Sheffield Christmas Lights Craft Fair

Hi friends! 

I've had a busy weekend at the Sheffield Christmas Craft Fair. The market ran for 3 days, Friday to Sunday and it was a great success. I was selling a range of my mixed media canvases, handmade greeting cards, gift tags, bookmarks, printed greeting cards and Christmas decorations.

The gift tags were very popular which came as a bit of a surprise as they were kind of an after thought for me. I hadn't originally intended on creating and selling gift tags but when I seen the little teeny cards in the shop I thought they were just too cute to leave there and I knew I could do something with them. I never expected them to be so popular though! You can just never tell can you?

I wrapped some of my bookcase canvases up in cellophane wrap and tied it with jute twine. They looked really beautiful like this and it made them into a little "ready-made present" if you like...

Here I am all wrapped up. It was FREEZING! Who knew that standing around in the cold for 3 days could take it out of you so much?? I'll bring a hat the next time I think lol.

What do you think of the set up? I decided to go for an all white background to display my work because I thought it gave the colours a chance to really pop. Also, the bookcase was great at giving the table height and interest. And don't forget my little tree!! It lights up!!!! Lol, I am over the moon about that tree, I used it to hang the polymer clay Christmas decoration on. I haven't decided yet whether to leave them plain white or to paint some of them. I have to be honest and say that they weren't very popular. A lot of people stopped and looked at them but not as many purchases on them as I had expected. I am wondering if it might be because they aren't so colourful..... Do you think? Leave a comment and let me know. I'd appreciate it :)

I had so much fun last weekend and the lady who was selling beside me (gorgeous handmade jewellery and gemstones) was really sweet and friendly and we got on great for the whole weekend. We helped each other out, watched each others stalls if we needed to pop out etc. It makes a huge difference when the sellers beside you are friendly and nice.

I am doing it all again this weekend at Whirlow Farm Christmas Fayre. It is a two day event and apparently we are going to be in the Cow Barn! Lol! I doubt there will be any cows in there with us though. I'm a little disappointed about that actually lol!!

I'd love for you to leave a comment and let me know what you think about my stall, my set up, my products or anything else. I love feedback.

You can find out all the events that I will be selling at this Christmas on my website here.

Have a great Tuesday and I urge you to do something creative if you can!

Take care
Ciara
xoxo

Some Unseen Work

Hi all...

Yesterday I took down my exhibition "Awaken - art for the lost + found" (sad face). It's so strange having some of the work back here in my studio.
If you didn't manage to make it to the exhibition while it was up, here are a few pieces that haven't previously been photographed.

The exhibition was a great success, I had a few sales but the experience above all was amazing. In a way I am glad it is over now though. Time to move on to the next thing. God knows what is in store for me next.......

Ps. The above pieces are still available to purchase. Get in touch at ciaramcguireart@gmail.com

Take care

Ciara
xoxo

Exhibition "Awaken - art for the lost + found" and some {interesting} news...

Hi everyone!

Oh my goodness, where do I even start? Ok, as most of you know I had the opening night for my exhibition "Awaken - art for the lost + found" on Saturday evening in the Montgomery, Surrey Street.... it was AMAZING!!

It was part of a city wide event called Light Night which opened up spaces in the city to the public that would not normally be accessible (normally the Montgomery would be closed at this time for example) and used these spaces as a platform for artists of all kinds. The whole event was organised by Art in the Park. To find out more about what they do follow this link.

The days leading up to it I honestly wasn't sure if I could get everything done in time and there were a few moments that were cutting it fairly close to the bone, for example running out of ink in my home printer and having to rush to a printing shop to get 100 booklets printed about an hour before we were due to leave for the venue! But we got it all done, it all worked out in the end. I think when you just have faith and try to keep it together as much as possible it usually does come all right in the end.

I hung 16 pieces and they all looked really cute up against the spacious white walls I have to admit. The room was really pretty as well, it has a really high ceiling that is covered in intricate wallpaper and painted an Olive green shade. Obviously the wall are painted white and there are 3 enormous windows letting in light. They have 2 dormant fireplaces, one at either side of the room and an old piano sitting at one end looking regal and old timey.

We had tea and coffee and some other light refreshments available and we had some funky music playing too.  In fact we played music solely by "Dr. Herringbone Dread" all night. Lots of people really enjoyed that too. You should check him out, I think he is on Grooveshark.

I wore this:

The same dress I wore to my 21st!!
And himself and his brother ( who came up from London for the weekend) were looking smashing in their shirts and slacks.

I met so many interesting people on the night, people from all walks of life. I met a few fellow artists and we exchanged business cards. And then there were loads of people who were just there to enjoy my artwork. This is a dream come true to me. Every time someone made the effort to come up to me and compliment my work my heart just skipped a beat! And when they picked up on the positive messages in particular that made me extra happy because that is what the whole exhibition is centred around.

I had a little table with my exhibition booklets on it and I also had a newsletter sign up sheet set out on the table for people to leave their email information because I am planning on starting an artist newsletter shortly that I will send out monthly. It will contain information about my upcoming events/exhibitions, behind the scenes studio processes and other interesting articles. If you would like to sign up for the newsletter you can email me at ciaramcguireart@gmail.com. 

Afterwards we went out for drink and dinner at Nandos with the arts director of the venue and her husband and another artist who was running an art workshop upstairs in the same building. We had a great time but I could only last a few hours, by about 2am I was ready for home + fluffy pjs but we ended up staying up chatting till 4am. Needless to say, I was exhausted all day yesterday but it was good tired. I think I was finally able to relax and unwind and I ended up just crashing. The last few weeks I have been up to my eyeballs in work and trying to met deadlines and spending hours upon hours creating and running around to meetings etc so when yesterday came and it was finally all over I think my body just said "Ok, sleep time!" and did just that. I didn't wake up until 14.30!!! I was shocked when I seen the time. 

As a matter of fact, I am still fairly tired today. I spent the day at home because it rained all day, doing a little work but really not a whole lot. 

Tomorrow I am off to an art seminar in Leeds about marketing contemporary visual arts for the whole day. So that should be cool. I'm looking forward to it.

I also have some really great news that I don't think I have shared with you all yet have I? I am know the proud renter of my very own studio space!!!! Woohoo! This is a huge deal for me because it means that I will no longer be working from home all the time ( I might do a bit) and I can finally move out of my bedroom where really I have NO SPACE and I can "go to work" everyday. I feel like this will give me a more structured day as well, I won't have as many distractions around the house. So I will be moving in there this week sometime, more than likely on Wednesday. I will be sure to give you the grand tour!

So, first exhibition? Tick! What's next for me, who knows? But I am sure the future holds only good things for me and my art adventure.

You can see my exhibition  "Awaken - art for the lost + found" at the Montgomery, Surrey Street, Sheffield until the 28th October. Opening hours Mon to Fri 9-4, Tues 9-6.

I hope you all had a weekend as amazing as I did. Thanks for letting me share, talk soon

Blessings

Ciara

xoxo

Exhibition Details + Thursday {Treasury}

Hi everyone!

As I said in the last post, I am going to be putting on an exhibition of my art work soon and I want to take this time to give the full details.

The exhibition is called "Awaken" - art for the lost and found, an exhibition of my mixed media canvases and it will be held in The Montgomery Hall, Surrey Street, Sheffield, S1 2LG. The opening night is on the 7th of September and it is in association with Light Night which is a fantastic event that is being run by Art in the Park. Light Night is a city wide event that gives professional and emerging artists a platform to exhibit their art form. It runs from 4pm - 9.30pm and during that time there is a lot planned for the night already such as workshops, performances, showcases, exhibitions and much more. I am extremely excited to be part of it and I just CAN'T wait for the night to arrive, it's like Christmas for me!! lol!

The venue asked me to exhibit my work for 7 weeks in total so if you miss Light Night and can't make the opening night for any reason don't work, you have until the 28th of October to go and see my exhibition. The Montgomery Hall is open from 9am till 4pm Monday - Friday (unless there is some other event on of course)

I am over the moon, floating on air, thrilled to bits, whatever way you want to put it, about being asked to extend my exhibition longer than just the original date of  Light Night. Having my own art exhibition has always been a dream of mine, it is something that I dreamt about as a child even, a very young child. And now here it is, it is finally happening for me. Not everyone gets the opportunity to say "my life long dream has come true" I mean when I think about that for a minute I get emotional! It's a miracle! I am so so so lucky. I am lucky but I did work hard for it and I still work hard for it, I have a lot of work to do leading up to the night of course. I put myself out there and I think that is a brave thing to do as well so I am grateful that I have the strength and the courage to do that, to follow my dreams. That is what I mean by luck I think.

So anyway, I hope you all get to come to the opening night (did I mention you are all invited) I will be there and so you may have the opportunity to ask me any questions you have about the artwork or anything else about my creative process/journey you would like to know. There will probably be refreshments etc, you know the drill. Hope to see you there!

On another note, it's time for Thursday Treasury...

You know the colours of Neapolitan ice cream? Well those colours are the essence of those gorgeous, fluffy colours. If colours were tangible, these colours would be clouds, or at the very least candy floss. This treasury is a last attempt to celebrate the beauty of Summer before the seasons change again.

You can find out all you need to know about this treasury here which includes the relevant shops and sellers.
My inspiration for this treasury came from a photo in a home decor magazine that I like to flick through every now and then. Of course I cut it out and stuck it in my colour inspiration journal.

I hope you enjoy this treasury and perhaps are inspired by it in some way. If so, do share with me what you end up creating, you know I love to see what others get up to.

Thanks once again for letting me share this events and little goings-ons in my life with you.
I'll be back soon.

Take care

Ciara
xoxo

Good Monday Morning

 Monday again, start of a new week, a fresh start for us all...I am gonna be SUPER busy this week (and the next) because I can finally announce that I will be putting on my first solo exhibition on the 7th September!! It's called "Awaken - art for the lost and found" and it is being held at The Montgomery Hall, Surrey Street, Sheffield but I will write up a separate blog post with all the information later this week. But for now...I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!! I just want to squeal!!
But obviously that also means I have a LOT of work to do in between now and then. I have been working a lot in my journals lately, getting prepared for the big day.

As always, I find that my journals really help to get the creative process going and also helps me to clear my mind of all the fuss and then after I complete a page or 2, I can get down to business.

However, it's not all work around here, I did get some time to relax this weekend, and boy did I relax lol! As a matter of fact apart from doing a shift in the pub on Saturday night, relaxing is pretty much all I did this weekend!! We ate yummy food including an amazing Crock Pot dessert I found a recipe for on Pinterest (my two best friends of course, Crock Pot + Pinterest)

pinterest

Have you tried it? I urge you to! Mine didn't quite turn out like that, mine was all brown like chocolate when it came out, and it wasn't really like cookie-ish (if you know what I mean) it was more cake like but it was still amazing and topped with vanilla ice cream it made the perfect accompaniment to Training Day. Nothing wrong with a bit of Denzel and a chocolate dessert on a Sunday evening, what do you say? Lol! 

I also got around to doing a bit more of a crochet blanket I have been working on too

Nearly there now! Won't be long till I will be snuggling up with that on a winter's night :) Anyway as we both know, I really REALLY need to get to work now. Thanks for letting me share, I hope you all had a nice, relaxing weekend and have a great, productive, successful Monday because I know I will.

Blessings,

Ciara

xoxo