I L O V E a project.
I'm about to launch a shop (more on that later), but it's got me thinking about some of my past projects like this one I titled 'Rushing Wind.'
All my projects start with a ‘notepad/pen/phone on silent and out of reach’ kind of moment, often sitting at a cafe or a bar. Then I go into full Google Workspace mode, making slides, spreadsheets, docs, and mood boards. Then it’s create mode where I make all the art. Then back to my project plans to pull it all together.
I created eight artworks and then turned them into limited-edition hand-embellished prints, greeting cards, stickers, and wrapping paper.
Not all my projects include a shop like this one. One year, I did an artwork a day for 100 days. Another year, I created a series of artworks inspired by a line from one of my favourite Derrick Brown poems, “The Kingdom is inside, the Kingdom is outside…” and named it Winds in the East after that line from Mary Poppins. Another time, I did a piece inspired by art and books: Narnia, Lord of the Rings, The Folk of the Faraway Tree…
I did unstretched canvas prints for this project which I'd never tried before, I like to try to match the material to the art and I think this worked really well for this series.
I made a range of greeting cards as well because:
1) I love getting or giving a handwritten note
2) They make nice "mini artworks" for those who might not be able to afford the canvas print.
Another fun way to make the art available at a lower cost is wallpapers. This is may be just a me-thing, but I when I enter a new era in my life I like to mark it with a new wallpaper on my iPhone. That could be as big as moving cities or as small as it being a new month but whenever I see people with the generic Apple background I feel so sad for them.
This piece below holds a special place in my heart because one of my best friends Sarah bought it for her nursery so now I always think of her and her beautiful babies when I see it.
I had soooo much fun putting this all together, choosing the ribbon, hand embellishing the prints, finding cute little add-ons like the whistle pops or the metallic pens and wrapping and signing it all. It's really hard to do this at scale or in a way that makes any money lol but every now and then I'll do limited runs of handmade packs and even though I wouldn't think as myself as that craft-y, this is a very specific kind of craft I can't get enough of.
