Studio Business

 I'm going to put aside my current Robert Johnson block to work on something else- for money.  I invited some interested (in my work) persons to the Open Studio last week, but no one of those people came.  I did have 48 make the trip to my space, and some of those asked some questions, so maybe something will come from that. Today I heard from one of those people I had invited, says she only found the message now, but that's fine as we had plans for another day anyway.  I did hear from another one last week, who again couldn't make that day, but still wants to purchase something, a print seen on a previous visit.  We exchanged a few emails, settled on a plan, and today I started that process.

What she wants is a copy of my St Dwynwen print, the idea for which came from a tv show, and is not in my source book, so I decided not to make it part of the Everyman series, but came up with a new format and style. I verified that I had the block on my last visit, and we worked out paper and price by email, so today was pulling some proofs.  Molly wasn't around, so that meant music, and I had brought my rock/pop book of discs today, and from that I selected Giant Songs from Giant Sand, a favorite for art making, and you can read about it in July of 2019 if you want to know more.  

After putting on some music, my first step was to find the originals, block and print.  The block was on the shelf where I had left it.  I believed the print was in my rack, left there since I showed it to this collector and her husband a year ago.  I had made the print originally for the East Meets West show at the JSAC back in 2019, relocated from its original location in Belmar, when the new administration at Belmar Arts decided they didn't want to have it.  As far as I know, that was the only place the print was exhibited, as a year later we were deep in the Covid pandemic and most galleries just shut down, and some never reopened.  Of course, whatever print I had in that show is now in storage, so I can't use that to figure out what they saw last year.  What I did find in my rack was a color proof on Okawara, which means the one I framed and showed was one on Rives Lightweight, which works out well, as I have more of the Rives in my supply. 

Next step was to pull out my supply of the Rives paper.  I did have in my boxes some pieces of Rives that were too small for Robert Johnson prints, but were big enough for a saint, or this one, too.  I picked out two that were a good size for this project.  Then it was just a matter of inking the block and pulling proofs of St Dwynwen.  The image is all line work, so relatively easy to ink and hand print.  Results can be seen below:

This didn't take too long, so I was already cleaning up while that first disc was still playing.  I put today's two proofs in my rack to dry, and brought the colored proof I had home, so I can compare the colors there to what watercolors I have, to make sure I can properly color this print. I believe I will have what I need, but I will check later.  And with that, I headed home.