Robin's Post on Selling Your Work

I know that most of you who read here are already members of the BJP but for those who aren't I'd like to add a link to robin atkin's blog, beadlust. She's written an honest and sensitive post about her feelings about selling her work and has requested feedback from some of us who also sell our work.
I first have to say that I've never had to make a living by selling my work...I've always had a "day job" that supported both me and my beadwork. However, I have been selling my work since 1988...first my digital art and then my beaded jewelry when I started beading. And unlike many beaders who start out beading as a hobby and then gradually get into the artistic aspects of it, I came to beadwork as an artist who had a background in other mediums and beads just became another medium for making art to me.
But in 1998, when I was laid off from my job as a graphic designer and couldn't find another comparable job in our small coastal community, I thought I'd see if I could make at least a partial living from my jewelry. By 2000 I had work in 8 oregon galleries and was averaging several hundred dollars a month...not a lot, but I thought it was a good beginning. And then the GW Bush years began and my sales began to drop and a couple of my galleries closed and it went downhill from there.
So, I began to consider doing the kind of production work that robin is talking about in order to boost my sales but I realized fairly soon that it just wasn't for me. Not only was it boring to me to do virtually the same pieces over and over, but they weren't even selling...so I took another look at our situation and got a parttime job at our visual arts center which brought in a small but steady paycheck each month and went back to just making what I want to make. Now and then I get worried about money and make a few smaller, cheaper things to put into my etsy shop, but I find that even the less expensive work isn't selling....so I go back again to making what I want to make....the kind of things that no one else is doing....that are just from me....and they are their own reward, as robin says. And mostly I'm satisfied...but now and then, when I see some of my friends who are able to do production work making a good living at it, I feel a bit sad that my work isn't valued in the same way theirs is...and then I remember van gogh and it reminds me that whether my work sells or not has little to do with it's true value...and that even if I never sold another piece, I'd still keep on making it because it's what gets me up in the morning and keeps me on a more or less even keel through some pretty steep ups and downs and finally, that it's just what I have to do because I'm an artist and I make things...

Life, Life and more Life...

Sorry to be such a slug, but I have nothing new to show today....I've got lots of excuses...bad back, work, anniversary and friends' visiting, but what it all amounts to is I've hit a bit of a snag. I don't know where the muse has been but she's sure not been at my studio lately!
I think it may have something to do with the time of year...I hate to admit it, but christmas just isn't any fun any more. Since my mom moved back up to Washington, we now have a 5-7 hour drive to get to her (depending on traffic, accidents, all that stuff) and it's not a fun drive. There are now so many people on the road that it doesn't matter how early you start, it will still be bumper to bumper all the way up I-5 from Oregon to Washington. And while I took that as a fun challenge when I was in my 40's, now that I'm almost 60, I find it a trying challenge, and if I could vaporize all the idiots driving while talking on their cell phones, I'm afraid I'd do it! So, I guess I'm now officially a cranky old lady or crone or auntie, depending on your viewpoint!
On the plus side, time is now passing so quickly that the holidays will be over soon and I can settle into january and see about getting some work done! I've removed my work from all but one of my galleries and am now still figuring out what to do next...so I think the next few months at least, if not the next year, I will be playing around with fabric, fiber and beads, until my next step hits me on the head...at least that's usually how it happens. I rarely slide gracefully from one series to another, it's more like being a hockey puck, whacked first in one direction then in another, but at least I'm still moving, lol!
Thanks for all your patience and I will make every effort to get some work done here so I can post something much more interesting than my seasonal angst!

Moving Along

I've gotten as far as picking out my palette of beads...all size 13 charlottes...still have some nailheads and/or sequins to add and maybe a few other items to make it look more icon-like. I tried using alcohol ink on the silver hands to color them darker but it's not been too successful, so I'm considering just making/baking some with black sculpey...

Back to Work

Every December our local city-owned art gallery (where I work parttime) has a push pin show that is open to all county residents....all ages, all mediums BUT the piece has to be hung using not more than 4 push pins....that cuts out most sculpture and all heavy, large painting, etc. but it still brings in some of the most fun art work of the year. I think our youngest artists are from the montessori school and are probably around 4-5 and the oldest (at least once) in their 90's! Chuck and I always enter a piece and this is mine for this year....I usually don't submit beadwork...I take this time to play with something I normally don't do. This piece is made from an old balsa wood cigarillo box with some wooden print blocks that say, DO IT, a polyclay mask/face made by a friend of mine, a small accordion book of some of my very early digital prints called Masks, some amusement park tokens, a clothespin I painted black and added an incised copper collar to and on the top, a digital photo of one of our flowers that I used a filter on...I had fun putting it all together and I think it will be a fun piece for the show.
Second photo is the very beginning of my December BJP...I'm thinking of a black madonna and child and my inspiration for this piece is some of the Russian Icons I've been collecting photos of for years...they've always fascinated me, for some reason.
Anyway...at least I'm back to work again!

Sorry!

Gee, I didn't realize it had been a week since I'd been here....doing lots of stuff other than beading, so I just didn't think to post.
Today a friend came to town and we did our usual meet with lots of wip's, books, mags and other fun things to share. We got a bit of beading done....we also dropped by a sale another friend was having and I managed to score a few vintage sample cards, so I have some photos to post tonight.
Two of the cards have vintage lucite beads and the third card is of metal embellishments (for shoes, I think)...and as usual, the photos don't quite capture the aurora borealis effect all that well, but you can get a general idea.
I've been beading some of the crazy lace agates I bought a couple of weeks ago and I was also going to make bails for a few abalone disks I had bead-bezeled quite a while ago and just haven't gotten around to finishing.
So...a few beads were sewn down today anyway!

Beading finished on C Card

I'll add some text to the photo in photoshop and it will be ready to go...as soon as I decide which version I'm going to use.

The C Word

I'm sorry to mention it so soon, but I'm beading my christmas card already...well, I have to....first I have to finish it, then photograph it and then make up the cards to put the photos on and THEN send them out! Heck, it's almost december already...
anyway the background is a dark moss green silky material and the tree is a silk weave with metallic thread...the garland is the tiny steel cuts in gold and the star is a starfish charm...I've still got some ornaments to add and the words...joy, love and peace and it will be done.
I also did some business cards designing for a friend and we bartered our work, so I've now got 5 new original faces from her....she left them in the original sculpey so I can color them myself...I love her work - she does dolls and furniture and painting....multi-talented gal who always surprises and delights me with her work...thanks karen!

A Day of sharing words

Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost


Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.


and the photo is a painting by artist/friend Darrell Roberts (1938-2008)

Read about a day of sharing words here...maybe you'd like to join too?

Win a Cuff

Here's a chance to win a gorgeous cuff from Jackie at Dogdaisychains just by commenting on your wrist size.

Inspiration

Well, I'm back to work again...got a bit more done on the blues piece and have picked out some of the crazy lace agate pieces to work on....at first I thought of a couple of pendants but now I'm thinking I might incorporate them into my december bjp piece...if I listen just a bit longer, I'm sure they'll tell me what to do...;)

New Stuff at Etsy

I've added a number of pieces to my etsy shop and after visiting a friend's new gallery opening I ended up taking these amazing crazy lace agate beads home...I think I'll make a couple pairs of earrings with the smaller beads and use a few of the larger ones like cabs in a larger bead embroidery piece...or something else entirely, lol!

From Pin Tangle to Retro Cafe Art

Just a quick note to let fans of Sharon B's In a Minute Ago know that she's moved her blog and renamed it as well. It's now Pin Tangle and is being hosted by a paid service.
I love the new look and the energy boost the move has given to sharon's blog!
And Kristin Hubick of Retro Cafe Art is hosting a wonderful give-away...check it out!

Walking

We've been doing a lot of walking the last couple of days...chuck went out and took a long walk in the rain yesterday, then I took a walk early this morning along the bay just as the tide was changing and then we took one together on the other side of the bay, looking back toward our side.

Another Light Gone

Another light in our family has gone out...our dear friend darrell, who we have known for 25 years passed away unexpectedly monday night. It was a shock as he had gone in to the hospital with a broken hip and we expected a long recuperation afterward, but he never woke up after the operation. It's very hard to really believe he's gone.
Darrell and I had a rocky beginning to our friendship as he was very ADD and his idea of logic was a bit convoluted to put it mildly...but eventually we found that we could talk about Art without argument and that bond stayed strong over the years. In fact, I think most of what I feel I know about art, I learned from Darrell. He taught me to see beyond the surface and into the heart and soul of an object...or maybe into the heart and soul of it's maker....I know we didn't always like the same work, in fact, our personal taste in artists were pretty dissimilar, but our taste in actual objects were very alike. I have a number of pieces of art and craft that he bought or created (he was also an artist) over the years and then passed on to me when he'd had them for a while. I always think of him when I see them and they will always remind me of him in the future.
But what I'll treasure the most is knowing that whenever I truly see something, I will be seeing it partly through his eyes as well. And maybe I'll even hear his voice in my head...we've known each other for so long, I bet I'll know what he'd say.
I'm counting the blessings of knowing Darrell today...and thanks to our friend Bob Barry for this wonderful photo of Darrell.

Fall BJP Finished

I've finished my autumn bjp pieces....I'd spent the last couple of weeks not doing much beading due to teddy's passing and other issues and yesterday it felt like a dam broke and I just kept on going until the last two months were beaded and backed. They all have a plain black cotton back with a small sleeve at the top and I'm handing them from some old chopsticks I got at a garage sale.
The last piece (or first in blogger's reverse order) is november and it has a small gold cat charm sitting by a magenta stream with two small gold birdies watching him and being watched...and the name teddy, over the shell oval the stream is pouring out from. A couple of days before he died, teddy walked out to the little stream (runoff from the hills) in our back yard and sat in the sun in his favorite spot under one of the curly willows.
Now I can finished the blue piece and start a couple of pieces I promised to friends months ago....luckily my friends are all patient!

Gem Faire

I celebrated my birthday yesterday with a trip to eugene with friends...we did the gem faire and then lunch...then we visited harlequin beads and then one last run through the gem faire. It's held at the fairgrounds and is in a huge building with many vendors....the only downside from my pov, is that most of the vendors sell the larger stone and semi-precious beads and not very many do the seed beads....but I did get a lovely selection of my favorites, abalone and pearls. (and I don't really need any seed beads anyway!) I was tempted by some of the interesting chains and other metal findings, but I held to my "list" (mostly, lol) and didn't quite break the bank!
With all the lovely leaves swirling around eugene yesterday, I was inspired to buy some abalone leaves and flowers, as well as some red coral flowers...since we have hit a heat wave, even here on the coast, we still have flowers blooming and leaves on the trees, although the wind is picking up this morning, so we'll have a few less by tonight! I also found some MOP butterflies and one more clay face by Dana Swisher, a eugene artist.
I'm working at the upstairs gallery this afternoon (at our local visual arts center), so will get a few hours of beading in today...

Adieu, sweet prince...

Our teddy cat finally left us last night...he was 14 years old and quite ready to go, we think.
He was just a year old when we moved to the park 13 years ago and I knew we'd never lose another cat to traffic here. This is a blocks-long dead end and the speed limit is 10mph and mostly only the UPS guy goes faster and even then, he can only go about 15mph because of the speed bumps and the narrowness of the road...
Teddy loved it here...he had his routine and his territory and the last few years he'd even mellowed a bit on the big black cat who lives across the road...I like to think they finally achieved detente, if not friendship.
Rest in peace, sweet boy, and give chi a rub from me...

I Still Have a Dream

I was reminded last night by Barack Obama's speech of the I Have A Dream speech of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr....I was 13 years old when I heard that speech in 1963 and I was 18 when MLK was assasinated, and I've never gotten over either event.
But listening to Senator Obama it was clear that he was also remembering and referring to that speech...and a big part of me felt that maybe my generation had done a few worthwhile things in our time here...but there's also a part of me that is very afraid for the Senator and disappointed in my fellow citizens in their stubborn insistence on clinging to old bigotries and stereotypes.
We've come a fair way toward justice for all in this country, but we have a long way to go yet and no time to rest on our laurels. And if we don't stop treating this beautiful world of ours like a disposible roll of toilet paper, we're all going to be flushed down with it.
I usually focus on the positive and creative in this blog, mainly because I believe that focusing on the negative just strengthens it...but I wanted to stand up tonight and be counted...and to promise myself that I will work even harder in the future to be a fair and compassionate person and grateful for all the luck I've had in being born a citizen of this country at this time.
Bless you all.....and tomorrow we'll return to our regular schedule of creativity and sharing...

Everybody Has the (democratic) Blues, Yay!

I am still so happy, I'm tearing up everytime I read another joyous comment about our wonderful president elect!
I started a new piece...I'm calling it, Everybody Has the (democratic) Blues, in honor of the blue states and those who voted blue in the red ones. I expect to be adding some purple along the way to represent all of us coming together to make this country what it once was, and can be again...a land of liberty for all.
And tomorrow is my birthday....best damn birthday present I've ever had....thank you my fellow Americans!

Hope and Black Magic

I finished her this morning and with each bead I sent up a little prayer for barack obama...and I'm an agnostic who hopes the buddhist's and NA animists have it right...so you can imagine how hard I'm hoping for an obama win...and then I'll be praying again for his continued safety during his tenure in the white house.
Don't you just love it, though? Black family in the White house...at last?