Lots of company here now so the grill is getting a work out...fun to have all the munckins around with lots going on...
off on the Carol Ann to beat the heat today...cool ocean breezes and a day on the ocean just cannot be beat..
more later,
carol
Well, I am back from Atlanta...it was really a great show...I had lots of meetings with clients, I saw lots of folks that I know in the business...and look who I ran into...why it is Mary Englebreit herself....I have been running into Mary at shows for years now, so I feel as though we are old friends...she told me she is going to be the guest speaker at the upcoming Silver Bella in November....good for Mary! Always an inspiration to all of us.... quite a lady!
Heading down to the Mart in the morning....
The first day the traffic was really slow...it picked up as the weekend approached....signs of the times....
My "meet and greet" to present my 2 new garden lines....one of the gals who works there,Amanda, made a wonderful little spread to serve the customers...pimento sandwiches, sweet tea and lemon squares, very Southern along with a little card introducing me and the lines! This girl can cook and assist and do just about anything...not to mention how helpful she was to me at the show. Thanks Amanda....and Jeff and Kevin for welcoming me!!
Amanda took this photo of me with my "Flutter Buggies Garden Party" line...the products came out really well ...colorful and fun, all sorts of great items for the garden.....
Bees and dragon flies, signs and garden stakes..
butterflies with a garden house rack for hanging tools on....wouldn't this be great hanging on your garden shed!
these are some of the garden stakes and signs to put in along the walkway or garden path to make it a more special place...love the ladybugs!
A local store from my area sent their buyer down to Atlanta and she came over to our booth to see my new lines... Sylvia was so nice to stop by..they have carried my items before in their store so it was really a treat to see her again and she loved the new lines!!
Here is one of the wall pockets I designed for the Flutter Buggies line...I love how the flowers and bugs are sticking out from the wall pocket...creating a 3-d look to the piece...making them flutter...
Here is the other new line..."Ghoulish Delights"...this is for Halloween and just looked so great with the fall colors and the wonderful attention to details in all the products.
Here is a close up of one of the bird houses...it is so crafty looking, the roof is corrugated metal, the house is wood, with tiny little spiders hanging down from the edge of the roof, pumpkins and the black cat on the top...how fun is this?
I am sorry but this is just too too cute... the ubiquitous candy corn bird house ...with a clean out of course...and the polka dots stick out...wood and metal...just really delightfully done and a knock out product!
What a treat....the bones sign to hang out for Halloween..
The "Boo" wall pocket is so fun and again has great detail on the front...
"Cast a Spell" has the same great detail ...the dancing witch feet are brightly painted metal and stick out from the front of the pocket as well.
The "Smell my feet" sign has a 3-d bat on the front is made of metal with bright colors and also comes in 2 sizes..
Here I am standing in front of the "Ghoulish Delights" Line holding the Black Cat birdhouse...proud as a peacock...or should I say...bat ( it is a Halloween line after all)
I think this is one of my favorites of the Halloween collection...the dancing spiders...they are on a spring so they bounce up and down and are all smiling, wearing boots and high heels and various Halloween delights.
As you can see, things are starting to pick up now and get busy by Friday. I had lots of appointments, showing new lines and collections that were well received, but we must wait to see what really goes to contract, but I was really happy with the results and made lots of new contacts.... more and more people starting coming down to Atlanta....including....2 really hot chicas from Florida that I happen to know....
BJ Lantz and Joyce Shelton .....here we are at the Atlanta Grill restaurant having a nice dinner and chatting the night away...it was great to see them both!
so now, back to work to do the follow up from all the meetings...I will keep you posted...some new and exciting opportunities could be coming soon.
cross your fingers for me..
more later,
carol
I am off to Atlanta in the early am tomorrow to go down to the summer Atlanta Gift Show... I will be meeting clients and also having my "meet and greet" for my new garden lines...I will be at The Gardens on the 14th floor in booth #262 signing ornaments I designed as part of the collection on Thursday, July 10th. I will then be running around to appointments with other clients and potential customers to show new work and presentations I have been working on for the last month or so. The idea is that some of these new collections that I have designed will be licensed to manufacturers very soon...lots going on so the potential is always good.
It will be fun as I will be meeting friends like BJ Lantz and Joyce Shelton and Suzanne Cruise while I am there too. So a lot of work and a little playing always go hand in hand.
I won't be back in the studio until next weekend!
Wish me luck!
more later,
carol
Here we are....fourth of July...after a nice cruise with our friends we all rafted up together on a mooring that is right in the middle of the harbor. My nephew John, who is a launch driver for the Boston Yacht Club, snapped this photo of the 3 boats all tied up together. You can see the name Carol Ann painted on the stern of our boat...clearly much larger than the other 2....( this is a joke folks...not bragging...it is ongoing with my brother)...I keep telling him size does matter....Ha!
We met up with everyone after a nice late afternoon cruise with our friends Peter and Marie...it was a great day, the weather cleared up, the sun was shining and we were all having a lot of fun.
We came along side my brother's boat and as you can see they were already in a party mood when we got there.
My brother Rob was on the cell phone up on his fly bridge making some deal with the Sultan of Dubai or someone of equal importance I am sure...he is always "wheeling and dealing"...I think it runs in the family!
My niece Alex was home from New York City with her friend Ran who we all like so much...he is new to the family....an IT( computer wiz) guy from Mississippi who now lives in Brooklyn and is a terrific guy because he puts up with all of us! And, as you can see, Alex really seems to like him a lot!!
We no sooner arrived to tie up with my brother's boat the "Heckedy Peg", when my sister-in-law Marian...better known as "Marian Stewart", began to graciously hand out home baked goodies that she had slaved to make over the last few days and they just kept coming and coming...and all this while having 4 house guests on top of her 4 regular family members, 2 dogs and various other folks who come in and out of her home all the time.....and, she was wearing a skirt...on a boat... along with a silk scarf casually wrapped around her neck...I mean...how does she do it?
Now you can see her skirt as she starts to cut into the Fourth of July cake that she whipped up in of course.....red white and blue colors for the holiday and it was just delicious......course, everything tastes great with champagne anyhow I always say. It was starting to get dark so it was time to break out the champagne.
Here we are ...me and the Captain toasting to the beautiful night and fun party. Isn't he just the best!!
After some more toasts (!) my brother Rob and I donned our "Old Salt" hats for a photo op....
Then of course, we had to have a champagne toast with the Butlers...and notice the sunset...it was magnificent...
Happy fourth of July...the sky was now an orangey-pink color...just so pretty and even the ocean reflected the colors of the sunset...what a night...Mother Nature out did herself once again!
Then Ran wanted to toast with us...and so on and so forth...lots of toasts that night....MMMMM lots of fun....
And then at 9 pm the entire rim of Marblehead Harbor was lit up with red flares and then the fireworks started off the barge at the mouth of the harbor...it was just a great show with boats blaring their horns and music playing and everyone laughing and singing...just a wonderful time was had by all...these fireworks photos were taken by our friend Peter...they really came out great....
Hope you guys all had fun that night as well.
more later,
carol
Happy Fourth of July everyone! I thought I better post today since tomorrow we have the Marblehead Arts Festival, the "heavenly lobster roll luncheon" and of course a cruise on the "Carol Ann". Then friends are joining us on the boat for dinner where we will watch the harbor illumination and the fireworks. They set the fireworks off right at the mouth of Marblehead Harbor and our mooring has a ring side seat so it will be so much fun with a fantastic view. Also one row of boats over is my brother's boat and he will be out there with some friends of his partying...boats raft up with other boats so much so that you can almost walk across the harbor from one side to the other....lots of partying, horn blowing and firecrackers all on the ocean...pretty nice!
There is so much going on here in Marblehead with the festival this weekend and concerts and art shows and craft fairs and all sorts of fun things for families to do. They actually close off the main street in the downtown area so people can just walk around and they have jugglers and mimes and folks doing face painting for the kids...selling cold drinks and ice cream and there is also a "Horribles parade" in the morning where all the little kids in town dress up as some character and march around....very special and has been going on for over 50 years. It is already 90 degrees even here next to the ocean, so it is hot and it is July and it is great!!
I have been working night and day getting ready for the Atlanta Gift show, have lots of meetings and presentations to make to clients so I have been painting late into the night and it is finally all coming together. It will be nice to have a few days off to celebrate the holiday with friends and all before I get back to the studio.
You can always tell when a holiday is approaching since everyone is out getting groceries and putting up bunting and American Flags are everywhere. It is nice to see the patriotism especially when our servicemen are still overseas fighting for democracy.
We have good friends who live in England who always call us on the Fourth of July and wish us well...and then they say....hey! If you guys hadn't had a revolution and won, you would all be British!! All in good fun of course...
So, again, Happy Fourth of July everyone..................... have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July...I am going down to the fish market shortly to pick up the lobster meat to make lobster rolls to take out on the boat...nothing like it....
As much as I love England and all and have visited that country many many times, YA-HOO for independence....it is certainly a nice thing to have!
more later,
carol
Today I am featuring information about my upcoming Art Licensing Workshop this September here in Marblehead. The link that is attached to this takes you back to my website and the info about the workshop and seminar. All the information is posted on my website at websitewww.caroleldridgedesigns.com. In the upper left hand corner click on the little dancing fish for the Art Licensing/consulting info.
I am really enjoying the consulting, both on the phone and in person. I think it is so helpful for designers who don't know the ropes of the Art Licensing Business to be able to learn from someone who is more experienced.
After giving seminars on this subject for over 15 years at the Surtex Design Show in New York each spring, I have developed a nice program for teaching basic terminology of licensing, marketing strategies, trends, portfolio presentations, selling and contacting clients and much more. I am also an active designer who is current in the market and knows first hand all the ups and downs of the business. I can be a huge help to those starting out in this business who just do not know how to get started and how to succeed with licensing their artwork. For those with a little more experience, I can help direct you as to how to market your existing designs and what format to have them in to show a manufacturer. There are a lot of talented designers out there who just do not understand how to make a presentation to a company.
I also think it is a way to set some standards in our industry....unlike every other business...art and licensing really do not have any set standards...it is all over the place and therefore when new artists start on the road to licensing, they need to know what and who they are dealing with so as to not unknowingly undermine the what the rest of us are doing. When you start to give the art away for cheap...they will never come back to you and pay full price...it is like the analogy of the milk and the farm...if you give the milk away for free, they will never buy the farm...
Knowledge is power, the more info you have the better you can negotiate, the more business savy you are the more they will take you seriously, the more professional you are, the more they will treat you as a professional. You need to do your homework. It is a business after all. The problem for most artists is that the art schools do not give us any business background for selling our work...we all learn how to use a myriad of painting techniques, mediums and develop design skills, but when we graduate we stand there with our portfolios and wonder what the heck to do next...how to market??...how to get a sales tax number??...how to get appointments??..how to sell our art??...HELP! I read a statistic once that said that 10 years after art school only about 10% of artists are actually earning a living at their craft. What does that tell us?
So, if you are interested in learning more about how to license your artwork, please link to my website information page and download the registration form.
The "lunch and learn" will be a lot of fun, chock full of information, experience with some personal accounts of licensing stories, some extra treats and a chance to spend some time with other artists and designers asking questions of an experienced designer whose work has sold millions at retail.
Would love to have you join us! So, check it out.
any questions please contact me through my website.
more later,
carol
Lower your carbon footprint........your ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on earth's eco- systems and natural resources. I decided to do a bit a research on this and see what all the hoopla was about. I think in a lot of these movements people just do not really understand the impact or why it is happening. So, here is a little information to think over.
The going green movement is really taking off and making folks aware of issues that need to be addressed. This one speaks to the measure of carbon dioxide that goes into the atmosphere as we go about our daily lives. It is really very interesting. Anything that we do...like turning on the lights or the coffee maker affects it...of course all the electricity is made by burning fossil fuel and sends off pollutants into the atmosphere and thus...global warming.
But, the good news is there are things we can do to help...not using the plastic bags at the grocery store and taking a canvas one to reuse, take shorter showers, walk or ride your bike.....efficiency is really the key here...lower your thermostat by just a few degrees, use energy-efficent fluorescent light bulbs, unplug your VCR and stereo when you are not using them, weatherize your home, buy food at local farmer's markets, just be aware and care!
If we all sacrifice just a little bit here it will be worth it. It is our responsibility to try to be "carbon neutral".
So, try to reduce your carbon footprint on Mother Earth to zero and live a relatively "carbon neutral" life! Just like anything else in life, each person can make a difference so we should give it a try.
more later,
carol
Be cool....Go Green....another eco friendly design...this one I think is so funny...the frog's expression is priceless....he is so cool since he is the King...and being green is very cool indeed...Hey, look at Kermit the Frog...so you be cool as well....recycle and go green~!
Anyhow, today is actually my 100th post on this blog and I have been planning a big give a way..but since I am working like crazy right now to get ready to go down to Atlanta next week for the Atlanta Gift show and the launch of my new garden lines, I need to postpone it until after I get back. So stay tuned...I will make it a good one I promise!
I worked all weekend painting up new designs and concepting lines for a bunch of meetings I have now set up with clients at the Gift Mart. I have to stay focused on that especially with the fourth of July coming up this week and having friends come from New York for all the festivities. I will be gone from July 9 until July 12th and have the "meet and greet" on Thursday in the Garden Center on the 14th floor, booth #B262. If you are at the show, please stop by to say hello and see the new "Flutter Buggies Garden Party" and the new "Ghoulish Delights" line...should be a lot of fun! I will be signing really cute ornaments I designed for the occasion.
Some other exciting news...for those of you that have been following my USA city tour that I posted a few days back, they may be made into ornaments and other giftware items. I got a call from a company that had seen the designs and is interested in making some gift items with them..they have a meeting coming up in a few weeks so I will know more after July 15th...very exciting. I will keep you posted!
so all for now...back to painting...I am designing new Halloween and Christmas lines and just finished a really cute new everyday collection...lots in the works here at the CED design studios....have to market and move forward while the opportunity to see clients face to face is here next week.
more later,
carol
Here is another of my eco-friendly designs...Give a Hoot....Don't Pollute....combining the popular owl as a motif along with the going green sayings. You may remember my colorful owl patterns and designs from earlier posts.
Sometimes when concerns like this become a "force du jour" of sentiments for the earth...global warming...recycling... the environment....people do jump on the bandwagon and there does seem to be a lot of information going around about it....
but, you know, I say it is a good thing...as an artist, an image-maker, it has inspired me to do some related designs... whimsical, but with a message...
and if only just a few people sit up and take notice...
then I have done my job and at least I did "Give a Hoot".
more later,
carol
I had an Art Licensing Consultation the other day with a talented artist from Cambridge, Ma named Kathy Weller...she blogs under the name " Weller Wishes", is an illustrator trying to get more information about licensing her artwork. We had an afternoon session, very successful meeting, she is one of those people that I felt I had known forever...just was comfortable and nice. After the session was over, she graciously paid me for my services and went on her merry way.
Well, the next day there is a knock on my door...a little guy is standing there in front of the screen door a with a basket of flowers...he called to me and I thought that he must have the wrong address....now, don't get me wrong..the Captain is very thoughtful and sends flowers to me for special things, but since nothing special was going on, I just did not expect any delivery of flowers........AND......that is what makes it so cool.....it was not expected and it was from Kathy Weller...with a lovely note telling me how much she enjoyed meeting with me and how helpful I was and all of that good stuff....it was simply just a "Random Act of Kindness", unexpected, appreciated and so so nice...and to top it all off...as you can see from the posted photo...it was yellow and white...my favorite yellow roses, my favorite lillies, white stock that smells so delish and just a darn perfect basket of yellow sunshine and joy........the house smells sweet and summery..
so a huge big SHOUT OUT to Kathy... thank you once again.....I was happy to meet with her professionally about the Art Licensing consulting...but as you can see, she is also just a really thoughtful and nice person and that is one of the perks of Art Licensing Consulting....you get to meet really talented and cool and nice artists...
so thanks again....I am going to water my basket now...
WA-HOO!!
more later,
carol
![](http://<a href="http://caroleldridge.typepad.com heartnest.jpg (11.8K)</a>)
![](http://<a href="http://caroleldridge.typepad.com/heartnest.jpg">Download heartnest.jpg (11.8K)</a>){kind=link}