I’ll try to keep up the newsletters but honestly, only those art gurus NOT creating art are the ones who go on and on about how YOU too can be an artist . I like to think that those of us who do live our lives as self employed artists, share the same highs and lows that artists from every previous century have faced. None of them had the time nor was it even an ideal, to wonder about “what is art?” They worked at the craft they were best suited to and that helped them make a living. Period.

So in keeping with evaluating the ROI on our time writing articles on making a living as an artist, it will be easier and more cost effective to share a few things here and there via Facebook. Because honestly, if you have not taken up the challenges to become an artist in the 5 years we have been sharing our knowledge, then you simply aren’t going to.  This lifestyle is not for the faint of heart.

SO pop over, add your comments, get inspired.

Theresa and Steve

This past year I have made more of a transition to  our Facebook page …and that’s to help me out. I pretty much work all the blogs, newsletters, etc.  single handed. So if there are far fewer posts that is the reason! Of course all of you are all welcome to add your comments, recommendations, etc here and on our FB page!

The other reason I have not posted as much is, yes, you guessed it, work!. As artists whose every bill is paid solely from the sales of our art, our priority is creating and selling our art.

So I have about 20 minutes this morning, here in front of the fire with hot coffee on a cold rainy (and not sure why it’s not snowing!) 37 degree morning here in NC. We plan to leave to see family in Pennsylvania tomorrow where I KNOW there is snow and return just after New Years.

We worked our tails off this month! Steve painted enough to need ice on his shoulder each night a week before Christmas and I kept just as busy with the portraits, the deliveries , the art classes and the displays. We both were zapped with some creeping crud around Thanksgiving and hacked our way through the studio for two weeks…but hey, we got through it!  There is an old saying “Make hay while the sun shines” and for every month where the sales are overwhelming, there are two months where they are so so and 1, sometimes  2 during the year where I wonder what a regular paycheck would feel like! Then I remember the days where I did not want to work and drove through the countryside at random, walked wooded trails or took out a kayak or spent the day working in my herb and flower garden or just messed about with random art for the fun of it….and I think “Nah-h-h!”

So we’ll be sending out Jan newsletter when we return and I will share just HOW we are able to “live the life of an artist”.  SO if that doesn’t keep you on pins and needles, nothing will
To see that Steve and I are real people, below is a list of our FB pages. Don’t like or use FB? You should…many of our collectors respond quicker to our messaging through FB than even the phone!

Happy NEW Year!

Theresa    www.facebook.com/MTheresaBrown
Steve         http://www.facebook.com/stephen.filarsky

www.facebook.com/artcareerexperts

Although I have shared my insights and successes about social networking before, (especially Facebook) , there is nothing I can improve upon in the following article from marketing book author, Penny Sansevieri!

I am constantly encouraged at how many artists, once they see their business as a business,  discover that ALL businesses operate in essentially the same fashion..and that their business is no different when it comes to the basics such as marketing, social networking, customer relations, etc.

Enjoy this nice, clearly written article from a writer’s perspective and see how it applies to you as an artist!

http://www.jerrysartarama.com/blog/post/2011/04/04/The-Power-of-Social-Networks-by-M-Theresa-Brown.aspx

Sometimes I wonder what we all did before the computer?  I used to write in diary type journals and kept a garden journal complete with layouts and sketches. I would sit under the sycamore tree on a nice morning, coffee in hand, dogs at mt side and write quietly. When my children were very small, I got up an hour early and actually worked on cross stitch!

Now I still have coffee in hand in the morning. The dogs don’t lie next to me but wander around on the hardwood floors wondering if I’m going to feed them yet and I type away on my blog journal!  Of course I have to check emails….and that may lead to the news, a joke, a forward, deleting junk mail  and the next thing you know….2 hours are gone.

I usually have something to show for it. But I will not unless I plan!

So I have started getting up earlier and while the coffee splutters and computer is cranking up (broadband) , run up and down the outside length of stairs. A lot.  Nothing like exercise to get the heart and lungs working!  Plus I feel less guilty!  Coffee ready, computer on, I quickly scan the email. If there is nothing of immediate urgency, I stop. Feed dogs. Get moving to studio and outdoors.

Any change in your daily routine is good if it gets you away from things that tap into your creativity and energy.  Life is real and it happens and we cannot always control what happens but we might as well try to control SOME of the things.

An artist is different than most people. No matter how business like an artist may be or how focused, there are those moments where an artist MUST re-energize. It doesn’t take long. But one very simple method IS to move away from the computer!  I do not have a Blackberry right now. Maybe later I will.  But  right now, when I am away from a computer, I want to be away

If an artist is not careful, then some of the online avenues designed to help him or her in actuality, become anchors to their careers!  Just as we have seen friends become addicted to online computer games, so it can happen with Twitter, Facebook or any of the many many online social networks that occupy many people’s time. The computer takes away from studio time. It takes away from family time. It can take away creativity!

UNLESS you take steps to monitor you time and make the most of the time that you do spend on it! The computers will not go away. Use them to enhance your life and your career. But set your own limits just as you do with your art. So many hours here, so many areas there. I have actually made a list of what I need to check when I go online.  It has worked well. Otherwise I get caught up with mundane topics that simply take up my time!

It does not work every day. I am not my usual disciplined self today BUT hey I am sharing this blog with you! The only time most of us use our computer time wisely is if we have a busy day planned or an appointment scheduled. But think of what you would accomplish if you had that attitude every day !

So  run a test!  Make a list of the areas that you HAVE to check and do it in a timely manner. Reply, post, lurk, etc. but then, walk away.

And as to that hand written journal that I used to keep…well maybe I’ll get into that journaling art everyone is mentioning…it’s nota  new concept  but maybe, just maybe, an early morning hands on project is good for the soul!