on motivation, which isnt the real problem

Joe has had the camera again!

Someone on the Folk-of-Art message board posted a question about how others get motivated. Personally, I dont need motivation, I need to be left alone long enough to get something done! This is my reply:

So common! Artists are easily distracted.
Another problem, nobody else takes our art seriously. It's something we can do 'another time.' The problem with being able to make your own schedule is that everyone thinks they should have input.
I need to work WITHOUT DISTRACTION!!

WITHOUT DISTRACITON!


WITHOUT DISTRACTION!

I think I broke my keyboard typing that!!!
My family does not realize the without distraction means with asking me a question every 5 minutes to make sure I am still available if they really need something. My son comes in and asks "Can I have a piece of candy?"
"ask Dad."
"He said to ask you."
WHAT! He was going to run interference for me!!!! Now he can't decide if Joe can have a piece of candy!!!
&@*$
"Yes, you can have a piece of candy."

I am sewing, there is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I look up. Dad smiles and waves. I wave back. I shout "I am sewing!"(Obviously)
He shouts "Hi"
"Why are you bothering me?"

I am sewing, there is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I look up. Joe smiles and waves. Dad is holding him up because he can't see through the window by himself. I wave back.

I am sewing, there is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I look up. Dad smiles and waves. He shouts "Which tree was it you wanted pruned?" This is BS. He never prunes what I want pruned. He only prunes what I want un-prunned. I shout back "You're pruning NOW?"
"Well, I might prune later." (I'll prune you!)

I go out to the living room. The TV is on, I can't use the computer because it is downlaoding some mega file from China. I go to the family room, the other TV is on. I return to the living room and turn off the TV. They come running in, "We were watching that!"
"Yeah, right! Through your fiber optic cable."
"No really. Our show is comming on in forty minutes!"( I thought you were going to prune)
"Watch it in the family room."
"It's a how-to show. We need to see it on the big TV."
Who needs to see Norm on a 61 inch screen?

"I'm going to the coffee shop."
"Will you be back for dinner?"(What are you going to cook us for dinner?)
"I don't know."
"Call us and tell us."
They turn the TV back on and run outside.

My time has no value, it is free time.

long time no see

It has been too long!
The watercolor episode in the fourth grade class was crazy but priceless!
There is a really odd break in achool for Milpitas Unified School District, so shorty has been home. Employment stuff has been odd for Dave, so he has been home a lot. It has seemed like Saturday here all week! Can't wait for Monday!
We went to Sacramento for two days, that was fun.

I'm trying to figure out what will sell on ebay, and trying to decide how important that is. My return per hour on what does sell is low. I am telling myself that the listing cost is the cost of being out there, and that's OK. Better to let that go than sell stuff for less than materials cost.

What I don't want to do is compromise on my art and produce crafts because I can make a little money at that. I want to make art. I don't want to get stuck in the craft trap, where I make tons of knick knacks for minimal profit and it feels more like cottage manufacter. I can't compete with the low grade knick knacks avasilabel at Wal*Mart and Target for nearlty nothing, produced overseas by people who get paid pennies per hour.

I have to remember, eBay is merely a facet to use, not to be steered by.

I got my Folk-of-Art items in for March. This is the 5th or 6th month I have been in it. I have not sold anything.

I have had my website for about a month longer, and I have not sold anything there either. The site improves as my programming skill improve. I know it needs more time, but if I sold at least ONE thing?

It bothers me that I send more time on the computer doing this stuff than making stuff. The thing that bothers me most is that this takes lowest priority in my life. Everybody thinks that I can do it anytime, so it isnt a problem to do something with/for them right now. Ruben gave me a hard time becuase I was trying to figure out a way to do something without having to drive to Wal*Mart. Like driving to Wal*Mart would ruin my life. He was not buying the idea that I spend too many hours a week on little tasks that don't increase revenue and that I am seriously trying to reduce that.

There is a tack swap/craft fair comming in May. I have done so poorly at the last three that I don't really want to do it again. I suppose I must.

The Peacemakers Quilt Guild quilt show is also in May. I have always done well in the Country Store associated with that.

Spring is here, but more rain comming.

Skeleton keys

Tracy,
Try here. I have not looked at this site in a while. I dont know about prices.

http://www.deabath.com/Keys/keys.htm

Bart Simpson's Nostrils

I have been so busy. I have been working very hard on my website. I am partly through a major revamp. When I get done, it wont be very different in appearance to anybody who looks, but it should load faster and navigate better on a variety of monitors.
My son's 4th grade teacher asked me to teach one of their "centers" on watercolor because she says she is not artistic. Considering my experience with watercolors, this is challenging. She has chosen dandelions as the subject, which is a good choice because it is simple. The center lasts 15 minutes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I get the whole class each day, broken into groups of 12.
I decided on mixed media, since I can break it into three easy steps that they can get done within the correct time. For the first day, I am going to have them rough in their dandelion, and use white crayon to "color" the seed head. I will borrow hub's dremel tool and make plastic templates so the can outline the flower and the seedhead and a couple leaves without having to worry about size.
For the second day they will add watercolor. They only need two colors; yellow and blue. I will have them paint the sky pale blue, then add streaks of darker blue. The seed head will pop out from the wax resist they put down the day before. The flower will be yellow, sprinkled with table salt for texture. The leaves will be green, made from yellow with a bit of blue. They can add bits of blue to the green while it is wet and let it bleed out into the green.
The third day they will add black colored pencil to partly outline the flowers and leaves, and to show the stems.
I made four of these to check out how it would go. They went very fast, less than 10 minutes total for each one. I think I can lead this in 45 minutes. This weekend I have to outline what I will say on each day.
Did you know Bart Simpson doesn't have nostrils? How does that dude breath? You don't have to show every detail to make a good picture.

Crazy Horse

This guy is on ebay this week. Pretty fancy! I like him so much I havent sold him, but I cant keep everything under the sun! Find the listing by going here:
my listings
to see all my listings. All TWO of them!

Folk-of-Art 1 has the new Feb stuff starting today, I think. I haven't looked yet. FOA