Summer is Coming

Now that the bestie and I have caught up on Game of Thrones, there's so much time to kill waiting on the next episode!  There's no better time for art than NOW!

Summer is always challenging in New Orleans.  Everything slows down, including the retail market.  Many artists take summer jobs to make ends meet.  Others take the time to produce, produce, produce, some do both, and some take the time to travel a bit.  I'd love to be able to take enough time off to feed my wanderlust, but I have a summer camp to run so that keeps me here.....for the most part. So what is currently going on for Dollhouse Press?

Next step: The etching bath!

I'm still working on my Nourish Series.  Actually, I still haven't etched the first plate yet. I'm hoping to get that done over the next week.  There are NINE images total, so I have some work to do.  I did not get into this project thinking it to be a quick thing.  No indeed!  This is going to be a commitment!  At times, I always wonder why the hell I get myself into such time consuming ideas, but trust me...these are going to be so damn beautiful when they are done! I'll spend the majority of the summer working on this series, but I will definitely keep you updated on its progress.  Here's a little secret: I MAY have already sold a couple.....and they aren't even printed yet!

Also taking it a step further and adding these images to my line of note cards. More on that as it develops.

WANTED: ART FRAMER

I'm looking for a LOCAL framer.  Someone I can trust with my work, reliable, timely, and who will not beat me to death in cost. I have yet to commit my business to any one person, but I'm thinking now is the time....business has been good to me and I foresee it increasing over the next 6 - 10 months.  Recently, I made the mistake of using an arts and crafts store as my framing source and, not to get too detailed here, it's basically taken a whole month to get anything back (they lost my order in the system!).  PLUS, I had to request a reframe on one piece because they used a SHARPIE marker to mark my name on the wrapper paper of my framed piece...and it bled through right on to the the WHITE frame!

There are black marks along the right side!! Yikes!

Use common sense, people!  

The girls in the department were super nice, but I'm not using them again....ever! Not to mention the price was absolutely ridiculous.  Moving on...

Local art markets just have not been my thing.  I love them, don't get me wrong, but I'm finding my audience is not in the passerby crowd.  I cannot seem to make myself commit to that much time, spending money on nightly booth fees and finding myself financially behind at the end of the month. That being said, I am going to play along a little bit and participate in the new Magazine Street Art Market.  It's located in the open courtyard of Dat Dog Restaurant.  I'm only going to do it 2 or 3 times a month....depends on my personal feedback.  I participated last Friday and it was nice to get out and mingle with other artists.  I just can't do that every single week. It's exhausting.  Maybe I'm a wuss, maybe I'm a whiner, but whatever...I'm working toward another goal and local markets aren't really a part of it. However, I don't mind doing it every now and then in order to keep my name out there.  Next market dates are to be determined, as I have not finalized anything with them yet.

In early May, immediately following my Saturday print day, I was introduced to a wonderful lady from Florida, who was in town visiting her daughter. She fell in love with my work and purchased four newly printed beauties, and two sets of note cards, right out of the flat drawer!  I did not get a chance to have them photographed, but that's OK. They have been shipped and received; I do hope to do business with her in the future.

If you would like to commission a large marbled monotype (aka "organics"), just contact me. I do not have 100% control over what happens (and that's the beauty of it really), but an abstract idea/pattern can be obtained and the colors used are optional.

My site on Whereyart.net should be updated very soon. You'll get a great view of the new, large organics as well as the new 11" x 14"s I've started.  They all look amazing!  I hope you think so too.

Until next time...

Print Day in May

This past Saturday, I participated in a global effort to bring awareness to the medium of printmaking.  Called Print Day in May, it "celebrates the art and community of printmakers. It’s a day to get together in studios across the world to make prints." I grabbed a couple of friends of mine and we spent the day printing woodcuts and marbled monotypes.

Ms. Badass, Jessica Normington, printed up some elegantly carved woodcuts, that she so affectionately called her "mini swamps." She is participating in the art walk in Baton Rouge, LA this coming weekend and these small prints are perfect little works of art for the art lover. I think I'd like to see a series of them, all mounted on a wall next to one another.  It could be a powerful piece as a whole!

 

I continued to print out more of my marbled monotypes. I believe I printed seven 22 x 30s and four 11 x 14s. The colored paper is doing wonders for these things!  I may not go back to using white paper! I also printed five sets of notecards (sets of 5). I need to replenish my inventory over at Where Y'art, but I am also starting to increase the amount of work I have overall since I'm trying to get into some larger craft markets.

 

I did not have time to start etching out the first print of my nourish series. That is coming this week, hopefully.

Print Day in May was productive and lots of fun! I shot a short, 21 second video of Jessica printing her little swamp woodcuts. The video on here is a bit longer than the one posted on my Instagram account. It's not more informative...just Jessica doing a little jig at the beginning.

So, all in all.....Print Day in May was a success this year!  Maybe I'll do something larger for next year.  If you'd like to keep up with me, I'm on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhereY'art.net.

More bloggie blog stuff to come...