Developing an idea

So, mixed success with local craft fairs. What I need to do is to look ahead – September –  village. Fete so will need to do more drawings of the village. Christmas seasonal event demand – cards and wintry scenes possibly. A good range of reasons for more art productivity.

At present I have a watercolour gummed pad that I have started to use. Thicker, textured watercolour paper. It presents a good looking surface for Promarker pieces. The taking of local photos and doing a range of sketches now pay off as I have a range of source materials to work from. The main focus is local landscapes but including boats – sailing, diving, fishing, gig rowing – this can also link into PAW 2018 theme of “Movement”.

So I have produced eight pieces so far, I am sharing them through the Facebook and Twitter accounts specifically for AndyKnillArt and my personal Instagram account.

These are the current pieces:


Developed from my Pre SSRC Regatta gig pictures and local swimmers practising in the swimming area.


The view down to Corfe Castle and local walkers signs showing Poole Harbour.


A Purbeck winter sunset. The background was done first using background blender and then the trees were drawn as a second layer.


Pilot gigs are becoming a more frequent focus and boats generally involved in watersports locally are something I want to develop a wider portfolio of.


The Purbeck sections of the Jurassic coast and South West Coast Path provide a wide range of views to develop and different points to draw from as these two show. the first from Swyre Head, the second from below Houns Tout.



Gradually I need to travel further afield in Dorset and take in other scenes like this favourite looking back to Chesil Beach and Portland.


Swanage Bay and Ballard Down provide a great source of boating activity and many events to draw inspiration from and backdrops to a wide range of craft.

Any comments are welcome.

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AndyKnillArt News Update 9th August

My quiet time has continued and I continue to sketch when out and about. Today I have been having an art materials and card stock check and preparing some new materials ahead of the Art and Craft Fair, St Edwards RC Church Hall this Saturday 12th August from 10 to 4 pm in Swanage. The location while not on a main thoroughfare is 50 metres off the route from the town car park in Victoria Avenue to the beach, less than 200metres from the Swanage Railway station main entrance and lies just behind the field above the Shore Road Beach Huts, war memorial and town bandstand. If in the area please come and visit to see the range of craft and art on display and for sale. There are hot drinks and home made cakes for sale too.

I am trying to develop a wider range of stock that covers many price points. I continue to have my Square card reader device so that I can take contactless or PIN based payments, also Android and Apple Pay. 

Blank greetings cards: 

Art2Card 7″ x 5″ card and envelope in a cellophane wrapper- a range of designs including 5 coloured pictures of Swanage and a range of black and white pen and ink cards of a range of locations.

£2 each or 3 for £5

Artist coloured – examples of the pen and ink cards coloured in by hand after print run.

£3 each or 2 for £5

Hand drawn original cards – each 7″ x 5″ card is an original piece of hand drawn art.

£3.50 each or 3 for £10

Currently also stocking handmade abstract art cards by Anne Knill

£1.50 each or 4 for £5

Fine art giclée prints

Four Swanage Bay designs: Shore Road Beach Huts; Look East; Bay including Prince Albert Gardens; View from Swanage Pier to Peveril Downs. Mounted with certificate of authenticity in cellophane envelope, fits standard 16″ x 12″ frames. Signed by artist.

£25 each, £45 for 2 prints or £90 for Swanage set.

Framed prints £35 each, £65 for 2, £100 for 3 or £130 for Swanage set. 

Tree fern limited edition print – series of 50. Hand numbered and signed by artist.

£40 each

Original art works

MIniature canvas with own wooden easel stand – local Purbeck scenes. Media: pen and ink and Promarker.

£5 each

7″ x 5″ canvas  – assorted subjects. Media: pen and ink and Promarker.

£15 each

A4 canvas – assorted subjects. Media: pen and ink and Promarker.

£35 each

A4 on cold pressed 300 gsm paper and card mount – assorted subjects. Media: pen and ink and Promarker.

£45 each, £85 for 2.

A3 card mounted in cellophane wrapper pen and ink original pieces.

£75 each, £140 for 2.

24″ x 18″ canvas – assorted subjects. Media: pen and ink and Promarker.

Currently: Swanage Bay pre Rowing Club Regatta 2017; Corfe Castle

£100

80 cm x 30 cm canvas panorama.

Currently: South of Swanage Bay

£125

Professionally framed pieces:

Purbeck Wall 27.5 cm x 27.5 cm – Media: Pen and ink.

£75
Etches Museum Kimmeridge 55cm x 35 cm – Media: Pen and Ink and Pencil.

£125

Dorset Verges 43cm x 31cm – Media: Pen and ink and Promarker.

£150

Photographs

Blank Greetings cards

Art2Card printed Hungry Hare 7″ x 5″ and Flying Gull 8″ x 4″ with envelope and cellophane envelope

£2 each or 3 for £5

Framed photographs 

Local wildlife / scenery 6″ x 4 ” image in 7.5″ x 5.5″ frame with stand.

£5 each.

16″ x 12″ Hungry Hare print in frame.

£35 each

14″ x 7″ Flying Gull print in frame

£35 each

Mounted photo

Fits 16″ x 12″ standard frame – Hungry Hare

£25
I still need to tie up my Square card reader app with this website and Ecwid online shop site. I am working on this and hope to have up and running into the Autumn alongside craft fair / fetes in September, October and November. I have applied for an Artisan on the Beach unit for the Christmas run up and will be posting News of Christmas cards from September.

To contact me directly now please use:

Phone

Home: 01929 481539 – ask for Andy Knill Art

Mobile: 07886479715 (please note I do not have mobile coverage at home but do use Whats App)

Email

Andy@andyknillart.com

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AndyKnillArt News Update July 28th

Hi, I have gone quiet in the last three weeks due to work on some commissions which ultimately did not work out, a period of introspection and a gap in events to sell at. I will be quietly developing work in the background. I am next displaying work and offering work for sale at the Craft fair, St Edwards RC church hall, Rempstone Road, Swanage on Saturday August 12th from 10 onwards.

I am framing some of my fine art print pieces, developing some new original pieces and looking at my card range. The aim is to offer a range of pieces from £2 for my Art2Card printed card stock, through hand coloured versions of some of my pen and ink mono cards to the hand drawn original cards – these are each unique and will not be reproduced as a print set in this form.

Prints will include my current fine art giclee prints at £25 to framed examples at £35. 

Original pieces of art will range from the cards, miniature canvases with their own wooden easels, A4 pieces on watercolour paper to my larger pieces – canvas and framed. I hope by then to also have some panoramic pieces developed from recent sketches I have been doing. Prices range up to £150 presently.

Alongside these I am working on allowing online shopping directly through this blog and my Facebook.com/AndyKnillArt page. This is in a state of development and links to my Square card reader which I have at all events enabling me to take contactless or card payments for works.

I also now have my banner for the table front, business cards and clothing that I will wear, that show how to contact me. Marketing myself is still a fresh concept for which I am doing research in the background. Feedback that is constructive is welcomed especially where it links at good examples to study. I rushed into going public with my art this year so that I could enter Purbeck Art Weeks – that paid off and so I am now developing  ideas a bit slower and working towards Purbeck Art Weeks 2018 and my developed open studio.

I mentioned commissions above – recent experience has shown me how fragile at times my mental health still is ( see personal blog about this if interested at mishmashlearning.wordpress.com). Therefore I am goi g to focus on producing my own work, if people like and buy this that is good. Commissions are a step of uncertainty too far at this time,  although I thank K & M and C & P for their trust shown in me.

In conclusion this month I celebrate my sixth month since AndyKnillArt emerged and I am very pleased with my development as an artist, my improved techniques and acumen re. developing a new business and career, while also still enjoying my arts recuperative effects.

An early morning walk this week on Swyre Head led to posts on Facebook and Twitter which says it all as mentioned in the last paragraph above.

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Andy Knill Art News Update 7th July

This week has been the week for deliveries and new plans regarding publicity. Based on the business cards last week (see 1st July Update post) I now have a tshirt design to wear for events / around town to promote discussion, business possibly. I have some prototype business posters to develop further as an idea. For events where I use a table to sell from I now have a banner to fix to the front of the table making it very clear who I am and how to contact me. I will leave images until I am using these at an event itself so should have some photos for the next weekly update. 

My new canvases order has arrived so I can start my commission work  and producing more panoramic landscapes.  I have a meeting today and some clients from PAW have come back to me for a photographic piece too so there is more work in the offing. I am back to sketching most days and have also started a new “Skies” sketchbook to keep an ongoing record of local skies. This will help me develop skills with different media as skies have been a weaker area to date. Yesterday I practised water textures between customers at my river job.

Saturday 8th sees me spending the afternoon at The Arty Bazaar at the Boilerhouse galleries site in Corfe Castle behind the Swanage Rail station. It is a new event for me and hopefully one that may become a regular event.

In the next week then I need to arrange more meetings with clients, work on commissions, sketch and just enjoy my lovely surroundings.

If you see any examples of work that you like either here or on the Facebook page please email me on andy.knill@gmail.com or ring on 01929 481539. Sales can be direct, mailed… the key idea is that I want to expand my customer base. 

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AndyKnillArt News 1st July 2017

Well PAW number one has passed, by the end of it I was elated but also weary after 16 consecutive days. I produced a range of art pieces including cards and original canvases. Sales and visitor numbers were far in excess of anything I would have hoped for prior to the Open Studio.

I took some time off initially but in the last week have started sketching again more frequently. I attended The Swanage School Summer Festival on the 24th June. The weather was not helpful but I got to speak about my art but sales were very disappointing. Today I was at the Rempstone Road Craft Fair I have done previously. This was a make a decision day – was it worth an £8 table fee and 6 hours of my time? In the end yes. I sold cards including some new original ones. 

Then a couple expressed interest in the original of the Shore Road beach Huts, a price was agreed. On seeing a sketch I had done of the south side of the bay they also commissioned a canvas 30×80 cm which I will start on as soon as my new canvas order arrives. I hastily rearranged my bookings for the next four craft fairs as this proved you just need one person to walk through the door…


I have also now received my new business cards which replace my previous slips of paper with contact details on. I started to use these today and will endeavour to carry them at all times. I have also ordered some clothing with AndyKnillArt on so that I can self publicise wherever I go and back it up with the business cards.


During PAW I ran a competition to win a free art print, few entries were received and the winner was chosen as M. Summerfield aged 9 whose design will grace my PAW 2018 silk flag design. I await a response on their choice of print.

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AndyKnillArt News from PAW 2017 Day 16

Sunday 11th June

So a final day – drier, slightly less breezy and some sunshine. I opened up and almost immediately found myself redirecting people to the Coffee concert at Encombe House – my studio signs obviously work.

Friends from rowing visited included the buyer for my Swanage Regatta Fleet original – prints / cards will be available if there is the demand. My first larger original sale. A number of walkers came in and other artists including Chris Davenport and Carlotta Barrow. I sited. Chris’ husband was able to choose a free original card as visitor 250.

I then had a commission request for three Father’s Day cards from another PAW artist – no sharing until delivered. Subjects were a Heath beetle, a series one Land Rover and Concorde – so not without their own challenges.

The day finished with sunshine and then I went into the village to remove my yellow signs until next year and have since rehung the photo canvases around he house in their usual places.

This week I will do a tidy up conclusion piece – PAW has been a learning curve, a great chance to discuss my art, create many more new pieces and enjoy the feedback on the pieces that I have done and my style.

So in summary:

– new working studio

– 252 visitors

– 37 canine visitors

– over £400 taken in sales
Many thanks.
Andy

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AndyKnillArt News from PAW Day 15

Saturday 10th June

The penultimate day. A dry start and calm when I visited Swanage early on,  back in Kingston the breeze became stronger and the sun went in. Twice today the gusts were enough to blow my silk flag from its pole, luckily it didn’t go far. A mixture of walkers and art visitors today, lots of great chats and I thank. My visitors for those throughout the two weeks.

Today purchases were cards and two of my sample promotional items – a key ring then later a fridge magnet. I had 18 visitors and 2 dogs, I sketched, designed a new logo for the Swanage Depression Support group that I attend and also played my cello for the first time in several years – it was mainly still in tune.

So an evening spent at the Swanage Fish Festival and tomorrow marks the end of my first PAW. I wil be doing 2018 from the same studio and will have a wider range of work and yptopics by then too. So I look forward to welcoming as many visitors as possible tomorrow. At 19 or more I could reach 250 visitors, a nominal revised target. At 34 dog visitors so far, I would love to greet more tomorrow.

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AndyKnillArt News from PAW 2017 Day 14

Friday 9th June

Nicer weather, still a bit blustery. Today I would like to thank my visitor from Poole and I wish you well with your craft plans and yes that’s it, one visitor. I drew some new original cards and did further work on editing and identifying possible pictures for clients looking for a photo canvas image. This afternoon I also got to visit the Burngate centre briefly and win a small soup pot in their tombola. I then went on to Angelika Seik who calmly says about 30 years work which just confirms that I am at the very start of my journey. I also sign up for another Saturday June event with the Summer Festival on June 24th at The Swanage School.

I also did a sketch outside and this evening cut the main lawn area where I am now watching two hares, one at each end nibble on the remaining longer stalks of grass.



I also received feedback that original cards sent to a customer’s friends jphad been well received. I also received an Artist sample pack of merchandising, I have asked followers on Facebook to feedback and will be ordering a test set of merchandise to have at summer events to gauge their success.

Two days to go, I would like lots of visitors but I am conscious how many events are on locally this weekend as well.

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AndyKnillArt News from PAW 2017 Day 13

Thursday 8th June

Well a dry but breezy start so more grass cutting before opening up. Today I had 13 visitors, many walkers caught out by the conditions on the way out to the Tout. Wet and breezy. The weather did dry up for a period. The studio was so cool I even went back into the house to change, shorts and sandals were exchanged for warm trousers, welly socks, Wellington boots and another sweatshirt. It was a delight to talk with visitors again and emphasised the thing that has made PAW so special discussing my art, photography, reason for leaving my first career, mental health and art, and my medium of choice – Promarkers, there was definitely some pen envy today.


I spent time today on updating my accounts, editing and deleting photos as required. I also produced three new original cards and sold the one of St James’ church in Kingston village. I also welcomed Sue McLean and we both worked and chatted.


This evening the family went into the village to vote. Only three days of PAW to go and then collecting works from Etches and Rollington. My studio, well the photo canvases will return indoors, and I will discuss ideas on how to improve the studio so it is comfortable to work in. The door will not remain open everyday and this will help.

If you are able to and haven’t visited so far I will welcome you for a visit on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Been before? Revisits welcomed.

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AndyKnillArt News from PAW Day 12

Wednesday 7th June

A dry, blustery day. Today no purchases but 12 visitors and two more dogs. I have now passed 200 visitors and in recognition of this my 200th visitor chose a free original hand drawn card to mark the occasion.


Later I cut the grass so it looks neater for visitors for the last four days.

PAW 2017 has clearly been a success for me in my first year as an artist and first Open Studio event. Please still visit if you haven’t had the chance between Thursday and Sunday, I will close up at 4pm on Sunday 11th.

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