30 Days of Drawing, Day One

Traci Bunkers, of Bonkers Handmade Originals, is hosting a challenge to draw every day for 30 days.  It will be a little tricky with the holiday season and all, but I have been getting back into my drawing and I decided to play along.  You can find out more information about how to join us at Traci’s blog.

Earlier this week I started a series of small drawings on recycled chipboard, so for now I’m going to continue in that vein (smaller drawings also makes it easier to do a whole drawing in a day ;)

Last year I made myself a necklace for my birthday, and this drawing is a detail of one of my favorite beads from the necklace.  I used a Derwent Graphitint pencil to lay down the initial outline (after drawing a guideline square in the center of the chipboard), then filled in the rest with Caran D’Ache Supracolor II and Prismacolor pencils.  I’ve been painting in the backgrounds of most of the drawings with various acrylics.  This piece is painted with Jo Sonja acrylic gouache, Martha Stewart craft paint in aqua glitter, and a thin wash of red iron oxide to provide the shadows.  I like how the smooth surface of the paint contrasts with the rougher surface of the drawing.

You can see the other pieces in this series at my Etsy shop. 

Years of Experience

Years of experience have taught me that opportunities come from where you least expect them, and they come when you are not expecting them.  Paying it forward and karma are never lateral actions, the good you do does come back, but never in the way you expect.

Take, for example, the massive show prep I put out over the last month.  I was hoping for, expecting, intending, a great show, to sell the wonderful work I’ve been creating.  To touch people and speak to them through my art.

Well, I did get the speak to people part.  But I only sold one piece, and that was to another artist at the event.

I came home disappointed, sad, and yes, a little crushed.  I indulged in a little pajama-moping time, and let myself take a few minutes from the constant go-go-go of creating work and marketing work and breathing work.

And I remembered the many times I’d gotten the rejection letter from Quilt National, and how those same pieces of work had gone on to other shows, winning multiple awards in several cases.  How not getting jobs had worked out to free me to visit family, or to be available for other opportunities which were even better.

I didn’t do the usual beating myself up over prices, because no one even looked at the prices, so that couldn’t have been it.  I told myself I made some great connections with local women artists who I’ve vaguely known over the years, and got to know them a little better.  Connection is always good.  I read the new Mercy Thompson novel.

I took Friday and Saturday, and then I posted the work to my Etsy shop. I kept moving, and I fully expect something better to come along.

Here are some pictures of some of the work I posted:

 

 

I will let you know when that something better comes along.  Until then, I leave you with this:

Almost There

Almost Heaven, West Virginia.  Well, on Thursday, anyway.  We leave bright and early for a quick and fun trunk show and presentation.  I have been in the studio madly putting finishing touches on some pieces to take along, and today I set up some of them to see how they’d look.

  

To see how it could look, I used some wooden boxes I picked up at a photographer’s yard sale, as well as some wine boxes my mom bought for me back in her yard saling days.  This enabled the work to be raised up and therefore more visible.  The fabric is a piece of yardage from my at-home dye party last summer.  I painted it using Setacolour fabric paints and the speckled pattern came from sprinkling the wet fabric with chunky salt and letting it dry in the sun.

A detail of some of the images.  You can see the frames I bought at Dollar Tree to use for the larger collages, and the little easels I found at JoAnn that were just right for displaying the small 4” x 4” canvas collages.

The smaller pieces are beaded brooches left over from my beading days.  You can see one of the free-hanging recycled collages in the foreground, and the wire and bead hanger I attached using scrapbook grommets.  You can see one of the mini quilts in the background, attached to its canvas.  I’m really happy with how those are turning out.

Finally, another view of extra pieces.  I also have a half shutter door that I am going to use to hang pieces from, I think using mini bulldog clips and fishing line, but I need to test that out next.  So far I am really excited about how these pieces are coming together, from the colors I’m using to make them to the process of attaching the images onto the frames.  I was so happy when I found out the mini easels would work with the smaller canvases.  They will be included with purchase to make it easier to display the work, always an important consideration when selling artwork.

Tomorrow I will put finishing touches on pieces.  I ordered business cards from MOO.com and they arrived last week.  I’m going to make color copies of the informational side and attach them to the back of each piece in addition to the price.  I have two more quilts to sew to canvases, and the duck collage that is in this display needs some embellishment.  I think that will be about it, and any extras that come home will go up on my Etsy shop over the weekend, at least until the next show.

Etsy Update

If you had told me ten years ago that I would be running a business with my son, I probably would have laughed, handed him over, and said "Ok, then, *you* can feed him." He was the most demanding of my children, and I often said that if he had been the first one, he would have been the only one. But time passed, I was able to get some sleep again, and he has turned into quite the companion and collaborator.

He works on his sculptures while I sew or paint in the studio, and he has started vending with me when we do shows. Two years ago he raised enough money to buy a bicycle by selling his sculptures, and his current goal is to raise enough money to buy the seeds for the garden he is planning (I sent for the Burpee catalog late last month and it arrived earlier this week).

To help, I made a section at my Etsy for his work. Today's Etsy update Friday is dedicated to him.

May I present World of Art by Izzy: