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Spring Painting

Like spring cleaning, spring painting gets me ready for a full summer Art Market season. I plan to add a few more farmers markets this year . I have finished most of my indoor chores, just one bathroom left to remodel but it may have to wait till fall.

I have started to paint more and have finished a few that I will post today. The painting of Trevor – Ausable River Split Rock Falls has already been sold to a person that is on my advance mailing list. I will be doing more of a series of pieces similar to that one.

With a Mothers day Art Market at the Strand coming up in May 8th I have a few that I am finishing up to have for that market.

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Strand Spring Art Market

March 20 was the Spring Market at the Strand in Plattsburgh. I successful market for me with good sales and many new contacts. Interest in my paintings was very good but the majority of my sales was in the small paintings and cards.

It was a sunny day but didn’t warm up as much as expected due to a cold wind. It just reached 44F and with the wind it didn’t feel above freezing. When the wind died down the sun was glorious and a harbinger of warmer days ahead. I used the stand alone displays and didn’t use the canopy setup, I wanted the sun to shine on my art.

Looking forward to the next market in on May 9, warmer days ahead.

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Spring Market 2021 Event

Sunny Bunny

On March 20 I will be participating in the second Strand Center for the Arts – Art Market, it runs from 10am to 2pm. It looks like this market will have great weather, temps around 45f and sunny. I am worried that the grounds will be a little soft and muddy but that is all part of the season we are headed for.

I plan on using my new “sunshine” setup, where I don’t use my shelter canopy, instead I set up my monolith display racks so they are easy to walk around and I can display my paintings. Not being below freezing I can go back to use my zip ties to assemble the racks, last time it was so cold the zip ties would just break when they were flexed. I will have a second table this time and add my vertical displays.

Monolith Display Rack
Monolith Display Rack

My display racks are made from three pieces of 6′ wire closet shelving, zip-tied in a triangle. I place a board across the bottom wires and add a weight on the board to help balance the display. I put in the board and weight before I close the last side, it doesn’t work dropping in the weights after assembly, things break! I put zip-ties loosely on two sides bundling all three together to make them easier to load on the truck and assemble. I use recycled plastic jars with sand and stone for my ballast.

I pre-wire my paintings using paper clips to make hanging go much faster. a turn or two around the hanging point and then leaving a hook to go on the displays makes quick work of setup.

Rack Hanger
Rack Hanger

This will be an interesting show and I am going more prepared with more cards including a boxed set option (6 for $10). The plan is to show more of the bunny paintings on one of the displays to see how having a theme (Easter) rack works.

Sunny Bunny
Sunny Bunny

I haven’t been painting much over the last few weeks pushing to complete the master bathroom remodel. On the home stretch with the vanity going in soon then finish up with molding. All other parts are finished and I do like the heated tile floor…

I have several subjects pushing to get to paper and I can already see the results in my mind. I think an eagle in is my near future, I sat in the hot tub after a day tiling the bath and watched a bled eagle fly over then perch in a tree near by.

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Finishing Stalled Projects

Canvy

I decided that February was my month to try to finish as many of my stalled projects as I can. Some were home renovations others are pieces that I have started and not completed and a few are to fix tools that have broken or damaged.

The “major” stalled project wat to finish the master bathroom. This one has been in progress for a year, other things are more interesting and I always find a convenient place to say it can wait. Lucky I have a very, very patient wife. I ended up installing in floor heating and tiled the bathroom and walk in closet floor. Still need to build a vanity so it looks like it will spill over to March. I did complete a few things, I repaired my Air Brush compressor, fixed a ship vac, and repaired the tile saw. I have yet to complete any more paintings but that will come in the next few weeks. I spent some time going through my workshop reorganizing parts of it (Not being able to find what I needed, but knew I had was the real reason) but I count that as a win.

I also looked into a few new options for images on my web site, adding an in room view using a product called Canvy. It is a cool product and I will start to incorporate it into the site in the future. I have been in contact with the developers since it does not support some of the art I produce like the Driftwood Frame series, I have offered to be a prototype user and shared some of my art images with them as they develop the enhanced capabilities.

Canvy
Canvy

I need to clean up the open projects before the weather turns and I want to make more art projects.

Cardinal-Cards
Cardinal-Cards

Before the next outdoor market I need to print more of my cards, I also plan to offer them on my site in the near future.

Back to the renovation work 🙂

Ron

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Art Below Zero

Bundled-Up

The first winter Art Market at the Strand Center for the Arts, was a held on February 13th, during one of the coldest day of the year. It was -6(f) at the start of the day and the temperature rose to 10(f) by the time the market closed . It was so cold that as I assembled my display stand the Zip Ties broke every time I used them. I was able to bend the Zip Tie in my hand and they would just snap. I had to use bent paper clips to hold the display together.

I decided to adjust my normal market display to keep it as simple as possible. Didn’t use my EZ-Up because I didn’t want shade to keep things cold. I used 6′ wire closet shelves in a triangle formation to work as display stands, prewired the paintings to be easy to hang, and added a weight to the bottom. That worked surprisingly well, my customers were able to walk around and see paintings on each side, I will use it again. Add in a table with my cards and I was set to go in about 30 min.

The best sellers were cards and I sold 4 paintings of various sizes. From this experience will have to start offering cards on my web site.

I recorded the display on YouTube https://youtu.be/6orpWCqRxDs

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Surprise Winter Event

Owl Driftwood

Late last week I got a surprise! The Strand Center for the Arts is going to hold a series of 9 outdoor markets for 2021.

Now this will be an experience, since it is an outdoor market and the temperature is supposed to be a high of 7f (-14c). I will have to dress warm and I plan to keep the setup as simple as possible. It will be a table with small sculptures and my cards and 2 of the wire walls to hang some of my Driftwood frame paintings. I will also have a center table with a bin of my smaller works. This will keep the setup and tear down simple and avoid manipulating the EZ-up in the cold.

Squirrel Peek
Squirrel Peek

I did finish off a couple of paintings and frames just for this event.

Date/Times:
• February 13th 10am-2pm
• March 20th 10am-2pm
• May 8th 9am-2pm
• July 3rd 9am-2pm
• July 10th 9am-2pm
• September 11th 10am-2pm
• October 30th 10am-2pm
• November 27th 10am-2pm
• December 18th 10am-2pm
Location:
The Artisan Market will take place at the Strand Center for the Arts, 23 Brinkerhoff St, Plattsburgh. It will be on
the front lawn of the Art Center. All vendor spaces are 6 feet apart, adhering to Market Safety Guidelines.

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Barrister Bookcase Storage

Barrister Fabric case

I finished the Barrister bookcase I mentioned in my last post. It now sits in my wife’s sewing room so she can see the fabric she can choose from to make quilts. She makes wonderful quilts, and color selection and pattern are amazing. I will have to do a post on her work in the future.

The bookcase is 48″ wide with 5 sections all 16″ tall, with flip up doors with plexiglass front panels. The bookcase had a minor issue with the slides on the bottom drawer failing right after I did the final setup. The drawer slides were ones that I had as extras from another job, they were ok but not anywhere near the quality needed. The drawer with a 4 foot drawer length and only 12 inches deep the slides would rack and bind, the long length and small glide depth were the main issue. I ended up with a pair of the new Blum slides that work great. It did require remaking the whole box to get it right, but they work so well they are worth the price. I hate to have less than my best work leave my shop.

Foxy Lady

While working on house projects I carve out time to paint. I try to at least spend time every Sunday at my painting desk even when I have other projects waiting. I turn on the TV to Hockey, Football or Golf so it plays in the background, with a background noise I can tune out everything else and paint away.

Nuthatch Study

Painting a series of nuthatches on a single page is my way of pulling together images for a final painting in the future, fun to do and works on keeping a limited pallet so i work on color mixing.

Ron

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Winter Projects

The Golden Look

With the winter in full force, I have had the chance to tackle a few new projects. A little painting and a little time making a new barrister bookcase for my wife’s sewing room has kept me very busy.

Barrister Case 1
Barrister Case 1

I enjoy making furniture and while it ends up being a fair amount of time, I really like the results. This is a photo of the in process piece. I constructed each shelf is a separate section, giving me an easier time moving it around the shop. I used up a number of pieces of my lumber pile making the doors and I had the plexiglass from a “yard sale” at a local company a few years ago. Just awaiting door pulls and glass clips to finish the piece and get it out of my shop. My next furniture piece is a flat art file cabinet, like the ones used by architects for drawings and maps.

I did complete a few pieces and have made a number of new frames so I have inspiration. I am also working to finish up the floor tiling the in master bath in the month of February, so painting schedule will slow down some.