Madame Pickwick » Creative Imaginations

seminars for the birds

Dave — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:30:22 +0000

Willow Wolfe will be gracing our classrooms with her presence from March 24-27th. Its a great time of year- still too cold to be outdoors in the garden and warm enough to know that almost all the shoveling and scraping is behind us. Perhaps Voltaire was right when he asserted that Canada was only ”a few acres of snow” ; well you know how those pointy headed intellectuals from France can be. On the 24th Willow will be teaching Hummingbird and Columbine in Blue. We chose it because she says its the project that uses the least material and the sales are less juicy for some reason. Its already expensive enough; We need $120 tax included for each one day course. It includes lunch.

Hummingbird and Columbine in Blue. March 24th

The price is pretty good. And, its the best we can do. We have to fly her in from cosmopolitan Winnipeg. Its actually cheaper to fly to Iceland and Helsinki that to bring Canada’s premier decorative artist from the Bison province. The course is a full day affair and Willow is perfectly bilingual in English and More English. She teaches in oils ( Prima oils) but the projects can be completed in your reliable acrylics, but the oils really do make it look spiffier. We don’t sell Prima which is average stuff, but have comparable qualities, some better such as Winton and maybe even something even lower grade. Upon registration, you will receive a complete list of material. All supplies are extra and not included in the price.

We have a toll-free number now and our operators are standing by to take your call: 1-855-565-2112. Looking forward to hearing from you. Any inquiries on wholesale pricing and bulk purchasing can be addressed to Benjamin Bouchard at info@madamepickwick.com

Day 2: Baroque magnolia.

Day two of Willow’s course will be the Baroque Magnolia. The tiled effect, use of stencils, and her Creative Imaginations products will make this one a little more expensive to complete. Not to worry. We have all the stock here and will twist Ben’s arm to give a discount on supplies to those attending. I keep an Indian peace feather as well as a machete in the office depending on the situation. Again, the course is the same price as Day one. Lodging can be had pretty reasonably here in Sherbrooke at our version of the Faulty Towers. You can be sure Willow is not going to be resting her head on those pillows, but its pretty good, and very accomodating to smokers. Its scheduled for demolition to make way for another shopping plaza so they may be posting going out of business rates.

Creative imaginings: a twinkling in their eyes

Dave — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:23:58 +0000

Creative Imaginations is a new line we brought in at the end of 2010 and it looks promising. There are not too many ”new” products for decorative painting, but this one, while not original is a bit unique in its application for painting. Willow Wolfe was using it at the Decorative Painting Show in Montreal this past October, and her demos and courses convinced us there was enough buzz in the booth to bring it in, and support her use of it by making it available here. What is it? Creative Imaginations is basically a scrapbook house but have some paint products that have been appropriated to good effect in Willow’s semi-exotic work.

http://www.creativeimaginations.us/store/CI_Luminarte.php

H2O’s seem like an updated version of the JW glitter paste we used to carry, and price is ok. It comes with a spritzer bottle and the company calls them watercolor cakes of which water activates the pigments. It can be used on paper and canvas as you would expect any acrylic based product. The reaction to date with this paint has been good, although customers are having trouble using the spay bottles. clogging has been an issue as well as the consistency of the paint. The company is aware of this and is adjusting the packaging in consequence. But the basic idea remains interesting. Deco-Art is going to be here on Thursday and is supposedly going to be showing a whole slew of new goods, and I wonder if something similar is not in the works. They came out with a liquid glamour dust last year, but this product is very liquid and Deco-Art usually sticks to pretty basic packaging. Willow is also using some embellishments from this company and rub-ons, and she will be here at Pickwick at the end of march for a series of four one day courses.

''Our premier quality spray tops, with proper maintenance, eliminate clogging, while delivering an even spray of shimmer mist. The new formulation allows the shimmer and medium to mix easily and emulsify evenly. The removable top allows you to use the paint directly with a paint brush, calligraphy pen, eye dropper, sponge, etc.''

for wholesale information on the Luminarte/Creative Imaginations products please contact info@madamepickwick.com

Open a Book & Open Your Mind

Dave — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 19:56:40 +0000

The decorative painting book business has nosedived in the last four years, with several companies closing down their printing presses so to speak, and the number of new publications has been reduced to a pair of nostrils above water level. The reasons are that the industry of decorative painting has had difficulty in bringing in younger artists, and those that have , for the most part, have not forged enough of a separate identity to distinguish themselves from the previous generation. There have been a few exceptions, which to their merit, has kept an interest in painting so that the patient still has a heartbeat.

Willow Wolfe’s new book ”Painting Home Decor” is a good example of work by an artist who has managed to innovate, refine and develop themes that combine elements of decorative art and fine art. The materials are fairly sophisticated for decorative painting: pen and ink, oils , oil gel blending, oil rouging and gold leaf. It seems to work and the projects look fun to do and are decorative in an artsy vein far removed from the naif folk-art and primitive figures that were the staple of the genre for many years. Like almost everything in decorative painting, its blatantly commercial, but we sell at Madame Pickwick, almost all the products she uses, and to be fair, they are not expensive and won’t set one back too much. The ”Select” brushes from Princeton which Willow endorses and helped them develop are almost embarrassingly inexpensive for the most part and some of the styles such as lunar blenders are really cheaply priced compare to say Loew-Cornell’s crescent brushes.

The lunar blender, second from right is magical. The Select deerfoot is a bit pricey.

What has been a phenomenon over the past three years has been the exceptional number of artist canvases being sold to decorative artists. The wood cutters and makers must be contemplating getting into the firewood business this winter because as a surface of choice , it has fallen off. Canvas is hot and when the craft/decorative arts practitioners go for something in a big way, there is no stopping them. The question is, after their home is filled with canvas what next? Willow’s projects are quite tasteful and she seems to be establishing herself as THE decorative artist to watch in the future.

For wholesale inquiries on products Willow is using contact info@madamepickwick.com