A return to what I love

So it's been a while. I'm sure you can forgive me, when it comes to the crunch Red Brick is ultimately a retail business so times have been hectic. CRAZY even! Over the past week I have been enjoying a well earned break.... Today I'm still in my P.J's well after 11am but my head is feeling a little more ready to face the world. I have missed you dear blog so get ready for some lovin'!

As well as the usual festive frenzy I have been working on a couple of very special projects and I have some pretty exciting news I have been dying to share. The past month or so has seen me feverishly beavering away working on a brand new range of products!

Don't get me wrong, working hard in the gallery promoting the work of other artists and designers is rewarding, but there's something extra specially satisfying in developing my own designs.

The first range I would like to introduce to you is close to my heart. Developed from my 'Lady Of Ballarat' original papercut, I have titled this giftware line 'Beautiful Ballarat' as it celebrates all that is wonderful about our little city. 

I've been seriously excited about this new giftware range, the design appears on tote bags, tea towels, notebooks, soaps, art prints and cushion covers, all of which have been hand-printed by me here in Ballarat.

 The range officially  launched this month at the Ballarat Popup shop and the response has been fantastic! Thanks to everyone who has already checked it out and for all the positivity I've been receiving. Sometimes, as a maker, it can be hard work believing in yourself and the value of your own artwork, but receiving such an awesome response has been the confidence boost I really needed, so a heart-felt thank you from me.
 I really am pleased as punch and once I have recuperated a little from the silly season I shall be hard at work uploading these items into our new online store which I have been diligently re-vamping... no rest for the wicked!

giveaway winner

I have a couple of winners to announce, first up is Tabetha the winner of Katies awesome group giveaway. My part of her fantastic prize is to create a custom papercut based on the phrase of her choice... 'Make History'..... what a great starting point! I hope I can live up to the job!

I also have five winners to announce from my 'Kraken' print giveaway held here and on our Facebook page.
The winners are: Gina, Shann, Beth, Aislinn and Luke. Expect your prints in the post soon!

Thank you so much everyone who entered and sent a 'hello'.
Sponsoring Katie at Skunkboy' was a great experience, next time I need a confidence boost I know what to do... there were so many lovely comments posted on her giveaway post! Naaawww... I got me some serious warm and fuzzies!


Thanks again!
Steph

Skunkboy Giveaway

For the month of June I'm excited to be sponsoring uber-blogger Katie Shelton at her blog Skunkboy.
I am also offering a giveaway of a custom papercut worth $200 featuring names or a short phrase of your choice.

To participate in the giveaway pop over to Katies post here and leave her a comment to enter the draw, there are lots of other ace prizes to win too including this ace print by Yellow Heart Art and a Flapper Girl tie!

As a bonus prize email a quick 'hello' to hello@redbrickgallery.com.au or say hello on Facebook to win yourself one my 'Kraken!' prints, each individually signed. I have 5 to giveaway so say hello to enter the draw! X Steph

EDIT: This comp is now closed!

And We're Back!

Well that was fun!

I have really enjoyed tweaking our blog this week, I hand-cut all the components to make the design really unique. Hopefully it should now be quicker to load and I have added some pages so you can see posts in a particular theme.

To honour the occasion I treated myself to a new cutting mat, I will miss my old purple mat and have decided to keep up the tradition of photographing my cutting on my old mat... it's just so much prettier! To recognise it's contribution to my work I have even included the mat in the background of our new banner... purple cutting mat, I salute you.

I can't wait to catch you up on what's been happening this past few weeks, see you tomorrow with an Instagram round-up of May.

Bye!
X Steph

My first papercutting vlog

At last I have used my mediocre video editing skills to bring you a pretty basic volg of me making a new papercut! I plan on making this little baby into a blog banner so keep an eye on this space over the next few weeks.

As papercutting isn't the most action packed event I have sped it up somewhat (x8 to be precise) and skipped the sketching process. I just used Windows Movie Maker to edit the film which although a simple tool was a little too simplistic for my liking. If you have any suggestions for an entry level editing tool (preferably a free download!) let me know.

Voila!

X Steph

Artists Block

I really enjoy creating papercut images, my noggin contains endless variations of images to reproduce in papercut format, but give me a commission and I'm stumped. I get papercutters block, I'm stumped, stupefied and stilted. There is something about working to brief that I find terribly tough... the pressure, the expectation, knowing that someone else other than me has to like it. Eeek!

I have often thought about being a storybook illustrator but I don't think I would be much chop... unless of course the images came first and then the story!
I have been faced with this dilemma a couple of times this year, having to generate designs for the signal box and just this week to come up with some ideas for a local project of a pop-up shop. I had a play with a couple of designs for their promo and eventually began to loosen up and have fun. I'm crossing fingers they are liked, which is your fave?

X Steph

Signal Box project

Earlier this year I was selected to be part of  a public arts initative, the project involved painting artwork on one of the cities signal boxes and mentoring a group of young people to do the same.
With the theme of 'Beautiful Ballarat' I developed artwork through the format of an intricate papercut featuring some of Ballarats landmake heritage buildings titled 'Beautiful in the Rain'.

Today I began applying the design to my assigned box just down the road from Red Brick Gallery. With the help of my wonderful assistant Mark we completed the artwork quickly thanks to some nifty prep work in the form of a large stencil and a balsa wood stamp. I LOVED the stamp and will show you later in the week how easy it was to put together. I'm foreseeing a textile printing application next perhaps?

A welcome distraction to the job came in the form of the many people that stopped to chat about what we were doing, friends and regulars at the gallery as well as people from the neighbourhood we hadn't yet met.

Here is a photo of Dawn, she and her husband built the house the signal box is outside in the 60's. Hasn't she got great style!? Se was so pleased to see what we were up to, and I'm reminded once again what I great neighbourhood we live in where everyone takes the time to have a chat. 'Country' city living is seriously under rated.

If you would like to paint a signal box in your neighbourhood visit the Urban Smarts website to sign up. It's free to participate and all materials are supplied.

I hope your weekend was wonderful, good luck with Monday!
X Steph

A really lovely country wedding

This weekend I was lucky enough to be a guest at the most beautiful country wedding. With the beautiful backdrop of Captains Creek Organic Winery and a stunning Autumn afternoon my partner Mark and I had the best time watching our gorgeous friends and neighbours Margie and Andy get hitched.

 There wasn't a dry eye in the paddock, myself included, when theses guys shared their vows and the atmosphere was fun and relaxed just like them, sharing organic cider and fresh wood-fired pizzas with lovely folks made me vary happy and a little bit merry!  We couldn't be happier for this seriously lovely pair and wish them all the happiness in the world.

Paper cuts

Marcia wrote a very complimentary post about me a few weeks ago and mentioned that I cut paper. I do indeedy and now my exhibition is out the way I have been working on some new designs for a range of gift cards. This post is really also my weekly Instagram update as I have captured my cuts-in-progress using my alltime fave app. I have discovered you can also view Instagram on the web at webstagram.com you can find me as theredbrick.

There is something so magical for me about using such simple materials to produce a design. You should try it, I promise its lots of fun!
x Steph