Evaluations (aka Market vs. Holiday Show)

The opening to the show at the gallery is officially over and I am happy with the results for the most part.

I had a lot of friends show up to show support and to hang out (since people were in town for the Thanksgiving holiday). Some also found the irresistible urge to purchase some of my work. Thanks! I've managed to make up the cost for the whole show in the first few days of the show/fair being officially open. I believe just about all of the other artists have also made quite a few sales so far. At first I was a little apprehensive about one of the artisan's work next to mine... Mostly because it was Pet-Products, mainly dog beds, collars, bags, and soap shaped like bones. The more I see it however, the less it offends me. It bothered me, I think, because my work and her work were so vastly different in all aspects that the transition between the two was a bit jarring.



I am very please with the setup and location of my work. I had some talented help with the setup and hanging of my work and I have to admit it looks fantastic. The track lighting is perfect and reveals colors in my some of my work that you really couldn't see all that well out at the Farmer's Market this summer. I have just about ALL of my reproductions available down at the gallery, some framed, most loose. I have a good selection of my originals up and for sale for serious collectors and for those with a tighter budget don't forget that I can do special orders for larger and to-size reproductions of any piece you want.


As far as the Farmer's Market goes, at least for comparison, this setup at the gallery blow that one away no-contest. Which should be pretty obvious. The market downtown was a fun setting but it seemed that most of the thousands of people that came weren't what you'd consider serious about purchasing anything. The atmosphere down there has changed to more of an event feel (to go and hang out at) rather than a true market (where you go to buy things and expect to pay for high quality artisan goods). It may have been the economy speaking or maybe people have lost touch with what the market has to offer because people baulk at the higher prices for handmade, local, high quality goods. Or perhaps people think that our prices should be comparable to the cheap, machine made, import goods that cost very little (and reflect that in quality) that they can find at the conventional chain stores. A friend of mine that has worked the market since it began the 14-ish years ago said that people would expect to pay more (and did) for the artisan products found down at the market but that slowly changed along with the whole atmosphere and attitude of the people who came to shop and browse.

Overall, it was a good experience and I gained quite a few good contacts. The organization of the Market could use some work and I take issue with a few of the ways certain Market employees do things. I 'had words' with one of them at one point because of how she was treating another vendor and I felt that it was unacceptable. I haven't decided if I am going to do the Farmer's Market next year or not, I certainly didn't participate in their Winter Market. The fees were exorbinate and I had no intention of sitting outside for 4 hours freezing for the outside venue, nor did I feel like participating in their inside venue as I would have to pay them a fee, commission for sales, and on top of that I would have to work the counter there at least once a week, if I remember correctly. It just didn't seem worth it.

Specially since I've got a longer show at a gallery that's less expensive, no commissions, and it's inside and warm.




- Kathryn Koozer


See my work:
www.kathrynscollages.org
www.zazzle.com/kkoozer*
www.etsy.com/shop/kathrynscollages

Follow me:
twitter.com/KKoozer
www.facebook.com/pages/Kathryn-Koozer/132957703658

Idaho Arts & Antique Holiday Fair

Sevoy Antiques & Dan Looney Gallery presents:

“IDAHO ARTS & ANTIQUE HOLIDAY FAIR”

Please join us for a celebration of antiques, Idaho art, and beautifully crafted items by local Artisans.

Located inside Sevoy Antiques, 3408 Chinden,
Garden City - 367-9330
(4 blocks west of the Doubletree Riverside Hotel)
Free parking and just minutes from downtown Boise



GRAND OPENING PARTY!
Friday-Saturday-Sunday, November 27, 28 & 29

Holiday festive food & drinks, and a free signed Idaho art print by Dan Looney!


Featured Artisans
Sevoy Antiques, European collectibles and vintage enamelware

Dan & Julie Looney, Idaho art
Kathryn A. Koozer, Drawings & Collage
Jennifer Deroin, Pampered Pet Products
Madora M. Neale, Handcrafted Gourds
Polly Franz, Handsewn Crafts
Ruth Day, Handmade Jewelry


The Holiday Fair runs from Friday November 27, 2009 thru Saturday February 6, 2010.
Hours: Wed-Sat, 10-4:30. Sundays Noon-4:30
(Closed Christmas and New Year’s Days.)


Holiday treats and lots of good cheer on-hand through the event. Please bring friends and family.

Fan Photos (Part 2)

This next set is all from a single collection.


Strawberry Cream Original
Home Office

Personal Collection
Nampa, ID



Fire & Ice
Bathroom

Personal Collection
Nampa, ID



Texel
Bathroom

Personal Collection
Nampa, ID


The last two photos show how nice my work looks in floating frames. These are the type of frame I recommend the vast majority of the time when people ask how they should frame my work. There are a few places that have those types of frames that vary in quality, style, and price. Michaels has a good selection but Target has an outstanding collection of these and has all sorts of arrangements and sizes.

I'm using a lot of those frames in my upcoming gallery/market event starting on the 28th of Nov. down at Dan Looney's Gallery.

-Kathryn Koozer

Gallery Setup Winter 2009

Well I sure had a busy day yesterday. Met with my architecture buddy and talked websites, lunch at an officially Italian Certified Pizza (and other Italian food items) Restaurant, and set up most of my work up in a gallery for this winter.

The gallery that I'm getting setup at is Dan Looney's Gallery/Sevoy Antiques located off of Chinden in Boise/Garden City. A small group of artists have decided to get together and have their own Holiday Market & Gallery Exhibition this winter season. Most of us participating were all fellow vendors at the Boise Farmer's Market but we didn't want to invest in their Holiday Market for various reasons. Mainly the cost to participate and that we'd be outside freezing our buns off. An additional reason is also that sales were down this year pretty much universally and as a new vendor & emerging artist that doesn't have a lot of money I didn't feel that I'd be able to make up the cost, time invested in the whole setup & take down, stress, and other related things (like thawing out my finger tips after the day was over).

Dan and I were playing with this Holiday Extravaganza idea for a while and finally decided to go for it. He's got a pretty decent following since he's been painting for at least 30 years and everyone else participating down really nice work. Plus this adds another solid experience for my Artist Resume. Yes, we do have special resumes that feature shows & prizes and such.

Yesterday was when I setup the majority of my stuff. I had some very talented help come with me to get it all hung perfectly and we managed to get it all up and looking really nice fairly quickly. We even helped Dan's wife, Julie, rehang the paintings that needed to be moved to make space for my own art work.

Turns out they decided to push the opening back to the Saturday after Thanksgiving instead of next week on the 19th. Which makes a lot more sense since the 19th is a Thursday and most people would be able to come and join in on the festivities on a Saturday. But, since my stuff is up now and available, you can go and check it out before the official opening and you can even purchase my work early also.

I do have one or two concerns. One is that the antique owner likes to rearrange things and I'd like to retain complete artistic control over where my work is and how it looks with whatever is near it. There is also the concern of how not fantastically organized this event is. There seems to be an aura of them getting a bit overwhelmed at times. Hopefully that's not something that will turn around and bite us later.

Now, I'm going to share with you how my display looks as of yesterday (Nov. 12th). I will be adding more little things soon. I have a couple of frames I bought that need some attention also. There are Originals of my art and also Limited Edition Reproductions available at the gallery.





-Kathryn Koozer

Fan Photos (Part. 1)

I'd like to share with you some photos I've gotten recently showcasing my work displayed in people's homes. See? People really do enjoy my work. ;)


MultiBlue Giclee
Oct. 2009


MultiBlue, 4:30 in Winter, Keukenhof Limited Edition Prints
Sept. 2009


MultiBlue (black) Mousepad (available from my Zazzle Shop)
Oct. 2009


I'm really excited to see the MultiBlue (black) mousepad. It looks beautiful doesn't it?
Those are available from my online Zazzle Store: http://www.zazzle.com/kkoozer


- Kathryn Koozer

Zazzle, deviantArt, & CafePress

I have been working recently to expand my source of income generated through my art career. I am getting my work on various merchandise and available for purchase through multiple locales online. I am basically bypassing the middleman here by using companies that make the items, sell the items, and ship the items. What I do is spend oodles of time designing each product and posting them for sale through my online stores.

Oodles of time. Earlier this week I spent about 2 days non-stop working on my Zazzle and deviantArt stores. I may have gotten 3 sections relatively completed on Zazzle and most basic stuff on deviantART. I haven't really even touched CafePress yet, that will happen when I've got those other sections completed. I'm not too impressed with deviantART. There's almost no way to customize your items and I might just remove them from there because of that. Zazzle has an impressive setup where you can pretty much do anything you want to each item you create with colors, text (with as many fonts as you could possibly need), customizable objects, and variations on those objects. So I upload the images I want to use, which takes forever since you want a high quality image otherwise you'll get some nasty pixelation on your products, then I specify what I'd like to make. For example, a mug. I *love* mugs as anyone who knows me knows. They have so many variations on mugs I'm in mug-heaven. You can make mugs, ties, skateboards, postcards, gift cards, mousepads, shirts, and more. CafePress has SIGG bottles and I think I even saw throw pillows of all things.

So what I do it I select the product, choose it's type size and sometimes colors, than I arrange my image on it and add my 'by Kathryn Koozer' text somewhere where it doesn't intrude on the beauty of the item. After I have it looking how I want it I have to name the item, write a description, define the categories where it is publicly listed, figure out how much to sell it for and so on. According to Zazzle they make 1% on each sale, and then you as the merchant put a markup on their base price (the cost to make it and their 1%) to define how much you make from each sale.

My mother was kind enough to purchase a set of MultiBlue greeting cards, mostly to inspect the quality. The quality is exceptional. The paper is high quality in the card. The image on the front looks fantastic and I'm really picky about that sort of thing. Even the envelops that came with them were of a quality you won't see in store bought cards. The cards and the envelops came in a nice see through plastic box and then packed with an invoice plus a little Zazzle card. The only downside is that they used packing peanuts. Overall I am very pleased with Zazzle so far.

I Have a New Toy

I have a new toy. That new toy happens to be able to cut a full sheet of mat board into two sections. It is also able to make slick bevel cuts for making classic mat boards that frame pictures. I use the bevel to make my mounted limited edition prints. It's wonderful.

Before I bought this little gem I was taking serious issue with my razorblade knives. I would end up mangling about half of my mounted prints when I'd try to cut the boards and then I'd have to trim them again to make them sellable. The cuts were uneven and sometimes hard to control depending on my grip of the knife and/or the ruler I use, and often how tied I was. The ruler was also slowly getting trimmed by my knives and my cutting board is looking like it got attacked.

With my new mat board cutter it takes one motion to make a clean perfect cut or trim. With my old system I would spend a good portion of my day trying to get the boards cut and trying to fix the ones that decided to give me trouble.

It's probably one of the best investments I've made and it's completely worth it. There are various type of cutters and they vary in price from super inexpensive on up to thousands. I found one on Blick that I fell in love with: http://www.dickblick.com/products/logan-450-mat-cutter/

New Artwork

It's about time that I write a note about my new pieces.

Little Chris, Kaleidoscope, and the currently without-a-title Daffodil.

Each are collaged with various materials including nylon, pressed flowers, and old photographs. The first two mentioned are both 12 inches by 18 inches. That size is a pleasant size to work with as I can draw on my lap anywhere I happen to be sitting. When they are larger it is a bit more challenging to find a good position to work in. The third is 18 inches by 24 inches and is what you might call the mid-range of the sizes I work in.


Little Chris


Kaleidoscope


Daffodil

Kaleidoscope gave me quite a bit of trouble getting the collaging elements acceptable. That one incorporates pressed flowers and it was difficult making them look like they weren't floating off of the picture. Paper seems to work much better for those things it seems.

Here is where you might expect me to start talking about the concept behind each piece or the philosophy of my overall work. But, I'm really not into that. I want my work to be able to stand on its own. Through the skill involved and how it looks and perhaps how it makes you feel. If I have to start writing long explanations about why I did what I did and why that's important then I feel that the work isn't strong enough to be legitimate in and of itself.

You might think from that statement that I don't have a concept or philosophy behind my work. I do. And it's part of why I do what I do, but that is mainly about me personally and what I try to do with my art than about the art I create directly. My work is what it is and what each person makes of it themselves. All the critics of the art world and all of the visitors to museums each make their own assumptions and ideas about art. Each person has their own interpretation and it's not my place to tell you how you're suppose to see or enjoy my work.

Awake...

I am awake and it's 12:19am.

So much has happened since my last post yet at the same time so much hasn't. What has happened is that I've put in a lot of effort to pick up my pace of producing artwork. I can manage to get a piece done a week if I try. I haven't posted new pictures of my recent few pieces in my official portfolio on my website but they are on my Facebook Fan Page. I don't think I've even mentioned the new pieces I have completed in blog posts. I'll post those soon.

I have also started developing a few online stores where people can purchase merchandise that has my art on it. There are three currently (Zazzle, deviantART, and CafePress) where you can buy random items, and only one where you can purchase my Limited Edition Prints (Etsy). You can, of course, continue to send me emails to acquire prints, and that is actually preferable as it saves me money than if you went through my Etsy Marketplace. I had a small investment made into my art business which enabled me to purchase a slick mat board cutter, photos and a post soon to follow. The two weeks before this last one at the Market in Boise were fantastic for sales and that always makes me feel optimistic.

What hasn't happened is finding more places to sell my work on consignment. The winter gallery show with Dan Looney, a well established local artist, hasn't quite been set in stone yet (I haven't mentioned this before and I'll give you more detail when I know more). I can't seem to get merchandise up on Zazzle as fast as I'd like. It seems to take forever and there's so much I'd like up and available *now*. And finally this last week at the market was one of the worst days out there. I barely made the rent for my my booth space. >.< From talking to other vendors it was a slow day all around. The economy currently is not kind, as everyone knows. And it's especially unkind to an emerging artist.

Which brings me to why I'm awake at this hour. My stress level and anxiety are basically at an all time high. I'm not making enough money to make me pleased with how things are going. I've been working non-stop to get Zazzle and deviantART up and running and it's frustratingly slow-going. Then there are people that want me to drop what I'm doing and converse or hang out just because I don't have a normal job with normal hours and thus should be available whenever. There are other things that weigh on me and cause stress and anxiety but those are normal everyday stresses and aren't worth mentioning here.

I sleep poorly. I've slept poorly for years. You get used to it after a while and develop a tolerance to the lack of sleep. I have at least. Doesn't make me any happier about being awake though.

I am awake and it's 12:46am.

Painting with Colored Pencils

The other day I was checking out electric erasers for the purpose of drawing. You can make little lines with it or other subtle marks with the eraser that you can't with your pencils. Plus, you can erase with them. Handy, eh?

But I'm of topic here. When I was looking that device up I came across some info about using solvents on your pencils for blending. Now, I usually use a blender pencil which turns out to be just the binder (like wax) in a pencil form that you rub over your pigment and it helps to blend the colors together. The solvents are a chemical that you put on your work and move around with a brush. It's like working with watercolor pencils, only you're using a chemical. So there's a bunch of different things you can use ranging from lighter fluid, mineral spirits (that be toxic fumes there), and Vodka. I hate Vodka so naturally I used the lighter fluid that has sat in my closet since my freshman year in collage. That's about 9 years for those keeping track.

So I did some test samples this afternoon to compare how it looks to my normal technique.



this is the rough scribblings


the top section is with the blender pencil and the bottom is with the lighter fluid


close up


another close up


this is a smaller test to show the difference, note the specs on the left


You may notice the little specs of pigment in the sections done with the blender pencil. That's one thing that's always bugged me, the lighter fluid obviously doesn't have that problem but don't use that stuff on anything you want to keep details in. It also can work as a way to tone down an area if you've gotten it too bright, or too dark as I found out on my current drawing. It also basically eliminates the other specs where the paper shows through.

I'm pretty pleased with it and I think I'll be using it quite a bit in future pieces.

Send me your Photos!

I've been working on my Facebook fan page and I've been adding photos of of my work in shops, exhibitions, and the originals on people's walls and it occurred to me that it could be fun to see what people have done with the prints that they've bought.

So send me an email of a photo of the piece you've bought and what you've done with it. How you've framed it and where it currently resides. As I receive them I'll put up a blog post and I'll include some basic info, like the title of the pieces shown and maybe the first name of the person who owns them and maybe the state where the print is.

I think it could be really interesting. So shoot me an email at info_at_kathrynscollages.org. Take out the underlines and change at to the @ symbol for it to go through.



For example:


The home of the original MultiBlue.
Idaho

Please Excuse my Dubiosity

I posted a couple months ago about a Vanity Press trying to sucker artists into buying their way into a book that featured over 200 other artists. That one you paid a small fee to be included. That one pales in comparison to this new one I found in my email.

This new one you pay hundreds and even possibly thousands of EUROS to be included. O.o

I got this email about a week and a half ago and I thought I'd share portions of it with you.

*****

Call for entries

"Featured Artists" Art book

Collectible global art book
Estimated Release Date: November 2009
Hardcover 200+ pages
DIMENSIONS: 21x21 cm - 8.2X8.2 in
Inclusions by selection only

Modern Art Community and Mediaplan publishing invite you to participate in a collectible book of art.
Featured Artists is a daring attempt to feature several contemporary artists in an overview, a book which will be a resource for galleries, museums, artists, art collectors and dealers who constantly seek for new talents and trends in the art community. Featured artists is an art book which is also a source of information, including many artists profiles, and new trends that appear in the art world nowadays.

Having an Artist Profile published in “Featured Artists” art book is absolutely necessary and essential for an artist and also a tool that can elevate your career much higher.

Please note that this is not a free inclusion.

More info: www.modernartcom.com

*****

I took out the names at the bottom as to not annoy anyone directly, but if you go to the website and check out the info on this I'm sure you'll be as shocked and/or weirded out as I am. I'm left wondering how in the world they think *anyone* would be willing to participate in this and shell out that much money.

I also love how they say that "Having an Artist Profile published in “Featured Artists” art book is absolutely necessary and essential for an artist and also a tool that can elevate your career much higher." All of those desperate artists trying to make a name for themselves seeing that and being convinced of it. Hey, I'm poor and not famous, but I am *not* desperate enough to shell out to pay for a Vanity Press book that I am seriously dubious about helping my career in any way. If you want a longer explanation about why those are a bad idea read my first post about the Vanity Publishing. It's called 'An Opportunity for Vanity' and you'll find it in the archives.

So how much would I be, in fact, paying the publishers for the honor of having them include me in their "absolutely necessary and essential" book? Strait off of their website:


*****

"If the artist is selected an editorial fee is requested to cover editorial and production expenses. The current editorial fee starts at 490 euros (or the equivalent currency) for one page and 890 euros for two pages presentation in the book.

For more than one page, the artists gets another page free of charge. For additional pages every other page costs 350 euros. (example: an artist wishes to participate in Featured Artists with 3 pages. The cost will be 890+350=1240 euros and have an extra page free of charge)."

*****


Holy Crap. That's not even taking in account how that converts to US $. Not only does that second paragraph make no sense when following the first but that amount is astronomical.

Not that desperate, and also not that stupid to think that this would help me in any way. Pretty sure I could use that amount of money to help me in much better ways. Like using it to send samples and applications to galleries in large cities. Or basic advertising in various places, plus getting work copyrighted, scanned, or even getting into the print market. Or buying materials to make even more art. Or pay the rent and eat.


These ones, however, do claim to sell the book through larger retailers, but answer me this: If a gallery owner knows (and you can count on them knowing all about these books) that you've paid your way into a Vanity Press art book (instead of proving you have talent through being asked to be featured in something for free because you're awesome) will they still respect you and your work in the morning? I certainly wouldn't. To me all I would see from that is that you are either very naive and desperate for some form of imagined reputation, or that you have very little talent and can't make it in legit circumstances where you can't buy your way in.

Portrait

I would like to announce that I have completed my first real portrait. I am very pleased with how it turned out & so is the client (who is one of my closest & dearest friends). The subject is apathetic as he's 2yrs old and would rather play with cell phones then look at fractured art. I'm also guessing the fractures may confuse his eyes as to what he's actually seeing. I originally made it as a gift but then she said to keep it. This was before she saw it when it was almost complete. She said she almost cried because of how beautiful it was and of course now she wants it. I think that she will appreciate it much more than a random art collector buying it and not knowing anything about the subject and the dynamics involved. But, there will be prints available this week.

What do you think?



Oh, and if anyone is in the market for having a real portrait done for themselves or a loved one (in my style) let me know and we'll work something out.

To See the Unseen

Part of the concept behind my work and the styles and techniques I use is to help people see in different ways. This usually comes across through the fractures & collaging. Each separate piece being how someone else sees the same world you are seeing. Or not seeing - it all depends on how you mentally and physically view the world sometimes. I have also been exploring colorblindness because you can actually show people with normal vision how a colorblind person sees by removing certain colors from the spectrum used in the piece. There's a whole lot of science behind this but I won't rattle on about that since that's not what this post is about.

I want to explore Ultra Violet in my art. I want to show Infrared also. These are things that we can't see with our eyes but it is possible to give you an idea of what is there through science! There are cameras that will take a picture in grey-scale and than will show you the UV areas in bright white. It's obviously not going to show you the real coloring of that area, well, because we are not physically capable of seeing it. Birds and bees can and it's one of the ways they navigate their world. Flowers have all sorts of coloring and patterns we don't see and birds... Well birds are more beautiful and more amazing than we can ever truly comprehend.

Being able to capture infrared would be extremely interesting when it comes to architecture, people, and anything else that holds heat or produces it.

There's a camera I'd love to get to help me out with this, but it costs a few thousand dollars. I'm not quite ready to spend that much yet, although if anyone has any connections/money/leads on grants that may help me get there shoot me an email.

Recently there was an article on the BBC about an exhibit that explored this and more. Pretty fantastic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8188070.stm

Local Venue for my Art

I have some great news that I thought I should share with everyone.

I now have my work available at the Framed! shop in Meridian off of Fairview. They do custom framing, photo restoration, and have a wide selection of art from local artisans. I was approached by the owner, Paula, a month or so ago when she asked if I would be interested in putting some of my stuff in her shop on consignment. I went and checked it out a couple weeks ago and loved the look of the place and just last week took my work in. Here's the address:

Framed!
1722 E. Fairview
Meridian, ID

It's right there in with Fred Myers by its western entrance.

I have a few pieces there on consignment and those will get changed out every few months or as soon as the work sells. It's a really good deal as the split goes 30% - 70% with me receiving the later amount from the sale. A lot of places want up to 50% of the sale price and that's asking way too much unless they are doing a lot of work getting your stuff sold. So I'm quite pleased with how this is working out.

Currently there are 4 pieces there. All reproductions. A full sized Velvet Giclee MultiBlue, larger prints of Objectivity & Keukenhof, and a medium print of Breadth of Vision.


In the future I'd like to score more places to have my work on consignment, but everyone's got to start somewhere. I'm also in discussion with Dan Looney, a local Idaho artist, about showing my stuff in his gallery. Word is the consignment fee for that would be 25% which is phenomenal!

I'll keep you posted on how that turns out.

Little Jewel (the grasshopper) Prints Available

I've sent in an order for Little Jewel prints so they should be available down at the market by this Saturday. They might even be available on Thursday, if shipping is early morning, for the First Thursday thing on the grove. I should be joining the artists of the Gypsy Gallery down there displaying and selling work.



The scan of the piece looks really good so I hope the prints look as great.

Etsy Shop

Time for rejoicing and hopeful thoughts!

I have procured myself an Etsy marketplace to help sell my reproductions and originals. I am slowly working on getting more inventory up on the site. And as each item I post costs me $.20 I'm not putting up a whole lot right at once. You can find my shop at kathrynscollages.etsy.com

You can either purchase items through that website or you can send special requests through email. Through the website would be easier for me because it have Paypal all set up. I am of course down at the Boise Farmer's Market and that will be cheaper for you all around because I include the tax in my prices there as well as there is no shipping cost when you buy from me locally.

Oh, yes and I will have select work available at other locations locally on consignment. I will post more information soon. But for now, go check out my shop!

kathrynscollages.etsy.com

No Market this Weekend

Just wanted to let everyone know that I won't be down at the Farmer's Market this weekend (the 25th) selling my art & reproductions. I will be traveling far and wide to the eastern part of the state for a wedding.

I will be back for the following weekend have no fear.

Printing Greener

When I started my art & design business I decided to donate 5% of my profits tot eh National Wildlife Federation. I didn't do this because it's a trend or to make myself look better. I did this because I have always been an environmentalist. I grew up watching documentaries about nature on The Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. I watched a lot of veterinarian shows because I had planned on becoming one when I was younger. I also donate a portion of my profits because I realized that designers have a lot of power in their hands. My thesis in college was about that subject and that because of this power to convince & sell that we should use this ability to create a positive impact upon the world. My thesis was called Design for Social and Environmental Improvement, and that is why my main website domain was named that. My art is now in its own domain at kathrynscollages.org. In my business I don't do work for those that I feel have a questionable motive or for those that care very little for anything other than making money. I give my skills to those that have something good to give to the world.

In this theme I've finally managed to score myself a green printer for a good price. I'm getting my business cards through Greenerprinter.com now. They offer paper that is exclusively made up of recycled papers. They use (also exclusively) soy and vegetable inks that are low in Volatile Organic Compounds. Because they focus on printing in this fashion they can keep the costs down - unlike printers that print on whatever paper and use whatever inks they feel like unless you specifically request the recycled stuff (which will have their own special price and that's generally going to cost you more). They are 'Operating as a carbon-neutral business via carbon offsets of shipping emissions and investments of Renewable Energy Credits to offset emissions from operations.' There are many more things that are supremely awesome & green about them but I won't bore you with those. If you'd like more info about them visit their website found at http://www.greenerprinter.com/.

Because I've just finished my new website dedicated to my fine art I've needed to make new business cards specifically for it. Plus I need new cards for the Farmer's Market & it was a good opportunity to take advantage of this green printer. The basic design in the same as my last one but it updated with the new website address and title. Oh, and I have my special 'I donate 5% of all profits to the National Wildlife Federation.' shpeel on the back of the card along with the printers info about the paper ('Printed on 100% recycled content, 50% post-consumer waster, processed chlorine-free paper by greenerprinter.com'). I'm happy with the design and happy that my cards aren't going to be one more thing to hurt this place that we live in.

Little Jewel

Little Jewel is the name of my latest piece. This gem has the dimensions of 10inches by 13 inches and currently is completely colored pencil. I have not yet decided if I'm going to doing any collaging to it, pressed flowers or paper being the options. I'd probably do pressed flowers but I think it might be strong enough to stand on its own without it. To me this piece seems very strong in an illustrative style. A friend says that's to be expected because it's done with colored pencil but some of my other pieces are definitely far more photo realistic - the Division of Semblance piece for example.

This piece isn't available in reproductions as of yet. Give me a few weeks.

Little Jewel
Colored Pencil (may be collaged later)
2009, 10"x13"


There is a fun story behind this piece. For those of you who have a love of all things outdoors you will enjoy this me thinks. Those of you who don't like bugs may not. Just pretend this Little Jewel is made of jade or emerald.

This grasshopper was seen outside of my back porch sitting in a red/orange lily for days. I would try to remove him and he would return to this same spot. One flower would die and he'd move to another one. Finally one day I went out and he had changed color to a light tan and had grown wings, later that same day he disappeared.

I'm amazed he didn't get spotted by a bird. This is a colorblindness piece in the sense that the grasshopper had no idea that he stood out so strongly against that red lily.

The original photo of this that I took I'm thinking about entering into the NWF photo contest. The deadline for that is the 20th of July for those who are interested in photography.

Shocking! aka No Books for Me

So in my last note I mentioned that I emailed that book publisher about how many books I'd be getting for free if I participated. They actually emailed me back this morning and this is what they wrote (minus names and formality greetings):

'Thank you for contacting us. The $40 entry fee does NOT include any books. The books will retail for approximately $39.'

Shocking. I already knew the answer before I asked but I wanted to confirm my suspicions. Not even a discount for those that are featured in this book. Amazing.

Not that I want one, not with 200 artists cramming their work together in a 400 page book. I can't hardly imagine that could possibly look nice (graphic design class talking here) or do the artists and their work any proper justice or representation at all.

I do hope that this note and my last one will find their way to other artists who might be considering this and to think long and hard before taking part in this type of thing. The lure of becoming a 'published artist' or the awesomeness of being in a random book should absolutely not overshadow what these people are actually doing. This does not help an artist at all, it's a waste of money and in my book (that I'm selling for $40, j/k) is very dubious and might as well fall into the realm of scams.

Don't fall into the trap. No one will be impressed, especially not gallery owners. Write your own book, teach classes, apply to galleries, get online (beware artist website scams also), get into shows and competitions that are reputable, and participate in farmer's markets if you can. Even sell your stuff on eBay, just don't participate in a Vanity Press or a Vanity Gallery. It's bad news.

An Opportunity for Vanity

'But then you'd be published!'

This is a quote from a young man that I chatted with a few weeks ago when he came and saw my art booth out at the Edward's Greenhouse evening market. Is that, being published, the height and aim of an art career? Is it a stepping stone to becoming well know and filthy rich? Perhaps for some it gives the feeling of validation, of having another item for their Artist Resume, of being able to proudly proclaim to gallery owners that they are a published artist and obviously deserve the respect of their work that they so desperately want.

Or, perhaps being a 'published artist' isn't all glory and power over galleries some might think.

I recently was contacted (by email) by 'Best of Artists and Kennedy Publishing' and they were very excited to tell me that I've been selected (make that pre-approved) to be included in the Best of Worldwide Charcoal, Pastel and Pencil Artists Volume I art book competition. Evidently they went to my website, and decided they like two of my pieces - Lanterns and Objectivity. They then go on to say that 'If you choose to enter the competition you have been juried in and are guaranteed a TWO PAGE FULL COLOR LAYOUT of your artwork (a total of 2- 4 images) plus your contact information and /or gallery representation in the book. '

Pretty sweet deal! What else do I get...

'You will receive a TWO PAGE FULL COLOR LAYOUT of your artwork (a total of 2-4 images) in the beautiful Best of Worldwide Artists Volume I book, your contact information in the book, you will be listed in a special international section in our new on-line US Visual Art Guide (www.usvisualartguide.com), a permanent listing on Bestofartists.com (BOAA), inclusion in the online PDF copy of the book viewable on BOAA indefinitely and a preview jpg of your pages prior to printing. Also your artwork will be in the running for the front and back covers. Our previous books have sold thousands of copies in the United States and abroad and have been used by artists to promote their work to galleries, collectors and museums.'

Wait, I thought I was suppose to be printed in the Charcoal, Pastel and Pencil book, now I'm getting in this other book? Which book am I going in? And both of these are a volume I? Interesting. Lots of things, I must be feeling flattered at this point and ready to shell out some cash. And it's not that much cash either...

So there's a 'competition fee'. With that 'fee' you can enter up to 10 high res images, the two they liked that they mentioned before plus 8 others. Entry fees are normal for competitions except that as they stated - I've already been juried in.

It turns out that fee is used to publish the book. Wait, what? Don't legitimate publishers absorb all of the publishing costs, marketing, printing, editing, and so on AND then pay the author for using their material? Publishing companies make their money by selling books, not by *printing* them. Why are they telling me that I'm paying to get this printed? And on top of that they make no mention of me, who is giving them the PRIVILEGE of including my work in their book, of getting any books for free to give out perhaps to gallery owners or to have at shows. No, the book costs another $39. And you can only order it from a very select list of vendors. And you can guess that doesn't mean anywhere anyone goes to buy books.

This is what they write in the email, and I will give them credit for being honest and upfront about it, even though it is misleading:

'Why the entry fee? Despite our unique selection process we are still a publishing/promotion company hosting competitions. We also must incur all the creative, editorial, layout and design costs that go into the publishing, distribution and promotion of a beautiful two volume book. '

As it should be, except they don't pay for it at all, they make their authors pay for that. They say that it is about a 400 page book and if every artist gets 2 full pages and each pay a minimum of $40 plus another $39 to just get their hands on the book? I think you get the idea. I think I do too.

They are a Vanity Press and using one does no favors to anyone (except the 'publisher') and most definitely not the authors who publish through them. In fact legit publishers will be quite cautious, not that they aren't all ready overly cautious when choosing book to print, when considering you when they know that you've gone the Vanity Press route.

After I got the email trying to sell me on the idea I went and looked them up to see what I could find. There are forums asking about these people and their Best of Artist books and the consensus that I'm seeing is that these types of books are a bad idea. Agents tell their artists that these books will not result in sales, other say that you can spend your $40 in a much better way to advertise yourself/your work, and that these people (who knows if this is a scam) will have a bunch of high resolution scans of your work to do with as they please. And note that copyright doesn't mean a thing to some people, I've heard of people using books like that to get 'inspiration' where they basically steal your work and change it just enough so that you can't take them to court over it.

I had another reason, now what was it?

Oh yes, I also went and looked at their websites for the Best of Artist people and for the books themselves and those websites I can tell you are *very* template-y. As in it looks like they spent 5 minutes grabbing a template off a template-mill site and propped it up and pretend like it's a legit site. Very dubious about that. Not professional or respectable looking at all and I know what I'm talking about having been making websites since I was 12. I also went and looked up this publisher this afternoon and they talk about how you can get anything you want published for a fee. They don't come out and say it of course but that is a classic Vanity Press. They have been in existence since 2005, or so says their website. I doubt very much that they are respected in the hard-core art world, or by gallery owners. One other thing someone brought up in the forums was the question of 'who is going to buy these books?' And it's not like we the artists, who are basically the authors here, are getting any royalties for letting them use our work. These books aren't on Amazon, or any other big retailer where any normal human-being is going to be shopping. No, you basically can only order them through the publisher's website and you can bet that most of those sales are going to be from the artists themselves that are featured in that book.

It's like those 'Who's Who of America' books they try to make you pay to get your name in.

At least someone figured out how to make money in this economy. Kudos for that. Just not with my money, thankyou. I'm afraid becoming a 'published artist' in this manner doesn't interest me at all. Oh, and I sent them an email tonight asking how many free books I'd get if I participated in this. Stay tuned to see if they even respond. Which they probably will and tell me that I can get a book if I give them more money.



And if you don't believe me go look up the definition of Vanity Press. Or just go to this link: http://www.answers.com/topic/vanity-press

Artists are Nuts

If you know me personally you know why I titled this note in this manner.

I would rather hang out with engineers than with fellow artists most of the time. A lot of the people I took classes with always took their 'art' into the political realm and I'm really not interested in going down that route. I'm not interested in discussing political art all that much either. Some of the movements entertain me but for the most part I look for skill in the art I like. I am hugely impressed with people who have the skill to make photo realistic paintings/drawings. That takes talent, skill, and a good eye. It's so much more than cutting out slogans and pictures and ripping on the latest political leader you hate. I want people to enjoy my work because it's beautiful. I don't want people to have to think hard about something I create in order to like it. There should be an automatic 'WOW' factor right when they see it because that's what I want to do with my work. I want to bring beauty, not more sadness or anger to the world... I'm fairly certain we have enough of that everywhere else.

Anyway, like I said Artists are Nuts. I say this specifically, and respectfully BTW, because this last Saturday I had a long conversation with a very intense, and probably a tad crazy, artist. He was 63 and worked in abstract painting mostly. He really liked my work, and said that I was underselling myself and that if my work was in New York it would sell easily for $10,000. I regretfully didn't get his name because if everything he told me was true he might be a good referral to a NY gallery (whenever I decide to go down that road). He was very intent on me understanding that it is a complete waste of time trying to get into galleries that aren't in the major big cities back east. He said that there's no point in being in one of these 'mom & pop' galleries around here or even in California or Seattle or Portland. Chicago, NY, Miami and others in that area are the only ones you should try for according to him.

He also asked me how I handle rejection. And in all honesty I've pretty much gotten into every show I've ever tried for. There's only been once that I didn't make it into a show I applied for and that didn't really bother me at all. I think the people who have a hard time with rejection are the ones that take it as more of a personal rejection rather than one of your work not being appropriate to where you have applied to, or perhaps the style you are working in just isn't sell-able. It's one of those things where you have to distance yourself from the art, because you aren't the art even though you put a lot into it.

He also said that I should 'go underground' for 2 years and just paint the entire time, 'go home and paint. Don't clean, don't' work on anything else. Drop your friends. I promise you'll feel better for it.' And that last part I entirely do not agree with. I want a life outside of what I do. I'm not the most sane/normal person, I'll admit that strait up, but I'm not completely NUTS either. I'm not one of those people who likes to alienate themselves from the world, I like my friends, even though I don't see them nearly as often as I should, and I'm not one that can live and prosper long in squalor.

He then went into asking me that if I had to choose between buying paint/canvas or buying Gucci shoes which would I buy... Now that's a tough question. Or not. If you know me you might also remember that I have a money complex where I seriously hate spending money and especially when I feel like I've wasted it. Pretty sure I'm not going to be buy Gucci shoes anytime soon, if ever.

So yah, he was very intense and slightly nuts. But what can you expect when you're talking about an artist? We're all nuts and eccentric, it's just easier to see in some people than others.

Art Source Gallery Juried Show 2009 & More

I must apologize for not writing for so long, sometimes I lack inspiration or motivation for these things. Anyway, on to the fun stuff...

Some of you know that I entered a couple pieces into the Art Source Gallery's Juried competition for this year. Well, West Highland Way got in! The reception for the show opening was tonight. A good day for an opening since it was also First Thursday where lots of people come out and the local businesses have music and food items for people to enjoy.

There were a ton of people at the gallery. There was a musician playing a piano and singing. There was also a table with goodies where I unfortunately picked up a coconut cookie without realizing it. >.< I am not a fan of coconut. I did not have any problems with the strawberries or the crackers, luckily.

After a while they announced the winners, they had four winners where all of the prizes were the same as well as the title of the prizes. There were no 1st, 2nd, or 3rd places, just four selected pieces that they liked the most. They won cash awards, and unfortunately I was not one of them but I am satisfied with just being accepted into the show.

The work for the show will be up the entire month of July and those of you who are in the Boise area should go down and take a look. There are a lot of nice pieces.



On a different note I should mention that I went to the opening instead of doing the Thursday Market. Evidently they forgot that I told them this and when I was walking down through the booths to see a friend (who sells herbs and natives) we ran into each other and they said that they thought I was going to show up tonight. They don't seem to be the most organized people in the world, but I'm sure they have a lot of details to juggle...

Next First Thursday I may or may not be at the Market depending on if I can get set up at one of the little shops down town for that evening.

I have also decided not to do the Edward's Market since when I was there two weeks ago I sold *one* thing, and that certainly doesn't cover the rent for the booth spot. I did make a good connection with a framer who had someone bring in one of my pieces that wants to do some consignment with my stuff, but other than that it's really not worth it.

I'm sure there's other things I'm forgetting to write about. Mostly just about the Refugee Festival the week after I was stuck in the corner behind the stage. That has been the best Saturday for sales so far. Last Saturday they put me in a different spot, out in the midst of the main grove but that didn't seem to give me more sales than in my original location. I think I like my original spot more, at least at this point I do.







Oh and at Edward's Market a bee tried to land on my tulip (Fire & Ice) print. The photo didn't turn out right because it was on the wrong setting, but it you get the point.

A response!

Well, I got a response to that issue I mentioned in the last blog and it seems there were all sorts of issues with the way things got setup down at the market beyond my issue with the stage.

Seems a bunch of vendors weren't setting up correctly which messed things up all the way down the line to my booth (although I'm not sure how that could have changed, maybe I could have moved my booth forward more?). I now have all of the cell phone #'s so that if I have problems any other Saturday they can come and get things fixed before I get setup, that should be helpful me thinks.

I got a nice explanation of renting-the-Grove-issues and working with other people that rent the grove and it sounds like they didn't know that the stage was going to be such a problem to the extent that it was and they seem to be genuinely apologetic about that.

Anyway, I'm happy with the response I was given. This next week should be interesting as they are moving us all over the place to compensate for some huge activity thing going on in one section - the section where my booth usually is.

Oh and I got a couple of to-size prints, one was a pre-ordered purchase and one is a Giclée reproduction of my Multi-Blue piece. My brother's B-day present also came, a 7mm oval Synthetic Alexadrite, and it's beautiful!

Painted Chicks make more money than I do

Here's a little intro before I go into the letter of complaint.

Last Saturday at the market I show up and there's this huge Stage set up were my booth usually goes. Like this thing has a roof on it and a somewhat see through wall, it has stairs and, well, it's just enormous. I ended up having to set up BEHIND this thing!

And from what I heard from my neighboring booth was that the attitude of the people running the market was, 'nothing we can do, our hands are tied by the pecking order of the vendors, and good luck'. >.< I felt very disrespected.

I am not happy. I barely made rent. Seriously, I made $37 that day. The chick who was painted white who stood on a bench blowing kisses to those who put money in her jar made more than I did. And probably the rest of us who were stuck in that corner behind huge monstrosities.

From Notes from an Artist

I wrote them a letter regarding Saturday, and here it is:

*****

Hey ______,

I know that running the market is complicated and that your hands are somewhat tied by the politics and the hierarchy of the returning vendors and working with the other people using the grove but it still should have been possible to adapt and help out us first-time vendors a bit with that situation. We were all stuck in a small corner hidden behind a huge stage. We got very little traffic because of being visually and physically blocked and I personally made 1/3 to 1/4 of what I usually make. I made more on the days that were torrential downpours than last Saturday. There was even one vendor that didn't show up in our our corner and it was obvious that if they did there would be no room for them because of how crammed in we all were. The stage was a physical barrier and potential customers are easily influenced by such things and will be much less likely to even be willing to walk down in that section because it looked like practically nothing was down there to look at. It was a huge psychological deterrent and we unwillingly paid the price for that.

We still work just as hard and pay for our time there like everyone else and I think we deserve a bit more respect than we were shown. I did not sign up for this to be hidden in a corner behind huge obstacles and I'm sure there are others who feel the same way.

I'm attaching a photo so you can see how our booths are pretty much non-existent behind the stage. This is not just 'our problem' this is a market problem and one I hope that does not repeat itself.




Kathryn

*****

And here's some shots of this and how you really can't see my booth at all. It was horrible. Somehow, through all of that we did manage to enjoy ourselves. Mostly by laughing at our problem and threatening to set up the booth on the stage or dance on it or, well, something else entertaining to do with it.

From Notes from an Artist

From Notes from an Artist

So evidently children love art... who knew?

I forgot to mention in my last note that I took my new piece I'm working on with me to, well, work on.

This had an amazing effect on people. All of the children wanted to see what I was doing, how I did it, what I used, and so on. The parents got into it also. I got to tell the story about the silly bright green grasshopper sitting it the bright red lily for days until it grew its wings. I explained how I use colored pencils and how the blender pencils work and how I started taking art classes when I was eights, which really got the kids excited because they were all generally around that age. I can imagine those kids harassing their parents trying to get into art classes and making reference to me. ha!

From Notes from an Artist

One of the children that had to know what I was doing and why and how. :)



I don't know if it made a huge difference or not but I change my setup around a bit too. I added some more color to my table with using some scarves people had bought me from places around the world while they were traveling. I also put some of the grid baskets up front so that it was more attractive for people to stop and look through stuff really fast without having to commit to coming inside the tent. With doing that I was able to have an entire grid wall dedicated to just originals. I think the display just looked better this week.

From Notes from an Artist

The new setup. I added a previously sold original on the front of the booth and it was a show stopper. Someone even wanted to buy it off the current owner. XD

You can't see it but I had a gridwall hanging horizontally over the table that had framed work, originals, and a magnet board on it.



Some of the older crowd, as in not the kids, seemed really interested in how I do what I do (and make it make sense in my head while doing it, and also that my inspiration is from quilting and not some other painter. Once they heard that a whole sense of understanding seemed to flow across their faces. The work suddenly opened up into a whole other world they could relate to, since a lot of these people were quilters themselves.

I think I'm going to continue to bring my unfinished pieces to the market so people can see me work on them. But mostly for the children, because they seem to really like it.

From Notes from an Artist

Me working on my craft.

Notice the handy paper umbrella we attached to the chairs this week. I burnt my shoulders last week (even though I had sunscreen on).

What a fantastic day...

The market this weekend was fantastic. I saw a bunch of friends and the entire crowd of people just seemed really happy.

They were also in the mood to buy things, and we all know I approve of that. :) Even with it being a holiday weekend and all of the other events going on we had a huge crowd of people. Pretty sure they all came down to the market instead of going on vacation.

We overheard a couple of the ladies-in-charge of the whole deal talking about one of the food vendors. How they were concerned that they 'weren't able to move enough of the customers through the lines fast enough'. What a thing to be worried about! To be selling that much stuff to have to worry about something like that seems to me to be a great day for them.

I also did a lot better than any of the previous weeks and I'm going to have to do some major reordering of my art reproductions for this next week! How awesome is that? Some of the vendors next to me seemed to do better than last week also, but strangely enough it seemed some of them did worse. The personality of the people buying things seems to change every week, and they seem to buy different things each time. Sometimes they don't buy anything at all from anyone (except of course the food vendors seem to do well regardless). Seriously, who can overcome the temptation of so many super delicious food-items in the morning and around lunch time? There's freshly fried donuts and this week we got some freshly made Stoopwaffles (it's a dutch thing... makes me miss The Netherlands).

I'm also planning on doing the First Thursday Art Walk thing if I can ever get all the details for that. That starts in like 2 weeks, btw.


So overall the market was pretty awesome, hopefully it keeps that going for the rest of the season. :)

Wishful Thinking

So instead of filling you all in on the last couple weeks, which included a torrential downpour on one of the market days (thank you Brittany for braving the storm BTW), and two weekends following that of super slow morning sales that picked up in the afternoons (Thanks for coming and saying 'hi' Sam, Jared & Friends - who yes I have met before at a dinner thing with Melissa and Naga), I will be going into some of my thoughts of what I'd like to call Wishful Thinking.

How's that for a long one sentence paragraph?


Wishful Thinking:

I wish people would stop harassing me about how much money I'm making/not making.

I wish that I had a nice sunscreen that lasted longer than like 2 hours (I burnt my shoulders last weekend even though I put on sunscreen).

It would be nice if people bought so much stuff that I *absolutely* had to order more prints for market every week.

It would also be nice if people would let me concentrate on the market instead of asking me 'what my strategy is now'. My strategy for the market? Nope, my strategy for what to do now because *some people* think that the market is a bust because the mornings are slow. *insert rant here*

I wonder if I could produce drawing/collages as fast as the guy that has his booth next to mine paints... He can do paintings in a few short hours where it takes me quite a while to produce one of mine. I like to think that mine are much more challenging and beautiful. 'Course, I'm bias. ;)

At some point I'd like to have an entire studio to do my art in since right now the room I use I also use for like everything else.

I'd also like to get the rest of my credit card payed off. I'm able to get a decent chunk paid off every week with the earnings from the market, so that makes me happy.

I like to think that those people who were interested in my originals are going to buy one, or two, or more. :D The price reflects quality, if I could produce work in an hour my pieces would super inexpensive also. Although you might say that a piece I complete now has taken me 25 years to create because of all the work and study and skill training, and living I've gone through to get where I am now. Some people under-price their work so that they can ensure sales but that tells potential buyers that your work isn't worth much (even if it is).


When I started this I had a point I was going to make but now I'm going to have to say that all I've got is some wishful thinking trying to remember what my wishful thinking note is about...

XD

Through Rain & Shine.... POST DELETED! >.<

So I just got done witting a long post about this last Saturday and the market. It was one of those supremely awesome posts that draws you in and makes you believe you were there. Well, not really, but it was fantastic nonetheless. I was sitting here proofreading it and it up and deletes itself. >.< Well, what actually happened was is that I've got a gaming mouse and one of the side buttons got pressed and it decided to go back a page on the browser which lost the entire thing.

I've been since educated that a lot of blog writers use notepad for typing their posts so as to avoid these kind of problems... And I shall endeavor to copy their tactics so to save myself the epic annoyance of losing my future notes. >.<

But I just wanted you to know, that I had a note to post, and it was done and awesome... and now it's gone. I'll probably retype it at some point in the next couple days...

>.<


Blog Post - 0..... Gaming Mouse - 1

I'maTwittering... O.o

So I've decided to try out the Twittering thing after chatting with a friend of mine about it. You know who you are. ;)

Anyway I'm kkoozer on there or just click on this link in case searching for me doesn't work out: http://twitter.com/KKoozer

It'll mostly be focused on my shnazy art career. I know you're all dying to get in on the inner workings of things. ;) Try not to get too bored, eh?

Oh and I'm rather entertained by the photo I put up for it. It actually is the only self portrait I will ever show anyone currently. All others have been destroyed I'm sure.

From Notes from an Artist

It's called 'Bad Day' (from 2004 at UofI) and I'm sure you will agree that that would be my angry face. :D

Risky Business

I'd like to dedicate this entry to a few of the risks involved in my work.

I recently got my work back from a public showing at the Civic Center. These peices were hanging up on the main wall for about a month and many of the pieces do not have a barrier between the art and the rest of the world. I do this for asthetic reasons as I dislike the glare and the look of glass/plexiglass. This comes with a few issues.

First off things can get on your work so you want to make sure you've used some sort of sealant on it. And if you collage things you might want to make sure that the glue you use is really really good, or use a decoupage finish on it.

This coming from me because I discovered the other day that a few of the fabric pieces collaged onto Fire and Ice were missing. Yes, MISSING. You could hardly notice it, in fact I walked by this thing for weeks before I noticed it. These pieces would have had to be worked at by a determined person, and did so in public. I was able to repair it and you wouldn't know the difference unless I pointed it out and even then it looks perfect.

From Notes from an Artist

The main issue here is that don't expect people to respect your work when out in the public arena. And don't be surprised if something like that happens if you don't take every precaution ever (insurance might be a good investment in cases like this). I honestly expected much worse than that actually. I figured people would go for the one that has pressed flowers on it, but it's in perfect condition. In fact Fire and Ice was the only casualty.



So now I'm out in another public venue, but I'm standing there with the art so the most I've got to worry about is someone pocketing something small. I might have to worry about the weather a bit but overall the potential for damage to my work by people is low. There is of course the issue of wind blowing someone's tent over into mine and wrecking things, but hopefully people are smart enough to weight those down.


Another issue is that "The UN's World Health Organization has raised the alert over swine flu to level five - one short of a full-blown global epidemic, or pandemic." - BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8025931.stm

I'm in public, in a potentially very crowded area. What to do? Do I hope for the best and stick it out? Do I cancel and not go and hope I avoid getting sick? Would they cancel the Market entirely if this flu gets way out of control? I sure hope so. And I am going to keep continuing to go because there's no point hiding away in your home hoping to live without actually living your life. Seriously, what is the point of that? When people start to not live through this thing (which they are living through just fine in countries that aren't Mexico) and everyone in town is sick, then I would probably stay home and duct tape all the windows and doors shut. ;) But what I am going to do is have hand sanitizers for my personal use and one for everyone else to use if they so please. Short of wearing a mask (with dubious effect) thats pretty much all I can do.

New Prints Available!

I've got a few new reproduction prints available for this Saturday (and for ordering if you'd like one or two, let me know). I've got them in a couple sizes ranging from 3.5 x 2.5 up to 12 x 18. The Stargazer Series individuals are currently only available in the 3.5 x 2.5 sizes. Look for bigger sizes in the following weeks, perhaps *next* week in fact. :)

Sojourn - From Notes from an Artist

Breadth of Vision - From Notes from an Artist

West Highland Way - From Notes from an Artist

Stargazer - From Notes from an Artist

The Farmer's Market

It is the day after the Farmer's Market and I'm still recovering from the exhaustion from it all.

Getting ready for it was extremely tedious and stressful. Most things worked out perfectly and the only hang up I had was the day before when the printers were late with the printing of a few things (labels, biography, and business cards) and trying to get everything packed up. I ended up finally going to bed a little before 1am that night.

Before I give you the skinny on how Saturday went I want to show you a photo of the pile of prints I had to work on for so long. These required me to crop them, UV protect them, spray-glue their backs, mount them on mat board, cut the mat board, sign each one, write their limited edition number on the back, paste their respective information labels on the back, put them in bags, put a business card in each bag, tape the bags closed, and then finally putting price labels on them. This was for over 100 prints, excluding the art cards which total 80. Those were a tiny bit less complicated.

From Notes from an Artist

O.O


Packing everything up was a bit of a nightmare also. We first tried to put everything into the Honda. I really should have taken pictures of this. Let me just say that if we had gotten in a wreck the three grid-walls would have either gone right through the windshield or the back of our heads. Now that you've got that wonderful visual in your head I'd like to say we opted for the pickup. That went much smoother and we used our bungie-netting to kept it all in place. Covered all the important things in plastic bags for protection from the elements and put my originals in the cab behind the seat.

I then went to bed and tried to relax but proceeded to wake up every two hours until 6am when we got up. You see, the vendors have to get there before 8:15am otherwise they have to fend for themselves with parking and have the carry all of their stuff to where you setup. That didn't really help us in this manner because my booth ended up in the main circle of the grove part and they don't let you drive on that. Well we headed off finally and got there a little after 8am. I had gotten an email a week before saying that I should 'check in' at a certain place, so we went there but these people blend in so well to everyone else there's no way you can find anyone to help you unless they notice you look lost.

So I walked around and tried to find my vendor space (our names are chalked on the road/bricks). I could not find it. Short of completely panicking someone finally came to my rescue and showed me my spot which was pretty much the only place I didn't look. Isn't that always how it is? I can't find something and as soon as I say it allowed I turn around and it's sitting right there in front of me.

We finally were able to set up but we couldn't park the truck anywhere near our spot. Most of our things really weren't that heavy except for the concrete blocks (to hold the tent down in case of a tornado).

From Notes from an Artist

Before

From Notes from an Artist

After


So I've got these fancy grid-walls and grid-baskets that are absolutely fantastic. They hold my prints perfectly.

From Notes from an Artist

From Notes from an Artist

From Notes from an Artist

I moved one of the grids. The one that holds all of the different sizes to the front of the booth so that people walking by can browse easier. I brought along three originals (I need to bring more next time) and the one I put on the front of the booth stopped people in their tracks. Pretty fantastic.

The vendors can sell as soon as the bell is rung at 9:30am (clang clang clang) - no sooner. You have to stop selling as soon as it is rang again at 1:30pm (clang clang clang) - and no later.

So weighing down your tent is a must as we found out that day. It was *not* a windy day, nor was there a breeze. But every once in a while there would be a very slight-tiny gust of a breeze and a few of the tents not weighted down tried to jump around. You can imagine these things just flying away in a second. One of the tents ooching around was a booth filled with pottery. I'm not even sure they noticed (we were eyeballing this thing as it was a couple booths away from mine) and if that took off it would probably take out half of their stuff if not more. We used heavy concrete block for ours, some people had more fancy things, but most did not at all.

We are going to be playing with the layout/structure of the tent and my art and prints to make it look spiffier in coming weeks. I will also be adding a bunch of new prints for this next week and a couple for the week after that.

I got a really good response, most people who came in were in awe by my work and loved it. It was nice. And on top on that I *sold* stuff.