Central Coast Art Society, Summer Exhibition

"Farmor's Milk Jug" by Belinda Lindhardt,
Artitsts Coloured Pencils on Pastelboard, 9X12

The Central Coast Art Society have their summer exhibition this weekend. I will be exhibiting 3 artworks in the exhibition, i have just come back from dropping the artworks off and it looks to be a pretty good standard this year.

The 3 pieces I have there are, "Light Summer", "A Light Path" (from my last two posts) and "Farmors Milk Jug" (included in this post) i.e. two oils and a coloured pencil piece. (always try to get in at least 1 cp piece when entering a few). All will be for sale via the exhibition organisers, i would be a little sad to see any of them go to be honest but happy at the same time.
I hung the "Light Summer" up in my room last night rather than the studio so i could experience it for myself for the evening :) hehehe - definitely recommend you do that fellow artists :)

If your from the area make sure you go check it out, i will be there also checking out all the works. It's the studio right next door to the Gosford Regional Gallery, you just park at the gallery and you will see the signs.

Here are the details:
Gosford Arts Centre,(Next to Gosford Regional Gallery)
36 Webb Street, East Gosford.
Opening Night Friday 16th Jan, 6.30pm
Sat 17th Jan - Sun 18th Jan, 9.30-4pm.

Here is the website to the Central Coast Art Society .

Goals set and Ready to Go ! 2009 - Part 1

I will split this post into two for you, the first one being the lead up to working out where I want to go and the second being the examples and steps I took to get there which will come tomorrow..

Up until about 3 years ago, I never really set many goals. I kinda just went along assuming that things would work out for the best and I would get what I wanted out of life. After my second child I realized as I was getting older things weren’t quite happening for me the way I wanted, all these other people were doing great things and creating beautiful artworks which I knew that I could do just as well (if not better in some cases) so I decided I had enough of excuses and I was going to do something to pave my way even if it was only baby steps at a time.

Not long after first starting this blog in September 2006, I also came to the realization that I needed to make an Artplan for 2007 to give myself direction. It was a new concept to me, as I said, I never really planned much and I had a small baby plus a toddler to contend with so I didn’t go into too much depth but it was my first step to planning out where I wanted to go. Had I not taken that first step I wouldn’t be where I am today. Skip through a whole bunch of stuff from then to now, and so here I have come with a magnificent plan for 2009.

Firstly, it’s important to know, I really wrestled with everything this year, I had a lot of life changes and challenges in 2008 and in the past few months I have really been feeling like I have been struggling and failing with it all. Not matter what I did, I felt like I was always backfoot running to keep up. As I was sitting down try to think about what was happening around me it suddenly it hit me that I am already working hard, I can’t work any harder than I am already, something needed to change I was investing my time in the wrong areas or something? Not really sure to be honest but I knew that I can’t go on the way I was.

During this time I picked up a book called “The 10-Minute Life Coach” by Fiona Harrold. I figured why not, it was on one of those book stalls relatively cheap and a thought entered my mind you never know it might just be the thing that changes my life! Give it a go !

So, before I go further, I can definitely recommend Fiona’s books and website. It’s not all wishy washy and found it very logical way of thinking and what I liked best is that you can do it all yourself you are holding yourself responsibile and accountable which means of course you can change it ! You are in control. Could go on about this but look at her site and see for yourself, if your at all interested.

Not long after reading Fiona’s book I also had the opportunity to have session with business coach Joan Weir who I heard about via the Business Women Unite website. Joan's session was fantastic. I had already began to think about some of the topics we discussed about and had already started to implement a few strategies in my business. One of the things Joan and Fiona got me to recognize is that I need to action things and set tasks to achieve what I want. I am the one who has to do hard yards here and work this out for myself, alot of the work is done right here in the planning stages. There is no magic bullet, no one can do this for you. You can't skip a step, What works for others doesn’t necessarily work for me and I needed to set time for myself to work out what I want to do and where I want to go. And now was the time to do that.

One of the things both ladies talk about is having a vision. Basically everything else revolves around that, I needed to sort mine out and so I asked myself, What Do I want to Do ? Where do I want to be?'

The answer didn’t come straight away, in fact I was blank, I didn’t know, I sat on this for a while, took my time, wrote little things down as they came to mind (more about that tomorrow). The result was that I worked out that: I am already doing what I want! I want to be able to work from home with my family around me. I like having a home business, I don’t want someone else to raise my children, I enjoy preparing meals and all that comes with it. I want to be able to have art regularly in my life. So the issue is not what it’s that I need to find a way which makes it work for me. Financially, emotionally, physically and most importantly needs to help me to raise and support my family.

Organising

Towards the end of 2008, I came up with a system of organizing work, family - life. I trialed having diaries, online tasks etc etc none of it worked for me. I came up with a system of printing out daily calendars from outlook and sticking them organized in “DAYs” on my fridge via Velcro and bulldog clips. It allows me to allocate tasks to a day rather than a week or month. I can add to it regularly I don’t have to find it, I can be reminded of regularly. I can add shopping lists etc to it as well as work and art tasks, drs appointments whatever I want. I can go on about it but this post is already long enough, so lets just say it works for me :) .

I had experimented last year with the fact that if its not on my “day” then I just don’t get to it. One big list is too overwhelming, if I write things down and allocate them to do on a day they generally get done, if not I re-write them on the next day until they do. So basically what I needed to do was to work out what tasks and goals I have for the year and allocate them to a day, month. That way they will get done. So I had my actions and ways of being accountable to getting things done, I just needed to work out what exactly I needed doing, removing anything that didn’t involve moving me towards my goal and helping me with my vision. That is how I will get to what I want.

Tomorrow I will post the actual steps I took work out my goals. While I will include some of my personal and art goals but it will talk more about my process rather than the goals themselves. Hope it keeps you interested, until tomorrow…

Links:

Fiona Harrold - http://www.fionaharrold.com

Joan Weir Business and Personal Coaching - http://www.businessandpersonalcoaching.com
Business Women Unite - http://businesswomenunite.net

WHO are you, and WHERE are you going ?

Isn't this a question we ask of someone when we meet someone new (in our minds anyway) ? How many of us can REALLY answer that question without hesitation, preamble and most importantly with confidence?

I know I can't right now but in the last few weeks i am taking steps to getting there.

I have been doing alot of reading and thinking of late, many of you have probably been wondering where i have been? am i ok ? So, I thought i better let you know, i am here, plugging away at the usual things, preparing for Christmas and getting some artworks done (which i will post over the next few days).

As i am doing all of this there has been a new plan emerging, i don't know exactly what it is yet or where its going (hence the hibernating in my shell) but that's what i am here working out. Once i know what it is you will hear all about it !

This whole frame of mind for me has stemmed from the end of a really big year for me, a new life, new direction, which is all very predictable, but its also coming from a general feeling of what i have been doing the last few months and years in my business hasn't been cutting it, what i have been doing hasn't been working and i am not prepared to give up more of my precious time and energy into something that just isnt giving me what i want. I am allowing myself the excuse that because X,Y Z... i haven't been able to give it 100% but now as the end of the year is approaching its now time for everyone now including myself to have some direction of what lies ahead.

Yes yes yes (i can see you nodding your heads), we have all heard it all before, we all make New Years Resolutions and plans. What i wanted to highlight and to think about and (what is most profound for me) is that i need to work out what I want for my life and what are the steps i need to take to get there. Just because circumstance or things have happened or i do things a certain way doesn't mean i need to be limited by that, it doesn't define who i am or where i am going. I think if you met me on the street your perception of me would be quite different to the person I am and that would be different to the person i think i am. So why is that... isnt that confusing ? It should pretty much be the same, i think its like that because I can't answer those questions above. They are pretty important questions i SHOULD be able to know the answers to them all and once i do all my other decisions will fall into place as long as they align with my original vision.

Hand in hand with all of this is identifying that my artwork is my business, as is my graphics and illustration. If i am taking time away from my kids and out of my life to do this, the time i do spend needs to be well spent well and with purpose. Obviously with art there is a fine line here as its all about being creative and i enjoy it, but I am not going to be a slave to that creative process or to the art. At the end of the day one of my goals for the present is to be supporting myself and my family through my business which is my design & art. If i don't acknowledge that and have that vision for myself then its not something i will ever be able to achieve. Hoping that it will happen while i do "my thing" is not going to work.

So, as i wind this post up, I am thinking and will be thinking. It might take me a little while to identify my direction but its an important one to take time with. :)
I hope you all are doing well in your preparations for gearing up for the holidays, Christmas is just around the corner!

Belinda Lindhardt - art and design studios

Belinda Lindhardt - art and design studios

Well there you have it, it sounds pretty business like.That's the point ! :)
I have to admit i initially felt a little silly putting this sign on the door, but i can't begin to tell you what a motivation it is just having that little sign there. It's like i have given myself permission to look at my art as a real business, this is my studio and i am doing it !

As some of you may know, i recently moved about 4months ago, truth is i am still organising some areas to sort out they way i want things and to declutter wherever possible. In my painting spree at 12am the other night i realised that i really need to have two studio areas setup. The reality is, in fact I already have 3! (the third being in the main house which is a tiny room that is my base of operations, I wont show you that one its not as cool as these ones).

Now as i write this, I sense some of you turning green with envy just the idea of have even 2 artspaces and can i just take this one moment to relish in this little joy say I abosolutely LOVE it!

So here, are some photos of my studio setup as you can see i have two doors one to the right which is my "design and art studio" and the other to my "art studio". Yesterday I setup what was otherwise known as a "shed/garage" to from henceforth now be known as my artstudio / storage area.

From here i will do all of my large paintings and canvases and i will reserve my small artworks and coloured pencils for my design studio basically because well, the smaller artworks are less messy and require less floor space.


When working on my larger artworks the very nature of them tends to be messy and I am worried about getting paint on my carpet / walls and furniture etc so this space allows me to be a bit messy with out worrying about it all too much. Another great thing about this space is that not much else is happening in this room so as all you mums out there can appreciate if i am called away all i have to do is close that door and my paint palette, canvas etc is out of reach of little hands and inquiring minds
.
Another great this i discovered as i was getting it all organised was that there already convenient "canvas hanging hooks" on the walls (ok, ok so they are nails) but basically i can easily hang half finished or finished works to store or for photographing. There are two windows in the studio so it has good light.






I made this little desk area where i can put my paints brushes etc as well as an area for the boys to do their drawing, craft or whatever else takes their fancy on a table that doesnt matter if they make a mess on. They think its fantastic they have a little special area for themselves so i am hoping it works in for all involved.Currently you can see their easel which is what i am using as my easel as the one i currently have doesnt hold my larger canvases.

So onto the design studio here is my setup, much more neater and formal looking but it also has a very good purpose.

I have a big art cupboard for materials which is just out of view, as well as a fantastic cupboard with bunches of drawers for all sorts of materials. a little desktop easel there that i can work on small paintings and cp pieces and an area for my books. I also have the usual assortment of scanner, computer, printer, stationary, files etc.


What i also in this studio which i absolutely love is a great big window with heaps of natural light coupled with my new fabulous drawing desk which was donated to me by my two most dear friends Marion and Brady. I absolutely love my desk and even tho initially i thought i was being a bit greedy by having such a big desk with already having so much room, I find it sooooooo goood. Not only does it allow me to keep my artwork "out" while I work on other design projects but it allows for room next to it for all the parafanaila such as pencils, watercolour etc that i wouldnt have if it was all on the one desk, as well as room to see my computer screen easily.

So there you have it there is a vist to my studios. It's so great to have such a wonderful setup, i feel so privledged to have it that i feel like now i have no excuse and really have to work hard i keep my end of the bargin and get all thework done :)

Before i finish up on this, let me leave you with another part of my studio setup which is our local bluetongue lizard which i have found lives under the step which is the entry to the studio this morning we found himself getting a bit of tan next to the big rock, can you imagine the excitement of the boys ? They loooove lizards :)

Client Communication

"The Journey" - Belinda Lindhardt

I have just read a really good post about how you communicate through your art with your clients and just what it all means. Some of the points have come into realization for me recently particularly about the business side of art and forcing yourself to ask questions about why you do certain things.

If your in the artbusiness :) take a look http://angelafehr.blogspot.com/2008/08/client-communication-untying-your.html

Business Mums Network Conference - Change of Life

This past weekend I attended the Business Mums Network Conference.

BMN is a organization that I belong to for business mums here in Australia.

As you may or maynot know (seeing this blog is an artjournal), not only am I an artist but I am also a graphic and website designer.

I provide both services (my artworks and design services) as part of my business and if you have read anything about being a professional artist you will know that one of the first things they tell you is to start treating your art as a business.

I wanted to make this post about what I learnt about this conference in the hope it might help someone in some small way. And also bit more selfishly to remind myself all that I have learnt from such a fabulous group of people lessons that I don’t want to forget.

What did I receive and learn about from the business mums conference?

- Connecting with people and making Friendships is so important and even just the act of going has given me the confidence to do this more and make more of these important friendships in the future.

- Encouragement – inspired me to push forward, not to give up even when everything feels like it’s failing apart.

- Understanding – from other members knowing that I can’t do it all and to ask others for help as everyone is pretty much in the same boat.

- Permission to allow myself follow my own values, beliefs and thoughts and ignore all the other guff that keeps being put my way.

- Actually changed the way I “speak” and communicate with others, all of the networking really changed my way of thinking and speaking about myself and my business and put importance and value to it. Something which I haven’t always allowed myself to have.

In particular the words of keynote speaker, Kathie Thomas touched me significantly. Much of what Kathie spoke about gave a voice to my own thoughts and beliefs, things I had heard before but I didn’t allow myself to listen to. As I was listening to her seminars I was thinking “hey this is what I have been feeling / thinking all along”. Here is the remarkable woman who essentially has been had much the same issues and thoughts as myself and yet look at where she is all because she believed in herself and pushed forward. My next thought was: I can do this all I need to do is listen to myself!

FAMILY: I have always believed that family life is extremely important as has my own family. My mother was always home for us kids when we came home from school and especially as when we were older even though we probably didn’t always appreciate it then, it was always nice to know deep down that mum was there. It wasn’t until discussing all my various issues recently with my own father that he mentioned how he always felt it was important that my mother was there for me and my brother and it was an intentional choice for her to be there even as we were getting older. It is something that I have always wanted for my children, and when others have discounted this important issue I have tended to agree with them but in hearing Kathie speak about how she has done it and how important it has been to her and her daughters especially as they were teenagers and growing up, I can see that it can be done and I am going to try my hardest to do it! A big part of the weekend has been for me to challenge where I am heading and where I want to go and this is definitely one of the most important decisions I am sticking to.

DIRECTION: The truth is I enjoy what I do, I like designing and coding and I really do enjoying being in business for myself but what I also did realize is that I do also enjoy mixing with people and in essence supplying them with something they can be happy with. From an art perspective I love hearing that someone has enjoyed sending one of my greeting cards, or what an artwork they have bought reminds them of every time they look at it. This is such an important thing to me and is one of the parts in life that give me the most satisfaction. I need to remember that this is essentially what I am trying to achieve with everything I do rather than just getting through the day. There is something much more important here I am trying to achieve this gives focus and direction to my actions and allows me to have something to align myself to (if that makes sense).

Kathie’s personal stories in particular really touched me, to the point in her seminar on Are you working for your family or because of your family? I had to fight back tears when she read her poem as her words spoke so clearly from my own experiences. I came out of that seminar emotionally drained but also uplifted finally understanding and giving direction of just where I want to go from here and why I am doing it. I might not have all the answers right now, but i know i can search for them and they will come.

Helping others and enjoying the importance of giving is something I have always done. During my personal life and the 12 years I have been in business, circumstances and people have often taken advantage my giving nature. In turn recently it has meant that I have pulled back from that slightly as a defense strategy and tried to inwardly cope I guess sometimes provide the bare minimum. I think following the conference I have realized that giving is as much for me as it is for them. I enjoy it, its part of why I write this blog, do my art, and share my experiences and knowledge with others. Connecting with people is something I realize is I must do in order to survive and move forward not just with my business but with my art, my children and is a good place to be.

All in all I learnt so much from the conference, I am still absorbing it all and I think I will continue to do so for weeks and perhaps months to come.

When I came home my children looked just that little bit cuter, that little bit bigger and that little more innocent. I spent the day giving them extra special love and attention and vowed to continue to do this as much as possible in the future and not let all the other stuff get in the way of that. They are my strength, and are so precious, they really are a gift I must protect and nurture and help grow and I am so lucky to have been given them. Now it is up to me to do all that to make my life and theirs as happy and fulfilling as possible.

Business Mums Network website is: http://www.businessmums.com.au/

Kathie Thomas 's website is: http://www.kathiethomas.com/

Kathie's new book "Worth More Than Rubies: The Value of a Work at Home Mum " has recently been published one i will be devouring over the next few weeks.

Tracking Your Artwork and Website - My Web Update

This weekend i updated my website (AGAIN :) This time the update isn't visual ,its in the functionality or what we web people call the "backend", so for this blog post i thought you might all like a bit of insight as to how I have worked my website and how it all integrates with the way my artwork and files "tracked" or organised. So stay with me, here we go :)

Some of you may remember my post last year about - Keeping Track of Your Work, which details a system for the way that i (and YOU) can track artwork, files, filenames etc. and generally make life a bit easier.
I developed the system after years of working with my and other peoples files for websites etc and i know that once you have the system in place if you stick to it, it works :) I have had lots of people write to me to tell me that this kind of system has helped them organise their work and files and this makes me happy as i love being able to help people out this way :)

Just to recap for those who missed it, in my post i talk about my tracking document (i used a word document) which keeps a record of details for each artwork that is produced or displayed on my site. The details in the document are things like reference numbers, price, medium, size etc. I recently found that this version of the document was no longer working for me as some of my pieces are no longer all kept at my studio (some are in cafes etc) and i have been exhibiting more so i need to keep better track of where the physcial location of artworks are and for how long. I also have smaller artworks for sale on my website and wanted to track what i was selling where ... so basically the previous document didn't contain all of the information i needed and worse off as i wasn't updating it.

Before i go any further, i need to elaborate on how my website works. :)
I am lucky enough to have a database drive website, so here is how that works.

Each artwork has an entry the database. It has fields for all the information you see displayed on my site ie. Title, Medium, Description, Prices etc. So each time i add new works to my site i fillout the form and a new entry is added with all the relevant information and it is "published" if you like.
Previously i was coming up with my own reference numbers, but one of the new functions is that the site assigns a reference number to ensuring each one is unique. The ref no. system is important not only does each artwork contain the unique number for the site, the number also corresponds to my file system on my computer so its easy to find all the files for the artwork and all the details are displayed in a word document to quickly and easily find out things like sizes titles etc (see the previous post on ways how i name files etc to do this ). My dilemma was that i was having to update two different areas, 1 the website and 1 the word document there was a crossover of information happening between the two and for admin purposes i needed more information to be displayed privately rather than than it all being displayed to the public.

So, i sat down and worked out what extra "fields" i needed. They were:

Location ie. Studio / shop address

Contact (name if applicable)

Selling Description : (sold, NFS, For sale via site )

Price: (Prices aren't always displayed on my site and i need contain whether they include commission)

Medium: (this one was a quick reference for myself rather than the detailed description for my site)

Link: (link to the page so i can get to it or give it out if need be for blog posts and wot not)

After doing this I went to my hubby Daniel with big woeful eyes in a nice pleasant voice saying "HONEY, Can you please.... " (Dan handles all the database and tough technical stuff :) and asked him whether he would do it all for me. So, i must stop to say a big thankyou to my hubby if your reading this, who created all the extra fields i needed. Then he created the ability for me to generate a "report" of all my artworks on the website which basically spits all my information onto a html page and allows me to look up the status / or details as needed, or periodically I can also do a print out that i can refer to quickly when starting a new artwork or adding it to the site.

Now i can hear you all murmuring through the computer .. great ! well thats fine for you .. not everyone is a superfantastic web designer like you and your hubby ! (and yeah i know to be honest its hard being this good (as he always says) HA HA. I realise we are lucky for the fact that we can do these things ourselves, the reason for myself posting this post to talk more about the way it works (plus i am excited and think its cool).

I know many people struggle with managing files, images, finding details and as artists the more artwork we create the more data/files you have to wade through to find what you need. So, i am sharing to let you know the possibilities of how you CAN organise your data, sure your site might not be able to do all of this detailed here, but you may be able to modify this system to suit you :) OR simply start organising your system now so that when you get to the point when you need some type of super organisation or super website it will be easier to manage if your already thinking ahead.

Here is a pic of my report, its not supposed to be fancy or look pretty, it allows me to print the info i need :) and i am sure i will be making more changes in the future. :) Does organising ever end ?

Peninsula Art Walk all finished, but i am still hanging

You may remember my post about a month ago here where i had 4 pieces participating in the Peninsula Art Walk, well a month has flown by already so yesterday was the day to go around and take the artworks down.

I am thrilled to tell you that two of the locations asked to keep the artworks on display and also requested other works to replace those ones and freshen them up and Gnostic Healing at Woy Woy asked for more paintings to hang in their shop so i ended up adding the "Summer Fields" ones which were at another shop to them. They are lovely ladies down there and really loved my "Contemplation" piece the "Summer Fields" looks really nice, i really enjoyed seeing their response to the artwork. So its all great they want me to do another piece for another space in their shop and now i have seen them all hanging there is no excuse i must get to it.

Here are a couple of photos.

You can visit the shop at:
Gnostic Healing
1/ 31 Chambers Pl, Woy Woy, NSW Australia

artist statement

Well, I am beginning the new year on the right foot i have gotten around to rewriting my artist statement. I am not sure its there yet,  but its on the way. Anyone reading let me know if it doesn't read right!!! :)

Art for me is about capturing “something” that has inspired me. It can be a colour, emotion, object or person that pulls me to want to put a little piece of myself to it and deliver it to the viewer. I am inspired by light, nature and capturing the precious things in life that seem to slip by us ever so quickly.

I have two very distinct styles, my larger acrylic and oil paintings often feature contemporary and abstract themes. These are inspirec by light and colour and I like to use a contrast of smooth flowing areas complimented by thick textured elements. It is style which is evolving for me, and I am really enjoying the experimentation of it.

I also produce very detailed realism styled artworks using artist quality coloured pencils. I am drawn to stillife, animals, and people for this medium and love working with different types of supports such as papers, drafting films and various types of boards to achieve different effects. The techniques used to achieve works of this style are very time consuming but I love the detail and the process involved. I also dabble with pen and ink and watercolour works depending on the subject or mood.

My current theme of work is all about emotion, texture and light. I am enjoying a freer and an experimental phase which I know will evolve into further more distinct themes for the not too distant future.  

Plan your wins for 2008

Following on from my post yesterday 2007 Highlights and Accomplishments, here are some of my plans for 2008.

Firstly let me start with a prelude to my 2008 plan. Up until this point in my life I have pretty much left most things to chance and have always assumed that things would come my way eventually.
I have believed that if you are a good person that good things will come your way, events of this past year personally and art wise have shown me that this is true but I really HAVE to plan my life from this point onwards. I am getting older, my family life and time is getting shorter and more complicated (as the kids get older) and I have to speak up and chase after what I want or i will be left behind!

In saying that though I also recognise that I have to careful that I do not overplan and put such high expectations on myself and my family that I / we forget to just go with the wind sometimes and HAVE FUN. The past few years I have been all about just getting through the day / week / this or that job or project and not HAVING FUN along the way and that is not healthy and no way to live.

So, my ultimate goal for 2008 and is to more proactive in life but also to ensure that I always enjoy and make time for the positive things this applys to my art as well as my personal and family life.

My ULTIMATE art goal for this year is to by the end of the year to be supporting myself and my family with my art so that I can be a stay at home artist mum. In the first quarter of the year I hope to be earning / selling enough so as to be earning some type of income. I.e. At least selling something!!! Otherwise my hubby is sending me off to get a job :(

Some of the actions I am going to take to achieve my goals are this:

- Enter Competitions and Exhibitions - basically to get myself out there!
I already have taken steps towards this and researched some local options. I am currently preparing entries and paperwork for a few local competitions which are commencing for the new year. One of my goals is to continue doing this throughout the year at every opportunity.

- Continue and improve posts on my blog
My blog is such a valuable tool, I have plans for a bit of an design update soon. I have also realised that I really do need to put a bit more effort in effective titles and regular tweaks for my blog and squidoo if i am going to utilise them effectively. I am going to schedule on the calendar a review once a month at least.

- Website
I also have plans for a website design update, as well as some backend updates hopefully soon (as soon as hubby can do it for me). I will be adding modules for tracking and consignment of artwork( it will help me keep control of things when I start getting busier). I am also going to also change my gallery etc to be a bit more inline with my original idea for the site and hopefully I will also be adding comments and integrating more selling on the pages as well as a media release area.

- Making the most of self promotion and selling opportunities
I really haven't yet pursued my local avenues much at all. Specifically - I have the form for the local art society which I will send off in the next few days, I will also in the new year upgrade my listings on another online art directory I am getting lots of traffic from my other listing on artsconnect so this i think is a valuable tool :) I will also put together some type of marketing materials / flyers in the new year. I have tried Ebay a few times but I am always scared of calculating shipping but I think I might try again with some of my smaller works and have a "shop" and/Or I will add paypal options to my website to try to sell more.

- Greeting Cards
My greeting cards were a big success in 2007, I don’t make any money off them but they are good opportunity for self promotion I am going to do some more for calendar events such as mothers day etc. So these will continue in 2008

- Classes
For both my own mental stability and for my art progression I hope to regularly attend life drawing classes in the new year. Or sometype of workshop on a regular basis. Ideally i would like a group i can join regularlly with hopefully this will eventuate throughout the year.

- Mailing List
This is something I need to start to build on and pay some attention to.

- CPA
I am hoping as I start to have a bit income behind me I can afford to do things like become a member of the CPA, i hope that an australian option opens up for this at sometime in the future but responses on my squidoo and other forums indicate that there isnt a huge number of Australian CP artists.

- Directory
I am thinking of perhaps starting a local directory of artists, suppliers, galleries etc as I find it difficult to find out information in my area. Any information that I can find out is outdated and poorly managed. So this might be a project I do hopefully generating other work / income.

On the art side
Improve studio habits
I am wasting money on not storing materials properly (papers are getting creased not washing brushes properly), keeping inventory correctly and not utilising the stock I already have ( I have a lot of papers etc I should use this up first) so I will endeavor to change this habit in the new year.

Style
For my CP work I think I can describe my style as realism, but I would like the pieces to tell more of a story and have a bit more emotion for this year and perhaps less realism. The problem I am having with the CP pieces (as well as every other CP artist in the world) is that everyone thinks they are fabulous but the time it takes to create them is way out of most people's price range and I am selling myself short. Prints are good but cost me a lot of money upfront especially if I get them shipped. Also the framing of them adds to the overall cost of the pieces so in the end I barely would cover materials, so I hope to do some more "quicker" and loser pieces in this medium this year and save the big time consuming pieces for an exhibition or a particular special piece.

For my paintings I need to cement my style a bit more, its emerging with my recent pieces but i need to develop it a little further. I am really getting into the thick paint with a contrast of smoother backgrounds. I am really enjoying the contemporary and abstract pieces I have been doing and from talking with other artists this is more what people are interested in buying anyway. I am hoping that this might be where I generate some income in 2008.
In saying all of that though, I really need to do more of them. I need to have a lot more works available.

Make sketching a daily habit
This is going to be a tough one for me as two small kids makes for busy days but I am going to make a big effort to do this as I know it has a great deal of value and merit.

Illustration - IF
I really do enjoy illustration, my design background helps me with "client" related issues, but i do actually enjoy being given a brief. I think if I can sketch everyday this will improve my confidence and ability and hopefully I can generate a bit more work / style with this avenue. At the least it allows for totally freedom and a bit of fun.

So yes there is a lot there !!! And I can hear you saying these are all well and good intentions but will it happen? YES ! It HAS to.... or at least most of them will .... going back to what I started with at the beginning of this post I realise that I can no longer afford to leave my life to chance and this year I am going to be more organised all round.
To MAKE SURE I bought the 2008 Scribbletalk calendar and shortly I will be scheduling things on the calendar on a weekly and monthly basis to remind me to do these things. It will be displayed on my pantry door so I have to look at it everyday this is hopefully going to be my kick in the bum when lazy Belinda ventures back into my life and she will come back at some point i know she will but she can only hang around for a little while then she has to move out!!

2007 Highlights and Accomplishments

This year is finally coming to an end, i gotta tell you I am really looking forward to a fresh new start for next year! Bring it on!
I have already re-organised and de-cluttered the office, taken down old bits of paper etc on my cork board, I am dying to get onto all those Christmas decorations and get them down and I have sat down worked out some goals for 2008. Woot!
But before I move onto those I am taking inspiration from the ArtBizBlog and acknowledging just what I did achieve this year in 2007.

Ok, I admit it, I was pretty lazy in my goal for 2007, it was pretty much just to make art a regular part of my life and one specific goal was to make my artwork "simpler" i.e. not as cumbersome and detailed. These broad goals I did achieve (yay to me) and here are some other accomplishments I completed during the year.

• Progressed to using different mediums and techniques (moved to oils for painting and neocolours for cp artworks making the whole process quicker)

• Progressed to honing in on my own "style" probably this was already established with my CP works but for my paintings I think now I am grounding my style and techniques

• Got myself "out there" I entered my first exhibition and exhibited at markets. I printed off multiple greeting cards which I sold. I also was featured in FMP - ann Kullberg's magazine for CP artists for my "Pear" artwork. Contacted other magazines for articles which I am working on now hopefully to feature in the new year.

• Took every opportunity to go to art galleries and exhibitions where it fitted in with other commitments, talked to other artists and spent some time there.

• Took an ALL day life drawing workshop, which i loved
  

• Sketched (not as much as I would have liked but more often than I did previously)

• Got my website up and running

• Regularly posted on my blog

• Committed to (yes actually paid money) to be on an artists' directory. http://www.artsconnect.com.au

• Created with some other artists friends the Fine Art Friends which is private blog of artists who are there to support each other in their art.

It's funny as I started to write this list I thought, I haven't done that much and couldn't think of anything but as I thought back all these things started popping into my head, I actually didn't do too badly this year at all.

As for my goals for next year, they will come tomorrow! :)

Look at all my lovely greeting cards

Here are my lovely new greeting cards i just received :) Don't they look great?

I got a bunch of these done when i did my first market a couple of months ago, and my lovely MIL has continued doing the market for me in my absence and these have been selling both at the market and after. So here is a bunch more i decided to get printed. They are a great quality card quite thick :) and come with envelopes.

Redbubble print them for me and do a fantastic job, you can buy them directly from Redbubble . I sell them at the market for $4- each this month we are going to do a deal where you can buy 3 for $11-. If buy them directly from me, i can do a bit cheaper shipping if you are only buying 1 or 2 or if you are a friend and i see you in RL obviously i wont charge you for shipping :) So, if you are in the market for some cards let me know i have limited stocks so let me know what your interested in and i can order some in my next batch :)

These cards and my artworks will be at the Scone markets this weekend for those of you in that area. I will also have some postcards that are available for $3- each.

Just as a side note for other artists: I dont make much $ off any of these cards I basically just cover the cost, and i think if i charged more they wouldnt sell, but i think they are a fantastic way to get my art out there and i even suggest that customers can frame them allow them to have a cheap copy of artwork, if they so like. I know if i saw some at a market i would buy some some, so think about it for your artwork :)

Keeping Track of Your Work

In preparation for the market, developing my website and just selling my work something i have been trying to work out is how to keep track of all my artworks.

To be honest prior to this i really didn't know what i was taking to the market, what was framed and what wasn't, i had no price comparisons, no sizes for individual pieces and wasn't sure which were included on my website until i laid it all out in front of me.

So I wanted to share with you all the system i devised to keep a track of everything. This system was also required because i tend not to be too inventive with my artwork titles so if i call something pears then that could be confused with other pear pieces and didnt want to look unprofessional.

Firstly, before i start from a marketing point of view i have no idea what the experts advise on displaying these numbers on your site and marketing material but for my own organizational and professional viewpoint i found it invaluable as i was able to price works accordingly see at a glance "what was what" and also my helper Theresa at the market was able to see what medium, price, title the works were. In addition the customer was also able to see very quickly without having to ask via the use of labels. (i noticed people don't like to ask they like to browse for themselves).

Basically i came up with a numbering convention, the number started at 000 (as i figured it will be a while before i make it past the 1000 artworks point :) and essentially each artwork is referenced by its own number. Whether it be a finished artwork or not, basically anything i want to keep a record of or published on my blog.
I would also like to point out that as a web designer who is used to dealing with lots of files / directories and images a common timewaster for clients them searching through their images trying to work out the image they require and then trying to explain to me which image to use on what page (as their filenames are often the same in different directories). This numbering system is essentially what i use when building a website and is excellent as you and your web developer can instantly recognise files both on your harddrive and the server once you know the naming convention its simple to follow. Many clients are happy i have converted them once they are use to it :)

For me each artwork starts on the computer with a directory and reference image, so I will start talking how i organise it on my computer and go from there.

On your Computer
The first artwork i decided to create under the system i gave the number 001
note: i actually put all my previous artworks not on the number system into a folder called "000_archive" so this one displays at the top of the list, i also have a miscellaneous folder for sketches and quick drawings for my blog at number "002_sketches".

Note2: i use lowercase and an underscore "_" in my filenames because websites dont like spaces in filenames and some servers don't like uppercase its a force of habit and a good one to get into so you don't have to go back and change things later (underscore should be next to your 0 on your keyboard have to hold down shift to get it)

Here are the steps:

• create directory/folder "001_pears" - i usually add just a basic title for the directory name as this isn't as important as the actual filenames and just allows me to quickly browse through directories knowing what they are
  
• Inside that i put the reference photo i usually just call the file "reference.jpg" but if you want to be exact you should really call it "001_reference.jpg"
• If i am doing a WIP for a blog or forum then as i create work i save the files as them i call "001_wip01.jpg"," 001_wip02.jpg" etc.
  The nice thing about this is that you can see at a glance what that files are and if you upload them to a website they wont conflict with any other filenames, once you get used to it not only is it easy but also they will display nicely in your windows explorer in neat in sequential order.
• Once the wips are out the way i usually do a final scan of the image and save it uncropped as "001_rawscan.tiff"
  This file will be a big 300dpi image and i usually save it as a tiff file incase i later need it for printing purposes but jpg is also fine
• Then I proceed to crop it and make the images i need for website, blog etc , the names i call these are:
  

001_final.jpg

001_thumb.jpg

001_website.jpg

001_blog.jpg

001_print.tif

001_greyscale.jpg

I need different sizes for various forums, blogs and websites so this is just my requirements you can just do whatever you need but the important thing is you can see what is what, they dont conflict with your WIP files and if ever you need an image its right there for you without you opening it up to see what is inside.

If you have later versions of a particular file you just end it with a 01,02 etc, that way they will display properly and you know which version to get eg. 001_blog_01.jpg, 001_blog_02.jpg

So now we have the files now what?

Well As you will see on my website i have the numbers referenced on my website and i have stated that if people are interested in an artwork to state the reference number so there is no confusion on which piece they are interested in. This would carry through in email correspondence, blog references (although i am not as strict on my blog), invoicing/ receipts and i imagine would also work well with galleries and other places you display your work.

Now we get down to the tracking part, i have then a word document (or you could use excel) which contains fields so that see at a glance from the reference number what the details of that particular artwork are, here is a screenshot:

The columns are: Ref No. | Title | Price | Sold | Medium / Support | Size | Prints

I have made a blank version available here if you wish to download it here. (55k)
I had this printed out at the market so Theresa and i could see what was what, and if an item was sold then could tick it off. This could be modified depending on whether you have gallery / website / ebay sales etc . the same principle works. I also had cms / inches on my sizes as in australia there tends to be both dimensions on frames etc. even tho we are on the metric system.

So, from now on whenever i create a new artwork i just add in a new row at the top of the table and fill in the details of the new artwork and have all the information there. Alternatively i just print it out with some blank rows at the top and can write in it with pen as i go and periodically do a new print out. If you are using excel you have a few more choices such as add date in there and sort by date or reference if you are producing lots of artworks really the options can be tailored to you. It also means when you add your images of your artwork to your website there is no hunting around for sizes and mediums etc you have all the info there its just a matter of sticking it on.

For the Customer
In addition to this on my artworks i created labels to be stuck at the back (just taped to the backs of frames on mounted boards). The labels had no prices but just information so that it was clear what medium, reference number, size and my website address. I included artwork size and mat size separately as some of the artwork wasn't framed and wanted customers easily to be able to buy a frame of their choice should they want to. I thought this was also handy for people buying gifts for others that all the information was there.

Here is what the label looked like:
Here is the artwork labels document if you wish to download it and edit (98k) it for yourself. I put 12 on one A4 page and just cut them up with a scalpel and ruler (sorry they aren't even, word was just driving me nuts by this stage and i had run out of time to play with it too much).
I typed some of the details directly onto the lables so they were there when printed and ( from my artwork tracking document) i also had some blank that i could just write on in pen on the day as i ran out of time.


Thankyou / Receipt
In addition to the above i had planned to have ready or print out letters based on the reference number as a thankyou with information based on the artwork tracking and website information of details about the artwork as well as where to find more about me etc. i didnt get time for this for the market but i plan to do up the letter and have it ready there incase there is any sales.

So there you have it, how i track my artwork its something i will change from time to time but for now it works for me.

Business Cards

So while i am at it shamelessly plugging my website everywhere i can, i thought i would also show you all my business cards i just got printed.

I really wanted something very simple for the cards. I was tempted to spruce it up and place a couple of artwork images on there, but i know how quickly my artwork changes and i didnt want to be stuck with something if i change my style or be limited by the work i am doing today.









On the front: I did want to add something a bit quirky to distinguish it a bit, i am ofcourse a creative person so i should really have creative business cards. So, in the end i opted for the paint splatter. In real life i think it looks quite good because it looks like its a mistake or something has spilt on there because of the transparency over the letters. i think people would look twice and hopefully curious to look for more.


front








On the back: I made it orange and left this relatively blank as i thought it would be good for writing numbers or notes on for myself and people.

You will notice that i don't have my address or phone numbers on there. This is for a couple of reasons for this..
1 is my mobile / address can change but my website address likely wont so it means i wont be having to reprint cards if any of these things happen.

Another one is, i previously posted my address and phone number on my website and i received nothing but spam and calls and mail from people trying to sell me something or just bugging me about something i really have no interest in. Having moved a couple of years ago they have since stopped calling and sending me stuff and i like it ! :) So i decided that i will only give my number and address out to genuine people if it is required. I am not sure what the "business and marketing" people would say about that but it works for me and i am sticking to it!