Celebrating Your Wins

A batch of paintings, ready to ship!

I was out having a drink with a friend a couple of Mondays ago. I don’t do this very often; I’m not much of a drinker or a spend-money-at-the-bar type. But it was Monday night and we’re self-employed and decided we could both use a good Friday. That’s the beauty of being your own boss- you can set your schedule, and if you’ve had a weekend where you ended up working a lot you can decide to take the occasional weeknight off. 

In theory. 

In practice, I am a workaholic. I have a hard time convincing myself to take time off, even when it’s a totally rational thing to do. I also struggle with recognizing when I’ve done something noteworthy or have hit a milestone in a goal I’ve set. Up until now, I can safely say that I have not been great at “celebrating my wins.”

What does that mean to “ celebrate your wins?” I’ll explore that further. But first, what’s the opposite?  What does it mean to *not* celebrate your wins?

Some of the *many* paintings I completed in January 2022

Well, that was me at that bar get-together on Monday.  Earlier that day I had wrapped up a huge project. For the second year in a row, I participated in Kickstarter’s Annual “Make 100” challenge The parameters of the project were simple; pick an item you want to make 100 of in the month of January, offer exactly 100 “rewards” for the project, and then make the thing! This year I chose to make a *huge* new batch of mushroom-themed paintings. I made 95 of them actually. (The remaining 5 I’ll be finishing up in the month of February.)

 The project funding deadline was around noon that day, and I spent the final hours of the project glued to my computer hitting refresh compulsively to see if any last-minute pledges came through. When the project finally closed and I received the “you did it!” email,   I went into the living room and hugged my boyfriend. I congratulated him on finishing his own January Kickstarter campaign and then had some lunch. 

But then I just kept working. I finished the rest of my day, with no particular plans to celebrate this milestone. We were both feeling a little strapped for cash at the time, and besides, I told myself, I wasn’t *really* done with the project yet because there will still be all this work to do. I still had this laundry list of activities to check off the project list:

  •  Scan or photograph the entire series
  •  Varnish all the paintings
  • Make a new archive sheet for the series
  •  Pack and ship the sold ones to the buyers
  • Upload the ones that *didn’t* sell to my website 
  • Add shop listings for all the new paintings
  • Promote the paintings on my social media 
  • And.. 
  • And… 
  • And…

This was not the first time during the course of the project I was having this type of conversation with myself. About 8 days away from the project deadline I had a little meltdown. I was lamenting to my boyfriend that I had only finished 70 of the 100 paintings. Even though I didn’t have buyers for all 100 works yet, I had set a self-imposed goal to complete all 100 paintings during the 30 days anyway. With 8 days to go, I was “behind” and worried I wasn’t going to pull it off. Kind of nuts to admit when I’m writing it now, but I was beating myself up for not having more done. 

But Dude. 

!!**I ended up with 95 new paintings**!! 

45 of them were mini 4×4’’ acrylic paintings. 50 of them were 8×10’s. That’s a lot of paint and time AND results. And I reached my funding goal for the project too! All the supplies were covered, a bunch of my little paintings found new homes, and I ended up with a sizable inventory of medium-sized paintings left for my upcoming market season. 

…But I was beating myself up for not having done more. 

“Light of Bearing” 4×4” acrylic on Canvas, 2015

I’m going to rewind for a moment for some context. Way back in 2014/2015 I was an active listener of a podcast called “Artists Helping Artists,” which was, as the name may suggest, all about elevating the practice of other artists. It was hosted by Leslie Saeta. Saeta held a bi-annual artist challenge called “30 in 30.” It happened in January and September of the year. The goal of that project was to paint 30 paintings in 30 days. It was just to get artists producing and creating and exploring a topic they loved. I participated in this challenge,  At the time the idea of finishing 30 paintings in 30 days was bonkers. The first time I tried I got about 12 days in before “life” got in the way and it petered out.  And at the time, I beat myself up because I only finished 12. But would I have made 12 in the whole month if I didn’t have the challenge?

I did this challenge a couple of other times. My most successful was 2017 when I got through the entire 30 days AND continued right on to make a painting every day for the first 87 days of the new year before going “off track” again. And then I got down on myself because I didn’t get to 90. Or keep going. Again. 

Here’s another example of a time when I forgot to celebrate success. I’m not sharing this to brag; I’m sharing to illustrate how my brain has tried to lie to me about an objective FACT.  Recently, a fellow artist online was asking about pricing for her work, and when people thought it was appropriate to price a piece at over $1,000. I considered this question and chimed in about a time that I’d sold a $1000 painting. I explained my thought process and how I came to decide on the price for that piece and how I found my buyer, etc.  Later, I was telling my boyfriend about this exchange. He said, “oh yeah you mean that one painting with all the little paintings around it you sold to *insert buyer name here*?” 

My face went blank as I thought about this. 

Then I realized I’ve sold more than one $1000 painting before.

I seriously, sincerely forgot that I had done that until he said something. I sold a painting for over $1000 MORE THAN ONCE!! 

“Coastal Dreams” 36×48” 2020 SOLD!

So I just completed a project where I made more paintings in one month than I ever have. 

And I have on more than one occasion in my professional life sold a painting for over $1000, which was something I never thought was in my reach when I started out as an artist. When I worked for someone else it was easy to know when I was “on track” or not. I had daily check-ins, feedback from my peers and my boss, quarterly and annual reviews. But as my own boss, I have always struggled to check-in and fairly evaluate how I’m doing. And there have been a bunch of other times I’ve failed to give myself props for a job well done. I’m sure I’m not the only one who does this. 

What are some wins that you’ve had in the past that maybe you forgot to celebrate?

 Did you complete a school or certificate program? Did you make a piece that you were really proud of? Did you make a piece that tested your skills and caused you to learn and grow? Did you have a killer sale? Did you write your first blog post even though you were scared? Did you submit to a gallery show?

I invite you to set a timer for the next 10 minutes or so and brainstorm about all the little wins you may have had up till now, even if you didn’t think of them that way in the past. When you’re done take a look at your list and ask yourself – did I celebrate these wins? If you didn’t, I invite you further to take a few minutes to just go jump around and say “Yippee!!” and give yourself a gold star and tell yourself how proud you are that you did it Or go for that celebration drink (or fancy sparkly water) with a friend. 

When we do self-directed work, we need to be our own boss. We need to be kind and give ourselves the feedback we need to keep going. And we need to celebrate our wins. Seriously, we deserve it. 

Feel free to share some of your wins with me! Or just how you manage your own inner voice when it’s trying to tell you you’re not progressing how you’d like to be. 

Thanks for reading, Seeya you next time. And remember… 

Every day is an opportunity to make art.

Getting things Done 10 minutes at a time

Self Portrait of the artist when at peak running capabilities, circa 2018

So I’m an on-and-off-again runner. I run 1 mile most days of the week, and longer distances at least once a week.  Every now and then if the weather is just right and a warm breeze is coming off the ocean, I’ll go a bit further. The longest I’ve ever run (so far) was 9.3 miles. I *like* running. I get a kick out of it and It makes me feel good. 

But this was not always the case.

If you took a flashback look at my elementary school days, you’d find an adorably chubby little girl who wouldn’t even *walk* a mile. Back then, I thought running was the worst thing ever and convinced myself that I just wasn’t *built’ for running. My distaste for it continued well into high school where I successfully petitioned my principal to waive my remaining required P.E credits so I could take more art and music classes instead. (true story) 

The artist in her adorable chubby-cheek days”

But now I run regularly. I get a kick out of it and it makes me feel good. How did this happen? 

Well, first I had a co-worker back when I worked at a grocery store who was really into it. The way she talked about it initially piqued my interest. She talked about it all the time and seemed to genuinely enjoy it. She was also in great shape, which I wanted to be too. Inspired by this person, I found a beginners program that made sense to me. The program was called “Couch to 5k”, and the way it’s set up is quite brilliant. What it does is take this huge notion of running a 5k (3.2 miles) and breaks it down into bite-size manageable chunks that anyone can do, even if you’re coming straight off the ‘couch” so to speak. 

On your first run the first week, they aren’t asking you to go run all 3.2 miles at once. Instead, they say “Run for 30 seconds. Then walk. Then Do it again”. You do this for approximately 10 minutes, and that’s it for the first session. Maybe when you first start running you don’t think your lungs can handle a full minute just yet, but you can probably handle 30 seconds. And then you do it again. Slowly you work your way up to longer and longer times until you’ve built up the physical and mental endurance to run the whole 3.2 miles. I can testify that it’s an effective strategy because that’s how I got there and learned how to train my body and mind in the process. 

Besides feeling capable and better in my body at the end of it,, there was an excellent side effect of doing the program; 

 I figured out I could apply the same principle of “breaking it down” to my business and artistic practices.

A sampling of the many paintings I completed during the 2022 “Make 100” project

An example of this: Say I have a big project to complete. Like the “Make 100”  challenge I just wrapped up. For this challenge, I knew my goal was to make 100 paintings in 30 days. At first, that seemed as nuts as running an entire 3.2 miles with no training. But I knew I could break it down into manageable chunks. I figured out how many paintings I needed to make per day to reach my goal and then approximately how many hours of dedicated painting time per day that would take. Then it was just a matter of putting in the time per day to reach my desired results,  which I did. I generated a whopping 95 paintings during the challenge! (The remaining five I consciously chose to roll over into the month of February so I could invest more time in developing and making them extra special.) 

Breaking the process down worked for me in this case. I knew if I put in the time I was guaranteed to get there. The only challenge is that I didn’t always “feel’ like putting in the time. So how did I push past the “not feeling like it” moments? 

Enter the magic of a ten-minute timer 

The magic of the 10-minute timer..

Much like the “Couch to 5k” method, I figured out a while ago that, like running, if I just set a timer and do it “until” oftentimes that would lead to me doing more. When I was doing the “Make 100” project I would actually set a timer for a full hour to see how much painting I could get done in that time. And then I would do it again until I reached my goal for the day. Usually, after the first hour, I felt motivated enough to keep going regardless of the timer.. 

Other times I set that timer for just 10 minutes. Ten minutes is like the mental equivalent of that 30 seconds of running to me. I know if I can just get myself to focus on *something* for 10 minutes then usually I will opt to do another 10 minutes. I used this method when I rebooted the blog a few weeks ago. I had known for a while that I really wanted to restart my blog, but I was getting in my own way and making up excuses for not doing the work. So I sat down one day and set a timer for 10 minutes and I just wrote as much as I could. Then I set another. And another. It took me about 40 minutes in total to punch out a solid first draft. The next day I revised, finalized, and published it! 

I’ve found the 10-minute timer method helpful in many other situations related to my art business and practice. Here are other examples of when I’ve used it to push past feelings of procrastination or “not feeling like it” 

  • Applying to shows and festivals
  • Updating my business bookeeping
  • Doing my quarterly taxes 
  • Doing production work (batches of earrings or glass, or the paintings)  
  • Blog Writing
  • Painting when I didn’t “feel” like it 
  • Brainstorming new ideas
  • Marketing work (posting to website, social media, adding things to my archives) 
  • Cleaning up my studio at the end of the week  

Have you ever tried this or a similar method out? What was effective about it for you?  Like my running practice, I get a kick out of completing tasks that have been lingering on my to-do list, and it feels good to push past the procrastination and “not feeling like it.”  If you’ve never tried a method like this, I invite you to give it a try!  Let me know if it’s helpful and if setting that timer gets you into the groove of the thing you’ve been avoiding. 

Well, the day here is beautiful and a  warm breeze is kicking off the ocean. So I’m signing off, for now, to go for my daily run. Seeya next time, and remember… 

Every day is an opportunity to make art.

The Wet Noodle Approach to Building your Online Following

A playful photo of an original mushroom painting sitting in a bowl of fresh spaghetti
Pasta with Mushrooms

“Throw it at the wall and see what sticks” 

Have you heard that expression before? Maybe in a sitcom office meeting, where some big burly boss is going over the quarterly goals. He’s brainstorming ideas, and is referring to trying out a bunch of approaches or tactics to see what may and may not work. 

Or perhaps you heard it in a kitchen somewhere when a friend or family member literally threw a piece of spaghetti at the wall to see if it was done. The myth is that if it sticks; it’s done. If it falls off the wall; it isn’t.  An ex-boyfriend of mine did this once, which was admittedly kind of funny. He left it there for me to clean up, which was less funny.

But what does it mean when you’re talking about building your online following? 

Whether you’re first getting started trying to sell art online, or you’ve been doing it for some time, there are *so many* ways you can choose to spend your marketing time.  I have been a part-time artist for years and recently went full-time. Up till now, I  have tried a myriad of ways to bring attention to my art practice; 

  • Instagram
  • Facebook Business page
  • Facebook Personal page 
  • Facebook Groups participation 
  • Etsy 
  • Reddit Groups 
  • Pinterest 
  • Having profiles on Print on Demand sites (Fine art america, Red bubble, ect.)
  • Twitter 
  • Tik-Tok 
  • Tumblr 
  • Periscope (So briefly)
  • Snapchat (Even more briefly)  
  • You-Tube 
  • Online Art Sites like Deviant Art and Elfwood (old school!)  
  • Online Art Contests (usually run via the art sites above) 
  • Blogging
  • Commenting on other people’s blogs and social media art profiles 
  • Hoping 
  • Praying 

Ok, ok..  so those last two bullet points are me being a little flippant. But it does feel like you’re doing that sometimes when you are putting all this energy out there and hoping for a return on investment. I was doing that for years, and wondering why I didn’t have more of an online following and success by now. But…   

 I have been proverbially throwing things at the walls for years.

In retrospect, these are some of the mistakes I think I’ve made in my approach to online marketing before.  I was… 

A screenshot of my Instagram a few years ago when I was posting consistently.. but missing an opportunity to tell a story about my work.
  • Not Being Consistent 

 I had a very haphazard approach to posting and sharing. I would get on a roll on one platform or other and do well for a while. Then stop. Or do a lot in one place and neglect engaging in the others. There was a lot of starting and stopping and inconsistency. 

  • Not Measuring results 

 I was doing all these things and had no clue how I was doing because I barely ever looked at my website analytics or social media insights. I was going off “feeling” things like comments and “likes” vs. tangible statistics and actual sales. I was neglecting the metrics.  

  • Aimlessly syndinating my content

I recently realized that I’ve been losing an opportunity to engage with my audience (and potential new audience!)  by having my Instagram linked to automatically post to my Twitter and Facebook Business accounts. Same with my Blog automatically posting to them. The problem with this approach is that each platform has a different format and way of speaking to your audience.  What looks good on my Instagram is not going to look good on my Twitter! And If I never actually *Go* on my Twitter feed or Facebook then I’m less likely to actually engage and build meaningful relationships with people who dig my art and like to use those platforms. It feels “easy” to sync the platforms and check another *to do* of your list, but by doing it this way and not taking the time to tailor the message to the different platforms, I have been missing out on reaching a bigger audience.   

  • Not telling my story 

In the same way that I was missing the mark by syndicating my content, I‘ve been missing a lot of opportunities to tell my story when I post to my social media accounts. A great example of this is this project I did a few years ago called the “30 in 30” challenge. I was painting every day and dutifully posting the completed piece to my Instagram account. But every post was just the basic information. Piece name, size, medium, etc.  I wasn’t giving any context of the work or why I was making it or even where to buy it! I have actually done this a lot over the years of posting. Not giving context or telling my story, assuming someone looking at it already knows everything about me. This was a mistake because oftentimes they didn’t know or it was their first contact! For the people who did know a bit about me, I was missing an opportunity to let them get to know me and my art practice better.  

  • Trying to do it all 

 I simply did too much. I was trying to do  *all the things* which eventually led to doing *none or very little of any of the things*   In short, I got burnt out by trying to  check all the boxes I thought I “had to.” 

Those were all big revelations that changed the way that I both think and talk about my work now, and especially how I choose to share and market it.  

Could I have a marketing strategy that leaves me feeling as calm as this beach?

Here are some of the ways that I am approaching it differently now, and some of the questions I ask myself before embarking on any new method or platform; 

  • Can I be consistent doing this? 

Whatever I choose to do, can I be consistent? Can I come up with a schedule that’s in balance with the other things I want to do and what else is going on in my life right now? Sometimes that means I can post twice a day on Instagram. Sometimes that means I can only commit to a once-a-week Blog. Sometimes that means I am going to totally forget Tik-Tok or Youtube right now. There’s no wrong answer here. It’s what works for you.

  • Can I measure it?

How do I know if what I’m doing is an effective use of my time? Do I have metrics enabled on my website to see how many people read the latest blog post or do I have my mailing list set up to see how many new subscribers a post generates? Do I check my insights tab on Instagram? Am I seeing an uptick in sales on my Etsy or webshop? I need to be sure to schedule some regular time to do this and check the analytics to see if what I’m doing is actually effective.  

  • Is this something I actually enjoy doing?

Art is my work but it’s also my play! And the best way to ensure that I’ll actually get my promotion and marketing time in is if I actually enjoy it. So I have started asking myself if the platform I’m using or the method I’m employing is something I actually enjoy?  Not all the platforms I’ve tried are my cup of tea. Twitter and Tick-Tock are not really my thing. I enjoyed Reddit and Youtube in the past, but don’t feel like I have a ton of time for it right now.  I very much enjoy Instagram and Instagram reels. I am really enjoying Pinterest. I am enjoying writing and blogging again!  So those are the areas I’ll be focusing the most of my online time for the next few months. 

Building your online following takes time and persistence. It also takes focus. You can throw things at the wall until they stick but you can also burn yourself out by trying to do too much and having unfocused energy. I’m thankful that I have learned some of these things and excited to put them into deeper practice as I enter my second year as a full-time working artist. 

How are you planning to focus your marketing time this year? What are your favorite platforms to reach and build your audience?  Drop me a comment or an email and let me know!  Also, if you dig the blog and my artwork, subscribe to my mailing list for the latest updates.   And as always, remember… 

Every day is an opportunity to make art. 

1/31/2022 Update- Just wrapped up my 2022 “Make 100” Kickstarter project! I generated 95 new paintings during the project!! Follow along on Instagram where I’ll be highlighting the finished works over the next couple weeks. In the month of February I’ll be doing the 5 large remaining paintings to complete the 100, and sharing my process as I go along.