Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Making and painting...

I've been busy the last couple of days.  Making and painting.  I've been fighting a headache on and off since Monday morning, so I gave up on housework and when it subsided in the afternoons I decided to do something fun rather than cleaning.  And I have a good reason to get moving on the creative front, I've committed to this Art Expo in a month, so need to get some smaller works done for my booth/stall.  I've never had an art stall before, so this will be a learning experience.  I'm keeping expectations fairly low, I hope I can cover my costs and learn some useful things about running a stall, and anything on top of that will be icing on the cake.

I've taken the smallest booth available, so have room for 3 large paintings, a few smaller works, some wood hangers, and I think I'll have a small selection of prints for sale, though I haven't decided which ones yet.

If anyone has any brilliant advice on what to take, what not to take, even what to wear (!) please don't hesitate to leave a comment!

Anyway, here's what I've been working on.


Two more olive wood hangers.  Beloved has just cut me a whole STACK of them, so I will be busy!

Having fun with teabags!  An ink sketch of a leaf skeleton, on an opened tea bag (post cuppa!), hand sewn to an old book page.  Biggest munchkin found the tattered book with pages falling out and brought it home because she knows mummy likes stuff like that (though she's told me in no uncertain terms that she found it so it's HER book, but I can have a few pages!)  It's in Russian, but that's all I can tell you, it could be a book of hymns or the Communist Manifesto, I wouldn't have a clue!  All neatly mounted and packaged in cello...gosh, I'm so organised!

And acrylic painting of an ornamental pear leaf on tea bag paper, with metal (gold) leaf, hand sewn to an old dictionary page.  This one is my favourite so far, it has a little bit of magic in it, because I didn't notice the words on the right until I was almost finished!  So it now has a little poem for a name.
The red 
season
harvest
the full
autumnal heart

Another pear leaf.  No mount yet (ooh, I must remember to sign it!)

A closer view

And finally, a couple of things that are not for the stall.  Do you remember this?  I think it's finished now, though I still don't know what it is or what to use it for!


And this is a choker for moi!  Well, unless someone offers me oodles of dosh for it!


We have actually had rain, REAL rain, but it's far too little.  And maximum temperatures for the next week are all around the 20ºC, so not very wintery.  Everything in my garden is topsy turvy, all my bulbs are coming up, my apricot tree hasn't lost it's leaves yet (they're just starting to yellow a little now), meanwhile my almond tree has lost its leaves, started flowering, and now has all its new 'spring' leaves!  Mad!



15 comments:

Unknown said...

What lovely works - I am thrilled by the tea bags... good luck with your booth, you have the right attitude!

Woodwitch said...

I've only recently found your blog but find your work absolutely beautiful. I'm loving the teabag pictures - they're brilliant!

Good luck with your stall.. I haven't done a stall like that before either, so am eager to know how you get on.

Michelle :)

Claire said...

my! you have been busy... and soooo much more productive than housework :)
loving it all, but esp. the leaf pictures *sigh*

mo crow said...

take your guitar along and just noodle away in your corner, the gentle sounds will attract people and when they arrive look up, smile & welcome them into your world of art, answering any questions they have & then resume playing quietly, it's soothing for you and for the customers and makes them want to linger.

Charlotte said...

I'm not sure which of these are my favourite: the wishing tree is lovely, but I also love the teabag leaves, and as for the textiles.

I need to win the lottery: right now I have a wish list that is longer than my duvet.

Windsongs and Wordhoards said...

The hangers are beautiful but I absolutely love the leaves on teabag paper and pages, especially the red one with the by-chance poem so, so fitting to the image. The flow of the stitches is lovely on all of them, so unusual and original...
Your textile art I love also, again it has the sea in it, wonderful textures...
Best of luck with the stall, I'm sure you'll do well! People love to meet the Artist and to be able to ask all about your ways of working and your journey.

Valerianna said...

Wonderful work, Christina, all of it! I especially love the wood nymph dreaming spring... (of course!) Oh dear, thunder... we're getting rain a lot lately and cold... not summery weather. Though today it was summery, now thunderstorms.. there is surely something mad going on! I'll be posting the winners of my drawing tonight... you should surely check in as soon as I do ; ) !

WOL said...

I'll bet those two hangers will sell like hotcakes. I think they're your best yet. The sewing tea bags to book pages idea is brilliant -- Make lots -- a small group of 3-4 would be perfect- I immediately imagined them in frames made from weathered wood about 4 inches wide hanging in a horizontal row -- The frame would be the key- choose the right frame for them and they could fit any decor. (I wish you'd put some on your etsy shop -- I want some!) Have you thought of affixing your large cloth construct to a nicely hemmed piece of fabric to hang as a tapestry? Make "tabs" across the top of the backing cloth and use a nice size smoothed tree branch as a rod to hang it from. You'd better hide that choker until you're ready to hand it over to its commissioner. You should take some of your cloth constructs to the expo -- they're very unique and beautiful.

A mermaid in the attic said...

Thanks everyone! Well, some of these no doubt WILL turn up in my Etsy shop if they don't sell. Typical me, as always, I end up getting too complicated and detailed...my aim was to have some big things on display, but to produce some small works that I could sell quite cheaply...then as usual, I end up putting hours and hours of work into them! Mo, funny you should say that, as I was already wondering about whether to take my guitar along. For some reason I don't feel embarrassed noodling away on it in the same way I would if I was singing unaccompanied. Not sure what the organisers would think about the idea though!

Anne said...

Beautiful....:)

I love them all...:)

Lady of the Greenwood said...

I have done quite a few craft fairs and the most important thing that I can suggest that you take with you is a friend. It is hard work packing your work, unpacking it, setting it up, selling, taking it down, packing it into the car again, getting it home unpacking it and putting it away. A friend helps you do all these things, gives you confidence and support and holds the fort if you need to leave the stall for a while.

Loved your new work and reading your your blog is always a pleasure.

Mo Crow said...

Hi again Christina,
if the guitar is not OK with the organizers take along something to work on, perhaps some of your lovely stitching or whatever is easily transportable. People love watching art in process & it's a good conversation starter.

Karen said...

Lovely work Christina. Good luck with your stall. You'll have a wonderful time. :)

trish said...

Beautiful,beautiful works of art.
You are very clever.x

herhimnbryn said...

Good luck with your stall. I shall be interested to hear how it goes. My stock pile is growing, so I must start selling soon.

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