Portfolio

I'm finding that right now, I'm not so much needing inspiration or making new things (although that really is ongoing) but more so that I need some sort of organization. 
 Last year, I had gone to a workshop on how to sell your art with Jason Horejs, the owner  of Xanadu gallery, in Scottsdale, AZ.
One of the many, many things that he talked about was portfolios. And you know, I know what a portfolio is, but you know, I don't have one. And I started thinking... why don't I have one?!
 So I am spending some time going through my pictures and creating a portfolio. I'm just doing a few a day and I'm also hoping that it will organize what I have in my mind. I can see what I make and finally start creating some of those collections!!
I have done several workshops with Jason. The 'selling your art' one was in person, here in CA and it was fantastic. He is very professional and every minute of those 3 hours was packed full of very useful info. He also, regularly, does free or very low cost webinars and if you happen to miss them, he has them on his website so you can listen to them whenever you want.  His book 'Starving to Successful' is basically his 'How to sell your art' workshop. Very easy to read and lots of useful info.
Here's a link to his website and specifically to his free broadcasts. Xanadu Gallery


TADA #135/365 5/17/11, a photo by markasky on Flickr.

Sketch Books

Etsy Metal Blog Carnival

I love to sketch, I probably have 10-15 sketchbooks of every size. 

For me it is a way of thinking out loud.

Sketch books have 3 directions for me to go in.

One is I like to draw and that becomes the experience in itself. It's also I way I can think. I will, lots of times, use stream of consciousness writing trying to figure out where I'm at with my work or in my life... I've always liked letters and the lettering, lots of the time, will be part of the page.

             

Another direction for me is that I sketch to get ideas to work in metal. That is the hardest for me because my brain has a hard time going from 2D to 3D. My 2D sketches usually don't look very good in 3D. Sketches help if I'm trying to figure out something technical. In metal, I work better if I can hold it in my hand and see what it can do. I'm not good at visualizing with my eyes. When I was a little girl, my mother used to make most of my clothes and we would go to the fabric store to look for patterns and fabric. I always had a hard time because I couldn't visualize how the pattern would look made out of a certain fabric until it was actually made. Fortunately, my mother could. I think I work more kinesthetically. I like to hold it in my hand and feel what needs to happen, to sense the balance in a piece.





The 3rd direction is when I've made something in metal and I want to remember how I do it, so I will sketch the piece in different stages of being made and write notes about the process.

To see how other Etsymetal members use the sketchbook check out the following blogs:

1. Rebecca Bogan - http://www.AdobeSol.com/blog 
2. Shirlee Grund - http://lichenandlychee.com/blog/ 
3. 2Roses - http://www.jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com 
4. Beth Cyr - http://www.bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com 
5.kate jones http://www.katejonesdesign.blogspot.com 
6. Erin Austin http://metalmusing.blogspot.com/ 
7. Nodeform http://nodeform.blogspot.com/ 
8. Michele Grady http://www.michelegradydesigns.blogspot.com 
9. Elizabeth Scott http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog 
10. Su Trindle http://quercussilver.blogspot.com/ 
11. Evelyn Markasky http://markasky.blogspot.com/ 
12. ArtigianoJewelBox: http://www.artigianojewelbox.com/category/blog

Ring A Day Exhibit in Seattle at the SNAG Conference

 PUNCH Gallery

Located in the Pioneer Square area of downtown Seattle in the Tashiro-Kaplan Building.

Photo by Shannon Conrad http://www.flickr.com/photos/rubygirlcreations/

Opening Reception: 5 - 8pm
First Thursday, May 5, 2011
119 Prefontaine Place South

Seattle, Washington 98104

206.621.1945  General information and appointments

art@punchgallery.org

Hours: Noon-5pm Thursday-Saturday, or by appointment.

As a tie-in to the annual SNAG (Society of North American Goldsmiths) conference, PUNCH presents this totally RAD (Ring a Day) exhibition showcasing 365 rings, accompanied by select photographs to illustrate the diverse, creative and inspiring rings artists have made from Day 1 to Day 365. Colleen Baran, Kathryn Cole, Shannon Conrad, Nina Gibson and Sara Westermark juried RAD from over 16,000 rings submitted to the Ring a Day group on flickr. The exhibition features 65 international artists with work ranging from ephemeral and conceptual art rings to functional jewelry in both alternative and classic materials.
This project was an open challenge to metalsmiths and other artists across the globe to make one ring a day out of any material for the entire year of 2010. Over the course of the year artists continually added rings, new artists joined the group, ideas morphed into new ideas, artists played off the ideas of other artists, and materials were used in new and unexpected ways. On a daily basis, rings were created, photographed, and posted to the Ring a Day Flickr group. The majority of the artists represented discovered the project through social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, blogs and word of mouth. This project reflects a population of metalsmiths and jewelry makers who are facile with current online technology.

Ring a Day is part of the Society of North American Goldsmith's yearly conference; an event that brings together 800+ visitors from around the world for exhibitions, artist's talks, trunk shows and more. SNAG is an international educational non-profit organization that supports and advances the professional practice of artists, designers, jewelers and metalsmiths.

Ring a Day would like to thank Artist Trust, Crafthaus, EtsyMetal, Etsy and SNAG for their sponsorship.

Slump

Available on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/markasky?ref=seller_info 

I don't know what happened, maybe staying up all night to watch the Royal Wedding did me in, cuz I haven't posted any new pictures since then.
I also haven't been sure what I want to do right now, so I tend to avoid doing anything. I did watch an 'I Love Lucy' marathon last Sunday.

Slumps are dangerous because it almost becomes a challenge to stay in it. You start to get an attitude. 'Yea, well I'm not going to do anything today... ha, so there,' except I'm not really saying that to any real person, just the air around me and I'm pretty sure the air doesn't care!

Fortunately, my friend had a birthday this week and I made her a couple of things. Yes, I went into the studio... it was scary at first, but after a couple of minutes, it was good!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markasky/