Oh friends, let me tell you, it has been a busy time over here in my splashy, salty world! You know, I knew I was gonna get cracking this year, but I've really gone for it and I've been busily making things and applying for opportunities to exhibit my work. Last weekend I popped up my first market stall in a long time, and contrary to past market experiences, it was so fun! The market was at Perth Town Hall on a Sunday and it was such a great spot and I sold lots of my creations to happy shoppers. I can't really express how much I enjoyed talking to people about sea creatures and I really appreciated the positive feedback I got on my stall.
Now that the market is over I've started to focus on creating work to submit to a number of upcoming art prizes. I've only recently thought of doing this and wowee there are a plethora of art prizes out there to consider! Of course, not all of them are relevant to my practice and some are just way out of my league, but I've selected a few to focus on and am pushing myself to create my best work for those I choose to apply for. It's been nice to delve back into the world of fine art after spending so many years honing my illustrative style. I've come to understand that it's ok (and maybe a superpower!) to have a practice that spans from craft work through to fine art. It sure does offer me a lot of flexibility in the studio and well, it just suits me and my variety of creative whims.
Speaking of creative whims (isn't that ALL I ever talk about here? Hah!) I have been making a lot of little ceramic trinkets and things and popping them into my Etsy Store - so there's now a sweet selection of handmade goodness stocked there if you'd like to take a look! I make everything in small batches when the mood strikes so everything is totally unique. Lately I've been crafting these super lovely little bud vases for dried blooms and they are the cutest things:
I've also been enjoying a lot of art out in the world this month. I've seen numerous exhibitions and attended a few openings here and there. At our local beach the annual exhibition Sculpture by the Sea is being packed up. For the past couple of weeks a variety of sculptural pieces by artists all over the world have dominated the shoreline and it's been wonderful to walk down there and be amongst so much incredible art. It's really inspired me to lift my game and start thinking bigger in terms of both concepts and ambition.
Finally, on the weekend I attended the launch of the Kalamunda Art Awards at Zig Zag Gallery in the Perth Hills. I was fortunate to make the shortlist for the prize and was so happy to see my work amongst such wonderful and diverse art. It was a really fun night and it felt good to be getting out there and showing my work again after such a long break. Hopefully there will be more of that to come (fingers crossed!), but in the meantime I'm hunkering down in the studio with my paints for the next few weeks in an effort to finish off a bunch of 'in-progress' pieces that have been haunting me for a good while.
So, that's a wrap for now. I hope to have some finished paintings to show here next time I pop in to post a blog. I best go and get painting! Til next time....*waves*