in this process of tracking down my shipment. Here's a big cheer for Kelly!!!

Kelly Dafler

Franchise Services Coordinator

Annex Brands, Inc.

7580 Metropolitan Drive, Suite 200

San Diego, California 92108-4417

Ph: 800-456-1525

Ph: 619-563-4800

Fax: 619-563-9850

www.annexbrands.com

kdafler@annexbrands.com

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Our "blackberry summer"on Whidbey Island, WA

We spent a lot of time this summer at our family cabin on Whidbey Island, WA, USA and I've had a lot of requests from my friends in Santa Barbara, CA to see pictures. And, by the way, we have officially named this summer "Blackberry Summer" because I think Ruthie pretty much lived on fresh vine ripe juicy blackberries when we were down there. Best blackberries in the world growing right on the beach, sweet, plump and right at your finger tips. Couldn't get much better than that for fresh eating. On the three hour drive home back to Vancouver Ruthie (age 6) would look out of the window and spot blackberry bushes and say "blackberry, blackberry...." So here we go, black berry summer, enjoy...

The cabin my parents build around 1978. Decor to match. :) My friend Lyza scoped it out live on skype and has decided it'll be the perfect retreat to do some art and hang out in PJs with a small group of women artist friends. We'll see...
Made lots of treats this summer..big batches of oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies.

Mid-tide, my favourite walk. Up where you can see the trees meet the water is where I saw several deer a few weeks back. Beautiful.
Nothing like throwing rocks in the water.
My Dad, who took all the photos here except this one, with Ruthie. I'm inside this amazing fort that someone built up the beach from us. Really cool. It was so big, you could camp in it. Ruthie and I had pretend tea parties there.

Don't touch the ground, it's hot lava. Gotta stay on the rocks.

Morning journal writing on the picnic table...smell that sweet ocean air. Lots of light. Peace.


When we first arrived at Whidbey after driving up from Santa Barbara. Grandma Margaret was there with balloons and groceries and big hugs for Ruthie!
Mum and I doing a clay face masc. Benstonite clay mixed with a bit of apple cider vinegar, makes a nice paste. Put it on, let it dry, sucks out toxins and is fun to do!

digging for sea creatures!

Painting rocks.

( I was inside hand painting little gift cards)

Selling art in non-gallery venues

RainStorm

Pure Abstraction Series

20 x 30 x 1 1/2 " (approx)

Mixed Media, Sand, Acrylics on Canvas

Original Painting is available, pricing on request

Prints and other items with this image at cafepress

Feng Shui Recommendation: earth & water element , career and reputation, health & vitality

I sell and have shown my work predominantly in non-gallery venues. Its pretty common for artists starting out who don't have gallery representation. Really, if you're creating regularly and producing work - fairly good, good, or great - its nice to just get it out there and get some response, feedback and sales.

Currently as I am getting all my bits and pieces together for my new website I was looking over my artist resume and remember all the shows I've held in the last number of years... Each one was its own experience with various results. Every one part of my journey of being an artist creating and showing her work.

Generally, I've made an effort to improve aspects of each show as the years have gone by. Better marketing of advanced notice for friends and collectors who would stop by. Better signage. More treats! Motivation for people to come - creating a draw. Asking for more help. Teaming up with other artists. Holding a raffle. There are always aspects to tweak and improve when doing an exhibit...

I would say the latest and greatest improvements I've made in exhibiting my work in non gallery venues are to create contracts with the store/boutique/restaurant owner so that we are all on the same page. I've been lucky to date and have never had any difficulties or challenges with any venues. However, even the process of creating a contract with the most recent venues makes a good conversation point to the agreements of having my art in their space - what's OK, what's not.

Here's where I started with creating my own contracts: http://snagmetalsmith.org/Publications/Professional_Guidelines/

Specifically look at the EXHIBITION CONTRACT (for non-commercial exhibitions) section.

I'd love to hear what you're doing to get your work out there, how you're improving with each show and exhibit. And I'm trusting this is helpful on your journey. Best, Deb

For the curious, here's where I've displayed my work for the last several years...The most recent listing have written signed contracts based on the above links.

Exhibits and Solo Events

2009 Solo Exhibit, Patchwork Paper,Via Roma Boutique,

2009 Nature and Asbtraction, group Show, Deb Chaney & Steve Richardson, Santa Barbara, CA

2009 Solo Exhibit, Select Pieces, Java Station Café, Patchwork Paper, Santa Barbara, CA

2009 SWITCH Boutique Beverly Hills Solo Exhibit, select pieces Raw Expression

2008- Group Show, Drawn Out, VIVA Design Studio and Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA

2008 – Solo Exhibit, Carina Cellars, Trees & Abstraction, Los Olivos, CA

2007 Solo Exhibit; Raw Expression, Sojourner Cafe, Santa Barbara, CA
2007 – Group Exhibit, Art in Public Places with the Malibu Artist Association, Malibu, CA.

2006 – Group Exhibit, select pieces Raw Expression, Kanuga Water Color Retreat Center, NC

2006- Group Exhibit, Emerging, Fresca Café, Santa Barbara, CA

2005 – December 2006; Santa Barbara Weekly Arts and Crafts Show
2004 – Solo show Mini Hearts Coffee Attic, Redondo Beach, CA

2003 Solo Exhibit; Hearts Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, Redondo Beach, CA
2003 Exhibitor; Leche League International Conference, Costa Mesa, CA
2003 Solo Exhibition; The Coffee Attic, Redondo Beach, CA
2003 Exhibitor; Annual Ron Cawdry Springfest Carnival, Redondo Beach, CA
2003 Solo Exhibit; Java Man Café, Hermosa Beach, CA
2002 Exhibitor; Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair, Manhattan Beach, CA