Don't Ask...Don't Yell.

Where the heck has she been? I could have said Rehab, but the fact is I considered that and then realized there can not be a cure for Collage Addiction. Who want such a thing? Fact of the matter is...while January is sometimes a slow and lazy month, perfect for holiday recuperation...January 2010 has been one of the busiest on record for yours truly. Time just gets away from you once in awhile. There's that...and then there's the ADD I have struggled with forever...and no it doesn't mean Absolutely Darling and Dear...and while I may be those things...the fact remains that I have been trying to go on-line for weeks and get this wonderful natural remedy for ADD that I love...but I keep getting distracted!

January was already a crazy, almost alive thing right from the start. In-person classes at my studio, ever-growing numbers on Collage Camp, orders for my work from ski-resort towns who find this time of year a busy one for them, and the launching of my on-line art marketing class...first video class up and running with energy and input from all involved. But here's what happened that made it go from nuts to she-has-got-to-be-kidding. Here's also where I show you an example of being fab and fearless when it comes to promoting yourself and your work.

WESA Show at the Denver Merchandise Mart. WESA means Western English Sales Association. (As in Western riding..yee haw...and English riding...tally ho...which almost always involves a horse). If you are not working in a western genre in your art it means nothing...if you are it means you wake up 3 days before the show starts and say "OMG..how the heck did I miss the deadline to get a space in this?" (Way back in September mind you). So the wagon wheels start turning. But I have been away from the Mart for a couple of years and have no connections there right now. What to do? In Marketing Mindset we have learned the power of asking "What If..." So on the Sunday before the Tuesday that is show set-up day I post it on Facebook.
"Anybody know anybody who has a showroom at the Merchandise Mart? Looking to rent a little corner for the WESA show." I am a firm believer in throwing it out there. WHAT IF there was a spot available somewhere. So many wonderful things have happened in my art career because I wasn't afraid to ask and wasn't afraid to imagine...What if.

Sooooo....I have 3 wonderful FB friends e-mail me with ideas and names. Yikes...this might really happen! On Monday I called a gentleman named Don who had what he described as toy showroom in a not so good location. He wasn't even going to be open during WESA because this was not a toy buying crowd. What the heck...I'll take a look. I drove the 40 minutes to the Mart and met with Don. Turns out it was a toy showroom but it was on the first floor of the Mart (the busiest floor) and kitty-corner from a hugely popular western furnishings showroom. For some reason Don thought this a bad location. I'm looking at it and my mind is shouting..."Eureka! There's gold in them thar hills!" Or maybe it was just "I'll take it!" So Don GIVES me this corner in this great location, but to make it look like something I have to first move 5000 rubber snakes and 2000 mood rings somewhere else. I also have to fill this spot with work on a one-day notice. Hubby Logan moves snakes, KC empties the walls of her gallery and we're good to go. Not the prettiest set-up on record...but I'm at WESA! Wow...God is good. I might be brave....but God shows favor on a distracted collage artist and I run with it.

So to make a really long story even longer....I worked many hours with a drive in Denver traffic for the 5 days of the show and came away with new friends, new business (12 shops and galleries to be exact) and new enthusiasm for getting my work in front of the public and for fearless marketing. I also was able to secure a really wonderful spot on the first floor for the largest show of the year at the Mart, The Gift and Resort Show the end of February. How I found THAT spot (in a place where there is usually a waiting list for first floor spots) is a whole 'nother story. So I say thanks to my FB friends, thanks to the cowgirls on my work who speak for me everyday, and to God who continues to bless the work of my hands.

Hmmmmm...now I'm eyeing the Vegas Mart....What if.......




Oh and the Giveaway that I talked about in the blog before this one is still going on. Will be until February 14th. So get in on it. And if you posted earlier this month and have an angel coming it will ship after Feb 1. xxoo

The Deciding Factor

Everyday we make a bazillion decisions in our life. I made one when I sat down to write this blog post. When you go to the grocery store you have to make lots of decisions. You don't fill up six carts with everything in the store that appealed to you...at least I don't think you do. You decide what is on the menu for the week and what things are the best items for your nutritional needs. You make a decision or two.

And so it is with your art. In my workshops artists are always saying that they go in so many different directions that they find a signature style does not develop easily and this frustrates them in their marketing. And I understand the tendency. You have so many ideas that excite you, so you want to act on all of them. And you can....BUT at some point you must decide on what is the main genre, look, style, theme etc. that you want to really work on and develop into a series of work. The work that you will market to shops and galleries. The work that will define who you are for that season in time. The other ideas you can play with in your off time and perhaps from them will come next years series of work. But you must decide. Bummer huh? Gotta narrow it down. My dad, the Marvelous Mississipian, always says "You can't chase two rabbits and catch either one."

I like to do many creative things. I have a notebook full of ideas that's so big I carry it around in a wheelbarrow. (Not really, but you get my over-the-top point.) Many of them are in different mediums from what I do daily and they excite me soooo much that when I see them I have been known to exclaim aloud. "Oh man...I really wanna paint!" But here's the deal. I have DECIDED that at this moment in time I am going to focus on mixed media collage, so that I have a cohesive artistic portfolio with which to flaunt my creative prowess to shops and galleries. A gallery owner does not want to see a portfolio of every idea you've ever had. That will not impress them. Amuse them, maybe...but they will not give you a show. They want to see a series of work that will make you recognizable to their patrons. When I took the first fabric collage that actually satisfied me to a gallery in Santa Fe, the owner said..."Make me 5 more so I know you can repeat yourself." She didn't want 5 of the exact same thing, nor did she say make me 5 more of just anything you can think of...she wanted 5 more in a series that would have impact. She wanted to know this piece of art with a cowgirl and a quote was not a fluke. By replicating "my look" I assured her I was not.

I hope you decide to comment.
Maybe you'll even decide to join us at Marketing Mindset. Either way...there's a decision to be made here. xxoo