My Etsy Shop, a discount!

Unlike my other online outlets, Esty offer discount codes, which is handy. Of course, the thing you need most on the internet is feedback, and I need those first few sales to get this, so as a little incentive, and to try out the discount code facility... here it is:

15% discount off anything in my Etsy shop until 9am Monday morning. From a little card to a big original painting, if there is anything you want, get it for a fabulous 15% less than usual! And your code is:

15PERCENTOFF

Browse Michele's Etsy store here

Most popular prints selling (offline) currently... it is neck and neck between these two:

Also available, mosaics, original paintings, cards and linoprints. Enjoy :-)

New Painting, and New Media

So, I am fairly good at painting in watercolours. The problem is, lots of people are fairly good at painting in watercolours, and like it or not, those people are my competition. Watercolour painting has become massively popular in recent years; watercolours are everywhere, some good, some bad.


Now I need an entry or two for a local 'open' exhibition in Colchester, and experience of open exhibitions (as the name suggests, open to anyone) has taught me that a watercolour painting alone, however good, may not be enough to get me in. 


Open exhibitions have a selection committee, and friends on the inside assure me that sometimes a piece is literally looked at for a few seconds before a decision is made; brutal. So I need something a bit different, something that catches the eye, and shows a bit of imagination. 

 (extreme close up!)

So for this piece I used Gouache (opaque watercolour) and collaged seashells to give the piece (I hope), a soft, dreamy look. I am rather pleased with it, and think it will be popular as a print, so it is being scanned currently, then it's off to the framers.

 Here is the original photo and inspiration:

The open exhibition has a Suffolk theme, and it is £10 per entry. Fingers crossed...

Day Tripping

Last week I saw a chap in a t-shirt that read: "The internet is down so I decided to go outside". Sometimes that is how I feel, between work, house renovations and little spare cash we just never seem to go anywhere. So when boyfriend took a week off, I was determined that we would go out for at least one day, so I could get some inspiration for my paintings and some fresh air.

We headed initially for Woodbridge, and the weather was on our side. On cutting through a park from the car park we came across this fabulous tree, massive and obviously hundreds of years old:

Then it was into the main part of Woodbridge where I took this photo, which I am currently working into a painting in Gouache and Collage:

After a hot chocolate and some cake, which wasn't quite nice enough to justify its price of a whole day's food budget we decided to wander towards Felixstowe.

We ended up at Trimley Marshes, and took a very long walk; it was fairly deserted and very attractive:

On the way home we stopped under the Orwell Bridge (favorite suicide spot of the Suffolk disenchanted), for more photos. By this time it was freezing, and the wind whipped my hair around my ears as I struggled to stop the camera from shaking. So imagine my surprise next day when I saw this serene picture!

  
Of course I just had to paint it:

It was lovely to go out for the day, and just shows that even a local day trip can fill you with ideas and inspiration.


Back in the studio and the scan copies of my Little Blakenham painting came back, so I can now offer it as a Limited Edition Giclee Print:

Fields near Little Blackenham Suffolk, Giclee Print

Happy Easter everyone and enjoy any of your own day trips you may be planning!

New cards and a sale

'Star Bird' Matching Card & Tag Set

Well, many days I feel like I spend more time on photo-editing and paperwork than I do on any form of artwork, but sometimes the results are pleasing. My photography skills are small and my graphics software use is entirely self-taught, but I muddle along, despite the fact that my favorite setting on the camera is still the one that says 'Auto'.

'Folk Heart' Matching Card &Tag Set

Any work finished must be photographed, edited/improved and then stored in many digital forms for printing, internet listing, publicity etc. This of course takes hours. 

Whilst photographing my new tags I needed to have them shown in situ (I need 5 different photos of each product for both my Etsy and Folksy shops), and luckily the wrapped box of Mother's Day chocolates I had in the studio did the trick. I also gave mum one of the new cards!

 

'Butterfly' Matching Card &Tag Set 

Each of the three designs has three colour choices and they all had to be photographed, and I was pleased to finish the task!

And I am pleased with them, I have already put them out in some of the local shops I sell in, and am planning more (less girly) designs to expand the range.

I also had a sale this week, in a local outlet of this flower mosaic:

I had kept this one in the studio for months as one of my students had assured me she must have it, but then when she saw one of my butterfly mosaics she changed her mind and bought that instead. I didn't mind at all, a sale is a sale but it is nice that her original choice has a new home too. 

 

More mosaics to look at here!

Fame at last (kind of...)

Well, I have been in print before, featured in such legendary publications as the Sudbury Mercury, and the Leavenheath, Stoke-by-Nayland, Polstead and Nayland Community News. In fact the lady at the make up counter in boots even recognised me. And once the Bury Free Press even sent a reporter to my studio, complete with big camera that made those clicky noises you hear outside the old bailey as the van with the blacked out windows drives off. I held up a paintbrush and pretended to paint whilst smiling inanely. But I was of course, just following directions.

However, this is the first time I have been in a publication that is actually sold in WH Smith and Tesco. Yes that is me in Craftseller, March issue! Wow. It is surely only a matter of time before I am on the Jonathon Ross show wearing shoes so high that I can only walk 10 paces in before elegantly collapsing on the studio sofa. Watch this space, and never underestimate my talent for blatant self promotion...

Meantime, until the rewards of fame kick in, I am sadly forced to continue working...

So it's back to the print workshop for my latest get-rich-fairly-quick plan; linoprint cards with matching gift tags. Three designs on the same block to start with. "Look I made Barbie pink" I said to the workshop technician: "That's pink with balls!" she replied. I don't think I will be using that line in my publicity material, but she has a point. For those less keen on pink with balls, these will also be available in red and purple.

After a happy hour playing with ink, it was time to put them on the drying rack, alongside the other printmaker's work:

I already have some of the finished cards out in a local gallery and just need to edit the photos before I can offer them online too.

Here is a preview of the butterfly one, finished with glitter and sequins. More designs are planned, including some a little less girly and suitable for men and kids, because not everyone loves pink!

Animal Charity Auction!

Always looking for an excuse to put Gimlet on the blog of course... and as some of you know, Gimlet, my lovable and sometimes violent studio muse came from a local rescue centre. I am not the most selfless person, heaven knows, but adopting an animal felt like one of the best things I ever did. The rescue home does everything in its power to look after the animals and make them happy, but still it must be a miserable existence locked in a pen, compared to being with a doting family.

Here is Gimlet on his first evening with us, before he became the spoiled diva that he is now, back when he was actually grateful. (Time between abject gratitude and demanding expensive cat food... about 6 weeks).


Not everyone can adopt an animal, but in a recessions these centres get inundated with animals that people can no longer afford to look after, along with extra food and vets bills.

So when Louise, (a seller on Folksy) asked if anyone could donate a small item from their shops to her auction she was amazed how many responded. Louise is raising funds for her local animal rescue centre (RACR) in Nottingham.

Here is my donation, one of my bird monoprints:

Currently bid well under it's value, if you would like to bid on this, or take a look at the many other items available please click the links below. Up for auction are items ranging from animal art to hand-made jewellery, hand knitted gloves, soft toys and a huge amount of other stuff.

To bid you simply leave a comment on the image on Louise's facebook page, and pay by paypal if you win. It couldn't be easier, and you will help the furry friends as well as grab a bargain.

Racr Rescue Fundraising Facebook Page 

Direct Link to items up for auction! 
 

Ikea vs Ebay

I normally work Saturdays and take Wednesdays off, which means I rarely get a whole 2 days in a row to tackle anything major that is not work. So, the boxes labelled 'stuff to sell on ebay' had grown and were taking over my studio, so in a fit of madness I decided to be like a normal person and take a week off.


For an entire week I listed stuff on ebay: unused dress patterns, shoes I don't wear, wii games the teen no longer plays. By the end of the week I never wanted to see my ebay page again, my selling fees were eye watering and the post office were making a profit again, all due to me. I made some money of course, but couldn't help wondering if I should have dumped the stuff in a charity shop and painted something to sell instead...


Around this time boyfriend and I took a trip to Ikea to get the things we needed for our new laundry room. I was nervous, boyfriend hates shopping... But as it turns out he likes Ikea. He laughed at the Swedish names, ate meatballs in the cafe, tried the furniture, had a pillow fight on the moving walkway and tried various storage items on as headgear (see his facebook profile for evidence).

Best of all, in the place where all the ebay stuff was cluttering up my studio I now have a small 'Helgar':

My only hope is that we manage to buy everything we need for the house before Ikea issue us with a lifetime ban.


Back at work after my ebay fest and I finally finished this one:

Fields near Little Blakenham, Ipswich

 

My ambition to sell more art online got a couple of boosts this month too, with this commission for a mosaic for Sophie, who sent me little tiles from her bathroom, and fabric swatches so I could create an ivory mosaic with touches of gold for her bathroom:

Ivory and Gold commissioned Mosiac Panel

Finally, I was requested by Folksy seller 'Aunty Joan' to make this small garden painting available as a print, which she then purchased:

 Wall Flowers Limited Edition Print

Both buyers left me excellent feedback, which is what it is all about on the internet, because just like eBay, no one buys unless you have already sold, so those first sales are the hardest to gain. Thank you Sophie and AuntyJoan!