My annual new year's tradition

My annual New Year's tradition is designing an original illustration and card to send to friends and family. I'm so busy in December filling orders I never seem to have time to sit down and think about my illustration until January. It always ends up that I wish everyone a happy new year for the 11 remaining months of the year. January is never all that good, due to the continuing cold, dark weather, yet lack of holiday distractions, so maybe it's best I leave it out.

This year I caught some opossums having a party in a 1001 Decorating Ideas Magazine living room scene from 1963.

© Beth A. Barnett 2012

recent publicity!

Beth Bee Books was mentioned on thekitchn.com again - here in a nice little blog entry on recipe organizing.

1300 "sales" on etsy.com!

Today bethbee.etsy.com reached its "1300th sale"! In the past, etsy counted two or more of the same things together when ordered in multiples, so I probably passed 1300 already, but, still! Each 100th sale is a little milestone for my little shop.

Back in the 1990s I made zines and sent them for reviews and listings in bigger zines like Maximum Rock and Roll, HeartAttack, and even Punk Planet, and people (mostly my age) in other places would send me $1 or so in the mail to order a copy of my zine. Back then, it was an analog process, and on a smaller scale for me, but the excitement of sharing things I made with people in places outside my own circle of friends and connections was the same as I feel today. These kinds of connections are faster and simpler now with the help of the web.
I consistently marvel at the great tool that etsy.com is for independent artists to connect with others and share and sell their work. It has taken outreach and work and quality products to become successful on the site, but now, somewhat magically, almost every day I check my email and someone else from pretty much any state in the US, or Australia, Canada, the UK, or even Switzerland, Finland, Italy, et cetera has put through an order for one or more of my little books!

I've discovered a lot of great artists myself by browsing on etsy, and shared mutual appreciation for their work. I've found it helpful for connecting with local artists too, despite our busy schedules. I've figured out how to use the site to find great art and crafts through its various tools like favorites and treasuries. If you've never used the site before it can feel overwhelming to find the gems in the rough. The listings are not curated, so not every listing is of high quality or well photographed. I like to check the favorite items of artists whose work I respect, mark shops and items I like as favorites to find later when I run across them on the front page or in treasuries, and occasionally take some time to search for specific terms or items to find new artists I haven't discovered. I usually have to include in my search some subtractions such as "-angels, -anime, -fairy, -sports, -keep calm and carry on"...

New 3D art piece for the Art Center's winter auction and show

Fantasy Stapler Set

This month I've been working on a 3D art piece to contribute to the Corvallis Arts Center's Winter Show and Silent Auction, November 26th-December 23rd. This annual invitational show has a theme this year of "portals."

After mulling it over for a while, I chose not to follow the idea of a normal window or a door or a ship "portal" and instead took the direction of a fantasy portal to another place or dimension. The idea of a nondescript closet, train station locker, box, crystal ball, or wardrobe that is a portal to another place is a commonly occurring theme in fantasy fiction and legend. My non-descript secret fantasy portal is a regular ol' box set of staplers. Who would think to look in there? The design of the outside is in the theme of vintage packaging and office equipment, but it isn't an actual replica of a real Swingline stapler set (um, it's a fantasy stapler set). Inside is a portal to another place, the entrance covered with some overgrown fauna, but in the distance - a path, a valley, and mountains. Is it a short cut to a real place on earth, or another magical dimension entirely?

(Yes, I have been reading books like the Magicians and the Dresden Files series recently.)

Radio interview on KLCC's Food For Thought

The other day at my local author event, I was asked for a radio interview on the spot by Laura McCandlish, one of the hosts and contributors to KLCC's Food For Thought radio program. KLCC is Eugene, Oregon's local Public Radio/NPR station. I wasn't sure when it would air, but I discovered today that the program played on Sunday, November 6th, and it is now available to stream online from KLCC's site and it's available to download for free from iTunes. I show up in the program at about minute 11.
Also featured in the show were interviews with two guests at my event who had great contributions and perspectives of their own on choosing to follow a vegan diet and making plant-based choices, plus a quick mention of the cocktails at the new local restaurant and bar, Terminus, and an interview with local Corvallis chef Intaba Liff-Anderson! Great show!

Rabbit Food Cookbook - Book event and cornbread

Linked from http://finn-sapas.blogspot.com

Hop on over to my friend Marya's blog to see some photos of my book event last weekend at Grass Roots Books and Music in Corvallis, OR, and her pictures of the cornbread she made recently! mmmm.
Thanks, Marya :)

More Rabbit Food Cookbook blogging. weee!

Today I ran across Amanda's additional post on her blog inmyveganlife.blogspot.com with a lovely review of my combo meal recipe for "super breaded fried-chickeny dinner" which is super delicious, and she agreed. Thanks, Amanda!

linked from inmyveganlife.blogspot.com

Rabbit Food Cookbook Book Blog Tour, last day!

Well, the blog book tour has come to its end. Today's blog is from Sarah at Vegansaurus blog. She liked the book, in general, but was dejected at the thought of using garlic powder, like, ever, under any circumstance (in main dish recipes). Well, to each her own. I call for it in some recipes to make them quicker, and in others I do call for the real thing. Sarah tried out the tofu pot pie, but suggested different ways to execute parts of the recipe, which is fine, since cooking is all about adaptation and experimentation. In my recipe's defense, though, I never have crunchy onion problems in the pot pie by following the directions as I've written them.

Well, that's all for the official tour! Hopefully there will be some more talk about the book out there on the internets to follow as more people get copies of the book in hand!

Photo from when Agnes and I made our tofu pot pies!
Um...yeah, mine is the more perfect looking one in front,
but! it was in a smaller pan and I'm more experienced with the recipe.

Looking for vegan food suggestions in Portland?

Some folks asked me for recommendations for vegan-friendly restaurants in Portland on Saturday at my author event at Grass Roots Books in Corvallis. I admitted then that Darren and I are totally fixated on eating at Vita Cafe on Alberta as our first destination every time we are in Portland...If we're there for more than one meal we then pick out another place to eat, LOL! I was having a hard time thinking of other recommendations on the spot. I know there are a ton of places to go, like Blossoming Lotus, Bay Leaf, VegeThai, Vegetarian House, Hungry Tiger Too, DC Vegetarian, Paradox, Proper Eats, etc., etc., etc., and I've enjoyed a bunch of other restaurants over the many years I've been living in this area. There are also a ton of people interested in choosing vegan options in Portland, so there are resources out there that answer this important request for recommendations. After all, Portland is a vegan tourist destination!! Visit Portland, and you will need to go to the gym every day the week after you get home. There is just so much delicious vegan food to gobble up.

Well, lo and behold! I happened across a Vegan Guide to Portland that my friends at Food Fight! Vegan Grocery have put together to answer this very important question better than I could off the cuff. They have links to some of the excellent vegan restaurant review blogs, and descriptions of well known restaurants that we can count on to have vegan options! Check it out! And - while you're roaming around Portland looking for places to stimulate your taste-buds, it's always fun to stop in at Food Fight's store at 12th and Stark for their amazing selection of specialty vegan treats and eats!

food fight's store-fisheye view, or something! linked from their website

A new place on facebook to find me being chatty

Carving a block print

You know, I just realized I forgot to mention here that I recently created a new facebook public page for Beth Bee Books, Rabbit Food Cookbook, and my paintings/artwork updates. I went back and forth on what to title the page, and I settled on Beth Bee Books because that's more interesting than just calling the page "Beth Barnett". Although my name is a perfectly fine name (I'm glad my parents didn't name me something misspelled, like Gweendolyyn or Mykaael), there are a number of other people out there in the world who also have my same name, but no other businesses called Beth Bee Books, so there you go.

If you're on facebook, you can "like" the page to connect with me there, or if you're just curious, go take a look at my posts and links. You don't have to have a facebook account to look at the public page. Cheers!