I wish I wish I wish I wish I had a colour laser printer. I don’t really know a whole lot about printers, but I think this one will do what I need it to do and won’t kill me when it’s time to replace toner cartridges. Right now I use an annnnncient black & white laser printer that’s slowly dying and I swear to god is just going to stop working any day now. I’ve been using the same high-yield toner cartridge for like, 4 fucking years.

But I need COLOUR! And I need TONER! because you see, with toner, you can use packing tape and gel medium to make transfers in mixed media art, which is what I do!

And this isn’t me begging for a printer, in fact, I’m begging the government of Ontario for a printer. Tonight I completed my package for the Visual Artists Grant provided by the Ontario Arts Council. It’s up to $5000 and the deadline is December 1st, if any other Ontarians wanted to apply!

Here’s what I wrote for my artist’s statement:

“I create because I have no other choice but to do so. That may be cliché, but in my case it also happens to be true. I have agoraphobia and generalized anxiety, as well as bipolar disorder, which means I only leave my house about once a month to see my psychiatrist. The rest of the time I’m inside my house either painting or writing and it is my wish to be able to support myself financially by doing both.

In the fall of 2008, I started making mixed media paintings with paper dolls holding words against splotchy, metallic, glittered backgrounds and I have successfully been able to sell some of these paintings through my website (www.sunnycrittenden.com). I have realized, however, that in doing this, I’m only making enough to cover materials, that my time has no value and the only way I’m going to be able to support myself through my art is to first, treat it like an actual business and secondly, to take quality pictures of each painting and pay up front to have prints made, which I can then sell in quantity, charging much less than I would for an original. This allows me to keep my originals, hopefully to be shown in art shows, and make a profit from the prints.

If I were to be given a grant, depending on the amount I would like to purchase the following:

* Canvasses and paint to continue creating these paintings. (Approx. $1500)

* A colour laser printer both to make invoices with, but also to create elements to use in my work (gel transfers, packing tape transfers – a printer that uses toner, as opposed to ink, is needed for these) (Approx. $350)

* A digital camera that’ll take good enough pictures to make prints from. (Approx. $250)

* Money to invest in the making of prints of each painting (Approx. $550)

Eventually I would like to be able to make greeting cards, postcards, calendars and other items made from the images I paint, as well as “altered books” and other things in the mixed media/primitive folk art genre.

In the meantime, however, I just want to continue doing what I’m doing with these paper doll paintings, painting 10-15 more of them at full size (12 x 12 inches), and hopefully improve upon the technique, while being able to support myself at the same time by making prints.”

Like I said, the grant is up to $5000, which would be cool, but really, I don’t need that much.

Anyway, wish me luck!