Hello dear friend!
Today, I am sharing a little update on my Botanical Alphabet project I am working on this summer and a little general studio update too!
This podcast is Episode #14 on the listening list.
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Welcome to A Creative Connection with Nature and this little corner of mine in the online world with me, Louise Gale.
I am a Mixed Media Artist and most of my time here will be spent sharing the little creative ways I weave nature into my art practice. I will also be exploring and sharing little snippets of inspiration for you to explore your own.
Read the full blog post at louisegale.substack.com
Download your FREE August Coloring page here This is from last August.
So how was your July? I have been back in the UK for almost a month and I am lovely and settled into my garden art studio at the bottom of my mums garden on the outskirts of south east London. It really is like a little oasis here. Although we are situated in a thriving area, we are so fortunate to enjoy a peaceful garden space at the back of the house with no houses overlooking us or tall buildings. A road that is quiet with very little traffic. It really does feel like I am in the country a little when I am in the studio.
My studio garden is flourishing with wild flowers, huge sunflowers and the startup veggie garden is doing so well. We have an abundance of tomatoes and kale, with some other veggies such as peppers, chilies, squash and peas on their way!
This weekend, my boyfriend is here and we have plans to build the rest of the raised beds and get the winter veggies in such as carrots, cauliflowers, beets and some Chinese vegetables that I am going to give a try!
If you missed my garden studio update, I posted 2 parts on my ‘From the Studio updates’ Playlist here:
My days are quiet and contemplative and I am loving every moment. Morning coffee out in the garden, observing and picking blackberries and tomatoes. Sunny mornings in the studio planning the day of creativity and working on my current project - which is a Botanical Alphabet.
A lovely way to keep showing up to my art table but also a wonderful way to deepen my connection with nature as I work on each letter of the alphabet and thinking of which flower to use!
If you have been following me on socials, you will have seen some progress on the letters and I am almost half way! Below are two little updates I posted on Youtube in the last 2 weeks, so if you missed those and would like to see, click play below.
Working on a daily project such as this has huge benefits, but also its challenges too! I have always used daily projects to kick start my own creativity and often, they have morphed into bigger projects that become amazing offerings such as books, a new series of paintings or…. this time, its motivating me to re-open my online art shop to offer prints and gifts!
Something I have been thinking about now I have my studio in the UK (as the postal system in England is ALOT easier to navigate than the one in Spain!) I used to have an online shop when I lived in the US. I also sold paintings, cards and prints at art markets in those days too. But when I left the States to live in Spain, it was a whole different terrain, so I closed the online shop for many years.
I am so happy to be opening one again and my Botanical Hand Gilded Letters will be the first items listed over the coming months as I create them.
This series is a happy combination of letters, botanicals and gold! I was experimenting with gold leaf when I was in my studio in Spain in June (I found a stash when tidying up my art cupboards!) so this got my thinking about adding real gold leaf to my art work. So after finding out about application tools and the process from a calligraphy course on Domestika and a few youtube videos, I went all in to learn the art of applying the gold leaf.
I started off by drawing out the flowers or using the references from my Drawing Botanical Blooms book and other drawings I had, then working out how I would place them with the letters. The flowers are hand painted and I have been scanning them into my computer to place onto the letters and tidy them up a little once painted and some elements erased as I wrap them or help them fit onto the font itself.
Some of the flowers are so small, that the watercolour spilled over the lines on some occasions! Like the F for Forget me not below! You can see how small they are and getting to the details was a challenge!
This project is definitely the driving force for getting my act together as so to speak and I am absolutely loving creating these letters and working through the alphabet. At first, I thought they would just be another additional offering in my shop, but I am now going in a direction to offer more personalised art and gifts. Another example of how new opportunities can arise when working on a daily project such as this!
I have always loved monogram gifts and over the last few years, I have sought after handmade offerings that have monograms on to gift to friends and family.
Example of a Monogram mandala. Gilding the alphabet so a letter can be chosen to monogram a piece of art or botanical mandala.
Then as I was planning birthday gifts for two friends this year, I had the idea of creating my own monogram presents somehow using my botanical art and the monogram. I didn’t quite get my ducks in a row for my first friend, so I gifted her an original piece of art instead. For my friend who is 50 this weekend, I have created a gilded letter for her with her favourite flower! I will share this on socials next week as I don’t want to spoil the surprise for her!
So going through this process of creating a personalised gift for my friend, it really made me think about how lovely it is to offer personalised art for others to gift themselves or a loved one. So this is what I am going to be working towards for my online shop.
THEN! I received a request to create a gilded gift for someone’s special birthday and this time I added the name below. So this is definitely something I would love to offer too.
Below is the finished print that was framed, ready for gifting.
Getting the lettering added was tricky, but I used a new ink pen to write, which you can see me drawing with in this video here (image below). I am going to practice with this more!
So… the big news is that I have quietly opened the shop HERE, adding one listing a day as I move through the alphabet and this creative project. I plan on sharing the news next week on socials once there is more there to see!
You are the first to officially know the shop is opening and to celebrate I have 20% off all the new items I am listing. So if you think these may be something you would be interested in to gift to a friend or family member, I am so happy to start offering these!
I decided to go back to Etsy as a starting point, so I will see how that goes.
I am also going to be offering more personalisation on my artworks and Botanical Letters, so adding a name, birth date, anniversary and so on. These will be available in a few weeks, but I am taking requests so please let me know if you are in need of a special gift for a birthday, anniversary or wedding!
I am also offering non gilded prints of the letters too. These are all archival prints so Giclee quality that last for over 100 years!
Here is an example of the colored version of the letter I will be offering.
So there we are! A new era begins and it feels like those early days, almost 20 years ago when I started to think about offering prints and small artworks for sale. I loved creating for my online shop then and am excited to be back offering more custom handmade items for sale. I will slowly adding artwork to the shop also.
I hope to have the full series completed by the end of August.
I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on the Botanical Alphabet project and which letter do you love so far? Or… are you eagerly awaiting a letter to be created for YOUR name?
I would also love to hear what you think about re-opening an online shop again. Do you sell your art or handmade items online also? I would love to know.
If you’ve read or listened this far, I want to let you know how grateful I am that you make space inside your inbox and day for my newsletters.
Thank you again for being a subscriber. Wishing you so much love and feel free to ask me any creative questions at all!
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