Showing posts with label DUCF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DUCF. Show all posts

Thursday, November 19, 2009

cha-ching!

Allow me to create a hypothetical situation. Say there's a recession-- no, economic downturn-- no, depression and you need to buy some holiday gifts, but you'd also like to get a little something for yourself (because you work hard, dammit) and you will also happen to be in Detroit this weekend?

May I suggest you print out this little coupon and bring it to me on Saturday at the Detroit Urban Craft Fair? Then you can pick out one print for a friend, and one for yourself on the house, negating all possible feelings of self-indulgent guilt.



Please note, this deal only applies to my table.
No other vendor at DUCF will value this coupon and they might look at you like you have a screw loose if you try to give it to them. The part that says All Things Grow = me only.

If you are an ink miser, like myself, feel free to shrink the coupon itty bitty teeny tiny or print it in just black. I don't mind. If you are out of ink (also me) you can simply tell me you'd like to use the.. what's a good name... sherbet colored coupon and I will honor that as well. Its greener anyway. :)

In summary, I'm going to reiterate previous posts and ask that you jot down your holiday shopping list tomorrow, wake up bright and early on Saturday, and proceed to the Detroit Urban Craft Fair. Do not pass Go, unless, of course, Go is on your way to the Majesitic at 4120 Woodward Ave. Detroit Michigan. If so, then feel free to collect that $200, you'll be glad you have it when you see the wealth of talent there. /end extended methaphor.

For a preview of the goods, stop in at DUCF's website or check out Detroit bloggers Perfect Laughter.

See you there!


Saturday, November 14, 2009

How to create a fully functioning print studio in a 1200 square foot apartment you also live in

reimagine your rooms.
(hint: you'll need twine and clothespins)


a sneak peek!

I'm getting ready for DUCF this weekend! I continue to be amazed tonight at how, nine years later, I'm still so in love with making prints.

Thanks for supporting my work and allowing me to keep on keepin' on.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Goings On

I am so slacking on the blog front, its true-- but not because I haven't been busy! Here's a wee update of what's new!


I met my new friend Heidi at last year's Craft Revival, where she picked up some framed prints, and I recently put together a nice-sized order of work for her to sprinkle around her gorgeous home. She sent me some photos for you to peruse:


Robin's Nest, Forest Floor, Petoskey Stones and Bracken Fern in a block of four--with a swanky lamp I can't stop eying and a really cute orange tabby in the foreground!


Remus on white in the bedroom over a mounted plate makes for a
sweet combination against her soft blue walls.

Thanks again Heidi, for sending these photos in. Heidi is an interior designer by trade and a founding member of MICE, so I'm really honored that she chose support my artistic endeavors!

I will take this opportunity again to remind you that if you send in photos of your new prints I offer a 20% discount on any future print purchase from the Etsy shop.

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Speaking of MICE, organizer Kate Kehoe is putting on a show next month to help raise money for its senior center. I will not be able to attend, but put together a poster for the event. If you're free you should stop in for this rare opportunity to support the arts and an important community resource here in Ypsilanti.


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In other news...



I am working on a commission for Ann Arbor's own Carillon Chocolates. Alex, who runs the show over at Carillon, contacted me after the Jamboree last month to get some work up on the shops freshly painted blue and green walls. I am currently working on a series of 4 images (12 prints in all) for the shop with local/food themes that will be finished by the end of the month! The best part: I will be printing on the same burlap sacks the shop's coffee comes in, making the entire venture a green and happy one!

Did I mention I love this little shop? They roast all of their coffee in-house, use local vendors, and have a glass counter lined with beautiful confections-- just like your favorite childhood candy store. You will be transported, I promise. They're very conveniently located right on Main St. between Liberty and Williams-- I would highly recommend you stop in! (psst: they have $2
Lattes on Mondays!)

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And a show update:


After I wrap up this sweet project for Carillon, I will jumping head first into holiday preparations, and at that point we might as well kiss this blog goodbye. (just kidding) Seriously though, I have my work cut out for me. I mentioned in my last post that I will be returning to the Detroit Urban Craft Fair on November 21st. Since then I have also been accepted to sell work at the Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Sale in Chicago on December 5th and 6th! This will be my first attempt trafficking prints over state lines, and I'm really excited to spend a weekend in the windy city!


And then the Holiday SuperSale of Awesome will commence in the Etsy shop!
That's the tentative name.

And now if you'll excuse me, I need to add 14 million tags to this post-- I probably should have split all of this information up over a couple weeks!


Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Make. and make and make and make

Wow-- Its really been awhile since I made a post of substance!
I had a quick string of September shows and have been a busy bee the last few weeks! I jumped back on the screen print train and made some new work!

In addition to the Ladder Fern on Burlap I've added a Huron River Bed print, and am planning a few more for the holidays on this medium. I have a really rad commission I'm working on this month entirely in burlap, so expect to see more of these in the future!


A nice two-tone print of branches-- titled August Branches, September Branches, October Branches. These hang great alone or as a group-- either with the same color combo or in mixing it up a bit!


I have been collecting images of rocks and minerals for years, but just recently hopped on the bandwagon and started putting them to use. Here's my take on agate-- also available in a soft, butter yellow.


So, I've been doing this for around a year now and have had plenty of time to notice trends in my work. I am attracted to neutral and bright images alike, but seem to sell neutrals in much greater numbers-- I think this has a lot to do with shop customers wondering if particular colors might match their space. I plan to continue offering prints in both flavors, but am focusing a little more on neutrals for right now-- particularly delicious soft browns and lush grays.

I am also continuing to work on screen prints that work well together-- here's a group I'm loving right now. The brown tones work really well together in all three!



I should probably also talk about how I'm tending to distribute work, since you're probably reading this entry and wondering why you can't find all of these marvelous new prints on Etsy. Balancing shows with selling online, retail, and wholesale/special projects has been kind of challenging as my work has picked up speed this past year. I usually have a plan for this sort of thing (who am I kidding, for everything!) but I have had a very hard time choosing where to center my focus, and have turned into a bit of a whirling dervish as a result.

Hopefully I get my business together and narrow my scope really soon. In any event, if you'd like to pick up a print that isn't on Etsy, drop me a line and I will arrange it. I am thinking a massive holiday sale is in order this year-- hopefully my inventory will hold out and I can offer a Gift One/Get One sale, because I think that would be really fun!

I'm also happy to annouce that I will again be a vendor at this year's Detroit Urban Craft Fair, so if you're in the area you can skip the shipping and pick up some prints in person! I'm still waiting on acceptance to a couple other holiday shows-- if I'm in you'll be the first to know!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

wow!

(a portion of this week's art to be shipped out!)


It has been a busy week here at HQ (aka, the storage closet off of my dining room). I have had plenty of holidays sales off of Etsy-- which is amazing to me, because Etsy is such a dense web of sellers and work that I feel like its easy to get overlooked. I was preparing a shipment to the four corners of the country when I received an email asking me to ship to the UK. After a little research and math, I'm happy to report that I am now shipping internationally! I sent prints to both the UK and France this week, and am thinking about their long voyage ahead.

I also took this week to make some trades with other art lovlies for Christmas gifts. I met Chrissy of Boh Bon Soap Co. at the Detroit Urban Craft Fair-- her table was across the way from me and she came over to take a photo for a DUCF write up on IndieFixx, and then the whole day was so busy we didn't get to look at each other's tables at all! I now have six wonderful bars of soap on the way to disperse to friends and family for the holidays-- I'm sure they'll all be very excited to get something other than one of my prints!

I have been eying prints by Loaded Hips Press for months-- I love her scenes of Chicago, and I think they would work really well hung near each other. So Shannon and I made a little trade this week as well. This was probably the most direct trade I could ever do on Etsy-- we use the same basic process, in around the same size, and price them about the same. The only difference is that I ordered urban scenes from her, and she natural ones from me-- its funny how that works!

Aside from all of that I actually spent a large portion of the weekend relaxing. I can't remember the last time I made it a point to relax-- the older I get the more I'm becoming one of those people who can't sit still for very long! We did take a trip to the DIA-- Chris is a huge Dali fan and they have a fantastic modern art exhibit right now that promised to include Dali by way of its title. In the end, it only had one Dali, which was a little disappointing. I had never seen a Dali up close though, and that was amazing. It looks like it was printed off on an inkjet-- the surface is so smooth and crisp, not at all painterly. I was also slightly perturbed because almost everyone in the exhibit was on an audio tour, and walking around like dumb cattle hooked up to cordless phones. I like to get my face right up in paintings-- I think because I feel like I might be able to gleam a little knowledge from brushstrokes or application-- that was a lot harder with 40 people in front of a piece staring at it while their phone entertained them. I don't know-- I just did not like the vibe in there. Everyone attached to machines, being fed what to think about each piece. Almost none of the whispers you hear in museums as friends exchange impressions of disgust or delight. Surprisingly, my favorite piece in there was by Otto Dix-- I thought it was really exciting to see something once deemed degenerate by the Third Reich. His portraits say a lot more in person than they do on the slides or textbooks where I saw them in art school.

We went to the modern wing afterward, and I got to spend a little quality time with my favorite at the DIA:

(Helen Frankenthaler, The Bay. 1965)

This photo does it no justice, but I used to look at this like Africa with Egypt hooked on and then one day I realized wait! this is a bird's eye view! I haven't seen it the same since. I'm always trying to figure out what the orange spot means-- other than the fact that it might indicate the best place to live, ever. Frankenthaler pioneered this stained canvas idea (one I have tried before-- its VERY hard) I am in awe of the beauty and control in this huge piece-- the colors are so vibrant that they radiate off of the canvas.

We went to the Golden Fleece in Greektown afterward-- Chris used to go with his family when he was young. The gyros were amazing, tasty and huge! The lamb was perfect and the tzatziki sauce was the best I've ever had.

I have today off as well-- I'm trying a longer 4 day work week-- so I am off to do a little holiday shopping today and not trapped in the back of the store where I can't see the sun. I will pay for today with an extra hour tacked on to T-F, but I'm hoping I discover that its worth it.

I did experiement with making a little something new this weekend-- I will be posting about that this week!