Friday.....

Nothing spectacular to report today. Just working towards finishing some custom collages and getting some other small things done, like printing cards for my collage cards. Dreading doing my taxes because I know it won't go well. Just a ho-hum day and a very short blog to match.

Try, try again

I just finished the applications for the Telluride Festival of the Arts and the Vail Arts Festival. After the rejection from Ann Arbor I am very hesitant to be spending money on jury fees to shows that I have very little chance of getting in to, but if I don't try, I'll never know. It's exciting to think about doing something new somewhere different, but on the flip side the idea of that makes the rejections that much harder.

I ordered more of the concentration word game images so I'm hoping to add to the series of new collages that I posted about a week ago. I have decided they will be a limited edition of 50 and will sell for $50 each. I will have them for sale at the first art fair of the season, Arts at the Oval, coming up at the end of March. Visit my website for details!

A day late, but still at it!

I was out of town last weekend and managed to get a blog in on Friday, but couldn't swing it yesterday. I'm going to keep up with my 3 day a week blogging as I promised myself (one of the few resolutions I've been following through on, actually), so I'll be blogging both today and tomorrow.

Nothing too noteworthy actually, so not much to blog about. While I was out of town, I updated my website schedule to reflect a new store that has my collage cards as well as 2 art fairs that I will be at in the upcoming months.

As postage rates continue to rise, I'm not quite sure where I stand on continuing to send out my snail mail postcard schedule. I know quite a few of my customers look for it, but as my list grows, so does the cost. (That's kind of a "duh" statement, huh?) I'm debating whether I should send out a postcard that invites people to join my email newsletter instead and notifying them of the switch to system. OR, send out a postcard and ask them which they'd rather receive, that way I know my customers will continue to be notified in their preferred method and I save costs in the long run!

Wow, while I'm not sure anyone reads this, it sure does allow me to babble "out loud" and figure out what I'm doing!

Anyone have any ideas for me as far as direct mail goes?

It's a "no"

I received my rejection letter from the Ann Arbor Art Festival today. As I said in my last blog, I'm not holding out a whole lot of hope for these out of state shows and I'm thinking that perhaps this is fate's way of telling me that perhaps now is not the time to try to expand my reach. Maybe I should work on developing my art more first rather than just tossing it out there. I'm just not sure. It's hard to stay focused when you're disappointed in how things are going. I've done the same art fairs for 6 years now and I would like to change it up a little, but maybe I'm just not ready.

All in all, kind of a downer of a day. Hopefully something good will come up soon.

New things coming up

Today I received the acceptance to Arts at the Oval at the John Rose Oval. It will take place March 28-29. I'll post the art fair to my website schedule soon.

I'm applying to an art fair in Beverly Hills in May. I applied to the show last year and was rejected so maybe things will come through this year. I'm not 100% happy with my booth photo of my "other" art (I wouldn't bring my Minnesota collages to Beverly Hills) so if I did get rejected again I wouldn't be surprised. I'm going to be applying for quite a few out of state shows this year but don't have much hope of getting in to any of them. I know positive thinking is important, but my location collage work is so much more popular than my other collage work that it's just hard for me to keep my hopes up.

Hoping to continue working on new collages and as I said in a previous blog, I want to get down to Chicago sometime very soon. I'll keep the blog posted!

NEW ART!!

As I've mentioned in previous blogs, it's been awhile since I've felt very creative and had the desire to create some new art. Today I was doing some printing to keep up on inventory while I have some down time and thought, "I should make something!"

I never have any preconceived notions of what I want the art to look like when I start. The new thing that I'm trying is making a background using traditional techniques: painting, stamping, drawing, etc. Then I scan it in and go from there.

Also as I mentioned in a previous blog, I've been collecting vintage papers and other goodies. I've had the word game papers for quite awhile and didn't know what I was going to do with them (I NEVER know what I'm going to do with stuff when I buy it!). I just love the graphics on them, very 1960's and so I decided to go with a somewhat retro style to the art.

I've always loved square pieces, so these are 8 x 8 square. They'll be printed on a cotton rag texture paper and will be a limited edition of 250.

Right now they don't have titles and probably won't have any until I print some out.

I'd love to hear some feedback if you have any!

   

A creative day?

This morning I feel like making stuff! Now here comes the tough part....I have work to do. The work should come first, most definitely, but it's hard to focus on things you should do when there are things you want to do! And I have been feeling so uninspired lately that I really want to act on every creative urge.

The creative urge is to make more simple collages. I've been hoarding vintage papers, labels, photoshop brushes, tons of things in the hopes that I would sit down and make a lot of simple collages. Something that would work for the collage of the day idea. Not something that takes weeks to create, something that takes hours. My problem is this:

That stuff doesn't sell for me.

I feel guilty wanting to spend time making art that is beautiful and special to me when I need to focus on making a living at doing this first. And right now, the location collages are what sell. So while I really want to get my hands dirty in paint and wax and buy every vintage paper I see, for now it all just sits in a drawer waiting.

On the flip side to that, I want to buy a new camera. I need to rediscover the passion of taking photos and my camera has become limiting. It's about 6 years old and as technology has a way of doing, it's becoming obsolete. I still love my camera, but as my friends are buying new cameras and new lenses and have more options available to them for accessories, I feel myself being left behind.

Ok, I'd really like to write more, but it's very difficult typing with a puppy 3 inches from your face hovering over your laptop. :)

Follow up on Monday!

Because....

I'm inexperienced on this blogging thing and have no idea where to put this tag. So it's here.

I'm on Technorati. I'll let you know when I figure out what that means. :)

What am I doing?

This question comes up a lot for everyone, I know. You get to that point in your job, career (yes, they ARE two different things), or everyday life that you stop and think, "Ok...change. Now. PLEASE." At least that's where I am.

I love my business. LOVE my business. I love my business so much that doing anything other than work for my business makes me extremely cranky. And that's also where I am. Cranky. Because I'm not working harder, smarter, or whatever enough to make it work as a permanent job. I have a part-time job that I somewhat enjoy, but am beginning to dislike it more and more each day as it takes away from what I love doing. Yes, it's a regular paycheck, and especially in these times I need that, but it's not even remotely doing what I really love: art and design.

So unfortunately today's blog is whining from an unhappy artist; not announcements of new designs, new ideas, or anything else that I could put "new" in front of. But it's where I'm at today, and as I've decided that I need to keep my resolution to blog every three days, it's what I'm writing about.

If anyone has any ideas about directions, possibilities or what have you, or just wants to shoot me some words of wisdom, I'm all for it.

At least there's tomorrow. And tomorrow I have all day to work on my business as it's my day off from my regular paycheck. And that makes me happy. :)

A little at a loss

As I figured, I wouldn't have topics to blog about forever. It seems I was lucky last week to be able to think of things for 3 nonconsecutive blogs. Nothing too exciting going on around Inkblots right now. I will be sending out an email newsletter soon letting people know about my Facebook and Twitter profiles and inviting everyone who has been kind enough to sign up for my newsletter to follow my blabbing. (If you'd like to sign up for my email newsletter, go to my website!)

I am actively looking for graphic design work (part-time freelance) so if any of you lucky readers know of anyone who's in need of an awesome designer, send them my way! Many kudos will follow and karma will bless you most definitely. :)

This might just work out!

Ok, I'm positive bragging about my ability to follow through with posting a blog every three days is annoying, but it's a big deal to me since my whole goal this year is to consistently follow through on things that will better my business in the long run. I promise that this won't be a continuous topic of my blog, or maybe it will be until someone comments to shut up already. :)

New things.....

I'm going to work towards getting to Chicago in the beginning of March to FINALLY complete my Chicago collages. Yes, I know, I've been talking about that for a year, but this time I have the time, resources and travel companions in place to make it happen for sure.

Atlanta collage? I have a friend that will be moving back to Atlanta this year and she's invited me down to show me around. She thought it might be an interesting place to do a collage of. I'd love to hear some feedback!

Collage a day. I'm currently tossing around the idea of doing one collage a day and putting it up for sale on a separate blog page. Right now I just don't feel all that creative and it's a bummer. I've seen a lot of 365 blogs (my friend who's moving to Atlanta currently has one that I think is fantastic) and I just like the idea of trying to do something you love every single day to push yourself to be better at your craft and learn new techniques. I'll update my website with a link as well as announce on my Facebook profile and Twitter page should I follow through!

So far, so good

Day 2 of my attempt at tri-weekly updates! I decided that the only way I would remember to do this, or at least do it with some regularity (whereas before I just did it whenever I thought of it), would be if I set it in my calendar. I put 3 alarms on the event in my iCal so periodically throughout the day my phone (which syncs with my computer thanks to MobileMe) will go off to remind me that I need to blog that day. I don't set a particular time to do it, just several reminders that before I go to sleep that day, I need to write a blog. I now hope that I have something somewhat intelligent/interesting to say 3 times a week. I think THAT'S a taller order than remembering to blog!

The past few days I've worked on marketing smarter, not harder. I have a personal Twitter account; I have a personal Facebook profile. I have a Facebook Fan Page for my business, but not a profile. 

Why?

The answer ended up being that I have no good answer. Because Facebook is for my friends, relatives and co-workers to invite me to participate in endless amounts of quizzes and games? Because Twitter is just to let people know that the person in front of me at Starbucks is taking forever?

Not. So. Much.

So....here is the link to my Inkblots Facebook profile.....

and my Facebook Fan Page

and if you look on the left portion of my main blog page, you'll see my recent Twitter updates as well as the ability to follow me on Twitter!

If you got to this blog by Facebook or Twitter, WELCOME!!!! And thank you for taking the time to check out my ramblings. I hope to have more interesting updates as the year progresses. :)

Time for a fresh start!

Yes, February 1st might seem a little late for a fresh start, but I've been using the month of January to prepare for the fresh start, get a regular schedule in place and NOW it's time to kick it in gear!

I've been really bad about regularly blogging in regards to my business and that ends today. 3 times a week (M, W, F) you will see a new blog about myself and Inkblots. Updates on new work, shows I'm planning to attend or apply for, techniques I'm exploring, etc. Even if I don't have anything particularly interesting to blog about, I've made it my goal to blog about something so that you all can know a little bit more about me and what I'm up to as a collage artist and business owner.

I invite you all to comment with any questions or whatever is on your mind. I love feedback!!