31.5.15

Here we go again.  If you read the previous post where I mentioned a site called Patreon I was totally hopeful this site could help me gain some support both financially and professionally, open up my world to new people interested in owning some of my work ......... well, it turns out not so much.  It turns out you're pretty much on your own, its up to you to bring in the patrons by basically soliciting your friends and then hope that blossoms into attracting new patrons. There was also one suggestion from a member of the site that the members 'patronize' each other to look as though there is interest in their projects to get the ball rolling so to speak.....say what?  Well, since posting my attempt to get support on my facebook page I've gotten zero support, other than 3 friends 'sharing' the post and that just added to the  humiliation of learning even more people had no interest in my work, or helping.... ouch.  Call me silly but I wasn't asking for hand outs, I thought $5 for a giclee print was more than reasonable.  So now do I get caught up in questioning my work, my friends?  No......I'm not going there, well......maybe for a second ;-)
While I was beginning to gather an email list together of previous buyers of my work for a mass mailing it dawned on me........why would I direct all these people to a website (Patreon) that doesn't help promote my efforts and takes 5% of any money that comes in?  Shoot, when I went to the site and looked under the category I had listed myself under I wasn't even showing up in the listings?  So I will send people instead to my restructured ACEO website to be able to purchase a giclee print for the same amount I was asking for in 'patronage' on the other site.  They will be able to choose a print and click a Paypal button right there, and I'm also adding a page that will link to my current ebay auctions.
Just call me bruised but resilient :-) And check out the new look of the ACEO website.

23.5.15

Its been a while since I've posted, so what have I been up too? Not much unfortunately. Ebay sales are slow and the house cleaning work is starting to get to me so I've been down in the dumps a bit. I'm still painting but with less enthusiasm :-(  Here's something I tried just for fun.  Its on ebay right now.  I'll be painting more in the next few days.

Anyway I found an interesting website a couple days ago Patreon.com that helped lift my spirits or at least raised my hope.  Its a site for creative people where they can solicit patronage.  You fill out a profile, talk about your goals, post your work and ask people to pledge money every month to help you achieve your goals.  The patrons can subscribe to ongoing monthly payments but also stop donating anytime they want.  Pledges can be as low as $1 a month or as high as you/they like, and you give/offer rewards or gifts for each level of donation. You post your work on the site so patrons can follow your progress and interact with you. Its patterned after all the other crowd funding sites but the twist is to have the pledges support you month to month rather than support one particular project or cause.  So I jumped in and filled out a profile and launched my page today.  I just wish I could become a full time artist and stop cleaning, and lack of money has always been an obstacle to getting further in my career.  I'd love to take classes or study with an established artist, buy my brushes somewhere other than Walmart, get good photos and prints of my work.....my macbook will no longer update it's so old, my camera is 10+ yrs old and lets not forget my 23 yr old car!  Sigh........anyway, I figure I've nothing to lose......ha, obviously and hope is a good thing :-)  Fingers crossed!
Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone, hope you're having a wonderful time :-)

7.4.15

Click the ebay new listings link in the sidebar if interested :-)

Wow....my first return.  I don't know whether to be flattered or hurt?  I guess I'm more hurt, I'm not use to being called a liar.  The person who purchased this painting.....
wants to return it because she thinks its a print and not an original painting.  I explained that it is a painting and that I haven't had giclee prints made of that piece yet, but she probably won't believe that either.  Oh well.........anyone interested?  I'll put it back on ebay when I get it.
Meanwhile here's a new one......


30.3.15

Little Blue Teapot is selling :-)
But the Copper Pot did not......not yet anyway.  It can now be found for sale here. .....
it along with a couple of others that did not sell on ebay.  Oh, and 105 prints are also listed for sale.
Paintings on art cards are just $15 and prints are too but the prints come with a black matte and snap frame, I've listened to my buyers and this seems to be where they are comfortable price wise.
After two days of trying out different themes and color combinations I decided to just go basic black and white for the ACEO site.  The new site is where my work will be available from now on.  No more auctions, well maybe a listing now and then to try and sneak in a message of where to find more ;-) I'll be sending out an email to past buyers and will be more diligent about using social networking to get the word out.
I dug out my picture hanging system from when I had my shop in Florida and rehung the ACEO's I've purchased over the past year or so.  I had taken them down when I thought I might move and didn't want to rehang them using nails.....so many holes to patch!
Notice at the end of the row one spot is empty, I lost a clip somewhere along the way.  I searched online for replacements and my goodness they're pricey little buggers, average just under $5 for one clip!  I did find a packet of 10 available from a place in England for a good price around $15 but it'll have to wait till I get some bills paid.


10.3.15


My latest sales on ebay:

 This baby chick is going to be part of a group I'm going to create as a learn your alphabet set.  
And a few cherries still looking for a home:






5.3.15

OK......first, yes I know I'm crazy, but I kind of consider this a victory over my usual 'cut and run' response to challenges......I'm not going to be moving, not anytime soon anyway.  Since making that decision to move I've felt uneasy, there wasn't that sense of peace you get when you do the right thing.  I spent a lot of time getting things set up here to make life as smooth as possible, and to leave with nothing only to start all over just doesn't make sense. The loss of work threw me into a state of panic and that is not a place where good decisions are made.  My effort will be put into replacing that lost income, and I trust that will be a lot easier (and more sensible ;-) than throwing everything away and starting over from scratch.
These three paintings sold :-)



3.3.15

Long distance apartment hunting is proving to be a challenge.  I've inquired about a few apartments and I've gotten zero response from anyone.  I've tried again this morning and will see if that has any result.
Here's the latest listing for ebay......

1.3.15

Shortly after my previous post I decided to return to the area I know best.....WPB/Lake Worth.
There is already a strong possibility of work (art work :-) when I return, the family I did this work for

(not the paintings, the wall) have moved to a new home :-)  And the decorator I do work for (and also commission the above mural)


 is happy to hear I'm returning.

And...........I'll get to see these gorgeous two more often.....
Now, I need to go out and move my car from the snow route street, more is on the way :-(

28.2.15

Well, the apartments in the previous post didn't pan out, income too low.  Seems there's this tiny little window you have to fit into, you can't make below $28,000 and change and you can't make more than $31,000 and change for the apartment size I wanted, tight fit eh?
Regardless, I've once again thrown caution to the wind and given 60 days notice.  I've no idea where I'm going from here,  I just know I can't afford to stay here any longer.  I'm sorry to have to give this place up.
So.......sigh........its a wide open field, we'll see where I end up this time.  I'll post as I search the possibilities.

23.2.15

I'm so honored to have one of my ACEO paintings chosen to be the header image on a facebook ACEO group page that I recently joined.  I gather that they change them out every couple of weeks, I'm really flattered.
I was doing some more apartment hunting again today, and not 'feeling it' for any local areas I decided to take another look at So Florida where I lived for many years.  I came across one senior community in West Palm Beach that I thought looked pretty nice and wrote to them.

Not too shabby eh?  I got a response right away and chatted back and forth via email with a really lovely person, she was so helpful and friendly. There's no promise of a vacancy that would work with my needing to give my 60 day notice at the end of this week, but my goodness she was certainly pulling for me. I find out at the end of the week or early next week if there will be a vacancy, they also require 60 day notifications from their residents.  I can't imagine anyone wanting to leave but.....fingers crossed.

22.2.15

I'm so happy!....all my small paintings have sold, time to get back to producing.

I spent allllllllll day online looking for a more affordable apartment.  My rent here is going up beginning in May and with the loss of some of my 'outside' jobs on top of that, its getting harder to justify staying here.  I have the rest of this week to decide for sure if I'm going to leave, I need to give 60 days notice.  I hate when that's required, it leaves finding a new place so hard, not to mention scarey.  What you see available now isn't what you're going to find two months from now.  I don't have a particular location in mind, its all about the money this time.  I looked at so many places....sigh.  Pottstown, PA looks affordable, its about 45 mins. to an hour west of here.  But then again I saw some apartments that may be affordable (conflicting reports online about price) that are still here in Philly.  I have always loved these buildings and someone has finally renovated a few of them, they were so run down as was the neighborhood.
Some sites say they start at $900 and another site (senior housing site) says they start at $600.  Right across the street from these is Fairmount Park....what a view!  I've inquired about these and a couple of other places.  I'd love to get this settled in my mind asap.

16.2.15

It scares me what could be out there to help me that I still don't know about.  See lists (and links) of the top ranking etsy sellers at Craftcount.
Check out these cool rings I discovered on etsy made from silver coins.

14.2.15

Another online art lesson site I just discovered: http://www.artapprenticeonline.com/

Just another day in the life of me

Well things just keep getting better.............NOT!    How could I have had things set up so perfectly just a few short months ago......back in my favorite apartment, 5 days a week of work all close to home.......and now?........down to two days of work a week and my car breaks down.
Yesterdays wind chill was near zero, I went out to my car and surprisingly (remember its a 1991 no frills car) it started right up but.......nothing would work, radio, heater, wipers etc all would not work.  And without the heater it was harder to chip the ice off the inside (yes inside!) of the windshield. I kept the car running for a long time to see if it was just a freezing event.   I gave up about twenty minutes later, called my job (offered to pick me up), turn off the car but then turned it on again right away to see what would happen and boom!! everything came on in a flash!  But what's that funny smell?........it smelled like something was burning but only for a few seconds.
I called my job back and said I was on my way.  I got there fine but now I couldn't get the key out of the ignition?  Went in the house did my work, went to leave and the car would not go.  The engine turned on but then would shut right down.  Had to call a tow truck ($80, my days wages and bill money), left the car with my mechanic and walked home in below freezing weather.  The mechanic called and said the ignition is broken and it'll be $550 to fix.  He did offered to rig it (cheaply) so I could use it cause I told him I was thinking about getting a newer car.  I spent the rest of yesterday afternoon and evening looking at cars online and contacted two dealers.  Daydreaming my life away.
This morning I woke up and knew I could not afford to buy a car.  I would of had to use a credit card for a down payment (then have to pay that off) along with monthly car payments and higher insurance rates.  There's no way on $200 a week I could afford to do that and pay my rent and bills too.......I'm so sad this morning :-(  I'm going to have to get the car fixed for real ($550) so I know its safe and now I'm going to have that credit card bill haunting me.  It'll be the first time I can't pay it off when its due, I'll have to make minimum payments which means I'll be charged interest (at 22+%).  Oiy vay !! 
Why is that the people who can afford it the least are always charged the most????  What kind of stupid sense does that make.  People with a good credit number can buy a car with little or 0 down with really low monthly payments........a person with limited income...NO.....the very people who need those kinds of deals?.......NO!!  You can go to a 'buy it here/pay for it here' place and buy a car for twice the monthly payment amount and of course the car cost more than at a regular dealer.  Its just like when you have a monthly utility bill and you can't pay it on time you get charged a late fee. If you're struggling already why are you being punished with additional burden??  How many people do you really think don't pay their bills on time on purpose?!  Ahhhhhh......and then there's the dollar stores......low prices?..sort of, but are they really?  Cheaply made, poor quality products that break and will need replacing, or food products sold in smaller quantities than normal or in smaller than normal packaging/containers. And grocery stores that claim to save you money then charge you to use a grocery cart and pay for the plastic bags to put your stuff in......guess you could just pull your car up to the cart that's now trapped behind the poles that prevent you from taking the cart into the parking lot and throw your loose groceries into your trunk and deal with it when you get home.  It was my first experience having to do that so of course now I know to take my own bags and use a basket instead of a cart (or not shop there anymore). The world just makes being economically challenged so attractive doesn't it?  The hole just gets deeper and deeper.  It just seems so unfair.
And me with no beer in the house ugh :-(

5.2.15

Remember when I posted some inspiration pictures of studio apartments to help guide me in setting up my own place?  This was one of my favorites....
and I always wished I could see more of the space.  Well ........... :-) I came across a youtube video of this apartment!!  And I was even happier when I learned it was (like mine) furnished mostly with thrift shop finds.


Oh......and here is my place, not quite as elegant or high end as the inspiration photo but its home :-)
 

26.1.15

Off and on light snow today and suppose to get heavy overnight.  Personally I'm hoping we just have over excited weather people on TV and the snow will be less than predicted, I don't like driving a 23 year old car in this kind of weather!
Got some more artwork done today and will continue on for the rest of the week.  I really depend on this additional income now that my outside work has been reduced to two days a week.  As always, click the link in the sidebar if interested.