Giveaway Mania (winner+next temple giveaway)

The moment you've all been waiting for.  What will Ashmae paint next?  A unicorn? an airplane? a flower?  Actually, I will be painting either a car, or a kitten, for Megan's son. Yay Megan!  We'll be in touch. Maybe I'll paint both.  If Remy continues to wake up every hour at night and I have lots of extra time on my hands like I did last night while I couldn't sleep, I would love to paint more things for the lovely little creatures you asked.  In the meantime, stay tuned for another giveaway that has to do with the next temple I will paint.

Okay, should we just do it right now? 

I've started my new temple etsy shop, ashmaetemples.etsy.com, which I am very excited about.  I am excited because 40% of sales goes directly to the LDS Temple Patron Fund and I've always wanted my art to help people in some way.  This is small, but  I like doing a part. The fund is set up to help people with the financial means to get to the temple when they are in areas without a temple very near by.
I have a lot to say about painting temples (which I will write in a soon-post), as it has been both an internal struggle and a joy throughout the last year.  After much thinking about religious art, talking to gracious folks, and asking myself what is important to me, the scales are definitely tipped toward joy and excitement about making these paintings.  So, I've received lots of requests for all sorts of temples, and I want to make them all, because I know that they are reminders of specialness to people, but I have a very long list, and I don't know where to start.

Here's where giveaway mania begins (haha, don't worry, i'm not taking myself too seriously over here).


For this giveaway, you can enter as many times as you pass along the word (Facebook, Twitter, your blog,  word of mouth, Pinterest, hand-written letter, phone call)

Let me know what temple you would like me to paint next and a week from now (Friday, January 20th) I will pick a winner and get to painting.  However, even if you don't win, your votes are not in vain.  I will try and surmise and compile my list in the order of the temples that people most want.  (Okay, please note that I don't think I'm some big deal and that people are just refreshing my etsy page waiting for the next temple to come out, but humor me a little, I'm just trying to do something good.  Aren't we all?)


Oh yeah, and I'll send you a print of the temple you picked when it's done.


Here is a list of temples that I've already painted and are up in the shop:
Boise, Idaho
Draper, Utah
Laie, Hawaii
Los Angeles, California
Manhattan, New York
Manti, Utah
Mesa, Arizona
Newport Beach, California
Oakland, California
Portland, Oregon
Provo, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Timpanogos, Utah
Washington DC

Birthday Giveaway!

Hi all,
here I am again.  The holidays were a whirlwind of one Beehive Bazaar, where I spent one of the more glorious hours of my life swapping goods with other vendors (Why can't I buy everything in life with paintings?); six boy cousins around Remy's age all in the same living room at several points in Utah; five more cousins romping in the same room in Portland; one perfect lunch at Sundance with my parents; one round of Christmas carols around the piano;  many a cup of eggnog; three plane rides; one train ride; one Denny's breakfast; very good and several nights with both families; one road trip to Santa Barbara; one round of sparklers on the beach; one hike through a butterfly preserve; one new pair of shoes from Carl; two gifts opened well before Christmas; two immature people (me and Carl) who insisted on opening (not even opening, we hadn't wrapped them yet) these gifts without a stitch of fanfare or even a soul around except my sister Sage who seemed a little confused by our behavior; one bout of the flu for me; heaps of joy; four rainy days in Portland; three people happy to be back in their own little home.

I kept a list of things on my phone that I want to blog about, but not now.  Today is a special day.  Today is the eve-eve of my birthday.  I unabashedly love my birthday and have no problem asking groups of people to sing to me or letting people know how much I love my day.  I love celebrating and have been known to throw myself a party or two.  That being said, I want to celebrate on this here blog as well.  This requires a giveaway, because the last one was seriously a lot of fun.  I've had to temper myself from doing one every other day (It's a good thing that Carl is my business agent and accountant and not me, I give things away willy-nilly and tend to have little concept of how one goes about making a large profit).

 Drumroll....

Birthday giveaway rules:

1. We all know a kid right?  Some sort of young creature with a fresh mind.  Go to them and ask them a few questions, talk to them about their stories, things they find hilarious, pictures floating about in their delicious little minds.  Get around to asking them what they would like to have painted. If you absolutely can't talk to a kid, talk to someone!  An old person,  a funny person, a stranger.  Be sincere though,  snarkiness will not get you a win here.

2.  Write the response in the comment box.  You may enter twice if you spread the word in some way.  You may enter more times if you talk to more than one kiddo.

3.  You have until one week from now to go about this task.  I hope it will be an enjoyable one.

4.  Next Thursday, already five days into my 28th year of wisdom, I will use the random-number-drawer to select the winner.

5.  I will then draw and paint whatever is depicted in the winning comment and it will be sent directly to the clever child who supplied the idea.  I will send an extra for you too.

Doesn't this sound fun?  I'm pretty excited about it.

Also, in other news to celebrate, I have a new etsy site.  The old one is still up and running, but this new site ashmaetemples.etsy.com sells temple prints exclusively, and the best part? 40% of sales goes directly to the LDS Temple Patron Fund.  This is a fund set up by the LDS church that provides financial assistance to those seeking to go to the temple, but haven't the monetary means to do so.  Think, you could have a temple in your home AND be helping to send people on their way to be a part of the wonderful blessings of the temple.  Double win, I think.

And lastly, who doesn't want a photo of Remy?  Happy Birthday eve-eve!