Today was a day out of the studio. A networking day. I met my friend Gabriela for a quick lunch and a brainstorming session. She is blogger/craft instructor extraordinaire. See her blog here. I recently saw her on an episode of HGTV's The Decorating Adventures of Ambrose Price. She was showing her fine art of gift wrapping and I was truely impressed. Like Ambrose, I didn't know you could wrap a round box and make it look as wonderful as Gabriela did. I must admit when it comes to gift wrapping I prefer gift bags and some tissue. Easy peasy! Today we talked about many things. The state of the economy, how the media is affecting and has been affected by this recession. Some of our favorite magazines have stopped publishing. How some are changing and adapting to stay afloat, while others are seizing the opportunity to start a new business endevour or expanding on what they have already. We both agree that it's important to shop indie and support your local artists and craftspeople. Buy handmade!! Thanks for a nice lunch Gabriela, I always get a big burst of inspiration after one of our meetings.
Now it's back to work for the rest of the afternoon. I've been working on some paintings that I'll be submitting to my publisher. I'll post more about that soon. Tomorrow I'll be checking out The Artist Project Toronto as artist friend Lynn Kelly is exhibiting.