Friday, March 30, 2018

How Do You Get Your Business Side Of Your Art Practice Together?

     Do you regularly spend time on the business aspect of your art practice or squeeze it in when you can? My past modus operandi was to just squeeze it in when the mood struck. I've read that to be a successful artist, you must spend at least 50% of your art time on business; marketing, promoting, and managing. Even though I know that, I've not followed that rule.
     But, I'm going to try to devote more time to it. To that end, I've reopened my Etsy  store with my newer works. I spent hours doing the photography for it showing not only the fronts of the pieces, but also the backs. And some photos of it installed. I plan to add more installation photos soon.
     As for my older works, I've decided to get rid of most of them. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. I may try to cut some of them up and convert them into smaller artworks, or I may just leave them in places with signs that whoever likes them can take them. I plan to take my labels off the back so that they remain anonymous. But I've moved on from what they are and want to move forward with the work I'm doing now. It feels good just to state that.
some of my newer work from The Transformation Series

    My old website is gone and I'm presently building a new one. I installed WordPress and bought a theme for it and am learning how to create the new site. I love being a student, and I've read that learning computer technology is one of the best things to do to prevent dementia. The other good thing to do to prevent it is quilting and art making. So my brain should be in good shape! It may be a month or more before I publish the new website because I'm finding it quite challenging but that's a good thing.
     All of this seems like an appropriate thing to do in Spring; to start anew. In that spirit, I take regular breaks from the computer to go outside and work in the yard. I've started a new color scheme out there (bright blue violet and bright yellow green) and have painted almost 50 things so far from terra cotta pots to window boxes to birdhouses.
Painted Bird Bath
Painted pots with freshly repotted plants


Painted CD installment

Painted pots awaiting plants


Painted window boxes with birdhouses

Painted hose protector

 I've convinced my husband to paint the front door the bright blue-violet, too. And with the leftover paint, I'm going to paint the garage door like the Tardis from Dr. Who.
The Tardis

     So much art to create, but business to attend to first. That's why I have not posted here for so long... I'll let you know when the doors are done. And the website. I'm linking this up to Off the wall friday where you can find artquilt blogs. Please make comments on the artists' posts so that they know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting
     

8 comments:

  1. I'm impressed that your building your own site! The business end of things is where I spend most of my time these days it seems. You've got a good plan-start anew!

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    1. WordPress has all sorts of tutorials and a phone consultation for a reasonable price. Unlimited phone calls for a month with the goal of teaching the client how to do it. Some days, I've done 5 calls. But I really want to learn this. I hope I won't regret it.

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  2. I love your new work from The Transformation Series. It looks like you have found your voice.

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    1. Thank you. The class with Jane Dunnewold really helped me to cement my ideas together into a body of work.

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  3. J'aime beaucoup vos derniers travaux et quelle belle énergie de se remettre à l'informatique Bravo

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    1. Merci beaucoup. la création de la série m'a donné une belle énergie.

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  4. Loving all that blue and green in your garden, but then I am such a blue person. Good luck with the new website.

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    1. I was inspired to do that color scheme for my yard after visiting Yves St Laurent's garden in Morocco and saw it there. The colors play so well with the green foliage. The website is done... just waiting for all the tech stuff to connect up in the ethereal world to make it go online.

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