Last Saturday I had an ornament and card workshop at the Oak Park Art League and it was a lot of fun. I knew all of the students from previous classes and workshops, so I had a good idea of the skill levels and a bit about each artist’s style. There were a few people who created things outside of holiday themes and others who were making cards and ornaments for Christmas. At the same time my workshop was going on there was a Holiday Market going on in the gallery downstairs, which lent an air of community to the day. It was nice, especially this time of year.
I have a long history with ornaments and cards, as my commercial retail art life started with holiday cards way back in 1992, and then from 1996 – 2005 I had an ongoing contract with a local boutique for ornaments that became somewhat of collectors’ items at the time. My last order of ornaments was for 1500 of them, I want to say it was in 2008. I enjoyed creating them, and I love knowing they adorn a LOT of Christmas trees, especially in Virginia, (assuming they have survived a decade or two), but I did not want to scale up beyond that, and by 2008 I was becoming much more immersed in painting and moving away from my more illustrative and commercial work, which had also included small and large scale murals since 1992. It was difficult to do both, as the illustrative and client-focused work influenced my paintings more and more.
Every now and then I’ve ventured back into cards and ornaments – maybe every five years or so – because they are just so fun to make! This year is one of those years, and I was excited to share the process with students.
I have a bunch of my ornaments downstairs in the gallery, too, along with several other artists. The Art & Ornament Market goes until December 18. It is cash and carry, everything is priced under $300, and my ornaments are $30.
