Little video clip from last weekend.

May 15th and 16th Show. from Sarah Anne DiNardo on Vimeo.

Here is a little clip from last weekend, sorry so delayed!

Just a little idea of how things looked for the first run through, I have already made changes for this weekend coming up!

Love and Light,

Sarah Anne.

Work in Progress.

Looked back on some of my previous work I have posted and realized I have never put up a work in progress with my tape.

At my last show I had some inquiries about my larger pieces contained by the antique typographer drawers. They are beautiful focal pieces of a room, especially over a mantle (with that extreme light source, to die for!) While I love doing my tape in all shapes and sizes, the larger more expensive price points I have the most fun with.

I still have some work to do, with some smaller rolls to create the illusion of denser areas. Also to really give a strong feeling of motion and weight.

 I was laughing to myself as I was doing this project today with the intentions of documenting it, because of my difficulty focusing on ANYTHING ELSE once I begin a project. 

As I laid the first five rolls down I had to make a conscious effort to keep stopping and taking a picture of my progression. There is something about these forms, these shadows and the attention to space and distribution that is so attractive to me I just get lost in the piece.

Probably another few hours left in her until completion.

Off to Providence for date night :)

Love and Light,

Sarah Anne.

Publication Inquiry.

How exciting!!

After my SOWA show last weekend, the Cloth Paper Scissors magazine contacted me about some publicity.

They loved with they saw, and they would love to do an article about me and my artwork in their "On the Radar" Section for their September/October Issue.

This is their May/June issue.

Cloth Paper Scissors is sold in all major craft stores such as Michaels, JoAnne fabrics and AC Moore as well as online.

SO EXCITED! I'll keep you posted on where this goes.

Love and Light,

Sarah Anne.

Final Submitted Providence Monthly Illustration.

So here is the final submitted illustration.

Just sent in the final and also asked for a contact about some publicity for my summer shows. I'm excited to hear back and also for the possibility of more illustrations in the future.

I'll keep you posted on how all of it pans out and I'll also post the final spread once it hits the press! So exciting!

Love and Light,

Sarah Anne.

Illustration for Providence Monthly.

In the state of Rhode Island, we are lucky enough to have a few free publications that are disbursed throughout the state to promote all local establishments/businesses/artists, all of the above.

I had been sending my stuff to the Providence Monthly publication, along with SO Rhode Island Magazine hoping to get some work.

My persistence finally paid off.

The illustration is for the rebirth of tinctures and bitters (popular additions to alcoholic beverages both for favor and medicinal purposes during the prohibition), and it's recent popularity. While the illustration is only 4x5 inches in their next edition, I consider it a success and an act of fate.

Although the sketch is nothing glamourous, I hope that this experience leads to further jobs with these wonderful publications.

The final color version is due tomorrow at 5PM. If I'm feeling gutsy enough, I might suggest the idea of covering my shows to the assistant art director. Publicity, publicity, publicity! Wish me luck!

Love and Light,

Sarah Anne.

A Glimpse of SOWA May 15th, 16th.

What a great weekend.

I'm exhausted, but now a day removed from the chaos, I can say it was truly wonderful.

Thank you to all of my friends and family that came to support, and thank you to all of my new friends I was blessed enough to meet this weekend.

So here it is! (Sorry about he quality of the photo). Hopefully the others help.

Closer shot of the booth. I LOVE how the sign came out. Also on the sides hanging, you can see all of the fireflies zipping around in the wind.

Some close ups of the display.

The girls.

Special thank you this weekend to Evan, my parents, and my family (Auntie Tracy, Auntie Darlene). Without you guys this wouldn't have been possible. Thanks for talking me off the cliff many times last week.

Never did I think I would have the guts to get out there and show my stuff like I did this weekend, but because of all of your love and support, I found the strength.

Also, I had a surprise guest come visit me.

A fellow Syracuse Illustration 2009 graduate Nishan Patel came by to say hello, give his support and also give me a copy of his first illustrated children's book! 23 and published. I'm impressed. Here is his WORK, truly a wonderful human being and an amazing friend.

Love and Light,

Sarah Anne.

Some Show Preparations.

After I got accepted to my summer shows, I notice on every application the EMPHASIS on weights for your tent. You are not allowed to even set up or participate in the show unless you have a 40 lbs weight attached to each leg of your tent.

Before I attended my first weekend, I thought this rule was annoying and inconvenient. I have to carry around an extra 160 lbs to all of my shows? Lame.

But then came the wind. 

At the SOWA show this weekend, the wind was so tough, I was so appreciative of the fact that they made you build weights. The way the tents are built, they would act exactly like a kite without the weights. I guess last year in Providence, before this rule was enforced, someone's tent actually punched through a windshield of a car after a strong gust of wind.

As you can see, the directions were to fill PVC piping with concrete and then attach hardware to make them portable and hang-able.  

Below are two chemicals that were used to both prime and bond the cap to the piping so that the concrete wouldn't affect the binding.

I'm sure many of you have never seen these bottles, because neither have I. Evan my boyfriend was the mastermind behind this operation, and apparently he had made enough potato guns in his lifetime to know exactly how to build and use these chemicals. Silly.

Here is the hardware used on top to attach to the tents. Once the cement was poured, these were hammered down around the top and bonded into place.

The smaller image is once they were filled, capped and bonded. And to the larger image are all four completed and flipped upside down to ensure the drying of the cement.

Glad that was over with, and REALLY glad I had them during the show. Thanks Evan.

Love and Light,

Sarah Anne.

Inventory for May 15th, 16th shows.

PHEW! 

Now THAT was a crazy week.

Sorry I've been so out of touch, but between preparing, cutting, gluing, packing, stubbing, rolling and all the other various things I do, I just had no time to post these amazing pictures.

It's truly wonderful for me to be able to see all of this product that was completed for you, and know that I loved every minute of it. I love what I do.

First are sets of 5 of some of the inventory of flowers I created for the show.

I have about 30 remaining from the existing 40, and I am going to post them on Etsy later today.

They are created with vintage buttons hand selected from local antique dealers in the Rhode Island area. So happy I found a use for all those buttons I had been collecting over the years, it was getting a little ridiculous!

Set 1-5

Set 6-10

Set 11-15

Set 16-20

Set 21-25

Set 26-30

Next was my snowflake series.

On the back of each box I had this inscription describing the purpose of this 15 piece idea.

"Scientist W.A Bentley, who dedicated his life to discover a way to take pictures of solitary snowflakes before melting, inspired this 15 piece series. Over decades of study, he did indeed prove that there are no two snowflakes alike.

In this series, I wanted to show the versatility of one roll of tape, similar to the complexity of the snowflakes. Each box is filled with a tape sculpture that is unique and one of a kind, 

just like you."

Here are the existing 8, although 4 were sold during this past weekend.

My "Abacus" box, SOLD.

"Divided" for sale.

"Third times a Charm" SOLD.

"Black Box" SOLD.

"Tall Three" SOLD.

So here is a minor update, more to come today. I guess they were right when they say success comes in waves, because I am riding one right now!

Love and Light,

Sarah Anne.

Practice Set up for NEXT WEEK!

Step One:

Finally putting together all of the junk I have been collecting the past month to see what I have, and what I need.

As you can see, I have a lot of very unique pieces to display my work which I really believe will set me apart from a lot of other vendors during my shows.

One of the biggest short comings I saw while observing other vendors throughout the years was the display. I understand the concept of "less is more" but sometimes the barren tables and minimalist displays just appear lazy and boring. This is every artists chance to show personality not only in their handmade products, but also what surrounds them. You have to remember to just have some fun with it!

Below are the bare bones of the set up (minus the car in the background of course). 

At first when I began today I only had three tables, but I thought there wasn't enough room for a functional space. Now with the additional table, it not only provides the customers with more room to explore and breathe, but also more room for me to keep an eye on what is going on in my space. From experience, there is nothing worse than having someone breathing down your neck while you are trying to observe someone's creations! (I'm a big fan and acknowledger of personal space). Also if you can see to the far left and right of the tables, there is about a foot of moving space for me and my workers to be able to move to further interact with customers.

Although not displayed on today's post, on both right and left far walls is where the fireflies will hang out during the shows. They will be attached to a clothes line by clothes pins, vary in size and heights, and hopefully by attaching them this way will be easy to put them up and down.

WORD TO THE WISE:

Always use the stick grip under your tablecloths when setting up your display.

Even though I have never done a show before, I can only imagine with the interaction of customers bumping, pushing and pulling on the cloth accidentally what can happen to the product. Also the element of the weather, you never know if the wind is going to be your friend of foe. A small precaution I suppose.

Step 2: Putting down the cloth and display elements.

This part of my journey was when I finally started to see everything come together. It was so wonderful to see everything interacting with one another and at the same time, working! As you can see I wanted to add a lot of height over to the right hand side with the planter because on the opposite side is where I will be working the register. 

I also thought it would be smart to place my greeting card holder right by the register for a last minute addition to any purchase, also my promotional items. I'm going to offer the deal if you buy three fireflies you get a greeting card free, if you like the greeting card all on it's own they will run $5 a piece.

                    

"AHHH! Oh my goodness! Here it is!!"

(Me screaming and running around the driveway, affirming all watching family members at that moment I had just lost my mind.)

What a relief. Everything is seeming to come together. Everything seems like it works, looks good together and most importantly, I believe it is a great reflection of who I am and what I do.

Boo-yah.

Here are some close ups of everything minus the fleet of fireflies I've been cranking out.

ALSO: All of the picture frames will be filled with signs for prices and illustrations (displayed on a previous post). Not the creepy little kids they came with.

Don't worry.

What a day.

After it was all set up, I took a moment for myself.

What a journey this has been for me. Sometimes we all move too fast, and focus on everything we don't do and our many short comings (guilty).

But if my whole logo and brand of my company is the spread the light and to lighten up, I decided to sit and just observe something beautiful that I created.

What a gift. What a blessing.

Such a wonderful feeling.

As I sat, I decided to sketch how I saw my display..

That's enough for today. Time to turn off my brain and get ready for a productive day tomorrow.

Hope you enjoyed the display thus far. 

My next step. Pricing. Ugh.

Happy Friday!

Love and Light,

Sarah Anne.

HERE IT IS, The summer calendar!

Here it is everyone! It's 8.5x11 also, perfect for printing and putting where ever your heart may desire. Hope to see you there!

Love and Light,

Sarah Anne.

Tape Sculptures, The Fabric Series.

Tape, Tape and MORE tape.

For all of you wondering out there, no I no longer have finger prints. They have officially been rolled off.

So here are my most recent explorations of tape.

Below was a very strong bee hive influence, using a thinner tape that usual.

3/4 of an inch vs. and inch.

It created much smaller, honey comb like rolls.

It will be sold at the shows for $70.

Next are two antique box explorations I completed this week. By always traveling to local consignment and antique stores, I'm always coming across interesting shapes to work inside of. I like the one to the right, I feel like the motif was successful and I plan to further that concept in other boxes. They both will run $40 a piece. 

And below are my pride and joys. The Fabric Series.

Only 8 completed so far, but they are floating tape sculptures boosted on top of vintage fabrics to add a small flare of color to these monochromatic beauties. 

They are truly stunning in person and they will be on sale at my upcoming shows.

They will run $60 a piece.

Been slacking on keeping this up to date. Now especially because my first show is MAY 15TH!!! I really have to get production moving full swing. I feel like I am in good shape but because I have never had a show before, I have no idea what position is "in good shape".

I'll have to keep you all posted on that.

Love and Light,

Sarah Anne.