Craft Fair After Thoughts

Last weekend was the big Craft Fair that happens in my town every November. Unfortunately it had been canceled previous years and the last time we had the Craft Fair was in 2019. It was my first year doing it and we lost power for half the weekend so we only had the one day for sales. So needless to say, everyone was really excited to have our annual Craft Fair back and it was a really great turnout for vendors and patrons last weekend.

The Craft Fair benefits the Fort St. James Secondary School grade 12’s. All of the table sales and lunch sales went to the grad class. The grads are very involved all weekend. They are there to help set up before and take down after, they go around with menus and a cart with snacks and drinks so that the vendors can buy their lunch and not worry about leaving their tables. I never buy the lunch because I’m cheap and if I spend too much money at these things I don’t make any and then it’s not really worth for me to do at all. So I pack my own lunch but I know some vendors really appreciated having lunch available. I really enjoyed a video Nikita shared in her stories on Saturday night about how exhausting these events can be and how when you’re the only one selling at your table you’re stuck there all day without breaks. She said she’d never seen one where a lunch menu was offered and food delivered right to your table. So I feel it is worth pointing out how great it is that the grads do this!

I had a new display at my table this year and that was for my bookmarks. There was definitely some pros and cons to this display and next time I might try to arrange it a bit differently. Most people didn’t see me sitting there behind it until they were right at my table and the hand painted bookmarks were on the other side so I had to keep telling people they were there or they’d be passed right by.

I really wanted to sell my big prints for The Other Side but didn’t sell a single one. I had a couple of people interested in them but because I didn’t have Interac I lost those sales. I am considering getting a Square for next time.

I sold Wretch (the crow) and the framed Hummingbird. I felt really weird after Wretch walked away; it felt like my baby had left me. I’d accidentally put a hole in the canvas last time I transported it from a show and so I decided to let it go for $20 to anyone who fell in love and didn’t mind that it had a hole poked through it. Well that person did come to my table and I’m so glad! This was one of my favorite paintings but I always knew it belonged to someone else. I was told $20 was too cheap and was offered cookies too! I thought that was adorable but I declined and insisted I couldn’t sell it for more than that (with a hole in it).

I finally sold a bunch of the Stranger Things print pack and I was SO relieved at that because I’d ordered SO many of them sure that they would be a hit and until last weekend I hadn’t sold any of them. I sold out of my Space Turtle bookmark and my Milky Way Fox bookmark. It was interesting to see which ones people gravitated towards. I loved seeing small kids come to my table because the first thing they would notice was the brightly coloured Goosebumps bookmarks. Then you’d see their little wheels turning as they realize there’s something off… something creepy about them.

I didn’t sell too many hand painted bookmarks but that’s to be expected I think. It was easy to sell them in 2019 when I first came out with them and only charged $5 each. That wasn’t worth it though (it takes about 2-3 hours to make each one) so I have slowly increased my prices over the years until I landed on something I felt was fair to myself. People don’t always really “get” the hand painted bookmarks though. It’s a small original piece of artwork. It’s meant to be framed and put on a wall or on a bookshelf. It’s meant to be displayed and enjoyed but not used. That’s why I came up with the prints- they’re meant to be used. The prints can get bent, smashed, squished and scraped. A fellow artist recently told me my bookmarks are too hard to frame because of their unique size. Maybe that’s true? But custom framing isn’t hard to get done it just costs more. For a $20 piece of art is it worth it? I personally feel like it is but I also haven’t framed any of my personal pieces yet, so what does that tell you? This is why I provide a plastic sleeve. It keeps it protected until you do get around to framing it. I’ve digressed though. My point is I understand they’re not for everyone. So I don’t mind patiently waiting for them to find that one person who loves it. I don’t mind that for any of my art pieces. I’ve always said that each piece is made for somebody somewhere out there. Sometimes it just takes a while to find them.

One such original bookmark did leave me last weekend when it found that one person. Earlier in the year some fellow artists and I put together a fundraiser called Art For Ukraine. I made 5 bookmarks to donate $100 myself. Last weekend I finally reached that goal when the last sunflower bookmark found it’s person. The lady who bought it didn’t know it was for charity until after she decided to buy it. It was just meant to be! I wish I’d gotten her name.

The Saturday was pretty busy but I still managed to finish the Jaguar bookmark I’d started at PMA the Thursday before. On Saturday I had a little more time to start and finished the 5th Doctor bookmark. I never watched further than the 4th Doctor in the Classic Doctor Who episodes so I was surprised when this unfamiliar character came out so easily. I’ve been using this series as an excuse to practice drawing people faces and I found that this face was much easier to draw than the last 4. I enjoyed the colour pallet and for whatever reason it just flowed from start to finish. It took me no time at all and got me through the slow parts of the day.

I’m still struggling with proportions and making clothing look like it folds naturally, but overall this one came along really well and I am really happy with it.

After the time spent drawing and the sales by far my favorite part of the Craft Fair weekend was the conversations I had with people. I loved seeing peoples reactions to my art. So many people stopped and repeated lovely things like “wonderful” and “very talented” and “beautiful work”. By the end of the weekend I was completely humbled. The people who stopped at my table stared at my work with bright expressions and with interest and awe. It was an amazing reaction overall that left me feeling like all this hard work I’ve done is starting to show. My long-term fans will say I’ve always produced beautiful work but I feel like I’ve reached the level I’ve been expecting of myself. I will always find the flaws in my art. Always. It’s how I grow and learn. I’m extra critical of my own work because that’s how I find what needs improvement. What needs extra practice. Sometimes I forget to look at the parts I really like and analyze why I like them. Seeing these reactions and hearing all these amazing comments about my artwork reminded me to see the parts I like too.

On Saturday my husband brought our two young children to visit me and his parents (who were at a table next to mine). The oldest is 5 and she just beams with pride whenever she gets to sit at my table at one of these events. Her Papa gave her money to buy my art (for some reason I still struggle to understand why). I would have gladly given her them for free. But she LOVED those bookmarks she bought and I loved her for it. I’ve always said my dad is my biggest fan but I think he has some competition for that title. Our littlest is 11 months old and when she sat at my table she grabbed my markers and one after the other threw them on the floor. I thought she would attract people to my table with her adorable baby antics and she did but people were looking at her not my art! So she went to Nana’s table. The 5 year old wanted to come back on Sunday but we got a good dump of snow that day. I needed the car to bring my stuff home at the end of the day and the stroller won’t go in the snow. So husband and kids had to stay home for Sunday.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by my table and had great conversations with me. Thank you to everyone who bought a piece of art and supported my little passion project. I loved meeting all of you and sharing this piece of myself with you.

I will definitely be back for the 2023 Craft Fair.

Prepare a Canvas for Hanging

I should do this every time I finish a painting, but it’s not my favorite thing to do so I usually end up putting it off until I HAVE to do it and then I have a whole bunch to do at once. This was the case when I realized I needed to get most of my paintings hang ready to display at Pope Mountain Arts for November. Don’t be like me and make sure to have your paintings ready to hang as soon as you finish them! That is my number one advice.

Since most of my paintings were sitting in my studio collecting dust the first thing I had to do was clean them. I used the bread method, which I’ve raved about in the past and swear by.

Please note that I have only tried this method with acrylic paintings and don’t recommend it for other types of painting. Since I’ve never tried it on other types of paintings I can’t vouch for it’s validity.

Step 1: Have a Clean Painting

A dirty painting will scratch and smear when flipped onto it’s face to attach the hardware on the back. Make sure your table is clean and your painting is clean before you start. If your painting is fresh and brand new this may not be necessary and you can skip to Step 2. But if those paintings are needing a little TLC all you need is a piece of white bread. It is soft, porous and absorbs dirt and oil.

Our hot dog buns were getting stale so I decided to use them. It was just as effective and I think they were a bit tougher and didn’t fall apart as fast as a slice of bread does. If you’re using sliced bread I recommend using the end pieces. They are tough enough to last a few paintings and I know (at least in my family) nobody wants to eat the end pieces. Full disclaimer: it gets really messy but it is fairly easy to clean up (just sweep it up with your hand).

After watching the video you might be thinking “couldn’t you have just used the Swiffer duster to dust the painting?”. I did try that but I found it just snagged on the painting when it was dirty (but didn’t when it was cleaned) and it left streaks in the dust rather than actually removing it. The bread also absorbs dirt and oil off the painting while the duster just sort of scraped at it in a half attempt to remove the dust only. It did work great to remove the bread crumbs though.

Step 2: Measure Twice

Measure your painting from the top to figure out where to place your hardware. I have learned these things through trial and error:

Don’t measure at or below halfway. If your hardware is installed below the halfway mark your painting will hang off the wall funny. It will stick out instead of laying flat against the wall.

Make sure both sides are installed at the same height. You don’t want your painting hanging crooked either so make sure both sides are level.

Install your eye hook inside the painting frame not on the back. If it sticks out the back your painting will not lay flat against the wall.

Step 3: Attach Your Hardware

There are several different kinds of hardware you can use to string a canvas painting. I like to use a nice quality closed eye hook. There’s no chance of the wire slipping off with a closed eye hook.

You can use a drill bit to create a small hole to twist the eye hook into. I find our drill is never charged when I need it (or I can’t find it) so I usually just use a hammer to get the eye hook started and then I screw it in by hand.

Whether you leave the eye hook turned downward (like in the photo below) or facing outwards it doesn’t really matter. If you find your hook sticks out too far and compromises how the painting lays flat against the wall then you may want to turn it to face outwards so that it is flush within the frame of the canvas.

Step 4: String Your Wire

The gauge (thickness) of the wire you use will depend on what your personal preferences are and how big your painting is. I’m not sure what gauge the wire I am using is but it’s thin enough to easily bend and twist but thick enough to withstand that twisting without breaking.

Roughly measure your wire (I eyeball it) so that you have enough wire to string between both hooks without leaving the frame of the canvas. You will want to leave 1/2 – 1″ of space between the top of the wire and the top of the canvas frame. If you don’t leave that space you’ll find that your wire sticks out the top and/or the hook you are using to hang from the wall will stick out the top or push the painting forward so that it is not flush with the wall. You’ll also want to leave about an inch or so of extra wire on either end of the hook. When you string the wire through bend it backwards and wrap around itself up the wire. Before you come to the end bend it back down and wrap the rest of the way around itself going the opposite direction. This might be overkill but it’s how I like to make sure my paintings will stay hung up securely.

Once both ends are attached you can hang your painting on the wall. With this method it should hang flush against the wall. A regular picture hanging hook should do the trick to hang on a wall. You want to hang it on a hook that bends upward so that the wire doesn’t slide off.

I was getting my paintings ready to hang in a gallery which hang from a wire that comes down from near the top of the wall. This makes the paintings stick out a bit and so where the wire is placed is even more important to try to hang the painting as straight and flush as possible.

Is This Real Life?

I feel like I’m slowly rolling out of shock. It comes and goes in waves, as emotions often do. As everyone is aware by now, the world is experiencing a pandemic due to the COVID-19 virus. In the 3 short years since becoming parents, we’ve experienced two states of emergency. It’s a pretty wild time we’re living in. I hope everyone is looking out for each other and themselves.

I had this whole post written out but then before I did a final edit and post things changed, and I had to rewrite a large chunk of this post. This is the world we’re living in now. It’s a world of uncertainty and we literally have to take it day-to-day. This is effecting everyone, including artists.

Tomorrow is April 3rd and was suppose to be the opening night of our Plants and Pollinators group show. Due to COVID-19 we had to postpone it indefinitely. The goal is to put this show together when COVID-19 is not such a prevalent threat to our community. I always do a large spring art show and this accounts for a good chunk of my income that fuels my art through the summer. I tend to take a break in the summers from commissions and focus on personal projects and family. That spring show helps me do that. Without it I won’t be replacing acrylic paints and other supplies I’ve run out of.

So while the Plants and Pollinators is put on the back burner I will be focusing my efforts on pet portrait commissions (which will remain open until Christmas this year) as well as my Solar System series that I started last year. I still have the same goals in mind for it, but instead of waiting until the summer to work on it I am working on it now. The fun part of this series is that I am making it as interactive and educational as possible for my Friendly Followers!

Since everyone is stuck in their homes many companies, facilities and museums are offering free content to help keep people entertained and educated from their homes. While NASA astronauts are following the same self-isolating as the rest of us (though they’re a little more prepared for it than we are I think) it’s given them a chance to catch up on uploading photos and other media files to their NASA gallery. NASA has opened it’s entire media gallery for FREE to the public! So I’m asking my followers to head over to NASA and pick your favorites (click “Most Popular” for the most brilliant photos!). Send me your favorites and if it strikes my fancy I will paint it! I will be using any of my supplies that works for these paintings because like I said, I’m running low on acrylics. Some of these paintings will be available for sale and some won’t. I will be adding the ones for sale to my website very soon. Any funds I make off these paintings will go towards spaying my cat and dog.

I plan on doing a live stream painting session for Instagram followers very soon (as soon as I find a good hour or two to myself when I’m not ready to just go to bed). So if you’d like to catch that I recommend following me on Instagram @slsartistry . I also really like IG as a platform for connecting my art to my viewers, so if you want a little more than what I share on Facebook I suggest heading to IG. I post behind the scenes videos and photos, and you’ll even find pieces of art on there you won’t find anywhere else!

If you’re on Instagram and super nerdy into book give me a follow @the.eyes.of.the.dragon I mostly post about Stephen King but sometimes I also talk about other books.

Take care of yourselves and take care of each other! Most of all.. wash your hands yah filthy animals!

Reflections and Resolutions (2019 – 2020)

DISCLAIMER: This is going to be really long; I did a lot this year. So get a cup of tea or coffee, get comfy and settle in for this novel (don’t worry, this novel has pictures!).

I can’t believe we’re in December now. This year has absolutely flown by! When I take a moment to breathe and look back on the year I realize just how many of my goals I accomplished this year and how much I have to be proud of.

Looking back at Last Years’ Reflections and Resolutions I see how many goals I actually completed and the rest I basically forgot about.

1. Finish Celestial Secrets *done!
2. Publish an art book of the series *I attempted this but could not find a cost-effective way and decided I would need to run a fundraising campaign to launch this project
3. My first solo show (Spring date) *done, sort of… it was a duo exhibition rather than a solo
4. Add shipping and expand online shop *I actually had to close my online shop and request that people contact me about pieces they want to buy because I couldn’t afford to pay for the shop anymore
5. Attend more business markets *I attended a LOT of markets this year!
6. Open more Pet Portrait commissions *I launched a whole new style of portrait this year; allowing a more cost-effective option for my followers and raised the price on the pastel portraits which helps cover the extra work that they require
7. Add to my stock on hand *This year I focused on creating originals at low prices
8. Help PMA with their newsletter publication *I actually totally forgot about this one… it’s something I should bring up with the new coordinator!
9. Write more, paint more, draw more! *I am fairly certain that I did, indeed, accomplish this goal!
10. Another art vault auction *My second vault auction happened in July and was fairly successful
11. Buy a new laptop *I bought my new laptop after the vault auction, and it has certainly gained a lot of mileage on it’s keyboard since then!
12. 2020 Calendar *Another goal I forgot about!

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My biggest accomplishment happened early in the year when I launched my Celestial Secrets series in June (I spent the first 5 months of the year working on finishing the series and putting together this show). This is a series I spent over 3 years on and kept pushing the gallery date back (even by a whole year) in order to get enough pieces to fill the gallery. In the end I still didn’t have enough to do a solo show and opened it up to my sisters boyfriend Keenan Traczyk as his style sat very nicely next to my own, and I wanted to encourage him to share his work with the community because it is so unique and beautiful. Between the two of us we were able to fill the space quite nicely! I had 27 pieces in the show and it was the largest collection I’ve ever had in exhibition. Six months later and I only have a handful of the larger pieces left. I’ve worked at selling most of those pieces (The Big Guy I decided to keep for a while because it looks so nicely on the wall outside my studio!) and have decided to retire the rest to my studio. However, just because these pieces don’t see the light of day on a regular basis, doesn’t mean they’re not available. If you see a piece listed from Celestial Secrets that you wish to purchase, please CONTACT ME! All of the remaining Celestial Secrets pieces are on sale at 30% off until January 1st 2020.

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It was during my show in June that I discovered how to create vibrant, creative pet portraits using mixed media. Mixed media is a piece created using a multitude of different tools. I most often mix watercolour paints with charcoal, pastel, and inks. It creates a very dynamic picture but I also have a monetary motive for creating these portraits. Before coming up with the mixed media portraits I offered two styles; black and white pastel/charcoal and coloured pastel. Pastel pencils are expensive and break easily. I found I was getting frustrated with my lead breaking no matter how carefully I sharpened it. This meant going through pencils quickly and having to order more. The most cost-effective way to order pastel pencils is of course in a set, but when you use mostly earth tones to do pet portraits you don’t need any more bright pinks, blues, purples etc. so I started to find the best way to order was single pencils. Like most products today, going cheap meant a cheap product that broke even faster. So it was necessary to purchase better quality supplies (which I now more and more feel it’s important to buy quality art supplies). Mixed media meant if I didn’t have a colour in my pastel collection I could borrow that colour from a different medium. It means I can use more of my supplies on-hand than I would otherwise use with just producing pastel portraits. So I raised the price on my coloured pastel pet portraits and slid the mixed media portraits into the previous price range for the coloured pastels. I personally like the look of the mixed media portraits better anyway. They are more vibrant in colour and more creative in style.

After the show in June I launched my second Vault Auction in July (to celebrate my birthday!). Between the sales at my show and the sales in my vault auction I was able to purchase a new laptop – which was desperately needed. Getting into the habit of using that laptop on a regular basis was more difficult than I thought it would be. It was a habit I had to make myself get into. I was use to having such poor access to a computer that I got use to doing what I could through my phone and just neglecting the rest. I still don’t stay on top of my online POD (Print On Demand) shops as much as I would like to, but I’ve managed to add a LOT of new works to RedBubble and a few new to Displate this year, as well as launching a whole new POD shop at Society6.

For my birthday in July, my friends and family pooled together to get me a huge set of Tombow Dual Brush pens. (Quick disclaimer; I am in no way sponsored and this is all the result of my own opinion) I am absolutely in love with these markers. It was these markers that really helped me push my mixed media portrait skills. I started experimenting with these markers, adding water (they are water soluble), combining colours, shading etc. and have had a lot of fun creating new styles with them.

In August I watched the Perseids Meteor Shower from my back deck for the first time and was amazed by what I saw in the sky. This one night of star-gazing inspired me and fueled the birth of a new series. With Celestial Secrets I focused on fantastical paintings showcasing brilliant interpretations of deep space and mixing it with the fantasy of animals bringing spirit to the paintings. With this series I wanted to focus closer home in a more realistic manner. Focusing on our solar system; the sun, its 9(ish?) planets and their orbiting moons. The first painting I did was actually of Saturn, which was inspired by a gorgeous Hubble capture of the ringed planet. It was after this first painting I decided I definitely had a series on my hands. Next I painted Mercury and Venus (wanting to paint the series in order from closest to the sun to farthest away) and decided I would do each planet in acrylic on canvas and their orbiting moons in watercolour (later I learned that Jupiter actually has 63 moons… uhhhmmm…). I wanted to not only share the beauty of our solar system but also to educate people about it. A lot of people have a disconnection with the universe theses days. People focus on their daily lives and forget just how small we are, how immense and strange the universe is. So with each planet I am sharing a lot of fun facts and a video time-lapse of the painting process. You get a space lesson and an art lesson in one fun blog post!

I finished 3 paintings but the project was put on hold when I decided to join the Fort St. James 45th Annual Craft Fair. I have plans to pick it back up in the new year.

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In September I joined the first annual Anonnymous Art Show in Vanderhoof. They are raising money to build their own art facility, and this was the first show of it’s kind to help raise those funds. The entry fee was cheap and like PMA they only took 10% of sales. The show was open to all artists, all ages, all themes. The only consistency was the size of the canvases (6×6), and you received one of these canvases with your entry fee. You could submit more pieces if your provided your own 6×6″ canvases. I planned on submitting more but I ended up not having time and actually painted my canvas the night before it hitched a ride to Vanderhoof. I really loved the passion and idea behind this art show. I loved that it was for a good cause and open to everyone and everything. It offered a wide variety of paintings to view and purchase, but the size still made them consistent and aesthetically pleasing. I found there was just a wee bit of poor communication, but I think I chalk it up to the lady who was putting it together being super busy! Plus with my being in Fort and I don’t drive on the highway often or into Vanderhoof, so I’m sure it would have been a different experience if I were able to be there in person to talk to her. She had a lot of grand ideas about how to communicate to the viewers to honor the artists by putting together a website that introduced you to each artist, and the link would be given to those who purchased art/available after the show (to keep the anonymity until the end). There were over 100 pieces submitted (I’m not sure how many artists, but the limit was 3 pieces per artist). The show also ran a little backwards from what I am use to. It was open for viewing during the week and then there was a “reception” on the following Saturday, and the show was left open for a couple more days. Most gallery exhibitions I’ve been a part of have an opening night reception followed by opening hours to view the show. We headed to Vanderhoof and had dinner first, thinking we still had a couple hours after dinner to catch the exhibition. We were sorely disappointed when we arrived to find at least half of the paintings were already sold and removed from the wall. I have never been to an exhibition that removed the pieces before the show was over. I didn’t even think that was an option! Had we known they would be doing that we would have gone to see them before going for dinner. It was still really neat to see the different works of art that were left though. I also really liked how they tried to make the show interactive by setting up a little “paint station” and photo props on the windows that were hand painted. It was definitely a very creative and original show! I did give feedback to the lady who organized it that it’s customary to leave the pieces up so everyone can view them, and she agreed and said she’d like to do that for the next one. My piece was still there when we left so I assumed it wasn’t going to sell and was trying to arrange pickup, again there was some lack of communication because the second attempt to pick it up we learned it had sold! I received my check in the mail shortly after. I’m so glad it sold! I wish I knew who bought it and I hope they know who I am, as I have no clue if the buyers were told who the artists were and maybe given their contact or anything like that. That was my only hesitation in entering this show was that I prefer to be recognized for my work. But I understand why they wanted it to be anonymous – to keep the integrity of the work without bias about who painted it. My dad and his girlfriend were able to spot my work right away though, so that was fun! It’s neat to know I do have a consistent enough style that my fans can spot my work (as mine wasn’t the only “space themed” one either).

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My next focus was on creating original pieces for the upcoming Craft Fair. This is a huge event in our town and it runs for two days. People come from all over the surrounding areas the participate as vendors and shop. This was my first time participating in the Craft Fair. I had been saying for years that I was going to enter the Craft Fair and finally I decided (somewhat last minute) to finally do it. This left me scrambling to make stock. That is when I came up with the original bookmarks, and they really took off with popularity! Especially the animals and they sold out fast! My dad helped me make a display for my canvas paintings and it turned out great! Except I accidentally crunched it in my car as we made it big enough to just fit (with the seats forward). When I shut the car off the seat moved back and compressed the soft wood and bent it. I’m hoping this is something I can fix! (Or rather, that my dad can fix). I won’t get into too much detail about the Craft Fair because you can read more in my blog post linked above, but we ended up having a large power outage that cut the fair down from 2 days to 1.

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I had two weeks between the Craft Fair and Moonlight Madness and I ended up coming down with a nasty cold. I had planned on doing another round of animal bookmarks for the Moonlight Madness but I only completed two of them. There was also a last minute art show that came together so beautifully. I’ve never seen a group show planned so quickly with such a fantastic turnout. Over 30 artists participated from Fort St. James and surrounding areas. They took up every square inch they could in the space available and it looked fantastic! The generous volunteers worked hard to make it happen and they didn’t even take a cut of sales – it was all non-profit and all sales went directly to the artists! I even sold a brand new painting that was only a week old! I made more money at that show than I did sitting at the pop up shop for Moonlight Madness! It was still an enjoyable evening though (despite coughing my lungs out all night). My husband brought our daughter to town for the evening. It was bitter cold out but she braved the cold like a champ and collected a Subway bag full of candy from the parade (which was one of the best parades we’d seen in some time in our town!). We had a rush of people come to the pop up shop after the parade but of course by then I was ready to pack up and go home to bed. I made enough to cover the cost of my table and a little extra so it wasn’t a total loss! I really enjoy the comradely of the pop up shop group, everyone understands the struggle and is there together supporting each other.

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A couple of weeks ago I painted a creative piece titled “Blood, Sweat and Tendus”. I donated it to En Pointe Dance Studio to hang in their studio and be appreciated by their dancers. My original intentions were to sell it for their fundraising goals (going to Nationals!) but they wanted to keep it and that is entirely up to them. My daughter attends this dance school and it has been such a fantastic thing in her life. The people are kind, caring and dedicated to dance and the youth that attend. I wanted to help them get to nationals so I painted another version of the same painting and am offering it for sale and 50% of proceeds will go to the dance school! Please give me a shout if you’d like to buy it! The price is really quite low for a painting of it’s size, so you’re getting a good deal and helping a great cause!

Blood, Sweat and Tendus (#2)
$250 – 50% of proceeds go to En Pointe Dance Studio

2019 was one of my most successful years yet. I reached so many big goals and created over 80 works of art (estimated to be about 90 by the end of the year).

2020 RESOLUTIONS

It’s really hard to imagine how 2020 will be able to top 2019, but I will try! My resolutions for next year are somewhat short this time, but I’m sure my goals will grow as the year develops.

1. Spring Art Show
2. Complete Solar System Series
3. 2020 Calendar
4. 2020 Bookmark Collection
5. Participate in other local art shows
6. 2020 Craft Fair

I take December and the beginning of January off from commissions, exhibitions and markets. I will be spending this time on celebrating the holidays with my family, working on Christmas gifts and practicing my art for the sake of improving my skills. My daughter’s 3rd birthday is at the beginning of January, so I won’t return to the normal swing of things until January 7th.

Happy Holidays to everyone and I will see you in the New Year!

A Busy November

So sorry for the inertia and then sudden crash stop of the solar system series! I am still really excited about that series and bringing you the behind-the-scenes videos of the whole painting process. Right now I am just really busy preparing for the 45th Annual Fort St James Craft Fair that happens this weekend (November 16th and 17th). At the end of the month is the Fort St. James Moonlight Madness on Friday, November 29th from 3PM – 8PM. There is also a local Art Show & Sale popping up at the old CIBC location, and I’m hoping to put a piece or so in it (depending on what is left over after the Craft Fair!). This show will run on Friday the 29th 4PM – 9PM and Saturday the 30th 11AM – 4PM. Call to Artists is currently still open!

I usually like to take the Christmas holiday off to spend time with my family and focus on projects around the home. I tend to take it off from the beginning of December until after the 6th of January (my daughter’s birthday). I will likely be doing this again after the whirlwind of November, but I’d like to continue to work on some of my artistic goals. I am extremely behind on my crochet work, and would love to take on the 100 Painting Challenge, and of course, I would like to get back to my Solar System series. But I won’t be doing any more markets or art shows etc. until the new year.

The project that has kept me busiest this month is the bookmarks. I wanted to be able to bring affordable, original works of art to my collectors, and I wanted to order more bookmarks for the craft fair and small business market. I decided I didn’t have the funds to order any prints or merchandise of anything this fall, so ended up killing two birds with one stone; original works of art as bookmarks. The bookmarks are on the large size (for a bookmark) but on the small size for an original work of art. I think if I’d tried to make them any smaller they wouldn’t have turned out well. I am not use to, nor have the supplies, to be able to create works on that small of a scale. My goal was to make 30 of them and in total I created 38 (may make a couple more to make it a round 40). I wanted 30 for the craft fair but accidentally” kept selling them. I don’t like to say no to any sale, but I had to make sure to not overly advertise these as for sale because I need them for the craft fair!

I am calling this the bookmark series #2, because the first ones I made were small on the backs of the blank ones I ordered from Vistaprint. The paper wasn’t ideal for creating works on though, especially with water soluble inks, markers and paints. This series is much larger than the first as I have what seems like an endless supply of watercolour paper. I cut them into strips of 9 x 3″. If people want to use them as bookmarks – all the power to them. They can also display them as a work of art on their own or framed! My next goal is to figure out how to make them a little more durable. The first few I laminated but I really didn’t like the way they looked. They looked much nicer without being laminated. Currently I’m dabbling with a top coat of clear matte varnish followed by a layer of clear drying glue. This seems to be the way to go, but I am still working out how to make it perfect. Since these are water soluble, anything whet over top will smear the whole drawing (as I dreadfully discovered with one of my greeting card designs). So I do warn anyone who buys one of these bookmarks that they are NOT water proof, not even a little. Most of them are made with water soluble inks, markers and paints which means even a little rain drop will compromise the piece. So if you are like me and like to read in the tub, maybe leave the bookmark out.

Within the bookmark series are mini- series. There are many animals with matching themes (eyes, mama and baby pairs, elephants, wolves, space, etc.) and I will explore that a little deeper at some point in December when I add the series to my website. If you see one you really like and didn’t get a chance to snatch up the original then please feel free to request the piece be printed (as I did make sure to scan every one)! My printed bookmarks are much smaller (like, half the size) but they turn out really nice and are a bit more water resistant. If there are enough requests to order one line of them (I believe the least I can order at once is 5) I will order them in the New Year.

Another new product gracing my table at the craft fair is greeting cards! I only have 4 made, but if they are a hit I will definitely be making more. If a particular print is popular, I will order prints of them.

I have a limited supply of pet portrait gift certificates I will be selling at my table. This will be the only way I am signing up people for pet portraits from now on. I found it too hard to chase people down after they signed up without committing to it first. They also make excellent Christmas gifts for the person in your life who adores their pet!

If you want a more consistent update on what I’m working on and what events I have coming up please make sure to follow me on Instagram @sLsArtistry. I also share behind-the-scenes info, photos and videos of works in progress and how I put together my displays etc. I update Instagram often, occasionally I run special contests just for IG, and it’s overall a more interactive and personal experience as a collector and follower of my art!

If you hit up the craft fair in Fort St. James this weekend, stop by my table and have a look! My pieces are much better appreciated in-person. I hope to see you there!