literary collages
I have reconfigured my studio yet again, and have hung a bunch of new pieces to offer during tomorrow’s live sale.
If you see anything in this post that you like, or if any of the things from earlier this week call to you, let me know before 4 p.m. EDT tomorrow (July 19th), so I can pull it for you! Below are just SOME of the items that will be on offer tomorrow! Click on any to see pricing and further information.
This was me in my studio the other day:
After cleaning my studio for the event I had here back on December 2nd, I was slow getting back to work in there. But! I did make one new piece of art. Kind of. If by “new” you count “took an existing background and stamped a motto onto it as inspiration for 2019”. And since I count it, then I will go with the idea that I made a new piece of art. Here it is:
My 2019 motto
I’m getting ready for the new year.
I posted this piece on Instagram last week and promptly sold two prints of it, plus received a request for permission to use my motto (seriously? GO FOR IT, if it speaks to you) and a request for a commissioned piece with the same motto and different colors. So now I know what my next thing is going to be. And today, the substrate for the piece arrived from Blick Art Supplies—it’s a 9”x12” basswood (aka linden) cradle board.
Is there anything as tantalizing as new art supplies?
Not only am I excited about the new cradle board, but I’m excited by some new papers I’ve collected and am ready to use as collage layers in the new piece. And I bought two 5”x7” cradle boards, thinking I might make some smaller motto pieces, so if you have one you want to commission, hit me up—otherwise, I’ll just roll with my own notions.
©Kelly Ramsdell 2017 Original piece is in a private collection in Richmond, VA
October was a beautiful month at Green Gables, when the birches in the hollow turned as golden as sunshine and the maples behind the orchard were royal crimson and the wild cherry trees along the lane put on the loveliest shades of dark red and bronzy green, while the fields sunned themselves in aftermaths.
Anne reveled in the world of color about her.
“Oh, Marilla,” she exclaimed one Saturday morning, coming dancing in with her arms full of gorgeous boughs, “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn’t it? Look at these maple branches. Don’t they give you a thrill—several thrills? I’m going to decorate my room with them.”
Doesn’t that above excerpt from Chapter 16 of Anne of Green Gables make your heart sing, at least a little? That Lucy Maud (L.M.) Montgomery sure knew how to write about the seasons.
The image at the top of the post is of a piece of art I created in 2017, which sold straightaway to a collector in Virginia, but I do have greeting cards featuring the image available in my online shop. And I did another original art piece featuring this quote, since I love it so much, the original of which is available online as well. Here’s what it looks like:
©2017 Kelly Ramsdell Original currently available at 20% off.
Of course, it’s only natural that autumn leaves drift by your window, right? So I also have a print featuring a rather wry statement by Elinor Dashwood, one of the two heroines (some would say THE heroine) of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility. After listening to her younger sister, Marianne, rhapsodizing about how beautiful their now-distant home must be in the autumn, Elinor responds, “It is not every one who has your passion for dead leaves.”
©2017 Kelly Ramsdell Currently available at 20% off.
To celebrate the scarier part of the season, I created a piece entitled “Nevermore”, which features some Poe-like imagery, including a collaged raven perched upon a skull, rather than on the “bust of Pallas”. The original piece of artwork is in a private collection in Massachusetts, but greeting cards featuring the image are available in my online shop for the Poe lovers in your life (or just to send for Halloween).
©2017 Kelly Ramsdell Original sold. Greeting cards available.
And for this month, all four of these items (two original pieces of art, and as many of each of the greeting cards as I have) are discounted 20%. So these two greeting cards are offered at $4, rather than the usual $5. And each of the original artworks are 20% off as well.
Finally, I have two additional Halloween-related pieces available in my online shop. They are each $65 unframed, or matted and framed at $90. The first is listed as BOO!, and the second as Things That Go Bump in the Night. No further discounts will be taken on these two original art pieces for Halloween.
To pick up on the post title: "When you should be getting ready for the Pitman Craft Show," but instead, you spend your morning cleaning your entire studio and bringing new furniture in. The table you see in the top left photo below was just a pile of lumber yesterday morning, and my wonderful sweetheart spent the afternoon turning that wood into the table you see. I love it--and him--so much! We carried the table in yesterday, and this morning it sparked me to clear and clean the room, including washing the canvas tarp that I use under the table I paint on in the center of the room. This new studio gives me so much joy. I love having my own space to work and dream, and a place to hang my art and my vision boards. This room feels like freedom, in so many ways.
The cart to the right of my teal cart came in from the garage today. It moved here with me, and was sort of taking up space but not really functioning well out in the corner of the garage. Now it's holding all my stamping supplies, pastels (soft/chalk and oil), watercolors, oil sticks, gelatos (sadly not the ice cream variety, though I *think* I have some in the freezer), and other non-acrylic media. And as the bottom right photo above shows, an Ikea rack also came in from the garage where it was being under-utilized (and now houses a lot of canvases and other supplies).
I'm super thrilled with the studio, especially now that it's starting to take better shape, but it did pretty much derail my day by tiring me out. I've spent the afternoon working on writing better copy for the products listed for sale on my website. The greeting cards, hot air balloons and sailboats are done! I'm just over halfway through the tambourines and collages shop, and am taking a break from writing copy to write this blog post. LOL!
I will be taking greeting cards, hot air balloons, sailboats, tambourines, collage hearts (not even posted in my shop yet!) and a few literary collages with me this weekend to the Pitman Spring Craft Show. I'll be in space X151, at the corner of Theatre Avenue and Broadway. The Craft Show is scheduled for Saturday, May 19th, though there's unsettled weather in the forecast at present, so there's an outside chance I'll be selling things on Sunday instead. (I'll know for sure on Friday.) Whenever it is, I sure hope to see some friendly faces--and sell a lot of items!
And things are still on sale, if you think your loved one would appreciate a literary collage, an abstract painting, or a beautiful piece of art on a tambourine. Take 15% off the listed price, or (if you are signed up for my newsletter) take 20% off.
Tambourines with collage and paint - $60 each.
This week has been a super exciting one here in southern New Jersey. And not just because the Eagles are playing in the Super Bowl and everybody is amped. Just yesterday, my 10x10 tent for art festivals arrived (along with bright blue sandbags to keep it from flying away), and today I got my first shipment of greeting cards, and I am THRILLED with how they turned out!
New literary collage: "If you were coming in the Fall". $125
I'm hoping to be accepted into several art festivals/craft shows this year, so I've started dreaming what the inside of my booth might look like - and making more items!
If you would like a piece of art for Valentine's Day, please get in touch and order it by February 8th at the latest so I can be certain it will get to you in time!
In just under a month, it will be Valentine's Day. Full disclosure: I have occasionally had extremely mixed feelings about Valentine's Day. The cons fall into the "it's a madeup/Hallmark holiday" and (in some times past) "it's here to remind me I don't have a person who means that much to me" categories. The pros fall into "LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE" and it should be celebrated, the "these days I feel pretty good about myself", and the "I am madly in love with my husband, Morris, what's not to love about a day celebrating love?" categories.
This year, those pro-Valentine's Day vibes are winning out for me. If you love somebody, or want to show some love to somebody (even or especially if that somebody is yourself!), then it might interest you to know that I'm running a sale in honor of the day, because we could all use a little love in our lives, and probably some new artwork as well! So if you are interested in the sparkly new things in this here post, or in any of the pieces on my website (I promise, I'm working on how to make the galleries more "shop-able"!), I'm gifting you with 15% as a way of sending a little love your way. (Newsletter subscribers get 20% off - and they've known about this sale for a week already!)
“And love is love is love is love is love is love is love”
Not feeling the (tambourine) music? That's okay—there's some quieter (in decibels) artwork available, including these brand-new literary collages. If you click on them, the embiggen and given you more details on size, materials, and pricing:
Collage, mixed media, hand stamping, and a wee original drawing on a 9"x12" canvas board, featuring a quote from Shakespeare's Sonnet 116.
Here's a linky-link to the gallery where you'll find my literary collages (including a sweet little rose with some Sense & Sensibility text collaged in and a number of quotes that might be just the thing you (or someone you love) will love. And here's another link to the other paintings I've got available, including a sweet little bird collaged from hand-marbled papers and some abstracts. If you think any of these pieces are just what the Cupid ordered for Valentine's Day (or any other occasion), just get in touch with me and claim your piece! I'll get it packed up and in the mail for you, and get your my PayPal info for payment!
