Mom in Curlers by Claudine Intner. Mixed media collage on canvas. 11 x 14 inches. @2012

Like my hair? Here is the first stay at home mom from my new series. She is one of the ones exhibited at Artomatic. I have a feeling I am going to get a call from someone who will think this is them… my mom. Seriously, it is not her. I love how she turned out though, and I am still debating whether or not I can part with it.

Artomatic wall by Claudine Intner

Happy Belated Mother’s Day! This weekend was a whirlwind of art, car repairs, deliveries, and family stuff. It meant Artomatic installation was pushed to Saturday evening, but somehow we pulled it off!

Artomatic wall by Claudine Intner

Ta da! Here is a sneak peek. Yes, it really is a big purple wall! My exhibited pieces focus on the art of being a stay at home mom. I will be sharing more about each piece in follow-up posts. If you live in the Maryland, DC, or Virginia area, please stop by Artomatic, 1851 S. Bell Street, Crystal City, Virginia. The show runs May 18 – June 23, 2012.

I have to thank my kids and husband for being super helpful over the past two weeks as I have scrambled to get ready for First Sunday Arts Festival and Artomatic. My husband is definitely a better wall painter than I and was very helpful with hanging the work, too. The kids were so good at Artomatic!

As a reward, we sneaked up to the ninth floor and checked out the Washington Post’s Peeps Show. The kids loved them!

Here is my favorite diorama — the royal wedding!

Stay tuned for lots more Artomatic this week. For the next four days, I will revealing works at the exhibit and Friday is the big day — Opening Night!

New works being varnished by Claudine Intner

The artistic life has a lot of ironies. This week my domestic chores have piled up while I work on a series of mixed media collages about chores. At least I can laugh as I stare at my messy kitchen.

The three large pieces pictured above are for the Artomatic exhibit. Most of my current work has been 11 x 14 inches or smaller so I decided to break out of that for Artomatic. Each artist has a good size wall to fill so I opted to work larger. With any luck, I will be installing these pieces on my purple wall tomorrow. Oh, did I mention I painted my gallery wall purple?

My wall at Artomatic

I am hoping my gallery-mates aren’t horrified when they see it. The artist to the right of me has some stunning mixed media collages in subtle browns. At least we work in the same medium, right?

My craft show set-up at First Sunday Arts Festival

If you have been reading my blog or following me on Facebook, you know I was getting ready for a craft show. The show was on Sunday. It was my second craft show, and it went pretty well. The weather was decent and there was lots of foot traffic. I pulled together a brand new craft show set up. I think it turned out pretty well and have a bunch of ideas to make it even better. I thought I would share a few things I learned this week.

Magnets by Claudine Intner

1. You can never start too early on prepping for a craft show. Make lots and lots of items in different price points and spend time doing a test set-up. For this show, I started a brand new product line — magnets. They turned out to be the most popular item on Sunday.

2. Secure your tent properly. With the help of the internet, I made these pvc weights.  Craft show tents can become giant kites if you don’t weigh them down properly.

3. Get vertical — In an effort to make more of my art viewable, I set out to find an inexpensive wall for my tent. There are some really fabulous walls specifically designed for displaying art. Unfortunately they cost a lot. I looked at various store display options including grid wall. I didn’t care for the look. After scouring the internet for ideas, I decided to make a wall using old doors. Habitat for Humanity has a used home construction supply store where I found 3 never-used interior doors for $30. My husband purchased white hinges from Home Depot along with metal straps to stabilize the wall from the top. Add a little white paint and you have a fabulous display wall for art.

4. Raise your tables. A nearby jewelry designer had raised her tables with a simple solution — buckets. Raising tables to counter height can bring your items closer to the customer. It is definitely something I will do in the future. Other ways to raise tables include bed risers and pvc pipe with end caps.

5. Last but not least — Don’t forget to smile! I am not the most outgoing person, but it makes a world a difference if you smile at your customers. While you are at it, be nice to your fellow vendors. Who wants to buy something from Oscar the Grouch?

I look forward to my next vending opportunity at Artomatic’s Art-To-Go Marketplace on Saturday, May 26th from 1 to 6 pm.

There is a bit of craft chaos going on here. I have four days until First Sunday Arts Festival in Annapolis. I have a to do list that keeps getting longer, a husband that is away at a conference, and a sick child. Bring on the caffeine!

I had a moment of insanity the other day and decided to create a whole line of letter pendants and magnets. I combined some of my fabulous and funky collage backgrounds with each letter. I think the letter magnets would be great for organizing school papers on the fridge and doesn’t every girl love to have an initial pendant? Here they are on my personal conveyor belt getting ready for resin. The resin will provide a nice glass-like protective finish. I will be adding these to my Etsy shop after First Sunday Arts Festival… Or stop by my tent on Sunday! I will be in the Whitmore Park section of the Festival from 12 to 5 on Sunday, May 6th!

I will give you three guesses.

What are these?

1. Buttons? No.

2. Pasties? No.

3. Shields for Lego minifigures? No.

They are magnets! Over the past couple of days I have made 150 or so bottle cap magnets. The little tiny dots on the back are these amazingly strong neodymium magnets which are over 7 times stronger than ceramic magnets. I tested them on my fridge, and they are great! These magnets will make their debut at the First Sunday Arts Festival in Annapolis on May 6th from 12 to 5. I will be in the Whitmore Park section of the festival. After the festival, I will be adding these cuties to my Etsy shop.

Come back tomorrow for more adventures as I prepare for the First Sunday Arts Festival and Artomatic!

OMG! I might have bitten off more than I can make! In the next couple of weeks, I need to prepare for First Sunday Arts Festival in Annapolis (Sunday, May 6th from 12 to 5) and get ready for Artomatic in Crystal City (May 18-June 23). Artomatic is Washington, DC’s unjuried, anything goes art exhibit. This year they are taking over the Vornado Charles E. Smith Building located at 1851 S. Bell Street in Crystal City, Virginia. The place is huge — 11 floors, 350,000 square feet. It will be filled with every kind of art imaginable including paintings, photography, mixed media, sculpture, performance artists, installations, music, classes, parties, the Washington Post Peeps Show, and much much more!

This is the building. Seriously! Over the next few weeks, over 1,000 artists — yes, really — will transform this boring office building into something truly fabulous.

On Saturday, I attended orientation and wall selection. It was a lot of fun as artists scurried throughout the building looking for the perfect space. There were artists of every shape, size, age, and background. Some artists bee lined for the top floor while others headed to nine where the Washington Post Peeps Show will be. Everyone had a different strategy for selection.

I explored floors 1, 3, and 4. My idea is to stay on the lower floors as visitors would probably be working up from the bottom and may tire by floors 5 or higher. I also limited myself because I kept getting lost and a little overwhelmed by all the options. The key factors in my space selection were a high impact / high visibility location. I liked the spaces in the lounge area on 3 but the best ones were taken. Then I found in nearby room 302 a great space. The bonus part of the third floor is the Artomatic office is located there so at the very least, a lot of Artomatic artists will see my space as they check-in for their shifts.

My wall can be seen from the hallway. It is over 15 feet long and has two doorways in it. I am thinking lots of color and maybe even collaging directly on to the wall. I want to grab people’s attention as they go by and draw them into my room. The building will be torn down afterwards so anything goes.

For a colossal exhibit, the powers that be need to be super organized! They have a bar code system that really streamlined the overwhelming task of finding spaces for over 1,000 artists. The pink stickers shows my artist bar code and the white sticker is the bar code for the space. After you selected your space, you went down to registration and they scanned you into the computer. So far I am pretty impressed with the organization of the exhibit!

 

Now the crazy part! I have a vision in my head for a number of new pieces specifically for Artomatic. I am exploring more motherhood stuff and narrowing in on being on a stay at home mom. I decided I have to work bigger for this so my pieces will be at least 2 to 3 feet.

Stay tuned to see if I pull off this double art event scheme!

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio

Busy, busy! How about you? I am sitting here waiting for a delivery which is really starting to mess up my day. I figured I would channel my frustrations into a quick Etsy treasury of all things good and in black and white. What do you think?

Are you fascinated by your neighbors? If so, maybe you should be mine! I am always doing something weird although it  isn’t always outside where all can see. My kids are interesting, too. Did I ever show the picture of Batman swinging on our playset? So today I had to restage my craft show table for a fall festival application.

I love the bright pop of pink! I am hoping to expand my display over the next few months as I prepare for upcoming craft fairs. It is time to invest in a tent for outside shows.

If you would like to know about craft shows I will be vending at, be sure to join my mailing list, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.

I love old books! How about you? Yes, they can be dusty and musty and falling apart but they are intriguing, too. I tend to grab ones with interesting titles, great illustrations, or maybe something that would be a great background paper.

How do you feel about taking books apart? Some are completely opposed, but I like the idea of giving the book a new life especially if it is falling apart.

I had to grab this one because of the dust jacket. I like the idea of adding the words to a collage. Sometimes I lay text and put layers of paint over it and you can barely make out a word.

This stack of books comes from a local charity sale. They collect books from schools, libraries, individuals, etc. and ship some to countries in need. Others are sold in their huge warehouse in one of their monthly sales. If you live near Annapolis, you can check them out on their web site.