Like Most Artists...

I love making the work, but hate selling it.  And yet the balance probably should be less making, more promoting and selling.  In fact, there's no probably about it.  The world seems to be full of people telling you how to sell your work, these days. You could spend all day reading and thinking about it.  Why am I talking about this?  Mainly because I'm planning a new website, and as a result, have been looking around the internet at artists' websites.  Some of them are fabulous; others are Not So Great.  What do you think makes a great artist website?  I'd love to go look at any examples you think are exceptional, or even just good!

The stuff I am making, though, is enjoyable.  I had fun at the Hub this week, making shopping bags from fabric, and red rose corsages for Valentine's Day.  But the real fun is in the jewellery.  It has given me ideas for larger pieces, which would be part jewellery, part wall piece.  Not quite got there yet, but Watch This Space.  Meanwhile, above is what I'm working on now, all of it in process.  The top left hand one doesn't look terribly prepossessing in a photograph, but is better in Real Time.  If you look at it closely, you'll see that it is mixed media, rather than strictly textile, the base is shredded paper, and it is wrapped in yarn.  I think the ones I like best, though, look to me like abstract landscapes, like the ones in the bottom  row.  Despite their small size (they are no larger than about two and a half inches in any one direction), they seem to me to have space in them, for imagining. I'm still exploring to see what I think works, and what doesn't.

Please do let me know what you think.

The Birth Of The Brooch.

  I've been playing with lutradur and evolon, particularly with Lutradur XL, mainly to make journal covers. and found myself making this with some of the scraps I had left over.  Predominately I was thinking about Ben Nicholson, and his painted reliefs, like this one.  The XL is chunky enough to give the same sort of look as board does; it is, of course, transfer dyed in layers, rather than painted, though it has been done in a painterly way.  It needs stitch, but I haven't yet found the right thread...watch this space.

Playing on this scale, though, made me wonder what it would be like to work on a much smaller scale...and that led to these :

I see them as miniature abstracts, but they are also brooches.  I like the idea of being able to take art wherever you go, and enjoy it with others, rather than have it hung static on the wall.  The middle piece is an aberration; I have been playing about with needlefelting, and this was the result.  The rest, though, I'm pleased with. I've always liked working small, but this is smaller than I've done before at about two inches square; certainly no more than two inches in any one direction.

I've now made about forty of these, and they're going into my Etsy shop, slowly, together with some earrings, and more of them can be found in the Gallery, Dereham (next to the Memorial Hall).  I've got an idea for some that are a bit different to these... as you know, one thing always leads to another... I'll show you when I've worked it out.

I've got several favourites so far, but I do like this one; most of my buttons come from Incomparable Buttons these days, but this didn't.  I'd love to make my own, but there are limits (and I don't have a kiln).  So, I think I'll just continue to use the wonderful work of ceramicists.

The Happy Shop

sounds like a fairy story, but really, it should be the name of The Wishing Tree, my friend Olivia's shop in Long Stratton.  I went there for the first time, yesterday, had a cup of coffee and showed Olivia some of my work.  And I'm happy to say she liked it enough to keep some of it to show in the shop, so I'm a happy woman!   That's her in the picture, in one of the comfy chairs, surrounded by some of her stock.

So why the title?  Well, if shops had several names, like cats, then the happy shop would be ideal for The Wishing Tree.  It is awash with colour and texture, from the wooden fair trade zebras and giraffes, through the silly signs, to the lovely jewellery and unusual cards.  Look for yourself; they have an on line service (just click on the link in the previous paragraph).  I particularly liked a lovely, happy Buddha in the spirit section, and some of the wonderful wall art.  And did I mention the cute soft toys?   But yes, I have to admit that in particular, I loved the coffee shop.  No, I didn't try the cake, but it did look amazing... the coffee was great, and the comfy seats really comfy.  It struck me as the kind of place you could go and write, or knit, on your own, and know that nobody would bother you (that's important to the depressives among us...).  The staff were friendly and warm, and said that the cozy (their word) atmosphere of the place was really important to them.  The cake is home made, and one of the staff is an artist in her own right, making much of the jewellery the shop sells.  And for the Celts among us...the crack was good.

You could argue that I'm biased.  Well, yes...a bit.  But it was really a pleasure to go and talk to knowledgeable, friendly people about my own passions, art and cake! And I was genuinely bowled over by the shop.   I had a really lovely time, and I hope I'll be supplying the Wishing Tree with my own brand of art for a long time to come....  The photo, by the way, is of Olivia herself, in one of those comfy chairs, looking far too thin for a woman who owns a coffee shop... sigh...  So if you do go in, and if you're in Norfolk, you really should...tell them I sent you!  I'm going back sooner rather than later, because they have just opened a new vintage section in the shop, and I didn't get to see what they were putting in there... but whatever it is, it'll be good.  I suspect the fabulous clock you can see above Olivia's head will be in there, it's definitely vintage inspired, and if I had a room large enough, I would have bought it on the spot.  And yes, Gemma, if you're reading, you can come too...we'll call it a field trip!

Lucky Me!

Part of the joy of Etsy is getting to know other sellers and their work, and arranging trades with them. Not everyone trades, of course, but sometimes they do, if you ask nicely... So I asked Karen Turner, whose blog I've been reading for a while now, and whose work I love, if she'd be prepared to trade with me. And she was... but that wasn't the end of the story. She then sent me a 'top up' trade, because she thought she got the better end of the deal (wasn't true, but there you go...). LOOK what she sent me! Aren't they lovely?

I've now made a number of trades with different artists on etsy, and each time been delighted by what I have received. I now have some wonderful jewellery and handbags, neither of which I make, a lovely doll from Karen, and a selection of ACEOs that is fast turning into a collection! Come to think of it, I have one or two lovely pieces traded with other bloggers, too. Lot to be said for good old fashioned barter! Who's up for a trade, then ??