Category: the business of art

11 Items in My Portfolio Life

“Portfolio life” is a term I found in Jeff Goins’ The Art of Work.

Sequoia 4 seasons

Collage of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in 4 Seasons, pencil and colored pencil, private collection

Portfolio life doesn’t mean being a jack of all trades, or being the master of one, or being ADHD. It means your work life is full of variety that all relates to and supports your chosen line.

Indeed! Forsooth! (an archaic word for “indeed”)

Check out this list:

Blogger – writer, photographer, a tiny bit computerish
Oil painter
Pencil artist
Drawing teacher
Muralist
Sign painter
Bookkeeper/office manager/marketing director
Web site upkeeper
Author (So what if it is a picture book – it has words!!)
Publisher
Public speaker

“Sign painter”? Only under duress. I’ll let you know more when there is more to let you know.

Item #6 may be more accurately titled “Odd Jobber”. . . I’ve painted a sign for a houseboat, Christmas ornaments, old windows, umbrellas, quilt patches, and saltillo tiles. Those are just the odd jobs I can remember on the spur of the moment.

A Central California artist has got to do what she’s got to do.

It is an honor to be thought of when someone needs an artist.

Anyone else out there living a “portfolio life”?

Maybe I should go vacuum the studio or pull a few weeds. (Should I add janitor and groundskeeper to the list?)

What’s A Central California Artist to Do? part 2

beach birds

Beach Birds, pencil, size forgotten, sold

If you are a Central California artist, you may occasionally have times when: taking inventory is boring; ordering packaging supplies for notecards that aren’t moving very quickly feels like a waste of money, planning for paintings when one’s current body of work is collecting dust feels futile, writing blog posts is difficult when technology fails and photos won’t load; calling on stores and galleries feels futile when they don’t keep their posted hours or end up closing altogether.

So what?

One of my drawing students and friends often the line blurs) gave me a sign that hangs in the painting studio. It reads “Put on your big girl pants and get busy”.

Getting busy looks like this:

order envelopes and clear bags for notecards
order some of the card designs that have sold out
edit newer photos and order prints
call or email the names on the waiting list for drawing lessons (One lady said “I’m waiting for you to give a watercolor class”. She’ll be waiting a very long time, because I don’t know how to watercolor paint.)
blog ahead
update the inventory, where-to-buy and events pages on the website
put more sticker decals on the covers of The Cabins of Wilsonia
package notecards
take care of the hassles and realities of tax season

AHA! Tax season. Could that be the reason for the current state of mind? Thanks, IRS. Way to wreck the most beautiful time of year.

Guess I’ll just pretend as if someone has forbidden me to work on the business of art. That should light a fire under me!

How do you remain productive during your slow seasons?

What’s a Central California Artist to Do?

reading rabbit

Sometimes I feel like quitting.

Have you ever noticed that what one must do just holds no interest?

For example, if my job was yardwork, I’d be dying to paint. My job is painting, so I’m dying to do some yardening.

What causes this?? A lingering rebellion from adolescence? A streak of stubbornness? The thing called “resistance” by Steven Pressfield in The War of Art?

When sales are slow or studio tour visitation is low or attendance in drawing lessons declines, I wonder why I push onward. The work has no sense of importance and certainly no urgency. I don’t feel the press of any deadlines, so I dink around home, avoiding the studio.

It takes discipline, thought about what is ahead, planning, optimism, leaning into past experience and sheer determination to use my “down” time wisely.

What’s a Central California artist to do??

Come back tomorrow. Maybe I’ll have an answer or two.

What do you do when you feel unmotivated?

Studio Tour Preview Exhibit

The Arts Consortium in Visalia is sponsoring the South Valley Artists’ Studio Tour. For the first time, Three Rivers artists have been invited to participate. (Long story, probably not worthy of a blog post.)

There will be a preview exhibit of works from participating artists (ME! I’m one of them!!).

ARTS VISALIA GALLERY

214 East Oak Street, Visalia, California

RECEPTION: FRIDAY, MARCH 6

5:30 – 8:30 PM

SHOW RUNNING MARCH 4 – MARCH 27

GALLERY HOURS: Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 5:30

Each artist is allowed to exhibit one piece. Guess you’ll have to go there to see which one I chose!

P.S. Tickets, called “passports” will be for sale at the gallery during the reception and their regular hours. $15 gets you access to about 40 artists’ studios all over Tulare County over the course of 2-3 days, March 20-22. (My studio will NOT be open on Friday, March 20, but many others will be.)

for more info: South Valley Artists’ Studio Tour

Does Art Have A Purpose?

This is a reprint of an article that I wrote for LinkedIn.

1441 MK Trail

Mineral King Trail, 11 x 14″, oil on wrapped canvas, $175

In the art world, one can always find a discussion about the purpose of art. Is it to decorate? To enhance? To inspire? Or, is its purpose to disrupt, to cause one to examine one’s life, or simply to disturb?

The latest news flash disrupts. The top of the hour news causes one to examine one’s life. The all-news-all-the-time reiteration of gross events in the world is disturbing.

Be honest now: is this what you want on the walls in your life? In my humble opinion, disruption, self-examination and disturbances are more the purview of news than art.

I live in a poor rural county in the center of California. Art is a strange way to earn a living here, and it is a hard haul at times. No matter how difficult it is, I am motivated, nay, DRIVEN to find and show the beauty of this place I’ve always called home. Sure, I could make art about stolen vehicles, meth, teen pregnancy, poverty, diabetes, obesity or bad air, but who wants to look at that??

Artists are told by professors, publications, websites, seminars, workshops and other artists that we must convey a message, tell a story, incite people to think.

As an artist, my response to this “must” is two-fold: first, an automatic internal reaction that I may not have anything worth saying other than “Ooh, how beautiful”, and second, perhaps that message of beauty is irrelevant.

Recently, I became aware of a transcript of a talk given by philosopher and writer Roger Scruton, called “Why Beauty Matters”. (http://www.facetofaceintercultural.com.au/a-fading-beauty/) He points out that beauty is a value, one that is as important as truth or goodness.

Scruton quotes Oscar Wilde, who said, “All art is absolutely useless”, and he opines that Wilde intended this as praise. How can uselessness be viewed as a compliment? He actually viewed beauty as having a higher value than usefulness.

What a contrary concept in this age of edgy brashness, outrageous trendiness, and ever-increasing audaciousness, all for shock value.

Once again, I admonish you to be honest: do you want to be shocked as you pass down your hallway? Disturbed while waiting for your coffee? Upset as you settle in for the evening?

Beautiful art can bring grace to your home and peace to your life. We all know that life can be hard. Have you ever considered that beauty soothes the troubled soul and takes the edge off the difficult times? It can momentarily transport us away from our daily harsh realities, and it is an immeasurably great quality that we cannot overdose on.

I’ll take soothing over shocking every day. Art serves in that capacity for me, both in its creation and in its display. Like goodness and truth, I need beauty in my life. Art helps to fulfill that need.

Mineral King oil paintings

Stocking Stuffer Recap

“Recap”? What does that really mean? Just another piece of slang that we all accept, like “wrap up”. Sometimes I think I am losing my ability to speak real words, hence “do-over” “yucky” and “funner” in a recent post.

But, I digress.

The Stocking Stuffer Boutique went well. Six of us shared a vacant business space in “downtown” Three Rivers. It was a beautiful day, and after the first 1/2 hour of fidgeting, the people began arriving and didn’t stop until the end of the day.

This means that all my photos happened at the beginning of the day. We did a decent job of drawing attention to what has been a FOR RENT space for a year or two.

The added bonus is that I have 2 poinsettia plants now decorating my walkway at home.

Here is a peek inside the building. (Notice I chose the correct “peek” – I’ve read too many “peaks” lately when there was only something to see and nothing to climb.)

My things are to the left, mostly out the picture because you’ve seen them but you haven’t seen the space we were filling and I think it is interesting! (just be polite, ‘kay?)

It was so hard to stay indoors. I purposely wore shoes that weren’t good for outdoor walking because I knew the siren call of the river would pull me away from the day’s duties. There are limited opportunities for interacting with people with the place and way I’ve chosen to do business, so there is no excuse for trotting off to catch a view in the middle of it all.

It was a great space, a nice day, and now there are only 32 calendars remaining!

Beautiful Tulare County

Oil paintings of our county’s beautiful places by Jana Botkin

$15, including tax and mailing

While I Wait

This post was written on December 8.

As the arrival of the book The Cabins of Wilsonia gets closer, my anxiety mounts. This is due to several factors: the printer hasn’t been very forthcoming with information, and the closer to Christmas it gets, the more difficult I know it will be to get it signed, sealed and delivered.

It isn’t as if I have nothing to do. Look at this list:

Figure out how to do some computer baloney (You don’t want to know – expensive, difficult and time-consuming while the company tries to sell me new computery stuff, and nothing makes sense and I have to call the company and be on hold forever to get any assistance while the chirpy voice tells me to just check the (non-working) website!)
Send yet another email to the printer to ask if they know when the book shipped (last info was Dec. 5)
More computer baloney with another irritating company
Check email to see if the printer has answered.
Begin cleaning up studio from slamming in and out for various weekend shows
Check email to see that printer said book shipped Dec. 8, and think cynical thoughts about any info from printer.
Sit in the sunshine with my sweet kitty and knitting to think uncharitable thoughts toward the printer and contemplate how to productively use the rest of the day.
Vacuum the studio, hang paintings.
Take inventory on pencil reproduction prints and find things to throw away, a very satisfying activity.
Scan reproduction prints for the upcoming rebuilt website.
Work on the blog
Gather for another secret oil painting workshop
Remember I have a commission drawing job and finally sit at the drawing table to do work as an ARTIST, for heaven’s sake!

I thought about telling you how really irritating the whole internet/domain/hosting baloney was, but I don’t want you to feel as irritated and stressed as I do.

So, let’s just have a look at the sweet Mr. Perkins and feel better.

Special Interruptive Post

Please excuse me for bombarding you with 2 posts in one day. There are two pieces of news that cannot wait:

The book printer notified me that the book binder will be shipping the books (The Cabins of Wilsonia) to me on Friday. That means they get loaded onto pallets and into a truck on Friday for a long road trip from Tennessee to Three Rivers. Maybe. Anyway, it is the first definitive news I’ve had since I sent the book to the printer in JULY!!
Today my dear online blogging friend Cheryl Barker is featuring my art on her blog in a give-away. She and I have so much in common and would probably be attached at the hip if she wasn’t in Kansas while I’m in Central California. Here is the link to her blog post: Cheryl Barker.

Now, as an apology for bothering you twice in one day, here is a nice painting on which to rest your eyes:

Red Leaf, oil on wrapped canvas (ready to hang), 6×6″, $50

oil paintings

A List of Art-Business Items

I’ve told you that I love lists. Here is an updated list of art related items, matters of consequence taking place in this business of art called Cabinart.

The printer still cannot tell me when The Cabins of Wilsonia will be shipped to me. This means I cannot tell you when I will ship it to you. All I can do is tell you that when it arrives, I will ship it to you.
I finally found a new web designer! This means that I have hours and hours of work ahead, transferring all my info to a new and improved site, a working site, a site where you can see what is new in my available art and comment on my blog!
The web designer is from outside of Austin, Texas and I found her through Linked In. She is a dream to work with. Wow! One of those social networks actually has benefits besides simply passing time.
There is a show in Three Rivers on Friday and Saturday of this week. “Boutique” is a better word here than show. I’ll send an email to those on my list and also post info on the blog on Friday.
With a new website, there will be a WORKING subscribe button on the blog!
There are still plenty of 2015 calendars available.
IT RAINED!!
I started a new oil painting of my favorite bridge. My plan is to exaggerate the colors.

2015 Calendar Reminder

The 2015 calendars titled “Beautiful Tulare County” with my current best paintings that fit the format (can you say “run on sentence”??) are available.