Tuesday 25 September 2018

Wool Felted Bison

As most artists do, I work part-time outside of my own 'studio'.  Lucky for me I am teaching art / pottery / crafts at the Art Gallery of St Albert to school kids, so I still get to be creative.  Yesterday was my first day back and I really enjoyed making clay Pumpkins with the kids.

Today was a break from painting to test out an upcoming craft as part of some of our First Nation projects.  This was my first ever 'stab' (ha ha) at a 3D wool felted animal.  It turned out pretty good so hopefully it will make it onto the curriculum in January.


Tuesday 18 September 2018

Pet Painting


Well, the snow continued and the 9th annual Art in Our Park on Saturday had to be cancelled. sigh... I guess I will be very ready for next year and have time to work on a few new paintings.  In the meantime, I finished the above pet portrait for my niece.  It was a lot of fun doing this little 8x8 oil painting.  

The small painting was a nice break as I am trying to paint a large 36"x48" and am in the fear stage right now.  The fear stage is when it looks kind of good, you can see where the painting is headed but now I fear I will screw it up.  So I am avoiding it.  I think these smaller confidence boosting paintings help, maybe I will do some more today.

Wednesday 12 September 2018

Art Fair but the Weather isn't

September is a busy time here for outdoor Art Fairs.  Unfortunately the weather has not been as FAIR. Typically fall is gorgeous in Edmonton, with nice crisp blue sky days and gorgeous leaves changing colour.   Today it is trying really hard to snow. 

Last weekend was the Strathearn Art Walk which was huge, the second largest one in Edmonton.  My hubby and I enjoyed strolling around, checked out the Alair Homes tent, as a couple of my pieces were in there. We also purchased some awesome charcuterie boards made from old wine casks from For Wood Sake


Alair Homes tent
  I am participating in another art fair this weekend, the Art in Our Park event.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate! I have been helping get some Interactive Puzzle Boards prepped for group activities.  I am also putting my 'woodworking' skills to the test.  I had to make a stretcher board for an odd sized piece of canvas. YouTube kind of helped and I was fairly pleased with my finished product - usually mitred corners are my downfall.  Not Today!!


Thursday 6 September 2018

Art Fair

Tonight I participated in my first St Albert Art Walk.  It was the last Thursday night of the art walk season and only my second time ever taking part in one of these events.  Although it was veeeery quiet, it was a good learning experience and I enjoyed chatting with lots of interesting people AND I sold my first Art Fair painting!! YEEHA!

Getting Ready
Getting ready for one of these events is time consuming and it is best to watch some Youtube videos, check out a few websites and get some pointers from experienced people.  Until yesterday, I wasn't really certain how I was going to display my paintings.  I had about 30 pieces, some were framed and wired but several were not.  The best (cheapest) method I found for short timelines was purchasing 6 pieces of 8' x 12" rubbermaid wire shelves.  I stood them on end and zip tied them to my tent frame.

In order to ensure things would run smoothly I laid out everything in my garage beforehand, then took photos of each layout.  This was really helpful when I arrived to set up.  Just looked at my pictures and knew what went where.  My hubby who was helping could assist too.
The garage layout

My 'homemade' tent weights -  sand put in sleeping bag stuff sacks, clipped to the tent legs.
 This was my first time using my tent I had ordered on-line.  It was fairly easy to get up, the wind prevented my putting up the walls, but it was pretty sturdy.  My 'homemade' weights worked fine - might add some buckle straps to them.  It does take 2 people to set up everything though, and was almost an hour doing so. Thank goodness for my free help (hubby).  Take down is only about 15 minutes.
some of the other art fair booths next to mine
AT THE ART WALK 
My spartan looking set up.  I think I will add a centre 'wall' next time and get a nice sign made ASAP
I sold a painting of some poppies that I really liked and had positive comments on.  However, I don't think I planned very well for any sales!!  She asked if I took visa and I said I wasn't set up for that yet   She luckily had some cash - but then asked if I had a bag - which I hadn't even thought of!  Sheesh what an amateur!  
FINAL THOUGHTS
 - I have this monster red display set up, you can see it to the left in the above photo.  It does hold a fair number of small paintings - but it is HEAVY and only fits in the back of a pickup truck. So it has to go!  I will probably get more of the wire shelves and make more 'walls' as they are light to transport.
- I need to consider payment methods, so when people want something I can sell it to them!
- I need to make some smaller, cheaper pieces to encourage sales.
- DO not use a sign (like I did) that says Small Daily Paintings.  People liked them but I think they don't like that you can do them quickly - a few asked how long I spent on them.  Use a sign that says Small & Beautiful Sale.
- I had MANY positive comments on my Cheeky Prime Ministers series and my colourful landscapes .

Exciting News!

I am really busy lately, it is 1:00 am and I am currently prepping for an outdoor art fair that happens tomorrow.  September has to be my most hectic time, but also very enjoyable.

Summer was really great, spent a LOT of time outdoors, hiking, biking, etc with family and friends.  Some close friends of mine reminded me of a painting I gave them a few years back that I had not signed.  As this painting was done while I was in a workshop with Brian Atyeo around 2011, I can't really say it was my work. Brian helped make it more interesting, slapped some bits of colour and shapes in there for me, so it is more collaboration than anything.
 Onto the exciting news.  I got a pleasant surprise last week when I found out I received the Harry Wohlfarth Award and had been nominated by one of my art instructors, Izabella Orzelski, for academic excellence.  Yeeha!  Then today I found out that my application to The Arts Station Gallery in Fernie had been accepted and I will have a solo show in July 2019! Better get painting!