not quite balmy.......but we're warm! and tuesday lookback humor

new scarf

(and i edited to add tuesdays archival humor click HERE)

we got a new back up kero heater.
i ordered it sunday online to be picked up at lowes
bernie ran to get it, we prepped it monday, and set it up yesterday
ran it a few hours in the living room- turned it off when we went to bed
wow
this morning the studio was 74...
the woodstove didn't have to work as hard
the birds water wasn't frozen
and it was actually warm
not florida in august warm.......more like PA in May warm
it's -4 this morning out side and windy!

we did do a few other things... covered the basement windows with plastic
etc

now i know it's been a few days since i posted, bernie and i have been rushing around working to make sure we get through this latest cold snap.
i cooked a lot of stuff ahead due to his schedule change and also ....with the cold snap we used to hear transformers exploding all over the mountain, and we'd lose power
so this way with the food already cooked, it's just fast to reheat on the woodstove
i finally was able to uv coat my digital prints to fill my order during a brief heat wave of 45 degrees
(i didn't open the etsy store yet but i am starting to get orders anyway! which shocked me!)

over the years we've acquired more and more emergency equipment and experience.
we've got oil lamps, and candles, flash lights ( i am really liking the 'headlamps)
water storage, food storage, back up heat
(for back up heat you need to have things that either don't need electric to heat you....or have a battery start.......so woodstove and kero heater for now.... and maybe adding a pellet or biomass stove in the front room for later)

and over the years i've also realized that having food cooked, and waiting helps too....
boy it sure helped us during the power outage of sandy! and we had that generator!
i found it takes a few days to get used to the 'new normal'

anyway.... we're warm, we're fed and we still have electric!

the other good news is that even with the really frigid temps plus windchill, the water buckets did not freeze.....
so i know that the birds are ok
although i am still a bit worried about the quail....but they have a LOT of hay, and each other
plus a lot of food so they should be fine
another thing i noticed is that the birds eat a LOT more during cold weather
i give the chickens extra stuff like suet or even chicken fat....

(they are omnivores and even cannibals so i don't feel bad about it as they will eat each other or a weaker chicken given half a chance - actually that whole 'vegetarian chicken feed' is not healthy for chickens, as they will and should eat bugs etc, it's natural and healthy for them)

i should probably figure something fatty for the ducks....but since i have muscovy and they don't actually have fat layers....relying instead on down to keep them warm,--- they too love their protein in the form of worms and bugs.... small mice, small birds..... reptiles etc..... they also love greens.... so they get some scraps from the kitchen too

we've been putting leftover cooking fats and stuff out for the wild birds and animals too
and luigi the button buck was back but i am hoping he's moved on now...

now with bernie's new schedule, and his location, he can stop at the provisioners to pick up the bulk chicken breasts when they are 1.65 a pound (not bad for boneless skinless, and not injected with saline either so you get what you paid for)-- i can call it in and it will be ready at the dock for him to just pay for and pick up

so are you folks staying warm? safe? i hope so
it's brutal weather out there
i know that the midwest and mountain regions are really in the deep freeze.... arctic type weather so you all stay safe

tis the season... and my brain is on hyper overdrive

good morning!!  it's not quite as cold as it's been.
good thing too,  as the log i put in the woodstove at 4am hadn't really caught, and things were cooling off down here. but thankfully  not quite enough for DA BOY to scream his fool head off at the very top of his lungs.

now i am so excited to show you, a photo of one of the prints.
 i liked it so much i signed it! ( yes the photo of the print is terrible but the print itself is WONDERFUL and i will take better photos for etsy)
i am giving my eyes a short rest and then continuing on with photographing and printing of the nest series and of the bird series.
and i will be taking much better pictures of the digital prints and uploading to etsy.

meanwhile i started a second series of nest paintings, these are larger, and i am hoping will be a worthy successor to the first series.
the second series at this point is planned to be 6 paintings of 8x10 with a larger print size, of i think maybe 11X14 (which at this point will have to be commercially printed)

as many of you can see there are some changes going on around here, one is i have returned to daily posting on the blog. this is something i did for years then stopped when i realized people actually read me!...... i guess now i am thinking ok-- the more the merrier, although it may take me a bit to find my way again.

now today, i am continuing with yesterday's list.--

right now, i have a billion creative things going on in my head, series of paintings that i had planned as books, series i want to paint, crafts that i do, that i want to put together instructions for so the art isn't lost, and all the other things i been babbling on about.

over the years i learned that it actually is pretty easy (in a way) to do some really big projects by writing down an outline in a notebook.
i take a part of a page for where i am (that's where i am starting from)
i have a page for where i need to end up
then i plan the steps in between
i use post it notes in different colors for things such as  'supplies needed'
and then i sit and figure what i need to do step by step
the other thing i do, which normal people may not have to do, is transfer each step to it's own index card
and then only put the ONE CARD in front of me where i can see it.
(don't laugh, but it's how i clean the bathroom too- it's also how i planned the garden, the freezer meals, batch cooking etc-- i just wish i wasn't housekeeping impaired, you can actually write in the dust on the bookcases, and we named the cobwebs!)

so for the print project, where i am starting from is completed paintings
where i am going is digital prints available through etsy
my steps are:

1. research cameras 
2. research how to take art prints
3. research lights and lighting
4. take photographs of the paintings under different lighting to test the best
5. sort, and prep the digital files for printing
6. research printing options, paper and inks
7. test print and quality check
8. print
9. coat with uv coating
10. research shipping options
11. add costs up
12. write listings
13. photograph prints

i may have some sub steps and if i do i list them on the back of the index card
i hope this helps someone as when i was first learning how to make dolls (way back in the late '70s)
i remember how overwhelmed i was when i realized what i had to do and how much work i had ahead of me......i couldn't think straight!, then one day i decided to do it this way and everything clicked!
i reached most of my goals (the biggest one was to be in Nutshell news magazine and to get a cover, and yes...yes i did!)

my main project is the etsy store,  but i also have a second project of submitting to agents
and a third project of planning a kickstarter (that one is after the etsy store)

i can suggest if you need to plan a project try it this way... and remember to research in between
if you need a suggestion leave a comment and i'll try to help you figure your steps.

ok, i am finished with my second cuppa, the cats are sprawled like little furry rugs in front of the woodstove.
i am going to finish transferring my layout to the watercolor paper and see about first washes on that
then i am going to debone the last of the turkey from thursday and make some 'tv dinners' for the freezer, and turkey stock from the carcass (also for the freezer)

what are you folks doing today?

Clear, cold and saturday

what do you all have planned?
it's very cold here today, but the sun is shining, bernie just asked it i thought it may be too cold for the ducks to go out, (no as it's not windy, so they'll be ok with their little feather coats)
the woodstove is cooking pretty good too.

btw, i want to thank jamlady for testing the 'email me' button, yes it worked thank you, and i responded to you. (thanksgiving week was probably a bad week to ask for that huh?)

i'm sitting here with my second cup of coffee, and i am doing paperwork, making a list of what i have to do today to continue with the etsy store stocking,

*shoot the photos of the printed painting, and then watermark then
*continue to test print, and prep files for that
*research where i am going to get the shipping supplies,-these prints are THICK, they won't roll into       tubes, but i am going to look at 'no bend' mailers
*transfer a layout to start painting part of  the second nest series
*do tear sheets for submission to two manufacturers
*how do i upload a pdf file for people to download?

that's part of my continued list.  please bear with me through this, right now this IS my daily life, more so then normal. bernie's been doing a lot of the cooking (remember all the 'tv dinners' i froze?) as i am a bit overwhelmed with what i have to do, some of which i am learning on the fly so to speak. (and my turtle pace has been seriously speeded up )

i am also considering self publishing that crow book, and maybe part of my sketch planning journal... with the in progress photos of my paintings, along with the notes and things about the paintings
this occurred to me while i was writing the story of how the paintings came about for when i start uploading them to etsy.

i know i am always interested in how folks did stuff, what they were thinking, how they came to that place. then i thought, well if i was interested maybe other folks would be? people seem to like to watch artists and craftspeople work...

actually you folks joining me right now for coffee are sort of part of my planning circle, so any ideas you have let me know. i am doing my thinking out loud to you guys.
as right now a thousand things are swirling in my mind.
seriously suddenly there are so many projects that sound interesting ...... between books, and paintings, prints, and pdf files with patterns for some of the crafts i do.

i am also trying to convince myself that marketing is not an evil endeavor of self promotion but an incredible interesting way of meeting new people...(still working on that idea.... feel free to input)

well folks, i am about to finish this cup of coffee, and i think i'm finished with the stuff on the computer for now.... so i am going to start shooting the bird series and seeing about finishing up with the files and test prints of the nests.
i am going to post some of the photos of the test prints here, you guy can maybe let me know which exposure looks the best to yous?

have a good day
ttyl
vi

sponge baths are for the birds *** edited, scroll to the bottom!

and not even my birds! (they take real baths)
and here is an older photo of phoebe (before the woodshed was built!)
we probably won't have hot water until tuesday
so we have been taking sponge baths with stockpots full of hot water.... i hope this no hot water thing isn't now an annual pre-thanksgiving tradition.....
(and to insure that it isn't we are so getting not only solar showers but point of use hot water heaters, just in case-the small ones .... one for the kitchen one for the shower)

now on to other things.
as some of you may know, i am going to be putting my prints on etsy soon.
i am still working out bugs (like the black and white prints are printing with a gray background)
well as an adjunct to this, i have to market them
so i found some online sites that have marketing tips for artists.
one site in particular stood out, with the following article
99 ways to market your art

and with that
this is a quote from there (it's step 5)

5. Realize you’re already brave. Ask friends, fans, and customers what things you have the nerve to do that they admire. You probably tend to take your piano compositions or playwriting for granted, yet how many people have told you they could never do what you do? You can talk to them in person or send them an email with a few simple questions. You might get some surprising answers.

 so i am asking you folks that read me....... what would you tell me? (and this is a huge leap for me asking you folks)
i don't know what it is exactly about marketing that makes me (and so many other artists especially) get the 'run and hide hives' but it does

i know i am at the point where i am actually liking my work, (not enough to set on my laurels mind you/ i got a love hate thing going on with it)
it seems that other people like it as well, i've been getting feelers out about commissions
which at the moment i am not doing (unless it's prints)

anyway i read through that link and a lot of the stuff that they suggest makes sense to me......some seems over the top but i know a few people that are successful working self employed and they seem to engage in endless self promotion
(which at this point even the thought of it is exhausting to me)

anyway, i hope some of you folks will comment on this and give me some of your thoughts
(i also hope that the comments link is working now)

oh and we are hoping to have some big to us news in a few weeks... so of course i will let all you folks know
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ok, this isn't the huge news we are hoping to share in a few weeks but this is news for me~! this is my first color test print of one of my paintings!!!! it's part of the nest series and it's centered on a 8x10 heavy weight photo paper. i like it very much, (excuse the crappy excited photo of the first one)
i will be offering the prints for sale on etsy soon, (with much better photos) for 20.00 plus shipping.
they are sized so that they can be put into a standard frame, under uv glass (seal the back of the frame with brown paper and tape as all art prints should be)
so... whatcha all think??

further researcch

EDITED TO ADD- i am considering a limited number of my black and white illustrations, hand colored.... what do you guys think? they would be a lot more money though, the actual drawing i would print and then just hand color in selected areas.... (i don't know how much to charge for that ) they would be archival to about 400 years from what i understand from the pigment tests.....

at this point i can sell 'digital prints'
not giclee prints ( also not at giclee prices which are a LOT of money anyway)
so this is the deal at the moment
i'm going to be offering a lot of my paintings as digital prints
the sizes will at this point, be a maximum of 8x10
they will have uv coating for an archival life of approximately 75 to 100 years
(from the research i've done-)

i believe that the prints will retail for 20.00 .... before shipping
the prints will be unframed but they will fit in commercial frames so that no one will have to pay custom frame costs unless they want to

now if there is enough interest (ie: sales) then i'll move up to larger sized prints, and even maybe the books will get printed

now i will need some help marketing this project when it launches, if you folks wouldn't mind
because between marketing/agent search/printing/shipping/painting.....well we all know i will need to spend a lot of time painting too

and no this won't stop me from looking for representation because i would really like to see the crows not only as a book but as garden flags........ and the arctic goddess myths~legends, maybe as a calender?
not to mention some of the new work i want to do.. with the teacups/teapots, the botanicals and a very limited entomology, (yes jennifer, there could be butterflies).
of course bernie wants me to continue crows..... i may  but i am not ready to face the crows again yet, they really did take over things- and while i was painting crows, we had a TON of crows hanging around outside..it's like they KNEW

now in the meantime, i am continuing to work on getting this stuff printed up
so i can stock the etsy shop
i will need to drive traffic there ......and i am researching that as well
marketing so has not been my thing
tooting my own horn is something i am trying really hard to get comfortable with .......
i kept thinking that if i was a good enough artist the sales would just come!
ahem......maybe that's why a lot of artists had to wait until AFTER they are dead 100 years?

i don't really want to wait that long

again, any one have any comments.... please post here or email me
this is a bit scary for me, way out of my comfort range
and (thank you so much don for the comment) all the support you can give me is appreciated