Whats going on?

So onto what's happening with me at the moment, well to start with during the past few month's I've been noticeably some what quiet. To be honest I've been posting mainly on twitter to that of facebook. I also manage and have been busy for the past few weeks/months posting to another page as I'm belong to a craft group. I was asked by a neighbour the other week, I see you have painted over your signs, no I'm afraid not it's in fact a blank cover over the text because I have been closed since before Christmas. It's like this there's nobody around at the moment since Christmas anyway, it's a quiet time of the year (January/Feb/March) and many will tell you the exact same. So what have I been doing then? I spent the bulk of January doing mainly research, experimented. I'm also looking for of a job at the moment and have been searching for the past12 months to be honest, just to help out financially as there are times during the year and many will know this, that it can be quiet plus people aren't spending once they used to and you can't sit back and depend on sales , what I mean is there might be a gap between selling a piece a work until the next time that I do and really I need to be doing it weekly or at least have a decent month in order to I suppose be worthwhile would be the word there. Its like this you can make away to your hearts content but remember, it's all about making money! And it would be good for me to me too. I don't sell to shops not that I don't want to believe me I would, but it's finding the right ones really. I did have one shop in the west of Ireland, in Galway in fact about two years ago this month actually, who ordered a few tea cosies from me but the owner has to make a profit too so in order to do so I had to sell my cosies for a lot less then what I would sell them for normally and she had them for sale at a way higher price! And to be honest the amount of time that I put in to making them as each one is hand sewn despite the overall machine sewing it together, it didn't pay me. Even framing for me costs money, I've began looking at alternative ways of framing to keep prices down but then I'm thinking does it not bring down the value of my work. As I had interest from Kilkenny Design again two years back, but again I was asked to come down and to re-think my costs before they would consider anything. Again, my framing costs and I have to take that into account. Now maybe at some point I'll re-look at that again but I can't come down off the pieces that they expressed an interest in at the time, so I'll have to look at smaller work or a different way of displaying my work. There has to be a compromise where both parties are happy. I have been lucky for the past two years, I did this business scheme thing and I also got a materials grant from WLD (Wexford Local Development)not realising the money was actually meant to go towards things like furniture or a printer, for example large items... but it didn't specify on the form for what so with quite a bit of pleading, waiting and hoping I got what I requested and ended up with actual materials that I needed. So that helped me out a lot and year one was good it was fun, year two was slightly different, however I did manage to open up my studio last well let's say August as 31st July is more or less ...I'll just say August! My work also appeared in House and Home Magazine and I was asked again last summer but I didn't say yes as at the time I needed the money for something else plus it gave someone else the opportunity instead to appear in the Christmas Issue again. But people still bring it up as to where they have heard about me which is strange yet good considering that was back in 2012. So yes, opening the studio that was strange for me as I'm kind of like a quiet mouse in my studio just working away on my own, in my own little world. To be honest, I did find it a little strange and slightly uncomfortable at first but at the same time good. I've always been protective especially of my how I create areas of my work. I mean I'll never tell exactly explain from a to z how my mixed media pieces are done. I might say what materials are used but never the technique because that's my own, nobody is doing the same and I don't mean to sound selfish but I don't want anyone to copy it. It's what makes my work unique and every artist has a secret and that is mine. I stumbled on this technique through weeks of experimentation back in 2003 and it's stuck with me ever since even though I later moved into Weaving but I still do both. Anyway, lets get back on track. So yes I closed just before Christmas 2013 and I have yet to re-open. The summer season is almost upon us now, but at the moment I am trying to sort out a few important things (personal stuff) so when I get all that fixed up then I'll be back on track hopefully. I'm looking at mid May for the moment. For the past 18 months I have been part of a group, a craft group and we launched a trail less then two weeks ago. I am member of the new 'Wexford Craft Trail' and we launched at Greenacres in Wexford town on the 3rd April just gone. There are 19 members in total. To find out more and to view photos from the launch please see http://www.facebook.com/WexfordCraftTrailNetwork So that's really all at the moment, do see some images posted on facebook, as since last night I have edited this blog and had trouble uploading. There was areas in the blog that I felt needed cutting out, I got a bit carried away! The work is on view from April 3rd - May 26th 2014 at Greenacres. So if your down in Wexford do pop in and take a look. It's a very nice exhibition if I may say so myself. Ideally I would have liked my work to be grouped together for the launch, as the three items were part if a set a matching lampshade, cushion and picture in two different colour ways, but that didn't happen but I was happy to have got the plinths I requested and it does look well. Oh and do take a look at the photos from the launch too on Facebook. Grainne.