complete with aliens and tomatoes.....

Labels: 3am-art, art, improved-photos, original-art

We're getting ready to get back on Ebay full time and SKinney is moving the galleries so that we can show the works as we complete them and I think we're going to start running the web cam now and then so you can watch us slopping de paint in real time!

Come visit us on the site (www.3amgallery.com) and also drop in on Ebay -

See you there and have a safe and wonderful New Years!

Labels: 3am-art, art, cartoons, ebay, improved-photos, martinis, olives, original-art, paintings, sheep

Wow - I bet the ATA is red-faced from voting Aquadots the toy of the year for 2007. Actually SKinney and I thought they looked pretty cool - but we thought our boy was too young and of course our daughter is too old - but we wanted to get the word out and oh yeah, have a little fun with the Aquadot Box.

I wonder if those early a.m. informercials will still be rockin' the fun of Aquadots?

SKinney and I have been working on our house - we're having new windows put in - IN NOVEMBER in Ohio - what were we thinking? But we need 'em just the same. We also have a funny animation we've been working on of SKinney playing his bass and it's just funny. - We'll post that soon.

Also we have some new works coming out - I am not sure how we managed to do this but we actually managed to get some art done this past spring/summer and it's just been insane!

Peace!
J & SKinney

2 Children in U.S. Hospitalized

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2007 - Millions of Chinese-made toys have been pulled from shelves in North America and Australia after scientists found they contain a chemical that converts into a powerful "date rape" drug when ingested. Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads.

With only seven weeks until Christmas, the recall is yet another blow to the toy industry - already bruised by a slew of recalls last summer.

In the United States, the toy goes by the name Aqua Dots, a highly popular holiday toy distributed by Toronto-based Spin Master Toys. It is called Bindeez in Australia, where it was named toy of the year at an industry function earlier this year.

Moose Enterprises said Bindeez and Aqua Dots are made at the same factory, which is located in Shenzhen in China's southern Guangdong province. Last week the Chinese government announced an export ban on more than 700 toy factories in the region because of shoddy products.

The company said that the product is distributed in 40 countries but that it was up to the individual countries and distributors to determine whether the product would be pulled.

The toy beads are sold in general merchandise stores and over the Internet for use in arts and crafts projects. They can be arranged into designs and fused when sprayed with water.

Scientists say a chemical coating on the beads, when ingested, metabolizes into the so-called date rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. When eaten, the compound - made from common and easily available ingredients - can induce unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death.

Naren Gunja from Australia's Poisons Information Center said the drug's effect on children was "quite serious ... and potentially life-threatening."

The recall was announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Wednesday several hours after published reports about the recall in Australia.

The two U.S. children who swallowed Aqua Dot beads went into nonresponsive comas, commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said Wednesday. A 20-month-old has recovered completely while the other child, whose age was not known, has been released from a hospital after five days and is recovering, he said.

"To prevent any other child from being hurt, we are calling upon parents to take the product away immediately," Wolfson said.

In Australia, the toys were ordered off store shelves on Tuesday when officials learned that a 2-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl were hospitalized after swallowing the beads. A 19-month-old toddler also was being treated.

The news jolted the toy industry because Aqua Dots has been one of the few bright stars of the toy selling season, which, along with overall retailing, has gotten off to a sluggish start. The item, which had been heavily advertised, had appeared on many toy experts' list of must-have holiday toys, and toy sellers are now in the midst of canceling advertising and scrambling to figure out how to replace it.

Chris Byrne, a New York-based toy consultant, noted that the incidents could have been isolated, and Spin Master may be erring on the side of caution.

"This is something that they could not have foreseen. This is an extremely hot toy. ... It's a little scary," Byrne said.

In a statement, Toys "R" Us Inc., said that it issued on Tuesday a "stop sale" on the entire Spin Master Aqua Dots product line in its North American stores and on its Web site after it learned of the news. "We understand that Spin Master and U.S. regulatory authorities are investigating this product and we have asked Spin Master to fully explain what it believes happened," said the toy seller in a statement.

Meanwhile, a separate recall was announced for 405,000 children's products made in China, most of them toy cars, because of dangerous levels of lead.

The recall includes about 380,000 Pull-Back Action Toy Cars imported by Dollar General Merchandising Inc. of Goodlettsville, Tenn., and 7,500 Dragster and Funny Car toys imported by International Sourcing Ltd. of Springfield, Mo.

Four of the recalled products were imported by Schylling Associates Inc. of Rowley, Mass., including the items Duck Family Collectable Wind-Up Toy, Dizzy Ducks Music Box, "Robot 2000" collectable tin robot and Winnie-the-Pooh Spinning Top. The company recalled another 66,000 spinning tops Aug. 22.

Representatives from Schylling Associates Inc. were not immediately available for comment.

Wednesday's recalls include about 7,200 "Big Red" Wagons imported by Northern Tool & Equipment Co. of Burnsville, Minn. Totaling about 405,700, the recalled children's products all had excessive levels of lead in their surface paint.

Although no illnesses connected to the toy car recall have been reported, lead is toxic if ingested by young children. Children's products found to have more than 0.06 percent lead accessible to users are subject to a recall.

A spate of recalls of Chinese-manufactured toys this year was highlighted by U.S.-based Mattel Inc.'s recall of more than 21 million toys worldwide last summer.

Labels: 3am-art, art, original-art

Man, it's been a crazy 2oo7 so far. My mother got ill and passed away - my sisters and I had to deal with settling the estate and then there were some other issues and holy Toledo it's been crazy!
SKinney and I were trying to get back going with the art stuff in the spring and it just didn't happen, we are finally in a position to start creating again and we're both so excited!

He's been dying from the heat here in Ohio, so we broke down and got some A/C going on- it will be here tomorrow - yay!

Thanks to everyone that has written asking what was up with he and I, we appreciate your concern and life just basically had other plans for the first part of this year - but now we are back to doing art!
Peace,
J & SKinney

Labels: 3am-art, art, cartoons, improved-photos, martinis, olives, original-art, paintings, sheep