Beaux Arts Bizarre 2009

Last week I participated in the Beaux Arts Bizarre held at the Missouri Theatre in Columbia, Missouri. This is the second year that I've had a booth with my friends Jolene and Beth. The Missouri Theatre is a beautiful old building that was recently renovated. Just seeing all the work that has been done to restore it is awesome and to have a booth on the stage for 3 days is pretty amazing.

I enjoy sharing a booth with Beth and Jolene. It's one of the few times the three of us get to spend time together without children dominating our activities and conversation. Between the three of us we have 7 kids, all under the age of 10 and most under the age of 8. Whenever we do a booth together, we call ourselves "3 Moms Creative Outlet" but individually, we each have our own Etsy shops. Our creations are different, but similar enough to blend and display nicely together. Here are some pics of our booth:

I like doing fairs because it's nice to get feedback about what kinds of things I've been working on. I also enjoy meeting people and talking with them. It's really fun getting to know some of the other artists. But doing art fairs as a way to make money has not been very successful for me. Getting product ready and setting up, taking down, etc. is a lot of hard work. So far, I've done better at a gallery showing and selling consignment at Artlandish Gallery downtown. I don't want to give up on art fairs, but I hope to start figuring out how to make more money than I spend. Maybe in the spring I'll have better opportunities to sell art. We'll see.

Printer Update and Wood Things

I know you've been on the edge of your seats wondering how the printer saga will end. I'm happy to say that I purchased a brand spankin' new printer from Office Depot today. It's a Brother MFC-290C and I believe we are going to be very happy together!

I just wanted to post a few photos of some wooden things I've been painting. I especially love the mirror and candle stick holders with matching napkin rings. Would love to do more of these in the future. These photos were taken at the Beaux Arts Bizarre last weekend. Our booth was on the stage, so we had some "dramatic" lighting. I plan on writing more about the art fair, but for now I would just like to show you some pictures.

These are now for sale at Artlandish Gallery on Walnut Street in Columbia, Missouri. They would make great Christmas/holiday gifts, don't you think?

The Printer Dilemma

In October 2008, I decided I needed a new printer. I wanted one that would copy, print and scan. I looked online, researched and found one that was compatible with my budget. I bought it, brought it home, set it up and loved it. The printing was great, the scanning was awesome and I was a happy woman.

Approximately one week after the warranty on my printer expired, so did the printer. It would no longer pull paper through properly and I had no idea how to fix it. I've asked a couple of people if they knew how to fix printers, but it seems to be that it is more economical to throw printers out than to have them fixed. That seems to be the ongoing theme of our disposable culture. I even took the printer apart to see if by some miracle, I could fix it myself. Once I got it all put back together, I tried to run it, but it's out of ink and I don't think I'm going to run out and buy $50 in ink just to find out if all my poking around fixed the problem. I could buy a new printer with 50 bucks!

I've been without a printer for weeks now and I'm ready to have my printing freedoms restored. However, I have a very limited budget and I don't want to buy another garbage printer. What to do, what to do.....

If you have any good recommendations for printers under $100, feel free to share. I know $100 isn't much, but I think I should be able to get something halfway decent for that amount of money. It doesn't have to last until I retire, but it does have to last beyond it's warranty.

Some Are Born With It, Some Are Not...

Everyone is born with gifts and talents. Thankfully, everyone has something different they are good at. Think how boring it would be if we were all the same and if we all had the same gifts. It might also be kind of dangerous. If all people were like me, who would run the Emergency Rooms, the Stock Market and other intense things that involve high drama, quick thinking, and blood? I'm glad God made people who want to (and are good at) work in hospitals, be leaders, teach gradeschoolers (junior high schoolers and high schoolers), run the country, preach, design faster computers, develop better sewer systems, etc. I certainly have benefited from all of these things.

There are other "callings" that I wish I were better suited for like being a singer/songwriter, ballet dancer, farmer, Martha Stewart (or anyone else who is incredibly talented with all things domestic and has made big bucks showing others how to be).

Alas, I am not those things. I am also not a business minded or money saavy individual. This poses a bit of a problem since I think I want to run a little business with my art work. I can accept that I'm not a ballet dancer, nor will I ever be one, but I really want to succeed at business. So I keep making silly mistakes that someone with a business mind would never make. For instance, not charging enough shipping for something I'm selling on Ebay. Or not knowing how to get a fair price for an item I'm selling (not just on Ebay). I'm trying to learn from my mistakes and trying to take advantage of resources that will make me smarter. Until then, I guess I'm going to be giving Ebay buyers some pretty darn good steals...uh, I mean "deals".

Conquering Fear - On a Small Scale

Do you have those things in your life that you really want to try but are letting fear or worry hold you back? I have lots of those things. Most of them are quite silly, but I let the fear or worry keep me from doing them anyway.

For years I have wanted to make my own books. Small books, big books, beautiful, wonderful and creative books. I bought several books about making books. I've checked out books on book making from the library. I've seen wonderful hand made books on Etsy and at art shows. But I was always too afraid to try making one myself. I thought they would be too difficult to make and take too much time. A few weeks ago, I made a few small books that I put together and hand stiched to include in block printing kits I put together. They turned out kind of cute, they were fairly easy and I was happy with the result.

Last week, Artlandish Gallery offered a workshop in traditional Japanese bookbinding and I was privileged to attend. The workshop was taught by artist Sonya Nicholson who did a great job of breaking down the steps to building a book. (Check out some examples of Sonya's work here).

I really love the way my book turned out and it was not as difficult as I had always imagined it would be. Isn't that the way with things we fear? Mostly, they are never quite as bad as we build them up to be? The other thing is, that since I was able to finally make something I had always wanted to make and I liked the result, I felt very happy. I still love looking at my beautiful book and dreaming of a whole new avenue to release some creative energy. As if I really needed another thing to add to my list of things I love to make! Oh well! :)

Here are some photos of my first book made with Japanese bookbinding: