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AVE HURLEY ILLUSTRATIONS : Got started again after 50~

Initially, I wanted to gather together all the sites I have been listing my artwork on and put them together and see if I am spinning my wheels or if there is a way to get working more this year, as I really need to work and get my art business going….

I put in about 20+ hours daily into my artwork and frequently pull all nighters so I can keep creating and making new pieces of art and reworking some of my best pieces into framable prints, cards crafts and more.

Can this dream become a reality or am I just too late to start over???

I raised 5 children, survived and , lost everything I owned , ruined what credit I had , my health took many wrong turns, now I am trying to salvage what is left of my life and while being a Christian is first and knowing Jesus is what kept me sane and has enabled me to survive thus far, ~ trying to keep busy and be productive , although I have been physically disabled for years and am starting out at a great disadvantage healthwise and financially.

Nevertheless I kept trying and in 2009 I created a new artwork, consolidating all the main sites I list on and am getting more organized all the time and now have begun helping other artists to do the same.

I did start selling on Ebay in 2007  and have had some busy times  that enabled me to buy better printing equipment and to expand my capabilities in how to produce my art for sale… Yet now on ebay,  you have to be careful as things get slow there and sometimes your auction might get overlooked or not even viewed at all..I have had at least a dozen items listed and they weren’t getting ‘hits’ or views, so that too gets really frustrating…

Spending so much time online has stiffened my joints even more and making me more sedentary. This winter’s cold keeps me indoor, lost on line trying to keep working.

I took a break in Dec 2008  and went to York and painted some theatrical sets for a ballet, but never got the photos of the work so I could display them online ~ and I did the work free, but was supposed to be reimbursed for my travel expenses and materials  used- but the people I did it for, although they claimed they appreciated it, stalled by asking for  an invoice and promised to pay me later, so I went back up north, home. They never paid…….Later on still  saying while they loved the work, they just no longer acknowledged what they owed me for my expenses and ignored me after I asked for it and later in the presence of mutual friends denied owing me anything.. although the play charged $10 a head and sold out nightly… and they got backdrops they can now rent out to other studios and do~ go figure. I wanted to help them, so I did. I just assumed they were going to repay me what they owed but  not all people have the same values or conscience.Live and learn…

Next I went to visit my daughter in July 2008 in Phoenix. She had a baby girl and her husband was deployed to Iraq  but home on R&R for the birth which was wonderful. The weather was hot there so my joints weren’t as stiff and the house she had was lovely  but I needed to get back to Pa and left the end of the month. While she had room for me and I could have set up  a large studio/office area which would  have been ideal for getting more organized in this endeavour to be self sufficient in my 50’s, I still felt I needed to work  it out myself back in Pa.

I am glad to work online and feel so much  more productive despite the economy.  I have done alot of research and looked for what I needed on other websites about art and presentation and have built my own network, launched publically in June of 2009.

I have met many artists from around the world and we are collectively showing and selling our art right on my own network~!

Visit my  network. http://AveHurleyIllustrations.ning.com to see my art and prints for sale~

ART PRINTS ACEOs ATCs Art Collectors Editions and Originals

Ave Hurley Illustrations is currently making available most of her favorite artworks into the newest format of ACEO’s and has been selling them privately til last summer when she began selling them on ebay in 2007 under screen name : avehurleyillustrations

I still sell occasionally on Ebay but do most of my online sale and promotions from  my own network site now.

I also now make larger framable giclee prints up to 13 x 19 and 8×10 & canvas prints.

All artwork and printings are done individually by the artist, altered for originality and collectibilty.All work comes with CERTIFICATES OF AUTHENICITY and each one is ARTIST SIGNED AND DATED.

Some of my ACEO’S  have been sold on Ebay for  $23 each  and  ACEO’s grow in value consistently.

Ave Hurley has also opened online stores at other auction sites too and is featuring select items  starting as low as $.99 at .

I also keep my Etsy shop~ but all my shops , auctions & stores are all listed on my network for easy access and comparison~

www.AveHurley.Etsy.com

ACEO/ATC’s SIGNED,COATED & IN CLEAR SLEEVES

8 X 10 CANVAS SIGNED PRINTS , SIGNED

11 X 14 SIGNED GLOSSY GICLEE PRINTS

13 X 19 SIGNED SATIN GICLEE PRINTS

Available for custom work as well as private sales, my websites are available to show my  artwork to the online shopper and delivery is within 24-48 hours of receipt of payment, through Paypal, so you can buy with confidence and security.

Contact me for any of your art requests. I specialize in land and seascapes, country scenes, farms, fields ,lighthouses and more.

AVE HURLEY ILLUSTRATIONS

http.avehurleyillustrations.ning.com

Thankyou and have a great day~! Ave

718-554-0289

602-539-4053

Visit “Ave Hurley Illustrations ~ Featured Artists Network”

[free to join to show, promote and sell your art~!]

Check out some of my stores and auctions!

www.AveHurley/Artwanted.com

www.AveHurley.Etsy.com

http://www.plunderhere.com/auction/cgi-bin/Shop/LadyMadonnah

Second Chance, doing my artwork again!!

As many of you know I am an artist. Never did it as a full time career as my interests and responsibilites have prevented me over the years. Most of my work over the last 30 yrs has been for gifts for friends and family and or charitable to raise money to help other people , churches , schools and other organizations. 

I like doing it, but here I am now in a small rented farm house after losing my home 3 yrs ago with most of my possessions to have to start out over again and over 50,  this isnt as easy as it would seem…

Although I am physically and legally disabled enough to preclude me from obtaining gainful employment with what would be considered a normal full time job, but sometimes I feel well enough to work and so I do volunteer jobs, like when I was working for the Red Cross at Ft.Sill in 2005, I was also able to start up and run as a manager , shelters in Oklahoma to assist the Katrina evacuees…

It was a bit ironic, but rewarding as I was able to help others get new homes and possessions, when I basically was living out of my van, while staying at my sons temporarily… I do enjoy putting others firsts, but then  people look at me and wonder why I havent gotten my own life together yet… Now for me it is easy to promote and find good deeds to do for others, but for myself, I tend to feel awkward and dont like to ask for anything or any help, so that is probably the main reason I am in the dilemma I am in…

Here I over 50 , single again, bad or no credit, a van that keeps breaking down monthly, in a rented one bedroom house, barely keeping up with utilities let alone rent. still helping others via the net and phone to get their needs met, but rather than meeting my own needs, I have learned to do without most things…

Taking a good look at myself, I have no one to blame but me… I have talent, I am worthwhile and all the other forms of encouragement I give to others, I have failed to give to myself… I realized that I have become reclusive and have a lower sense of self esteem, fearing that if anyone sees me as ‘needing’ that they will then take advatange and hurt me.

Writing it down here, it sounds silly but I think that is about how I feel and then I prefer to come off all knowing, all powerful, all together so others can rely on me and they do… and I dont mind that as I feel it is better to give than to receive and know that I have a hard time being a receiver. I dont think it is pride as much as fear of rejection, so instead of taking care of my own needs, I do without and help others.

If it were just me, I could continue this survival mode living til I am called home to glory, but I have kids and grandkids, that I should be doing more for and I think that if I devote more time concerning my art into actually selling it and also getting ‘paid’ commissions, that I shouyld be able to rise above this poverty and not only contribute more to society but to myself, and with that I can help others even more… I have to get on  my own bandwagon and have some of the fruits of my labors…

I didnt realize that my oldest son, who has been away from home over 10 yrs, had such a disrespectful view of me as being a loser and a bum!.. That really hurt, since I even did free work for him and his wife..Seems alot of people dont respect volunteers or those working for free for good causes. He thinks I am stupid for not being rich, since I have the talent to work in the art arena like a Kinkade or Rockwell, but havent out of fear.

I want to stop being afraid and I want to develop my art in a way that will provide a better standard of living for me and something I can leave to my children when I am gone… I dont want to be remembered as a loser or a bum by the ones I love most. I feel bad that some of them like my son, dont understand that much of what I have done throughout my life was to serve God humbly by helping others..

I was fairly well known and worked in the 70’s-80’s in NYC before moving upstate to raise my kids…]

For the last year or so, I have been doing my paintings and drawings so that they can be reproduced into other useful forms. I have learned the Giclee inkjet process through trial and error on digitally preparing paintings for printing and now can make orirginal ink printings in 8 x 10 and card size original images, cleear coat them, sign and date them and they are valuable when in comparison to other Giclees… I also spray clear coat on them to protect them from damage. 

I am learning how to use Photo Impression and PhotoShop to make new image rendtions of my  paintings and trying to create as many new paintings as I can.

I tried to sell some on Ebay, but was lame on the way I listed them and found that how they are listed determines how many will actually see them.. so for me it was a waste of money advertising them there.

 I have also listed with Lowbid.com, but havent had any sales there either, but at least they dont charge to list..There are so many people trying to sell paintings online, that it is like winning a lottery to even have someone view my links…

My niece found Etsy and told me about it, so I checked it out and joined… $.20 per item to list for 4 months and a free online store… not a bad deal at all..I actually sold 3 items the first month there, but that was it… no other sales… but there could be and I am hopeful.

I then researched a bit and found that my prices were cheap, perhaps too cheap for the serious buyers and not cheap enough fot the middle class collectors… so I am struggling to learn the in’s and out’s… I tried lowering prices but found that when I printed one order, it cost me more to print and ship than I charged for the order, so that wasnt working!…

I hope to also get some commission work, so I found a muralist site and have joined it. Check out the links of the places I am located online and see if there isnt anything you might want or want done… I can work within most budgets and love to do the work.  This is an art service listing online for people looking for artists to do projects at their homes or businesses. I have just joined: https://www.findamuralist.com/Pennsylvania/ave-hurley-mansfield.php

I have joined this services site and set up a portfolio in hopes to get some work..It is spring and I feel like painting BIG, so if you have any ideas that you’d like on a wall or on a mural board, I can do them for you!! I can work within almost any budget just about and am willing to travel to your location [if transportation is provided and a place to rest my head between painting sessions]..

I do what is called ‘speed painting’ and also Coney Island Style billboard art, so I can actually do a mural in the same time frame as I would do a fine art painting.. I have done full scenes on little 1 inch rocks and also on sides of buildings.. In my mind I can easily work in enlarging a scene and have been doing so since I was in my teens.. I can get some large murals done in one day!

I work from home here in PA in a small farm house and the winter has pretty much given me a sense of cabin fever, so I am ready to come out and paint….:) travel a little [ must be the gypsy in me,lol] My van needs alot of ‘upgrades’ like a tune-up alignment and oil change.. typically normal things to do, but I never have enough to get them done, so most of the winter my van has been ‘off the road’ waiting til the beginning of each month to get itr ‘started’ run some errands and then be stuck home again… not to mention gas prices..

I was shocked when home for 3 weeks after getting out of the hospital for my cellulitis, only to see prices jumped about $.70 a gal and now here it is going to be $4 by summer… [not fair!!! Iraqi oil should be paying for the war, not us!]

If you know anyone who wants some artistic work done, big or small, let me know and I would really appreciate the work!

For years I have done mural boards for people [up to 4ft x 8 ft and larger ones that interlock] and they can be done from home and later applied to walls [which is good in the event you were to move or redecorate, they can be easily removed and applied elsewhere. https://www.findamuralist.com/Pennsylvania/ave-hurley-mansfield.php but  now at http://avehurleyillustrations.ning.com

I can do all that ‘faux’ type painting- too, like make a brick wall look real[ but really be plasterboard], lol and I have a nac for rocks that I can turn a doorway into a castle entrance or a child’s room into a wonderland…I have done castles and seascapes, landscapes for years. I can also do spot murals- you know like foliage and flora around windows or doorways, entranceways etcs.

I have some of my art at
www.AveHurley.Etsy.com
in basically framable prints and note cards.

I also have some of my art transferred onto clothing, housewares and more at :
www.avehurleyillustrations.onlyhere.net

I havent figured out how to really  advertise those sites and see from the counter that there just isnt alot of people out there that even see my ‘stuff’ ;(    http://www.famesource.com/profile.aspx?u=LadyMadonnah

So if you even take a peak, I ‘d appreciate it and if anyone has any suggestions as to how I can get some business going, please let me know…

I have been here on myspace for over a year and have met alot of wonderful talented people and myspace has been a good place for me. www.myspace.com/avehurleyillustrations

I do however have to do some sort of work and need some sort of art jobs or sales since I am basically stuck at home because of my health and also finances, [like many others I am sure} so I am not complaining, but it would be nice to have something else to do sometimes…  http://www.famesource.com/myspace.aspx?u=LadyMadonnah

Have a great weekend and God bless you all, my friends…:) Ave

http://tiny.cc/aveh

Second Chance, doing my artwork in my 50’s……..:) « Ave Hurley

Second Chance, doing my artwork in my 50’s……..:) « Ave Hurley

Getting back into my Art work….

I have been an artist all my life, but do to alot of personal struggles with a difficult marriage, involvement with a religious cult that tore at my heart, accidents making me handicapped and disabled, my art work was put on hold for many years and then again due to the emotional issues of many personal traumas.

When I finally did get back into my artwork, it was with less satisfaction that before all the hard times had occurred. I hadn’t the same skill levels or confidence or ability to re-enter the commercial world since I am not disabled and in poor health.

I want to make a new legacy for my children, who have ridden through the storms with me and I want to rise above the poverty I have been forced to live in during the aftermath of my cult involvement and marital disaster.

I want to do what I do best, but have been torn in so many directions for the last 30 years, that I lost myself along the way and felt less than adequate to make it in this world and so settled for living in survival mode and doing without most of the things in life we take for granted.

Trying to find out who I really am, as to who I became due to adversity led me on a journey cross country trying out some new things and getting into being a volunteer for various causes, that gave me a sense of purpose at the times I was doing them, but still left me alone afterwards and becoming reclusive. life is so full of disappointments but also alot of good things when I look beyond the pain of it all.

I want to take back my life and pick up where I first detoured and try once again to make something of myself that I can find a sense of accomplishment and reward in. I feel it too late to complete college as I wanted to become a doctor, but now my health is so poor , at best I’d end up as my own patient and for that I would want a second opinion anyway, lol..

I thought of being a lawyer, as I have had some experience working for some and in doing research, but at my age, I don’t feel I would be able to gain much of a future other than to finish college, so I am redirecting my efforts to what I used to do best, my art.

Still even with my art work I face alot of obstacles. During a domestic disturbance back in 1984, I severed my right wrist on glass by going through a window and was left with claw hand deformity and couldnt use my hand. I tried to use muy left hand but was never able to regain my skills with it. I had some corrective surgery and was given about 15% use back.

I was inspired by Joni Erickson Tada, who can paint with her mouth as she is a quadraplegic. She is a very positive Christian speaker , although her body no longer works after an accidnet she had when she was young. Her story made me think. I coudnt continue feeling sorry for myself since I could walk and move my arms and so I began trying to draw, taping a pencil on my hand.

I then tried painting again and could , but was always feeling my art work wasnt good enougj for anyone beyond my own family so I never considered trying to make a living at it again.

Six years later when I hurt my back, I was seeing a new orthopedic surgeon, Dr.Robert Supinski in a little town in north central Pennsylvania called Coudersport. He is an excellent doctor and did some pioneering work in sports medicine, but loved the area and moved there. Finding such a wonderful doctor in so remote an area was amazing, since my prior surgeries were in New York City and Philadelphia, I never dreamed of having use of my hand again let alone by what most would consider a country bumpkin doctor. Dr.Supinski proved to be anything but. The man is a highly talented, innovative and motivated surgeon.

He glanced at my hand and asked me what happened and I told him. He said he could do microsurgery on my hand and give me its use back. I was in awe. I had given up hope on it six years earlier.He promised that when he was in there that he would be extra careful and only do what he felt confident would improve function. He said if he ran into any thing suspicious that he would stop the operation and close it up thus assuring me it would be no worse than before.

I had the surgery, the third surgery since my accident. When I first woke up I remember moving my fingers and being able to make a fist. Some of the paralysis was gone as well as some of the numbness I had for six years.

I welcomed the pain as it was ‘feeling’ and that was one thing I never thought I would have again.

Then Dr.Supinski told me that there was more that he could have done, however he didnt want to risk me losing any more motor functions. He is an excellent orhtopedic surgeon and I am very grateful to him for what he did for me, even though I was only on medical assistance and he didn’t get paid enough for what he did for me. Many surgeons give minimal to substandard care to those on medical assistance as I found out later in life.

I was very grateful and began therapy at home. Soon I could hold things without dropping them. The only remaining problem from the first suregery was on the outside area of my wrist having a large neuroma still. He said he examined it and couldnt be certain that removing it would give me any use back .If I make contact with that part of my wrist with any surface it gives me a nauseating electrical shock. Also my pinky finger remained numb and somewhat shrivelled. My fingers however could now flex and hold onto things.

Dr.Supinski said he even found more glass slivers in there near the nerve that caused alot of my problems preventing conductivity. He said to that some of the damage wasn’t from the accident as much as from the first surgery by a guy named Dr. Raju [a so-called prominent hand surgeon on Staten Island in the 80’s] who wrongly allowed a resident to perform most of the first surgery as he didnt care, since I was on welfare at the time and had medicaid.

Most surgeries require post op appointments. Since I was on medicaid Dr.Raju refused to see me.

At my first follow up visit at his office, Dr.Raju wouldnt see me and had his nurse tell me to go to the hospital clinic for follow up. I insisted ont talking to him since he was my suirgeon. I told her I was an artist and when I was in the ER at St.Vincents on Staten Island, that I had requested to be stabilized and sent to Belleview Hospital in NYC since they had a world class clinic and were on the cutting edge of the latest technolgy.

The ER doctor hd stitched my arteries closed til I was brought to the OR. The cuit was a clean straigh line across my inner wrist but to the bone, detaching the ulner nerve and 4 branches of the ulner artery, the flexor tendons and ligaments attaching the muscle in my forearm, causing my hand to pull tight backwards. I had tied an electric cord on my forearm as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding which was profuse.

The ER doctor began stitching my arteries without novacaine as my injury was too serious and he told me that I could have bled out in 90 seconds. It was torture but it was to save my life so I held as still as I could and bit my lip. He stopped the bleeding and stabilized me so I could go to the OR.

I told the ER doctor at St.Vincent’s Medical Center on Staten Island [ which didn’t have trauma status at the time and I knew it] that I didnt want them repairing my arm since they weren’t qualified as a trauma hospital and that I was an artist and needed a specialist ,so that was why I wanted to go to Bellevue Hospital in NYC where they do all types of hand surgeries including reattachments and reconstruction.

I said I just wanted them to stop the bleeding so I could go there. The ER doctor said that they [the hospital] were bringing in a “hand specialist” and they could repair it right there in their OR. They were partly responsible for what happened next.

They did the surgery. I woke up in agony with my hand in a cast and bend strangley. A clinic doctor came in and told me that they had ‘bad news’ for me. She said the damage was far more extensive than they anticipated and that they had to cut further into my hand and arm to reattach the tendons and muscle and in doing so they ‘accidentally’ cut into my median nerve as well and couldn’t repair the ulner nerve. She said they were able to reattach ‘some’ of the arteries but the others were left cut off.

As a result, I had 95% nerve damage and could only expect to possibly regain up to 15% of the use of my hand back!.. I was devastated… a simple clean straight cut that turned into a butcher job! I was now unable to work and lost my new store, home and everything else. I was ruined. I had 3 small children at the time and ended up having to live in shelters for nearly 14 months til I could get a new home and start over. These were some of the hardest years of my life and it was their fault.

Dr.Raju had told me that he didn’t actually perform my surgery that the resident at St.Vincent’s had done it and he was there only to advise and observe since he didn’t work on Medicaid patients. I told him that I was only on it temporarily and that I was an artist and just got my store open and I would have paid him. He said he was sorry but that I was already under anesthesia when he arrived at the hospital and that he had no idea how much I needed my hand, so it wasn’t his fault according to him and that I should do my follow up care at the clinic.

After my post op visits were completed, I called Bellevue and made an appointment at their hand clinic. They had all my surgical records and evaluated my hand. they said, had I been brought there that they could have restored at least 95% of my mobility back and that St.Vincents did a bad job on my hand and should I want them to operate I would have to wait til it was totally healed about 6 mos to see first if any function returned and that they would have to do nerve conduction studies before they could do anything else, as some function might return within 6 mos. Meanwhile I was out of work and lost my home and store. I moved to Philadelphia with my children’s father.

While living in a shelter in Philadelphia after another domestic distubance with my children’s father, I was referred to the Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia to Dr. Lee, in their hand clinic. Dr. Lee had pioneered a proceedure called the ‘ Intrinsic Tendon Transfer” and because I had been a domestic violence victim that he was willing to accept medical assistance as full payment. He said his proceedure was still experimental and would be done on the back side of my hand. He would dissect and cross link the tendons which would enable me to open my fist and bend my hand to help regain some mobility. He said he wasnt going anywhere near my first surgical site and hoped to give me some hope. He did and it enabled me to pick things up and hold them, but I would often drop them after a few minutes since their cutting of the median nerve accidentally at St. Vincents, the muscles around the thumb and forefinger would still continue to atrophy.
Still it was an improvement and withing a few years I began drawing and painting by using masking tape and attaching them to my hand so I wouldnt drop them.

After leaving Philadelphia, I returned to Staten Island for 3 mos, since my family all lived there. i couldnt find permanent housing so I moved upstate NY and lived in that area since then, but moved acorss the border to north central Pennsylvania, which led to finding and meeting Dr.Supinski.

During the 90’s I learned to use my hand again and didn’t some sign painting and commissions to supplement my income, but developed other medical problems and went on disability, settling on raising my children and doing some art on the side for gifts and decorating. I found little time to paint and draw, so I don’t have much to show for the 90’s.

Since then, my children are now grown up and mostly married, while I got divorced and now live in a small farm house in Pennsylvania and have time to paint and enjoy my artwork.

My niece Kerry Ann told me about Etsy and I have opened an online Art Gallery and store and hope it leads to more work and that I find people who may want my artwork. The URL is I hope you like my artwork…:)