Happy New Year… may 2012 be a wonderful year!

I thought I would start the year with a quick blog update, and some photos of some of my latest work… some of which were scattered amongst out Christmas decorations this year. Now as we delve into the depths of the west coast winter, it is definitely a nice time to be hunkered down in the studio. I am already seeing an increase in inquiries for early spring orders now that the holidays have come and gone.

Share on Facebook

So I suppose it has been a while since I freshened up Chalk It Up’s look… I decided it was time to recreate it! Stay tuned as I will also be revamping my website over the winter too.

Share on Facebook

Summer on Gabriola was a little short lived this year. The sun took its time coming up the coast and judging by the pouring rain today (and the fact that I have a fire going), it may just be on it’s way back south for fall. Last summer we headed out on the boat for 6 weeks where we closed up shop and took a break from the studio, but this year that didn’t happen. Adam got into painting on the boat. The bowsprit was off and the rig was disabled, so we spent our summer here on Gabriola. Still not a bad spot to be by any stretch of measure! I will admit, working in the studio all summer with the kids on holiday was a bit of a balancing act. We also started up another ‘side business’ called Island SUP…doing stand up paddle board rentals and lessons. It was slow starting up with the lack of real summer weather, but that was great. It got me out of the studio and out on the water when I needed an ocean fix!

Now, the weather however has cooled off, and I can see some leaves starting to get ready to drop. Autumn and Spring are easily the busiest times of year for Chalk sign work, and the orders are flying in. It is perfect as the kids are back to school so it means more time allowed in the studio to focus on and keep up with the orders!

Here is a selection of some of my latest projects… I picked them as they are a little different, and were fun to do!

Share on Facebook

This is a question I have never really thought about until a customer asked me that on the phone the other day. I have to admit, I was stumped and my reply was simply “Compared to WHOM?”. I have been so used to a lack of competition out there in the Chalk Sign world. Correction…not so much a lack of competition, but a lack of CONCERN for my competition since I have been consistently at my max capacity, or close to it that I don’t spend much time surfing the net for others out there. I have been just happy in my own little world keeping up with my own projects. I recently looked online and noticed that there are a few more that have popped up in the last few years (since I looked last anyway). Good on ya! In this world of screens and tacky digital menus (don’t even start me on those) popping up all over the place! We are all artists, and if we can make an honest buck creating useful ART then that is fantastic as there are many wonderful artists out there, who just can’t get the word out.

So, now that I see a few more artists out there I guess I do need to address that question. What makes me so UNIQUE? I suppose I COULD say something like, “I have 10+ years experience and over 950 custom chalk signs under my belt“, or “the artwork is completely water proof and long lasting so they can be used over and over, and shipped worldwide“, or even “because I can create a huge variety of styles of sign they can be used in so many different applications“, and “as designer I really want to make sure your sign looks really professional… even though it is hand created“. But honestly? There are plenty of reasons why my chalk signs are unique and stand out, but that is not why I am unique… I am unique because I am NOT a big business and I taught myself everything I know about chalk sign work. Through trial and error I found my method, and it works for me. I am a family person… a mom of two young kids, running the house, and my business. Our family of four is very tight, we work together and play together. I am a volunteer firefighter when I am not chalking, and an avid sailor and stand up paddler. I live simply, and care a great deal about the environment and the ocean. I tend to be rather private (so all this online updating is a struggle for me… but I am working on it) . I live on a small island of 4000 people on the West Coast of Canada and have managed to carve out a successful chalk sign business shipping my ‘functional’ artwork world wide. It is something so many artists dream about… I mean really, everyone is unique in their own way aren’t they?

Then there is my husband and right hand man. He frames all my signs for me and makes sure they get shipped off to where they need to go. He’s awesome! When he is not framing chalkboards, he is working on our sailboat which we hope to have ready to set sail off shore with in the next couple of years… hopefully our girls won’t mind!!! But in the meantime, we work this business and get these mass amounts of chalkboards out amongst some island inconveniences that most city folks aren’t familiar with! We manage and have a great deal of fun with it!

I never take for granted the fact that my husband and I can work together at home, be there for the kids when they are young, and support ourselves with my art… with society the way it is now I feel very happy to be a little different!

Share on Facebook

WE ARE MOVING! Yes, we will still be based on Gabriola Island… how on earth could we move off of this little paradise? Currently we are living AND working in 900 square feet… WITH children as well. It has been fine for the most part, a struggle at times when we are really busy and we basically have to move the living room over to work on chalkboards and vice versa!

But now we are REALLY excited… we are now relocating to a place with a nice big studio and oodles of shop space. Getting my work done will be so much more efficient and much faster too! We will be closing up shop here from the 28th of March to April 11th, so we can move and get the studio/shop set up again...

Again, here are some of my latest projects…

Share on Facebook

I suppose I have been a little ‘neglectful’ in my blog updating duties. I do tend to update flickr images quite regularly though so make sure you keep checking there! These boards here were done for a cafe in California… they are up on the wall in one long piece, but done in smaller parts for shipping. I absolutely love doing boards with bamboo, ocean themes, tropical flowers, and hues of blue… they just seem to stand out for me (perhaps because it is freezing outside, and I wish we were heading south this winter for a little vitamin D)! Anyone in Hawaii need a chalkboard done on site???

So I also broke down and started up a facebook page. I had one ages ago, but dumped my profile and lost my page. BUT, now I figured out I could have a page without needing to have a profile. So that being said, if you are into hand created funk-tional art…then LIKE US! (please of course)

3′ x 5′ unframed

3′ x 4′ unframed

3′ x 6′ unframed

Share on Facebook

Working on a vertical 4′ x 8′ is a little cumbersome in our tiny studio, but we managed to pull it off. However, there were a few title changes after the illustrations, and the tomatoes got missed. I changed them for a turnip and rutabaga after the fact (just in case you were wondering why the heck those tomatoes were in there)!

4′ x 8′ unframed

modification…

Share on Facebook

Drink eggnog.
Eat fruitcake.
Be Merry.
Take this time of year to SLOW DOWN and enjoy the company of family and friends!

Share on Facebook

I fell off the wagon a little as far as updating this blog. We spent the whole spring working at mock speeds getting massive amounts of chalkboards completed before we left on our trip. Adam was back and forth between the boat (getting her ready to go), and the shop cutting and framing signs. It was a crazy mess down there… chalkboards EVERYWHERE! Just before we left however, everything got finished. The studio and the shop emptied out, clients got their signs and we provisioned our boat, turned off the computer, packed up and headed north for 6 weeks of relaxing… spending some quality time with the family, unplugged from the world wide web world. It was funny actually, I brought so many things to DO while we were gone as I thought I would have all this time to do it. I suppose we were running on so much energy before we left that my brain was just buzzing… BUT, when all was said and done. I did NOTHING. Absolutely NOTHING. My sketchbook was untouched. My book was partly read. All my firefighting study materials remained closed. My guitar just kept getting moved out of the way. My beads and jewelry ‘stuff’ stayed packed in their little tackle box. It was lovely. Every time I had that moment to myself where I could delve into some activity, I just went up forward on deck, sat in my hammock and just watched the ocean and enjoyed thinking of nothing but the present. I highly recommend it. Since I have been back, I have slacked a little on the blog, and I quite my Facebook page (sorry to all of you who ‘liked’ me) and profile (sorry ‘friends’). I really enjoyed being unplugged and decided I was going to spend more of my free time (ha ha ha) doing just that, and getting back outside.

But… of course, this is my ‘work blog’ so no one wants to hear about me doing nothing. So…

Back in the saddle… or the studio I should say. I came home to a ridiculous amount of emails (the downfalls of staying off the grid for any length of time), and booked myself up again. It has been a little harder getting the same momentum back, but autumn is generally a really busy month for ‘home life’ as well. Kids start school again, so there is that adjustment there. Adam has been back and forth to Victoria for work there as well as helping me here (luckily I haven’t had too many ‘framed’ signs at the moment). All the firefighting training courses take place in the fall (just went to live fire training and ‘first reponders’ begins next week). Then there is birthdays, thanksgiving, halloween… yeowza! All in all… I love the fall. October on our little island is so beautiful. Halloween is fantastic. The fire department puts on a huge display of fireworks and a great bonfire. The trick or treating is dark and spooky as there just aren’t any street lights, and residents here really get into the season! The north road ‘tunnel’ (as we call it… it is lined with thick forest and no houses) gets filled with lit up jack o’lanterns. I think I counted over 80 of them this year!

Currently I am booked up again until mid December… apologies for all the Christmas gift inquiries, but I don’t think I will be able to pull any more off! Starting to wonder how to ‘expand’ my business… it is either that or I need to find a way to be able to take on more somehow. It seems lately I get booked up for 6 weeks, clear out the studio, and all those waiting for me book me up again, so if you don’t catch me in between projects then I won’t be able to do it. Any ideas? I am open to suggestions! Really.

Here are some of the latest project. I just finished up a market in California with a whole whack of boards of various sizes! The photos aren’t fantastic as the job was the quickest ‘rush job’ yet, and I didn’t have the time to set up for picture taking. Sorry there are a couple of other pictures in the gallery. I could figure out how to put them higher in the post, AND have a thumbnail gallery too… ah well. Not as though I am ‘rubbing it in’ on how nice my summer was…

Share on Facebook

Some more ocean style boards going to the Sidney Pier Hotel. We lived in Sidney before coming up to Gabriola. In fact, that was the little town where this whole chalkboard business of mine began! If you visit there, you may notice a few of them still around…

Share on Facebook