CS Gallery and Cobenick Studios

As you know, I'm super excited about this upcoming print show.  Last night, I went to drop off my work and found a few more reasons to be stoked!

1. The gallery only takes a 25% cut.  Galleries like to take between 40 and 60%.  No joke.  What that means is I have to raise my price so high to get what I want out of it that no one will buy it.  (I may have under-priced this stuff, but it's student work and I have NO idea how much time or money I spent on it.)
2. They have a shop for selling loose prints.  In it is the print studio, with a small -but beastly- press and paper guillotine.  I can buy time to spend here, making prints!  They have intaglio and relief capabilities.
3. Daniel - the guy who runs the place - also teaches workshops.

But the best thing of all, is that instead of paying for studio time or training with money, I can pay with my time and hard work!  Basically, for every hour I work at the studio helping out with whatever needs to be done, I get an hour of training/studio time.  Sign me up, please!

CS Gallery First Annual Printmaking Exhibition

Two Pieces in the CS Gallery Print Exhibition

As this surprise print exhibition nears, I'm getting super excited! We get promotional stuff tomorrow, I guess, and I just got word that I'll have two pieces in the show. They guaranteed that you'd have one, but I have two! Yay! Naturally, the one they don't want is the one that I rushed to have framed, just in case. But hey, it needed to be framed anyway. Time to put it up on Etsy as framed art!

Here's a question:
What on earth am I going to wear to this event?!

Also, I need to get some sort of business card made for this weekend. Oh my goodness, I should have used this weekend more wisely. Cookies and Eternal Sonata are way too hard to resist!

Yarn Stores!

Interestingly enough, while I have only found one magnificent and modern fabric shop in the Columbus area, there appear to be several nice yarn shops. Among these:

The Yarn Shop
Wonder Knit
Knitters Mercantile
Knitting Temptations

Then I found this big list of knitting stores all over Ohio. I know that some of them are no longer there (like the Needling Yarn in Granville), but I plan on working my way through any nearby.

I'm excited about the prospects!
I wonder why it's so difficult to find the best stores. Surely I'm not the only one with this trouble.

"Working" Vacation

My little getaway trip went as well as I could have hoped. True, I didn't get as much accomplished as I had hoped - I always aim high - but I was productive, and I did have fun and relax!

Results:
Color palettes chosen for new body of work
Some sketches ready
Ugly blanket at 5/8 complete

To do:
complete more sketches
prep panels
keep truckin on the ugly blanket

I was putting together my sad little CV yesterday for this upcoming print show, and I realized that I've made a lot of stuff! I just need to get it posted on my etsy. There's a LOT of prints. I'll be interested to see the difference between what gets attention there vs. the gallery setting. So far, it's been pretty much the same stuff.

Off to create, create, create!

Hiding in the Hills

I'm taking advantage of a fresh two weeks of vacation, a holiday weekend, and a huge dose of motivation driven by recent events. It equates to the following:

- a full 5, count them: FIVE, days off in a row, using only 2 vacation days.
- a trip to the hilly homestead of my love for relaxation
- much sketching and planning while everyone is asleep!

Packing list:
- laptop full of reference images
- sketchbook
- colored pencils
- project bag with the ugly blanket
- book

Those moments where no one else is up yet are going to be precious to me. So sleep in to your heart's content, my friends! I shall join you in the evening fun!

Who needs sleep, anyway?

Of Ovals and Olive

Recently, we obtained a free dining table.  That's great, but the thing about free furniture is it's often beat up, and well, less than ideal.  So to spruce it up, I made a table cloth and runner for it.  The table is oval, so I made the tablecloth to match.  My next table will be rectangular!  Seriously, after spending several hours just pinning the hem, I'm basically through with sewing curved things.  I will say that the outcome was worth it, and the table looks lovely.  Now if only we could find some chairs and some white dishes....

Print Exhibition at CS Gallery!

This morning, I checked my Etsy to find out that I have been invited to participate in a printmaking exhibition, designed to showcase Ohio printers!

Before today, I never regarded Etsy as a networking tool. At least, not for fine arts. This was a happy surprise for me. The show is coming up fast, and I don't have anything very new. I'm hoping this show will put me in touch with a working space, where I can actually create more prints! Otherwise, it's back to woodcutting for me. I tried the at-home silk screening thing, with some success. And quite frankly, the printing units we used at school were rather basic, and could easily be reproduced. But oh, to have a professional space in which to create my masterpieces?

I think this little dream of mine just might be possible!!!

Check out the CS Gallery, and if you're in the area, come see the show!

Color, Vision, and Art

Remember my post on color theory?  Well this site is a very in depth look at vision, color theory and how it all works within art.  Fascinating, if you ask me!

Also,  I think this is going to be my next knitting endeavor:



Delightful, no? And it seems very easy!

Clown Fish Found a Home!

I am thrilled to have sold my first real-deal painting!  Thanks to juliebeth of TX!  She's been a pretty loyal patron, and has just made my heart feel all big and hopeful.  She'll be receiving this sometime soon:

I've got a week off coming up soon, and I'm going to take as much time as possible to expand on this series.  I hope to do a show with a friend of mine from college this summer.  I guess it's time to do some serious sketches!  My Aunt gave me a copy of the book below.  I'm beginning to think it's all true.