Thursday, January 26, 2012

Painting , penguin and exciting times

What a busy week. I have been teaching quite a lot, my Wednesday afternoon drop in sessions are getting busier and I am now starting to do them on a Thursday afternoon as well. I have a full day beginners group on the next 2 Saturdays and more phone calls everyday, especially now that the article about my opening went in the paper.

You can see the article here

I loved painting this week and finished my penguin. Its made me realise that I have got a bit caught up in the teaching and getting the studio sorted and now I need to make sure I put time to one side for my own work.

I've meet some lovely people who visit the centre. Today I met a man who is in the same situation as me 6 months ago and is considering his options for going self employed. I hope he takes the plunge as I want everyone to enjoy this wonderful lifestyle that I now have, I always feel sad when I see Mr Wd go into work as he still hasn't got a choice , so I have to do it for both of us. Not that he ever complains as he does sort of enjoy his job.

I am thinking about my online shops, I don't have the time I used to, to spend on them and I am wondering whether to continue on, or not. One option I am considering is to just list things like cards and bags rather than the artwork itself. I think its something that will dominate my thoughts for a while, so would appreciate your thoughts.

I have also had an exciting and busy week as I have sent image to the states as part of the licensing agreement I was telling you all about. I still have more to send, but its slow as I have problems with getting the images at the right dpi and size. I have had to have help to get them right . After my pictures arrive in the states a graphic artist will go through the images and modify them and fix them as needed. The images are then experimented with among the in-house metal artists. They will figure out which metal grind techniques work best for which images and they will then notify the graphic artists. The graphic artists then make a template of what the finished product will look like each time and the multiple variations (framing, multiple grinds available, ..etc) to be used as a reference guide for the metal artists. They file all of those, prepare the descriptions and then upload them to the site (after they receive approval from myself ) Once that is finished, the galleries are stocked with some of the pieces and the production office keeps a small stock as well. A majority of the pieces are made to order though. Also, the company are in the process of experimenting with different materials as well...So they will see how the pieces look on wood, glass and acrylic panels.

It sounds all very interesting and I can't wait to see the final result.


3 comments:

  1. Sounds like very exciting times Janice, and all going great (still wish I lived closer to you).

    Great Newspaper article.

    Love the Penguin. Well done on the excitement with the States.

    Really pleased things are going so well.

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  2. Gosh you are busy, the States work sounds good, I hope you keep us posted.
    I understand about your on-line shops, it's time consuming when you have so many other things to do but on a personal level I think it be good to keep it going, Folksy is such a good community and it is another avenue to keep your name out there. It doesn't cost lots and as you say you could just stock it with your pre done things, cards, prints etc. There is lots to think about but good luck in whatever you decide.

    Jan x

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  3. This all sounds so exciting, I can't wait to see the things that have gone over to America :) Love the Penguin too :)

    dawn.x

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