Kreativ Winterzauber,  Messe Freiburg, 2-3 December 2023

January 2024

First time presenting my work in public.

Something that I decided quite early on was that I wanted to have direct contact with my customers. This of course means that I am limiting myself to a local market, but I have never felt comfortable with the thought of shipping my "babies" to an unknown buyer somewhere in the big wide world. I am still only a beginner and will most likely need to change my strategy if I am to make a sucessful career out of this, but for now I find it important to listen and learn from my customer interactions, to make contacts, new friends and to enjoy the fruits of my labour. 

I decided that my first sales experience with my business would be a stall at a local crafts fair in Freiburg. As I already had many fleamarket stalls in the past I felt comfortable with this approach.  The contact with the organiser was easy going, helpful and friendly and put my worries at ease.  I had help from my husband transporting my work to the hall and also my good friend Silvia in setting up and running the stall. As my items are mainly furniture and decoration I decided I wanted the layout to be open and accessible and feel like a living room area rather than a market stall. Something that I really enjoyed and hope to experiment more with different looks and layouts in the future.  I am constantly evolving and learning new skills with every experience I make. 

The weekend was busy but also a lot of fun! We had many visitors and received lots of positive feedback. I definately feel I have a clearer idea of what sells well at such an event and also what I could do better the next time.

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Wall art, street art, urban art, murals 

20.10.22 (Updated 28.08.23)

Who isn't a fan of "Street Art" murals?  

Street Art has in recent years moved onto a whole new level. Possibly the most well known graffiti artist of our time, Banksy, is now being overshadowed by the impressive and breathtaking street art murals by artists such as Eduardo Kobra, Sam Bates (Smug),  Ben Caillous, and street art duo Herakut, to name but a few. These fantastic artists spray or paint their large scale murals on walls and buildings the world over, and many others have earned huge respect and credibility in the Urban Art scene. Just as tattoo art has developed much more since the days when you chose the design out of a book at your local studio. Today it is much more a show of custom designed artworks that adorn the body. 

 "Urban Art" basically defines the movement of Street Art from the street and into galleries, museums and into people's homes, meaning it has become much more accepted than before and seen by many people as 'permanent' works of art rather than illegal graffiti that will most likely be painted over. The inspiration remains the same as before,  graffiti and street art contain a message for the people from the people, whether political or simply a show of humanity. 

Street Art is something I strongly admire and am deeply inspired by these wonderful works of art. I hope that many of these will still be around for our future generations to enjoy. Here are just a few of my faves that I've come across over the years...