October 26, 2012

How to Support an Artist without Spending a Dime

“Autumn Blessing” by Carrie Schmitt – click for info

This is a guest post by Carrie Schmitt.

As an artist, kindness and positive feedback have saved me when I’ve wanted to give up on my artistic journey, which for many of us are full of ups and downs. Not all artists are like me, but I know many personally that are. So this is our list of how important you are to our success.

Encourage us.
A kind word can motivate artists for weeks to keep creating. If you are attending an art event, talk to us. We love that!

Leaving a kind comment on a blog, Facebook, or other social media has the same inspiring effect on us.

Share our work.
Whether it is by word of mouth or through social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.), sharing artwork you love is a huge compliment and help to artists who are trying to get their work out there.

Have a blog? Write a review or invite the artist to do a guest blog post. Have a “Favorites” list? Include artists that inspire you.

Pick a few of your favorite artists and consider yourself a modern day patron dedicated to supporting their creative endeavors. It’s an act of community service! Everybody — individually and collectively — benefits from the arts in physical, psychological, and spiritual ways.

Create a wish list.
Ask for artwork for birthdays and other holidays. Let your friends and family know that you like to support artists, collect artwork, and value handmade and original items.

Tread lightly.
Focus on artwork that moves you rather than criticizing art that does not. This might sound like an obvious statement, but several of my artist friends have received negative and downright hurtful comments about their artistic ability on their blogs. Art is very personal to the artist and is often a reflection of our souls. It is an act of bravery to share your art — honor that.

Walk in our shoes.
You are one of us. You are creative by the very essence of being human. Create something. Notice how it makes you feel, how it affects your energy and mood.

There is part of our own personal story infused in each piece we create. Each piece can also represent hours of joy, frustration, questioning, confusion, and exhilaration. We are sharing a piece of our soul with you; there is emotion, hope, dreams, breakthroughs, realizations, and exhilaration in each piece we create.

Art is so much more than art. It is an internal human experience in visual form.

Art is a powerful and moving experience. Take the journey with us. Let’s create something beautiful together.

- – -
Carrie Schmitt is an artist and writer who believes in the transformative power of kindness and gratitude. Her paintings, created in her mountain farmhouse in Washington, are known for their color play and vibrant energy. Sometimes she can’t sleep at night because she is so excited to paint the next day. You can check out her website, carrieschmittdesign.com and find her on Facebook and Pinterest.

Filed Under: Dialogue Tagged With: , 18 Comments
June 25, 2012

art to inspire: 9 Inspiring Quotes to get you Through the Summer

The sun is shining and the flowers have bloomed – it is finally summer, the season of rest, relaxation, and sitting by the pool. For me, summer is not just about sunburns and tiny umbrellas, though; it is also the season of reflection and regrouping.

Now, I know that the end of the year is the time typically reserved for these types of things, but the middle of the year is just as good.

Why? Depending on what industry you are in, summers are typically slower than the other seasons, with customers on vacation and kids out of school – leaving you with more time to plan for the next six months and evaluate your progress thus far.

Make sense?

Good.

So while you’re resting, reflecting, and regrouping this summer, here are 9 inspirations to get you through the slow(er) season…

(above) 1. Let the Flower Bloom

2. Let the Sun Shine

3. Find a Path

4. Do Not Forget to be Awesome

5. Live with Passion

6. Ma’am Step Away from the Computer

7. One Step

8. Adventure

9. Don’t Give Up

Have your own quotes to share?

Leave your response in the comments below.

Today’s article is my last post for Art to Inspire here on Scoutie Girl. I have absolutely loved being a contributor here for the last three and half years, but have decided it is time to move on to pursue other interests. Thank you so much to Tara for having me and all the amazing Scoutie Girl readers who have followed my columns here over the years. I hope you’ll continue to follow me on my blog, papernstitch.

Filed Under: art to inspire, brittni {paper n stitch}, Buy You, For You Tagged With: , , , , , , , 4 Comments
May 23, 2012

opportunity: your obligation as an artist

This post first appeared in April 2011.

now's the time by encourage creations

notecard by encouragecreations - click image for more info

We spend a lot of time waiting for opportunities to fall into our laps.

We wait & wait – watching others take advantage of lucky chances, wishing that was us. Art isn’t about waiting though, it’s about stretching yourself, making stuff happen.

Your obligation as an artist is to create opportunities for others.

Sound crazy? Think about it. A traditional artist creates a product that others engage visually. It creates an opportunity to change, to challenge, or to inspire. If art is about new perspectives, new perspectives are about opportunity.

If you’re a less traditional artist like me, your art may create opportunities by connecting people, by informing, or by questioning. The opportunities may be direct – artist to patron – or indirect – patron to patron.

Artist, how will you create an opportunity for someone else today?

Filed Under: Plot Notes Tagged With: , , , , 4 Comments
May 16, 2012

Piece by piece

At the Edge of the Unknown

Making art and making a living. Lots of folks here on Scoutie Girl and elsewhere have plenty of goodness to share on the topic.

My angle: I agree with Lewis Hyde – author of The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World – that artists (and other folks with gifts to give to the world) have always put food on the table in a few different ways. Looking at this historically can help us creatives remember that we are part of a long lineage of those who have gone before.

Hyde writes:

[T]here are three primary ways in which modern artists have resolved the problem of their livelihood: they have taken second jobs, they have found patrons to support them, or they have managed to place the work itself on the market and pay the rent with fees and royalties.

I want to look at the last of these first: selling the actual products of your artistic labor.

With my new album, “at the edge of the unknown,”  being released as we speak, issues surrounding selling our artwork is definitely “up” for me right now. Every time my phone buzzes with an alert from Paypal that someone else has bought a CD (a CD, can you believe it, in this day and age?!?) I feel a little thrill. And when I put them in the mail I know I will be thinking: “There it goes, one sweet shiny disc with all of the love that I tried to squeeze onto it, winging out to spread hope in the world.”

At the same time, I feel torn. Do I actually want to try to make money from selling CDs (or downloads) or do I want to be able to give my music away freely? Which approach will actually feel more nourishing to me? And how can I make my approach to sharing my music with the world best line up with my larger mission of helping people find their truest voices? As another recent post here on Scoutie Girl pointed out, we don’t want to monetize everything we make.

One danger Hyde points out is that relying on sales of your art to feed your family can lead toward making pieces based too much on what we think will sell.

How do we balance the urge to give people what they want with the need to return over and over again to that deepest Well of Creativity itself?

And then, some art is priceless; we give away what is most precious, like the quilt my sister-in-law is making in honor of my wedding.

Are you wrestling with questions of selling your art? How to price what feels priceless? Does the question of making things for market trouble you, or do you feel like: “People pushing to pay vast quantities of money for my art? I should have such problems!” Or have you made peace with piece work? Let me hear you!

Filed Under: Buy You, For You, Finding Your Voice Tagged With: , , , , , , , , 1 Comment
May 7, 2012

artist or artiste? it’s all in the money…

Cash Tree by GM tree courtesy iStock

…or is it? Since attending The Art of Earning Live in February, I have been very aware that I need to change my prices (go higher) and attitude towards money – both in earning it and spending it. We have been taught in our culture that money is what we must strive for, and it is the root of all evil. Take the lyrics if this once popular song (Used in commercials still). Money, money, money, money…

Towards the end of the Art of Earning seminar Adam King said to me:

“You should not be selling anything for less than $1,000.”

I am unsure if he meant that literally, or as a metaphor for selling myself short, i.e. not valuing myself and my work. Either way I get it. If I am going to be a real artiste (*by my definition, a higher level artist) I need to act like one and price myself accordingly. I need to take myself and my work seriously! My highest priced item currently is $255, the lowest $25.

I talked with some friends about the idea of taking away all the tiny prints, 5×5 and 5×7 for instance, priced at $25 and only selling 8×10, or even 11×14 and above, at a higher price. Two of them vehemently disagreed. One said, What about the people that can’t afford more than $25, and what if they want to start small and see how it looks before buying big? Being one of those in the category of “can’t afford” currently, it is hard to say I am out pricing myself and some of my friends.

So, what if my “ideal customer” is not me and my friends?

Hmm I have to admit it makes me a tad uncomfortable, and so does the fact that, due to medical bills, and the awareness I may not live to a very old age, I need to earn more than ever before. My husband earns enough to keep us afloat when things are going well. Add the co-pays we are dealing with and we are more like knee-deep or more. I don’t need worry about money to take up my time when I am trying to heal. So, what is the solution?

It is time to take myself seriously, and hope my friends will too. I am an artiste!

(“Artiste,” as it turns out, is just French for artist, although it can indicate a musician more so than a painter. I however have always seen it used as if to indicate an artist of higher caliber.)

What does this mean?

  • I am going to be hiking my prices.
  • I will only be showing and selling my very best work.*
  • I will only be showing at venues that support the value of my work.**
  • I will stand behind the work, and why it is worth what I charge.

Does this make sense to you? Do you price art with respect for your self and work?

For me I think the key is in how I look at it. As I say in the title, it’s all about the money…or is it? Well it is not. It’s all about the value. I put my very best self into my work, and price it like a sale item at a garage sale. Well, not quite that bad, but you get it. If I feel the work is gallery or museum worthy I don’t want to price it as if I’m selling at Target.

If I don’t take myself seriously no one else will, right?

There is one other troubling aspect to this decision. What do I do with the work I am currently selling at too low a price? It seems wrong to sell it at a higher price when people have purchased it for perhaps far less (I have already raised my prices once or twice).

Would you be upset if you purchased something for $100 and found out it used to cost $25?

I am keeping this short and sweet as it is difficult to sit at the desk these days. (For any of you that have been following there is good news! My spinal fusion has been moved up to this coming Wednesday the 9th. I will likely be unable to post in two weeks as I am scheduled to, unless that new laptop falls from the sky, or they start growing on trees.) I look forward to returning pain free to continue this discussion.

Please let me know what you think here in the comments! I really need your opinion.

From the Heart,

 

* I do not have a lot of pieces in my shop, but I do have some mediocre pieces there while I keep hidden some of my best. Time to purge my portfolio.

** For instance, no craft fairs where there are crocheted toilet paper covers, OK?

Filed Under: Buy You, For You, Conversation Starters, Plot Notes Tagged With: , , , , , , 12 Comments