saturday shopping list . there's so much shopping to be had today!

1. black bear . krisblues
2. millalove's garland of paper flowers 2m . millalove
3. rainy night print . blancucha
4. in mid air . lizzyjanssen

** images from the shops listed
** for more etsy saturday shopping lists visit fancypicnic.

the official Sale post!

a quick announcement re etsy black friday ~ cyber monday sale: free shipping on all items + a sale section which has 20% off brooches and pendants + 20-30% off original works!
{sorry if u read this already on thursday's post}.

w i p . happy friday

i've been crocheting these shapes for the love of crocheting ~ they don't really have a purpose yet. i'm still not sure what i'm doing with some of these sketches . . . entertaining the idea of 'propper painting' {which would require a studio} but also digital colouring {and everything in between}. i feel like i'm on the edge of *something*? that maybe i'll cross a line with them soon! do you ever get that feeling with your work??
{the funny light at home today!}
happy 'black' friday :)

creative space . blue

today's space included a quick {piggyback} trip to kinder then school then back to kinder + home again ~ my son is doing his school orientation!

so only a little time at the desk for these beginnings . . . i'm hooked on this type of blue at the moment ~ i used to avoid it, but now i'm quite interested in how it works with orange, lime and chalky 50s greens! i especially like it when it colours hills and leaves . . .

the wood pieces are going to be mini paintings. i'm thinking of ways to attach them to walls ~ i could have given them to my dad to take home and drill holes at the top, but things got too busy and i didn't! my dad's wife suggested small circles of double sided tape: peel and stick. what do you think? {they are light weight}.

happy creative spacing today :) visit kirsty for more spaces.

** shop news: i'm participating in black friday to cyber monday sales which will include free ww shippng and a special 'sale' section ~ stay tuned if you are interested. {will be adjusting shipping + prices a day early, just so you know!!}

art making + marketing :: an interview with jess gonacha swift

'art making + marketing' is a new interview feature for my blog!
the lovely and talented jess gonacha swift is the first artist/maker interviewee.
enjoy!

:::: working as a successful indie artist/maker is becoming easier for lots of us, thanks to the option of selling work online. in most cases, it's the behind-the-scenes tasks like marketing that contribute to success {or at least turn a hobby into a business!}. this series of interviews with artists and makers will hopefully shine a little light on stepping in and out of the varied roles required to make a living, creatively ::::


does marketing your work come naturally to you, or do you find it to be a task that is always lives dangersously at the top of your to-do list?
Marketing my work is both hard and easy at the same time. A lot of the things I do to market my work have become second nature-- updating my etsy shop regularly, adding images to my flickr page, writing about what I'm doing on my blog, etc. But advertising on other blogs/sites, participating in marketplaces, submitting new work to bloggers... I always procrastinate on these types of things. I know marketing is important, but it's definitely not my favorite part of what I do, so it's always a bit of a struggle, something I could be doing more of, better, etc. Another thing that I know is fantastic marketing is having gorgeous photographs, and this might be the biggest challenge for me. I'm not a natural photographer, so it's very difficult for me to want to style my work and spend a lot of time photographing it.

does knowing that you will be marketing affect the way you work?
I think it does affect my work somewhat. Sometimes I'll be thinking "will I be able to sell this?" right at the beginning of a piece, which is a sure-fire inspiration killer! I find I need to strike a balance between doing my work for myself while I'm creating it, but also thinking about how I can present it in an appealing way after I'm finished. It's hard to not get caught up in the selling aspect of it, but it's so important not to! Because ultimately I want to be making things that make ME happy, first and foremost.


do you have a best selling piece or series? is this piece/series your personal favourite? if not, how do you balance with working for your 'market' and holding onto your creative freedom?
I have a few pieces that have sold well over the past couple of years-- and yes, strangely enough, the ones that do well are often my favorite pieces. Or pieces that I feel more of a connection with than others. I think that energy is infused in a piece of artwork and people can feel it when they're looking at it. I just can't think of another way to explain it!
** {see pics included }


i admire your ability to work on lots of concurrent projects and to apply your work to the development of various products ~ while keeping your unique style and fingerprint. do you find it tricky to single out one piece to represent your shop/work as a whole?
Oh my goodness, Yes. I feel like I have several different styles going on and lots of different products/projects, so it's hard to see for me to see how it all fits together. I like having a lot of different things happening, because it keeps it interesting for me, but I definitely struggle with how to best represent myself. What I'm discovering within myself, though, is that there's no "right way" to do things. There's only MY way. And THAT'S what I should be focused on-- making sure I'm being true to what I want to do and how I want to put myself out there in the world. If that means changing how I represent myself regularly, then that's ok with me! I don't think there's any way that one image could represent all the things that I do, so I think I try to go for an overall FEELING. I want my work to make people happy, so if I'm conveying that, then I think it's cohesive.


what are your tips for marketing fine art?
Take good photographs (arghhhhh), connect with bloggers who write about the type of thing that you do, update your blog regularly (and if you don't have a blog, start one!!), update your shop/flickr page/other sites where you have your work as often as you can, comment on other people's blogs (with useful, thoughtful comments!)... those are the things that have worked for me so far. Having my work written about on blogs has really been the best marketing for me up to this point-- I think just being in as many places as you can be is a great way to market your work. Oh! And twitter, too-- twitter is a very powerful tool that I highly recommend. It's easy to build a community of people, get news out quickly and efficiently, and connect with people instantaneously. I love twitter.

thanks so much for sharing jess :)
:: shop
:: blog

work in progress . painting

some work from yesterday :)
happy monday!

saturday shopping list . through the night + early morning {i want!}

1. though evelyn knew the circus was her home sometimes late at night she would consider leaving . thisisalliknow
2. cow no 1 7x8 fine art print . sharonmontrose
3. shasta one limited edition giclee print 2/100 . leahgiberson
4. dendrite earrings 24kt gold plated . nervoussystem

** images from the shops listed.
** for more etsy saturday shopping lists visit fancypicnic.

my creative space

i feel so lucky to be alive and in my creative space today ~ even thought i've been working on what is usually my least favourite of the tasks: making prints + taking photos {only my least fav, due to the hours at the computer}.

we've had food poisoning this week {hubby + i} and i'm so happy to have come out the other side. it's one thing to be feeling sick and quite another to try to look after the kids at the same time . . .

anyway, here are some new prints that i'm aiming to list in the shop tonite!
hope you're enjoying your creative time/space today.

for more inspiring spaces visit kirsty.

saturday shopping list . home office fun

1. cabin and cub 2010 desk calendar . cabin
2. mouse pad 12 . shimandsons
3. pillow boxes mosaic 1 . fieldandsea
4. manila tags small . nicepackage

** all images from shops listed
** for more etsy saturday shopping lists, visit fancypicnic.

moo cards!

these arrived yesterday ~ so exciting!
makes me want to do postcards . . .
happy friday :)

my creative space . the walk to my desk!

my creative space starts {if i'm lucky} on the walk home from kinder/childcare. i try to clear my head and focus on what i'll be working on . . . it's only a 5 minute walk unless i stop and look!
not sure what i'm doing with these drawings ~ i have a couple of ideas, but am thinking too hard about how to go about them. thinking too hard makes me feel a little blocked! i guess the thing is, that i like them as simple drawings but feel that they need to be something else somehow. this usually involves scanning + photoshop or painting, then scanning then photoshop . . .

hope you are having a joyous time in your creative space today. for lots more visit kirsty.

a little inspiration: little gray pixel

this is the photo i needed to look at this week.
at yoga today {on the top floor of a lovely community centre with windows all around ~ at roof level} we were asked to visualise a dark cool cave with a waterfall on one side and to imagine that we were breathing with our skin rather than our lungs ~ i found it very effective :)

:: catch a wave 8x10 fine art photo . littlegraypixel

crochet motifs

i'm calling myself crazy to be crocheting with mohair on a 30+ degree c day! it was 35 today so i stuck to cotton, but i did the mohair and alapacas the other day when it was almost as hot. i guess that's what happens when i'm reading blogs full of inspiring crochet projects and the itch builds up!
the flower pattern is from a rowan book. i started thinking about how i could make different shapes {trickier than i thought} and what possible use i could have for them . . . i don't really need them, and i'm not knitting a bag to stitch them to. i got way ahead of myself with thoughts of how i could make fabric wall-hangings . . . mmm.
it is a fun thing to do in the kids' room while they build + play together ~ i seem to get more and more restless at the thought of building and playing cars these days!
happy tuesday :)

new mini gift cards + almost 100 sales bonus!

here are some new mini gift cards! to celebrate almost 100 etsy sales i'm giving away a free set of mini cards with each of the next 10 orders {any set from 5 sets}.
i'm very excited to have almost reached this point ~ thanks to etsy, the internet and the lovely blogging community :)

saturday shoppling list . things round + divine!

1. sweet garland xmas dream . 3girlsandagoat
2. crochet cuff . elinthomas
3. quartet ring . evrydiki
4. elegant orange horse hair crin earrings . nataliasaldias

** images from the shops listed.
** for more etsy saturday shopping lists, visit fancypicnic.