Sunday Shoot

Today was all about a photo shoot. Set up a light tent, took some shots. Wandered around the deck looking for shots. Wood on the deck was nice...but its been done. Leaves, layered leaves, soft focus leaves. Dragon sculptures and jade vases. And then...she entered the picture.

Finally found a model we can work with. Opal. She’s fantastic. Quiet, still, makes no demands, can stand in the sun for hours and not burn. Now we can continue on with a theme of sorts. Before all of our work was rather hodge-podge. A lot of work, but a good day.

Inspired by Coco

Josh and I just watched “Coco Before Chanel.” There is a scene where she is pulling together the fabrics for a dress she is having a dressmaker build for her. She chooses a black fabric, the dressmaker encourages a light pink fabric. She studies the pink, then says something to the effect of “black shows off the eyes” or “black is good for the eyes”…and turns down the pink fabric (that was popular at the time).

She sticks to her guns. Her own fashion sense. Not being swayed by the “professional.”

It hit me really hard.

Because..

I design jewelry and I am constantly asked to “make things smaller.” So I have decided.

I am NOT going to make things smaller. I will make what I make.

There is an odd thing with women and their jewelry. Either a woman sees herself as bold and so wants to wear bold jewelry…or she sees herself as dainty and wants to wear something that can not be seen in broad daylight from across the room. Why? Why hide?

I have seen delicate females wearing audacious pendants and they look fantastic. So it isn’t about size.

It’s all about attitude. It’s about wanting to be seen. It is about loving stones and metal and making a statement of, “I have entered the room.”

Time to stop hiding. That goes for all of us.

Between then and when...

An artist brings into the physical dimension ideas that sit and wait in the unseen realm. When an artist decides to sell these physical representations of visions, patience is needed to find the other human that recognizes the vision and makes it his or her own.

Sound a bit metaphysical?

All artists do it.
All consumers do it.
The only different group are the 'art collectors'. They recognize a talent/style/voice that very well could be the next Monet or Van Gogh and they invest in the early art and they wait...like the artist waits...

There is a great deal of waiting in the art world.
There is a great deal of patience needed.

Wow! Suddenly Busy.

We love meeting new people (well, new to us anyway!) and, frankly, that's the only way to stay in business...by making new contacts and maintaining current ones. Of course, there is more than one business model out there, but for Lisa and I meeting people face to face seems to work best at this stage.

True, we have a web presence with this blog and our Etsy storefront, but so far our greatest successes have been at festivals where we can interact with people. And when I use the term "successes" I am not only referring to sales, but also contacts. People do not always buy one of our pieces, but seeing the work up close, talking with the artists (that's us!) makes an impression.

Perhaps as important as prospective customers are prospective business partners--gallery owners, store owners, officials from other festivals. We have met several people that fall into this second category. Many of them have expressed interest with working with us. Time will tell how many of these contacts prove fruiteful, but the simple truth is we would have met none of them if we simply sat in our house uploading images onto the web.

It is hard to describe, but it feels like we are beginning to be noticed. A few people have recognized us from other events. And we even had our first repeat customer. Yeah!

So, it was heartening to realize that the pace of our public apearances is picking up. With that in mind, here are a few upcoming events we will be selling at. If you can make it to any of them, we would love to meet you.

AUGUST 1, 2009: "Art In the Gardens." 10 AM to 5 PM. Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden. More info at http://www.gardenbythesea.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.detail&eventID=1

AUGUST 15, 2009: "Design Downtown." Sacramento, CA. A monthly music and arts festival. Sponsored by Sacramento News and Review. http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/third_saturday_design_downtown/event

AUGUST 22-23, 2009 (10am - 6pm) "Inaugural Newark SummerFest"
Newpark Mall - 2086 Newpark Mall, Newark, CA, 94560. http://www.newarksummerfest.com/

SEPTEMBER 26-27, 2009: "Pacific Coast Fog Festival" Pacifica, CA
Palmetto Ave. Pacifica, CA 94546. http://www.pacificcoastfogfest.com/

Peace,

Joshua

Art In The Gardens

Well, starting any new business takes time--time to produce your product, time to market your business, time to travel, heck...even time to think. Lisa and I have been doing a lot of thinking and experimenting with different venues to sell our work.

We have setup our booth at roadside stops in the Sierra Nevada Moutains, we have setup in storefronts and even the Berkeley, CA Marina for their 4th of July event. We are seeing the first glimmers of our "niche." Events specifically meant for artist to sell their work seem to be better for us. With this in mind, we submitted some of our work to be juried for the 18th annual "Art In The Gardens" event in the Mendocina Coast Botanical Garden, Fort Bragg, CA. We are very pleased to announce that we have been accepted into this event!

This is a big deal for us, and not just because it is likely to draw more people interested in what we sell than any event so far. It is a big deal because of the sense of satisfaction we feel, the sense of acceptance. It is one thing to know that your art is good and quite another for it to be accepted by someone who doesn't know you---someone who is looking at your work with an eye toward quality. Even the most self-secure artist needs this on some levels.

If you can make the trip, this would be a lovely place to visit....art, wine, music and all in a beautiful botanical garden near the California Coast. Check out their event website http://www.gardenbythesea.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.detail&eventID=1 for details. Maybe we'll see you there!

Peace.

Joshua

** Note: Postcard artwork "Back to the Garden" an original acrylic painting by artist Julie Higgins

4th of July at Berkeley, CA

Hello everyone. Lisa and I are excited to announce that we will be at the 4th of July @ the Berkeley Marina -

This event is going to be fantastic! Lots of crafters and artists will be setup at the Berkeley marina near the beautiful San Francisco Bay. The organizers insist that ALL vendors at this event are the actual artists, so everything will be hand made by the person in each booth.

Its the perfect event for people who like supporting working artists by purchasing original, hand-crafted art.

There will be fireworks over the water around 9:30 PM--a perfect end to a perfect day.

Come out and meet us and have a great time! Lisa and I are very excited about this event. It is much bigger than anything else we have done so far and we feel our work will connect with a lot of people who live in the area.

Event web site:
http://www.anotherbullwinkelshow.com/4th-of-july/4th-of-july.html

A Closer Economic Circle

Yesterday I (Joshua) worked a table selling our jewelry in a funky-cool little store in downtown Sacramento called Bows and Arrows, while Lisa took advantage of the time to work with the metals at home.

The store sells vintage items, clothing, jewelry, furniture, etc...but all in excellent, if offbeat taste. To get a true sense of the place you only have to read their own advertising cards which proudly announce "all the dope shit" right beneath the name of the store. The fact that they played two hours of rap music followed by five hours of 1960s French pop music might also tell you something about the place. Cool.

The event is called Sellout Buyout. Every three months they graciously open up the front half of their store to craftspeople like Lisa and I to set up a table. All we had to do was deliver their advertising cards to a couple of nearby businesses a few weeks ago. We were happy to do it and it turned out to be a great experience.

The money we made was very modest, but the people! Way cool. Very diverse, Very eclectic. Very interested in supporting local craftspeople. I met so many wonderful people who genuinely loved our work. (Thank you to all of you who stopped by!)

Anyway, today Lisa and I went to a local farm called Davis Ranch and used some of our cash from the Sellout Buyout event to purchase fresh (very fresh!) fruit and vegetables. That's when it struck me how great it felt to be supported by local people who like what we make...and in turn support local farmers whom we definitely appreciate. I mean, it felt really really good...like we were part of a community, all supporting one another.

It is a simpler way of life in some ways, but the human connections, face to face, make it a far wealthier experience.

A closer economic circle.

Peace.

Joshua