Wednesday 27 November 2013

Art Fair number 2!

Oh dear! The blog has been neglected for a few days whilst I returned to Devon to (hopefully) finalise the sale of our house there. On the plus side, I did pick up lots more of my framed Giclee prints, which until now were being displayed in a restaurant there. Now I have freed them up to be unleashed on the North West! The first opportunity to do so will be…tonight! My second Art Fair of the winter has crept up on me, just like I knew it would.
I will be jumping in the car in a few hours to make my way over to the town of Wakefield, for the start of the MAKE Art and Design Fair. Tonight is an art walk event, with lots of venues taking part, not just the one I'll be in, from 5 to 9pm, and then the Art Fair proper will be on Friday and Saturday, from 10am until 5pm. So, a busy few days in prospect! I'll report on how it all went as soon as I have a minute to draw breath. I also haven't forgotten that I didn't finish updates on my latest ideas and experiments, which will also be coming soon!
One of the pictures I just picked up from Devon

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Inspirations and Experimentations Part 2

So, where were we? Oh yeah, things that inspire me.
Last time I was talking about how Rothko was one of my most important inspirations. I guess that's what gives my photos such a painterly quality; I trained as a painter (I also studied Fine Art at uni) and in some ways I still think like one, and take a lot of my inspiration from painters. A couple more abstract painters I think I am influenced by, would be, Patrik Heron:

and Howard Hodgkin:

So I guess those are the big famous guys that I look up to; the ones I own books about, have been to exhibitions of, had prints up on my wall and so on. But there are a few more obscure artists as well. Plus, the more I get into this project, the more I am getting interested in my photographic medium, and I am trying to think more about how I can actually shape my images using its unique attributes, and so I find I am getting inspired by some photographers as well.

OK, so an obscure artist first. Very obscure. He's called Balint Szombathy, and I discovered a book about him by chance in a bookshop in Budapest when I was there last year. The book is called "Signs of the City 1971-2012" and it features many photos like mine. I was really excited when I discovered it, to think that here was someone thinking very much along the same lines as me, but I was far enough along with my own work that I could feel like I hadn't been too influenced by him, I couldn't be accused of "stealing" his ideas, as I guess intellectual property has to be jealously guarded. Or maybe not. I read a quote recently which went something like this "Don't worry about developing your own style, as it will emerge naturally in everything you do". So I guess as long as the person being influenced isn't interested in nicking the idea wholesale, everyone can come out a winner.

Anyway, I had the thrill of discovering a kindred spirit when I picked up this book, that's how it felt to me. Like me, Szombathy had wandered around cities and kept his eye on the inconsequential details that others overlook, and had created quite abstract images from them. For the main, they are a lot less colourful and artistically composed than mine; which isn't to say worse, just more interested in documentary realism perhaps.
Here is an example, from my copy of his book, hence the weird curved pages:

Actually, the act of taking this photo made me look at the pictures afresh, as individually perhaps the composition isn't interesting, but taken as a foursome there is something really compelling about these images. Maybe the colours are reminding me a lot of Rothko again, I do seem to keep coming back to him, but it also made me think that a possible future direction for me would be to simplify my individual photos, but them mount them in a set with other pictures. That's the great thing about visual arts, if you keep your eyes and mind open, the sources of inspiration are endless!
Ok, that's all for today, but there's a lot more left for another day!

Thursday 14 November 2013

Inspirations and Experimentations Part 1

So, with my next Art Fair still a few weeks away, I've got a little breathing space. I'll try not to do what I did with Padiham, and let all the important work stack up until the last minute, when I then have to do it in a mad rush, but it's an uncomfortable truth that I've realised about myself; unless I'm really disciplined, that's normally how I do things. Anyway, the point is, I can relax for a few days at least.

So, I've been spending that time doing some more experimental pieces of work, which I have been wanting to find the time to do for a while. I have loads of ideas in my head of how to develope my work, but until now, not much time to try. So, I thought I'd document a bit of that, and also share some of the chief things that inspire me at the same time.





So, my chief inspiration for photo abstracts in general is; Mark Rothko, the Abstract Expressionist painter. He has been my favourite painter for several years now. I know abstract art isn't everyone's cup of chai, but it speaks deeply to me. When I was at uni I did my dissertation on Virginia Woolf and the stream of consciousness, and how that relates to ideas of the sub-conscious; an interest that's stayed with me ever since. I guess I like abstract art because to me, it speaks to that pre-verbal part of the brain, the bit where we feel things instinctually without being able to describe them in words. That's what Rothko means to me.

So a few years ago I was doing a a little bit of painting and quite a lot of photography and trying to work out what exactly I wanted to do with it, and then suddenly, this idea sprang into my mind. I was taking pictures of boats, and I saw how the two or three colours that a boat is painted actually looked a lot like the composition of a typical Rothko painting, so my first photographic series, "Rothko Boats" (I know, I'm not much of one when it comes to imaginative titles), was born. Here are some shots from that first series:


So, this is how the "Photo Abstracts" project, that I've been pursuing ever since, was born! Ok, I think that's enough for one day, but I'll be back soon to post more about artists and ideas that inspire me, and to share some of the progress I'm making getting my latest ideas out there! 

Monday 11 November 2013

Art Fair Report

So, my first Art and Craft Fair appearance of the Pre-Christmas season, or indeed, ever, was on Saturday. It was at Padiham, which is a smallish town about 30 miles to the north of Manchester, which I had never been to before, and which seemed like a nice little town. The Market itself was in the concert hall of the town hall building, which was a lovely wood panelled, art deco style room, and apart from me I guess there was roughly 15 other stallholders, selling knitwear, ceramics, sewn goods, other photographers, some painters, jewellery makers and a woodworker. So, a good mix. And although there were other photographers, my work was very different from theirs, as it was largely landscape or nature photography, so we complimented each other without being competition.
After spending last week fretting a bit about how my stall would look, I was actually quite pleased with the final result, which you can see here:



The proud smallholder with her wares


So, once I was set up, all I could do was wait for the people to come in and see whether they would want to buy any of my stuff. The doors opened at 11am, and there was a pretty steady stream of people until they closed again at 4pm. Lots of people stopped to look and just for a chat, and then one lady bought a card. Yay! My first sale! There was a bit of a lull in trading for a while after that, but then things picked up again and I sold several more cards. I was "warming up" a bit now, and getting better at talking to the people that stopped at the stand, and explaining a little bit of what my work was about and what inspired me etc. People were really genuinely interested and receptive, and said lots of kind, encouraging things,which was really nice. And then I sold one of my more expensive, giclee prints, which I wasn't necessarily expecting to do, so that was a lovely surprise. Sales in cards and stickers were steady after that. Several people really liked Anna's lamps, but nobody "fell in love" enough to actually buy one. And then, right at the end of the day, I sold another print. I was kind of hoping to sell a few more prints, but overall I was really happy with how the day went.
 I spoke with several fellow stallholders and got some good contacts, advice and ideas out of that, and I gave out my "business card" (actually a postcard flyer from an old exhibition, which I happen to have loads of left over) to lots of people, so overall I'm really happy with how it went. It was the first ever event like this for Padiham too, so I think they must have been really pleased as well. Everyone was really friendly and welcoming, so I will definitely go there again when they do their next market.

 Ok, onto the next! That will be the MAKE Art and Design Fair in Wakefield, on Wednesday 27th and Friday and Saturday 29th and 30th of November. It looks like the emphasis will really be on the "Art" side, not so much on crafts, so I'm really hoping that I will be a big hit there. I have a few weeks to prepare for that, so I'll take the lessons I learned here, (mainly, sell work mounted but not necessarily framed, and have a rack to put the prints in, so I can fit lots more on my stand!) and hopefully have a lots of success there!
The Giclée print I sold

Thursday 7 November 2013

The joy of prints!

So, I had a busy day today, that has left me feeling very excited about the market on Saturday. Firstly, I made a trip to a...ahem, well known homewares store, where I got all kinds of cool stuff to help make my stall look awesome, and to buy some reasonably priced frames to frame some of my prints. I have previously bought a couple of table top easels to display prints, but while I was winding my way through the endless aisles of the shop it suddenly struck me that I might find other things that will help with the display process, especially of my cards, and my friends lamps that I will also be selling. (more about those later!).
 I looked at some sort of woven wicker magazine racks and pen holders thingies for ages - they were just what I wanted in terms of shape, but they looked pretty ugly. I toyed with the idea of spray painting them and weaving bits of thread through them, but in the end I opted for a smarter wooden desk tidy thing, that can display the stuff quite nicely I think. That leaves me without anything to display the print son, but perhaps I'll treat myself to a proper print rack for my next market.

Some of my wares arranged in the desk tidy
When I got home there was still no email from the printers, so I rang them up, and they told me my prints were ready! Yay! I was there in a flash, and could see that the bigger prints looked GREAT!, but I had to wait to get home to have a look at the cards, and I'm THRILLED with them as well! I literally can't wait to show them off at the market. I just have a busy day of mounting and framing tomorrow, and then it's showtime!
All 10 designs of greetings cards I'll be selling at the market

So, about the lamps, a few of which you can see above. They are made by a Hungarian friend of mine called Anna Kaszanitzky, who has kind of done similar to me, and followed her dreams to become a self-employed professional lamp maker. She makes amazing lampshades much bigger and more ambitious than any of the things I am currently selling of hers, but just to give it a try, I brought over from Hungary some of her smaller, battery operated novelty lamps, like these:

 They are all individually hand made and unique, so they aren't cheap, but I'm hoping people with love them as much as I do. Eventually, I would like to sell some of her bigger pieces, which you can check out at her website or on her facebook page.

 I am bursting to know how mine and Anna's work will be received. For me especially it's about whether people be attracted to buy at these new lower prices, and will the cards sell well? I'm not expecting the giclees to fly off the shelves, because they are expensive, but I'm hoping the more affordable stuff will sell like hot cakes! Because then I'll know if this really is a self sustainable thing - if I can do something I love AND make a little bit of profit out of it. I'll probably be too busy to post tomorrow, as as well as being the crunch day for getting ready, it's also my birthday, so I won't report in until after the show. So, if you're reading this before Saturday, keep your fingers crossed for me!

Tuesday 5 November 2013

The language of the print shop

So, the day of the first art market inches closer and closer! After a few false starts, my pictures are now with the printers and I'm reasonably confident that things should proceed without any further hiccups, although of course, wherever technology is concerned there's always room for things to go wrong, so I won't count my chickens before they've hatched! However, they printed me off some copies of my pictures, only as a laser jet print instead of the all singing, all dancing version that the final ones will be, and I'm really pleased with how they look.
I'm pretty much a beginner when it comes to the technical jargon that printers use, which is like a totally different language, but having done a few courses on Adobe Creative suite software earlier this year -the artist/designers holy trinity: Photoshop (the one I use all the time), InDesign and Illustrator - and in conversation with the lovely guy back in Exeter that used to do my giclée prints, I now know a bit more than I used to. So, for example I know that modern print technology is based around printing in the CMYK colour range, which is different from RGB, and as my files were already in CMYK(learnt that on the course!) the bloke at the print shop assured me that their finished versions should look very much like what I saw on my computer screen, and how the laser prints came out. So, judging by the laser prints, things are looking good!
Here's one of the new images I got printed today:
I've also had my first attempt at mounting a piece of my work, which turned out a bit rough around the edges, but generally went OK I think. The mounted artwork is another mini project I'm working on; image transfers (kind of lo-fi home made prints) of my pictures that are then hand painted/ coloured afterwards. That's still very much an on-going project, but I'm quite pleased with how this particular one worked out.                                                                                                                                         
So, so far so good.

Sunday 3 November 2013

The passe-partout, or, how to mount your artwork.

So, my current project is to figure out how to mount my own prints. In the past I have always had them done professionally by the same guy that framed them as well. So, this is a cost cutting exercise, but of course, I have to make sure it's done to a really high standard, as I'm going to be selling these prints to the public!

Of course, I did what every self-respecting person who wants to learn a new skill would do... I looked on You Tube! At first I was a bit discouraged, as none of the videos seemed to be quite what I wanted. Lots of the videos concerned something called dry mounting, which I realised wasn't the technique for me, partly because it involved lots of expensive equipment that I didn't possess. So I did a bit more digging, and realised that what I wanted was a window mount, like so:

 Some people use what's called the hinge method, which I think is particularly good if you want to preserve the photograph as much as possible and not rule out the possibility of re-mounting it in the future. It's kind of fiddly though:

Finally, I found a video that seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. The only problem, it's in French. However, the visual instructions are so clear I don't think it really matters. Check it out:
The clip refers a lot to the "passe-partout" which I only recently discovered is the name of the bit that's called the "mat" in the diagrams above. I found this out on my recent trip to Budapest, where I went to visit a friend of my mother-in-law called Katalin Albert, who is actually a professional passe-partout maker. It seems like a weird thing to specialise in, but she has elevated it to an art form all it's own, finding very special vintage and handmade papers, textiles and even small 3D objects to decorate that area, and in some cases transforming the original artwork into something new or more complex. Unfortunately there are very few examples of her work on the internet, but here's the little I managed to find on her website.
I might try and do something elaborate like this with some of my prints one of these days, but for now I'll be happy if I can just master the basics!

Saturday 2 November 2013

Art and Craft Market Preparation Woes

So, maybe the first thing I should tell you about is the art and craft market I will be appearing at next weekend; Padiham art and craft market .

This is the first of four art and craft markets I will be going to before Christmas; I guess this is the big art and craft market season, so I picked a good time to start going to them. This will be my first ever market of this kind and I am equal parts nervous and excited about it.


The nervousness is exacerbated by the fact that, typical me, I'm nowhere near being ready for it! I've just come back from a month away in Budapest (it's where the husband's from, and I lived there 2000-2005 so it's like a second home.) Anyway, that means it's now a mad rush to get ready. I have lots of giclée prints left over from my last show in Exeter to take, but they are kind of expensive (£55-£150 depending on size and whether they're framed or not) so I've been in negotiation with a local printer to make me some non-giclée but still good quality digital prints, plus some greetings cards, to have some more affordable stuff for the market crowd.

But...I got back late on Wednesday and emailed them Thursday morning, or so I thought. Actually, I had somehow managed to only email myself, thanks to yahoo's new weird system of putting everything into a text message style conversation - argh! The kind of super dumb mistake that's so typical of me! So I finally realised my mistake on Friday afternoon, and frantically contacted the printers, who have now sprung into action, although I still haven't actually sent them the files, plus I still have to mount them all; something I'm doing for myself for the first time too. Then there's the stall itself to consider - how to present my work, whether I have enough stands and display do-das, printing labels.....So, in short, next week is going to be craaaazy busy, wish me luck!

Here's one of the new images I'm hoping to get printed as a digital print. (I can't re-print any of my giclées as they are all strictly limited editions of 10)

Usually I like to think of my pictures as pure abstracts (although I know lots of people like to find images in them, which is cool with me, I'm just quite abstract minded by nature) but this picture has some fairly obvious figurative cues, doesn't it?



Friday 1 November 2013

Welcome to my blog!


Well hello and welcome to my blog! I am an abstract photographer who has recently made a couple of big, scary changes to her life. I've packed in the day job and gone full time as a working artist, and I've moved from the relative quite life in Exeter, Devon to the hustle and bustle of the big city in Manchester.

This blog will therefore be a record of my journey of finding out about the art scene in the North West of England and beyond, and in seeing if I can really make it as an artist in these tough economic times. I hope to share with you lots of examples of my work, of which the picture above is a fairly typical example, as well as other aspects of my day to day arty experiences, plus share the work of other artists/exhibitions/resources etc. that may be interest to any arty minded folk out there! So, if any of that sounds like your cup of tea, then WELCOME! Pull up a comfy chair, grab a brew and a biscuit and please join me in the world of EVERYDAY ABSTRACTS.