Traveling Painter

where i'm at....

2009-04-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

the last few weeks have been a struggle for me. i'm finding it hard to find the motivation to create work. and in part , i think its because i don't have any direction or brand identity or a place i want to put it. agh i sound so distraught! but really....

i am losing faith in etsy. i will probably keep a shop there on the off chance that someone in that dismally low-priced market will be interested in some fine art. fact is: fine art doesn’t sell on etsy. people are looking for oochie goochie 10$ shit to give their mom. i have played the etsy games and chattered in the forums (which i find to be largely self congratulatory) i still see little success financially. and when it comes down to it, my hourly wage is wasted talking to faceless knitters and jewelers who aren’t interested in my drawings and prints. furthermore, any serious critique threads or business discussions i try to bring up are quickly ignored. unless im under someone's desk in brooklyn i dont think we'll ever be seeing fine art making a regular appearance on the front page. i'm not trying to be harsh, but that's how it is.

i even thought of abandoning the traveling painter name. i've been using this moniker ever since i realized that my art is always influenced by where i am. and after a stint as a guest artist at a nature conservatory, i thought, "hey this is pretty fun...traveling around and making my work.' but i digress. i've been "traveling painter" for years and it's catchy enough (tell me if I’m wrong!) so i think it will stay.

i've decided to go out on a limb and try to create my own marketplace. primarily because (especially from a business standpoint) i want to direct anyone i talk with to ONE place. not a blog (a long hard to remember address), a shop (another unfamiliar address- eeetsyyy? etsy? what's that?), my twitter (at least that's still pretty fun), etc. I don’t want business cards plastered with 45 urls. i think it looks disorganized and amateur.

I bit the bullet and went with wordpress hosted from my own website. this will allow me to have a blog AND my own store, with advanced selling options, my own rules and no "fees" under one easy to remember, subdomain free web address. you can check out my work in progress if you like. www.travelingpainter.com

i'm still messing around and auditioning shopping carts so forgive my dust. once it's officially launched, i'll shut this blog down and redirect there. i'll be updating in the future from www.travelingpainter.com.

maybe getting this off my chest and out of my head will free up some creativity. i'd like to feel excited to create new work for this newfound concept, but it's hard to shake the "will etsy receive this well?" thoughts from my head. not that it should matter, but i doubt any artist hasn't had the conflict of making for art’s sake and making for an audience.

so. that's where i'm at. i want to make art in my place, for a different audience. has anyone else been having these thoughts?

thanks for listening to my rant. :-)

p.s. i'm done worrying about capitalization. this is after all, the internetzzz.

Safe Places

2009-04-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

I came across this picture while looking for some stock images, and it really struck me. Not because it's a beautiful composition although it is. It makes me feel safe and enclosed, and reminds me of trail riding in the woods as a child... a bunch of us kids and horses and dogs all convoying in a line. We'd always end at the creek. Let the horses paw and drink. This is almost exactly what it looked like...this image seems like it was plucked from my sometimes fuzzy memory- and that's why it's striking.

I miss summers full of trail rides, and it hurts a bit more knowing I will probably never see that creek again. I think I'll save this photo for a while. I don't know where it is, but it might as well be home.

Wreck This Journal Vlog

2009-04-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

Mixed Media Ship Collages

2009-04-08T21:49:00.000-07:00

This is the first time... in a long time... that I have REALLY had fun in the studio! I went into this knowing I wanted to use 3D boxes. I wanted to make some ready to hang (without frames) pieces of art. I just tore into my paper supply and had so much fun!

Blueprints from work that I had used earlier as a drop cloth...

...with leftover blue paint...

...cut outs from a vintage National Geographic story on Pacific Islanders...

... strips of old maps, ink and ModPodge...

I am REALLY happy with the results! I'm not sure if I'll list in my shop yet... what do you think? These may be prototypes for more to come!

Inside the Studio Tour

2009-04-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

Aaaahhh. I can breathe! Welcome to the re-organized studio. (See before pics here) I cannot promise beautiful because A. I am poor and B. I am busy. However what we have here is utilitarian and I know where everything is! Let's take a look around...

Finally here I can paint with a dedicated area to place my pallette and solvents! I rearranged a little and gave myself a table for all my supplies. Much better than the ghetto-rigged rickety stool I used to set buckets of liquid on before.

Oh hey... I DO have a sewing machine. I switched the printing station (which is also my dog's crate covered in printers, heh) with the sewing table. Now the table is fully accessible. Before I had to worm behind the easel, and thus, never looked at the machine. This a sweet little vintage machine. $35 from some neighbors who had a basement full of them! The Chemex magnetic board is a gift from my mom. She finds the coolest stuff in books at the thrift shop and then makes crazy stuff!

Just to prove I didn't just shove things behind doors and curtains- here's a peek under my workstation. The shelves are 2 halves of a garage shelving unit with a piece of melamine (easy to clean) on top. I keep everything covered up with a *classy* cloth shower curtain.

I have room for paints, papers and my less frequently used materials like beads and pastels. (anyone wanna buy a bead loom?)

This is the top of my workstation. I have room to do computing and some mixed media papery work. I've got two squeaky but comfortable stools, so ya know...someone can come hang out and nerd around with me. Those little cubbies look unorganized but they aren't! Each one holds thematic doodads like camera accessories, webcam stuff or freebies I give away with orders. Just small, lose-able stuff.

And here's the real star of the show! Meet Kaya. She's got pretty flexible hips. This is her normal "whatcha doin mom?" stance.

I hope you enjoyed the tour, come over and craft some time :-)

Planting Daffodils on a "Rainy" Day

2009-04-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

Today in lovely Chicagoland where the winters are six months long, it decided to rain, then hail, then snow. Currently: horizontal snow.

I am longing for my back porch apartment garden, so today we decided to bring a little plant life indoors! After a trip to Ikea for a planter and Lowes for the bulbs I have indoor Peruvian Daffodils.

They don't look like much, but within a couple weeks we should have some really sweet smelling and spindly petaled daffodils!

It's easy to make your own zen-dils.

One Ikea (or whatever) glass planter. About 13" x 4" x 3"
+
3 Bulbs of your favorite Narcissus variety (side note: Peruvians are not really in the Narcissus family although they look similar and can be grown the same way)
+
River rocks - basically the decorative fishbowl rocks
+
Water to just cover the rocks

Place your bulbs in evenly spaced from each other.

That's it! Watch 'em grow...no dirt necessary!

Embarrassing Messy Studio

2009-04-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

Ohhhh geeez, here we go. I am exposing myself here. This is my super gross, super disorganized studio. I really should be cleaning the apartment, but this will be more fun!

The "Painting Corner" is a hot mess, and it also hides the "Sewing Corner" which pretty much cannot be used...yea there's a vintage sewing machine back there- who would have known???

The "Packing Station" is where I wrap gifts - the ribbon on the dowel is actually a big improvement from the box of constantly tangling ribbons and strings. I also pack Etsy orders here. Note the huge stack of recycled materials! I try to be green, I do.

God... this is just...where my printer hides....oh the sorrow!

This is my workstation for computing, drawing, carving stamps and underneath are big shelves that I'm not even going to show you. The barstools are a sweet Goodwill score by Pleyades- thanks for the eagle eye!

OK guys, I'm off to clean this rat hole! I hope my next post will be much more Martha. Peace!

Fine Artists of Etsy

2009-03-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

I have so many favorite illustrators and painters on Etsy! I snagged a treasury last night and thought I should represent...Fine artists are grossly misunderrepresented on Etsy, so give this Treasury plenty of attention! Maybe we'll make a gift guide :-) Clicky clicky!

Twitter Followers Mosaic

2009-03-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

Hello there. I admit I have been largely quiet on my blog these days. I told myself I was going to take time off until we actually had internet at the house (we had been *ahem* borrowing some wifi from Caribou Coffee across the street). Uploading pics and items becomes a labor of dedication and infinite patience over a shaky stolen connection!

Yesterday we got real shiny new net at the apartment, so now there's no more excuses! There needs to be a boot that flies out of the wall and kicks me in gear!

This was a cute thing I found on Glass Identities' blog:

A mosaic of all your Twitter followers! Hi all you guys I appreciate you all signing up for my inane babbling :-P

To get your own Twitter mosaic, go to this website and enter your user name. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekends. I'm off to explore "bourbon on the rocks." Hahah.

Wreck This Journal - A Video Blog

2009-03-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

I say "and" and "like" a lot. Sorry!

Illustration Friday - Rabbits

2009-03-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

Hi All. Today is Friday, and officially "Illustration Friday" from my last post. Give these sweet rabbits a click to see larger details!

The official IF topic this week was "legendary" and that just conjures up images of super heroes and American flags and I'm not down with all that. But I have been illustrating- for my own heart's desires.

This Friday I want to share the second in a series of woodland creature illustrations. I am planning a set of four to package together as cards. I have three done, and beginning the fourth today. Yes I AM holding something back my friends...but if you and I are Twitter friends you've already gotten a sneak peek! Stay tuned for number three and four!

Enjoy your Friday everyone :-)

New Drawing for Illustration Friday

2009-03-14T11:38:00.001-07:00

I found a great blog, Illustration Friday, that describes itself as: "...a weekly illustration challenge. A topic is posted every Friday and then participants have all week to come up with their own interpretation. " It's pretty much a no pressure, no prizes, but very awesome collection of talented artists.

This week's topic was "Intricate." Here's my entry. Click to get a much larger view! I never got to post this because I'm the never ending procrastinator and didn't meet the deadline. I assumed it was Friday at midnight or something, but I guess not. My only critique of the blog so far- they have no posted deadline!

Anyway, here's my cutie deer. I did this will a very fine point Micron pen and Prismacolor Colored Pencils. I would love to find some long narrow cards die cut as shown to print these on! Anyone have a source? I'd like to offer the cards in my Etsy shop!

Carving Stamps for Duck Hunters

2009-03-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am headed over to a friend and fellow artist's house for her boyfriend's birthday celebration. I don't know the guy fully, but he's pretty awesome- and an artist himself. He is also a hunter with an adorable Chocolate Lab lady named Coffee. So what do you get for your friend's boyfriend-artguy-hunter-dog-lover that you aren't really sure what he likes?? The pressure's on!

Last night, I had a little shopping party at Utrecht on Madison Ave. in Chicago. Fun! I picked up some carving rubber and a Speedball handtool with blades. I have an assortment of inks and an a brayer at home, so we are good to go for making a "Coffee with a Dead Duck" stamp!

I think it turned out pretty well! It's about 3" tall by 4" wide.

I did a test print in regular old black stamping ink. (Stampersss!)

Then, I made some wrapping paper with some brown scrapbook paper, white Speedball ink and another feather stamp I carved last night. Aww Coffee....she's a cutie of a dog.

Wrapped up and sealed with a blue ribbon, it's good to go. He's either going to like it, or this is going to be the dumbest birthday present ever! Haha, let's hope for the former.

A Good Etsy Day

2009-02-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

It's been a good Etsy day! I had been cleaning my house, and came back to check my email, and yay! A sale! I sold a print of Intrepid Evolution, which I also re-listed today.

Next after dinner with Pleyades, I came back to find myself featured in a really beautiful fresh treasury. A Green Spring! is lovely and I hope it makes it to the front page...especially since they have been all very beige lately. This would be a refreshing pop of color! Give it lots of clicks and comments :-)

Enjoy your Saturday night everyone!

New Blogger Followers Widget Sucks

2009-02-27T08:58:00.000-08:00

I love my followers, but since Blogger and Google decided to get all jiggy wit' it and make that heinous box with borders and clunky mess- I've moved it to the bottom. Sorry :-( Hopefully they will come out with something cleaner, and less spammy looking!

Time Lapse Painting and Joanna Newsom

2009-02-24T23:37:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I have posted. I apologize! Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the pressure to post everyday, feeling as if I have nothing of merit to say!

News from the studio: A new painting is afoot. It's very large- can't even fit in the frame at 4' x 6'! The piece is tentatively titled "First Job & A Suicide" or maybe just "First" depending on how elusive I am feeling. The word "suicide" is so leading, and the painting isn't really about that. More so about my feelings towards my first year as a Southern transplant in Chicago, witnessing a suicide by train, and the general apathy of those around me. The imagery will develop and I'll post more updates.

I have a video today after MUCH ado. My video editing software has been *ahem* problematic lately. My boyfriend, the tech geek, is on the hunt for a new one for me. Here's the verrrry beginning of the new work.

The song in the video is Joanna Newsom's "Sweet Esame" and she's one of my favorites. She has an unusual voice, and I was hesitant to use her for that reason. My favorite song of hers "Peach, Plum, Pear" is probably a better example of what I'm talking about. It's almost a cracking warping voice, and I find it unique and intriguing. After awkward and sometimes harsh notes you are continually rewarded with sweet ones. I realize I just made her work sound like an abusive relationship- but oh well, I'm no music writer! She's a weird girl and plays the harp, and I like weird. Check her out at LastFM for more songs and videos.

Free iPhone Goodies

2009-02-19T23:38:00.000-08:00

Hey all, I'm playing around with the idea of making wallpapers for cellphones. These are free wall papers for the Apple iPhone. I figured since everyone and their brother has an iPhone (except me- or my brother interestingly enough) I'd start there. I'm happy to take requests if you have a certain phone and want a wallpaper.

These are 320x480 pixels - which will fit perfectly on your iPhone screen. I do ask that you do not remove my watermark. Since they are free, I'd like to keep a little signature on them!

You can open the folder to download the images here (it will take you to MediaFire, it's my filesharing account, nothing scary or virusy I promise!) or just click each image for the full-size view and save them there.

Little Bunny Foo Foo

2009-02-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

I came home from work to find myself featured in a really sweet treasury! It's bunny themed! I love little hoppers hehe. abbasgirl is the curator, and I think she did a pretty great job!

Give the treasury love and lots of clicks too!

Time Lapse Painting

2009-02-15T20:59:00.000-08:00

A fun vid of me working on a painting. This is a special commissioned piece, about a secret and based on Irish fairytale themes. I'm not done, but thought I'd share some progress! Also...the lyrics for the song were a total coincidence. I feel kinda dorky now, but whatever.

Good night all, I'm off to enjoy the last moments of the weekend with my sweeties and a silly movie!

Aw Shucksy Cute...

2009-02-14T17:51:00.000-08:00

Hey all, Happy V-Day! I'm not typically sentimental, but I wanted to do SOMETHING fun for the day. Our reservations at the tapas place didn't pan out. Oops. That's what you get for waiting too long to make them! So we took a camera and tripod to Busse Woods (a patch of nature in the Chicago-burban paved landscape).

We goofed around, took cute pics, and some really awkward ones...um dance off party=never will see light of day...

And now for the GIF. I kept making fun of Ryan because he kept standing the afore pictured stance with his legs all askew...so we made a new mode of mobilizing.

Enjoy.

More photos are on my Flickr!

Happy Friday (the 13th too)!

2009-02-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

Thank (insert religious diety of choice) it's FINALLY Friday! I am looking forward to this weekend- even though they are calling for snow :< We are going to Tapas Barcelona in Evanston for a V-Day meal followed by Peet's Coffee & Tea and a walk around the town. Mmmm can't wait for a raspberry mocha from Peet's!!!

So what's everyone doing for the big squishy pink heart day?

Artist Time Management and Outsourcing!

2009-02-11T19:43:00.000-08:00

Manage your art business like any other business. CEO’s don’t do their accounting. They don’t do their websites. They sometimes don’t even answer their own phone. The point isn’t to be a lazy jerk- but consider seeking assistance for things you are terrible at! Why waste hours on a photo shoot for your items if you are just not a good photographer?

Think: Let’s just saaaay you want to make 20$/hr on your art work. 5 hours of messing with product shots x $20 = $100 of potential lost wages because that’s 5 hours you DIDN’T spend on developing your own artwork. (Plus the 10 years it’s gonna take to upload all those pics on Etsy…I kid I kid! Not really). And chances are your photos still look a lil’ fuzzy. Grr! Outsource it! You could spend $100 and have your products professionally shot, get stellar images and all the while you happily work on YOUR art.

Same goes for accounting, legal issues, web design… there are lots of people much better at these things because it’s their job! Your job is supposed to be creating art right? K. Think of your time as an investment, and spend it wisely. We are taught to be jack of all trades as artists and it’s just counterproductive for business. Sure you can build a canvas, balance the books, design a website, write contracts, make your business cards, promote online- and at the end of the day that canvas is still blank and someone has stolen your artwork in a bad commission deal because you didn’t consult a lawyer while writing a contract. Overwhelming isn’t it? *Sorry not trying to be all doomsday here…but these are things to think about*

I had a disagreement in college with a much loved professor…no offense here… about to buy or not to buy canvases pre-stretched. My logic was: the pre-made canvas is 35$ and it’s ready to go. The canvas I have to build is $30 in supplies and I still have about 4 hrs of work, and waiting for glue to dry before I can paint on it- and it’s not guaranteed to have 90 degree angles! :-P. That homemade canvas just got pretty expensive! Not to mention it looks like a rhombus and no gallery would ever accept that. I once heard a gallery owner say they usually re-stretch artists work anyways because we are so rotten at building our canvas frames!

Back to the disagreement- the professor wanted me to build them for the hands on experience. Sure there’s a rite of passage for every freshman painting student – going to get lumber and canvas and having the cute boys in woodshop help you cut stuff on the miter saw and building your first canvas. It’s a great skill to have. However I think, and it was validated at the conference, that you should do what you are best at and employ others to help you. It doesn’t mean you have to have a full time staff or anything but here and there, the time we waste trying to do it all adds up. Time to get rid of the guilt that goes along with buying pre-made canvases as if my paintings are less "pure"- what am I Catholic? Actually....mmmguilt.

Side Note (somewhat related to the topic of "pure" art): Don’t feel bad about having a “day job.” You are no less of an artist because you also work. In fact it makes your story a bit more interesting if you’re a dentist with a passion for textiles after 5:00! Sure, it means you have to put in longer hours, but don’t feel as if your art is any less true/pure/original...whatever.

Images: Throwback college studio days! Me being really dorky and caressing some paint! Oh I miss it... :-)

Calendar Girl

2009-02-10T21:56:00.000-08:00

I saw this awesome 'calendar' that used pictures to tell the date, month and year...I want to make one. I spent waaaaay too much time trying to think of fitting poses/clothing, taking pics for all the days, and the current month and I still have to do the 'number' days! Yikes, this may become an excessively vain project- so I may just use actual numbers. Besides, I'm really lazy and don't have time to take 31 more pictures. So here are my days of the week (with several alternates...) + February.

Apparently all I can settle on is looking like a Republican on Tuesdays and a smug hippie bitch on Wednesdays. I'm going to beg my boyfriend to code me a calendar widget thingy...

Couch Potato

2009-02-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

Soooo I'm an on-again, off-again, currently on-again runner. I have a 5k coming up in April and let's just say I haven't done any significant amount of exercise since before Christmas. Ugh. So, I am trying this "Couch to 5K" program. Supposedly it will get me from point A (lazy ass) to point B (running a 5k in 30min) in 2 months.

The time crunch is on here, I can't skip a week and risk failure and embarrassment or vomiting (j/k I don't think I'd ever be that hardcore) during the 5k in April. Last night I did the first set of intervals, and yea it kicked my ass, but it felt good. Somehow running to avoid failure during a race is a lot easier than running to be healthy. I'm not totally sane, but whatever gets you moving right?

I need new running shoes too. Mine are all worn in weird places from my most likely inefficient GAIT. I'll keep you updated on all this. I'm sure a new pair of shoes will warrant a picture post :-P

PS- Yes I took that pic, yes it's cheesy, just deal with my horsey metaphorical imagery...k?

Networking Skills for Artists

2009-02-10T09:34:00.000-08:00

Networking skills. Those words scare the crap out of me, but over and over again the presenters emphasized the need to network. I think it’s a matter of what works for your comfort level. Of course face to face is going to be the most effective option, but there is something to be said for people who can build a strong online presence. I think networking through social media like Twitter, Facebook, and bookmarking sites has value to a younger generation- but maybe not the generation that has all the money! Strike a balance between the two.

Some tips I compiled are:

a. Be a crazy follow-upper. HANDWRITTEN thank you notes go a long way. Show people you remember what the hell you talked about and aren’t out there just to sap their resources
There are sooooo many cute note cards on Etsy - order a pack, support your fellow artists and start writing thank you notes! Remember to keep them pretty neutral- no religious, political or otherwise offensive content ;-)

b. Give! If you can honestly offer someone help on a project do it! They will remember you next time a project comes up, and may lead to employment or other projects and contacts.

c. Most importantly tell people what you do: all the time. You never know when the lady in line at Starbucks with you might have a contact. (I say this like I can do it. I’m so shy and awkward- but working on it!)

d. Treat networking like a game if it’s too uncomfortable. How many people this week can you tell about your goal? Try to set a new record each week. Have your “30 second introduction” ready and questions to ask. Even if you only talk to one person a week, that’s 4 more opportunities a month than you had before.

e. Ask others what they do. Listen. People like to talk about themselves. This part is fun if you’re a hot awkward mess. Let them do the talking, and it will spark more questions to ask them.

f. Get feedback on your ideas from others. Accept when someone says that sucks. It might suck. And you’ll waste a lot of time trying to promote suck when you could just listen and have a better more marketable product.

g. Ask friends and family, and anyone you know in a marketing type field to “sell your product back to you.” You might get some insight on what kind of image you are promoting, as well as new ideas for marketing your work.

h. Find a “mentor” = someone that does what you want to do and does it well. Befriend them. Most people are flattered when someone wants their advice. They aren’t gonna be like “RAR F-OFF!” And if they are…well…you don’t want advice from them! They can tell you how they got where they are today and what mistakes they made. Be nice to them. Buy them lunches. Let them fast track you into your desired field.

***Here's my little 2292892 cents.... Get some business cards! Make sure they have all contact info on them: email, phone, web/blog, store, and name (duuuh). Nothing's worse than scrambling around to write on a scrap of paper and look like a dingus trying to get some business.

Also get NICE cards. That doesn't mean expensive, but don't use a shoddy MS Publisher template from 1993. ACK. We can tell. Art people can especially tell. You can make cards and print them on those really finely perforated blanks- but make sure they dont have ziggy raggy edges, thats almost as bad as the ugly ass templates. In fact- let's just not use ANY Microsoft product to design a business card! K, ending that rant.

Some sources for cheap or even FREE business cards are MooCards, Zazzle, VistaPrint, or look on Etsy for designers to make you custom set! I know a certain friend got some free ones on VistaPrint that were fantastic! And if you are no good at graphic design, many of these card printing services have lots of very pretty (very un-MS Publisher circa '93) templates!

Also carry extra pens. Make friends by loaning pens. :-)

Featured!

2009-02-09T20:22:00.001-08:00

Thank you to zombiepenguen (cute name btw!) for featuring me in this pretty purple treasury! Give her some lovin and the treasury too! Larger view & details here.

Art & Business - Article Series Introduction!

2009-02-09T19:16:00.000-08:00

I recently attended a great conference at UW Madison about the marriage of art and business. Here I will attempt to consolidate as much information I learned as possible. I paid for (well my boyfriend's mom paid for...) the conference but am sharing this knowledge for free because I believe we owe each other assistance in order to grow as an influential, self respecting community of arts people!

So you want to go into business as an artist? Whether it’s full time or part time, there is a set of skills you must have in order to succeed.
According to many presenters, these are the essentials:

Technical Skills. You have to be good. Take pride in your work and put honest effort into it. People can see through a lazily made product or dishonest motives very quickly.

A clear, well defined goal. It doesn't have to be set in stone because things will change. Regardless, if you want to build support for your projects, you must have this! A “mission” gives others something to get behind. Write it down, talk it over to yourself and make sure you could say it in a 30 second introduction without sounding like a robot. Tell people about your goal, and you never know when someone might just have a lead or contact for you.

Validation. Where have you exhibited? What is your experience? Do you have a degree or are you self taught? How many years have you been doing this and what makes you an expert? This is not meant to be an interrogation, but simply facts that people want to know. They want to know why they should pay you over someone else for your work. People buy from people they like and trust, so providing your “street cred” puts them at ease.

A TIP: Use this crappy recession to your advantage. An idea that an artist threw out was to contact the owners of empty commercial spaces. You know all those storefronts that are totally empty with “For Lease” signs on the door? Call them up and ask if you can put up an exhibition. It’s mutually beneficial, it gives your work exposure and pretties up their empty space, thus enticing potential buyers or leasers. Make sure you write up a contract (see my article on that) so both parties are clear on expectations. I’m about to contact the empty bookstore space down the block to see if I can pitch them this idea.

Know thy SELF. What are you willing to risk? If you are cool with losing your job and maybe your home and maybe friends? Yea? Then you are fine to go jump headfirst into a business. I’m not trying to be funny…seriously, if you are OK with the worst case scenario, then what you want to do is a risk worth taking. If you aren’t then you need to PLAN out your risks. What will it take to quit your day job and work on art full time? Decide what you are comfortable with before you get yourself into a desperate situation.

Money is important! Hey! Wow! I was educated my whole life in the line of thought that…. Oh we make art because it’s in our souls and we love it, not because we want to make a buck. ‘Scuse me. I have rent to pay- I want to make a buck. FINALLY- someone said it. In fact the whole conference said it. DO NOT BE ASHAMED OF WANTING TO MAKE MONEY! It doesn’t make you a bad artist, or mean you are “selling out” or whatever! Michelangelo, Picasso, Jackson Pollack, and hundreds others were as commercial as they come. The art for arts sake movement is fine, but it’s also promoting the notion that a fine arts degree is a job application to McDonalds and has no real economic value. Kfmsklgdklgsdfgk;lj Let’s stop doing that now ok? Thx. Artists employ others. Galleries, museums, arts centers, and public art projects create jobs. And my goodness, we are consumers! *Hides from her Hobby Lobby receipts* We have real financial clout and it’s time to stop being victims and be proud to throw our weight around!

So here’s my disclaimer: I am an artist. I try to learn as much as I can about this business and want to share what I have. However- I am not a consultant, business expert or lawyer. I am not even a top seller (obviously!) but I am just starting out and hope we can learn together. Most of the information posted in this series is what I gathered from various speakers at a conference, with bits of my opinion, experience and bad attempts at humor mixed in. So that being said, I really hope you come back for the next posts. I will try to put them up 2x a day so this info is out there pretty quickly, but I also work full time so cut me some slack!

Next up: Networking Skills!

Jump!

2009-02-08T16:04:00.001-08:00

Matt and I went on a photo mission today and walked around Philadelphia. This is one of my favorite shots of the day! This was part of a big mural and Matt, always the acrobatic, made it a great pic! Click for the super big version.

See more photos from today on my Flickr account here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelingpainter/

Anyone know of a way to post multiple pictures to Blogger without using their clunky interface? I'd love to post them all right here but get annoyed with the slowness of Blogger. :-(

Back to Chicago in about 2 hours!

Philly for the Weekend

2009-02-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

Hello all. I'm fighting the urge to snooze off my breakfast here, and my fellow Twitter/Etsian/Blogging friend modernemotive and I have a deal. She's buying new ink and I'm posting. We're trying to mutually be productive today!

So here we are, it's morning in Philadelphia. I came for a weekend visit to see my dear friend Matt and his lovely boyfriend Jon. I'm super impressed by Jon's loft here- I think he should feature it on Apartment Therapy! The man can decorate!

Yesterday we went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a "murder mystery" scavenger hunt through the art museum. It was one of those organized tours- we got clues, and in teams of six were released into the museum to solve the mystery of who killed the curator. Pretty much a DaVinci Code based plotline. The hunt was decently fun and did a good job of getting you through the collections of art. It was my first time in the museum (and the city for that matter) and they have some wonderful works there! It was almost too bad we had to rush off to the next clues.

Matt and I took the opportunity to lollygag and look at things, not totally invested in the hunt (they made it kind of easy for general public) but we were amazed at the museum. They had a hall of Egyptian plyons that Matt declared should be in his bedroom. They also had a room full of silver items from the 18-19th centuries...so beautiful! My favorite was actually a clue in our hunt- a tiny child's whistle made from silver bells and red coral.

We spent the rest of the evening wining and dining with friends from the hunt. Jon is going to cullinary school soon- and is already an amazing cook. He made us yummy appetizers: spinach stuffed mushrooms, salmon stuffed spicy peppers, and scallops in bacon. Dinner was chicken parmesean and mushroom gnocci. (Yes I'm cheating on vegetarianism this weekend).

Today Matt and I are going to wander about on a photo mission, hopefully I get some decent shots to share. Now for the love of God, someone keep me away from this chocolate bread!

A quick one!

2009-02-01T21:12:00.000-08:00

Hello all! Just returned from the Arts Enterprise conference in Madison, WI. I promise I will post as much information about the seminar as my little brain sorts it all out and I review my notes (and tapes *geek*).

Until then- I WAS IN A TREASURY! Please enjoy while it's hot - and make it hot! Pleyades is a generous lady giving me a slot next to all these great artists!

Link to treasury: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=37328
Expires Wed, Feb 4th 8:29am.

Make sure to check out the 3 I couldn't fit in the screen shot!

Good night friends! :-)

UW - Arts Enterprise January Symposium

2009-01-29T10:13:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited - I can't even stand it! This weekend I am heading up to Univ. of Wisconsin for the Arts Enterprise January Symposium. A weekend packed with awesomeness! Classes and lectures by professional artists, professors, business experts....and seriously...all this for 50$? UW, you're my new best friend.

My schedule for the weekend is below! These are the classes I am interested in- but if you want to look at the whole schedule I added a link to the PDF at the end of this post. Check it out if you are in the Chicago/Madison area!

Saturday
9–9:45 a.m. Keynote Speaker: Toni Sikes “Think Like an Entrepreneur”
10–10:45 a.m. What Are You Made Of? Assessing Your Risk Comfort Level
11–11:45 a.m. The Marriage of Art and Business: What Artists and Business People Can Learn
Lunch
12:45–1:15 p.m. Special Guest: Leon Fleisher
1:30–2:15 p.m. I’ve Posted It; Now It’s Got A Life of Its Own: The Legal Issues of Web Design
2:30–3:15 p.m. Let’s Shake on It: Contracts
3:30–4:30 p.m. Mentor Meetings

Sunday
8:30–9 a.m. Breakfast & Welcome Roundtables hosted by Nate Zeisler and Arts Enterprise of UW–Madison
9–9:45 a.m. Keynote Speaker: Angela Beeching “You, Inc.: Secrets to Your Success”
10a.m.–12 p.m. Springboard: Simple Business Plans for Artists*
Lunch
12:45–1:15 p.m. Special Guest: Gary Beckman "The Artist-Citizen: Developing a Framework"
1:30–3:30 p.m.Springboard for the Arts: Artists and the Web 2.0*
2:30–3:15 p.m.An Art Life: Engaging with the Public Sphere3:30-5:00 p.m.
Presentations & Closing

Full Class Listings - Program Brochure

I am so psyched! I am going to get a notebook and bring my tape recorder...heehehe. I miss being in school! I will report back what I learned!

Goose Popcorn

2009-01-28T19:36:00.000-08:00

Just sharing a photo from today. I work for a construction sub-contractor and one of my duties is going around to jobsites and taking pictures. For marketing/promo materials, quality control, liability...whatever. So today I was out on a hospital site- and they have this huge pond that several birds have taken up residence in. Swans, Canadian geese, and some assorted ducks.

I was walking back to my car and something about geese piddling around always makes me want to run at them like a bowling ball heading for pins! I resisted this immature urge- probably more because all the guys on the site would have one more thing to pick on the art dork about... I slunk up on these geese and took a few calm shots.

I finally crossed their comfort threshold and they POPPED up straight into the air. My favorite is that shadow in the lower right... kik.

It's pretty Shopped... but I had to remove an ugly car and stop sign. Forgive my bad edits, I'm just learning the beauty of the patch tool!

Dreams of Art and Fruity Violence

2009-01-27T08:04:00.000-08:00

So I thought I’d share a disturbing dream I had the other night... why not? It's my blog- hrmph!

The convoluted premise was that I had a friend who was a real estate agent and she had used some of my artwork to stage a house that was for sale. No biggie, wonderful!

But then people MOVED IN! And they kept my artwork like some sort of appropriated housewarming prize. I was displeased and devised a scheme with some faceless friend- I believe another artist, but it was a dream so might as well have been "No Face" from Spirited Away.

Plan: we would stalk them, wait until they left the house and then break in and steal my artwork back!

In my dreamland, the house was nestled in huge winding hilly pine forests reminiscent of the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains. I parked my busted Camry mobile in a cover of trees and in we went...

We scampered about the balcony of this house, like a Grinch and ALMOST completed our mission. Of course the harpy owner came back and we were lurking on the 2nd floor. Aw fuckle…tip toe! Escape! We slunk out, but not without being caught in the driveway and violence ensued!

Here’s the creepy part - as if this wasn’t already creeperiffic - I attacked this lady by biting her and dislocating her shoulder, but as I bit her, I was tearing big chunks of apricots off of her arms and torso. I screeched and dashed to my car, and lost my artwork, but now was a criminal of a special kind and had to flee. My faceless friend and I sped away on daunting serpentine roads and last thing I remember I was sitting in a dark trailer kitchen feeling very nervous.

I woke up heart beating at 4:30am, wondering if I really did that, and do I need to go gank a license plate and do a switcheroo? Dreams are good stuff; see what is noodlin' around in your brain....

Printing on 13 x 19 Paper!

2009-01-25T21:28:00.001-08:00

Printing on 13 x 19 Paper!
Originally uploaded by Traveling Painter

After an inquiry on Etsy for a larger version of this print, I finally decided to grow a pair and break out my big fancy 13 x 19" Epson papers. I have been hoarding this stuff because it's spensy my friends, and I was afraid my images wouldn't cut it on the resolution front.

I'd never know unless I tried, and that paper had been in its pack for too long-- so I did it, and I'm so glad! This print came out pretty great and has a printed area of 8 x 14". It's got nice fat margins, and you could leave it unmatted or mat with a nice small border.

I am pleased, and proud I was brave! I present foto for you! OK,

/dweeb.

Free Etsy Seller Tool

2009-01-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

Ok- I am a creative, an artist, a hippie love child if you will (well not really my parents aren't that old). So things like sdmgks'ing MICROSOFT EXCEL make me crazy- I see all those little boxes and numbers and my brain short circuits and goes, "pshh yea no." But surprisingly I have learned a few thangs from some cool engineers I worked with in a past life, and I see the value of using it as tool.

SO my point is, I have been furiously working on making a useful tool for us creative types that doesn't make you want to cry and hide when you look at it. I am offering up for FREE yo! an Etsy Item Calculator. This will take your inventory of supplies, determine their unit price and allow you to see how much you actually spent to make each item you list. Then it will calculate in an hourly rate for you, wholesale price, retail price, and the Etsy and Paypal fees.I think if we intend to make any money in this business we need to be honest with ourselves and value our work. There are people that will pay a fair price- so we shouldn't sell ourselves short. As I messed around with this calculator on my own pieces, I saw that I was almost charging a fair wage, but often cheaping out in hopes for a sale. Take yourself seriously! If you make wonderful things, your profit should reflect that! ;-)

It's for download here. You can use it on Windows or Linux with Excel or OpenOffice which is FREE my friends, no excuses. I have not tried it on any Mac platforms so if anyone wants to grab it and try with a Mac please do!! I'd love testers, and I want to know what you think.

Download Etsy Item Calculator FREE!
Download (if you don't have Excel) OpenOffice FREE!

UPCOMING CHANGES: I'd like to add to it an inventory tab that updates as you create new items, so you know when you're getting close to running out of a certain thing. Nothing worse than being all motivated and sitting down to work and - aarhg! out of my stickydoos! yes they are called stickydoos. I'd also like to create a similar shipping supply inventory. So that will come in the next "release" once I learn a macro or two.

Busy Week!

2009-01-18T09:15:00.000-08:00

Back from a week of slacking off on my blog here I am! It’s been a busy week, and as my boyfriend pointed out, we’ve had some social event every single night this week! It’s all good since I spent the weeks around the holidays being a complete hermit.

So what to celebrate? Last September I was laid off from my job at a company that went under early on in this economic mess… so after month of searching, I landed a temp position. This week they took me on as a shiny new REAL employee! So of course we had to observe that…plus some interspersed sports activities and a board game night (wow we’re nerds)…and last night the Chicago Wolves hockey game. So fun!

Today I’ve got a little admin to do, and I REALLY need to set up my ArtFire shop. It’s sort of just hanging out in space- but I had to jump on that 7$/month lifetime account. In the land of Etsy things are going well. I had my first sale this week since buckling down on this, and another person contacted me for a wholesale opportunity. All very exciting! I opened my Etsy shop in 2007 but was never serious about marketing and all that- so big surprise, no sales. Now I hope as I pay more attention to all this, and put in an effort that will turn around. So far, it’s looking up :-)

I’ve messed around with Google Analytics installed on my Etsy shop. It’s enlightening to know where my traffic is coming from. I think there are some screw ups on Etsy’s part with keywords and such, since one of my top keywords was “panda diaper cake.” WTF. Supposedly they’re working on that.

Regardless, it’s good to know where my marketing efforts pay off. So far: StumbleUpon drives really heavy hits, but not very long visits. Twitter not as many hits, but very long visits and repeat visitors. Interesting. I need more Twitter friends! Say hello! twitter.com/travelinpainter

So it’s Sunday and I’ve got a commissioned painting that needs to get going. It’s a “secret” painting- meaning it contains a secret never told before. I am excited about it, but kind of dreading going into the studio with the famous collapsing easel. Anyway – time to look up ancient Irish mossy forests for inspiration on this painting!

Update! Here's the video!

2009-01-07T20:47:00.000-08:00

Thought it might be easier to watch here!

Thanks!

Buy One Get One Kits to make these if you mention TRAVELINGPAINTERBLOG when you checkout! A special promotion for blog readers only!

A Video-Dizzle

2009-01-07T20:02:00.000-08:00

I did't want to let too much time go by without posting. So a quick update is needed!

Today marks the official end of one week of "marketing" my art. No sales...kinda makes me sad, but I know it takes time- and I could probably be a lot more hardcore! I have a deep addiction to Twitter (follow me!) and am finding other interesting Etsyans to follow thru the forums. I have been reading more blogs and just found a new one I really like today: http://www.myartspace.com/blog/. Reading it kind of reminds me of sitting in Contemporary Art Class and discussing everything with my 5 other classmates... I miss that! (yes I went to the smallest college ever...but we got to have great discussions!)

I have been loosely following the CPSIA act controversy (new law requiring all children's items to be tested for lead). This is hitting handmade children's items hard...it doesn't really affect what I make (except for my craft kits) but is really sad. Too bad we can't just rely on parents not to be morons and make intelligent purchases for their children. I hope exceptions can be made for small sellers! The handmade toys I've seen are amazing and would be a loss to the art community! However I did read they were making an exemption for some natural fibers and materials- soooo that's a start.

This ended up being longer than I planned...I have a wandering traaaaaaaiiiin of thought!

Maybe I should slash prices on my kits, because after February 11th I can't sell them anymore!

Soooo a special promo for people that read! Mention the code "TRAVELINGPAINTERBLOG" when checking out and it's buy one get one free for my Bracelet Kits! They are pretty fun and come with instructions and supplies to make 2 bracelets. Two kids can share a box.

Here's a video I made to go along with the kits and you can buy them here :

Enjoy!

New Drawing!

2009-01-05T22:27:00.000-08:00

Here's my response to the Go Make Something "Make It Mondays" Challenge!

The challenge was: "It’s January, and time for a fresh start! This week’s Make It Mondays challenge is to create a piece of artwork that represents a fresh start, or a new beginning."

Maybe I jumped on the Spring bandwagon too soon- but it is only January and there's like 7 months left of the Chicago winter ;-)

She's for sale in my Etsy shop here.

Thanks for looking!

Quick Post

2009-01-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

I just finished working on this "head" and I'm not sure it's Etsy shop quality yet... My boyfriend says her eyes are too big and I'm beginning to think shes a little froggy looking? Maybe I should have put frogs all over the background like a totem tribute...ehhh I don't know. What do you think? Changes?

My jaw hurts... I chew gum too hard when I draw haha.

Surprise Balls Awesome Gift Idea

2009-01-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

I got this great idea from Go Make Something. These were great gifts for the youngest girls in the family, because:

1. They love art supplies and all things mess making.

2. They are the default "kids" that we all love to get the FUN stuff for.

3. I was able to find good use for some paper, stickers and beads that probably would stay in my
studio forever.

4. It was a good excuse to go to Joanne’s fabrics and wander around in the yarn isles for 45 minutes.... aannnnnd then into other isles for another 45.

Good detailed instructions with photos are over at GMS, so I'm not going to replicate here. But the basic gist is you start with a "core" and slowly add more items to the ball as you wrap it up. Good wrapping materials were ribbons, hemp rope (good for securing the inner core) and soft bouncy yarns (I used those for the outside wrapping because they were soft & fuzzy to touch and brightly colored).

What I love about this idea is it really could be themed to anyone. These girls were 5 and 7 so my gifts were stickers, paper, big pony beads, feathers, little miniature storage boxes, etc. I did put all the things like beads and feathers that could go flying everywhere in small bags for their mother's sanity.

I flew home for Christmas... and standing in the security line I did have moment of- was it really the best idea to put strangely wrapped balls of unidentified objects in my carryon bag? But apparently their x-ray eyes can zoom in there and see evidence of “Harmless crazy craft girl” and I made it through. They were easy to pack and all the wrapping cushions them from bouncing around.

The girls liked them- I hope... or were more fascinated by the unwrapping (and that’s totally half the fun). They spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get things out without unwrapping- but NO I foiled your 5yr old brain! Unwrap it! The string became a necklace and stickers were everywhere. So now they have a stock of art supplies when they want to make random things on Saturday afternoons.

So once again thanks to Go Make Something for the idea, and I had a lot of fun doing it. You could make one for anyone with a hobby or interest...coordinate yarns to their favorite colors...I'm rambling. And I guess the point is making all the parts of the ball useful. So hot pink yarn might not be awesome for everyone...

:-)

Opulent Lady Heads..

2009-01-01T20:07:00.000-08:00

I want to start a series... and I've read a ton of these "Quit Your Day Job" articles on Etsy. One of the common themes they all seem to offer in advice is: create what YOU want- don't create what you think will sell.

I have often struggled with that.

For example on Etsy I am enamored with "cute" shops... they draw me in and I get jealous. Why can't I sell 4502 polymer cupcakes the size of a penny?! They look so bright and pretty and damn it CUTE. But to be honest I've never done "cute" well. Etsy is LOADED with "cute", "trendy", "kitsch", "I'm not the norm but really I am because irreverent is SO the new norm."

AND THAT'S NOT A BAD THING!

There's a reason those stores suck me in like vortex of cute-I love tiny things-and one eyed rabbits-omg-ness. Those sellers have a groove and they are obviously doing it so well!

But like I said- I've tried cute, and I'm no good at it. Probably it's my cranky sarcastic nature ruining it! What I do love and I can do is: opulent, ornate, dramatic, over the damn top, detailed, schizophrenic, moody and well illustrated. So since this year is about working for yourself and doing what you want... let's get to it DARHLING!

I'm attempting to create a new portrait every day- or at least every other day! Sometimes I get a little kooky and can't stop drawing....ah well... mmmyes.

Inspired by one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE artists, Alphonse Mucha, I am going to make some portraits- or lady heads, as I am referring to them in my apartment ("where's the green lady head?"). They are attempting to mimic his lovely models and their ostentatious jewelry. But since I have the attention span of a gnat I generally lose focus in the highly structured backgrounds. Anyway... here's my first- Miss Ursula Von Tentacles!

The original and archival prints are available for sale in my Etsy shop .

If you check out my Flickr... you'll see some others in progress and get a sneak peek at what's to come! :-)

Adios!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T19:47:00.000-08:00

So I'm sitting here... it's 2009 and I am making my first serious attempt at blogging-twittering-flickring-etsying. The economic "CRUNCH" had me all in a jiggy twist... saying omggg I need a part time job pronto. And after days of trolling Craigslist for 20hrs a week filing someone elses medical files at 3am...or better yet emptying trashcans... I said to myself: moron- work for your self. (I'm kind of mean to myself) But seriously! Why not put in 20 hours a week marketing your Etsy shop? It's something I've sorely neglected and here we are trying to change that.

I can't promise I'll write about Etsy every day- but then again would you really want to read about that? I'll keep you updated on my shop, artwork I'm thinking about (let's do some open critique here!), post studio pics, and probably comments on the status of my dog Kaya :-)

Much love... and here's to working for yourself in '09!