#264

This is a short one.
I promise to be brief.
We have a shelf full of Halloween clad friends that have been looking at Jo sideways for the last few months as if to say, "Why are we here?"
Well that is a good question, one we all must ask from time to time. But as far as these Halloween honeys go, they'd be much happier there with you than here with us, so we're offering them for 30% off with free shipping. This offer is good through March 1st and is for the in stock Halloween items only. Follow the picture link below and you'll be able to click on the picture to see each item's listing. Just use the coupon code "HALLOWEEN" when checking out.



-Dylan

Hi all!
We have added a new member to our little family. She's living up on Jo's shelf. Here she is. . .

And of course the rest of the art can be found here.We just celebrated Jo's birthday back in Lincoln City on the Oregon coast. We had a relaxing time there staying in this bed and breakfast place that Jo's mom got for us for the night. But I think if they tried to squeezed one more nautical knick knack in there, the whole place would sink into the dune. There was a pool table in the living room that kept us entertained, until we gave up on the sticks and played the hand version of pool/air hockey that always results in bruised fingernails. We're still kids after all.
In other news, Kim Chernecky recently interviewed us for her blog. So if you're not already tired of hearing me talk, go check it out. There's a bit of our history as working artists discussed in it, so if you're curious about our story you can find it here.
Happy birthday to Jo, and if you have a birthday this year or possibly next year, happy birthday to you as well!

-Dylan

#262

Why hello.
Here's the art.

What should you do when opportunity knocks? I guess it depends on what you see through the peephole. Jo was approached recently about licensing her designs for mass production overseas and national distribution of those CartBeforeTheHorse reproductions. We made lists of pros and cons, we wrote to other more experienced artists, and finally Jo and I arm wrestled. The arm wrestling was just for the fun of it though, because we both pretty much reached the same decision to not open the door on this opportunity. In 2003, when we started our little art business, we wrote this simple explanation of who we were. . .

"We are a mom and dad business, a two person
company of artists. We make the kind of art we'd
hang on our walls, then we open our doors to you.
We call ourselves CartBeforeTheHorse
because we're always getting ahead of ourselves.
All of our creations are made one at a time.
We make them with our own hands,
since these are the only hands we have."

This is a sentiment that we couldn't abandon easily. We're not against reproductions, but we'd prefer it if our hands were the ones to make them. So this is the road we're presently headed down. We've gotten some of our art printed on fabric, and we're figuring out cool stuff to make out of those prints, like this Little Red Riding Hood necklace.


Jo is also working on paper dolls that will be available soon for you to put together yourself. We're excited, so hopefully you all will be as well.
So. . . what have we learned today? When opportunity knocks, sometimes the best answer is, "Dave's not here."

-Dylan

#261

Is it almost Valentine's Day again?
When are us guys going to catch a break?
Here are our Valentine friends. . .


You can find them here. . .
Our garage is the man cave. Who else would want it? With bikes parked, garbage and recycling cans guarding the door, a crusty mower waiting for spring, and boxes upon boxes of the past. Who wants this junky room?
I do. I'll plant a flag in it. It's mine.
Here's something made in the man cave recently.


I'm working on my music video, and this contraption holds a Christmas bulb up to my video camera. It gives it a fish eye lens type effect, but with those scratches and imperfections that you just can't get from using digital effects. Plus, I can spend hours pulling faces into that Christmas bulb. I can make my nose big enough to smell cheese steaks in Philly.

-Dylan

#260

Jello,
Nice to see ya.
We finally have some new pieces finished and listed on etsy.
If the link doesn't work, just dial 911 and let them know you want to see some art. They should be more than helpful, and may even offer you a ride in a real police car!

Most days, Jo is at her table painting, and I'm at my rickety folding table in front of the computer stuffing microscopic doll arms and watching Netflix. Once in while we'll scratch our heads and wonder "when was my last day off?" So in answer to that question, I've been trying to make time recently for my hobbies. Yes, the puppet set has been unpacked, and I'm working on repairing some damage caused in its relocation from the coast to here. I didn't feed the set to the wood chipper as I had previously threatened because I've got one more music video in me I'm afraid. I'm doing something different for the puppet heads in each video, and this one will have little TV heads with ipod touches inside to supply the screen. Here's a picture of what it might look like minus the ipods. . .


I'm going to try to get more movement out of these puppets this time. I want the puppets to bleed their stuffing all over the stage. I want amplifiers smashed and heads rolling on the ground. ROCK & ROLL!!!. . .puppetry. I know. Puppets aren't very tough sounding. But when you make dolls for a living, working with puppets is living on the edge.

-Dylan