Working with my husband

Hello hello! It has been some time since I posted here and lots has kept me busy in different ways, but now is the time to sit and tell you a bit about it.
You might remember I have been working at Wyndham Art Supplies with my husband
for a period of time to help the store through some big changes. My session of full time
store management lasted into almost 2 years now and we can't believe how far we have
come in that time. It is pretty scary dealing with so many major changes all at the same 
time but almost immediately their was a huge payoff. Things are better than they have
been in many years. We have an amazing team of talented people who we are so happy to work with. Our new website is working well, growing every day, and we are getting close to our 25th anniversary! Working together again has been good for both of us, once we figured out some rules about how much home time can be spent on the store. So much is about balance!

It is easier for me now to shift into my previous behind the scenes work with some new 'off the floor' fun jobs to keep me involved. This allows me to balance more studio time with my work at the store. I am also working on scheduling that encourages Chris to spend more time with his art practice- this has been very exciting.

Please come check out some of our recent work at the RedBrick Café in downtown Guelph. They have coffee, tea, beer, wine, snacks and often live music and other fun stuff. It is just a really nice place to hang out and take in some art in a leisurely fashion. It was also really fun hanging a show together... maybe more of these in the future...

Here are a few photo teasers of work in the show. My in situ phone pics are mostly too fuzzy to post but I will share the best of the lot.

These are just to give you and idea of the show and how our work hangs together. (We think, pretty well : ) Please let us know what you think.

This is Chris's 'four o'clock shadow' acrylic on terra skin on panel. I love this one, it completely puts me in a state of mind of being on holiday somewhere. Wandering around in a new city in the afternoon, taking my time and looking up at the foreign architecture. 

This is my 'love rays' mixed print and washi piece with hand stitching. There are five works like this in the show. I am really enjoying pushing my print work on fine washi in more of a textile direction. Actually I am not sure what direction it is yet but I really like sewing all the printed pieces of washi together better than pasting right now. 

Wyndham Art Supplies Staff Art Show

Chris at the eBar has invited the artists/staff at Wyndham Art Supplies to hang a group show. It came at a time close to Christmas, where everyone was a little unsure of timing, but we were all keen and managed to get it together. Lots of credit goes to Eric for being the most enthusiastic and encouraging in pulling this event together. 

Please join us Tuesday, January 26th from 8-12pm in celebrating at the eBar. 

Everyone at Wyndham Art Supplies has work included except for young Odin, who is in the midst of preparing for grade 12 exams and is not at the moment focussed on artwork.

Here is the sweet poster designed by Laura Harrison.

Here is the eBar (& BookShelf) website with location details. Unfortunately, our event is not on there but we definitely will be there on Tuesday evening!

Articulations and more

Chris and I went on a bit of an art store outing to Toronto where we met with some lovely independent art store owners. We met with Pierre from Avenue des Arts in Montreal, Kim from the Paint Spot in Calgary and Miki and Heather from Articulations in Toronto. (Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of these wonderful people...you will just have to go visit them in their stores.) Our group gathered at the Articulations store- which I love so much. We chatted lots about about art supplies, the business, dabbled with some beautiful paints that Pierre brought for us to try then went for a super dinner down the street. 

The photo above is the area above their kitchen/ workshop area. While we were there, Heather and Miki were finishing the preparation of the 2nd floor where they were moving their event and workshop space. I love fairy lights and bunting.

The sweet space below the bunting

                Chris checking out some of the products that he wasn't familiar with

             I think there are similarities in our stores and approaches to retail but the 
           organization and display of items at Articulations makes me a little envious.
           If you are in Toronto and like art supplies or just lovely stores, you should 
                                     visit them. Luckily we had a bit more time to 
            spend with Pierre and Kim when they visited us in Guelph the next day.

You shop- where??!

A common misconception: you are saving money when you shop at a big box type store.

I love my downtown and downtowns everywhere I have visited. Over the years I have heard (since the introduction of massive shopping/ parking areas on the outskirts of the downtown) that shopping downtown at small independent businesses is simply choosing to pay more for everything. In some instances, I wouldn't mind if this meant I was contributing to my city and helping to keep downtowns viable, helping to foster art communities, awards to schools and art organizations, etc. If the bottom line is all you are interested in, I believe that cities with healthy downtown centres have higher real-estate values. Everyone loves saving money, but eventually the cost of that dollar or two saved here and there is the loss of what we love about where we live. I feel pretty strongly about this having spent much of my formative years in a place called Bramalea that did not have a downtown. 

So I went to our local big box art supply store to see what the deal was and was seriously shocked at what the deal wasn't. I had heard about big stores inflating the 'manufacturers list price' or 'suggested retail price' and then offering huge discounts only to have the final 'special' price remain still higher than the small independent store. I had not seen the bottom line in some time. Sometimes it helps to go see how bad it is in person. Here (below) are a few of my photos from my shopping trip at our local big box competitor. I was there for almost an hour. I saw one sales help, no one offered to help me and I really cannot understand why anyone would shop there if they were aware of this situation. 

These are just a few examples. They have stretched canvas that go on sale occasionally but the quality is very poor. Our canvasses and panels are all made in Canada, competitively priced and still very well made. At Wyndham Art Supplies we will always choose a Canadian made product over another of equal quality when available. 

I hope this information helps you next time you are thinking of heading to a large parking lot shopping area over a downtown. Be sure to look very carefully at the end prices. 

200 ml tube of Winton oil paint  Us: $14.99, Them: $24.99

single Pitt pens Us: $2.95, Them: $6.99

(maybe you prefer to pay for extra packaging...)

                                     Pitt pen 4 pack Us:$11.49, Them: $24.99

Prismacolor Scholar 24 pack of coloured pencils Us: $ 20.99, Them: $ 34.99

Winsor & Newton's Winton oil paint 37ml Us: $ 5.95, Them: $ 9.99 and up

Sharpie markers Us: $1.50, Them: $ 2.95 and up

Vitrail glass paint Us: $ 5.95, Them: $ 11.99

short framing how to

I have been doing my own framing for some time now.  In school, a friend and I took some lessons and then did some framing for the school to earn extra cash for art supplies. As we both ended up working in paper, it has saved us lots of money over the years.

There are lots of things I do not do when I frame but what I can, I will. I purchase raw (unvarnished) wood frames from Wyndham Art Supplies and then sand, stain and varnish them in the studio. I am fairly particular about these things so like to make sure that the corners are nice and smooth and the colour is consistent throughout the frame. Doing my own staining and varnishing also allows me to create specific colours and sheens, depending on the work or venue.

A long time ago I used to cut my own matts and had a simple ruler with a matt cutting blade attachment but have since given that up and now purchase my matts cut, also at the art supply store. I buy acid free matt board (and acid free foam core for backing) by the box- I use it all up and save some money this way. Glass I purchase cut to size when I order  the matt and raw frame. So from here I do the rest.

Once the frame is sanded, stained and varnished I can start to cut the foam core backing and assemble the pieces. Here I will do a step by step of a small piece by Gillian Wilson that I purchased from Graven Feather and thought it would look good float mounted in the frame. ps (Gillian has a solo show of some recent work, title Dry Spell at the Redbrick Cafe right now)

 So here is the piece that I have attached to a foam core backing that is the same size as the glass to fit the frame I purchased. The artwork is attached to a smaller square of foam core to raise it off the backing so that it looks like it is floating in the frame. I like framing pieces like this that are like objects and where a matt would not be necessary.

Here are all the pieces I need to assemble the work. Foam core backing with artwork adhered, glass cut to size of opening of frame (opening size from the back of the frame), strips of foam core that I cut to fit tightly around the inside edges of the frame. The thickness of these foam core strips is measured by placing the glass in the frame and measuring the space left to the edge of the frame side. To get the right thickness, you will have to subtract the thickness of the backing board while leaving some space for the framers points.

Once all of the pieces have been measured and cut and measured again, I set them out of the frame in the way that they were inside the frame so that I don't mix them up. Nothing is ever truly square, so to save disappointment I lay the top strip at the top, etc. They will fit back where you want them when you are ready. I clean the glass thoroughly and then place it in the frame first. Now I start to stick the strips in place by giving them a light coat of white glue or paste and pressing them into place- snug against the glass and making sure that the edges are stuck firm, especially in the corners.

Once all of the strips are in place and there is no glue or fingerprints on the inside of my frame and glass, I can place the artwork and backing board into the frame. This should sit and just fit into the opening at the back of the frame and rest snug against the strips that are separating the glass from the backing board and artwork.

Above is the back of the frame with a few framers points holding the back in place. I used to do this with a staple or small nail but if you frame enough, this tool (a framers gun above left) is the best investment you can make. At this point I flip the frame over to check for dust, hair, etc. and if I find anything, then I pull the points out with pliers and dust out with a fluffy brush and try again. This can be the fussy part and especially with very large works- time consuming. When all looks good, I put points around the sides and corners to keep the back tight against the inside sides of the frame.

I then press double sided tape (though brushing white glue works here too) onto the back edges of all sides of the frame. All sides sticky, I place a piece of kraft paper onto the back. If I am doing a large work, I cut a piece larger and roll it up onto a firm cardboard roll and roll the paper firmly onto the back- this helps to avoid wrinkles.

Now to cut off the excess backing paper (or dust cover). I use a sharp blade and a ruler. Here I have my quilters square which I love for lots of things but probably isn't the best ruler for this task. I cut just inside the outside edge of the frame.

Now for hanging hardware. I drill a hole slightly narrower than the screws I will be using. I will do this a bit less than one third the length, measuring from the top of the work.

Time to attach the hardware to hold the hanging wire.

Put some hanging wire on there. So many ways to tie and tighten wire, I err on the side of caution and twist it up all along. Also some small rubber bumpers stuck on the bottom corners will help the artwork hug the wall a little bit and not swing to and fro when big trucks drive by. Also prevents scratches on your wall. Not really necessary, but nice.

Ta da! So there it is (hanging in the studio with a big hole beside it). Looks lovely at home now. 

Here are two pieces that I recently float mounted for a client. They knew the artwork that they wanted but were curious to frame the work in a different way than I usually do (with a matt in a dark frame). I think they look pretty good, especially on that lovely blue wall.

Art Auction for Kids Art Classes

There is a collection of wonderful artworks based on the theme 'space' hanging in the new My Gallery on Wyndham Street North at the back of what is better known as Wyndham Variety. Follow the footsteps from Wyndham Art Supplies to find the show.

There are over 50 pieces of art available in this silent auction, all of them using a 6" x 12" panel. Funds raised from the  A.C.E. auction will go to support art classes for kids.

A.C.E. was created to provide full and partial subsidies to families who wish to send their children to art classes and camps at the Guelph School of Art but who are unable to afford the full cost of the programs.

You can place bids on the works in person at My Gallery or online through the website here. The auction will wrap up in a party at Silence at 46 Essex St. Tickets for the party are $5 in advance at Wyndham Art Supplies and are limited.

Here are a few snaps of some of the work in the auction to entice you.

I also have a piece in the show but really they all look better in person and you can find them just a few steps from Wyndham Art Supplies.