Spring News: Art Fairs!

As part of my new year's resolution to be more active in the arts, I applied for several arts & crafts fairs this year. I'm happy to share that I was selected for the 2019 Fredericksburg Arts & Crafts Faire! I'll be selling my work there April 6th and 7th at the Fredericksburg Expo and Conference Center.

I've been burning the candle at both ends a bit trying to build up an inventory. Art supply vendors must be loving me. 

Just a few recent purchases... 

I haven't completed much this week--since I have been burning the candle at both ends for about a month, that caught up with me a bit and I took several nights off to just go to bed early. But I received a whole new order of panels to play with. I'm trying aquabord for the first time... I bought it before I noticed that it's "formerly known as" plain old clayboard. Nice marketing, Ampersand. They said "like cold press watercolor paper" and I fell for it. 

I have mixed feeling about aquabord AKA clayboard (above). Is it nice? Yes. I got some softer lines and smoother blending with ink on panel. But is it like cold press watercolor paper? No. Only in that it's a little absorbent (but no where near as absorbent as watercolor paper, bristol board, or illustration board). The similarity ends there. Would I use my expensive kolinsky sable brush on this? Heck no! It would strip the hairs right out! I was surprised by how rough it is. Will I use my cheapo brushes I got just for ink? Sure. I like the surface, it just isn't what I was expecting. 

I suppose that's a good thing. I haven't really tried any new media since college, and even then, the only new-to-me thing I really tried was printmaking. Working on a new surface will free me up from preconceptions so that I try new styles and ideas. At least I'm pretty sure that's what an art professor would say. 

I am liking how soft this bee is coming out, so far. I'll do watercolor for the body and gold leaf and paper for the background. I probably would have gotten this on 80% finished but Harry decided that I needed his help and flopped down on my painting arm.

As some background, here's what I'm doing for these bees...

A quick sketch (this time on tracing paper) that I transfer to the surface with graphite transfer paper and a stylus. It's especially helpful with bees, where I want to make sure the wings are symmetrical and consistent.

Then I ink them in. Gilding is my third step. I do that before I add paint because I had some problems with gold leaf adhering to acrylic paint a while back and I don't want to repeat that catastrophe again. Last, I apply the paper (if any). To do that, I trace the painting, lay the tracing paper over whatever paper I'm using, and use an exacto knife to cut out the shapes I need. I use Yes! Paste to glue the paper down. I'll photograph all the steps as I finish up the bee, #2 in my second series.