August update.

Why, hello there friends!

I hope that wherever you may be that the sunshine is warm on your face and that you are within walking distance to some swimming location. It's been a fantastic and busy summer so far for me. I have a been working on a few things that have been keeping me hopping. First, I'm JUST about ready to start working on my sister's screen printed save the date cards for her wedding next summer. It'll be my first time screening on paper. Experts in the field of printing have said that I should find the process a piece of cake after printing on wiggly tea towel fabric and I'm banking on their words. Got the screens, got the paper, ink comes tomorrow and I'm on my way!

 I don't want to ruin the surprise of the reveal in the mail, but here's a little corner of a mock up I did of it.

I also just completed a promotion with Three in a Box. It was a Christmas in August theme. I will post the full finished promo in a bit but here's a little corner of that as well.

I also noticed at the local coffee shop that the CIBC Run for the Cure has started using my painted running shoe art in their campaign for this year.

This is the first shoe that I painted for them and my favourite. Painting on a shoe was a difficult task but something that I'll never forget!

Last but certainly not least, I will be manning a Claire Manning table at this year's Bloorcourt Arts and Crafts Street Fair here in Toronto. The big party is in a week and a half on Saturday August 18th right on Bloor Street between Dufferin Street and Christie Street.

I will have my tea towels for sale, as well as my greeting cards. I will also have a small run of silk screened posters and a few of my hand embroidered throw pillows. And with that reminder to myself, I must get back to work. Stay cool, cats.

 

 

 

A little more from ICON7, and a little from the home front.

Another week has slipped away. Although I am more than back to normal home life I am still savouring my time away in Providence at ICON7. I am going to continue sharing bits from the event until there is just nothing left to share, but I'm going to do it along side home life too. 

I'm going to start with a little conference talk, more specifically the ICON7 Rhode Show, which I was fortunate enough to be a part of. The concept of the show is pretty simple. Display your beautiful work for the illustration world to see, and sell a little (if you want). Though there were a few Rhode Island sales tax heart attacks for this Canadian girl, I was able to sell my tea towels as well as show my portfolio. Thank goodness for that, because they sold like hot cakes! I never posted the new designs, did I? Well, here they are!

 You might say it made me a bit happy that everyone liked my work so much.

Photo courtesy of Angie Alonza

All of the folks that came around to check out my stuff and have a quick chat with me were lovely. I particularly enjoyed speaking with recent grads and looking at their work. They are a refreshing bunch. I can't believe it's been eight years since I graduated. Seeing them reminded me that I can't just sit on the couch and watch Master Chef (though I love it). Doors must be knocked and art must be made! I also had a few personal super stars pick up an absorbent Claire Manning original. One of the first people to drop by was Susie Ghahremani of Boy Girl Party fame. Yeah, that's her website on the list of things that I love. What do you do when a total inspiration buys a piece of my work? I was a total nerd, and way too excited to see her and Julia Rothman, who was browsing the show with her. I've really got to work on acting cool. One day I hope that I can license my art as successfully as they have. My major moment of the night was when a woman came by and asked if I could set aside 3 sets of my tea towels while she went and got her cheque book. No prob, I thought. Well, "cha-ching!" is what I really thought, but when she came back and I read the name on her cheque I realized it was Lynda Weinman.

As in THIS Lynda.

She even looks like the logo a bit! Upon this discovery I threw all three sets of towels in the air and lost the ability to count and organize. It took me fifteen minutes to take the cheque and get the towels in her bag. I believe that Ronaldo taught himself After Effects with the tutorials at lynda.com. She is a legend. I was also visited by Dan Santat and Adam Rex, amazing children's book illustrators and authors. I am embarrassed to admit that I had not heard of them before the conference, but I am now a super fan of both of their work. 


Another important visitor to my set up was Amy from Craftland, an absolutely amazing craft/art/awesomeness store and gallery space owned by the one and only Jen Corace. Amy suggested that I drop by the store and consider submitting a vendor proposal because she thought my towels would fit well in amongst the rest of the awesomeness. So, on my final day in Providence, and my only free day to explore the city I found Craftland.

It was as cute on the outside as on the inside and I loved it.

I have since applied and am awaiting a reply!

Craftland was the highlight of that day. I was pretty hung over from the conference closing party which didn't help. That wasn't the main reason I was a little bummed with Providence. It was the number of bums in Providence that bummed me out. The town seemed empty except for clumps of drifter type folks hanging out everywhere. I assume that in the school year with everyone around it's not as odd. I felt, firstly, that I likely looked like I belonged in their crowd, and secondly, a little unsafe, even in broad daylight. Every street was pretty much void of people. I ran into a particularly vocal homeless woman down one of these streets. She was yelling at a homeless dude that was walking away from her. She got louder the further he got from her. I stopped to look in a window just so I could listen to her insane rant. It was amazing. So much so that the first thing I drew in my sketchbook when I got back to the T Dot was her rant, just so that I could get it in writing. I didn't get a good look at the scene because I didn't want to draw attention to me so I replaced the homeless folks with cats, of course. 

I put my sketchbook on my studio floor to take a few pictures and, like clockwork, my super model cat came around for the photo shoot.

I just went with it. Work it, Ramona!

That homeless woman really was crazy, eh?

A very happy fourth of July to all you fantastic Americans out there!

Gone so long.

Yes, yes, I know. We have to stop meeting this way, right? 

One of these days I will finally learn how to blog whist maintaining a busy schedule.... or will I? That's for me and you BOTH to find out.

Anyway, here we are. 2012. Yes, it's a new year. In the past I have made big announcements around this time, shouting from the rooftops that "THIS IS MY YEAR!!". Well, not this year. You may have noticed from my numerous rashes, near fatal infection, loss of two Grandparents, not to mention the serious lack of published illustration work, that 2011 was not the most amazing of years for me. It actually made past years that I have whined about look like parades. Nope, no big declarations for 2012. I will work hard and expect results, but I'm not going to define anything. I'll be like a slightly oriented feather on a breeze. 

As hard as 2012 was on me, I managed to leave the year behind on a fairly good note. I am happy to say that I am actually in a day job that I enjoy and can be creative in. For the first time in a while I am proud of of what I do from nine until five. You'd think that if you were truly creative all day that you would just want to flop on the couch when you get home and rest, but I've found that it actually juices me up to keep going and work on my own stuff. This led me to produce my first four greeting card designs that are not Christmas related and two tea towel designs. Thanks to the classes I took in October, though I worked hard on production, I actually feel like I MADE something. And to top it all off, I actually SOLD stuff! Yeah, I'm not talking like in the past where I when I said selling stuff I actually meant selling a few to my friends and family. I mean a good 20 or more strangers walked home from a craft sale with a piece of my work. Yes, not enough to make a living just yet, but a really fabulous boost to keep making and designing. I was happy, and I was thrilled to make others happy. Since I'm decidedly not sharing any new plans, I will share photos of the past month and where I've been. 

This is a shot of my card production line. Literally, fishing line. Strung across my studio room. Ronaldo was less than thrilled at the clutter, but praised my problem solving anyhow.

 This is my little gocco that could. HUNDREDS of cards have been printed with it. Alas, this may be my final print run with it. I am leaning towards going traditional screen print for my next cards.

 This is a finished embroidered pillow. I really wanted to make tonnes and sell them with my cards and tea towels. Unfortunately, it ends up that I'm human and can't embroider at the speed of light. I finished two. Oh well.

 This is my table at the first of three craft shows I did before the holidays. This is the Hippo craft show. Of the three, this was my most successful. These are the towels!

 I loved making these so much that I'm planning on two more to round off the food groups, plus a set aimed at bridal shower season.

 This is an assortment of the cards I sold. Some you may recognize from Christmases passed.

 TOWELS!

 

Then, it was Christmas. I celebrated it.

 Here's a shot of Ramona getting some cheek lovin'. Just 'cause. Happy New Year!

Got my balls in the air.

I live my life open to imagination and happiness

through my unique view of the world.

I am fearless, optimistic, and take on any challenge,

always growing, learning, and bettering myself.

I wear my heart on my sleeve

and show my true colours.

This, folks, is my brand spanking new, one of a kind mantra. It's a great example of the fantastic-ness I was able to absorb from my class. Not only did I learn about the financial side of my work, I also learned about myself as a person. How was I able to do anything without defined values that I live my life by and align my work to? It was by far one of the hardest things I've had to do, but I feel much more grounded knowing exactly what I deem most important in everything. When I get frustrated, overwhelmed, or down-trodden, from now on I will go back to my mantra to remind myself why I do what I do in the first place. I am still working on my mission statement and vision but those will also help too. The fact is that it's gettin', it's gettin', it's gettin' kinda hectic in here. All good, of course. I have secured three craft shows so far for the holiday season, which means that I've got to start producing things to sell. This time, I'm working to make money too and I think *fingers crossed* it may finally happen this time. 

Here's a shot of some rough work...

...that I refine into final line work....

...and then inked and ready for screen.

I am really looking forward to throwing myself into screen printing. It's new, it's exciting, and it's inspiring to me. This is just the beginning, really, and I can't wait to really explore it. I'm also continuing my embroidery, and continue to add new stitches to my arsenal. I'm hoping to get a bunch of decorative pillows completed to sell over the holidays. Here's a quick preview... what do you think so far?

Now, this is where the mantra comes in handy. The craft shows and prepping for them is not the only project on the go. Perhaps I'm feeling inspired by my new day job (that I actually really like) but I've taken on three more projects (albeit two are fairly small). I'm going to HAVE to put my nose to the grindstone, simply because I promised I would. I'm hoping that everything goes peaches and cream and that I can keep my balls in the air. 

I just said balls.

From Maker to Making a Living, class #2: just say yes.

I've had a day to digest my second class in the workshop series I'm going to be taking for this month. I think I needed it, as last night was a tough one, for me and a lot of my classmates too. Jacqueline's task for the night was to look at all the directions businesses could go in. We're talking blue-skying it. If money wasn't an option, what could I do? You'd think it would be an easy answer, but it's hard not to default back to thinking "I could do that, if I had the money, time, space, etc.". Jacqueline's catch phrase of the night was JUST SAY YES. I have to say it really opened my head to the possibilities I have available. It's funny that though I came into this class thinking that I wanted advice purely for my crafty endeavors. Tea towels and pillows. I went up to Jacqueline after the first class to ensure she knew that though I said I was an illustrator in my introduction that I wasn't intending to bring that part of my business into the class. I'm not sure if you'd call it an "ah ha!" moment or a "duh" moment, but my crafty business IS my illustration business. All my conversation about what I could do with my crafts lead straight to ILLUSTRATE A BOOK. Of course, I didn't talk about how difficult it is to get into a publishing company and that making money in books is hard, I just said yes. It was hard to keep my trap shut, but refreshing after the fact. It's really exciting to see all your potential sprawled across a big, white piece of paper. I really cannot wait until next week's classes!


Now, speaking of just say yes, today we lost an incredible man that did just that and more. I have to make a little shout out to Steve Jobs, as I sit here typing on my third Apple desktop computer. Thank goodness he was one of those guys that saw that the sky has no limit. It really is one thing to have a brilliant mind and limitless imagination, but another to have the guts to use them fully and fearlessly. Macs have changed the way I look at computers, digital media, and, from a girl who once would rather spend hours painting in gouache than open photoshop, digital art. As CBC news stated today, he really was the Henry Ford of our generation. I'm getting a bit teary over here.... anyway, I've wanted to share this speech on my blog since I first heard it, as I've found it to be so utterly inspirational. If you've got 15 minutes I would highly recommend watching it and remembering Steve's genius and heart.  I know he's resting in peace knowing he's left the world a much better place. 

From Maker to Making a Living, class #1: same problem, different boats.

Wow! What a great start to a month of learning! I know for sure that signing up for this workshop series was a great idea. Jacqueline is even more amazing in real life than she is on paper (or web page) and I am looking forward to taking in all her words of wisdom and learning from her experiences. 

There are ten business owners participating, including myself. Tonight was about getting to know a little about everyone's businesses and history, and determining the key issues we all have in making successes of them. I don't know why (ego, maybe?) but I figured that I would here similar stories to my own. Boy, I couldn't have been more off. The areas of craft were wide spread, from weaving to jewellery, furniture making to ceramics. Though everyone had a different perspective on their issues, there were definitely a few common threads. I'm looking forward to seeing the progression of my fellow classmates, and myself.

My first homework assignment was to breathe (lots of information in one night), and then write down what I see my dream business to be. So I started jotting down ideas, and really thinking about it. At the end of the day, my dream business is along the lines of one of my favourite illustrators, Susie Ghahremani of Boy Girl Party. Look to your right and you'll see the permanent link to her site. She's really got it all. She sells stationary and such that gets produced by a third party, necklaces, bags, etc., all featuring her amazing characters. In addition she sells prints of her work, and original paintings. In addition to all of this she's able to participate in art shows AND she's an active illustrator. I like to read her personal blog too, as she is honest about the issues a creative business owner has. Plus, she's funny. Hopefully if I share this with Jacqueline she'll have a better idea of my goals.


So, homework done for the night. I'm a bit of a keener. Now this keener is going to try to read more of her book club book that needs to be done by Thursday. Class number 2 tomorrow!

Back to school.

That's right, kids. I'm about to start some learning. Tomorrow night I start an eight class workshop called From Maker to Making a Living put on by the ever wonderful Ontario Craft Council. The lectures are being led by the very successful Jacqueline Sava of Soak, a money-making crafter extrordinaire. From Maker to Making a Living is a series of classes designed to guide craftspeople through the process of understanding, designing and building their individual businesses. Obviously, if you've read even a few posts on my blog, this has been my pursuit and dream since forever. You would also notice that I've not had amazing results as of yet. I am conceptualizing a whole new plan of action for my handiwork and am hoping that these classes will not only get my plan off the ground, but allow me to keep up a momentum. I will be posting a little bit about each class after I've attended it, starting with tomorrow night. I'm actually really excited to interact not only with a business mentor, but to meet people who are in the same ship as me. 

Stay tuned tomorrow! Off to get ready for class!

Workin' it in the rain.

Copyright Claire Manning

Copyright Claire Manning

This, my friends, has been the prettiest part of the whole weekend. The May flowers are certainly here and beautiful. Unfortunately, the April showers have not taken the hint and scrammed. Today was ugly. I decided to go for a walk with Ronaldo anyway. I am happy I did because after years of admiring The Workroom and the fabulous Make Something blog, I finally went in to the store. 

Courtesy of BlogTO.com

 The Workroom is located freakishly close to my house at 1340 Queen Street West. It is brimming with beautiful fabric, wonderful books, and offer a wide variety of sewing classes at all levels. They have a free monthly "stitch-n-bitch" that I will attend when I have my new embroidery project underway. And, in the case today, they put on some amazing craft and hand work sales called Trunk Shows. I was lucky enough to run across the Spring Trunk Show.

Copyright Claire Manning

 

 

 

 

 

The place was packed and it had a great creative vibe. It was just what I needed to get in the mood to do my own work. I made some purchases on the show side, but was completely mesmerized with the colour coordinated wall of fabric.

Copyright Claire Manning

 I ended up falling in love with a floral laminated cotton. I bought the last of it and am planning on making myself a work tote. 

Copyright Claire Manning

As usual, my little super model had to get into the shot. I think she outdid herself- what's more beautiful? Ramona or the fabric? Seriously. 

Information on all the neat things The Workroom has to offer just head to their website, www.theworkroom.ca. If you live in Toronto I would recommend a drop in for sure. 
  

CORRECTION!

So, I was wrong.

Pancake Tuesday, better known as Shrove Tuesday to the religious or Fat Tuesday to those in New Orleans, is actually THIS COMING TUESDAY. I say this because I caused a ruckus in a friend's household that ended in spontaneous pancakes. This, I believe, is a good thing. So, this Tuesday March the 8th get out your frying pan 'cause it's pancake time! Since my sweet is not down with sweets for dinner (hence my sad last post) I think I'll try this savoury style cake I found initially on Apartment Therapy's The Kitchn but is originally from Spabetty...

SPINACH PANCAKES! 

Sourced from Spabetty

These babies are gluten free (as is the Spabetty blog) and are mostyl spinach. How could Ronaldo say no? I really love how she made an egg sandwich out of them. Click the Spabetty link above for the full recipe! 

Now that I've set everything right, here's an update from a while back. You may remember my goal to make lots of Christmas presents. I gave you sneak peeks of one gift in particular. Well, Christmas came in February for my dear friend Morgan. The reveal for you..

 I sewed and embroidered a tree skirt!

 

 I'm very happy to say that Morgan loved it! I had no pattern. By the seat of my pants I flew with this one and it turned out better than I could have imagined. I know no one is going to want to make a Christmas tree skirt this close to Pancake Tuesday so I will re-post about this in the fall with a full description of how I made it so you can make one too! 

Just when I thought I was in the clear.

So, usually at Christmas time I will get at leastone illustration project, whether it be something Christmas related or a rush job to complete before the office clears out for the holidays. This year, I didn't think that was going to happen. I actually thought I would have ample time to complete my ambitious Christmas crafting list AND bake a few batches of cookies to boot!

I was wrong.

Thursday I had a phone call from the fine folks at the Toronto Star. I don't want to ruin any surprises, but know two things. First, pick up a copy of the Toronto Star on New Years Day, and second, I will be working every moment of the day until Christmas eve. This project is HUGE in multiple ways.

Anyhow, this was where I left off my crafty pursuits, and how I used my Gocco supplies:



Here are some pre- drawings.


Here is my messy creation centre, and Gocco machine.



End result- and ornament.


Here is my holiday card in progress.


You'll get a closer look on Friday when I can unglue my hand from paintbrush.

Have a good Monday peeps!

Go go Gocco!

I'm sorry for my short absence. I've been feeling a bit under the weather, but I'm back in almost full force and have been able to catch up on my Christmas presents. I have loads to share with you! I will start where I left off on Friday, with my mystery package from Japan. What was in this package, you ask?


It was some much needed screens, light bulbs, and ink for my Print Gocco print machine. Exciting!


I hear you- what the bleep is Print Gocco? Well, it's a portable screen printing machine from Japan invented in the 90's. The machine has not evolved much since its inception, and have stopped production on it's supplies. Up until this year I was able to find what I need to run it here in Toronto, but now I must etsy it up and have them send from a Gocco hoarder in Japan. It prints 4"x6" screens so it's great for cards. It's a little wasteful in supply consumption and can be pricy, but it's very convenient and easy for home use and the end result looks great!


I'm using mine to make my annual Christmas card and a few extra goodies. Consider the following posts a Gocco 101. I'll post links of where to find machines and such in these posts. For now, check out the save Gocco web link above for more info.

Only 9 more sleeps until Christmas, so back to work for me!

Are you pumped for the holiday too?

One down.

What a Friday!

I am succumbing to a cold- surely I will be fully infected by the end of the weekend. My wonderful carpool driver is sadly also sick, and shared her cold medication with me this morning. It was just a Buckley's tablet, but it kept me high and spaced out the whole day. It made for an interesting work day, to say the least! I'm back from my cold tablet induced trip, and have been quietly embroidering on my couch all night.


I've started on three more presents. Here is the embroidery project.

This week I had a young lady of the high school persuasion contact me and ask me to mentor her on the design process for her computer arts class. Through my many years becoming and being an artist I've been lucky enough to have some really wonderful people help me along the way and I can only hope to pass on whatever knowledge I can. Perhaps she will let me post her final project for all to see.

This weekend I plan on doing some resting, but mostly working. Tomorrow I go to pick up a special package that will help me with my Christmas cards. I will tell you about the contents in my next post.

What are you up to this weekend?

New stitch in the arsenal.

It's snowing! I relish this time of the year as it's the only month that I enjoy snow. It really gets me in the Christmas spirit. Speaking of, I am almost finished my most ambitious present I plan on making this year. I was a little iffy about if it would turn out or not, but I'm pretty proud of it coming around the home stretch. I even learned something in the process. I found the need for a blanket stitch- I've never encountered this is my embroidery adventures. It wasn't hard and it looks great! Here's a sneak peek.



Full reveal post holiday.

Are you guys making presents this year? Love to hear about them!