Studio tour!

Where am I when I’m not in a tent? I’m in my luxurious unfinished basement studio!

My studio consists of a drawing table I’ve had since highschool and a number of plastic storage drawers to store my wares. The two matching sets of large drawers are courtesy of my neighbour who decided to toss out one and then toss out the other a few weeks later. Yay for recycling! The black shelves on the right are where I store my paintings. They are fairly empty right now while a bunch are getting scanned, a bunch being varnished and the rest are hanging in a restaurant until next week. Behind my desk is a variety of “squee” pictures, cards and drawings people have given me and a bunch of stuff I just like.

This is where I do all my computer stuff like the newsletter, website, greeting cards and such. Notice the doggy condos , two of five different places for the dogs to rest while I’m at work. They usually have cushy pillows in them but this mom like’s to keeps their stuff clean in the wash.

Because I am an artist, I am too cheap to heat the whole house while I work. Thanks to Nan I now have a lovely electric fireplace to keep me warm. It’s also nice to have a mantle to frame some art from the most awesome artists, Chuck Jones, Jim Davis and Rebecca Minard. The table isn’t usually there but I needed it to dry out varnished paintings.

My basement studio is a walk out so I have a big sliding door beside my table which looks out onto my postage stamp sized yard. It’s not big but it has lots of pretty plants, a big deck and lots of sunning areas for the pups. Grass is my enemy and having a nice lawn is by far the most difficult part of home ownership.
So that is my studio. It’s not fancy but it’s not a dining room table.

Back into old routines

One month and a couple of days until the start of the summer show season. With the arrival of the show season comes a familiar routine, a routine that is necessary and excrutiating at the same time. Making greeting cards.

Greeting cards are my bread and butter. They pay for the brunt of most of my show costs and they are affordable enough that everyone can take home a critter of their own. The downside is that I have to make hundreds of them and they are so boring to make. Oh well, at least it allows me time to watch movies on the couch!

Sustainable Art

Recently I spent the day with one of my show “besties” and we got on the topic of how we can make our art more sustainable. We aren’t talking about environmental sustainability (which we both are concerned with too) but rather how our businesses can sustain themselves knowing that we can only produce so many pieces a year. So in other words, if I can only produce x amount of work a year and only make y dollars from them, how can I bring in more income to grow my business?

For me, some of the answers are obvious. Make greeting cards, small matted prints, and giclees (high quality prints on canvas). There’s also planning to consider like don’t make a huge or insanely detailed painting when stock is low. Or the practice makes perfect technique where paintings get made quicker as I get better. What I need is a way to use paintings I’ve already made and turn them into completely new pieces that are time efficient and affordable to make.

So now it’s time to start brainstorming ideas. Do I look at new techniques to make additional pieces to add to my existing style? Do I try a different medium? What about new products that utilize the art I’ve alredy made. Then I start to consider the feasibility of the new project. How much time will it take away from creating the core items I’m known for? How much will it cost and when I mark it up and is it worth the money I invested in it? What if people just don’t like it and now I’m out the time and the money?

Yup, there are a lot of factors when developing new products to make this art thing sustainable and capable of keeping me more in the black than in the red. I’ve got some ideas but just like when I started showing my art it comes with all the fears too. Eeeek!

No contest!

Over the past month I have wrapped up watching several “contest” shows; Face Off (special effect makeup), Project Runway All Stars (fashion design), and Ink Master (tattoo artists). While all these shows are interesting to watch for technique and idea development (can’t be bothered with the gossip) I always find myself wondering “why on earth would people subject themselves to this?”.

Everyone knows art in all forms is subjective and opinions are like a**holes so let’s combine the two and call it entertainment. The artist, in attempt to get a dream prize and huge amounts of exposure, puts their talent and hopes infront of a televised audience dreaming of fame and notariety. Now enter the judges, people hand picked as industry experts who will pick through every last detail of the artist’s work like a mom with a lice comb.

The style of work the artist has spent years developing and refining now gets put aside, being told that you should steer away from your signature work and try to diversify instead. Artists who are specialized in one medium are now thrown into an unfamiliar one and scrutinized mercilessly when they don’t work up to the same standards. In Project Runway a contestant was told in no subtle way that their work was sub par by no other than Miss Piggy. Enjoyable for the viewing public but at what point does the artist think “has it really come to this? Being told I suck by Muppet swine.”

Artists are like anyone else, they like to be told they are doing a good job and know that their efforts are appreciated. The stress of going through round after round of self doubt, critisism (and not always of the constuctive type) and for the majority,ending their journey with a catch phrase letting them know they failed. It is enough to strip any artist to the bone.

How many potential artists had their career ended when a public school teached poked fun at a picture they made and slapped a lettered grade on it? Art is not math, there is no clear right or wrong answer. Two artists can be given the exact same materials and produce pieces worlds apart. Neither is better than the other because there will be people out there who love them both even if it is one over the other.

So my answer is do not enter contests. It doesn’t have to be a tv competition, it could be one held in a magazine, at a craft show or any other forum. My contest is showing my work in my booth and having people who are interested in it strike up a conversation or tell me they find my work awesome. My reward; self esteem, encouragement, motivation and accomplishment. A contest boasting hundreds or thousands of dollars, cars, job opportunities etc. can be tempting but everything comes at a price, in this case, your artist soul.

Brain jam

Don’t you hate it when you have so many things going on that trying to get them all done is like a bunch of people trying to get through a door at once? That’s what it’s been like around here lately. Usually I can shuffle around a schedule and prioritize no problem but lately all things that need to be done around the same time and are equally important.
So in a time of tax season, bookeeping, paintings to be done, cars to be sold and transfered, funiture to sell, appointments to be kept and all that jazz, let’s just be happy to have things to do. That is until April 4th when I’ll be propped up in a cast and cut off from the world again. Damn, that kinda sounds good But until then I will work my way down the list, slowly unwedging myself and taking pleasure in getting things done one by one, like this one today.

Swimming with the big fish

This Thursday I will be meeting a friend at the One of a Kind Spring show. She is exhibiting there and I’m not, but as I sat there painting today I was thinking more and more how I wish I was there too.
A few years back before the economy turned, I decided to do more shows, distance shows and expensive shows in effort to capitalize on my success. So much planning and money went into my expansion and then it happened, sales dropped. People started pinching their pennies and I started losing money. All money made went to paying bills and fees for upcoming shows and paying for supplies.
The following year I cut back a bit and stayed in Ontario. Sales were still slow and then I had my accident which made things difficult to be at my best. Again, all money went to bills, fees and trying to stay afloat.
Last year I dropped all pricier shows and stuck with shows that had proven successful for me in the past. It was rebuilding year, time to build up the nest egg and get out of the hole. Sales picked up but it still proved to be hard since I still had to pay myself to keep our home life in order.
So now it’s a new year and I’m still rebuilding. If you had told me that 3 years later I would still be paying for my over zealous expension plans I most definately would stayed home.
So the moral of the story loyal followers is that if you want to swim with the big fish as I so badly wanted to, make sure you have some mighty big fins. Do you have enough money to expand? Have you had a few years and steady sales to back up your decision to expand? Have you done your research that your expansion is in the right markets? Take it from a person who loves to learn things the hard way, big plans with big fish can lead to a big hook through your little wallet. But don’t worry for me, I’m a resiliant fish and I’m not ready to leave this pond. Just let this be a lesson to all you minnows out there.

What the duck?!

Where have I been? The blog went from regular to constipated. The fact is that I needed to think of what direction I wanted to take this blog. My innitial thought was to chronical my journey as a artist. Then articles, advice and how-to tid bits said I should keep it shorter and more focused on sales and drawing people to my art. I absolutely agree on what they are telling me but I still like my first idea too. So after much thought and a few lighter posts I have decided to….. go with my first idea.

First off I want to thank those who advised me, I deeply value their input and did not make this decision lightly. The truth is that I love to write and I have a lot on my mind. Some of it I need to vent, other stuff I want to share. When asked what the goal of this blog is I can now say that this is a journal of my thoughts, process and info I hope will entertain and possibly help others out there who are like minded. Painting is my peace of mind, writing is my way of articulating it.

So that being said, I will get back to regular blogging with the laundry list of ideas I have and all the happenings I’m having in my life. I hope you will continue to join me and share my posts if you would like. I’m sorry if I get carried away sometimes but look on the bright side, it’s still going to be a shorter post than Kevin Smith would do!