My Weblog

New Fabric!

As promised here is what was sitting on my doorstep the day I was headed out to NYC for Stationery and Surtex, my new fabric that will be in Jo-Ann's. I love this penquin design I did for last years Surtex show and the coordinate. I had hoped that Jo-Ann's would take more designs but I will take what I can get these days.

Unlike the stationery world in fabric design the manufacturers only like to work with one person. I find this very difficult when you have a couple of looks. I do not understand why I cannot have a manufacturer that does my more commercial look like this one here and another that does my more quilt market look. I am hoping this undustry will change as all the others have. It makes no sense to me if they have 2 totally different looks why this is a problem, so I am thinking of having a surname for my more commercial look.

These days my head is spinning designing new work for many new manufacturers that I met at the Stationery Show as well as my regular clients. I tell you in this business when it rains it pours and sometimes that can lead to overload and in my case this is true. I never seem to have a smooth steady stream of work it always comes in spurts of chaos. Oh well such is the life of a manic artist.

Yes if you read my log time on this post you will see its 1:24 am here! I had taken a little nap when I put the little guy to bed and then woke up at midnight so now that I am up I figured this was a great time to post!

I have always been a night owl and I think that will never change, I can remember my dad yelling at me to get ready for school and luckily I had a uniform that I could get ready in an instant because you see I am NOT a morning person. I just do not get it, what is soo great about waking up early, I LOVE the night!!

Tonight I will be going out with my sister-in-law to see Sex and the City!! I cannot wait, this was my all time favorite show and I missed it soo much. I think I have seen every episode at least 3 times!! I love all the clothes and banter these gals have, and it reminds me of my past when I worked in NYC and hung out with my girlfriends. I also dated someone similar to the character Big so I have a fondness for him and unlike this character my Big could not commit!!

Okay enough ramblings for one day maybe now I should get my but to bed! Have a great weekend everyone!!

Ellen

NYC-Part 2

On the second day I was in NYC I went shopping, naturally!! I first headed down to Century 21 (not the realtor)
but the famous dept. store on Cortland St. in front of where the World Trade Center used to be. They have overruns of dept. stores and you can find anything from Gucci to Prada to Seven jeans. I found allot of great tops but only bought one. The shoe dept. as usual was nuts and so I just left out of there quick. After that I walked up to Soho since it was beautiful out that day and stopped into Pearl River. This store has amazing Japanese ceramics and nick knacks as well as kimonos.

Here is a photo of some of the children Kimonos they had in stock, soo cute I wish I had a little girl to buy this for!

Here are some cute stationery pads and papers they have too!!

After Pearl River I walked around Soho for awhile and I was glad to see artists still selling their goods on West Broadway. I remember a time I sold some of my pins there and within 10 minutes I made about 300.00 so I left and went home since I had the money I needed for rent!

Here is the famous Vesuvio bakery that you see in Sex and the City, Saturday Night Live and many movies!

When I could take Soho no more I headed back uptown to this great Japanese book store on 6th ave right across from Bryant Park. I love Bryant Park and have many memories eating there for lunch when I worked in the city and hanging out for drinks after work. It was soo great when they fixed it up and we could get a piece of a park near the Fashion District, and naturally that is where they have the shows every year.

These are some fun erasers for kids. I wanted to buy them but my boys have soo much stuff it just would go to waste I believe.

I love these monster stickers and was going to buy them for reference but I decided to take a photo instead. They were a bit pricey and since I am on a budget these days I opted for the cheap photo.

I could not walk another minute after that so I headed back uptown to my friends apt. to get ready to go out
The next day I would meet clients at Stationery and walk Surtex to see old friends.

I have to tell you that I did not take any photos at Surtex or Stationery and the reason being was I just got soo busy talking I simply forgot to do it!! crazy I know after lugging the camera in my purse all that time but what can you do.

I will tell you it was as I figured for Surtex, the show had even more less traffic than last year and you could see a difference in the aisles as you walked and I noticed that they had less booths so they widened the aisles and put in lounge chairs to make it seem it was as big.

I have to tell you I have heard from many who say the show was very bad for them and I am not surprised with this economy. Stationery was a little busier but I thought overall that there was nothing that struck me as amazing! I saw sooo many letterpress companies it was hard to choose who was the best one much less who stood out more. I used to love to walk that show but this time it was not as exciting as it used to be. I feel that many companies are using more in-house labor and it shows. One of my clients in particular who shall remain nameless had a ton of in-house and so I thought the line look sterile. People who own these companies need to realize its the art on the product that sells not the product itself. Anyone can make a card or notebook, but what goes on the outside of that item is what makes it special!! Remember that!

I think things will only change when they see people not buying their stuff so until then they will probably do more of the same.

Well I am sorry to say that is it of my NYC trip since I forgot to take more photos but I am sure you get the idea of it all. I am off to create many new projects for the clients I met at the show and I will be posting this week of some new goodies I received before my trip so stay tuned!!....

Ellen

NYC-Artgroove studio tour and first night out!

Everytime I get into NYC I have to pay a visit to my friend Ron's studio. You never know what will be on the walls here. The last time I was here they were working on a huge mural for Tavern on the Green. This time it was a bunch of different ones. This is just a simple mural that was in their kitchen area I thought I would like to show.

Here is one of the new murals for a clients home bowling alley!! Yes folks this is for someones own bowling alley in their mansion basically and this particular one is for the owners of the company Homedics. They make those beauty products like foot spas. This mural depicts a scene in Isreal during sun rise.

another look towards the end of the mural.

This palm tree is at the very end of the mural and the details are amazing.

Here is my friend Ron working on a sample piece to show a client which was a wooden panel that had many glazes on it as well as crackle to look like its been around for over a hundred years.

This is a view from the studio's small deck/balcony in which you can see the buildings that are close to the Hudson River. Ron's studio is on 37th b/ 8th and 9th ave so for me its a short walk to the Javits Center from here.

After that I went up to Ron and Hank's apt where I stayed for the remainder of my trip. They have a duplex apt on 51st which is soo convienent to stores and restaurants, and the best thing about the apt. is the outside and here is why!!

The roofdeck!!! Its the best and full of lush greenery. They have these beautiful Japanese Maple trees along with Lilacs and Foxgloves and all kinds of other plants.

It is a 3 tiered one and the bottom of it has their lounge chairs and a grill and a beautiful wall with ivy growing. The top one is in need of redoing because it takes longer to water if they plant up there, but years ago they had grape vines and a hammock up there.

That night we set out for a restaurant that I have been trying to go to for awhile called Buddakan. This is located in the meatpacking district of Manhattan and boy did it deliver!!

Since Ron has major friends in high places we were able to score a table in the main dining room for 5 at 8pm on a Friday. It usually takes 3 months to get a reservation but not for us!! This room is amazing with its
40ft ceilings and large chandeliers, we had a great corner booth that looks out onto the whole room.

Here is a photo of my two fabulous friends Ron and Hank at Buddakan, and after dinner we went back to the apt. to have drinks on the deck. I think I went to sleep around 2am which was not too bad considering the damage I could have done.

Well that was day one and I will be posting more of my NYC trip so stayed tuned.....

Ellen

Off to NYC....Surtex and Stationery Show

This was last years Surtex booth, I kept things simple from past years fun themes since I felt a little burnt out from creating new booth concepts. I think it came out quite well. I can remember all the booth designs I did. The first year was a living room type theme with painted striped walls and frames that housed my designs. The second was a garden theme with a picket fence made from foam core and flowers also in which I put my designs in the middle of the flower. That was a good one and I was 7 month pregnant with Colby! I even had my photo taken for the press of the show. I made sure I sat in front of the table for that one.

The following year a laundry theme in which I had a closeline with foam core clothes that had my designs on them!! That was the year someone stoled my new design book! Many Surtex exhibitors were very concerned after that about leaving anything in the booth. They had to know what they were looking for since I really hit it well!!! The following years I just stream lined it down and did a fun bright booth that was simple, yet stylish.

I am glad not to go through the stress this year and will enjoy it more!! I will be meeting clients and friends and
checking out the newbies booths. I wish all who do the show the best and I will see you soon!

Tomorrow I leave to go to NYC and hang with old friends and shop a little then Sunday I will be at the show. Next week I will post all the going-ons I see there, so until then have a great weekend!!

Ellen

What's New!!

Here is why I have been very busy, I am getting ready for the Art on the Green show in Plymouth, Ma on June
14th at Pinehills a resort golf community. This is an annual art and craft show and I am doing it along side my Dad who is a very talented fine artist.

I have forgotten how much fun it is to paint canvas and since I just got my huge order from Dick Blick yesterday it looks like I will be painting canvas for awhile. This is such a nice change of pace for me from gouache and digital work as you can imagine. I am finding myself just lost in hours of swirling lines and colors and textures. These are just little paintings and I have many larger canvases to paint as well, but I am not certain what will go on them. Maybe I will be inspired from my NYC trip this weekend. I am off to meet clients at the Stationery Show and see old friends at Surtex. This is my first year in about 7 that I am not showing at Surtex and it feels rather strange not to have to cram in a bunch of last minute details and prepare for a booth.

I am curious to see how the show will do in this enconomy since last years show was the worst ever. I have been posting comments on Design Sponge about it along with my friend Caroland we have been accused of being"bitter" now I do not know about you but since when does good advice equal bitter? This world of blogging is full of too many hand holders and not enough realism, and if you cannot handle some tough information then maybe you better find a different line of work. Everyone seems to think that Licensing is soo easy and anyone with any sort of talent can do it, but you are sadly mistaken. It takes a savvy and talented person to thrive in this business someone who can put together lines and know how to negotiate contracts. I did not even show at Surtex until I had some good Licensees under my belt so that the manufactures would see how my work would translate into 3D.

If you go to Design Sponge and click on the Samantha Hann post and read the comments you will know what I am talking about. I think that these blogs should be a forum for discussion and inspiration but not a hand holding, you are the best artist ever forum. I am no longer going to talk about the subject along with my friend Carol and its sad since we who have been very successful in this business are not considered artists with good intentions but boo hoo ones! Get a grip people your in for a rude awakening!!

Okay I have vented enough for today!! Go and create!!

Ellen

IF- Seed

This illustration I did just for IF which is not usual for me but I have been having fun playing around with the Wacom tablet. What happens when the seeds just jump out of the watermelon? They go wild!!! They are finally free!

It is soo nice outside today I think I will have my lunch on the deck. I am almost finished with planting all my plants on it and cannot wait for the warm weather to finally get here!! Can anyone say Summer!! yippie!

Okay back to work.

Ellen