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My Year in Review… And a list of accomplishments!

My Year in Review... And a list of accomplishments!

As the year is nearly over, there is a little exercise I like to do, prompted by Alyson of the Art Biz Blog…: to list my accomplishments of the year. I believe we should all be doing this instead of concentrating on what HAS NOT been done…I have been doing it for a few years now so you may have seen a similar post before!

In 2012 I…

– participated in the Ideal Home Show in the RDS (Dublin) for the first time,
– purchased my beloved Berlingo Multispace, the perfect vehicle for an artist/crafter,
– drove to London to participate in an art fair in Chelsea, (more details here)
– appeared in Ireland’s Home and Interiors Magazine,
– had a duo exhibition with fellow artist Roisin O’Farrell at the Killarney Art Gallery
– had a painting selected for the Cork Street open Exhibition in London
– had a successful Solo Exhibition at the Boathouse Gallery in Kinsale, Co.Cork,
– participated in the Wine and Art night in the Malton, Killarney, for the 7th time,
– gained a few hundred followers on Facebook and Twitter,
– participated in the Art fair in the RDS (now Art Source) for the 3rd time,
– completed 5 commissions,
-put Killarney forward for the “Best Place to Live in Ireland” competition (we were 2nd, watch the video here..!)
– gave a new look to my blog,
– did 3 Christmas craft fairs selling my prints and my art jewellery,
– took better care of my Etsy shop,
– gave a painting demonstration at the Mallow Art Club, County Cork,
– held a “Special Christmas Shop” from my Facebook Page,
-and last but not least… I am growing a tiny human! 25 weeks and counting…

I’m glad I had a full and busy year… Since I was hoping to get pregnant and knowing that 2013 would be more quiet on the art side, I’m glad I took chances like the London fair, who didn’t turn out well but I had to try it..!

Now to make a list of goals for 2013… But first here are a few pictures of 2012..!

Ideal Home Show, Dublin

Untitled Art Fair, Chelsea, London

With Roisin O’Farrell at our Duo Easter Exhibition

Ireland’s Homes and Interiors

With Liz, owner of the Boathouse Gallery



My stand at Art Source, RDS, Dublin
 

 

Craft Fair in Muckross Park Hotel, Killarney
Enjoy the Celebrations, and see you next year..!
 
 

A Need to Go Mad…

A Need to Go Mad...

I’ve been spending a lot of the time in the studio lately…! Time management, I will admit, has always been a struggle… Right now I am juggling my time between my part time work for Peter Cox Photography Gallery, a few commission works including illustrating a little book of children’s poem by friend the American poet Barbara Botch, and preparing for my Solo Exhibition at the Boathouse Gallery in Kinsale, County Cork.

After spending a good few days and hours on these various commissions, I needed to “stretch” my creativity and just “go mad” a little on something which was not meant for anybody in particular…

So with no particular agenda, I squeezed a good amount of some of my favorite colours on a palette and then guessed what…. : I used my fingers.

Detail of the sky…

I had seen several blog posts and videos recently about “intuitive painting” and I just wanted to try it a little… To paint the hills then I used a combination of my fingers and some of my bigger brushes, I wanted to keep a “looser” feeling to the painting.

Of course to paint the flowers I had to rely on my smaller brushes again…!

So there, I think Studio Assistant Clochette was pretty pleased with the results..

I know it’s impossible to please everybody, but I am quite please witht the combination of loose background mixed with the little details… What do you think?

Amélie

Untitled Artists Fair – London…

Untitled Artists Fair - London...

A week ago yesterday I was making the long trip back home, driving from central London back to Killarney, after a weekend spent at the Untitled Artists Fair on King’s Road in Chelsea…

Chelsea Old Town Hall, King’s Road

The building and the location were fantastic, right in the middle of Chelsea… The setting up was a little less ideal however… With no allocated car park for the exhibitors, I was forced to find a small car park elsewhere and carry my stuff accross a very busy road 3-4 times with my trolley… Phew!

After setting up on Friday morning, I had a few hours to kill before the opening at 5.30, so I had a little wonder around Covent Gardens, an area I like a lot in London, (I was tempted by Portobello but had been there on my previous trip to London! )

The city was all prepared for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee…

The Apple Market, Covent Gardens

 

Friday night came and the opening was quite busy, but no luck for me on the night… In fact, not much more luck for the whole weekend unfortunately…! I managed to sell a few prints, but that was it unfortunately… Perhaps the jubilee events were taking away from the fair, or there was insufficient advertising..? Who knows… I was disapointed with the organiser of the event who never came around to see how we were doing or just to introduce himself in general, which I thought was a little rude..

On the bright side, the highlight of my weekend was definitely getting to meet some of my fellow exhibitors, I would love to introduce you to a few of them..

In the booth right next to mine was Graham Holland, he was a great neighbour to have and we got on like house on fire instantly. We had great laughs together. A londoner himself, Graham creates fantastic photo montages of London and different other cities in the world…

© Graham Holland

In front of me was the lovely Catherine Savigny, french painter and sculptor who had come all the way from Paris, handy I suppose with the Eurostar, I would love to do this trip one day..!

“Mother”, © Dan Hillier
https://www.danhillier.com

Dan Hillier was around the corner from me, a super nice guy who’s art I really liked: he takes old victorian illustrations and manipulates them to create new images entirely. Dan did pretty well at the fair, he was the only one who did that I’m aware of…

“Lost Flip Flop”, © Rachel Jeffery
https://racheljefferypaintings.co.uk/

I fell in love with Rachel Jeffery’s paintings… Living in Cornwall, she gets her inspiration from rock pools… Being a beach comber myself I was really attracted by the colours and the textures in her work…!

There was so many others… but a lovely surprise for me was to meet Bridget Skanski Such… Meeting Bridget and seeing her work felt like we must have been connected somehow somewhere, and you’ll understand why when you see her textile art…:

“Up the Hill”, ©Bridget Skanski Such
https://www.bridgetskanskisuchtextiles.com

Bridget and I use similar colours and shapes, but her work is made entirely of textiles… Ribbons, pieces of organza, and lovely intricate embroidery stitches…

I also met my twitter friend Dean Philips who makes sculptures out of… Blu-Tack..! Dean wasn’t exhibiting, he just came up to say hello since he lives in London… My first time meeting an online friend.
So, that was my weekend in a nutshell… Would I do it again..? Not this fair in particular, no. Talking to the other exhibitors from the UK was great to learn about other fairs… I think I would fly over though, with smaller unframed pieces in a big suitcase..!

So, I leave you now with some random London pics…:

 

 

Happy New Year…! Here are my Goals for 2012…

Happy New Year...! Here are my Goals for 2012...
Happy New Year everyone…!
 
After writing my list of accomplishments for 2011, here is my list of goals for the coming year…!
 
 
-to create over 50 paintings,
-to find more gallery representation in the UK,
-to make my jewellery in a more efficient way,
-to create an online art licensing portfolio,
-to put more time in my Etsy shop,
-to find a first art licensing contract,
-to have 2 solo exhibitions,
-to do my first book illustration by collaborating with my friend the American poet Barbara Botch,
-to improve the display I use at craft fairs,
-to reach 2000 fans on Facebook,
-to participate in at least 3 craft fairs,
-to participate in Art Fair 2012 in the RDS,
-to participate in the National Craft & Design Fair in the RDS,
-to offer more one-day painting workshops,
-to offer more workshops in primary schools,
-to keep better track of my accounts, and
-to stick to a better weekly schedule.
 
I’m sure I will be adding to this list! You are more then welcome to share yours 😉

Gift Certificates…!

Gift Certificates...!

Well, it’s that time of year again and some people are extremely organised and early in their Christmas shopping so I thought I would remind you about my gift certificates…!

There is a few options on the button’s drop down menu. If you don’t see the amount you would like to give, please contact me and I can send you a Paypal invoice instead…

The Paypal button below will give you options for the amount of your voucher, and will lead you to the simple process of making a payment online. You DO NOT NEED a Paypal account to do this, just follow the link “Don’t have a Paypal account?” Unfortunately for those living in Ireland, I think the Laser card is not accepted by Paypal yet, so you can contact me for an other method of payment.

Please don’t forget to tell me the “TO” and “FROM information, the address to which I will send the voucher, and please please please do not forget your phone number and email address in case I need to contact you…

If you want you can also give me a short message which I can send along with the voucher if it’s going directly to the recipient, ie: “Happy Birthday Mum, from Louis” etc…

And if you would like a present like this yourself, just send the following link to your loved one..!
https://www.ameliegagnestudio.com/gift-certificates/

Gift Amount in EUROS

Number 100 – Christmas…Finally!, 3″x3″

Number 100 - Christmas...Finally!, 3"x3"

WOOOOHHHOOOOOO!!!!! 100 paintings done!! Wow, it was such a challenge, with ups and downs and little hickups along the way, done in a period where I was very busy with one of my best friend’s wedding, preparing for an Art fair in Dublin, an exhibition in Killarney, visitors from Canada, and the Christmas preparations!! But overall I am glad I did it, and thank you so much for your support and all the lovely comments you left over the 100 days…

I wish you all a beautiful, peaceful and colourful Christmas, un beau et Joyeux Noël à vous tous…!

So here is my 100th and final painting:
Christmas…Finally!

Number 99 – Candy Hills, 3″x3″

Number 99 - Candy Hills, 3"x3"
This is the 99th of my 100 x 100 x 100 collection…
Read about it here and see them all here!

Available

Number 98 – Dandelions, 3″x3″

Number 98 - Dandelions, 3"x3"
This is the 98th of my 100 x 100 x 100 collection…
Read about it here and see them all here!

Available

Number 97 – Hillside, 3″x3″

Number 97 - Hillside, 3"x3"
This is the 97th of my 100 x 100 x 100 collection…
Read about it here and see them all here!

SOLD!

Number 96 – Quiet Duo, 3″x3″

Number 96 - Quiet Duo, 3"x3"
This is the 96th of my 100 x 100 x 100 collection…
Read about it here and see them all here!

Available

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