As many of you know it is extremely difficult to survive on just income from being an artist. Essentially when people have spare money they will buy work and when money becomes a little more difficult to come by pictures for walls become a luxury. So I have tried to ‘value add’ to me work a little.

I have done this largely to this point with quality commercially print wildflower card designs. They allow people the luxury for a small amount of money to have an image of your work – in fact many people who cannot afford the artwork buy the cards and even frame them. You could extend this buy producing posters but until this point I have not done this. there is enough confusion over individually hand made and editioned linocuts and commercially mass-produced prints.

Here are the two sets of prints I have sold over the past 10 years – I am about to organise and produce a new line of cards this year.

Through developing a website and blog I have managed to get a few extra projects, commissions or have had my work used for various projects. I do get a number of project offers a year but do not always take them up due to a number of factors including time restraints or the project is not in line with how I want my work represented.

Following are some examples of how my work has been used – some income producing and others are for charity.

Commissions

Advertising you can take commissions is a good way to boost extra work I have done this in the past but due to time restraints for caring for my family have put it back on the backburner for the time being. You do need to eb disciplined with your time and work to a schedule and to the clients request but it can be an interesting challenge to set yourself.

The two below were for an exhibition I was invited to present at Hazelhurst Regional Community Gallery – Sutherland Shire.

Kurnell – An endangered ecological community

Flannel Flowers for a 40th Birthday.

Hanna Group – Drink Coaster

I have produced a design for a drink coaster for the Hanna Group

Eat Chocolate and Cry – Australian Flute Music – CD Cover

One of my designs – Paperbark– was used on the cover for a new CD by musicians Christine Draeger, Lamorna Nightingale and Jocelyn Edey-Fazzone. It is called Eat Chocolate and Cry – Australian Flute Music 199-2009 featuring Australian contemporary composers.  As part of the HSC Music course students must study this content and so this CD is designed a a resource as well as for highlighting contemporary composers and musicians.

The CD was launched at the Australian Music Centre in The Rocks Sydney at the end of September – more information about the cd can be found here.

The Sturt’s Desert Pea design below was using in an English Textbook.

Some of my tutorials on linocuts and working methods was including in this WA Visual Arts high school textbook.

Last year I was contacted by Lynda Kuntyj and asked to contribute to a resource textbook to help support the new Western Australian Visual Arts Curriculum for Primary/Secondary students.

I am very interested in promoting the visual arts and in teaching/tutoring, having a degree in art education. After speaking to Lynda, who is obviously passionate about teaching, I contributed some of my images, working arts practice methodology and tutorial text.

Impact Publishing released this book early this year and you can find out more about this book here. There is a pdf file with sample pages from this book that you can download – this includes 2 of the pages with some of the information that I contributed.

This is one of the textbooks from of a series of three. They all look quite helpful as resources for art teachers and students even though it is the WA syllabus the information looks like it would be useful generally.

Charity work includes: the Big Ride for the Big Issue

My ‘Emblems’ design was used on some bike shorts for the charity event ‘The Big Ride’ for The Big Issue.

Here is a photo of the participants wearing their new jersey’s with my Australian Floral Emblems design on them!

Wildflower Print Designs

The designs below are a selection from wildflower print designs I have been playing around with. At one stage a fabric designer for quilting fabric was going to produce a range of my work in fabric but that was placed on hold.

The difficulty with these designs is the start-up capital needed to produce them myself which is why I have not proceeded with them at this point.

…wattle…waratahs…flannel flowers…gum nuts…

…fabric…paper…design…still deciding….

…and some black and white designs as well…

 

Copyright – Lynette Weir