A New Idea

What if 3 people requested reprints of my photos in the last several months? What if I realized that within my photo archives of 15,886 images there are a few really good pictures? What if I contacted my web designer and asked her to add a photo page?

IT IS HERE! Photographs

Autumn in Mineral King 4

A little bit of information about the page:

1. It currently only has fall photos (with one exception).

2. I have to decide how to organize and categorize all the photos.

3. The photos will be ordered for you as you order them from me – they are not “in stock”.

4. They will only be available in 8×10, unframed, and will be $15 each.

5. Thank you Cathy, Melissa and Dianne for inspiring me to do this!

A List and request for your opinions

Hope you all enjoyed the week of fall photos! I loved taking and posting them for you. Okay, I did it for me too. šŸ˜Ž

With shows on three consecutive weekends thus far, I feel a little tired. Lists are an easy way to blog choppy unrelated ideas without sounding choppy and unrelated.

  1. This is the last week of drawing lessons for the year. I have a waiting list to get into lessons now so will have to ask the folks who aren’t attending regularly what their intentions are. Sometimes that feels very awkward – “Sorry to hear of your troubles – will you be continuing in lessons?” Or how about this version: “Haven’t seen you for a few weeks. Since you haven’t come, called, or paid, did you quit and forget to tell me?”
  2. The Perfect Gift Boutique was fun for several reasons. I like that little old building, it is a chance to hang out with some artist friends, and it is a chance to see folks who regularly visit Three Rivers over the Thanksgiving weekend.
  3. The Perfect Gift Boutique wasn’t fun for several reasons. It was hard to be indoors for 2 very nice days. It didn’t seem as if we had nearly as many visitors. Sometimes it feels as if shows aren’t really worth the amount of work. (I must be a little tired to be admitting that!)
  4. My husband thinks maybe I cram too many paintings into my booth and it overwhelms customers. He may be right. May I have your opinions in this matter?
  5. The handful of blogs I regularly read often use bold in the middle of their posts. I wonder why.Ā Do you find it distracting?

Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad we had this little talk.


Show Summary

In the interest of following up on Friday’s post, here is the summary of the weekend show in 8 points.

1. My booth looked great.

2. My booth neighbors were delightful, as were the show organizers and all the visitors too!

3. I saw many old friends and made some new ones.

4. This wasn’t really the right place for my art work.

5. Stuff sold anyway.

6. Not as much as I hoped.

7. That’s okay – I have another show next weekend (Three Rivers Senior League Bazaar), and the one after that too!

8. There was a neato star thingie on the ceiling of the convention center.

Rural Living

Homer’s Nose, 16×12″, oil on wrapped canvas, $225

As a California artist, it is a little strange to have chosen this rural, central valley for my home. I like living in Tulare County. Sometimes I actually revel in it. Representing the beautiful parts of my home motivate, inspire and give me purpose with my art.

Only once in a blue moon do I wish I lived in or near a city. Here is one of the reasons that it sounds tempting to me:

I Heart Art: Portland — a collaboration between handcrafted retail site Etsy; the Pacific Northwest College of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Craft; and the Portland Etsy street team, a group of local artists who sell on Etsy — had initially planned a series of professional workshops. Instead, a member of the artists’ group suggested a way to hook up makers with sellers.

Just like speed dating, artists rotate on short “dates” with businesses and must make an impression in a short time. Their elevator pitches help determine if their art gains a buyer that night.

“The idea of an elevator pitch is very familiar to the business world,” says Watson, but not so much in the art world. “This whole idea of going to a shop and trying to build a relationship and get an account … was very foreign to a lot of people. It became really apparent to us that we needed to do something like this.”

via I Heart Art: Portland is like speed dating for artists | OregonLive.com.

Can you imagine having so many places to sell and so many working artists that such an event is actually necessary???

Tulare County has about 450,000 people in it. That is a large number, but small enough that I can pick up the phone, call any artist here, state my name, and whether or not we have met, we know of each other and respond with instant friendliness and enthusiasm. Maybe that is a better situation that so many galleries and artist that they are strangers to one another!

List of Random Subjects

Not For Sale. Pencil on Paper. Approximately 5×7″. Currently Untitled.

Today is a list of thoughts for my regular readers. Irregular readers may peek too. (Take that any way you wish.)

  1. Congratulations to Sophie, Leslie, and Kim on winning a prize. They were the first 3 folks to subscribe by email via a new gadget installed by my oh-so-capableĀ web designer. It is under the FEED ON thing on the left. “Feed on?” It is more of that computer talk which takes normal words and makes new meanings, leaving literalists such as myself mumbling to ourselves.
  2. I just chased Bambi off the front porch. Speaking of FEED ON, he is developing a taste for and a dependency on cat food. His mom posed for me at a distance.
  3. A blog I subscribe to called Blogging With Amy explained how to use a new gadget called “Press This”. Why do you care? It is the reason you are seeing quotes from other blogs on my blog. There is so much interesting Ā and inspirational information out there, and this is a great way to share with others.
  4. I love to blog.
  5. Almost as much as drawing.
  6. Definitely as much as painting.
  7. Oh No. I’m picking up horrible grammar habits from reading too many blog.
  8. Tatting is a dying art; so is spelling correctly and using good grammar.

Thank you. I’m glad we had this little talk. Bambi’s Mom eavesdropped too.

Why I Make Art, A Postscript

Wow, the word “postscript” has 5 consonants in a row.

Today’s post is borrowed from Jon Acuff, who borrowed from Steven Pressfield. I’m not sure of the exact etiquette of this borrowing business but think it is okay if credit and links are provided. This was so timely and so in line with my thoughts that I wanted you to read it too.

Itā€™s hard for me to describe what a gift that book was. Iā€™ve underlined most of it, dog eared page upon page and constantly re-read it. Designed with short, powerful essays on the creative process and the threat of what Pressfield calls ā€œResistance,ā€ the War of Art is easily one of my favorite books of all time. Hereā€™s a section I really liked:

The Artistā€™s Life

Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action. Do it or donā€™t do it. It may help to think of it this way. If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you donā€™t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.

You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God. – Steven Pressfield

Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. Itā€™s a gift to the world and every being in it. Donā€™t cheat us of your contribution.

Give us what youā€™ve got. – Jon Acuff

via A book that changed how I look at creativity. | Jon Acuff’s Blog.

Isn’t that powerful and motivating and guilt-relieving (or inducing if you aren’t doing your thing)?

Why I Make Art, #5

This is a painting of poppies on an antique window. (Thank you for asking, Carol!) You can read about it here:

April 29 May 23 June 7

Reason #5: I make art because it beautifies spaces.

Real life is messy. Artists get to clean it up in 2 ways. We can draw and paint in a manner that eliminates the cruddy stuff in the view. We also get to cover bare or ugly walls with beautiful things. That is a satisfying motivation!

Think about how the town of Exeter would look without its murals. Buildings would be empty, bare walls would contain graffiti, there wouldn’t be nearly as many good places to eat or shop, and it would be easy to find a parking place. (not that there would be a reason to park. . .)

Think about your home without anything hanging on the walls. It would echo, and it wouldn’t have much personality.

Almost makes you want to paint, doesn’t it?

Why I Make Art, #3

Reason #3: I make art because it is my job. (Duh, hunh?)

Some people make art because they feel like it or because they can; I make art because if I don’t, there is nothing to sell.

Being an artist is a great way to earn a living, even if it is not always easy, fun or highly Ā profitable. My friends have heard me say more than once, “I’d rather draw an ugly house than wait tables.”

In his nonfiction book “On Writing”, Stephen King wrote, “Life isn’t a support-system for art. It’s the other way around.”

If you are thinking “what a sell-out” or “how commercial”, comfort yourself with the fact that this isn’t my main reason. Even when I had a real job, I made art. That was because of Reason #2 – I feel compelled to make art.

Why I Make Art, #2

His Other Car

Reason #2: I make art because I feel compelled to do so.

When I was a child, I would get this overwhelming urge to make something. “Mom, I feel like making something.” She probably dreaded those words. She’d send me to Highlights to find a project. We NEVER had the materials, even if the finished result was something I wanted to own, which it rarely was.

Sometimes I would get out the doll-sized sewing machine, go through Mom’s scraps and sew something sort of functional, a little schlocky and definitely slightly weird (hmmm, sounds like my knitting).

Other times, I’d draw.

Often I’d look for something to do until the urge wore off in a fit of frustration and just go read.

Regardless of the outcome, the desire to make something has never left me. Drawing, painting, making tile mosaic stepping stones/tables/steps/drinking fountain/light pole, origami boxes, tatted doilies, crocheted afghans (that was in the early ’80s), knitted anything. . . it is the way I am wired.

Since deciding to earn a living with by making something, it seemed wise to choose one method that I never tire of – drawing in pencil. Drawing brings the most satisfaction of anything I do. I think it has to do with skill level; the ability to do something well removes the frustration.

Why I Make Art

This is the first in a series.

Reason #1:

My art freezes a beautiful moment of time. The camera is my best friend, because my visual memory isn’t photographic and my techniques in drawing and painting are slow, slow, slow.Ā  When I see something beautiful, I feel compelled to capture it, to relive it, to revisit it, to examine it and to share it.