The art of being a working artist is in the seamless weaving of producing work you are proud of, and connecting with others who share this passion. The art patron may imagine that the artist spends blissful days painting, meeting with gallery owners, and dropping off artworks.
And sure, on occasion this is what it looks like. Aside from painting (I just finished a large work this morning), these are the less-than-glamorous tasks on my list for today:
Search for a .MOV file merger
Patch high-res photos of paintings
Research options for prints, get test prints made
Add new sign-ups to the mailchimp mailing list
Clear phone storage to hyperlapse a video
Finish and send email newsletter
In preparation for Sac Open Studios, my most recent skill acquisition has been graphic design on Canva. I had this bright idea to contact local artists and create a joint full-page advertisement in the Verge Magazine. The Verge Open Studio Magazine does a print-roll out of 25 000, so you can see why this is worth it! A bajillion emails and many drafts later, here is the advertisement for your eyeballs. Fitting so much information and images on one page was quite the jigsaw puzzle!
The brochure below is still a draft, but it has all the critical information on it. It will be prettied up and will have more information on it soon.
The final (and ongoing) marketing task is promoting these artists on www.sacopenstudiosrc.com. Do you live in Sacramento County? If so, jot Sept 21-22 in your calendar and visit these artists for a fun day out! The weekend beforehand will also have open studios throughout half of Sacramento.
Wearing many hats and learning new skills can at times feel like it is taking away from studio time. However, it has also been empowering. I can feel a sense of pride in the paintings that I produce, and also in how they are presented to world. The leaps of growth and learning between the paintings are what matters most on this artists' journey.