Limited Editions

So for once, I feel like I actually delivered on a website promise as my Limited Edition Prints are finally up and ready for sale! I have been trying to finish my website for so long that it feels like a bit of a shock to finally have it finished! There are still some tweaks to do - I need to alter some of the page descriptions and I would like to pay someone for some SEO treatment but all the design and content is there. It seems like it should have been a massive relief to have finally got here, but it passed with a more of a 'next' type feel. I guess there is always something else that needs doing.

I am still celebrating though by offering you the chance to win a Limited Edition print of your choice; you can see the ones on offer by heading over to my website. There are 48 open at the moment as I chose some of my favourites, and I have already sold quite a few of them, 39 in fact, so I opened those ones up too! To enter the competition, just head over to my Facebook page and let me know which print you would like to win. I have 14 entries at the moment, which doesn't seem too bad as Facebook was broken yesterday, but I am hoping by the time the competition finishes (on the 10th of July) that I will have many more! 

I have also managed to paint a tiny (for me) painting over the last few days, it is more of a sketch but it has already been reserved which seems like a success. I will share this with you a bit later as I am trying to keep a bit more interest with everything by being a bit steadier with my posts and paintings. It is strange, since I have had a bit more free time from work and I have been concentrating on art things I have sold a lot more. I don't really feel like I have pushed anything that much harder, but I suppose I have been thinking about it all a bit more, so maybe the focus has made a difference. It keeps making me think that maybe I should push harder and try and make this work, do some more art fairs and shows, buy a car! It stills feels like a big risk though and I think part of the drive with my art is that I can't do it all the time because I have other commitments. Would the urge to paint, and make time to do so be there if I could do it all the time? It still seems difficult nailing that balance. I can never get art v work v social v zumba quite right. Art is better now I have more time, but work is less good and I'm socialising more and spending too much. I can't survive without zumba as that keeps me sane so that can't change. I just need to balance out the other three which is always easier said than done!

Never mind. Having some time to tick off this overdue art tasks definitely more than makes up for everything else at the moment!

Whitworth Hall

So somehow the new week has arrived, and I didn't show someone around my 'art gallery' (read: flat) as I ran out of time. They are hopefully perusing at some point this week instead. I also didn't manage a random painting at the weekend, which I must admit is disappointing. I have painted hardly any paintings this year and I am feeling the strain. My friends (and my Mum!!) probably are as well as I am not always the most level when things get in the way of painting time. (Sorry everyone, artistic temperament and all that). I did however manage to start and complete my commission request so that is one good thing! I also managed a little bit of website time, and I really do think I can finish that off this week all being well. (Promises, promises). 

The commission I undertook didn't quite go to plan this time as I got my wires slightly crossed with what was wanted, but that is the beauty of Acrylics; Just wait for the paint to dry and paint over whatever needs to be changed, and no one will ever now, unless they get out that x-ray machine in 100 years when they are looking for a lost masterpiece. That got me thinking about painting in general. I know a lot of people are always fearful of painting in case they get it wrong, or can't translate what is in their head onto paper. I think this is partly due to trying to rectify mistakes instantly, as then a big brown mess usually ensues as all the paints are mixed together and panic begins. I always find it is better to leave it, wait for it to dry and then calmly paint over whichever bit is annoying. I also quite often can't translate what is in my head onto paper, so I use aides, like print outs, sketches, rough drafts, other paintings, anything which will help you see what you are trying to do. This still doesn't always work. Some of the paintings I hate most at the time, because they have come out not as I intended, soon become my favourites. There is nothing like some torment to make you appreciate something. 

So anyway, I guess I love painting because it is never wrong, and if it feels like it is wrong you can just paint over it until it feels right. Painting is your own personal representation of something, so if the persons arms are too long, you missed a few windows off the building, or the tree has yellow leaves instead of green ones. It really doesn't matter. If you felt it like that, then it is perfect. 

We don't always see things the same way, some people like night, some people like day. Whatever works for you is all good!

Goldilocks and.....

It seems like I am endlessly procrastinating at the moment. I was briefly close to finishing my website as I started loading in the print section but that was a week or two ago and now I can't remember where I am. Near the end? In the middle? Just started? Yes, one of those things is probably true.

I have still been creative in the meantime, when there has been time, i.e. when I have stopped looking out of the window.... I have designed two 'pub' signs for a friend (see below) and a choice of 4 logos for a new local organisation. Whilst it has been fun to use my eye for something a bit different, I am glad to get both these things ticked off from my list.

All that leaves is a commission that I will hopefully be starting in a minute to distract me from the endless rain we are currently having, and then it will be back to website time and possibly a painting of something random at the weekend if I am still awake.

Lastly - two pieces of ultra good news - I sold a painting on Art Gallery on Sunday, and someone wants to come and view a piece at some point this week, so I am holding out for sale number two as well. Lets make this week an art week! (Fingers massively crossed, as my monitor just crashes, and chaos ensues, this doesn't bode well....) 

Rome is Where the Heart is

I am not entirely sure what I have been doing over the last couple of weeks, but I am sure it was all very productive. Honest.

I know I have sorted my cushions page out, got my print images sorted and run and completed a competition to win a cushion, which resulted in some new followers which is an added bonus.

I have also sold some cards, a London print to someone in America, painted a new picture and have a commission to do. That probably seems like enough for two weeks.

I think I have also eaten a lot, been out too much, had some good walks, possibly completed at least 8 zumba sessions, and played netball; Less work productive, but still very enjoyable.

Maybe I do know what I have been doing after all. I was also grateful this time to paint something nice and satisfying, as it not only feels restorative but reminds me that I can actually paint. There is no massive mystery to the inspiration for this one, a few of my friends were visiting Rome last week which firmly put it in my head. I have visited there twice so memories were resurfacing. I also wanted to paint a city scene as I always find them easier to do. Buildings are just there, they don't move, they don't smile, they have structure built in, detail and interest and a focus. I have to think less intensely when I paint a building, I find their solidity and presence much easier to capture than an expanse of landscape, so in some respects painting a building is like having a rest. I also feel like I know how to paint architecture, so after the not entirely successful experience of my last landscape painting, I wanted to do something more reliable.

So here it is: 'Rome is Where the Heart is'

Survival of the Fittest....

I painted a slightly controversial painting last week; Well, personally controversial as I couldn't decide whether to paint over it after I had 'finished' it or not. Often, if the painting can get through the night without me redoing it, or touching it up then it has a chance of surviving. If it is really bad then it just gets completely painted over pretty much instantly and I will try again the next day. If it is really, really bad then the black paint comes out and it will be obliterated.

Thankfully this doesn't happen too often. 

The problem comes with not pre-planning things, which is normally fine unless I start with an expectation. I had an expectation with this one, to paint something more abstract, calming, not busy and cleaner than typical - more blocks of colour, less lines.

This totally didn't happen.

I ended up painting something busy, hectic, stylistically mixed, dramatic, in your face, with non typical colours.

How did that happen? This is when you can tell how I was feeling when I painted it. I had too much on my mind, daydreaming about too many things and not being rigorous or concentrated with what I was doing. Mess in my head, mess on the canvas.

In need of inspiration I decided to ask my Facebook followers what they thought I should do with the painting and I got a mixed reception - some suggesting changes, some telling me to wait for a few days and see how I felt and others saying don't touch it, it is perfect. So I will leave it for now. I decided that if I did redo it it would end up being a different painting entirely, in which case I may as well just paint it again or do something else. I think it is easier to see what I was trying to do when you see the photograph I was working from, and I think it is easier to see where my paintbrush ran away to; Sometimes I have no control over the connection from my brain to my hand....

Look at that Foxy Cart...

Blogging on a Saturday! 

This is partly because I have just got back from lunch and I have that awkward amount of too much time and not enough time before I have to get ready to go out again. I also, more importantly, need to take a painting offline as I have just sold it! 

WAHOO! 

An unexpected sale always makes the day/week/month, seem a lot better. With the painting sale also comes the news that I have finally rolled out my new shopping cart! The one that I was meant to roll out before Christmas (last year, not this year unfortunately, otherwise how organised am I!?) but yes, it is finally up, and hopefully the UK supplied cushions will be up next week too! Boom. Look at me. 

To celebrate my shop going live I am offering a 10% discount on all items in stock using the code FOXYCART (who are my lovely new shop portal suppliers) so hurry up and get shopping at lauraholart.co.uk  

I feel like it has been a while since I have felt a little bit excited by my online store but I feel a bit more enthusiastic today. The hard work is starting to pay off. I have suppliers in store for everything except the tote bags. I have sorted out my vouchers and coupons so that they work online and sorted out the checkout process so that it charges for international shipping, sends an automatic purchase confirmation email and gives you bulk buy discounts automatically. I am beginning to feel like an actual legitimate business, not some adhoc making-this-up as I go along thing. I still am an adhoc making-this-up as I go along thing but I just look a bit more convincing. I am even starting to convince myself. I have had a lot of doubts recently. But today, I think we can do this. 

Morocco - a year on.

I heard back from 'Not on the High Street' about my application to sell with them and their response was a big fat no. Charming. One good thing about the fact that I have been doing this for a long time now is that I care slightly less. I literally still get rejected all the time. Almost every time I enter anything in fact, but well, who cares. I have sold things, and I can't not do it, each piece is a piece of me and they can't come out any other way. There is nothing right or wrong about it, love it or hate it, it doesn't matter either way - this is me (cue singing).

I'm happy with that.

Speaking of me, I was finally brave enough to tackle a painting of my trip to Morocco from April last year. Morocco blew my brains away. I climbed Mount Toubkhal, in the snow, at breathless altitude, on borrowed shoes, with blood sugar lows, enormous 'I can see your achilles heel' blisters and filled my shoes with blood. We were hiking through the Atlas Mountains for 6 or 7 days. I got the blisters about 3 hours in. I had elephant sized feet when I got off the plane back onto UK soil and it took two weeks before I could walk without hobbling.

The Atlas Mountains were beautiful, dusty, windy, snowy, cold, hot, red, white, isolated, desolate, culturally different, peaceful, empty, on top of the world, scenic, cloudy, I can touch the moon, bread filled, every day painful, painkiller crazy.

Marrakesh was a dusty, smelly, hot, people filled, busy, patterned, colourful, look at those tiles, pestered, rainy, peppermint tea drenched, loud, traffic, haggling, bustling, sensory overload.

I couldn't get my head around mixing these things together, let alone getting my head around the experience of the trip, the pain of my feet or reducing all these things into a painting. Processing it all has literally taken a year, and here is the first result - a mix of it all. I think I will let the painting speak for itself because I wouldn't even know where to start...