Category: PAW 17

PAW 2019 day fifteen

2 ………

Well, penultimate day and the weather is sunny, just the 40+ mph winds put a slight dampener on the day. I got to sit outside most of the day except when showing visitors around. One dog today who was a return visitor – nervous but accepted their dog treat.

Sales wise a good day with one mounted and one framed print plus cards. A return contact re possible Art for a dementia home and two visitors today with interest about overalls and possibly using Art for fun in a mindfulness group setting. We will see where these leads may go to in the future.

Simon my Swanage pal came up briefly and drew another pic.

Also made some more progress with current commission piece too.

This evening I caught up with my stock records having done a check of home stocks of cards this morning. Over the 15 days so far, between Rollington Barn (13), Purbeck Artisan Yard (29) and the Open studio – I have sold 295 greetings cards in PAW 2019, this is almost treble what I sold last year. A stunning success.

My sales records are now the equivalent of 2017 and 2018 added together and 50% up on 2018. Visitor numbers are now at 416 after 250 in 2017 and 276 in 2018.

So, Sunday, the forecast is good for a warm, dry and less windy day and after that there will be some rest and trips out from the homestead this week as well as stock taking at the Artisan Yard.

Thanks for following my daily posts.

Andy

by Categories: Cards, commission, Marker pen pieces, News, PAW 17, PAW 18, PAW 19, Pen and ink work, Purbeck Artisan Yard, Selling Leave a comment

PAW 2019 day 8, half way and June 1st

The forecast was sunshine all day so careful sitting in the shade would be needed to avoid getting too much sun. I started the studio day drawing the view from our drive towards the field that lies in front of us, this will hopefully develop into an A3 pen and ink piece. I drew for an hour, heard walkers passing but stayed on task and no one came in to visit.

I then made a drink and sat in the shade and read. There were some a.m. walker visitors including a request to put the framed print of “Year 3 trip, Swanage Primary” aside, it was collected later in the day. One of my drystone wall originals sold. My landlord dropped by on a very nice motorbike, he bought some cards and reserved a piece I am working on. He saw the progress in my work from PAW17 when he had previously visited.

Around lunchtime, well when I finally tried to have some lunch we had quite a rush after which there was a lull. By the end of the afternoon a number of people had drawn art cards and bought lots of cards.

Maisie, a local friend brought her daughter up who is also interested in the use of art for mindfulness, we chatted about my work and ethos and how people could be encouraged to use art as a distraction.

By the end of the afternoon there had been 43 visitors giving me a total for the first half of PAW of 288 visitors which breaks the record of 276 visitors last year and still with eight days to go.

The aspect that was clearly key to me from today is that I love to welcome visitors and explain the background story to how my art began and is developing. I like it when they take the time to stop and draw a while and as two young gentlemen showed this afternoon, become completely absorbed while drawing.

If people like my art and want to buy some it is an honour for me. I am not going to chase sales, produce items because people want them, my art is for fun and as a therapy for me. I like to share that approach with others and have had some very positive feedback in this regard this first half of PAW.

In the second half of PAW, there is no visitor target, sales target… just to enjoy the company of my visitors and friends who come up and to keep creating new art.

If this matches your philosophy please drop by.

Andy

by Categories: Cards, Marker pen pieces, News, PAW 17, PAW 19, Pen and ink work, Selling, Sketching Leave a comment

Merchandising and my art / photography

So far in the first two years I have sold original artwork in a number of formats from small easel style canvases, to pieces of work in a mount with backboard and cellophane wrapper to framed pieces. I have also sold wooden boxes had decorated in original art. Greetings cards and giclee prints printed for me by Art2card. Also original greetings cards and hand coloured versions of my pen and ink cards.

Apart from my first Purbeck Art Weeks in 2017 when I ordered a sample pack of merchandise and sold the fridge magnet, and key ring I have looked at but avoided introducing art based merchandise as the up-front costs present potentially a large financial outlay.

This week I have been reading about companies that “Print on Demand” from single items or more, I decided that as there is no upfront cost this would be a way to see if there is a market for AndyKnillArt merchandise. I have gone with “Red Bubble” and posted some artwork and photography, I will be adding more pieces to my portfolio. The system works by each product having a cost price, as the artist I then set the % markup for the public price and this is where I earn some income.

So I will be trying this method, plus Etsy and promoting sales in Facebook, Instagram and this blog /website too for 2019 at least and seeing what sales we can generate. Advice from others who have gone down this route before me your pointers would be gratefully received.

by Categories: Administration and marketing, Cards, Marker pen pieces, News, PAW 17, Pen and ink work, Photography, SellingTags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Gig art

I have drawn two types of gig since I started my artwork. The first is the Cornish Pilot Gig, a traditional clinker built wooden rowing boat that has its own class for competition and a growing number of clubs in the UK and across the world. The second is drawing while at gigs -music events.

In this post I thought I would share examples of both including some sketching I did last week on a trip up to London.

Rowing gigs

In 2017 I completed a few pieces where I drew gigs mainly static on the beach. I hope gradually to take my own pictures of racing gigs and develop art from these. This year for PAW18 I took some photos pre Swanage Sea Rowing Club’s Regatta on the second weekend. I produced two small framed originals which I took down after the studio closed and sold one of them.

These are a selection of gig pieces and a bit about them.

In fact these first two are not gig pictures and show earlier boat drawings from Essex and Norfolk. I have always been keen on water based sports and find the perspective involved a challenge and especially like pieces that show the structure or construction of the boat.

These are two canvas pieces I completed in PAW17 based on photographs pre the SSRC regatta last year. The gig fleet pic was photographed as it developed and sold pre completion. The other pieces has faded slightly after being on show at events but I still love the different ideas I tried out with the clouds, geology, water subject to shadows from the sky.

These all developed from trips out with the rowing club at Swanage or visits to Swanage Bay. A print of “Ready to Row” was donated to the 2018 regatta raffle.

This is my most recent piece complied from lots of my own photos, research online and work in my sketchbook before doing the final piece. I am pleased with it, but still aspire to complete a black and white pure pen and ink piece in the future.

Music gigs

Early on when I kept sketchbooks I started to attend more live music events and as a lapsed musician (one who plays infrequently and fails to practice) I like to watch the musical techniques and skill of the musicians. Not confident in my drawing of people I started to do sketches at gigs, they vary in standard but have always been sketchbook based so far.

These are from an Artsreach concert in Chetnole, Dorset. The Kora instrument has fascinated me for a while through the music especially of Maliaan Toumani Diabate. As a stringed instrument player (cello) I find this stringing, structure of the instrument and technique intriguing.

Another Artsreach event this time Moishes Bagel at Corfe Castle. The first picture shows how a moving Fidler can end up distorted but overall I was pleased with the details I picked up about the musicians individually.

Nick Mulvey, the first two at the Cambridge Folk Festival 2016, the second two in concert at the O2 Bournemouth in 2017. Do you think the work has developed?

The Reptiles performing at Swanage Fish Festival on the last weekend of PAW18 in the amphitheatre setting of Prince Albert gardens, Swanage – I felt the urge to draw and used a card about my open studio then gave the work away as an Art card

Finally, the set for Ed Sheeran’s tour at Wembley Stadium last week. Pre the warm up acts I sketched the stage and section of stadium around it – a different scale to capture but an enjoyable piece that took about 40 minutes once I had shaded in the covered seat areas (after this photo).

So in my opinion, both gigs offer lots of drawing opportunities, hope you enjoyed the range of pieces.

Thanks for reading

Andy

by Categories: PAW 17, PAW 18, Pen and ink work, Photography, Selling, SketchingTags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

PAW18 – day sixteen and it’s all over

The weather was good and in fact got brighter as the day went on. A busy day for visitors and an original sold on the last day. I admit as I type this post that tiredness has kicked in.

I started the day by adjusting some of my signs so that I had signposted the concert held at Encombe House and distinguished it from my studio for Art. I don’t have to do this but after turning six cars back last year I thought it worthwhile.

Would the signing work?

Not entirely this year we redirected four cars, including the person transporting the soloist. The first visitors of the day were soon off to pack and off to Macchu Pichu – impressive. I targeted equalling last year’s total of 252 visitors. This was soon exceeded and a free greetings card went to visitor 252 and 253.

Canine visitor numbers have been lower this year with only 6 in the first week.We finished today on a total of 32, only 5 shy of last year.

So in total Open Studio 23 received 276 visitors in spite of our relatively remote location. I am pleased with this and obviously a great target for PAW 2019 – same place.

Last year my initial sales of £425 really encouraged me that my decision to try selling my art had promise. At Christmas over 6 Weeks of Artisans on the Beach I took £1000 and as PAW approached I just wanted to sell some art. It has been increasingly noticeable that art is not always selling as well as people spent their money more carefully. So would I be able to match last year. Well. I have taken somewhere in the region of £820, gobsmacked would be an appropriate term to be honest. Selling an original piece today was the icing on my cake. In 16 months I have now sold over £3000 of my artwork and am now confident to call myself #artist.

This afternoon we had a number of different friends over and it was great to share a sunny afternoon together.

In the coming weeks I look forward to posting about plans going forward. If you missed being able to visit and would like to see the studio contact me for a private visit.

Many thanks to all for your support, visits and purchases.

Andy

by Categories: Cards, Exhibiting, Marker pen pieces, News, PAW 17, PAW 18, Pen and ink work, Selling Leave a comment

PAW18 – day fifteen, penultimate day

A day of warmth, then rain threatened, then warmth again. Over the day the studio had 22 visitors and now only needs 4 visitors on Sunday to equal the 252 from 2017. Dog (canine visitor) numbers have been lower this year but we still have plenty of treats to give out tomorrow.

Sales today included Flying Gull – a photographic card and a framed print of the studio in this year’s snow.

Old friends from Billericay, Essex where we lived before our move to Purbeck came today and it was great to catch up. I had a great day chatting with visitors about my work, colouring in and how lucky we are to live here (a common theme – but if you have visited you understand why, if not, well you know what to do).

So one day to go, a hugely successful PAW open studio experience for AndyKnillArt. A good number of visitors, possibly a new record tomorrow. Sales have far exceeded my wildest hopes and I will finish with over £700 in a fortnight. New ideas have come up for future work and possible avenues to explore. One thing is for certain I intend to be here in the same studio for PAW19 and hope to welcome you and many newcomers too. Not sure how I will exhibit all my art at the rate I have been producing it so far. Once we finish PAW I will blog a summative piece about highlights, work successes and possible future plans. Your views are welcomed especially if you have become a regular reader of my art posts. My work continues to be in the Purbeck Artisan Yard, Church Street, Wareham where I will need to be having a reorganisation of my bay. If you still wish to visit my home studio contact me for a private appointment.

Many thanks for reading and your support.

Andy

by Categories: Cards, Exhibiting, Marker pen pieces, News, PAW 17, PAW 18, Pen and ink work, Photography, Purbeck Artisan Yard, Selling Leave a comment

PAW18 – day thirteen

A good day. Slightly wet at first this morning but after I had already seen a young hare and a deer behind our garden I went into Swanage to post the commission piece. Back at the studio I cut some grass and took some photos of a bee entering a foxglove -not the best pics but taken with an iPad and something I could try drawing at some point.

This was a good reminder that our garden offers opportunities to draw drystone walls, a wide variety of plants and trees and some great wildlife. It’s on a list to work up to and I have taken many photos as source material to help me.

Today however my focus was to be a large picture of a rowing gig boat. During PAW 17 I had drawn a piece of the Swanage rowing regatta fleet that showed some of the structure of these traditional clinker built wooden boats. Yesterday I had gone through various photos I have taken and some online research too. However, whenever I got near trying to draw one I backed off. I could opt to use pencil to start a piece for a change but I did t want to change my ink first method.

Last night before a meeting I was attending I put together a sketch and produced a smaller version of what I wanted to draw. It went well so I now had an example to work from.

It took five attempts to get an outside form that I was happy with and to pace myself with so that the spacing between the seats was correct.

Starting with the stern and then working along the starboard side of the boat I developed the framing of the boat.

Some of the features overlapped so I decided that as some clubs have painted seats I would do this to hide some of the overdrawing.

I then coloured the rib structure of the boat n a darker brown than I would use for the planking – I used Promarker Cinammon.

I could have stopped at this point but I wanted to colour the planking too so I used a lighter Sandstone marker for this. Before adding the colour I drew in additional ribs and marked on the position of all of the copper nails.

I have then mounted and framed the piece and it now stands in the studio ready for sale. It is a 20″ by 16″ frame. I am not going to make a print of this so will just sell it as an original work. If you are interested please contact me via the form on the website menu or directly on andy@andyknillart.com.

I am pleased with the piece of work, the worries before doing it showed me how much I wanted this piece to be right.

Around the work above I also had some visitors and an online order for 20 blank greetings cards. My two online invoices, both paid already meant I took money today.

I would also like to thank Lisa Stockley, fellow PAW artist and #promarkerartist for bring Harvey up to the house, a great visit.

Thanks for reading

Andy

Three days to go. . .

by Categories: Cards, Marker pen pieces, News, PAW 17, PAW 18, Pen and ink work, Photography, Selling, SketchingTags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

PAW18 – day six

Afternoon readers. The day started with cloud /sea mist then light rain and then heavier rain. The highlights today have been:

– three canine visitors all allowed to have treats

– people coming across me and coming in

-visitor who talked about the boss coming to see me at some point returning with said boss (wife) and they bought an original for a wedding anniversary present.

– more feedback on my work

– started but realised weariness so working slower on yachting piece too – “Racing”.

I also made a short video showing the studio which has prompted some to plan visits in coming days.

So in 6 days I have equalled my sales for PAW17 in total. Visitor numbers are now up to 95. I am happy, pleasantly shocked. What will happen in the next 10 days?

Thanks for reading

Andy

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PAW18 – day four

Another poor weather forecast that didn’t all materialise. Rain this morning but time for local wildlife indoors and out.

First improvement for me -a better night’s sleep. Woke and watched three brown hares playing chase in and through the garden jumping over the wall into the woods and then reappearing. I have heard from visitors in the last few days how some of them have never seen a hare except in pictures which just reinforces how lucky we are.

We put out food for the birds at home and we have gained a regular crowd of pheasants and partridges from the estate. Now we even get pheasants tapping on the window for their breakfast and as this picture shows eating while we put out the food and water.

The butterfly flew into the house as I brought the bird food back inside before opening up. Outside the studio we have a wildflower area which is entirely natural, we just enjoy it. I did a bit more work on my large drawing of this area. Currently we have Campion and Buttercups.

The other natural star of today was a homing / Racing pigeon which settled in the garden for a while. While looking distinctly different from the feral and wood pigeons it settled on the drive. When we tried to check its rings it kept flying back o to the roof but seems to have gone this evening.

So, you thought PAW was just about art… but as artists of course we are always looking at our surroundings. 8 visitors today including repeat visitors from PAW17. Most had come especially to see my work . Cards sold and lots of discussion of my work and how it has developed.

When it got quiet this afternoon I took the opportunity to get my rowing machine out in the fresh air and did some exercise too.

So tomorrow we will wait again and see what visitors come… as my last visitors said today I am clearly having lots of fun doing my art and PAW offers me a chance to share that with my visitors.

Most visitors are taking away my free postcards so that they might find the Purbeck Artisan Yard too.

Thanks for reading

Andy

by Categories: Cards, Marker pen pieces, News, PAW 17, PAW 18, Pen and ink work, Photography, Purbeck Artisan Yard, Selling Leave a comment

PAW18 – day three

Well in 2017 my biggest sale was on day two when I sold a print of the beach huts. My realistic non pressured sales target for 2018 as a whole is to “sell some art”. So selling two prints sounds like a reasonable aspiration for 2018.

Yesterday I sold an original, admittedly to my brother in law but no nepotism involved and it joins a print of Hungry Hare which he was gifted by my sister last christmas. So this morning I was on a high already.

Again a May bank holiday that was proving to be hot. my aim to stay in the shade more. I started the day developing an A3 piece of the wildflower area in front of the studio, no rush I will work on this gradually and share it when done.

Some visitors arrived and cards were bought and compliments made about my work. Then a friend came up with some small wooden boxes he has been developing and I said he could see how they sold, well while we were talking a couple arrived and bought one there and then. They also bought my second original sale! This time of the sunset over Houns Tout and Swyre Head that I had photographed and drawn last December on the way back from a shift for Artisans on the beach.

Then it was time for my mother in law to come to visit the studio, she recently bought the original of the studio in the March snow.

She then proceeded to buy the second of the wooden boxes for my wife – this craft sales idea is going well. This afternoon Dave Furmage mobile cycle mechanic and mate dropped by with some of his craft that I had also sold during Artisans on the Beach made from recycled bike parts.

So totals so far:

58 visitors

2 original pieces sold

26 cards sold

Let’s see what the week brings …

Thanks for reading

Andy

P.s. I have added a picture of me working to the About page and made the point on the Store page that this is not an aspect I am currently not finding time to set up, so if you see anything in this blog or on the Facebook AndyKnillArt page or my instagram andy.knill account that you like e-mail me as I can always invoice you for BACs or online card payments.

by Categories: Cards, Marker pen pieces, News, PAW 17, PAW 18, Pen and ink work, Selling Leave a comment