Here is a recap of our Surtex 2016 expeirence!

Saturday May 14, 2016

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and it was another beautiful day in Vermont. After months of preparation, the time had finally come to leave for SURTEX.  We had worked feverishly on our catalogs and panels and were so ready to share them with the world.

Syrena pulled into ALI Headquarters to find Russ with his hands full of delicious coffee for the trip… she knew right then it was going to be a good trip! Jack Appelman, our CEO, was gracious enough to drive, so we packed up his Suburban and began another ALI family trip! With Captain Jack at the helm, the “kids” had time to unwind before the big weekend, so Russ and Syrena popped in a movie and chilled out. Matt was Jack’s first mate, so he helped to navigate our journey. 

About 4 hours later, we were in the heart of New York City. We pulled into the Javits Center and they permitted us ½ hour to set up our booth. It was all hands on deck, but 37 minutes later our booth was ready to go! We snapped a quick photo and headed out to get some dinner.

Sunday May 15, 2016

It was cloudy and chilly, but the energy of the Big Apple was still contagious. The ALI crew was up bright and early and in “show mode.” They got to the Javits Center, chugged a coffee and started the day.  The day began with lots of productive meetings. The team met with their clients (and potential new clients) for the remainder of the show. If there was any down time, Matt and Jack would walk the show looking for common trends and themes.  At 6:00pm when the show was over for the day, the ALI team hopped in a cab and went to meet a customer for dinner. We enjoyed a delicious meal with great company!

Monday May 16, 2016

The weather was warmer, the streets were busier and we knew it would be a big day at the show.  We had back to back meetings scheduled so we got to the show and started our day. We were so excited when some of our artists dropped by the booth. We love getting to see their smiling faces! We enjoyed seeing people color on our adult coloring panel- it was a huge hit! Matt was able to go to see Dean Russo’s studio (there will be a separate blog about that amazing experience). The show came to an end and it was time for another business dinner. Once again, we had a great time and a fabulous meal- thank goodness for all of New York’s options.

Tuesday May 17, 2016

We were all so ready for the day because it was the last day of the show… it was time to head back to our quiet homes! We finished the show strong with lots of productive meetings with artists and clients.  We packed up and started our journey back to Vermont. There were lots of discussions about trends, projects, fresh ideas and customer leads on the way home.  Matt even started his follow up on the car ride! We stopped for a quick bite to eat and then back on the road. We got back to ALI Headquarters and everyone parted ways. We knew we had to get home and rest up for a full day of catch up and follow up on Wednesday. 

We loved being able to see our current customers, artists and new clients at the show. It is very special to be able to finally see a face that goes with the email address we communicate with on a daily basis. After all of our discussions during and after the show, we noticed a lot reoccurring requests.  Here are some of the things people are looking for:  pop art, 2016 pantone colors, mixed patterns, patriotic art, folk art and wildlife.  We had lots of inquiries for a variety of products; including, but not limited to: puzzles, fabric, greeting cards, tabletop and wall décor. Many manufacturers are interested in popping gold or reflective materials (i.e. foils) into their products, so bright colors are still very popular.  We were so surprised that many “traditional” and “conservative” manufactures are starting to spread their wings and were asking about pop art and abstract art.  People are craving the color and happiness that goes along with this look.  Art Licensing has so much amazing work to present, we can fulfill everyone’s requests!

 To see the photos that go along with our journey, check out our Surtex album on our Facebook. 

Our CEO, Jack Appelman, is excited to share a book by our artist, Carrie Schmitt.

Carrie’s Book, “Painted Blossoms: Creating Expressive Flower Art with Mixed Media” encourages you to welcome creativity with ease as you discover ways to tend the garden within.

Carrie believes that “flowers are organic, wonderfully forgiving subjects. Each one is unique; you can't paint one wrong!”

Her book teaches the reader how to create basic design elements, gives techniques for creating a wide variety of flower shapes and provides tips and advice from over a dozen established artists!

To see Carrie’s full licensing portfolio, contact us! 

With 2016 being an election year, there has been a lot of negativity in the air, causing a lot of stress in American lives. With political attack ads on TV, political debates and updates on social media and on the news it is incredibly difficult to escape this mayhem during this election season.

One way to combat the negativity is to escape reality and enjoy a bright and colorful piece of art. The bright color trend can be seen on all products- from wall décor, to apparell,  to shower curtains, to puzzles and paint by numbers (and everything in between) … the market is craving cheerfulness.

At Art Licensing we have several artists who provide beautiful, colorful art that makes you happy when you see it. With a variety of subjects (like dogs, cats, birds, typography, and abstract) we are able to provide manufactures of all types with the art they need to make your home a happy home!

We have all types of vivid color mediums: like HDR photography (Celebrate Life Gallery and Michael Blanchette), adult coloring (Hello Angel), photorealistic animals (William Vanderdasson), semi-photrealistic animals (Jenny Newland), pop art (Dean Russo, Howie Green, Dawgart and Steve Kaufman) as well as the traditional “Neiman style,” like Richard Wallich.

To see more of our colorful art, contact us today! 

Anybody who has been to a store in 2016 can see that adult coloring books are the latest craze! Adult coloring books are flying off the shelves into the hands of adults who want to relive their childhood enjoying some quiet time.  Studies show that coloring reduces stress, improves work performance and promotes relaxation. People are even forming coloring groups so they socialize as they color. Paint and sip are the things of the past, now it is color and sip!

With the coloring obsession working so well for coloring books, we have seen the market introduce all types of coloring products… from puzzles, to posters, to mugs and everything in between!

This trend has been anything but relaxing for our team of artists. They have been working day and night to create trend right art, perfect for any product. Coloring products are the perfect gift for the do-it-yourselfer or you can color it yourself and give it as a “piece of art.”

The Hello Angel Coloring books we helped to create even made it on TV! They can be found at Michaels! 

To see all of our adult coloring images, contact us today! 

Last Monday, Syrena hopped on the train in Albany and a few short hours later, she arrived in the heart of the Big Apple. She grabbed a taxi and headed straight for the Javits Center. After getting a much needed Caramel Macchiato, she was ready to seize the day!

This year, the Toy Fair opened its doors to thousands of registered global play professionals to explore a record-breaking 415,000 net square feet filled with thousands of toys, games and youth entertainment products. It is the largest toy and youth product marketplace in the Western Hemisphere. There are 150,000+ products at the show, but we were there for the puzzles and the adult coloring products (adult coloring books, puzzles, mugs, posters, and even socks)!  

At the show, Syrena met with clients to review art, discuss new opportunities and even play with a few of the toys! The Toy Fair is a grown child’s dream come true! Everywhere you look there is something fun to play with. Walking down the aisles of booths, people are tossing toys over your head, bubbles are floating around and people are even riding the toys around. She saw lots of fantastic puzzles with art from our artists made by various manufactures as well as some other products like flash cards.

The buzz at the show was all about coloring.  She was so excited to see adult coloring books with art from our artist, Hello Angel on display.

The day was action packed and lots of fun, but all good things must come to an end. She hopped back on the train and headed north… back to reality in Vermont.  

You can see all of the photos from her journey in Toy Fair album on our Facebook.

With great pleasure and pride Jack Appelman, CEO, can announce that our artist, Lars van de Goor, has won the Hasselblad Master Award!

The Hasselblad Master Award is widely acclaimed as one of the world's most prestigious professional photography competitions. The winners are selected by a combination of a public vote and a professional Masters Jury – comprising of internationally renowned photographers and imaging experts.

Hasselblad is the leading manufacturer of medium format cameras and lenses. Hasselblad cameras are renowned for their uncompromising image quality, Swedish craftsmanship and high performance. For over half a century Hasselblad cameras have captured some of the world's most iconic images - including the first landing on the moon!

Lars Van de Goor started taking photos in 2007 and by 2010, he was nominated as a top ten finalist in the Hasselblad Masters Award. This years competition for 2016, Van de Goor’s  outstanding imagery of luminous misty woods won him the category of Landscape /Nature.

Today, he works as a professional photographer with his works pubished worldwide. He says: “My main goal is still where it once started with: To capture nature’s magical moments and show her beauty to as many people as possible.”

To learn more about the Hasselblad Master Award, click here.

To see all of Lars Van de Goor’s images, click here.

We are super excited to announce that our artist, Hello Angel, has made the cover of DO Magazine! 

DO Magazine (Design Originals) has been publishing outstanding how-to books on arts and crafts for over 25 years and is known as a trendsetter in the art and craft industry. They have selected Hello Angel for not only the cover of January’s issue, but for a spread as well!

Each DO Magazine has 100 pages that covers adult coloring techniques and designs where you can learn from the best teachers and “coloristas.”

To get your own copy of this month’s DO Magazine, click here.

To see all of Hello Angel’s images, click here.

To license your own Hello Angel images, contact  Jack Appelman today!

We are back from Atlanta and finally caught up on composing e-mails, making phone calls and writing new deals! It has been a really busy two weeks… thankfully our office is stocked up with lots of delicious Green Mountain Coffee :) 

We saw so many fabulous products at the gift show this year!  If you want to take a look at the products with our art on them, check out our Facebook photo album by clicking here.

We arrived to the show bright and early Thursday and Friday morning. We started looking for art before the show officially opened and continued until after the show closed. We were beyond excited because we had art on products in all 3 buildings on all sorts of products; including, but not limited to: wall décor, flags, floor mats, puzzles, pillows, cards and tabletop/dinnerware.

We had lots of meetings during those 2 days and showed over 100,000 images!  We were prepared with our iPads full of new (and old) art. Every single artist that we represent is available on our iPads. We also had themes pulled to make meetings go smoothly for our customers.

This year the market was buzzing about new trends. The most discussed trends were line art (coloring book art) and GOLD. Line art was everywhere from post cards to pillows and pretty much everything in between. Gold as an accent or typography is also seen on various products, especially on wall décor. If you are interested in seeing some of our line art or gold images, please contact us today!

The Pantone colors of the year (Rose Quartz and Serenity Blue) were also found throughout the show on multiple product categories.  Patterns and typography are still very trendy this year. Mixing patterns and typography is even more popular! 

The Atlanta Gift show is always a great show for us and this year did not disappoint us. After 2 very busy days of walking/talking/and taking photos we were ready to come home to the quiet state of Vermont. We are already looking forward to the gift show in 2017. 

Internationally known artist Charlsie Kelly finds inspiration everywhere, and her methods and mediums reflect the diversity of places in which she paints.  The common thread in Charlsie's work is whimsy: from play-on-word idiomatic expressions in watercolor, faux mosaics to trick the eye, and larger than life murals set against an ocean backdrop, Charlsie exhibits a sense of playfulness in everything that she does.

Primarily painting vibrant watercolors, Charlsie also works in acrylic, traveling the world painting murals in hotels and private residences as well. Her colorful images have earned her a 6 page spread in this month’s Basement Magazine artist showcase. The feature includes beautiful shots of her work as well as an interview. 

Art Licensing is known for representing amazing artists and supplying our customers with high quality images. What many people do not know is all of the behind the scenes work it takes to make these hi-res files. Many of our artists rely on us to make digital files of their masterpieces. 

We are fortunate enough to have an incredibly talented art department. We can take transparencies or slides and scan them to create digital files. After the scan is complete, our imaging specialists correct the color on the digital file to match the original image. 

We also have artists that send us their original paintings (made with various mediums) to our art department to be shot. We have a fantastic Hasselblad camera. This camera can make a very large hi-res file.  This works perfectly for our customers who create large products (like puzzles, flags or wall murals). Like the scans, the photos are also color corrected in house.

Once our art department has made the hi-res files, they repackage the painting (or transparencies/slides) and return it to the artist. We hold the upmost respect for our paintings and treat them with care (like everything we receive from an artist is a Van Gough)! We have been commended by our artists for treating their work with such integrity; here is a testimony from Chuck Black: “I've been dealing with shipping artwork through the mail for over 10 years and I must say that this is the first time that I had one shipped to me exactly how I would like it to be. It was re-packaged precisely how I had packaged it originally and I was very impressed when I opened it! Thank you very much for taking the time to care for my painting properly!!!” 

When an artist works with Art Licensing, they get an entire team of people working for them! Who would ever guess how much work it takes to make a painting into a licensed product! If you are interested in working with us, Contact us!