Monday, February 20, 2012

Guess who just became a vendor at the Arts Market?

As some of you may already know, I've signed on for a booth at the Arts Market, an awesome little store on Queen Street East here in Toronto.  I start on Wednesday and have been running around like crazy for the last few days, getting ready.  

Stock is not a problem - I have paintings a-plenty.  Paintings stacked on top of dressers, paintings leaning against the walls, paintings in my dresser drawers.  Frankly, I'm afraid that my next major creative spree will finally bring the art-load to critical mass and The Boy and I will be immobilized by an avalanche of canvases and either starve or be crushed to death and the only way to remove our putrid, stinking corpses from the building will be to lift off the roof and haul us out using a crane.

So that's pretty awesome.

The daunting part, for me, is that my "booth" is really just an empty space - if I want any walls or fixtures in there, I have to install them myself.  I've never had to do anything like that before.  The freedom is exhilarating - I can customize my space however I want, as long as I stay within my designated 4'x4' turf - but boy, it's gonna be a lot of work!  Especially since The Boy and I don't drive, or even really know anyone who does.  We'll have to do a lot of schlepping on public transit, I think.

To give you a better idea of what I'm up against, here's a picture I just took while sitting on the couch and pointing the camera down our front hallway.



Pictured:

a) My childhood toy box with arts-and-crafts detritus and camera tripod on top (this is normally the area where I take product photos).

b) Desk lamp protruding into picture (I use this - and its identical twin - to light product photos).

c) Front door with pretty red tassel thingy that my ex got me when he was travelling in China.

d) Bedroom door.

e) HUGE FUCKING PIECE OF MASONITE STRETCHING FROM MY TOES TO THE HORIZON.

You don't really realize how big 4'x8' is until you have something that size in your apartment and have to choose between letting it block the bathroom doorway or the living room doorway.  It is huge, you guys.  And it will hang from the Arts Market ceiling and act as one of my booth walls.

Oh, funny masonite story (that's gotta be the first time anyone has ever said that phrase...): I was too cheap to bring it home in a cab so I wrapped a chain around the middle of it and lugged it home slung over my shoulder like a purse.   

A purse that weighs around forty pounds and is longer than I am tall.

I live at least half a mile from the home improvement store, by the way.  Maybe more.  Also, my apartment is up two flights of stairs.  Once I reached the landing, it looked as though the masonite wasn't going to fit around the corner (and/or the weight of it would keep dragging me down the same four stairs over and over again as though I were an modern-day Sisyphus with boobs and a kickass haircut) but obviously I was victorious in the end.

If you visit the market and check out my art (and if you live in Toronto, you totally should!  I might even be there in person and we can hang), you can look at my glorious turquoise booth wall and know that the one corner is rounded off like that because it kept dragging on the sidewalk while I was lugging it home.  It can be an inside joke between us.

Anyhoo, it's 10am and I haven't been to bed so I should probably go do that.

p.s. The Boy doesn't know it yet, but I'm gonna try to persuade him to carry the masonite to the market with me on the subway.  I think if there are two of us carrying it and I tie rope "handles" through all the edge-most holes, it might not be so bad.  And it'd save me like $50 in cab fare.  Yes indeed, this is a good and sensible idea.  

Monday, February 13, 2012

Can you help me with some market research?

So, I may be selling my stuff in actual venues soon (like, places that are not online).  And I want to branch out into stuff like postcards or necklaces with my images on them.  But I only have the budget to try out a few designs at first and I'm not sure what to pick!
If you could do me a favour and leave a comment telling me which paintings from my Artfire store you'd most like to see as a postcard or a necklace, that would give me a great place to start!

Thanks. :)


Bacon slice original painting - blue - 4x6 inches
Many of my paintings are postcard-sized already!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

I'm in an art show!

If you live in Toronto (or if you happen to be here visiting in March or April), please drop by Wise Daughters Craft Market at 3079B Dundas St West (the gallery space is on the lower level) and check out their Women's Art Show!  A couple of my larger pieces will be on display alongside works from talented artists Yvonne Villeneuve (gorgeous, colourful enameled art panels!), Sara MacHin (luminously beautiful paintings!), and Patricia Phelan (intricately detailed textile art!).


This is an example of Yvonne's enamel work.  If I understand the process correctly, it's made by melting different colours of glass onto metal.  Amazing!


There will also be a group of contributors from Sheena's Place, a centre that offers hope and support to people with eating disorders.  I haven't had the pleasure of seeing their work yet, but I can't wait because I suspect these women have a lot of fascinating things to say!


The opening party will be on Friday, March 2nd from 6pm to 8pm - please drop by to enjoy some snacks and hang out with the artists!  If you can't make it that day, don't worry - the show will stay up until the end of April.  But come on, you know you wanna hang out with us. :D

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Caturday: Hoomans Are Weerd.


See the top of Birch's head in that photo up there? That white patch with the little black spot in the middle?  That's his Kissing Bullseye - I smooch him there all the time.  He also has big dark spots on his back and butt that I enjoy pressing on while making different-pitched noises, as though he were a very abstract, jiggly piano.

I can't be the only one who does shit like this.  And because cats (probably?) have no conception at all of what they look like - let alone an understanding of the stupid little games humans play - there must be some very confused kitties out there.

"Why does everyone always poke my nose?"
"Why does everyone always tug my tail?"
"Why does everyone always make MOO sounds at me?"
"Why does everyone always tell me not to invade Poland?"
'Course, Birch's favourite sleeping position lately is cuddled up against me with his front paws stuffed in my mouth*, so I guess we all have our inscrutable compulsions.


*Okay, okay, I never actually let him put his paws in my mouth.  But every night, as I'm trying to fall asleep, he spoons up next to me and then flails repeatedly and insistently at my lower face.  I can only assume that his objective is oral penetration.  Or perhaps nasal penetration: on several occasions, his toe got hooked in my nostril and he stayed like that, purring like a bastard, until I manually disengaged him.

___

Speaking of alien behaviour...check out this new painting in my Artfire store!  It's a must-have for science fiction fans, and the shipping is FREE. :)

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

New Zazzle Valentine's Card: Godzilla in Love

...Well, not the real Godzilla.  Some other kind of huge lizard-beast.  And the beast is in love with a tall building, and trying to give this building a valentine.  It's pretty much the cutest thing ever:
Lizard in Love card
Lizard in Love by SheSaidPop

The inside says "You light up my life!" but you can totally change that if you want - it's customizable. :)

Other captions that I thought about using (and that you can put in there if you like 'em better) include "You can't begin to comprehend the enormity of my love for you" and "With you by my side I feel 1,000 feet tall."

The deep blue night sky and softly glowing moon and buildings on this one make me happy every time I look at it.  I bet those things will make your loved one(s) happy, too!