See you at the Steveston Christmas Craft Fair

  The Christmas craft fair season has started! I hope you're able to avoid the mall this year and make it out to one of the many fantastic handmade shows. I would love to go see all the vendors at Make*It at the PNE but I think it's a bit too far for me this year. Next year, for sure.

 The only show I will be selling at this year is the Steveston Christmas Craft Fair on Nov. 30 10-4pm. If you've never been, it's a great excuse to visit Steveston and see where Once Upon a Time is filmed. 

  I will be selling cards, calendars, prints, paintings, silkscreened napkins and tea towels and whole whack of other goodies. Shall I see you there?

99 Red Balloons Show at Canteen Gallery

  So I'm looking for a few Ottawa spies with an interest in balloons. I say this because I've entered the above painting into the 99 Red Balloons Show at the Canteen Gallery and I'm not sure if it's made the cut. The Canteen Gallery caught my eye when I saw some pieces from their previous Alice in Wonderland themed show. I was very impressed with the quality of work and thrilled with the fact that the gallery has an emphasis on illustration which seems to be very rare in Canada. After seeing a call for the Red Balloons show I jumped in front of an easle and created this piece.

Running from May 15-31 all the pieces in the show are 9"x9" square and are being sold for either $66 or $99. At either price I think you could pick yourself up a steal. So......who wants the assignment? 

How about I throw this re-mix of Nina Hagen's song of the same name to get you into the spirit. 99 Red Balloons  

The weird and wonderful

I was recently featured in a great Etsy treasury with the theme "Nightmare" While I was very flattered to have been chosen, I sometimes wonder why so many people find my work to be so "dark". While I admit that my pieces tend not to be too colorful as I do so many in black and white, I don't always see the unusualness of my work as others do. So rather than fighting this perception I've been trying to play up my uniqueness and offer images that you'll find no where else.

I put the call out on the Etsy forums to see what other quirky and unique items can be had. As most of you know, Etsy is like finding a treasure trove of creativity. Below is just a small sample of unusual items I found being offered. My thanks go out to everyone who offered up their suggestions for this theme. Celebrate the weird!

Pilli Pilli Handmade

Mixed Species

Fiddle Bones

Playford

Boopsie Daisy

Art Akimbo

Eledone

Noadi

I Have Three Heads

How do I price my art?

I've been thinking about this post for a while now. As an artist, I have struggled alot with how to price my work and determining its' value. Now that I have decided to be more proactive in selling my work, I have had to question its' value everytime I post something on Etsy.

 Etsy is an amazing site to find so many highly talented and skilled artists. I have found, however, that  there are alot of artists who sell their items too low. This is great for those of us looking for beautiful things for very little. It's not so great for people like myself that realize that I have to compete with those prices. It's taken me many a years to convince myself that I deserve to be paid well for my images and ideas. 

 As such, I have tried different formats of my work to make it more "sellable" to the Etsy shopper. I have created digital prints of my monotypes  and paintings which have turned out to be amazing in their clarity and color. I have access to a Canon Pro9000 and have found it to produce images better than anything that I have sent out so far. Being that they are still archival I think that I may use the printer for my collages which will deteriate much faster.

I have also created some glass pendants of my images which I just love. Now my images are portable!

So even with all the adjustments I've tried to make to reach my "target market", I have to say that I haven't sold one digital print or art pendant yet. I have only sold original paintings and hand-pulled prints so far. Go figure.

I would love to hear from other artists and their thoughts on pricing their works  and how they market their talent.

As a side note, I would like to share with you some of the finds I've seen on Etsy. I love posting my favorites and wish I could puruse the art pages even more than I do.

I recently bought some pieces from meluseena, a.ka. Lisa Falzon. They will be hung up on my wall of inspiration. Lisa's work is fantastic and she collages with a computer in a way that I only wish I could do. Now that's a good use of a computer!

Another artist that I am kicking myself for not buying from is five in the morning. This edition sold so fast that I lost my opportunity to own such a well done print. I kept looking at it and its' description to determine why the artist was selling it for only $15 (!). I will check back often so that I don't make that mistake again.

As I opened up one of my Decor8 daily I was blown away by Natasha Morton and was heartened to see that she sells originals. I would love any painting set by her but I just might convince myself to buy one of her collages.

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Finally, I love the work by Etsy artist Francois Dyment but luckily I get to see his work all the time. I ended up marrying an amazing painter and he has really inspired me in so many ways. Francois is also selling originals and is at the higher end for Etsy prices but has a selling history that justifies this.

Tell me about your amazing finds on Etsy. Is there an artist on there that you feel deserves some more recognition?