Wednesday, February 24, 2010

New item soon to come - Etsy

OK, we found a couple of windows.  Yep, windows that is what I said.  Old storm windows make a cool canvas for my paintings.  I paint on the back -you view from the front. 
Admittedly this can be ....difficult.  One must paint in reverse order and backward to the image view left/right, but I discovered I can do it...so.....

I will be posting the result late this week on my Etsy shop.  In the meanwhile visit my shop to see items I have made from "found" wood laying all around my local area.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

So why do you do what you do - (Art wise)

All of us have something we do. Or actually several something(s) we do. There is the everyday thing -like work- which we may or may not love (or like even). There are the things we do because they simply must be done which are often called chores, and there is what we do because - well - sometimes just because. Last year at this time, I was doing that work thing, and thinking and preparing to do the "because" thing at some undetermined future date. Work however , decided to upset my apple cart and leave me with nothing to work on. Lay-off - one word, made from two, which can make you totally freak.

So now I look for a replacement "job" which will be the thing I may do but do not really love, while I work on making my little business start-up become my job. I have always loved wood, loved its grain, texture, multiple colors, feel, and working with it. I loved printmaking once too (Thanks Bob Dufort - 1983-84), I loved working on my car, but time and availability of materials and a press slowly distracted me from printmaking. Owning one for more than a few years stole the "fun" from car repair. So as I grew, my interest and my "because" thing I do, changed with me. I still however had things I just plain enjoyed; wood grain, and drawing /painting, and music. I had started to collect tools to work with wood before the lay-off. I collected more when they told us the plant would be closing. I chose to make one of the "because" things my work thing so that I could be doing something I love, and add more "because" things later.



I wonder if this will become the future?



Will many of the people either on the unemployment lines, or past the point of eligibility for it, find that they have time, and then maybe even need, to turn the "because" into the "full-time"? Will they in the process create a new world where there is less of the stuff the multi-national corporate giants tell us to buy, and more of the things we want to buy because we love them. Will the magic of the web allow us to have the reach of global corporate giants, with the responsive and amazing customer service and product diversity of the local sole-proprietor?



Time will tell, but I am banking that doing what I love will be more rewarding eventually then was all the time I spent working at something I tolerated.  See and purchase items made by me at http://www.wolfcreekmil.etsy.com/

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Crafting - Supplies cost/savings

I read a very interesting article today. http://artbistro.monster.com/news/articles/10357-15-things-an-artist-should-never-say




I wonder how many of these things we really thought about? Especially concerning: affording supplies, networking, promoting and business acumen. It is a wonderfull gift to be creative no doubt, unfortunately unless you are very successful and possess name recognition and can price based on that most of us cannot afford to hire someone to do the business processes and leave the art to ourselves.


Getting supplies for nothing (or next to nothing) is covered in the "15 things.." article linked above. I have invested several thousand dollars in making sure I can get my media - specifically dead and down/"waste" timber available locally. I also ran out of paper or canvas and I do like to paint as well...the need drove the solution....recycle old windows and paint on the glass. The glass is suffeciently large, smooth and blank. Finding paint that not only sticks but allows the effects I wanted was trail and error, but in the end worth it. I now have two media that cost very little or nothing. The little box pictured in this post was made from "free" supplies. It only took a little research to find the equipment necessary to harvest the local wood that would otherwise have been left to rot, and a little desperation led to the window idea.

Challenge yourself - maybe you can reduce the cost of your supplies, maybe even find alternative supplies that cost nothing because you'r recovering them from what would other be waste?