Squeeee! That was the sound I’m still trying to repress after spotting one of my wood panel prints on Breakfast Television this morning! There is a clip on the CTV website that you should be able to watch (without hearing me squealing & doing a happy dance in the background). Susie Wall was featuring some of her favorite pics from the upcoming Make It Vancouver show. Good thing I’m working on a bunch of new wood panels for the market!

Whoops! There are a few original paintings for sale in my Etsy shop, but the vast majority of them have not been photographed properly. So they end up selling at local shops and markets, never making it to the website in any other format than my quickie phone snapshots as works in progress. Remedying this is my January project, though I have to admit – I’d much rather be painting!

I did web design and internet marketing for several years, so you wouldn’t think this would be a major undertaking, right? Well, you’d be wrong, my friend! My rustiness coupled with how fast technology changes (oh WordPress updates and your insistence on stripping any attempt at line breaks!) has made for some slowwww going. I’m realizing now that I should have just bit the bullet and started from scratch with a completely new design instead of the patch job I’m currently undertaking (which is ultimately proving to take longer than a complete redesign would have anyway!).

To make up for all that complaining (did I mention that since I’m self-employed, you get to endure my water cooler chat? Lucky duck!), I’m including a very cool vintage typography tutorial I stumbled on that teaches step by step how to create some of the beautifully intricate designs of vintage typography ads, like so:

credit: webgraphics.net

The author uses Adobe Illustrator, but I had no trouble following along in Photoshop. Whenever I look at that vintage style of lettering, I’m blown away by the detail, but I’ve never really looked at it to break it down. I think of it as always being hand drawn, but of course there are plenty of examples of lovely work like the one above that are completely computer based. And when you start to reallllly look, you notice that the fancy lines and swirls are often just combination of very simple shapes. Time-consuming, yes. But totally do-able.

Enjoy!

She still needs to be scanned & properly varnished before I can offer prints or the original for sale, but soon enough she’ll be in the shop!

This particular painting & my disrupted process as of late has got me thinking about a question I get asked fairly regularly – how long does it take to complete a painting?

In this case? About a year.

The painting itself was completed in the span of 3 days. I did the background on 1 day. I painted the bulk of the girl & the crow the next day & then added more shadows & highlights & finishing touches on the 3rd after I’d had a chance to see it in the daylight.

But that doesn’t include the sketching part of the process. I’ve got a sketchbook full of bird girls, sisters of the very first Caging the Forest Bird. That doesn’t include the time to research source material. The internet certainly makes it easier to find pictures of things like crows, but I usually prefer thumbing through the illustration archive books I have collected that show detailed etchings of various animals. That also doesn’t include the years of practice & classes & study to develop my style. And I’m just starting out in my career! For a full time artist who’s been working for 20 years, it is the sum of his experience that is poured into each new work.

How many hours it takes to make something is often called into question when determining cost, especially with craftspeople. I think sometimes we forget all of those other hours, days, years spent allowing the perfect blend of ingredients to come together.

(For the record, I am in no way saying that my work is some kind of “perfect blend”. I love what I do & feel incredibly grateful that I get to do it for a living, but I’m fully aware that I’m still learning & growing as an artist. It’s just one of those art questions that pops up often enough that even *I* can recognize how infuriating it must be, especially to the Picassos of the world whose work can be deceptively simple.)

So if you’re looking for something special (for Valentine’s Day, perhaps?), here’s where you can find the bee:

Bird on a Wire

website: http://www.birdonawirecreations.com

2535 Main Street @ Broadway

This a new shop that just opened last year. A beautiful location with a fantastic assortment of art, fabric goods (the quilt in the front window had me drooling), jewelry & all sorts of creative wares. You can find a selection of my lockets, postcard packs & prints in stock.

Chic Winds

contact: (604) 683-8292

375 Water Street (same block as the steam clock)

The owners of Chic Winds are incredibly sweet & encouraged me to branch out into retail after spotting my work at one of my markets. They carry a mix of local artists, including First Nations jewelry and artwork, plus a line of Tibetan jewelry picked up on their travels. I was happy to see one of my prints hanging in such good company, a print by painter April Lacheur of Yapes Paints. At Chic Winds you can find my lockets, a handful of Scrabble tile pendants, 5×7 matted prints (not for sale anywhere else), wood block panels & a few original paintings too.

Plush

website: http://www.plushonmain.com

4296 Main Street (just south of King Edward)

Oh, Plush. You guys just rock. The girls manage to cram so much Vancouver fabulousness into such a small shop that I’m constantly surprising myself by noticing new items that I seemed to miss before. Felted soap in Chai flavor? Pouches by kukubee? Yes, please! You’ll also find some Cagey Bee lockets, mini wood panel prints covered in shiny resin plus a couple of original paintings on canvas.

Happy New Year my little bees! I’ve been spending the last few days in a sort of nesting mode – reflecting on 2010, making plans & dreaming up goals for 2011, tidying my space & generally soaking up the quiet that comes after a very busy holiday shopping season.

For most retail businesses, online as well as brick & mortar, January & February are very slow months. I’ve seen a lot of folks talking about how to build your sales during this slow period (note to self: do a blog round-up post of the best ones) but for right now I’m content to fully enjoy this slowdown.

I want to breathe deeply.

I want to visit art galleries & good friends.

I want to pull out my sketchbook & paints & allow myself time to create without any expectation or deadline.

I want to use these next couple of months to recharge my batteries & find the inspiration that will shape the rest of the year.

2010 was an incredible year for me & for the first time that I can remember, I didn’t want the year to end. Usually I’m quite happy to say goodbye to the year before & excitedly make plans for how I’m going to do things differently in the year to come. I’m not a resolution-maker, exactly. With an ADD brain, making lists – the act of putting pen to paper – is crucial to allowing my mind to focus, so goal-setting (or goal-reiterating) is an all year long pursuit for me. But this year? 2010? It was such an incredible year for me that my plans for 2011 are probably my least ambitious ever. I need to spend some renewal time before my next growth spurt.

A couple of intentions that were sorely neglected last year that will make my list for 2011 once again:

1. I need to move my body more. I don’t particularly need to lose weight, but the long hours I spend painting, filling shop orders & making jewelry mean that my lifestyle is getting awfully sedentary. In the summer I ride my bike & play tennis & go on long walks with the dogs, but when it’s cold or rainy (which means pretty much all winter), I don’t do much of anything. The dog-walking shortens to once around the block. I start to feel stiff & sore. My energy level is non-existent. Definitely time to get back into doing yoga.
2. I need to spend more time in the studio. I’m thrilled to be able to make my living creating art, but the realistic picture of what my work week looks like does not often include a lot of art-making. Putting together application packages for art shows, making things like magnets & lockets to sell at craft fairs, going to the post office to mail out shop orders, signing & packaging prints, bookkeeping – all very important tasks for running my business. And all very easily can bump “Paint!” off the TO DO list.

Last year my goal was to paint for at least 3 hours a day every single day. I failed miserably. For 2011, I think I need to reshape the goal into something that works better for my lifestyle. Setting aside at least 1 day per week where I do nothing else but paint, for example. No post office. No answering email. No scheduling appointments. There really shouldn’t ever be anything that can’t wait 24 hours to be dealt with, right?

Getting better systems in place to handle the rest of my business more efficiently is also part of that process. If the rest of my business was more organized & streamlined, I would have more time to paint. This is also something I want to work on in 2011.

To make sure every day starts off with a bit of creativity, I’m searching for some drawing exercises to create a sort of “morning pages for artists” plan. A lot of writers start their day by writing 3 pages. It can be anything. Literally. If you can’t think of anything to write about, you can just write, “I can’t think of anything to write about” over & over & over until it has filled all 3 pages. But the point is, you’re warming up your instrument. You’re writing without editing. You’re loosening up & allowing the words to flow. I want to do this with visual art.

Instead of reading the paper or catching up on silly gossip blogs while drinking my morning coffee, I plan to pull out my sketchbook. Before I’m allowed to do anything else or let the busy-ness of the day swallow me up, I will draw. It has to be at least 3 pages, but it doesn’t have to be (& actually shouldn’t be) anything I *need* to do. Sometimes signing up to participate in themed art shows is great because it gives you a deadline & forces making art to the top of your list. But I’d like to spend more time this year allowing ideas to flow that don’t have a project in mind. I’m going to start with sketching different objects, but I’m going through all of my art books to come up with a solid list of ideas for those cranky mornings when sketching my coffee cup, AGAIN, really doesn’t feel all that inspiring.

Are you setting any goals or intentions for 2011? I’d love to hear them!

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It may not be the cover of the Rolling Stone, but I was tickled to have one of my paintings, Sarah and the Orca, used as cover art for the December 2010 issue of Common Ground magazine. Holla!

Common Ground is a Canadian publication in its 28th year with a focus on health, growth & wellness. You can find it all over the place at little coffee shops & restaurants, though if any member of my family has wandered in ahead of you, the stack may be quite slim.

Today was spent making new Scrabble tile pendants & assembling the lockets that I sealed a few days ago. Any jobs involving resin are bumped to the top of the list since it needs time to cure. Picking up business cards from the printer? Tomorrow. Trimming magnets & putting together postcard packs? Friday. Figuring out which original paintings to bring? Friday night. Late.

As much as I would love to stroll into a market on a good night’s sleep with my entire table set-up perfectly organized & stored sequentially in air-tight containers on wheels, I also know that I wouldn’t have done a single show yet had I waited until I was completely “ready.” My table will never be perfect, but I come up with new ideas, tweaks & generally think I get a little better with every show I do. And that’s exactly why my TO DO list never gets any shorter!

If you’re in the Vancouver area this weekend & want to see for yourself, you can find me here:

Saturday, September 25th

Autumn Shift Festival
outdoor street fest sponsored by Blim
Main Street between Broadway & 12th Ave
12 to 6pm

This free, fun, family friendly event will feature live music, improv and comedy acts, a merchant’s market, a farmer’s market, local artists, great community participation and lots of exciting activities for children. For more info check out the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement website.

Sunday, September 26th

Portobello West

Rocky Mountaineer Train Station

1755 Cottrell Street

12 to 6pm

My mister & I have been enjoying feeling like kids again as we ran around the PNE, Vancouver’s version of a county fair. Mini Donuts, ridiculously expensive lemonade, the Super Dogs – so much fun & so much nostalgia, even though we didn’t grow up here. I think every city has some version of the fair & all of our favorites were there.

Aside from digesting 9000 calories, as an adult I have to say wandering around & enjoying the shows was more my speed than riding rides. I watched a horseshoe demonstration where I stood with my jaw dropped as a lady pounded nails into a horse’s hoof. Even though both my parents grew up on farms, I’d never seen this done before & was SURE the horse was going to kick the hammer lady at any moment!

There must be farming in my blood, however, because now that Vancouver has passed the urban chicken by-law, I’m pretty stoked to get a little coop for our backyard. You can keep up to 4 chickens & apparently they lay roughly 6 eggs per week. How cool would that be?

I loved the Indian Runner ducks too. These guys need their own painting, I’m pretty sure.

Since I hadn’t been on a roller coaster in at least 3 years, we decided to splurge on the ride passes. What I didn’t take into account was:

a) I’m old.

b) It was already 5:30pm by the time we started riding rides.

c) The lines were really really long.

A $40 ride pass only amounted to 8 rides for us because the lines were long & (see point A), we’re old. After 3 or 4, we were ready for a break. And honestly, if we hadn’t spent the money on the passes, probably would’ve been quite content to quit right there. The historic wooden roller coaster? Kicked my ass. Not only did it scare the crap out of me, it felt really dangerous to fly out of my seat & left me with a huge bruise across my thigh. I do not understand the appeal.

My favorite ride was a new one – Crazy Beach Party. Looking at the cheesy artwork as we queued was entertaining, the ride was smooth & gave your stomach a little flip, but never in that “I AM GOING TO DIE!!!!” sort of way. Loved it.

Speaking of art, I was delighted to see Emily Carr University had put together an exhibition of container art. Each artist was given a truck container to do with as they saw fit & though some were definitely more successful than others, it was amazing to see art included at all. Tens of thousands of people who would probably never set foot in an art gallery were exposed to contemporary art being created by local artists. Awesome.

I don’t want to be too critical here, but I will say this – when you have a container & free range to make an art installation that thousands of people are going to walk through, the most successful exhibits are ones that are specifically designed for that space. There were a few that seemed to take their existing work & slap it up on the walls, creating a very small, cramped, badly lit gallery. Not very interesting, not the best way to display your art & totally uninspired.

The best thing I saw? Kids’ reactions to the art. I expected them to run into each one, check it out & run on to the next one, kid-style. That was definitely happening, but I was amazed at  how many little dudes really stopped in their tracks & LOOKED. Pondered. Tried to figure out what was going on or what the point was. I saw lots of kids being dragged away by bored moms & that made me really happy. (Well, not happy that the moms were bored, but taking kids to the fair looks like a fucking nightmare, so I can’t blame them for wanting to leave their brains in Managerial Safety Mode.)

What made me less happy? Seeing the display of essentially free art prints being given away with a donation of $1 or $2 to some charity. Thank you for devaluing my entire profession, assholes!

Was the art terrible? Of course. Was it still insulting to see my life’s work be given away as a free gift when donating less than bus fare? Absofuckinglutely.

(Note: Yes, I’m swearing a lot this blog post. I’m still *that* annoyed.)

Part of why this annoys me is the way artists are constantly called on to donate work to fundraiser auctions & the like. Once you donate something, be it an original or a print, the barrage of requests begins to snowball. I’ve spoken to several other artists who have had the same experience & none of us are considered “well known”. I’m sure lots of other industries get similar requests & yes, I’m happy to support the charities that I believe in, but at some point it’s just not feasible. Also, please do not patronize me with the adage, “But it’ll be great exposure for your work!” Great! Tell my landlord I’ll be paying rent this month with “exposure”. I’m sure that’s totally cool.

By a long shot, the most ridiculous fundraiser for which I’ve been asked to donate something was this: a lowly gaming company was in desperate need of funds to re-do their patio, where I presume the employees hang out. Quick! In the time it takes you to read this sentence, a struggling computer programmer may have to sit outside & smoke on a patio with cracks in it! CRACKS!!! Please donate now.

Um. No.

]]> http://www.acageybee.com/pne/1001/feed 0 http://www.acageybee.com/product-testing-will-it-last/940 http://www.acageybee.com/product-testing-will-it-last/940#comments Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:15:22 +0000 admin http://www.acageybee.com/?p=940 …Click to read more]]>

Brrrr! The Car Free Fest was chilly on Sunday, but I was delighted to see that the clouds didn’t keep folks away. I saw plenty of familiar faces and really wished I’d been able to wander around more. It’s tough when you’re a vendor working on your own; you’re pretty much stuck behind your table the entire day. Fortunately I had plenty of lovely customers plus tricky gusts of wind to keep me busy.

I did as best I could to change up my table display so it would be more weather-friendly, but alas, when the wind suddenly changed direction? I was not prepared. My new locket display sits sturdily on an easel & then was bracketed by two other heavy wood pieces so there was no way it was falling over. Until the wind switched things up & a strong gust came from behind knocking it to the ground along with all of my lockets! I scrambled to get everything picked up & carefully inspected every piece for damage. Luckily only one necklace showed any sign of trouble & it was a really minor fix (a charm fell loose). Phew!

And also – yay! I try to product test my lockets by wearing one myself (constantly), but to be honest, I’ve never really tried to damage the shiny resin that seals my artwork. I’m interested to see what happens after being worn for long periods of time & I hope that the precautions I’ve taken will keep the work from yellowing or fading for a very long time (so far, so good!). But I assumed that hitting the concrete would be sure to cause at least minor scratches on the resin, which is essentially a plastic. I hope that my customers aren’t planning to drag their lockets around on the driveway, but it’s still nice to know that they can withstand being flung to the ground, if necessary.

Image from A Survey of Print Permanence in the 4×6 Inch Consumer Digital Print Market

When I was researching printer ink longevity for selling my artwork, I thought the process they use to test each paper was interesting. They basically stick a sample print in a box & expose it to insane amounts of light for a month or two, then calculate the amount of fading. They’re able to extrapolate that data to figure out how long the print would last when exposed to an average amount of light. (I’m not sure how they get that figure, but they’re assuming some daylight, some tungsten light every day. I imagine the practical difference varies dramatically. A living room in Vancouver is going to get wayyyyy less UV exposure than a condo in California with floor to ceiling windows.) Three estimates are then given on how long a print will take to show signs of fading when: under glass, under UV-protected glass or in an archival album only exposed to light while being periodically looked at.

Obviously as someone who sells her artwork, I find this interesting, but also the geek in me finds it really cool. The printer technology that’s out now hasn’t been out for very long. There really hasn’t been any way for consumers to know if the claims that various brands of ink & paper are “archival” quality is true or not, so reading these reports has been an eye-opener. Nobody wants to just “wait & see” with their wedding photos, right?

Before this gets too (much) longer and boring-er, two things I was surprised by:

1) If you have a good quality printer at home, the photos you print may have a longer archival rating than the ones printed professionally at Costco or Walmart. I know printer & ink technology has come a long way, but I was really surprised by this.

2) If you want your photos or whatever else you’re printing to last more than a few years, don’t buy generic ink. Those ink cartridge refill places? Super cheap, but the ink is horrible for archival purposes. If you’re mostly printing papers that are going to be tossed (recycled) anyway, then this wouldn’t apply to you. But if you’re printing family photos or anything you think you’ll want to hang on to, the testing has shown that the standard rating for those cheapo inks is 5 years or less. Apparently you *do* get what you pay for.

You can download all of the tests from Wilhelm Imaging Research if you’d like to read more.

]]> http://www.acageybee.com/product-testing-will-it-last/940/feed 1 http://www.acageybee.com/investing-in-yourself/871 http://www.acageybee.com/investing-in-yourself/871#comments Fri, 16 Apr 2010 06:13:25 +0000 admin http://www.acageybee.com/?p=871 …Click to read more]]> I’ve been so up and down over the last few days that I’m sure my mister thinks I’m on crack. Why’s that, Miss Kris? Well, I’m going through what I’m sure a lot of small business owners lose sleep over – investing in inventory. Here’s how it goes…

I’m starting to plan new goodies for the summer markets (and my shop, of course), which is always lots of fun. I’m not sure which part of my job is the most fun actually – sketching and crafting up new ideas, pushing the paint around or coming up with new ways to send my characters off into the world (think pendants, magnets, stickers etc.). They all allow me to flex my creative muscles in different ways and they all remind me how much I love making art for living. Yay! (<<< that would be the crackhead high)

This week I’ve ordered:

• new postcards from the print shop (plus envelopes and plastic sleeves to package them all up in)
• pretty new twine for tying up packages
• new pendant styles (plus necklace chain and clasps and beads and the thingies that allow me to attach the beads etc.)
• 600 one inch buttons

This is on top of all of the frames I just bought for my solo show (plus some extra ones, just cuz they were awesome).

Typing that list out? Made my stomach do flips.

While I’m super excited about new products for the shop and for the summer markets, holy mother of god is it scary to spend that much money!!! Especially without having any clue how long it will take me to sell enough of those things to make it back. This would be the part where I come down from the excited high of NEW SHINY STUFF and start to panic. This is the crash.

Fortunately (unfortunately?) there is no rehab for this particular issue. I don’t have buyer’s remorse, exactly. I run a business. I need to sell things to make a living. All I’m doing is investing in my business, investing in myself, really, by purchasing new things to sell.

The nervous part is not knowing *which* things are the ones that will sell. And nobody know this.

When it comes to painting, I try to shut off the business part of my brain & paint what makes me happy, what inspires me. I do have a vague idea of which paintings are more popular than other ones based on print sales and comments from customers, but I mostly design new products based on which paintings *I* like the best. If I’m going to be the one sitting behind a table on a hot Sunday afternoon, I want to be 100% in love with everything on my table. I know I can (& probably should) try to imagine what other market demographic borgs would want, but really? As long as I would buy it myself, I think I’m good.

So, what to do?

Breathe.

Trust that I’m on the right path. I love what I’m doing, I love the work I’m creating and other people will too.

Yes, it may take time to turn a profit on the new purchases, but that’s OK. All businesses go through this part – investing in supplies, new equipment, new products, packaging. I’m growing & not all growth feels good. It feels scary to step out of your comfort zone & try something new, but what’s the worst case scenario? I’m stuck with 600 AWESOME buttons! If they’re a complete dud this summer, I can always give them away as little “thank yous” with new orders.

One more idea? Pour a big glass of wine before I open my next credit card bill.

photo: Arlo Bates