Next Stage

Trimmed image.....

Photographing these pieces is a challenge as my ceiling is lower than the will hang and I need to get back quite far to get them in. The will be photographed at the Gallery by Tracy Olan, where the scale will be easier to see and we can shoot it from further away. This shows my usual set up to shoot in my studio with my white cloth clothes pegged up and the pieces hanging. Depending on the pieces, I shoot with white and balck backdrops. I am not happy with this image, so will be going back now to try again. I am also trying some other pieces for the Lark book...I'll get back to you!

Visit my site www.andrea-graham.com

How much is that pod in the window? Caution: a bit of a Rant!

Something I have frequently encountered is artists asking what they should charge for a piece and alternatively, the potential art purchasers confusion with what one (me, perhaps) charges for a piece. Please, allow me to give you the low-down, the 411, the skinny, the scoop, if you will.

I will spare you the whole "I am creating every moment" thing. While I am, I cannot possibly calculate that time and charge for it, although that would be nice...okay, I digress...Here we go:
Large pods I am working on:
Each pod: 20 hours each labour (this is the hands on the wool making-Yes, I kept track)
20 hours x $20 (an arbitrary hourly rate)
= $400
+ $50 materials
x 2 (I multiply x2 because the galleries I deal with take 50%) = $900
= I must price at $900 per pod minimum.
now add...
GST and PST ($72 + $45.00)= total cost for each pods retail: $1,017
What I get paid: $450- minus materials and hanging device and time to install ($40)= $360 (my $20 an hour is now $18. Add in prep time and you can do the math)

Make sense? So $1,017.50 retail= $360 to artist...Next time someone scoffs at the price of art, enlighten them, and next time you think of charging less for a piece of art, consider the cost to the market for one of a kind felted work....
This rant: Free of charge ;o)


Visit my site www.andrea-graham.com

All Trussed up!

Pod #2 ready to finish...
This one ended up bigger than the green one and the inside with the purple is beautiful. I cannot, of course, turn it inside out, but it have given me my colours for the next 2d piece!

I was supposed to go to Toronto yesterday for an Ontario Crafts Council meeting, but between feeling not so well and the weather , I decided not to go. I attended the meeting by conference call, so put on my headset and felted during the meeting...is that multi-taking or what?! I felt very productive!

Things to do:
-pick up prints of images of "Harvest" for my show and get them in frames
-shoot some images of my new work
-select images for Lark book submission
-grocery shop (but it is nasty, blowing snow out there!)

I think I will just turn on the studio heater and felt for the next hour :o)



Visit my site www.andrea-graham.com

Next pod

Nothing too exciting....typical layout with a resist. You are looking at the inside of the pod which is a couple of colours of Harrisville. This is an inexpensive fast felting blend that I use as "filler" for lots of things to stretch out the good stuff when it will work to do so. The 2 different purples is not neccessarily a design element but, I was running short of one colour! You may see both if I do cut aways, you might not. It will be a surprise!

The middle layer is a fave, Finn wool, and the red is a C-1/pelsull which is a beautiful heathered brick colour. I really like this wool. It takes a bit of getting to know, but once you do, it will be your friend. The Finn wool migrates to give some shading in the folds I create and the purple will show if I decide to do any cutouts. Voila! I am actually at the fulling stage right now so should have it hanging to dry today. Then I get to start pod #3. I then have three small pieces to make and that should do it for show art work! Well, off to start my day: drive kids all over, studio, drive kids all over, studio, sleep...

Visit my site www.andrea-graham.com

100 followers?

Above: In the felting process.


My naughty dog, Bacchus, trying very hard to "stay". This is an example of what kind of image NOT to send to be juried into a show (don't laugh, you would be shocked by what people submitt!) This will be followed up by a proper image....so stay tuned :o) It is also not quite done yet as it is drying and I am ready to layout for the next one. This took me a week start to finish, but that included all the "ropes and tails", so I am thinking I can make the other 2 this week although my shoulder and "tennis" elbow are whining at me.

100 followers? Wow...that's a blog milestone. I want to thank you all for following, being interested in what I am doing, and especially offering your comments. It's always nice to know when you put your stuff "out there", as we artists do, that someone on the other end "gets it". Of course, not everyone does, and that is okay too. Heck, even my husband looks at some things I have done and tilts his head and says "Sooo...where are you going with that?" The important thing is for me to know where I am going with it and not listen to all the "Hey, you know what you could make?"

Last night I:
-had dinner out with my husband
-signed and got ready to mail 2 teaching contracts
-packed up a felt sample and business cards/invitations to send to Chris White
-paid my Sears bill (okay, not art related)
-looked on-line for rates to get to Saskatchewan in June (something like April in Paris?)
-stuck little date labels on invitations to send to the gallery for March lecture.
-slept half the night in my sons bed who had a nightmare about terrorists.

Have a great day...to the studio!!

Visit my site www.andrea-graham.com

In Progress...

Well, I have begun making 3 large pods for my show. The above image show some "tail" and "stems" for the pieces. These are created first so they are ready to attach. They are fully felted as it it more difficult to get them really firm if you are also trying to manoeuver a heavy pod.

The image below shows the shortest stem held by my son...

The above shows just how firmly this is felted! There is nothing supporting this. My son is just holding it out straight. When I get to the stage when I think, "that's good enough", I step away and come back to finish later...

This is the beginning of the first pod layout. They will begin 4 feet long. They will hang in a space about 9 fett from the floor and the tails will trail on the floor. The blue layer you see is the inside. The days in the studio are going so fast and I am loving that my other business is very slow :o)

I had an email today from a local university gallery about a possible project for one of their small spaces used for installation. The project I proposed is a departure from my pods, but may be a nice change when the summer rolls around, but I am tight on time now. I'll fill you in if it comes to be! Bye for now...

Visit my site www.andrea-graham.com

Brick Wall

After a couple of days with healing hands and then meeting day and other work day...I am back in the studio. A week has passed, not sure how, and I have no time to waste. I paced around the studio and kept feeling like I needed to go check on other things in the house. My head jumped from one direction to another. I went to cut out a resist for a series of large pods that I have been sketching since last week and ended up holding in my hands a resist nothing like I planned getting ahead of myself. I feel disjointed and unfocused and it is making me nuts. Being so connected to my computer is clearly a procrastination technique, something I have done with varied degrees of success since childhood (the procrastination, not the computer!)

I ended up leaving the studio, but committing myself to making some decisions I was unable to do so close to my materials. This solo show causes me to consider many things I do not usually consider. Space, colour, how everything will look together given my choices. I am feeling pretty scattered and have noted that "how I work" changes with every piece; time of day, what I listen to, my frame of mind....I need to find the right way to "be" as each piece develops and go to whatever place that piece needs me to go. Being pulled in and out of the reality I call "my life" can be a hinderence to this process! It brings to mind the commonly asked question, "How long did it take you to make this?".


Visit my site www.andrea-graham.com