The Red Thread Studio

I was pleasantly surprised last week to hear from Angelia of The Red Thread Studio, located in Suffolk Virginia. She invited me to be a part of their upcoming show, The Art of Printing in late April. This show is part of a multiple-site Gallery Hop event that includes "The Book as Art" at the Suffolk Museum and “Letter Carriers” at the Shooting Star, all members of Suffolk Downtown Arts. Needless to say, I’m thrilled!

After checking out her website I am so impressed with what they are accomplishing at their Multi-concept space. Not only do they showcase artisans, but offer classes as well. If running a gallery space isn’t enough, Angelia also sells her own textile work in her Etsy shop named ArmstrongIndustry. I especially like her table runners – one shown below.

Home Sick.

I don’t know how your houses are this winter – but mine seems to be full of little sickies. Well, one little sick person in particular. My son has gotten every type of cough/cold – flu and earache for the last three weeks. So today, he is with me at home recovering again. I needed to make a few new prints of The House Next Door, so he decided to try his hand at creating his own print.

This is a really fun and easy activity to do with kids.

First he drew his idea onto the rubbery stamp material. It’s good to leave a bit of space between the elements so that the cutting tool has enough room to delineate each clearly. (please note PJ chic)


With smaller children ( and even big ones) it is important to show the proper way of holding the block while you cut– Behind your cutting hand. It is easy – even on these soft blocks to have the cutting tool get away from you and slip forward – this can make a nasty cut if your hand is in the way.



So here he is cutting out the negative space ( those areas which will not have ink).

Ok – all inked up (put on with rolling brayer for an even coating – nice and thick). I use an old picture glass from a frame that broke - watch the corners for sharp edges.



Try a test first to make sure that all of the areas look right – if not – then you can go in again to cut away more. I use water-based ink so cleaning up is really easy. The ink does stain clothes.


And here are the final prints – with some mixed media (crayon) embellishment. He is ready to open his own shop – what do you think?? They are titled "Rocket Off".

Much Happening!

I was accepted to Trunkt ( yea!) – and luckily just before the cut-off for their change in portfolio options. As of tomorrow, all new (meaning free) portfolios will only have 3 pics. If you were accepted prior to this date you get to keep the 9 images – without having to pay any upgrade fee of $49.

I’m not sure how being on this site will help my sales – but it should give some exposure – and I really love seeing all of the other artists and designers’ work. I would love to hear if anyone has any comments about the benefits to upgrading to the $199 level…

Great Surprise.

I woke up this morning to find that my House Next Door print in bright green was featured on the Etsy front page. Ballandchain was so good to include me in their refreshing Treasury collection. Things have been a bit slow here for the last few weeks – and I am happy to have a bit of a kick start with all of the nice messages and inquiries about doing custom house portraits. I had received a commission for a house portrait mid January – but nothing to speak of since. Rejuvenated on this snowy day – I will need to do a bit of fun “work” today to use up my creative energy.