1/25/11 Unbelievable

Here is yesterdays HOUR SWAP piece which I am pleased to say went for $42! WOW! Amazing! The bidding went on hot on the heels of some interesting news I got yesterday.
Last week I posted over on Craigslist about my Hour Swap in order to gain some more readers, get some more exposure, etc. Fully prepared for the usual couple of spam letters I get from posting over there. Strangely I didn't get any spam. In fact I got ONE solitary email and it simply asked if I was located in the metroplex.
Usually I wouldn't answer such a question from an anonymous Craigslist responder but the address it came from intrigued me, "wfaa"...which is a local TV channel. So I responded with a "Yes, Im in the metroplex and thanks for checking out my art" message.
Yesterday when I got back from my supply run and gym I see another email from the same person and it reads
"I’m a producer with Good Morning Texas at WFAA/Channel 8.
Would you be interested in coming on the show to talk about your “Hour Art Project”?
It sounds like it could be a lot of fun."
UNBELIEVABLE! And this couldn't have come at a better time, I'm eeking through what looked like the last month of me "living my dream" trying to be a self employed artist and was about to hit Craigslist employment section when this little piece of gold bonked me on the head!
So much to do to make sure this opportunity is as productive as possible. Things like this do happen?! To regular ol' poor artists like me?!
You should keep up with my other blog - it seems to be quite the buzz right now!
THE ART OF POVERTY

Morning Coffee

I spend most mornings here at my computer with my morning coffee. I may wake up full of creative ideas and itching to get into the studio but sometimes the world wide web is a little distracting...especially youtube, etsy and facebook....which seem to eat a good part of the morning for me. Before I know it the morning is over and it's time to make lunch and there my whole morning has been wasted. So before I head into the new week I am going to start utilizing an old friend of mine called "Morning Coffee" which is an app designed to open up all the sites you frequent daily. You can even configure it to open certain ones on certain days etc... Then every morning I will systematically go through each site. Email- check. Other email- check. Website analytics-check. Etsy store peek- check. My blogs updated-check. Any blogs I wanna follow- check...and then last but not least Facebook- and here is where I am going to implement another old friend. My watch. I'm going to give myself a set amount of time and then LOG OFF when the watch goes beep! Seeing the tabs open will remind me Im on a mission- get through each one and close it.
I should then be able to get more done in a day. Like go to the park and get a good run in, visit my duck friends (shown in the photo above) and enjoy the outside world before heading into the studio and working. I have found this to be a vital part of my creative process- going outside and getting my blood flowing.
I will have to log in at various points in the day to post stuff to Etsy or communicate with people about orders, etc. But I am going to use the watch method this week and really monitor my time. I feel like I didn't get as much done last week as I should've. My creative challenge to everyone this week is to monitor how much time you waste online, by waste I mean staring at the computer screen waiting for someone to comment on your facebook or boredly scrolling through the internet when you need to get your laundry done. Sometimes we just need that down time. But sometimes I think my downtime might be more fulfilling if it was spent in a bubble bath, reading a book or doing some good old fashioned meditation.
Namaste!

Nothing from Nothing

11/19/11 HOUR SWAP PROJECT
"Ripple Effect"
7" x 7" acrylic on wood panel
Winning Bid: $10
My Pilates teacher has a little saying she likes to throw out there while we're struggling to not die on the floormats in a half crunch we've been holding for a full minute...she says "Nothing from nothing equals nothing! Something from something equals something!" Which of course means- your effort will provide gains and she is right- not only has my effort in Pilates already provided me with gains (or losses I should say, bye bye 3 lbs!) but it is a good thing to remember when you're working on other parts of your life. Put in the effort! Things aren't just going to magically happen by themselves. So when sales were NOT coming through my door via ETSY I figured I had better put some effort in and use the ol noggin'...that was the impetus for my other blog. 2 Blogs is not so easy to keep up with- especially when you're trying to keep your content varied. And then add on to it that one blog requires you to work for it, work hard so that you not only gain readers but buyers! But something from something equals something and I'm in it to win it.
I was feeling silly yesterday and have been enjoying watching Sanford and Son on Antennae TV (33.2 here in DFW) so yesterdays HOUR SWAP was..."Fred G. Sanford" and he sold at a bid of $10! A steal! I painted him not only because he is funny but like me- a little entrepreneur doing what he had to do to make it. In his case- collect junk. In my case hustle artwork.
I updated my website with more about the project and hope to see this thing grow- at least get a little handful of pieces into the hands of those who would like to collect art but can't afford to- not at gallery prices anyway.
Today I have orders to work on (YAY! WORK!) and do you actually think I got my Christmas tree taken down and anything cleaned yesterday?
Big Fat No.
Nothing from nothing equals nothing after all...or a bunch of dirty dishes, hairballs and a dirty house.
Wah.

Creative Challenge: CREATED!

I was thrilled to get a few bites on my Creative Challenge of the week. The Challenge being CREATE SOMETHING THIS WEEK- it could have been anything from a song, sketch, casserole (share the recipe please!), doodle...anything. Here are some creations for you to enjoy!
Featured above is Dexter Sleeping by San Francisco artist Rene Rodriguez. Not only is Rene a talented artist, triathalonist and awesome gal- she's also my sister! Dexter is my honorary nephew- isn't he cute! Sweet dreams Dexter!


Next in the queue is a wonderful poem/handmade creation by local (sometimes) Carlin Stultz. Carlin is one of my art collectors as well as being a wonderful supporter of the local music scene in DFW. Here is her creation Heartbroken and she has sewn up the heart with mementos inside, one of which is this little poem she wrote: "Teach me to sew & I'll sew back your heart.
To how it was before the lies & betrayal did start.
The innocence, the joy & hope for tomorrow.
You deserve it as well as I do, with no sorrow.
I'll reserve just a little space for me to abide.
So you can keep my true love & loyalty inside."
-Carlin Stultz
I think it's wonderfully sweet!
Here is one of my own creations this week:

This is just one of the many pair of TOMS shoes I had the honor of painting yesterday. If you scroll a few posts down you can read more about TOMS but the big thing to note is that for every pair of shoes thats bought at TOMS they give away a pair for free to a child in need. I think they just hit the millionth pair and are still trekking. It was really a lot of fun and made me feel warm and fuzzy inside to participate in this. The girl who got her cherry blossom shoes came to find me and tell me she loved them and THANKS!
Which brings us to our next weeks creative challenge. Since it's the week of Thanksgiving the Creative Challenge is to create a THANK YOU something this week. Whatever it may be, get creative and keep it kind!
(Want to participate in the creative challenge? Send your creation to djtigerbee@electriclollipop.com)