Jack Sparrow is pretty close to being finished. I've got him done except his hat. I've torn his hat apart 5 times, and yes it's gonna be torn apart again! Why is this such a hard thing for me? Lol. I do intricate faces!! Not sure what my problem is. As usual you will have to wait to see him in his entirety. He stands at 5'10". He's in a fighting stance holding his sword. I did all the details!!! I researched his outfit and if you look carefully I'm not missing a thing. Compass, guns, belts, scars, sashes, beads, rings, all the gadgets! (And yes, a pirate hat soon!) he's a complete Jack Sparrow!
I named him BRILLIANTLY MAD! Do to my favorite quote from the movie.
If you remember the scene in the beginning of the first movie "Curse of the Black Pearl", Jack and Will are walking under water to steal a ship. They are using a small boat upside down holding in the air so they can breathe while they are walking on the bottom of the ocean.
“This is either madness, or brilliance.” (Will Turner) “It’s remarkable how often those two traits coincide.” – Jack Sparrow.
Jack is either MADLY BRILLIANT or BRILLIANTLY MAD!!

I just checked online a day ago and found the application for the One Of A Kind Show. To my surprise the application deadline is September 23rd for the Spring Show. In the next few weeks I have to build an application package. Now some of you think... Just fill out the form! Let me tell you what they want:
- a biography stating how I got started, where I've show cased. What I've sold. And my education and training in art.
- a step by step product description and how my pieces are built and who helps me.
- detailed plans of my booth (that I haven't even built yet). Placement, lighting, walls, flooring, signage.
- pictures of items to be sold.
- price lists
- I'm applying for a NEW ARTISAN SCHOLARSHIP, which entails a written assignment stating why I could benefit from the program.
- photos of my studio
- a $500 deposit
- and the filled out application to boot!
Wow!!!
So I've been at this for 2 days straight!! This is by far the biggest investment I have had when it comes to this dream. I'm figuring that when this is all said and done it will have cost me 7 grand!!! Cross your fingers everyone that I get the Scholarship! This will alleviate 50% off the booth, which will probably run me $4000-5000 (depending on the size and location they give me). 😉
So like they say in poker "I'm all in!"
​And speaking of poker, gotta go! Off to my real job at the Casino to pay for all this!!!

Round 1 for THRIVING ARTIST was a success for me. I ranked in the top 16 that will move onto the second round of voting, via Favebook, to start Sept 3rd to the 9th. Now I'm not sure where exactly I placed in the top 16, but if it's according to the order posted on the ETA round 1 winner list, I came in 6th.
This does make me a little nervous, because only 8 make it to the gallery round. I really need everyone's support on this next vote! If I make it to the gallery round, then my work will speak for itself. It's far more impressive for judges to see the sculpture in real life. Sheer size is breath taking. The photo of the driftwood peacock is just not impressive enough. According to the ETA rules I was not allowed a background in my photo, which alone helps to state its size, I had to blur the background, and in my opinion, it's hard to even know it's a sculpture.
So everyone, I'm calling on you!! Take a minute to vote when the polls open!! I need everyone I can get!!!!❤️

A month ago I entered the Square The Love competition hosted by Square Canada. Unfortunately I didn't win but did get a bit of recognition in their blog today.

Read the whole artical here:
​https://squareup.com/ca/townsquare/what-happened-when-we-asked-our-sellers-to-square-the-love/

I've been nominated for THRIVING ARTIST at the ETA Awards in Toronto on Oct 21st. To narrow down the competion ETA is hosting an online voting that runs from yesterday to Friday the 29th. After the first round of voting I'm running in the front 16 candidates!!! Hopefully I stay there! I need everyone's vote, everyday! Please if you have a minute, every day, I would greatly appreciate the support! My driftwood peacock EGYPT is representing me in the polls.
The award is 500 dollars, which I don't really care about. It's the "Title" THRIVING ARTIST, that I really need for my portfolio!!
I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all the support everyone has given me since the beginning of this journey! Sharing posts, donations, confidence boosts, AND dealing with all my spam on Facebook!!! Lol!!! So grateful for everyone's gestures!❤️❤️❤️❤️
Here is the link so that you may go and vote now!!
https://poll.fbapp.io/thrivingartist-1316272?from=user_link&ref_id=uxz4nu

So I've been nominated for THRIVING ARTIST at the ETA Awards in Toronto, in October! I Hope that you will all take a moment and vote! The process is I bit more involved than I had hoped for. When you vote you have to select your favorite 3 artists from each page. Please take the time to finish because I think my peacock that is representing me, is on the 4th page!!
Here's the link: (It's all done on the Facebook platform)
​https://poll.fbapp.io/thrivingartist-1316272?from=user_link&ref_id=uxz4nu

For those of you that don't know... I've been nominated for the THRIVING ARTIST AWARD, at the ETA Awards, in Toronto, on October 21st!
The criteria for this award is as follows:

A Thriving Artist represents positivity, encourages their peers, has a missile-focused mindset and utilizes the networks around them, in an effort promote themselves while supporting others. Being a Thriving Artist also means you have an awareness of the importance of branding & customer service skills and are constantly working to build a sustainable artist business plan via an attitude for success. The Thriving Artist is driven by their passions and is liberated by the opportunity to be an entrpreneur, supporting themselves every day simply by doing what they love.
The design of this awards category in our event, is to distinguish between and reward the artists who maximize their art career from all angles - social networking, skill/talent, brand and online and in person salesmanship.

The general audience is invited to participate throughout the selection process of this category, begining by an online voting commencing August 13th.​​

My driftwood peacock EGYPT, will be representing me. All voting will be on the FACEBOOK platform!! PLEASE take a minute of your time, and hopefully vote for me, when I post the link! I will post everyday, Starting Saturday, To encourage you to submit your vote!

THANK YOU in advance! Your vote will mean a lot to me!!!

About a month back I entered a competition "Square The Love". Square Canada wanted entries to hashtag one photo representing your business using "The Square". Now what "The Square" is, for those of you that don't know, it's a little square that you plug into your mobile device, so you can swipe credit cards. Along with the APP you download, you can help your business tremendously, anywhere, anytime, accepting e-transactions to close a sale!!
Above is the photo I entered with this caption:

"Being a sculptor that works with irregular shaped driftwood all day, it's nice to work with a simple square for a change, and it's, by far, the best shape to end my creative process with!!"

Today I received this email:
​"Hi Dawn Marie,


Thank you so much for entering our #SquareTheLove contest! We don't have a winner yet (it's so hard to choose!) but we we are working on a post for Town Square (our blog) about our favourite entries ... and you're one of them!


Is it okay if we include your photo and caption in the piece? We'd also link to your website so our readers can learn even more about you and your amazing business."
​

I will keep everyone posted! I'm so excited and honoured, to have a mention and a link, in a huge company's blog, such as Square Canada's!!!!
As far as I'm concerned, I've already won, big time!!! Thanks Square Canada!!!

So TINA LEAH the driftwood mermaid is finito except I'm waiting on feathers AGAIN from China. These ostrich feathers are to be on the end of her tail. So I'm going to keep you waiting for the final photo!
In the meantime I've managed to put a dent into my next project... JACK SPARROW!
He's actually coming along nicely and it's hilarious to see him come to life in front of my eyes! There's no mistaking who he is, and the driftwood is molding into the famous pirate perfectly!!
I'll keep you posted mates!!!