My Tango Diaries

Now that I've reached the 150 designs mark (can you believe it?!) on RedBubble.com , I decided to spread out to other platforms that have different products and styles to put designs on. Society6 and Zazzle are my 2 new storefronts - though they are very limited at the moment. I also added this design, "Backwards and in High Heels", referring to Ginger Rogers doing everything that Fred Astaire did, but "backwards, and in high heels" dance quote. Also, thanks to the feedback I received from clients and connections, I've redone several of the Word Art designs to be bolder and easier to read on smaller screens (and at a distance.) Many of the designs used fonts that were to narrow or fine to show up well, so they've been reworked and resubmitted with your recommended changes. Thank you Sara, Tim and Erik for all the feedback!

Finally a trend I'm truly excited about! The return of the '20s next January! I love Art Deco, (though Art Nouveau will always be my first love.) My great-grandmother, who I was lucky to have until I was twenty, was a flapper and told me about the slang, the attitude - and the dancing! So in honor of all that I learned from her, and the return of the "Roaring 20's", I've created a new set of designs on RedBubble . Flapper Slang, Speakeasy sign, Tango sign in Art Deco design, and La Guardia Nueva! I'm still looking at the product and design offerings with a tanguera's eye though - milonga themed decor, clothes that work for dancing, and of course a celebration of 1920's tango - La Guardia Nueva! I'll have more designs coming over the next week - so keep checking if the Jazz Age and Art Deco are 'the bees knees' for you too! 

A few people have asked me how I suddenly got up the ambition to get my art store going and how I've been so productive. It's really down to one book: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles, by Steven Pressfield. No fewer than 8 people recommended that book to me, probably more but I don't remember. I think I knew it would be a kick in the ass. I wasn't sure I was ready for it. It took me ages to get around to it. Now I'm the one recommending it to every writer and creative who will listen to me (who hasn't already read it.) It's a fast read. Pressfield doesn't waste your time, doesn't insult your intelligence and doesn't pull punches. It's what you need to read to get off your ass and do the work (to borrow the title of another one of his books.) I finished it in a few days and then started over and read it again. How you think of your work, and how you think of yourself doing that work...

At the request of another dancer, I finally created the "Things Tango Teachers Say" Word Art on RedBubble.com .  Here's the graphic - below, the explanation. Some of this is tongue-in-cheek and highlights the conflicting instruction we get as Argentine Tango students. But some of it, particularly "Just walk naturally" , are particularly frustrating bits of advice. I often heard "Just walk naturally," directed at followers , from male instructors (to both male and female students.)  The more I heard it, the more irritated I got. I don't know how much time instructors spend their day walking backwards - particularly in 3-4" high heels, but there's nothing natural about it. We can learn to do it - and do it very well, but we're not structurally built to spend our time doing it. It's not at all natural - in heels or otherwise. */Begin rant In all honesty, and speaking as a personal trainer for dancers, it's just lazy...

People who know me in tango know that at one time I designed custom tango shoes for clients. I worked with MrTangoshoes.com shoes out of Colombia to make shoes that matched clothes, shoes for hard to fit feet, custom sizing, custom materials - the works. I loved designing for clients - but I hated having an inventory to carry around to milongas and practicas to sell enough volume to keep afloat. In the end, I gave up the business to concentrate on my main (non-tango) job and personal training. As I've written in the past few posts, I'm designing again - this time accessories instead of shoes. I take commissions for custom work as I'm able and keep a steady supply of new designs hitting my RedBubble virtual shelves. It's the best of both worlds - I get to design to my heart's content, but not have to worry about an inventory to lug around. Lately though, I've really, really been missing the shoes. So I decided to do some shoe-themed designed to make myself ...

One of the things I really like about RedBubble.com is that my orders, because I'm in the US, are made and shipped from the US. If you're in Europe, most products will be made there as well, etc etc.  They've even been transparent enough about the process to break it down. Here are a few examples. You can go to this page to see the full list of where everything is made, based on where it is being shipped to. Not only does this get products to clients faster and cheaper - it means that the quality is generally higher. That's good for everyone.

Just a quick update since several people have asked for the list. Here are the art resources I use most for the majority of my work. Keep in mind, I use a Mac so with other platforms, your results might vary.    This is PhotoPea which does a great job, to a point. The larger the photo, the slower it gets. Paid/Desktop Apps/Software - available for desktop and tablets: Adobe Photoshop and Design, now available on subscription plans which is helpful if you're on a budget: https://www.adobe.com/ creativecloud/plans.html   I still use this for some of the short cuts I've developed, but more and more, I'm using Affinity Photo and Designer more. Affinity Photo and Designer: I'm using Serif's Affinity products more lately as they offer the flexibility of GIMP and the robust offerings of Photoshop, for less money. A new product, Publisher, is available for pre-order and I'm getting curious about that one.  https://affinity.serif.com/en- u...

First, thank you to everyone who has been sending me their feedback, ideas, suggestions and critiques - you are all amazing and I love you! Golden Age Tango Orchestras on Tango Banner As of this morning, I have almost 100 designs in the shop (!), with each design on anywhere from 10-40 products each! On RedBubble , my shop is now one of the largest focused on Argentine Tango, and I still have over 30 designs waiting to be finalized and uploaded. There are several new design categories: Educational(-ish) word art designs that list works by tango orchestra or period. Tango/Milonga humor category called #milongaexcuses Traditional Art pieces (that have been remastered to better render on RedBubble's products) Tango Quotes Geometric designs - usually commissioned works to match specific shoes, clothes or accessories, or to be personalized. "I'm sorry I missed your cabeceo. That was just my RBF. *Resting Bitch Face #milongaexcuses New items: Los...

The plan is coming together! Well, mostly. Thanks to feedback and requests from tango friends from all over the world, I have a pretty solid plan of action for my tango designs on the Infinitetango RedBubble Store . There are, at this time, 3 departments in the shop: 1. Custom Designs - these are designs, usually geometric or abstract, to match specific shoes, apparel or other requests. These are mostly geometric patterns created from color picking directly from the image of the shoe or garment, and then creating patterns with the exactly colors for the best possible match. 2. Tango Quotes - both famous and a bit more obscure. I have a huge library of quotes in Scrivener that I've been trying to decide what to do with. Once I realized that the tango quotes are my most popular posts on my Instagram page, I knew what to do! 3. Digital Artwork - Most of these are created from pictures of my trip to Buenos Aires. Some are from local milongas though, as well. I'm deve...

First, thank you readers and friends for such swift feedback on my previous posts! Your emails mean the world to me! Some of you already know what lit a fire under me to get this latest RedBubble project going, but for those who don't, please read on . . . So let's back up . . . The last 7 months have been devastating financially. My husband was very ill and in the hospital for a week. Our furnace/air conditioning units failed and cost twice what we were quoted 2 years ago. The ceiling of our garage caved in (and because it wasn't storm related, but poor workmanship, insurance wouldn't pay anything.) We've had to gut our house so that nearly everything in it can be bleached or boiled, to help protect my husband from future infections. That's the just the big (and human-related) stuff. If this were a TV show, it would be some kind of dark comedy. The crazy thing is, the hospital bills that usually bury us, got paid by the insurance company. Miracle of mi...

So a couple of dancers requested lyrics or sheet music on shoe bags and accessories and I thought what a great idea! Here are the first few. Let me know in comments message via blogger, what tangos I should look for in the public domain to apply next! So far I've done Arrabalero, Milonga para un armonica and 2 La Cumparsita's (the red one was commissioned.)  The bags can be found HERE .

One of my favorite things about designing custom shoes for Mr. Tango Shoes customers, was being able to tailor the patterns to clothes dancers enjoyed wearing to milongas. What an easy way to set your look apart! I stopped designing shoes because it was so time and labor intensive, but I really missed doing design work. So now I've turned it around and I'm on RedBubble, designing clothes and accessories that match dancers' shoes instead. I wish I'd found this site ages ago! The tough part right now is not designing an entire wardrobe of accessories for myself! So save me from myself and give me some ideas of what you'd like to see. I'm already perusing the latest, greatest shoe models hitting the stores here and in Buenos Aires - as well as taking a peek at Pantone's upcoming color features. In my store, Infinite Tango on RedBubble , also look for my artwork making its way onto tote bags, t-shirts and even scarves! While I haven't been able to ...

Have you ever had trouble picking out your shoe bag from everyone else’s in the milonga? Are your shoe bags too small to store everything you need? I've applied my tango shoe design experience to other accessories to solve those problems! Normal shoe bags measure about 13"-15" long, and 10"-12" wide. They also tend to be the logo and design of the shoe company, which means your bag could look exactly like a lot of other bags under the milonga tables. Or worse, the bag is black! Not only does it look like other bags – but it’s hard to see in the milonga (especially in the US where milonga lighting is particularly low.) RedBubble bags measure 19.5" tall, and 15" wide. They’re thicker than most shoe bags that come with the shoes, and they can be designed to coordinate with your shoes, your favorite tango outfit - whatever! Every pair of shoes has its matching shoe bag – so much easier to pick out in your closet and at the milonga! For...