Friday, February 3, 2012

minis and miniature art

Blue Blooded mini, copyright Teresa Mallen, coloured pencil on colourfix paper, 6" w x 2 3/4" h


Here are some minis I have been working on this past week. The piece above and the one below are approximately six inches wide by three inches wide. Both are done in coloured pencil on colourfix paper. I had a lot of fun doing these. If you have been following my blog for a while, the mini above might look a bit familiar. It was inspired by my work entitled  Blue Blooded.


Mini # 2, copyright Teresa Mallen, coloured pencil on colourfix paper, 6 1/2 " w x 3" h



My motivation to create some smaller works started last fall. Some of you might recall that I was working with ink and cps and I was dashing off small works of feathers and fruit and such. I eventually got a bit bored with this so I stopped.

Then last November, I purchased the drawing magazine pictured on the left. The cp portrait on the cover is the art of Kerry Brooks. I was surprised to learn that Kerry not only works quite big but she has also done very detailed, smaller works (3" x 4" for example). 

The seeds of inspiration were sown and I soon started pondering doing some cp minis (as I call them). I must confess previously having an aversion to working small simply because I am not that keen on squishing tons of detail into a tiny area, and well, I like detail! But hey, when the muse beckons... :-)

Mini Rose #1, copyright Teresa Mallen
4  3/4" w x 3  3/4" h, coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper
Miniature Art is a very interesting genre. I find it fascinating that people use magnifying glasses in order to place teeny, tiny brush strokes on intricate originals the size of postage stamps. There are miniature art societies in countries all around the globe.

Of course there was the eruption of ATCs (2.5 x 3.5 inches) onto the art scene a few years back. Millions of artist trading cards were created and swapped. Later many artists transitioned into ACEOs (art cards,editions and orginals), selling these art cards during the Daily Painter craze. I saw an enormous amount of bad art back then as people jumped on the bandwagon of creating quickly and making sales. I am glad this fad seems to be over. I am not knocking the Daily Painters out there, the ones still standing are doing excellent work, just saying I had a thing about those ATCs... :-)

So, to be clear, my intent is not to create miniatures in the formal sense of the word and I am not working ATC size nor am I considering these ACEOs.


Mini Rose # 2, copyright Teresa Mallen
3 3/4" w x 3 1/4 " h, coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper

The roses are in the four inch by three inch range.

When more have been completed, I shall create a sales gallery. These minis shall be offered up for sale matted and unframed so shipping shall be nice and easy. I will of course post about that development when it happens.

For now I am hoping to get some good photo references on those apples I mentioned in a previous post (need a sunny day for good shadows) and in the meantime, I have started a new peony petals piece - another one for the series!


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the minis,and look forwad to seeing more.

Teresa Mallen said...

Hi Vic, thanks! Nice to know you are reading...Things get rather quiet when I venture off into farming posts!! :-)

Debra Keirce said...

If you or anyone are interested in learning more about miniature fine art, I am one of many award winning miniature artists who are part of a group forum on yahoo, where we can network with each other and with collectors, gallery owners, and people who are just curious about the genre. The url to join the group is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/miniatureart/
You can also see photos of the shows and our work that we have posted there. Most recently, I posted pics I took at the Miniature Art Society of Florida show.

Ann said...

Your minis are gorgeous! I think that 3 to 6 inch range is a really nice size, especially when framed, it creates a more intimate experience that invites the viewer to look more closely.

Barb Goodsitt said...

These look really nice. I think the florals will sell! I have been making some small prints of my larger works, and they sell! I think a lot of people will be more willing to buy smaller, less expensive pieces.

Jennifer Rose said...

love the blues :D the second one reminds me so much of the sea

Teresa Mallen said...

Hi Deb, thanks for taking the time to comment. Welcome! I have done some looking on line with regards to miniatures and the Florida Society is an important one. Congratulations on being an award winning miniature artist! It is a fascinating genre.

Ann - I agree, I think there is something about very small works of art that really do draw the viewer in. I was at a neighbour's house a few months ago and was captivated by a tiny print of a landscape etching that I spied hanging on a small bit of drywall between two doors. The artist turned out to be the woman who once lived here and worked in my studio (well her studio at the time, she designed the house to include the studio space).

Congratulations Barbara on the success of your print sales! It is always good to provide a customer with options. :-)

The sea? Thanks Jennifer Rose, I wouldn't have seen that in the piece but I like it. What I see is fabric, a slubby yarn sort of look (or the screen image of a heart monitor LOL)

Thanks ladies for reading and for taking the time to comment. I know it does take time to pop in and say a few words!!!

Kendra said...

Teresa, I like your minis and the cool colors in Blue Blooded and Mini #2. I also like your close ups of the roses. Will you frame these pieces? It's fun to do the smaller works and to complete a piece quickly as opposed to working large and it taking days or weeks (mine at least do!). I also like Kerry Brooks work, large or small. I don't think I could create the postage size Miniature Art but admire those who do.

Teresa Mallen said...

Hi Kendra, right now I am leaving the minis unframed but they will be presented hinged to a mat. My plan is to have enough completed to make it worth the time to put together an on-line sales gallery. I don't like shipping framed art (I despise plexi-glass and I won't frame with it unless I absolutely have to and of course glass is heavy and breakable). So, no frames in order to making shipping easier, safer and less expensive.