Stuff I needed, that maybe you need too

People make it sound so easy.  "Oh, it must be nice to be able to work from home, so that you can take care of your baby!"  I mean, it is, and even I thought it would be easy before I actually had to do it.  But as it turns out, babies need a lot of attention.  Duh.  Gigantic understatement. :P

You know what's saved my life on numerous occasions?

Ack, I just realized in this picture it's on the precipice of the futon.  It's not usually that precarious, I swear!

Among other things, this Fisher Price rocker. (They're not even paying me for this, either!  Although that is an Amazon affiliate link, for full disclosure.) Stephen pretty much lived in this for a while...he would only ever sleep in this, and couldn't stand sleeping in the Pack and Play we had for him (he didn't like lying flat, because he had reflux, and the rocking chair elevated him a bit).  Then I would just move the rocker into the studio for the day, park it next to my computer, and let him nap in there in between feedings and playtime.

What other baby gear do you need as a work-at-home mom?  Well, let me tell you:

Starting off strong...

Well, art fans, it's shaping up to be an exciting 2015 already, and we've barely even started!  I don't know what I did, but for some reason the universe has decided, "here, have some sprinkles on your 2015 cake!"  If, y'know, sprinkles were jobs and dollars.  I don't want to jinx it, but there's a project I'm in the running for that would really be a great opportunity...challenging, but that can be fun sometimes.

For another thing, we got our old house rented!

Scotty will miss the Art Shack.  As will I.

And we didn't even have to use a management company, so no management fees!  Of course, this means that I have to add "property management" to my long list of part-time jobs that I do, but I don't mind.  I'm just happy to have the house taken care of and not have to pay two mortgages anymore, let me tell you...

I also got my first Etsy custom order!  This is exciting.

Painting outside the box. Literally.

Hello!  How's everyone enjoying this winter so far?  Arizonans, how are you liking all this rain we're having?  I love rain...even when I lived in rainier places, I still loved it, even if it was almost every day.  It was raining Wednesday morning when I woke up, and I just wanted to lie in bed all day, listen to the rain, drink tea and cocoa, and read...darn responsibilities preventing me from doing that.

Everyone ready for the holidays?  We have our tree up, some lights in the window, I've been wrapping presents, and I'm sending out holiday cards which, of course, I drew...after the holidays and once everyone's gotten theirs, I'll post it.

Also have one last holiday craft show tomorrow, and a couple new pieces for it...you'll want to see these.

Greetings from the land of post-show fatigue!

This past weekend I was attacked by a wild art festival.  Or at least, that's what it felt like.  So in lieu of an Inspired Monday post (although I hope people find this inspiring if you're in or thinking of getting into the craft selling business!), it's time for a show recap!

It's my booth!

We were a little busy this weekend.  Just a bit. ;) As mentioned, I went to set up early at the festival on Friday afternoon, then went directly to my opening reception for my show at the Watercolor Guild, and was at the festival from 9 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon both days. (Plus, last night almost immediately after the festival I went to a party.  On the opposite side of town.  I.e. about 24 miles away.  I might be kind of a masochist.)

And then there was the setup and tear-down of my booth.  So artists, if people try to make you feel lazy or like your profession isn't hard, tell them you'd like to see THEM set up an art festival booth and man it for two or three days.  Yeah, it's not a stroll in the park.

Soon...

Okay guys, this weekend will be my biggest craft show yet!  In fact, shortly after I post this I'll be heading up there to pre-set things.  This is very exciting for me...I've spent all week preparing, packing things up, getting last-minute supplies...and making a couple new things.

Coming soon to an Etsy near you...if they don't sell at the art fair.

And not just new stones, either...

Show prep, show prep, show prep...

I'm about two and a half weeks out from the Hilton Indoor Summer Art Festival (i.e. my first JURIED art/craft fair, with the most traffic of any craft fair I've done so far), and a little less than two weeks out from exhibiting at the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild. So...cue the panicking?

"Hurricane Panic," painted in 2006 when I lived in Florida.  Appropriate to many life situations other than hurricanes, however.

Surprisingly, I'm not panicked about it, though!  I've just been doing a couple little show-prep things every day, here and there, in addition to my everyday chores.  It's been fun, and in getting things together I unearthed some hidden gems.  Like...

We made it!

So...I was out at work today, nervous because I was expecting an email from an art festival I had applied to, because their jury date was today.  Didn't get an email during work...then afterwards, as I was heading to the library, I checked my phone in my car just before taking my books in...and there it was.

I GOT IN!

This happy Scotty picture expresses my joy.  Except he's kinda understating it a little.  I may have done a happy dance in my car when I got the email.

So you can expect to see me at the Hilton Indoor Fine Art Show on August 23rd and 24th, if you are in the greater Tucson area.

And what does this mean for me?  Well, a lot...

Too hot to work.

It's been hard to be productive this week...I blame the heat, at least in part.  Sometimes in the afternoons it really is just too hot to do anything but lie around with a cold drink. 

Or a light lunch...today it was tlayuda on pita bread.

Plus I've been working during the day at my day job almost every day, and when I'm not, well, soccer.  Also have been besieged with car troubles this week, dentist appointments, and dogs going to the vet for shots...it seems like extra challenges always hit you when you're already overloaded with stuff, doesn't it?  Sigh.

But!  There is a little bit of new art news...

This week in art

Well, it's been a big week around here, dudes...I got another craft fair lined up, possibly some gallery show time this summer, another cat portrait commission, and am just up to my eyeballs in DOING STUFF.  It's fun stuff, though.  It's a good thing I get so much sleep, otherwise I would never have the energy to do all the things I do. ;-)

Except when these two menaces to society wake me up at 5 AM.  "Hi mom!  We need food right now!"  Cue cold dog nose in face.

Plus there are occasionally soccer games going on.  That makes it a little hard to be productive sometimes.  Heh.

It's Etsy time!

I have an Etsy shop!

New stone for sale!  You know you want it.

 You know, it's funny...if you look back through the archives of this blog, you can see another similar announcement about five years ago...but this time around Etsy is WAY more user-friendly and so I think it'll be a lot more successful.  Since it won't be so difficult to add new things, I predict that I'll soon be adding tons more new things to the shop!

For instance, now you can COPY LISTINGS!  So I can just make one listing for, say, medium-sized painted stones, and copy it and put in different pictures each time, but the price, shipping profile, and the basic description of the item stays the same, instead of having to enter that stuff each time like how it used to be, which was really tedious.  Soooo much easier.

My shop still needs some work (a banner being the biggest thing right now...that and listings for other things I make), but at least I have one.  Time to order new business cards!

Art show recapination

In lieu of Inspired Monday this week, I wanted to post about how my art & craft show this weekend went.  Maybe this will be inspiring to somebody, though...it was inspiring for me at the time, and a big learning experience too.

It's my booth!  You can tell it's windy 'cause the Sowing and Tree Woman paintings are blowing away from the grid.

Honestly, there's not a lot I would do differently...although this was my first craft show selling my own work, I've done several helping someone else sell their work, so I kind of knew how things should go.

And this is how they went...

Show prep madness!

As I may have mentioned, I'll be selling my work at Monterey Court here in Tucson this Saturday night...actually, I'm pretty sure I only mentioned it that one time, because ever since it's been finalized I've been in major preparation mode.

A Pile O'Prints!  Plus on the left you can see a package I just shipped - a cat portrait off to Florida.

 I ended up making 17 large prints (like the ones above), 20 smaller prints, and six sets of greeting cards.  So Tuesday was Packaging-fest 2014!

Why an arts degree is (almost?) as valuable as a business degree

I see these posts on Facebook from time to time that my theatre friends share: Why a theatre degree is better than a business degree.  They make excellent points, for sure, and I do feel like my theatre skills have helped me in my regular career a lot (both in my art business and in my various "day jobs" I've had throughout the years).

But I don't have a theatre degree.  My degree was a BFA in illustration.  Is that valuable, too?  You betcha.

Making canvases that double as hurricane barricades: one of the many valuable skills you learn at art school.

 Here's why I think that people with fine arts degrees are just as prepared for The Real World, whatever that means, as people with business degrees:

It's business time!

Having an art-based business isn't all just fun, games, and flinging paint around.  In fact, painting is just one part of it.  My weeks tend to break down into "studio days" and "administrative days," i.e. this week, Monday and Tuesday were definite studio days as I was busy painting some stones as well as a special portrait (possible post on it later).  Of course, it's always fun to just spend most of my day painting, but I can't do that all the time.

Let's get down to business to defeat the Huns paint some watercolors!

However, yesterday and today are administrative days.  Because artists have to do taxes and accounting too.

The ongoing saga of craft fair booths...

This week, I set up my craft fair/arts festival trial run booth, so as promised, here's the story...

It's a backyard art show! (actually...that's not a bad idea...)

On Monday, while I was out doing errands, I went to Target and got the last piece of the puzzle: grid shelves.  See, for a craft fair booth, if you just have all your stuff on one table, with no levels, it's kinda boring-looking, right?  People will pass right by because there's no visual interest.  And I didn't want to get the 5- or 6-foot tall modular gallery walls that some people have, because they wouldn't fit in my car, so instead I decided to put the walls ON my table.

Craft fair booths: the fun stuff!

So!  Since I posted my last post about craft fair booths, I got what has proved to be the most difficult component to find: the elusive Not-Too-Big Grid Walls.  I did, indeed, buy a grid shelving unit like I talked about in my last post on this subject, and you know what?  It totally works.  With a couple s-hooks to hang art on the walls, I'm good to go!

But those aren't much to look at, so here, check this out instead:

It's a sign! (No, really, it is.)

The structure of a craft fair booth (the less decorative but necessary stuff)

So although my first arts and crafts festival (on my own as an artist, not working someone else's booth) is probably four months away, as you may have noticed from this blog, I'm going a little crazy with planning.

I realized that, prior to even being accepted in a show, I need to do a test run of my booth setup, not just so I know how to do it and what it will look like, but because many shows ask for a photo of your booth as part of your application.  And I don't want to look like some noob and not submit one...but although I have helped design and set up booths for other people, I don't want to submit that, because that's not what my booth will look like.

Although this booth WAS lots of fun to set up...but mine will not end up looking anything like this.

  What this means...is that I've been looking for DISPLAY FIXTURES!

Studio dreaming...

Lately, I've been trying to get more into the local art scene here in Tucson, so I've been visiting arts festivals and galleries, trying to see which would be good venues for my art.  So a couple days ago, I visited the lovely Monterey Court...

photo by A.E. Araiza

And there was an intriguing sign in one of the windows: "Gallery/Studio space for rent."

Sigh.

Getting ready for an arts festival/craft fair - what to do and how to do it

Over the past year I did a few arts festivals with the jewelry studio I worked for, and now I'm starting to think about applying to some of them as an artist myself.  Having done some already will give me a bit of an edge, I feel...each time we do another craft fair, we learn more, and the whole process gets easier.

Ahh, the smell of art commerce is in the air!

I'm hardly an expert, but I've picked some tips up from other people we've met at these fairs who are experts.  Based on my experience, and what I've heard from other artists, this is what I would advise...

Supplyin' and incorporatin'.

So, it turns out when you're trying to (finally) turn your modest side business into an LLC, you have to DO stuff.  Lots of stuff.  And think about stuff.  And spend MONEY on stuff!  What?  You mean this takes effort, and being a professional artist isn't just wandering around with paint splattered on my clothes, staring at flowers and musing about the fleeting beauty of life?!  Well, forget it then!

...I'm just kidding.  They told me about all this in art school, so I was totally prepared. ;)

Scotty does not understand these things you call spreadsheets.  Scotty would like a biscuit now.

I'm actually kind of geeking out and having fun over preparing myself for taking this big leap into Incorporation and Grownup Stuff...