Check out Amelia’s blog, where she provides updates on what she’s been up to and how things have been going for the Art Hermit!
The Pride stickers arrived and somehow I ordered the wrong size … again. I will not be ordering full size ones unless these ones sell out as I simply can’t afford that.
This year I made 4 new Pride Mushling ! We have Aroace, Lesbian, Pansexual and Genderfluid. Each one has its own little saying personalized to its Pride Flag. All of these are Dishwasher safe and weather resistant.
December was quite Low Key in regards to my business and a bit more busy in my personal life.
December 2nd I vended at the Sunday Market at the Royal on Baker St, I was pleasantly surprised that all of my items fit onto the table provided! My boyfriend helped me set up and at some point we were offered champagne which was quite exciting. There was a very nice selection of artisans and overall a very chill market. Conveniently this market occurred the same day as a few other markets so after we were all cleaned up we checked out the market at Strange Society Tattoos. https://www.instagram.com/strangesocietytattoos?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Then we hurried home to get changed as we were going to see Moontricks and the Penny Shades at the Spirit Bar that evening!
December 9th I vended at the Mount Sentinel Grad Fundraiser Market! My friend helped me set up and then about half way through my boyfriend came by and helped with the take down. There was a lot of really cool artisans, including someone I did a trade with! They make really cool rings https://www.instagram.com/missvelocity?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== .
At some point at the beginning of December I had made sort of an anti Christmas songs playlist that just got more cursed as it grew, and the great interwebs people enjoyed it so I put a piece of my art as the cover photo on Spotify with my website name hoping to gain a bit of traction…. It didn’t work. But here is the playlist anyways! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/53sMPBF1hAgxzdLkj68kJ5?si=znKkpWKLT8qpujljrnw_UA&pi=u-KdiyUeT-TeKp
On December 13th a Mug I commissioned from a Kelowna based artist came in! The mug turned out wonderfully! https://www.instagram.com/love_co.ceramics?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
It was certainly a busy month so lets go through the highlights!
On November 9th my bear magnets and stickers came in! The Milky Way Bear magnet turned out a lot smaller than I expected but the design is still beautiful and the Grizzly Family sticker looks awesome!
On November 11th Honey Suckle Crafts https://www.instagram.com/honeysuckle_craftss?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== and I collaborated for a giveaway that ended on December 1st. Everything in the giveaway was a valued at $130.00 !
Items that are included:
Original watercolour painting
Western Pasque Bookmark
5 assorted stickers
Crochet Chicken
Crochet Mushroom pop
Leaf earrings
In preparation of upcoming markets I took paper bags I had loose in my house and drew fun designs on them to be reused! I then forgot them at home…. But that just means I am extra prepared for my future markets.
On November 15th I completed a Commission! It’s a mix of Pokémon/ Magic the Gathering/ Naruto.
On November 16th my mom and I finally got around to taking nice pictures of my Seasons Greetings Cards!
November 19th I vended at the Royals Sunday Market https://www.theroyalnelson.com/events . This market I was up on the stage and I had enough space to have two tables set up and my easel! My boyfriend and friend helped me out and overall it was really fun!
November 21st I dropped by the Coop to leave some of my Milky Way Bears and Grizzly Family cards with The Ursa Project Society. They had a table set up as an info booth and to sell calendars, bags , cards and stickers.
On November 22nd I dropped off some books, cards, bookmarks, and stickers to https://www.asterandbliss.com/ on Consignment.
November 27th I sent some fan mail out! I found a really cool band called Lo & the High Road https://www.instagram.com/loandthehighroad?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== they have a song about Jackalopes so I messaged them and asked if I could send a Jackalope sticker!
This year I have eight card designs, five of which are from last year because I had lot’s of cards left over from last year. I have about the similar amount of cards with the exception of the Slug being the most popular last year and the Raccoons this year haven’t been touched yet!
I have new displays for the cards and while I will have a few pre made packs of cards in bundles of six and four. Most will be displayed as singles and I am letting my customers choose what they’d like in their bundles of six and four! (They all come with envelopes)
Which one is your favourite?
Just arrived hot of the press ✨ limited edition ✨
Inspired by the Ursa Project Society. $2.00 of each and every card is donated to the Ursa Project Society. You can get yours here on my website or at these upcoming markets:
November 19 at The Royal 12-4,
December 2 at The Royal 12-4,
December 9th at the Mount Sentinel craft fair,
December 16th at the Slocan Legions Hall.
The first card is the Grizzly Bear Family looking out over Nelson and the second card is a Brown Bear Family watching the Milky Way.
These designs can also be found as a sticker and magnet! The Grizzly Bear Family design is an in colour medium sticker and the Milky Way Bears design as a small magnet.
I recently purchased a Square Reader for contactless and chip transactions! I no longer have to turn away people and hope that they might use my business card for more than scrap paper in their bag. It was only about $75.00 and was very easy to set up! I chose to input all of my stock into the app which was quite time consuming but I wont have to resort back to a list for my prices. Overall I am quite happy with my purchase and I look forward to using it at my next market. (Nov 19th @The Royal 12-4pm).
Recently I made two quite special cards, I would assume when someone hears cards they think Christmas or birthday but these ones are different. I don’t express it often on my art accounts but I am a big fan of Pokémon and Magic the Gathering.
A little while ago I went to see Five Alarm Funk and their percussionist the last time I saw them live had a Diglet (Pokémon) head on so I designed a card for him! Seen below.
Very recently it was my friends birthday and we share a love for Magic the Gathering so I made a large slightly modified MTG creature card. Seen below.
I quite enjoyed making both of these and hope to make more in the future!
October was still quite busy but I had less markets… only 3!
Oct 7th I was a vendor at Cottonwood Falls Farmers Market and it was very very cold and it didn’t get sunny till about noon. This time I was closer to the entrance but that didn’t do much in terms of traffic for me sadly. There was a sweet older lady that really like my painting called 2 steps forward, 3 steps back, she even knew where to put it in her kitchen . If I didn’t need the money to pay for life so badly I honestly would’ve just given it to her. See below for images from Cottonwood Market.
Somewhere in the beginning of October, Urban Legends in Nelson took my book and some stickers, magnets, pins and keychains on consignment!
Oct 13th aka Friday the 13th , my order of books came in! I was in desperate need of more copies of Roadtrips and Rainbow Trout for the upcoming Christmas markets. They came in two boxes that mostly consisted of stuffing paper so behold my fancy paper scarf as I show off my books!
Oct 14th Cottonwood Falls Farmers Market, phase 1/2 of my new set up got put into gear. It was mostly spurred on by lack of engagement and a spontaneous trip to Walmart. I had two separate people buy stickers and instantly smack em on their water bottles. One of the people actually asked me to put the sticker on, so that was exciting. There was a very good band playing and I made a trade with Spirit Nests https://instagram.com/spiritnests?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA== some stickers for a chapstick. I also worked on one of my commissions for a little bit! See below images from Cottonwood Market.
Oct 28th the last Cottonwood Falls Farmer Market of the year. We had been relocated to the Chamber of Commerce parking lot but that was ok. There was also a bit of a Halloween theme so my BF and I decided to switch up the usual mushroom hat and we were ducks instead. I believe the blindingly bright yellow that we were both wearing equally scared people away and brought more people to us. We did a bit of the chicken dance and brought the Stronk Honk sticker to life then caused a bit of chaos after the market was done on Baker Street. Overall lots of laughter was had!
