New pieces and old news, an update

New pieces and an update in the new year.

Before Christmas I released a new line that was more classic than my previous collections for Studio METHOD(E), the Circus 2014 line. Well, it was a huge hit, I was very surprised, people seemed to  really be drawn to the gold leaf detailing and the simple colours.

I only participated in two small sales this year. One was Salon Nouveau Genre which was held once again at Église St Jean Baptiste and the other was la Salon d’artisanat actual at Regart, centre d’artistes en art actuel in Lévis. It was a quiet but nice day at Regart, the atmosphere was great and very welcoming. I met a lot of great artists and artisans who were selling there as well. SNG us a different kind of beast with over 100 vendors and located in a busy part of Quebec City it was non stop all day. It is the fourth time I have participated in this sale, it is great to have return customers and to see vendors from previous years. I was surprised this year by winning a grant from Ketto Design, I was chosen as their artist “coup de Coeur” and awarded $1000. Thank you!

I am still rolling out some of the small pieces I made for the Christmas sales. I have some left over rings and necklaces that will be selling for very low prices once they hit my etsy store.

I have been working away at a couple of other projects. I am finally busy making my high end compliment line to the 2014 line that was released in November. I always make a small series of larger pieces fir every line, it is usually the starting point, all my production designs are derived from the larger pieces. This time it is the opposite and I am making the larger pieces after the production line, though the designs were prepared before. Here are some pictures of pieces in progress.

I am laying out the designs which I then photograph and print to use as references as the piece is built, though there is always space for change. There are some examples of some layouts I was working with in a previous post.

I am also working on a large necklace made from paper that I will update about soon. It is a personal project. I love having personal projects on the side because there is no pressure, there are no deadlines or price points to meet. I also really like working with paper because I can work at home, I can spend a lot of time with my sketchbook drawing and it is such a different material than metal.

Finally, I live in Québec where it is cold. I always find this time of the year the most difficult, the after Christmas slump and I have been working in the studio far less than normal. Also, this winter is harsher than usual with long periods of very low temperatures, generally around -20 to -25 with a wind chill that has gotten to -39. It is normal here to get temperatures like that, but since I have lived here I have not experienced those temperatures for such long periods and I’m starting to feel like I will never be warm again. With the cold temperatures we haven’t gotten that much snow at least. it is hard to be motivated to leave the house (especially for a studio that can be a little chilly)  so I took it pretty easy the first couple of weeks of the new year and I am just lately getting back into the swing of things. Here are a couple photos from a day with strange light. One is the St Charles river which is very close to my house, the other is the École de Cirque and is taken from my balcony.