Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Eek! It's Halloween already! This month has flown by already and I almost didn't have a post for today. You see, I've been quite busy preparing for the Christmas season and taking an online course through Pikaland. I'm into week two of this fantastic course on Marketing Online for Visual Artists and it's really made me think about new ways in presenting my work professionally. I'd recommend one of the courses to anyone.

Now I thought I'd shown you an artist who has really inspiring work for the season. I saw Scott Radke's work via Facebook and was entranced by his creepy and compelling sculptures. Take a look around his site and you'll know what I mean when I saw he's created beautiful paintings in 3D form. Love all of it.





Hope you all have a safe and sweet Halloween!

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Friday, October 22, 2010

Hot One Inch Action

It's that time of year again for the Hot One Inch Action Show. For one night only 50 selected artists and guests will trade one inch buttons of their creations. I was lucky enough to get into the show last year with "Oracle" and I'll be attending the one night show tomorrow night ready to trade my "Little Red Balloon". This year's show will be at Gallery Gachet at 88 E. Cordova St. in Gastown.


So if you're into enjoying some fun and accessible art and a little music come on down and let's trade! Get there early because I hear there's always a line-up.

To give you an idea about the show here's a link to last year's button selection.



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Friday, October 15, 2010

Self portraits and self image

 Lately I've been preparing for a local Christmas craft show and I'm trying to remember all the details to make a good-looking table. I haven't done this type of personal selling of my work in a very long time and I've never done it with my more personal artwork. I'm hoping to gain a little exposure locally and I feel my work presents itself best when it's viewed in person.

So I decided that I probably need to have a bio and information sheet at the back of  my packaged prints and that they should probably include a picture of myself. I've been told often that I need to show pictures of myself if I want to sell my artwork but I rather like the anonymity of the internet and the ability to show my artwork as a substitution for my face. Truth be told, I take horrible photos and find it really hard to look at a photo of myself without being critical. My husband says that my face changes as soon as I see a camera. I don't have any decent photos of myself since my wedding. To make matters worse, I'm getting to an age where the years of sleepless nights with young children are catching up with me and the bags and wrinkles around the eyes are showing. See what I mean about being critical? So I'll suck it up and take some pictures. You tell me what you think. Do you want to see the artist head on or is a profile picture fine? Can you tell more about me if you see my face? What I want you to see is a creative and kind soul without my insecurities.




I have a link to a cute animated short  "How Happy are you with the way you look" that I think goes well with the whole self-perception angst. Enjoy.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

2011 Art Calendar preview

Yikes! The week has just flown by and I still have so much to do. Today I thought I'd do a small post and give you a preview of this years art calendar. I will be selling a 6x9 wall calendar on card stock in the next couple weeks in my shop. Get yours early because I make a limited amount. I'm still tinkering with the idea of creating another desk calendar for those of you  who want something for the office.


Take a peek and tell me your thoughts. I love to hear them. 

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Saturday, October 2, 2010

My growing wall of inspiration

Since I started selling on Etsy, I've been continually inspired with the artwork I've seen. I could easily spend all my money on wonderful handmade works of art but I've mostly  only been able to "oooo" and "aahhh" at my finds. To compensate I try and promote the sellers and the great pieces they create because I'm thrilled to know that there are so many creative people out there. I feel more connected when I see other people have the same creative energies and desires I have. The best way of course to make sure creativity thrives is to support it financially. I have been able to acquire a few pieces over the past couple years and I have put them on my "inspiration wall" in my hallway. Below are a few pictures of my collection. You have to excuse the lighting in the photos because it's a bit hard for me to access natural light in that hallway.






Along with some favorite family photos I have pieces by:

Narelle Badalassi


Click on each of their names to see more of their work. Perhaps I should post some of the umpteen other artists I plan to shop from too.  What artists inspire you?