Back to school.

That's right, kids. I'm about to start some learning. Tomorrow night I start an eight class workshop called From Maker to Making a Living put on by the ever wonderful Ontario Craft Council. The lectures are being led by the very successful Jacqueline Sava of Soak, a money-making crafter extrordinaire. From Maker to Making a Living is a series of classes designed to guide craftspeople through the process of understanding, designing and building their individual businesses. Obviously, if you've read even a few posts on my blog, this has been my pursuit and dream since forever. You would also notice that I've not had amazing results as of yet. I am conceptualizing a whole new plan of action for my handiwork and am hoping that these classes will not only get my plan off the ground, but allow me to keep up a momentum. I will be posting a little bit about each class after I've attended it, starting with tomorrow night. I'm actually really excited to interact not only with a business mentor, but to meet people who are in the same ship as me. 

Stay tuned tomorrow! Off to get ready for class!

Catch up.

Well, hello there. 
It's now officially fall. Here in Toronto it couldn't be more beautiful. The Sunnyside Pavilion art show was a wonderful weekend. The three day show was full of lots of friendly guests, live musical performances, and hot weather. The Toronto waterfront is a totally awesome place to throw an art show, so kudos to the organizers for picking such a dream venue. 
This time I thought I would invest in my own tent. 
The decision was definitely cost effective one, but the blueness of the tent made everything under it dark, and, well, a little blue. Next year I plan on either splurging on a white tent and sending this one to the land of kijiji or attempting to make a white one myself. We'll see which option is the most cost effective. 
 
I was able to get a few new pieces completed for the event. I've posted them up on my website, but here are a few shots for you to oogle right here and now. 
Copyright Claire Manning
Copyright Claire Manning
Copyright Claire Manning
Copyright Claire Manning
I'm pretty happy with the work that I was able to complete, especially considering August just wasn't my month. I was able to sell a few paintings, but am now thinking that I need to get back into a craft mode and see if I can make more money if I sell screen printed versions of my art on tea towels (not handmade by me this time) and work on some custom embroidered decorative pillows for the upcoming Christmas craft season. In my next post I'll tell you about the workshop classes I'm taking to help make sure the third time really is the charm when it comes to my crafty endeavors. In the meantime, head over to clairemanning.com to see the rest of the art from the show.

C'mon down to the lake!

I have been a busy bee preparing to show my wares at the upcoming Sunnyside Juried Art Show this weekend and I am getting excited thinking it's only a few days away! Of course, if you are in Toronto, or near Toronto, or have friends that like art in Toronto, I would love to see as many people as possible. I love visiting and chatting with people, especially since I've all but shut myself off from the social world for the past few weeks, going cross-eyed making beautiful new paintings. I know I'll be feeling talkative. Anyway, a re-cap on the info.

Please visit the website link above for additional information, or stay up to date through the show's facebook page.  I will be located on the upper level of the pavilion in booth #2. Come by and you can pick up one of my brand spankin' new business cards! 

I just received them in the mail yesterday and I love them! I needed to update my card in a huge way. Big thanks to Richard Meneely at USB cards out of New Jersey for the beautiful job and the extremely fast turnaround. I love the letter press and it's so fitting that it's on chip board. Richard offers a number of natural surfaces on which to have your cards pressed. He's also known for printing on recycled cereal boxes. Not really my thing, but cool nonetheless.  


Please don't forget to stop by the Sunnyside pavilion for a visit this weekend if you are in Toronto. I will likely blog on location, for those who want a play by play but can't be there in person. 


Now, back to work! G'night!

Before and after.

Here I am, a week before the big Sunnyside Art Show weekend. It's also the first week of September. It's been the fastest summer on record for me. I say this mostly because I lost August for the most part. I thought I would concentrate on the beginning of the month and the end, and less about the nasty middle.

So, Ronaldo and I ended up going to New York City for the first weekend of August. It was incredible. Great food, lots of sightseeing and walking, and a visit to Fishes Eddy! I was so excited and bought a few things. If I were independently wealthy and came on the plane with more than carry on luggage I would have bought more. 


 
The after has been very busy, as I simply did not plan to lose a month. I have been able to do quite a bit of painting and have some more time to work on some additional pieces in the upcoming week. 

I have a week because I am transitioning into another position with a new company. This company is not only very close to home, but it's smaller with a more boutique feel to it. I'm actually pretty excited to see where it takes me. I'm thankful for the extra time to prepare. I will update with information about next weekend's show on Monday. Be then I should know where my booth location is.

Enjoy your weekend!

Claire DOES NOT Love... rashes.

Well, here I am, over a week since my last post, with another sad post. I have been fighting a bacterial infection called cellulitis in my leg that sent me to the hospital for three days last week. This infection is accompanied my a painful, swollen rash. I have been taking antibiotics and taking it easy for a week and things were starting to look up for me. That is, until this morning when I woke up with an itchy head-to-toe rash. Yes, another rash. This one is a reaction to a drug that I was taking to get rid of the other one. Sigh. I'm stuck with this one for two weeks. The good news is that it isn't going to change my recovery from the cellulitis, it's not contagious, and it's not dangerous to me.  I'm lucky enough to have a great group of friends that have been taking care of me and watching out for me. These are some flowers from a couple of them, Raquel and Ryan. I am incredibly grateful for all of my friends.
With that in mind I am pushing through and working when I can. I am prepping for the show coming up in a few weeks and hoping I'll have more than a few new pieces to show off. I'm still trying to find the balance between working and recovering. The last thing I need to do is make myself more sick and rashy by not taking care of myself. 
As Ronaldo has so kindly quoted, "no more rashes". I consider it my new mantra.