Works on Paper 7 at Blue Shop Gallery

I’m delighted to have four of my original ink drawings included in Blue Shop Gallery’s Works on Paper 7. Ocki, owner of Blue Shop Gallery is committed to helping artists grow by keeping open calls free to enter. I entered the Works on Paper open call earlier this year (my second time applying) and was absolutely astounded to receive an email saying that my work had been accepted.

It’s a real privilege to have my work alongside artists who I admire greatly, including Orla Kane, Camilla Skye, Catrin Llwyd, Tom Scotcher, Louise Pettifer and Toby Wills-Hart (among many many others).

“Walking in forests and being surrounded by trees has always been a contradictory experience for me, I crave the stillness of the woods and the quiet of nature and yet an expansive forest environment can also feel quite foreboding, as if something could be lurking out of sight. In my drawings I'm seeking to represent woodland landscapes, my particular focus is on the light and dark, texture and detail. How woodlands are magical, beautiful, isolating and lonely places all at once. I utilise a process of layering ink and water, allowing the ink to create marks and textures which become integral to the work. I scrub away at the drawing and then use a fine brush to draw in branches, leaves and tiny twigs. The scale is purposefully small, to draw the viewer in and to create an intimacy, the drawings are like little jewels, reminiscent of collectable playing cards, each offering their own woodland impression.”

Among the Trees Exhibition

Some time ago my friend, sculptor Patrick Bull who I’d known since university asked if I’d like to exhibit with him in Marlborough, his hometown. He had a venue lined up, the historic 17th century Merchant’s House on the high street. We visited the venue, I was blown away by the room that we were to have our work displayed in - the most original room in the house dating from 1653; The Panelled Chamber. The walls are solid oak panelling with portraits by Mary Beale adorning the walls. Old bureaus sit atop tables and chests, the floor resembled a lapping sea in some places, an oak wave frozen in time. I wondered how I’d display my work as for obvious reasons nothing could be hung. We brainstormed and decided to utilise painted boards and easels to hang my work on, Patrick would use the furniture to display his bronze sculptures.

Set up day came around and we spent hours working out how to curate the room. First it felt like we didn’t have enough work, then we were worried about it looking cluttered. Then, once we’d borrowed some table top easels and furniture from elsewhere in the house to use it suddenly all came together.

The private view was well attended and much to our relief one couple bought a drawing of mine; Cathedral and a bronze resin robin by Patrick within the first 30 minutes.

The next day was exhibition day. I started the day invigilating with Karolinka, Patrick’s wife who had been such a help in preparing for the show by printing our labels and making us dinner before the private view! The day flew past, I had a drawing on the go but was interrupted often by visitors wanting a chat which was so welcome. It felt so special to be in the Panelled Chamber all day, with access to a few places that the general public aren’t privy to. This was the first exhibition to be held at The Merchant’s House and we were told that our free to attend exhibition attracted more paying customers to the house and museum. The exhibition was so successful in the staffs eyes that going forward they are looking to hold an art exhibition every month!

The exhibition had felt a little stressful, mostly because both Patrick and I have families (two children each) and other jobs to do but I’m so glad we got to show our work together. I think my woodland inspired drawings and Patrick’s bronze birds worked so well together and made for a coherent and interesting exhibition.

Hopefully we will get to exhibit together again in the future. Thank you, Patrick for the opportunity and to all the staff and volunteers at The Merchant’s House.

What’s It Worth?

Well, it’s been a while! I’ve just come out of ‘maternity leave’ with my daughter. A period of several months where my online shop has been closed, I haven’t written a blog post or sent a newsletter, I haven’t posted on my art focused Instagram account or Facebook page and the only tweets I’ve written are ‘good morning’ ones or the occasional ‘from the archive’ with old work attached. It’s felt very strange to not have my business running in the background of family life but has also felt extremely freeing. I’ve still been thinking about art and my work, I don’t think an artists mind ever really takes a break, but not having to do all the admin that being a self employed artist encompasses, well that has been great.

My daughter is a few days shy of eight months old now and I’ve been so excited to return to work, I’m so lucky that I can fit being an artist around being a parent. Although it doesn’t pay all that much it does give me something to focus on besides being a mother and helps me to feel a little bit like myself pre-children.

While being on ‘maternity leave’ I’ve had some thoughts about my work, more specifically the money side of things, how much I value my work and how much I charge for it. Last year I was invited to take part in an exhibition at a gallery on the outskirts of the Forest of Dean, I agreed with the knowledge that the exhibition wouldn’t be until autumn 2023 so I’d have enough time to make a new body of work for it. One of the discussions that I had with the gallery owner was about pricing. The gallery owner was concerned at my low pricing and urged me to rethink how much I charge, encouraging me to charge more. Words that rung in my head were “it is essential that you don’t let your own feelings around price hold you back - far better to sell less but at prices that pay you properly for your time, skill and training”.

For the past several years I’ve been charging between £120-150 for my detailed woodland drawings, works that although small take a lot of time to make. From the research trips to woodlands (including annual visits to the Forest of Dean, my favourite subject) to take photographs, to paper prepping, to the actual drawing; composing, mark making. The years of trial and error, the money and time spent on two art degrees. £150 for a drawing which once framed I would usually charge £200 for doesn’t pay me very much at all for my time, skill and experience. If a £200 framed drawing is sold at a gallery with a standard 40% commission rate then I’d make £120 - take off approximately £50 for the frame and I take home £70. £70 for a piece that I put so much of my time and effort in to. It’s quite heartbreaking really.

I always worried about charging more, and it probably all has something to do with lack of confidence and my background - raised by a single parent on a low income, from a working class family. It feels uncomfortable for me to command big prices for my work, drumming up feelings of ‘who do I think I am’ and ‘your work isn’t good enough to merit that kind of money’. But it’s got to the point where I’d rather price my work higher and only make the odd sale but feel happy with the price than price low, perhaps sell more but feel like I’m underselling myself and undervaluing my work. Although I do make my living from selling my work I’m going to explore other revenue streams in order to take the pressure off of selling originals and the temptation to lower my prices whenever I hit a sales drought.

It feels very vulnerable to write out my thoughts here, and my worry is that people think I’m being greedy or asking too much. I have to put my own self doubt to the side and have a little faith, faith that there are still people out there willing to pay the right price for my work, faith in my abilities and myself.

With this in mind I have chosen to increase the prices on my original work going forward. I will still be offering high quality giclée prints of selected drawings at affordable prices as it is important to me that prints remain within reach of the majority.

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