It's the ART, Stupid

It's officially over, the smARTist telesummit... and it was so worth it. The panel of 13 diverse presenters was amazing; each brought their perspective to the table, and even though alot of the information overlapped, I found I responded to different people in different ways, so I was able to get so much out of the event. All of the information about "balancing your life" and "marketing your art" was inspiring and makes me want to go out and try everything at once.

But wait! I can't do that. In fact, I can't really do ANY of that. Yet.

Which brings me to my point:
it's the ART, stupid!

Okay, I've known this. I can't go out and promote something that doesn't exist. And while I HAVE made alot of artwork, I still don't feel I have that somewhat elusive "body of work". In other words, I've got to make more art, the result of which will be a better sense of my self and my art. Sounds good.

So the real work right now is the work.
(I knew that.)

SmARTist Telesummit continued...

I'm dashing off to the gym but because I listened to Claudine Hellmuth's telesummit class yesterday, I'm sitting down here, first! Listening to Claudine was like chatting with a good friend; now it's time to take some of her advice, and tweak a few things on the blog. Without being obsessive, mind you!

Gotta run; Underground Artist meeting here later this morning... think I'll listen to some more of the telesummit on my iPod while on the treadmill, instead of the usual kick-ass music...

Artist Person

I feel a little bit like Mr. Rogers this morning...
going out to my art studio in my "regular person" clothes, and changing into my "artist" clothes. It's only about 4 or 5 steps from the back door, but it's snowy and cold and I hate being cold, even for a few minutes. So I trot out there in my UGGs, and switch into my cheapo-Converse-rip-offs and sweatshirt... and become... "Artist Person"!

I haven't posted much this week, I'm too busy keeping up with the smARTist Telesummit. It's an over-the-phone lines conference on art marketing. So look for some (hopefully) innovative approaches from me this year....

Artwork-A-Week #2, Begun

Or, Art Workshops with Myself...

Aside from the "artwork-a-week" project, I decided to start 2008 with some "workshop" time... first, by exploring the "interference" acrylic paint colors that Golden makes. These are undeniably cool, (they sort of appear and dissappear in different light) and with the 3D work, I had a specific way of using them that filled in some areas with the interference color, and left other areas without. But the 2D surface is different because I don't have as much texture to work with. Or maybe I do, (one never knows!) but I want to master this paint on a flat surface too...

I started this piece from a cardboard base I made a while back; it's covered in papier mache. Just a plain square.... we'll see where it goes. I had to run to San Francisco over the past couple days, but it will be finished by Sunday. Although working on this second piece made me wonder if I can actually carry on with this "Artwork-A-Week" for the entire year! Yikes...

Also on the "to do" for this week is the SmARTist Telesummit (an art marketing conference), which I signed up for... On the way down to SF I listened to a recording of part of last year's telesummit, and it got me primed and ready for this year. So, look out.