The Cycling Artist

Mirror, mirror...

2008-07-02T17:49:00.005Z

I got a new toy! Isn't it fantastic!?!? Unfortunately a convex mirror I bought on eBay was complete rubbish and really didn't work at all, the mirror was such poor quality that you had to look through one eye to even be able to focus on the reflected distant image. This mirror was found by a friend at a boot fair and he snatched it up for me. It's a proper shop security mirror, though larger than the one I had in my previous studio, and one this size would be no less than £100 new. It was £8.

Not sure if it translates well in a photo but for example the lightbulb is actually about 3.5 feet away from the mirror. A convex mirror is really the only way I can work on a 150cm wide painting in a room that's only 260cm deep! And I can't even get that far away from the canvas since my easel is behind me on the other wall (which you can see in the photo). Though I'll be moving that now that paintings have been shipped to the Masham Gallery for the Coastlines exhibition.

So you can see the beginnings of the large Isle of Wight paintings. The 'gormleys' painting is the one sitting on the easel. All 3 of the 120x150cm canvases have underpaintings on them now but on the weekend I ran out of some vital colours (Golden's sap green and transparent yellow iron oxide in particular) so am now waiting for some more paint to arrive in the post.

So I have to play the waiting game for a few days. Until the doorbell rings I've been working on ACEOs, getting the new Etsy shop up and running, updating my website (please ignore the odd look, it's in the midst of a redesign to match the blog, podcast and Etsy pages), and doing more studies on paper and small canvases.

Ordinary Beauty

2008-06-27T19:41:00.003Z

This week I've been photographing ordinary things, the mundane objects in my studio. It's part of a project on Flickr called "Day to Day" (and anyone can join the group, so feel free to take part). I decided that since my days are in the studio I should capture the things that aren't the artwork, not the product but the tools and objects that I see each day and deserve their own immortality. It's also going to be an exercise in learning how to use the manual settings on my Canon 300D. There are only 3 images this week because I joined the group late. You can click any of the images to see their titles and descriptions on Flickr. Enjoy!

Painting in the Dark

2008-06-26T20:47:00.002Z

Tired Thursday
Originally uploaded by tina-m

I wish I could. So tired today I could hardly get going. And the lethargy stuck, which it just seems to be doing this week.

This morning I decided to stop beating myself up about not getting to work right away... I've been procrastinating until about 2pm each day, feeling guilty, then working until about 10pm. With the summer light there's actually no reason I can't work until 10pm (not painting the last couple hours, of course). I'm naturally a night owl anyway so in the winter I have to fight against that or I'd get no painting done since it's dark (enough) by 4pm. At the moment that's about when I want to switch on.

So instead of guilt ridden mornings and then no evening for the "fun" things I want to do (mainly sewing at the moment) instead I decided to let myself fall into a more instinctive rhythm for the rest of the summer. Switch around the day.

So I sewed, made food, went online, read a pile of stuff that's been waiting for weeks (newspapers, magazines, art brochures, etc). Then at 3pm (okay a little late) I hit the studio and did a good start on the Gormleys painting, some studies for the 3rd large canvas, and sorted out my brand spanking new Etsy shop! (thecyclingartist.etsy.com - all of my timelady.etsy.com stuff will move into the newly branded store slowly over the summer)

If only I could paint in the dark life would be perfect.

The Alternatives, or "less is more"

2008-06-24T10:06:00.006Z

As my art year draws to a close (being ever the academic I think of 'years' from autumn to summer) with Urban Art coming up soon I wanted to share some of my views on where I've shown and sold work, and what I see happening in my little part of the gallery world.

First I'd like to make very clear that in my heart and head I'm a gallery artist. I love my galleries and do, if I have a choice, show and sell through them. But a trend I've had over the last couple years is that my stables of small local outer-London galleries have been closing down. So I've been having to make the effort to re-explore some alternative ways of showing my work that I left behind a few years ago.

Here's a small handful of what I did try:

Re-joining the Skylark Gallery collective
I got a lot out of Skylark when I was first a member about 4 years ago, but felt I'd moved on. And I had. But things change and I wanted to try again the opportunity to show my work in an environment where I was active in the process. In addition I've been trying some art fairs, just one benefit of an artist-run gallery is that we can take part in gallery-only events. So I've taken the risk and tried out the first ever Northern Art Show, the Chelsea Art Fair, and coming up this autumn the Affordable Art Fair in London. Now I have had work in art fairs before and actually didn't take part in them with Skylark during my first membership because other galleries already took my work to events. But those were galleries that now either don't exist or no longer represent my work. In fact I'd decided I may not in fact want my work at art fairs altogether. But Skylark was a decision to take some new risks (you can only reap what you sow!) and say "why not?"! It's a year of new experiments. I'm very much looking forward to the AAF, and at the Northern Art Show was one of the best sellers with Skylark and also had a new gallery contact me from Yorkshire. (Image: "Early Tide", sold at Northern Art Show)

Open Studios
Last summer, so start of my year, I moved house from Lee Green to Greenwich. This meant getting involved with a new community of artists. As I've posted before I was very entrenched in the large, very active artistic community in Lee Green so moving away from it was quite scary! These past two weekends were my first Greenwich Open Studios. It was very different from Lee Green: entirely fine art, artists more spread out, and quite a few less artists taking part. On the whole, it was a success. Unlike Lee Green I wasn't aiming for bargain hunters and a lot of Christmas shopping visitors (Lee Green OS is in November). All of our visitors - every one of them - was friendly, eager to see original artwork, and genuinely seemed interested in the local artists generally even if our work in particular wasn't their cup of tea. (We did have a planned advantage of two different styles of work on show.) Overall: fewer visitors but quality visitors. I did better here than I have ever done in Lee Green. And that's not just sales (although it was sales too) because I also met new artists and collectors in the area, built my mailing list, and found out about the local feel for art. (image: "Brownsea Island", sold on Sunday 15th June)

Urban Art - artist fairs
I don't do many artist fairs and probably would balk at any other event showing my art out on railings. But I do love Urban Art. An honest review: it's a completely mixed bag with cheap stuff, expensive stuff, new artists, hobbyists, professionals, good art, truly bad art, and some fantastic art. But it's definitely fun, and there's the best Mexican food in Britain by a local chef who sets up a food tent (I hope he's there again this year!). Plus the Lambeth Country Fair is around the corner the same weekend, so you can't really go wrong.

My very best one-day sales ever, for *any* venue, were at Urban Art several years ago in the pouring rain. Visitors actually got under my clear plastic cover to look at the art. Each year buyers from previous years still come and say hello. Last year I showed my Cinemascapes and sold half of them to a lovely couple. (one was a follow up sale later in the year) So who comes to a Brixton street fair and spends a lot of money on original art? Frankly, a lot of people. They come knowing this established event, and knowing there is art there worth seeing. So fence railings aside, quirky events like this can be great for artists and collectors alike. (Image: "A New Hope", sold at Urban Art 2007)

Etsy - and online
I limit my online selling because I firmly believe there are far too many sites out there. Like with my artwork I would rather choose quality than quantity. The majority of my online sales, the vast majority, are to buyers in the USA. For this reason I really love online sales - reaching a whole other market, different advertising and exposure. Even if sales are slow the costs of listing on Etsy are very minimal, both in time and money. You'll hear often on Etsy that it's for cheap crafts. Not so. I ignore people saying that. Is there a lower 'usual' price range? Yes there is, and think much of that comes from it being online (most sellers are less established with their reputations as makers) and the current US economy.

But it doesn't matter what the average is - I'm not aiming at the average, nor is my work in an average price range or style. So I use it as an affordable, different type of venue and try to bring my audience there or find a new one through it. This works for me. In addition to my average sale of a tiny Horizon paintings, which are priced above the Etsy average (according to forum discussions), people buy multiples. And recently I had a lovely New York couple find me through Etsy and they bought one of the last Cinemascape paintings. In the past my large US sales have been to existing customers who knew my work well and commissioned large pieces, so it was slightly nervewracking packing it up for brand new people in NY who I'd never sold to before! But exciting at the same time. I do hope they love it. (Image: "Varykino" sold through Etsy last week)

Galleries
They don't go away. Are they alternative? From my experience with other artists around me they can be. Not all artists choose the gallery route. Not all artists appreciate the benefits a gallery can offer. So this past year has been spent also looking for new galleries to show my work, though I've been approaching that task differently in the past. My approach now is not to email them all, send images, etc, but rather to get my work out more through these alternative opportunities and being active generally so they can find me. I still approach a few the old-fashioned way but to be honest, the new way is working better.

Again the result is fewer, but better quality. Perhaps that's the lesson to be learned with all of this.

I've been making fewer paintings because they take so much longer now, but they're better paintings. I take part in fewer things online, but am more active on the ones that are succesful (and that can just mean networking, advice and sharing ideas). I don't worry about marketing to all buyers, just to the few right buyers. I'd like fewer places to exhibit, but better ones where I have a closer relationship with them.

Open

2008-06-22T11:39:00.001Z

Welcome.
www.greenwichopenstudios.org
Last day!

StudioWaves, Starting

2008-06-20T20:31:00.005Z

Welcome to episode 10!

"Starting"
How I approach that big scary blank white canvas

Click Here to Listen

Mentioned on this week's show:

Greenwich Open Studios
21-22 June, 12-6pm - LAST CHANCE!
See the website for addresses and maps to all the venues, including me!

Jim Hill of Digital Quill Design & Thrive!
Twitter, follow me
What's Your Story? artist workshops
Blackgang, Isle of Wight: then (1900-1960s) and now (ish, 2006)

Flick o' paint: Stuff from the symposium

2008-06-19T19:51:00.006Z

We sell art.
Originally uploaded by thefuturistics

Symposium: The Art Economy

Who was involved in today's symposium:
Contemporary Art Society (speaker)
Arc (sponsors/organisers)
Turner Contemporary (sponsors/organisers)
Fabrica (hosts for the event)
ArtSway (speaker)
Annely Juda Fine Art (speaker)
Catherine Bertola (artist and speaker)
Jonathan Parsons (artist, speaker and Arc coordinator)

And things they mentioned (just a random, non-exhaustive list from my notes):
Arts Catalyst
Whitstable Biennale
Art Basel
Folkestone Triennial
Space
Axis
South London Gallery
Zoo Art Fair
Frieze Art Fair
Turning Point report from Arts Council England

Art symposium by the sea

2008-06-18T19:29:00.004Z

Catching up. Actually painting. And getting ready again for this weekend! So a final (almost) reminder: Greenwich Open Studios is on for one more weekend.

Tomorrow I'm off to the lovely seaside at Brighton. Not a holiday but a work date: I'm off to Fabrica to attend an artists symposium about "The Art Economy". It should be interesting and hopefully there will be a nice range of artists along with the speakers. I know I'm still within the realms of the commercial type artists, although I skirt the boundaries a bit with my objective abstracts that are a harder sell for most mainstream galleries. So it'll be great to meet some other artists hopefully in different situations and see what perceptions are out there about the overall marketplace at the moment.

Good news: the podcast for Friday is recorded!

A day of thanks

2008-06-16T15:18:00.007Z

A few post-Open Studios (or rather, mid-Open Studios!) shout outs:

A big thanks to tradingnothing.com and Celebration Balloons - I traded for 500 custom printed balloons and it really made the artist houses colourful and easy to find this weekend!

Kudos to Alyson Stanfield the ArtBizCoach for 3 instalments of "Start Promoting Your Exhibit Now!" newsletters and podcasts. The information would be fantastic anytime, but I got part one in time to really buckle down and get the Open Studios promotion going. Thanks to her virtual encouragement I submitted a press release to everyone and anyone and we not only got a few articles in local press also were included in the very selective London DLR Amazing Days guide for June. A real achievement!

A nod to Etsy today, a site that over the weekend proved to me that you shouldn't always listen to the doomsdayers or naysayers. ("We're in a recession", "UK seller's prices are too high with the weak dollar", "People don't spend much on Etsy") Despite the current British pound to US dollar exchange rate I sold a large cinemascape painting to a couple in New York City on Saturday.

A congratulations to my good friend and fellow artist Terry Watts! This week Francis Iles Gallery in Rochester (who also show a bit of my work year-round) have a large exhibition of his landscape paintings and he's been promoted to one of their Lead Artists. Well done! Terry is also showing with me at my open studio.

Finally, a thanks to artist Lisa Call way over in Colorado! If you've read Lisa's blog lately you'll have seen her amazing positive thinking attitude about her artwork and her house sale. I was so inspired I decided to follow her example. And made enough art sales this weekend to pay off a credit card.

May you all have continued success!

And perhaps I'll see you this weekend?
Greenwich Open Studios - weekend two
21/22 June
All artists studios open 12-6pm
Everyone welcome!
Maps and details at greenwichopenstudios.org

Please note that most of Greenwich has restricted or metered parking due to the high tourist traffic. Public transport is easiest: East Greenwich can be accessed from mainline Maze Hill, Westcombe Park or Charlton stations; West Greenwich can be accessed from Cutty Sark (DLR) or mainline/DLR Greenwich station. East Greenwich does have free 2-hour parking in most streets so drivers are okay, but I don't know what the West Greenwich parking is like (sorry, I'm a cyclist!).

Open Studios - tomorrow

2008-06-13T20:49:00.002Z

Gormleys

2008-06-12T21:05:00.003Z

Not that I'm obsessed or anything.

Another world...

2008-06-11T09:13:00.004Z

Lost in my own studio...

For those who may think I've fallen off the face of the earth lately.... I have. I've entered this strange placed called "Open Studios" world. In this world I clean and tidy (no one will believe me, I know), hang artwork around the house while actually wanting to work on my new canvases, try to think how the heck I'm going to serve wine when I no longer own any wine glasses, and wonder why I said I'd go to Whitstable for the day tomorrow. (The reasoning was I will need a break even if I refuse to admit it and get stressed out about going. Oh how well I know myself.)

Whitstable is also the opportunity to take new portfolio photos at the sea. Those ones of me in the black shirt were temporary. So what to wear? Cycle outfit? Snazzy outfit? Bring the bike or not? Do I care at this point? (open studios, gaaaaaaaaah!)

Back to the little room now.

Open Studios: this weekend and next! (14/15 and 21/22 June)
Noon to 6pm
See website for info, address, maps, etc.

Flick o' paint: Pricing chart for makers

2008-06-09T18:28:00.003Z

Files for artists/makers to download

I made this earlier for some Etsy sellers and thought I'd share with you all. It's pricing charts (retail price vs. artist price) so you can work either way to figure out your pricing based on shop commission/consignments from 20% to 55%.

The first sheet includes no VAT or sales tax (so also useful to US makers and others whose countries don't add sales/VAT tax into the selling price):
http://www.tina-m.com/Prices-no-VAT.pdf

The 2nd sheet is for shops that buy outright and then add UK's 17.5% VAT to the final price.
http://www.tina-m.com/Prices-with-VAT.pdf

Neither sheet calculates VAT for the artist - you would have to pay this out of your artist price if you are VAT registered. The VAT version is mainly for wholesale rather than consignment - it is not correct calculations for consignment to shops or galleries that only take VAT on their portion of the sales price.

But if you're simply working on straightforward arrangements these sheets should help you. :)

Day off

2008-06-07T21:27:00.003Z

Staying in pajamas.
Coffee.
Porridge.
Saturday paper.
Chatting online.
Book group.
Indian food.
Back in pajamas.
Sudoku.
Doctor Who.
Popcorn.
Finish the paper.
Big Bang Theory.

Didn't even glimpse at my to-do list.

StudioWaves, Words Words Words

2008-06-06T19:18:00.004Z

Welcome to episode 9!

Words, Words, Words
Talking and writing about visual art

The irony of an audio podcast from a visual artist: This week I talk about what it's like to talk about images - how and why we visual artists are expected to talk and write about our work. Plus I then follow Alyson Stanfield's instructions from the first in her series about writing to promote an event, in my case my upcoming Open Studios.

Click Here to Listen

Mentioned on this week's show:

Greenwich Open Studios
14-15 and 21-22 June, 12-6pm
See the website for addresses and maps to all the venues, including me!

This was also my first podcast done with The Levelator, hope it made a difference for you.

Preview show for Open Studios

2008-06-05T16:23:00.006Z

The Renewal exhibition private view on Tuesday night...

I quite enjoyed the evening and chatted to a few new people about my work. All in all it was a nice idea to have a little "preview" show locally before the weekend events. Shame about the rain!

What I did most of the evening was, of course, ramble on and on...

But the real event will be even more fun:

GREENWICH OPEN STUDIOS
14-15 and 21-22 June
All studios open 12-6pm
Free entry, everyone welcome
20 local artists
for more info, maps and addresses see our website:
www.greenwichopenstudios.org

All photos by my good friend Terry Watts. Click to see him!

Conquering the chaos

2008-06-04T16:16:00.005Z

The battle: Preparing for open studios.

The battleground: small studio room, Victorian terraced house
(Somehow that makes it sound a bit less impressive.)

You are what you wear?

2008-06-03T20:10:00.003Z

Not something I'd usually write about but since the topic has come up three times in the last week it seemed meant to be!

So, how do I dress like an artist? Do I even dress like an artist? I have no idea really. I used to try but gave up, because it always looked like I was trying. And I was uncomfortable. Some artists dress in their studio clothes, some go all artsy hippy, some dress to the nines. Alyson Stanfield asked about it on her Deep Thought Thursday, so there you can see a lot of artist responses!

Beth Dunn of Small Dots seems to have hit the nail on the head: Be who you are, and then some

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Be you. Be comfortable. But spruce up a bit. I try not to look like I really have just stepped out of the studio - though admittedly you can probably find paint on any item of clothing I own. Even if I don't know it's there when I leave the house.

Tonight I had a little private view at the Greenwich Open Studios artists show at Renewal (on until 12th June). I knew it was fairly casual but I try to make an effort. Now, I actually do own a little black silk dress but it's been sadly lacking in events to attend. And I've been trying to find shoes to go with it, since I haven't had a need for formal clothes in many years.

But I wanted to wear the dress. So I pulled on my calf-high suede boots (Timberlands, so that touch of casual to them!). Of course they looked silly with the dress. So I put on a thin mango knit shrug. That helped. A retro patterned scarf finished the restyle. So all in all I probably did look slightly odd and quite artsy. (oh, and there was paint on the bottom of the sleeve of the shrug)

Now what to wear for two weekends of open studios?

Networking?

2008-05-31T15:45:00.004Z

Today I met Amity (allthosethrees) from Etsy, who I found out lives practically down the road from me! When I suggested we meet for a coffee we also found out we even show our work (my paintings, her jewellery) at the same gallery in Greenwich. (The Red Door Gallery) It's a small world. (And we're sure there must be more London Etsians, even southeast London ones. Get in touch!)

So we had a couple drinks today along with her lovely partner, in Greenwich. We chatted about her house, our work, where we show, Etsy, silly Etsy threads, and meeting for coffee or something again now that we know we're nearby each other.

I think a lot of artists forget that friendships are as much networking as so-called "proper" networking. Most of my events and new places have been discovered through artist friends. We may all do different things but makers of all kinds just live in the same world - we notice the same kinds of places and events happening. My friend Leila is a jewellery designer but she recommends galleries she sees to me, used to work in photography, and even helps me out at art fairs. I do the same for her. I told Amity a few things I knew from Leila and hopefully can pass on more info later. We talked about other online venues and now I have to go check out a few! (though admittedly I might shop more than I consider selling at them)

But don't get too focused about it. That comes across as trying to hard. It puts people off. Just meet people. Just get to know each other. Don't do it with an overt mission. Just chat. Plus you'll make some nice new friends!

The friends of friends cliche isn't a myth. Yes we need to network at focused events, with gallery owners, collectors and other business people generally. But someone you know or could know might know someone else who works in a gallery. Another Etsian's good friend might have a jewellery shop. Someone's partner may work at a creative institution. Best friends might have done a lot of art fairs. Grown kids might live in another city and know some trendy spots with great boutiques and galleries. Of course no one may think to mention it for ages.

Tonight I'm meeting a few Skylark artist friends for drinks. So can I call my day of a coffee and pints a networking day? Hoorah! *grin*

The system works... only if I do

2008-05-30T13:33:00.005Z

Is a broken system better than no system?

Trying to sort inventory for these gazillion commitments I mentioned yesterday and I went into Flick to look at what paintings were where and make some decisions.

I knew I was behind in my updates - I hadn't changed the status of paintings that came back from the Picture Room Gallery (now closed). I hadn't added new 5" horizons in a while. I had two new coast paintings to add (Weightless and Two Trees Island).

On top of this I also had to add all the new pieces to my website, but what was "new" in Flick and on the website were different. Plus I had rephotographed all the newest Nereids paintings before the Chelsea Art Fair but hadn't updated their images anywhere, Flick or the website. So I have a few dozen shots waiting to be edited and added. This creates chaos. The website had some updates that Flick didn't have (the 2 new coast ones were online). The horizons are just a mess. The Nereids are in an odd state of being in the database but with poor images which gave me the illusion they were properly recorded when they're not; I can't even remember if they're on the website yet.

But the real worry?
On top of this I realised something was missing, but I didn't know what. The biggest mystery of all! I was certain there was another coast painting missing entirely from the files.

Now it is worth saying that I DO photograph everything. And I have a system of 3 folders for all images - so if it exists it's in one of those.
The folders are:

1. All images
Works automatically - files download directly from the camera to here
2. Flick
Done manually - I have to crop and edit and move the "slide" quality images into the Flick folder
3. For web
Both - image must have been edited for Folder 2, then run automatically through a script to be in here and ready for adding to the website

Fortunately, anything from the camera starts out in Folder 1. If it was photographed it's in Folder 1 so won't get lost. If it's not in Folder 1 then I have edited it and moved it to the next folder! Folders 2 and 3 is where things can fall down. If I edited for a "slide" image then it's in Folder 2. But I also should add it to Flick at this point. But every once in a while, usually when I'm very busy, I edit for Folder 2 to wizz something off to a gallery and leave the Folder 3 and adding to Flick for later when I'm "less busy". Which is never, of course.

On the up side, I never really lose images. (Folder 1)
On the down side, I waste more time trying to rectify the missing pieces if I don't do the Folder 3 step and Flick right away.

The good news: I found the missing painting. It was Overcliff Beachhuts.
The bad news: I sent Overcliff Beachhuts out to a competition without any record of its existence in the database. It's at the Royal Academy. (Just got my letter after typing this, it wasn't accepted.)

The conclusion? Flick works. I've been using Flick and my image/update system since January. This is the first time it's gone very wrong and that was entirely due to my own complacency. But most importantly: because I had a system I could see something had gone wrong and could actually quite easily find that lost information and painting.

Broadcasted Silence

2008-05-29T21:09:00.004Z

Broadcasted Silence
Originally uploaded by ian.crowther

No podcast this week. Sorry. The four days of illness set me back, but I also think StudioWaves might be every other week. Pondering it.

But if you have things you want to hear about then let me know and I'll see what works for all of us. Techniques? Events? Interviews? Some particular insight? History? More ramblings? A podcast is for you folks with the headphones after all! I can ramble to myself in the studio for myself anytime. And do!

Flick o' paint: A sad event

2008-05-29T18:57:00.001Z

Artist Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo killed on "peace pilgrimage" project
Article at The Art Newspaper

One after another...

2008-05-28T21:53:00.003Z

Today was an "office" day as I catch up on things. So I pulled out my 'year at a glance' (which is pinned to my wall), my diary, and sorted through messages on my mobile and in my email. Somehow, without realising it, I've committed to several events and shows in close succession. It's doable but I should have kept on top of it better. So I need to sit down and actually work out what will go where, and then hope there's something left for open studios!

My show at the Dartmouth Arms is still going, organised by ArtDog
There will be a charity art auction (pdf link) at The Dolphin on 24th June, also with ArtDog
MetaContemporary Gallery is taking my work to the Cambridgeshire Art Fair, 6-8th June
The Greenwich Open Studios group is having a pre-event exhibition at Bardsley Lane, 31st May - 12th June
Then Open Studios itself is 14th/15th June and 21st/22nd June
Straight after Open Studios I need to send off paintings to The Masham Gallery for the Coastlines exhibition, 11th July – 18th August
then start preparing for Urban Art which is 19-20th July

And start the Isle of Wight paintings???

Last week Jo Oakley asked me if I was getting ready for Urban Art yet. Haha!

Before you think I was trapped at a desk all day, don't worry. I was also working on a large photoshop file so as layers rasterized the studio became a fashion runway. Using rastering time for tidying breaks, I was pulling out warm weather clothes, packing away winter ones, and decided to go through boxes of stuff that's been packed for years. It was even packed in the loft before I moved into this house! So some of my fancy dresses and things got hung up briefly (in front of my 120x150cm canvas! yikes!) and photographed. It was fun to see them again.

Up all night

2008-05-28T00:58:00.003Z

Ironically, after 4 days of sniffling and coughing and just wanting to sleep I'm now awake at 2am unable to sleep. Was hoping that after 4 days at half-speed I might get a proper full days work tomorrow - I have much more than studio time to make up for. Do you ever get the feeling the universe is against you?

So here's a photo of the drawing session from the weekend. To prove I have done something.

And it is thunderstorming right now, which is kind of cool.

Back into the fray

2008-05-27T12:42:00.004Z

Hope you all had a nice holiday weekend! I was home ill the whole time. (still am) But we all have to get back into the fray of real work once again...

Speaking of frays, I decided to give my ACEO paintbrushes a bit of a haircut. They do end up fraying or get whittled down to a fine point from my painting and scrubbing with them. But of course it's hard to give up an old favourite!

I have two favourite brushes for my ACEOs which were are some point nice filberts. (bristles slightly curved along the top rather than squared off, for the non-artists out there) One was fraying a lot - random bristles sticking out to sides, and the other was scrubbed away to a very fine point. No good!

So out came the scissors. I see no point in being precious about these things. I also see no point in throwing away a brush that still has life in it. Even if the "haircut" doesn't go well it can be kept for gluing or blending pastel or charcoal. So here are my trimmed babies! Perhaps I could go on Shear Genius?