Oooh, shiny!

Naming myself Artful Magpie was really more than just a cute shop name for my photography, I think. Magpies are well-known to be hoarders, attracted to anything shiny and forgetting the last wonderful thing in favor of the next one, ha. With few exceptions, that's how I've been most of my life, at least when it comes to creative endeavors.

When I was a kid, I took sculpture classes and watercolor classes. I never really excelled at either and gave up both hobbies. In high school, I wrote poetry, along with just about every other teenage girl in the history of teenage girls. I dabbled in short stories for a while, and have written the first chapters of at least three different novels...but never finished one of them. More recently, I played with Precious Metal Clay jewelry-making until we got a cat and I could no longer leave out my projects while they dried. I switched to making jewelry out of beads and such, but the lack of a good permanent workspace killed that one, too.

And just a few days ago, while at a craft shop buying a frame for a print of one of my pictures, I impulse-bought a pack of 4x6 watercolor paper, along with watercolor pencils and some brushes. I haven't opened them up yet, but I definitely intend to! I have grand plans for making impressionistic washes of color that suggest flowers and other such things, without being in the least realistic or overly detailed. That was always my problem with art before...the devil's in the details, as they say, and my fingers simply aren't smart enough to draw them out. But just for fun, doodles made in the watercolor pencils and then finished off with washes of water over top to blur the pigments together...it seems fun and simple and calming, all at the same time.

Who knows how long this one will last, though? It seems like photography is the only creative hobby that's really "stuck," so far...and I know a lot of that is due to the support and shared enthusiasm of my wonderful husband, as well as the great community of fellow photogs I've met on Flickr!

Sometimes, size DOES matter!

I'm as much of a fan of large, colorful art as anyone else. In fact, we have a very large, very colorful, cartoon-inspired piece front-and-center over our sofa at home! Large artwork can definitely make a statement about your style and interests, and make it loudly, too!

But it's not the be-all and end-all, certainly! In fact, I tend to think that there are certain pieces that just cry out to be displayed in a smaller size. Look at the large impact a small Polaroid picture can have, or the magic of a small TTV shot floating serenely in the white space of a larger mat. (Some of Alicia Bock's beautiful TTV work completely proves my point, here! If you're one of the 3 people in the photo blogging world who've never heard of her, you're missing out!) There is something much more intimate about a smaller format. It makes you get closer to the work, makes you search for the details and appreciate all the little things that give the work its character. While a big piece of art shouts its nature to the world, the smaller piece whispers and makes you work a little bit harder for your reward, and there's something to be said for that.

To that end, I've decided to post some smaller format shots in my Etsy store. Most of my work to this point has been posted as 8x10, though available in smaller sizes if desired. But I have some pieces, like the one above and the one following, that I really think SHOULD be smaller prints, that cry out for the smaller format, the more intimate perusal. Shots like that will be listed as 4x6s. I only have 4 such prints in the shop at this point, but I'll add more as time goes along.

I'm also going to be printing some of my work out in ACEO size (2.5"x3.5"!) and mounting them on black matboard for display. I'm thinking I'll call them my Magpie Minis, ha! Be watching my shop for their appearance as soon as I get my hands on some matboard in the correct sizes!

In the meantime, what do you think about the size issue? DOES size matter? Do you have any artworks of your own that only seem right small, or only seem right large? I'd like to see them, if so!