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Everyone wins when it's customized

September 7th, 2018

Everyone wins when it

In the past 5 years, I've created a lot of art and sold most of it as home decor items. From shower curtains to art prints, many of my designs are hanging in homes all around the world. I have to admit, there's a lot of my art hanging in bathrooms - and that makes me giggle more than a little bit. This past summer, I decided to really focus on designing prints and patterns for that market. My new collections are not only suitable for walls, but there are coordinating prints that can be purchased as bedding or (my favorite) shower curtains. You see, it's nice to have things that coordinate in the same room. They don't have match exactly, just have some of the same elements - so everyone who buys more than one of my designs will make their space personal because I think they'll choose different prints for the towels, walls, and sofa. That's the cool thing about pattern design in general. Everything is customized by the person who selects it because they put the print on different items or in different sizes. So, you buy...you customize...and I happily design the next print for that collection or maybe even a whole new collection. Everyone wins.

The Creative Journey

June 28th, 2016

The Creative Journey

When life gets crazy (as happens, from time to time) I find solace in my art. For years, I picked up brushes and canvas or paper and lost myself in color and images just to "get out of my own head". When I started using digital art programs, I found that I could paint in random intervals while dealing with the daily chores that I needed to do. There was no need to worry that my paint would dry out or that my canvas wouldn't be ready when I found a spare 15 minutes. I was simply free to create - any time I needed to.

Art can be frustrating - who hasn't been 85% finished with a piece and then had one random brush stroke or slightly off color make all the hard work seem futile? When that happens to me now, I simply photograph the work and take it into a digital platform. What I wind up with is something totally different and unique - and knowing that any mistake can be corrected on my computer has made me a better artist. Much better.

My digital art hasn't replaced putting brush to paper. Actually, it has made me more eager to pull out the palette and materials and just freely experiment. The digital art world has made me a better photographer as well - even those "bad" shots that hold meaning to me have the potential to become exciting images or parts of images.

Because I have found so much freedom in my art through my use of digital products, I have created a blog series of tutorials and tips for other artists who want to explore their creativity in new ways. Join me on sandandchi.com to check out the posts and maybe I can help you see your art in a brand new way.

Every portfolio tells a story

October 11th, 2015

It's so exciting to join the Fine Art America site. As an artist, the opportunity to grow and expand in a creative way is priceless. Putting together a portfolio that represents an artist's best work is a labor of love - and culling those images that are not necessarily representative of the artist's style is hard (and sometimes heartbreaking) work. Seeing how art evolves over time and how new elements are incorporated into an artist's signature style makes the task an exhilarating one, despite the need to "kill your darlings" - or at least delete them from the portfolio.

Sand & Chi started as an outlet for my art work - in the many forms it takes - and grew into a nice little side business. Three years later, my husband and I decided to devote more time to growing that business. We're a partnership with an intent: we intend to build this into some retirement income and to have the proceeds from sales fund our dream of living on Boston's North Shore. Life is fragile, though, so every day we are aware the clock is ticking and we only have a finite number of years to make that dream a reality.

While we're not consumed with pressure, we still dream on a daily basis - half the fun is in dreaming about what could be, isn't it? The artwork contained in the portfolio is produced by one artist but the patient partner of that artist made all of the inspiration possible. Contained in the portfolio are images of places we've been, things we've collected, and dreams we've shared. We'd wager that every artist's portfolio is a timeline of their life and experiences captured in images or sculptures. That's part of what makes a portfolio special. It's a glimpse into the soul of the artist, and sometimes into the relationships that artist has with other people.

Making the move to FAA has enabled us to look at the Sand & Chi portfolio and make some decisions about what is displayed and what needs to remain stored on the hard drive of the computer or under the bed. We are still creating memories every day, so there needs to be room for those new dreams and shared experiences. We don't know where this will all lead, but we're enjoying the journey - and we're happy to be giving you a glimpse into our history as a partnership and as people.