Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Effect Without A Cause
I love what I do! I guess that means I love me too. Cool.
So, I'm back to painting. Yeehaw! This Springsteen is my very first international order, from Italy. Cool.
Next is a GG Allin for a lady who works for the guy who's sending me back my pieces. Sending me back my pieces? Not cool?
Nope, totally cool. Primitive Kool has decided to end our consignment agreement. I don't blame them much. I mean this show didn't sell any and they'd spent a good chunk of change on local promotion. They'd sold several over the past year through online connections and gallery walk-ins, but the economy's woes hit San Diego hard. So even while one of their own employees buys the Joey Ramone from that show and commissions GG Allin, and after Johnny Cash sold before the holidays, I'm getting my paintings back! Cool.
The pieces are all dead rockers, the theme of that show, like Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon... you get the idea. Some of my best paintings too. So they're available direct! With immediate delivery! Coolness.
It all depends on how you look at it. I could remain frustrated about a relationship's end. I'd have cause. But, like in don Miguel Ruiz's "Mastery of Love", forgiveness is really for yourself. I mean, now I get to sell them myself! And my wife was kinda hoping we'd get to keep the Kurt Cobain and Joe Strummer. Very cool pieces.
So, it's nice to take responsibility for my feelings about events. I'm really working on self-confidence, artistically and socially. Over the break, I took big steps for me, connecting on Twitter with a bunch of people I've really come to respect over this past year. My goal is to, like with my art, make meaningful and continuing connections with people passionate about human creativity. I've added a link to your right to come follow me on Twitter. I won't take it personally if you don't. Your attention is yours to give where you choose. Cool, huh?
Kathy Sierra, the author of one of the sources of inspiration over to your right, is one of those people on Twitter who I've had the pleasure of interacting with there. She came up with the idea of looking to understand Life's events by looking only at their effect. Disappear the cause. She got the idea from a YouTube video of some kids skateboarding with the skateboards invisible. Cool.
It's an interesting thought, no? Leads to complete unselfishness. Only your impact remains. Return and reaction fall away. Intent and action are what will matter.
Peace. And Happy New Year.
SOLD - Bruce Springsteen 01/01/09
Friday, December 5, 2008
All A-Twitter
I know all the puns have been used. I know. But since I am on Twitter now, it makes this harder and easier at the same time.
My online friend, Mary Anne, met through Godin, bought this Springsteen as a Christmas gift for her husband, even though she said she's no good at keeping secrets. This morning, she, I, John T. Unger and Hugh MacLeod all were on Twitter at the same time, tweeting about art and marketing. John had this very inspirational post that I added to my "Online Motivation" section off to your right. Hugh is now turning from his marketing career more towards his art, which I think is sometimes extremely profound.
The thing about Twitter is due to the update length limitation, conversations can be realtime-ish, but stilted. Hugh is a very NYC New Yorker, so he's tough to pin down. He currently lives near Austin, so I've been trying to get him to go check out Wild About Music and see my art in person. He's now selling high quality prints of some of his work in limited quantities, and to start, they're $175. I'm hoping maybe he'll go for a trade. We'll see.
But the discussion was about how a lot of artists are hesitant in promoting their own art. I understand the fear of the unknown, but jump in! The extent of my online presence is pretty much all due to my own efforts in creating a presence in the first place and personal relationships from that. Things just spread organically. Now, just about all my sales come from direct communication with buyers, other than at vinyl art shows. It makes me extremely happy because then I get to follow the story of my pieces.
The trick is balance. Shutting up completely doesn't work, at least it won't for me. I know that. Part of my journey with art is becoming more social, more open. That's what doing my art is doing for my personal growth, me the introverted geek in school. So I've gotta keep talking.
Besides, I'm kinda getting fond of this blog and I want to find more people who'd be interested in reading back a ways. There are some good posts back there. Find any you like?
Peace.
SOLD - Bruce Springsteen 12/05/08
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
(Custom)er
This Springsteen is for Barbara. She's buying herself a birthday present. Love it. On her blogger profile, she has so many to list for her favorite music that she had to repurpose the "favorite movies" category to hold more music.
Barbara is exactly who I want to be able to have at least one piece of Vinyl Art. She's buying it unframed for $100 shipped. I added the option to buy unframed pieces for people who have a cool idea for hanging the piece, or who would rather save up for a painting and like 5 CDs instead of just a painting.
I've been getting real good use out of the PayPal email invoices for commissions recently. It allows me to customize the invoice for you. All you need to do is contact me if you don't see what you want specifically in my online gallery, or if you want to buy multiple pieces at one time. You also get a more personal story to tell people wondering what the heck that is you've got on your wall.
Peace.
SOLD - Bruce Springsteen 09/03/08
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Break On Through
Ahh, the trials and tribulations of being a professional artist. I don't want to rant too much, but today was a stink-fest. eBay sellers dropping the ball, lying, and backtracking. DHL-to-USPS deliveries up in the air with possibly lost paintings. Trademark paperwork almost slipping through the cracks. Miscommunications with galleries leading to delays and maybe losing business. And don't get me started on people emailing me saying they want to commission work with specific requests and then seemingly vanishing.
This is hard, definitely. On days like this I give myself a philosophical head-fake to keep going. Randy Pausch put it that the walls you run into are there just to keep out the people who don't want it enough. A test of desire, basically. Am I passionate enough about my art to break through those walls?
As long as I get emails like the one I got a few minutes ago from another who is passionate about art and music, a director of a fine art gallery and a collector of music from an early age. He saw my work at the FMF 2008 Rock Walk in Orlando, really liked the Jim Morrison, reads this blog, and wants to connect. That's why I'm doing all this. It was nice to get a reminder of that. I don't know what'll come of it, but good things I expect.
Peace.
SOLD - Bruce Sprinsteen, Frank Sinatra 08/14/08
Friday, July 18, 2008
Human Being Good
Odd but deep phrase, isn't it? Think about it for a sec.
Is it what the grammatically challenged cannibal said?
I like words that are both verbs and nouns (no, not like "Google"), especially when they can lead to philosophical discussion. Is the human being good, or is the human being good? (Heehee, oops, I guess you can't hear the emphasis difference in my head. You get it though, right?)
Biblically, "good" is where we started. There is a reason why "good" means more than just "less than great". Good is what G'od (a contraction that my dad taught me) wants of us. If we are to truly reflect Life's purpose for us, good is what we should shoot for, consistently and genuinely.
Heck, it's what Steve Martin strives for in his work.
And it's a powerful question to figure out what you can do with passion that will benefit the world.
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