Learning Curve

We interrupt our regularly scheduled painting for this, well, major interruption.  Art doesn't sell itself.

There is quite the learning curve to all this online sales biz.  I am working on photographing items and trying to make sure the lighting gives an accurate representation of the colors, particularly metals and reflective surfaces.  I am watching YouTube tutorials, and practicing new techniques.  Lots to learn there.  

Then there is the mailing, which for me is just plain weird.  First of all, no one in my family is surprised to get their birthday card a week or so late.  As far as packages go, Christmas in March is normal, isn't it?  But I have managed to get all of my orders out on time, and my last order was almost instant.  Well, a day, but still, that is pretty good.  

I am also learning about great packaging.  Years ago I ordered an old book off of Ebay, and it arrived with a teeny, tiny alligator in the package as a thank you for my order,  If you know our family, you'll know that that little gator has lived in our Christmas village for years now.  Whoever finds him re-hides him again, and the search goes on for weeks.  I wish I knew the sellers name so that I could tell her about what her tiny gift has become in our home.

I just received an order of some supplies from another Etsy seller that also arrived with a little thank you gift, a tiny teapot charm.  I love the way that little gift made me smile, and she couldn't have known that my mom loved teapots, but it sure was sweet to get something so accidentally personal.  I want to make sure that my buyers get to enjoy that same cheery experience.  I would love your suggestions!  Please leave them in the comments section below (it will also let me test drive the comments feature here.  Traditionally it hasn't worked well for me on my family blog).

Guy is taking over the bookkeeping.  Yay!  And I am teaching him how to post listings of new items.  Double yay!  Less computer time for me, more art time.

We now return to our regularly scheduled painting.  

These cuties are available on Etsy right now.

And if you would like to order from Loretta's Beads, visit her at Lorettasbeads.etsy.com.  She was awesome, and she uses a time machine for shipping.  I swear my package came 5 minutes before I even finished my order.

(Then let me know what your little gift was!)

Ellen's Book

My paper arrived and I am excited to get back to work on Ellen's book.

Let me tell you a little about this amazing project.

Ellen is my guru, gal-pal and kindred soul.  Our spirits were cut from the same celestial cloth.  One day some time ago she asked me to illustrate a special book she had written, or that had, as she recounted it, come through her.  It just wrote itself as she put pen to paper, as so many inspired words do.

I have told many folks a big hairy no to illustrating a book for them.  If I commit to that, I want to get one of my many stories done first.  But when I read the text of Ellen's story, I HAD to be a part of it.  I was so moved and touched by her text, and it spoke to my heart, as it has to anyone I have shown it to.

Back then I had an 18 day time limit to illustrate the book back then before Ellen would be off on a plane to take the book to her friend, a gift to honor an amazing emotional and spiritual healing journey.  I delivered the 16 paintings to her at the last possible minute, having spent 14-18 hour stretches painting in those last few days.

Flash forward several years, and Ellen has had the opportunity to show our little book (if I may be so bold to call it that, it's really Ellen's)  therapist friends, all of whom have shown an interest in buying many, many copies as soon as she had it published.

There was only one thing standing in her way!!!

Me.

I was unhappy with how some of the paintings had turned out and wanted a chance to spend more time getting them up to snuff.  But with 5 (uh, oops, add one) SIX kids and life and all, I put it off.  It wasn't just my busy life.  There was some clogged spiritual pipes that I needed to work on before I could get the art work to flow out of me.  I can't explain it, but every time I thought about working on it, I felt stifled and foggy.

I had to first polish off two other huge commissions that had been in my way.  My shame over how long I had put them off put them in line ahead of Ellen's book.

With those done, and a little soul scrubbing that followed (you know, to get unclogged), I have returned to her book.  Here are a few previews:

First Sale!

I had my first sale on Etsy!  

It was a cool ceramic pendant necklace.

(Okay, technically it was my second, but my first was from my dearest friend who was helping me work out the kinks in the system.  That's like having your mom ask you for your autograph).

I got the package all ready and fussed and putted over how to make it perfect.  It was like the first day of school; you wake up early, tummy in knots, excited, hoping for a perfect hair day.  Then six weeks later (or days, if you are gifted or something) you are totally over it.  May I reach the day when packaging and mailing my art and handmade items becomes a dull part of the process!

Look for more items to be posted next week!!!  

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Above: Balance, made from tiny pebbles.  I am going crazy making these tiny towers out of rocks that I find in the road or at the horse stables where the girls take lessons.  I love finding a balance in them, and then fusing them that way.  It reminds me to look for balance in my life, and once found, not to lose it.

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Thanks to those who have signed up to FOLLOW this blog.  When we get to #25, I will host my first giveaway.  Message me or comment if you get someone to Follow and I will add your name to the GIVEAWAY twice!  I'm generous like that.

While I wait...

I had to take a break from Ellen's Book (which you will be seeing more of shortly) in order to wait for... well, an order.  Paper, to be exact.  Ultra fancy-schmancy cold-press watercolor paper from France.

My local all-things-artsy store wanted 80 bucks for a pad of 20 sheets of paper.

For a 5 day wait, I got it for $30, free shipping.

I love saving money.

In the off time I tinkered with a few things.

This is a very tribal looking piece.  I dyed the satin cord some time ago, and then just the other day found my stash of junk-yard metal.  I used ammonia to get the green patina on the metal, and then it sort of made itself after that.

Making jewelry is like meditating or doing yoga.  There is a pleasant and calming rhythm to it, and once you decide on your pattern, you sort of go on autopilot to finish the assembly process.

Some days autopilot is a very good thing.

*****

Follow my blog and you will be entered in my first jewelry GIVEAWAY.  I will pull from the first 25 followers!  The winner will get to choose from 3 jewelry items to be posted soon.  

Share my blog on Facebook and I'll enter you TWICE.  Woo woo.  

Them is some pretty great odds, baby!

New Ground

I have discovered a new ground (surface) to work on.  It's called clayboard and I am in heaven.  It's got the sensitivity of paper, absorbs water and yet remains wet enough to push paint around on it a bit.

This little piece is about 5x7, and was inspired by a little post it note I found that Jonah had drawn on.

There was something special in the way he created the little black boxes and they reminded me of windows in the early native cave dwellings in Colorado.

I don't know why, but tiny windows in vast walls are comforting to me.  I feel protected and sheltered when I look at these little structures tucked away in the safe and sturdy stone (that's a lot of S's).

I am embarking on a new art journey as I am trying to let go of the expectations others have for me and my art.  Because I am able to paint "pretty pictures", there has always been a pressure for me to do so, to paint things that are easy to understand to the people around me. But so much of what I have created over the years holds no real worth to me because I was not creating from my heart.  

Out of nowhere this month, three books have come to me (I say come to me, because they have been around me for ages, but this is the first time I have picked any of them up), and it happens they are all on the theme of painting from your soul, or as one book puts it, "Source".  I am embarking on totally new territory... New Ground.   It had never really occurred to me that I should want to paint for myself.  It has been something that I have always given away, either physically, by giving the work away to others, or metaphorically, by giving away control by allowing other's opinions of the work dictate how I would paint and what images I chose.

My reading has encouraged me to simply paint and not worry about outside influences.  That is what I did with the little piece above. I just went for it, going only on what felt good. 

It's a whole new way to work for me. I'm excited to see what's next. 

Four little stories

My first big commission was to illustrate a book of poetry.

Back then I didn't think a church going person would ever cheat me, and I didn't think twice before I handed over 15 pencil drawings to the fellow who hired me.  He said he'd mail me the check.  Two years went by and I tracked him down and asked for payment, or to have the art returned.  He accused me of trying to take the food right from his children's mouths.  He said he'd fallen on hard times.  I said I'd just take the drawings back and forget about the payment.  "But I love them!" he lamented. I never got the art, but I got the hard earned lesson of the need of having a contract.  Also, a backbone is helpful.

*****

The next commission I remember was a portrait of a woman's grandparents.  They were Native American, and dressed in elaborate tribal tunics.  I drew the 2 x 3 foot portrait in pencil, and soon learned that $65 had been far too little to compensate me for the dozens of hours spent drawing tiny shells and tassels, and achieving a crisp reproduction of their faces.

When I brought the drawing to her she took one careless glance, and without a word about the image (or of thanks, for that matter), she took the drawing, gave me the money, then shut the door.

*****
There was a third, really involved commission.  It involved a contract (now that I had learned my lesson), and adequate payment.  I felt like I had done everything right.  It was a huge painting (for me) of a mountain lake with a man standing near the edge.  The painting had been commissioned by the man's employees, and with the covert help of his wife they had delivered several reference photos to me to use.  I even painted small "thumbnail" paintings to show what the final painting would roughly look like, getting signed approval on the contract, and set out.  With two little boys and one very pregnant belly, I did my best.  It took me a while, but once it was done, I was very pleased with the final painting.

I walked to the office to deliver the painting to the woman who had hired me.  Upon seeing it, she paused, raised an eyebrow, and said "Oh,  that's, uh... nice."

"You hate it." I pointed out with a questioning tone.

"Oh, I don't hate it." she replied as though to clarify that what she felt was slightly less strong than actual hate.

"Oh my gosh!"  I said with eyebrows raised, "You HATE it!"

"Well, I mean, I just thought it would be brighter, is all.  And that maybe there would be some flowers in the grass, and maybe, like, a critter, or some bird footprints..."

The words "bird footprints" echoed over and over in my head.  I felt dizzy.  And small.  And bad... bad at art.  I took the painting back home.  I spent hours making it brighter, adding little flowers, and yes, birdy footprints.

I learned later that the dentist didn't like the painting.  It was lovely and all, but apparently in the reference photo I had been given he was wearing his fishing hat, not his hiking hat.  It looked off to him.  No matter.  By that time I didn't like it either.

*****

Several years ago I was at a midwives' convention with my friend Francine.  We had a booth and were selling our birth, pregnancy and breastfeeding themed artwork.  A young father came up to our booth near the end of the day.  Born a generation too late, he was the perfect hippie.  As he looked over my paintings, he stopped on one.  He stood staring, and then gently picked it up.  He asked how much.  I told him $20.  "Are you kidding?  That's not enough!"

 He just stared at it, and in a moment he looked up and I saw that he had tears in his eyes.  "It's just like the day our son was born.  I love it."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled $20 bill, and said, "I don't know where we're sleeping tonight, but I know I have to have this."

Now, I'm not saying that one should ever opt for artwork over shelter.  But that day, I learned that I could make art that people loved.  Not everyone, but one person could.  I also learned that they could love it at first sight, without even telling me what to paint.  No plan, no commission, no contract, no thumbnail.  Just my intuition.

I have been on the receiving end of that process; I've seen a piece of art that calls me, sings to me, asks to come home with me.  Vincent price once said, "I have never regretted any of the art that I have ever bought; only the art I haven't."

First Post!

Today I am launching both this blog and my etsy shop! I have been asked for years now to get this up and running by friends who live far away.  I am excited to begin posting my wares there for all to see, and for one lucky little pair of earrings to go live on some cute ears miles away from here!

But this blog is also going to be a place where I post my other projects of which there are toooooo MANY!!!

It came to me not long ago that I am not good at fullfilling commissions.  I have therefore spent the past year finishing off many old commissions and have learned a new word.

No.

No, I am sorry, I would love to paint your dog/ grandchild/ boat.  I would love to sculpt or create that thing you are envisioning.  I really would.  But I can't.  I can't because I need to create what is waiting in my heart to get out, and it's a LOG JAM in there, baby.

So, with great respect, and with deepest gratitude for your request to have me make something just for you, I must decline.  Commisssions drain me, they cool my creative fire, they steal my mojo, my juju, my umph.  I need my umph.

Instead, I am going to begin creating things you and I have never even imagined (you, because, well, you don't live in my head.  Lucky you.  It's chaos in here) and (me, because I have yet to see what I could possibly make!  Won't that be exciting for us both?)

So, to kick things off, I'd like to show you my studio.

Okay, that's the rather romanticized view.  Here is what it is looking like without the soft focus.

And here are a few of my current projects:

I'm also finishing my last commission-ish (but very heart felt) work.  My friend Ellen wrote an amazing book and invited me to illustrate it.  It's going very well and I am excited to see where this sweet little book will go once it is complete.  I have a few more paintings to go, but here is my favorite:

Then there is painting that I am doing "just for me", because, the more I think of it, it seems a real shame that I have almost grown to hate painting because of "needing" to finish paintings for other people.  If I can't enjoy it, what is the point?

Here is a painting I started a few nights ago with the sole purpose of putting it in this cool frame that I have had for YEARS!  And while I am working on the painting I am also modifying the frame (it was all light brown).

Also, I've been playing around with blending collage with images of my children.  This piece isn't done, but that will be the fun of this blog... pieces in progress!  For this piece I incorporated papers, paint, and a photo transfer.  That was a really cool process.  First, I painted Mod Podge on white cardstock.  When that was dry I printed a photo of Tessa on it, and then coated the image with Mod Podge.  Then, with that still wet, I placed it face down on the painting surface and smoothed it down and then let it dry.  Finally I wiped away the paper by soaking it in water with a sponge and then rubbing it with my fingers.   The image was left on the canvas!  I'll be trying more with this.

Last for today, a painting that I did using my friend's wedding announcement photo.  I cut her sweetie out (sorry!) and made her an angel.  I have been adding cloth and wooden elements. 

Can't wait to share more with you. Fun stuff, baby.