Easter at the studio

It been while since I gave you a proper update.  Things have been a bit chaotic, as some of you will know my Dad has been in hospital, so there has been some running around,  but things are calm for a moment so I will give you a brief update from studio 4b.

Although the weather has not been brilliant the last couple of day,  the sun was shinning the last few weeks so I have been putting things outside to help draw people in.  The placement of my studio at the end of the Centre is proving to be a challenge to get people through the door.  I don't know why but they get as far as my sign and turn around and leave,  they don't even look in the door,  I am planning to try and do a survey,  when things calm down, to see if there is a problem. I did know when I took it on as the last residents had the same issues.  but luckily my workshops and drop in sessions continue to grow,  and I am pleased with my progress,  slow and steady just as I like it. But it would be nice to get the tourist trade as well.

If you have any suggestions or can spot some obvious problems,  please feel fee to let me know.

The centre and farm has been busy getting itself in order,  I have no idea why this tree went but its nice to see all the bits of wood scattered around .

I have been recently obsessed with scraperboards,  I have no idea where the idea came from as I haven't used them since I was a kid,  but I really wanted to have a go.  I have been looking a buying some for ages but have found them difficult to find and also more expensive than I was expecting.

I decided to go for the black boards as they were easier to get hold of,  but I am also going to buy the white ones so I have more choice to add different inks and colours.  but the basic black seemed a good place to start.

I have been disappointed with the tool provided as it is blunt already after 2 goes and these are not big by any stretch of the imagination. So I need to invest in something better.  Its been  challenge to work out the negative spaces to be able to do it but I have really loved doing them.

I hav also started listing on Etsy again,  I need to give it a better go now I have closed my folksy shop. 

You can check them out here

I had a bit of a sort out of things still at home and came across these 2 sets of canvases that I had done a while ago,  The Chrysler buildings ones had not been finished so I finished them off, and surprised myself that I enjoyed using acrylics again,  although i wont be swopping them for my beloved watercolours any time soon.

 I also had a new order of cards arrive,  I think these are the only 2,  I wont have shown you previously.  I had to do quite a bit re-order as I was very low.  I will be getting so more new designs sorted after Easter,  but for the time being I wanted to stock up on my best sellers.  I will be listing some of them on my Etsy shop soon, along with some more bags,  but I can't show you my new one yet as its a bit of a surprise for someone,  so that will have to come later.

I also finished a commission,  from a lovely lady on Folksy,  you can see the finished painting below.  She explains it all much better than me so you can see the development of it here on  Natalie's Blog

http://nofkantscurios.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/art-commission.html

Happy Easter everyone