funny birds + metal + week 1 of the MATS Home Decor Class

June 29, 2015

Hello! I've been pulling some late nights recently for the MATS Home Decor class I am taking, which is taught by two amazing ladies... Margo Tantau (vp of creative at midwest-cbk) & Lilla Rogers (art agent extraordinaire). The class teaches us about creating collections using 5 of the main substrates used for the Home Decor market. (They are metal, fabric, wood, ceramic & glass.) We were also given some excellent trend boards to choose from for the duration of the class. I chose one with a more muted palette for a change + a challenge. :)

For our first week we were to focus on metal and "birds" were to be our inspiration / assignment. Initially, I started sketching offline and digitally...

and then i made a big giant mess of painting and monoprints... this one is one of my favoritess...

And then I sought to combine my drawings and prints... And i quickly realized that i had 2 styles going on. One which skewed towards kids/adult kids and another which was quieter, moodier and so I ended up splitting it into 2 collections.

The funkier one...

and then a more subtle upscale / adult collection...

I was really torn which way to finish. (Since in the end, i could only finish up one to submit for a "final.") In the class/community facebook group (another bonus with the class!) each board had its "fans" so to speak but i felt like the adult one was getting more comments.

I ended up working quite a bit more on the wall art and creating a horizontal scene of majestic herons and flying swallows. I used metallic bronze ink and scanned in some branched from my home which had been blown down by a harsh rain storm the night before.

Below is my final piece. In the end, i loved some of my quirky birds - especially the guy on the clock - so I included them as a smaller, perhaps secondary collection.

I am LOVING this class and how it is making me think about the home decor market. There is so much possibility. And all I want to do is go to this store (Abode) in the UK, or to Terrain - which is only 30 min away...

And on we go to week no. 2... fabric!

more MATS craziness!

April 7, 2014

So - i enrolled AGAIN for another round of Lilla Rogers Make art that Sells. I couldn't pass up another chance to create some fabulous pieces of art.

Here is what I created for week one - Bolt Fabric. Topic was Tropical Fruit and Pyrex/Vintage casserole dishes.

Artwork by Barb Chotiner - Available for licensing - Making Art that Sells - Week 1 - #MATS — Artwork by Barb Chotiner - Available for licensing - Making Art that Sells - Week 1 - #MATS

After I completed the above... I went ahead and created these fun little tea towel mock ups.

My DREAM would be to have these licensed and created placed in a store - OR - to be printed on a fabric where crafty gals (& guys) could sew their own fabulous things. Even my husband (not typically a pattern man) loved them.

MATS Bootcamp March: Jello Molds

March 25, 2014

The theme for the latest Lilla Rogers Bootcamp, was Jello and Jello Molds! (Just google Jello Molds and you will find some very umm... interesting things!) I wanted to get back to creating some prints and drawings and ended up a bit abstract this month. I did some sketching, inking, some printmaking and ended up in Photoshop. A classmate whose work i LOVE said she could see it on a table cloth at Crate and Barrel. Oh to dream!

See the entire gallery of 400 + interpretations of Jello here ! (I made page 4 this month.)

Have I mentioned my new work is available for licensing and I am available for commissioned work?

If you want to see a little bit of the process of how I got here, please scroll down...

pencil sketches for Making Art that Sells Bootcamp - March 2014 - Jello - by Barb Chotiner

more pencil sketches for Making Art that Sells Bootcamp - March 2014 - Jello - by Barb Chotiner

mono prints created for Making Art that Sells Bootcamp - March 2014 - Jello - by Barb Chotiner

MATS Bootcamp February: Cuckoo Cuckoo

February 24, 2014

If you have read my blog, you will find that last year I was a very enthusiastic student of Lilla Rogers' Making Art the Sells class. I made some amazing art works in two different 5 week sessions. Well, Lilla is back. And this time it's with an assignment "Bootcamp".

Bootcamp is six months of 5 different projects. Each month brings a new assignment. The February assignment/theme was cuckoo clocks. We were then to present our final artwork as a design for an iPhone case. You should see the AMAZING designs that people have created. (And on Feb. 25 you will be able to see - as there will be a live gallery with all the 400+ participants. Looks like mine is on page 5!)

This month in particular has been a very busy one (for me) with work assignments, deadlines, power outages, snow storms, school closings, babysitters quitting via text message, interviewing new babysitters, planning my daughters 3rd birthday party, and new clients (yay!). That being said, I did not get to spend a great deal of time on my "homework." I did however end up with a piece thats a bit different than my usual take on things and I really am pleasantly surprised with the finished piece. I wish I could work at 1 PM the way I work at 1 AM.

Its is not a typical cuckoo clock. At the time of the assignment I was reading and then inspired by this article in New York Magazine about the photographer Andrew Garn who photographed 5,000 pigeons. The photographs were breathtaking and beautiful. My pigeons are a bit more rustic. New York City is my first love and I decided to make a sketchy "cuckoo" themed homage to my old hometown...