Nell’s Scrapbook Blog

On Fire!

The ideas are flowing now and I can barely keep the blank canvasses in stock.  I am working on a series of birds to sell as prints at a few quirky venues during the summer.  I am also very close to pouring my next three gallons of urethane rubber on the chosen few for reproduction.  It’s a toss up what will make the final cut.  Do I focus on my personal fav’s?… or do I shoot for the series that I can market in a new arena? More specifically, the container paintings that I haven’t been producing for awhile.  My collection has dwindled down to things in disrepair or recently rediscovered pieces that had been abandoned at my last studio site.

My master plan, at this moment in time,  is to make a slip cast mold of one of the flower pieces, with container at the center, to make available at a local ceramics painting parlor.  I am not sure what the cost would be to make them, and or what would be a reasonable charge for the consumer, but they carry some pricey items that couldn’t hold a candle to painting your own flower stash piece!  And in such a art thirsty town with yuppies a plenty, I couldn’t go wrong.  Right?

I think I will now channel the passed on advice of a fellow artist, getting advice from a female mastermind in the arts business in NYC.  Her words were something akin to …”Stay the course, make up your mind and commit to it, and if you stay committed, you will eventually be the last one standing, and hence the one to receive the pay-off.”

So, perseverance furthers, I’ve heard that one before.  But with three..no, four specific series dividing my time and efforts, I think it is sound advice. That’s the bird series, (which needs another row of 5 on the website to round out the collection ), the plant series, the cityscape’s, and the fish.

Look for more birds coming soon.

Frame of Mind and Beyond

Frame of Mind is a frame shop and mini Gallery located in Forestville, just on the main drag of Highway 116 as you cruise through town.  Right next door the Quicksilver Mine and Co.  The generous and talented owner, Leslie, is the frame master as well as talent scout for local businesses showing fine art. Her work is very professional and reasonable, and she offers artists a discount!  She is also a mother/business owner which is no small feat in my book.   Contact Leslie for an appointment http://www.frame-of-mind.biz

We showed a few of my fish series on wood in her frame shop which have now swum to a nearby hair salon in Occidental called Bala.  For info. on open hours call 874-3191.  The salon is located on Minna St., between the Union and Gonnella’s Market.

Shiki Monkey!

I took down two shows last month and was feeling kind of un-inspiried about my future options.  I really am tying to move past the “cafe’ show” in general, due to the puny sales and constant expense. Really, the best marketplace/cafe’ scene to happen for me was in San Francisco in a posh neighborhood, and since then, I have been seeking shows closer to home as well as missing my target audience.

Feeling down about my new and yet familiar predicament, I found myself out to purchase some sunglasses to bring a necessary and new perspective. I was greeted by the hospitable and lovely Julia, and agreed to bring my loot to her small boutique for sale by commission. In effect, I lowered my prices to their lowest imaginable in order to not price myself out of the kitchy, cute, gifty scene. Shiki Monkey is located in Sebastopol 223. S. Main Street.  707.824.1712

So, although I have my originals out for sale at reproduction prices, I still have something to brag about!

Oh, I am also still showing on the back wall of Launch, my favorite clothing store in Sebastopol!!

Gallery consult

I recently emailed gallery owner Wendi Norris of the Frey Norris Gallery on Geary Street in San Francisco, and she was kind enough to offer me bits of advice from her neck of the woods.  

She said my work is “whimsical and certainly collectable.”   Then she proceeded to say that the galleries in San Francisco that might be interested in promoting me are hard to get in to.  And many others that she is associated with are places where, “you wouldn’t get the response you are looking for.”

She also said, “ I do view your work as more commercial.”  And now I am scratching my head and wondering if that feels right…I guess I grew up in a world where commercial art was kind of derogatory term …especially for an art major on some sort of a personal journey.  But, maybe it is okay to be “commercial”, and maybe, I should run with that idea in my work.  I really have been striving toward the decorators dream painting: something original, sculptural, with color, composition and texture… to lure the viewer to want to touch… 

Anyways, my conversation with Wendi was very helpful for my own digestion of where I am in this art market, and I am grateful for her wisdom in these matters.  I am also totally shocked and star struck that she represents Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo, both of my all-time favorite surrealist women painters, and total rock stars! 

Check out the works they have in house at http://www.freynorris.com/artist_list.php?tpl=annex_artist_list.tbs&type=Annex

The Boondocks and Gold Coast Coffee Co.

I recently took a show out to the Gold Coast Coffee Co. in Duncans Mills.  I was driving and driving and finally arrived a the tiny road stop  cluster of shops in the secluded town of Duncans Mills.  Although it is out there, it is a prime spot for tourists to stop for a bite to eat and an awesome cup of coffee while on camping trips or sight seeing adventures on their way to the coast on Hwy. 116 past Guerneville.  

My work looks good against the rust colored wall at the back of the small shop.  I hung both sculptural paintings and works from the fish series, but again left out the bird series that I have been adding to all summer.  It seems that the bird series needs a special venue.  

“Fine art” versus craft

I have just finished a piece for a client which completes a series of trees bought a separate times over the past three years. Having this commissioned work makes me realize that I have come back around to re assessing the value of my work.

In college, I saw a lot of work in Los Angeles and San Francisco and I felt like I had a pretty good gauge on what my pieces were worth.  It is also noteworthy that most of my work at that time was oil on canvass.  As I changed mediums from oil to acrylic and also changed mediums from canvass to sculpted styrofoam and resin, I brought my prices down.  I guess I felt more like a crafter, than a fine artist… and wanted and still want to be an artist that is accessible. Affordable and accessible, to someone in my own generation and income bracket.  But I fear in the act of being so accessible I may have devalued my work to the point of letting prospective buyers feel like it isn’t “fine” art.  

I guess I am at a loss for comparison.  I don’t see work that is similar to mine. Actually, I don’t see much work at all… so that is my new mission.  I am going out in search of my market and like minded artists who are making a go of it.  Any suggestions as to where to start?  

To mold or not to mold?

I am having trouble deciding wether to create a mold of my latest cityscape or not.  It is a size of cityscape that I don’t yet have a mold of. The cost would be considerable being that the polyurethane rubber that I like to use is about $100+ it sorta halts all original thought when prepping a piece for making a mold. First, creating a custom box for the rubber to surround the piece, without wasting expensive materials.  And the pulling of the original from the set rubber can also be an day of hard work, literally tearing the two pieces apart without wrecking the mold.  And then there is the mess. But, it is all worth it when you have that finished mold…by which many cityscapes can be born, from any material I please.  Moo..Ha…Ha…  

Maybe I have become a mold junkie.  It seems harder and harder to create original pieces without dreaming about making multiples of them.  It is not for a lack of inspiration, rather a reluctancy to commit to only one color scheme and one owner, when there could be so many others.

Lame.

Ok, I have been trying to get a grip on how to manage my website and Etsy page in the virtual realm, and let me just say…that I have a lot to learn and it dosen’t help that my computer is LAME!  I am having issues with my screen not being able to navigate on certain sites and not even the guys at the Apple store know what the heck is happening with that.  So much for the “Genius Bar”!  Anyways, I am in deep trying to get itunes onto an external drive without the current issues, and  in the mean time there are no photos on this blog.  Ok , one photo, that my super patient friend helped me post.  Bear with me people- if anyone is out there.  

Workin’ it

With two invitations to show in local galleries, I have been really inspired to stay up late lately.  The other night I found myself working on 10 different pieces at once. Unfortunately, its been taking an entire pint of coffee to get me going in the morning as a result.  

I went to visit the petite gallery “Bubble” in the wee town of Bodega, and made a good connection with Emily the curator/director.  She is hanging three small cityscapes that I recently finished and I am preparing a larger cityscape to round out their collection.

“Bubble” is a one room space, jam packed with style. They, Emily and David, represent contemporary artists and crafters handpicked from all over the country.. yet feature local artists as well as Davids’ own modern and graphic paintings.  They really have a youthful and dynamic style.  I think their name suits the space perfectly, quite the contrary of the other motley shops on the Bodega strip. Check it out!

http://bubble-bot.blogspot.com/

Ideal mediums

I usually create my sculptural paintings with layer after layer of painted on mudding compound to make the styrofoam rigid and paint ready. I end up sanding the compound before I apply the gesso and paint. Tonight I worked with Golden’s- Hard Molding Paste, and mixed in hemp fibers over the top… right after I carved the styrofoam. It was a little tricky to get the hemp to lie flat without bunching and looking a little to organic. But I am hoping… that this will be a flexible yet durable alternative to many layers of mudding compound. I feel like I am still trying to find my ideal medium. Essentials: low cost, high performance ( longevity and stability), low odor, low toxicity, little or no dry sanding.

It worked wonderfully!! With the hemp fibers mixed in the molding paste-there was much less shrinkage. I even like the texture of some of the raw fibers coming to the surface. I coated the hemp again, with the molding paste, where it seemed like to much raw material. And then applied my final layers of paint. With the molding paste as a base, there seemed to be no need for gesso.