Kickstarting A Dorment Artist!

If it was good once, is twice better?

   Maybe its the malaise after a too hot summer, maybe its trying to do other things, but whatever the reason, I have hardly picked up a paintbrush all year.

   First there was the moving, it was a two month ordeal to get my new home remodeled then moved. Then it was the heat ... all you do is try to keep cool and not give all your money to the electric company. I did do a few things, as usual far too complex, if sold, there would be no real monetary return for hours expended in sight. I read. I finished the huge THREE-BODY PROBLEM, trilogy. I went to Hong Kong to visit my friend and he flew from China for a visit and, as I recounted in an earlier blog, we took a fast trip to Las Vegas, and then, Amtrak to Chicago. Hours were spent creating an album of our trip. And it might be that wandering through the galleries of the Art Institute inspired me ... again. Its not hard to fall in love with art at the Art Institute with all the masterpieces they exhibit. But no, that wasn't it.

   Then, after I returned,  I got busy doing work for an old client. In some ways it was like learning to use Quark and Word and Excel all over again. If you're not in the business world anymore, at 72, you DO forget. No that wasn't it either.

   I think the impetus was my ETSY store. After months of no sales and barely any views even, I was startled last week to find an order, then two. No problem, I had the first item. I got it packaged and mailed off. The second, that was another story. While I found one, I could not find the other and I knew, or thought I knew it was here. It wasn't. Then, the next day came another. Oh oh. After tearing my condo and storage room apart I couldn't find it. It was ... gone! I hadn't sold it I know but it must be been buried from one of the two moves I made last year. I went through every drawer, every bin ... nada. It was paid for; the client expected delivery!

   So, like any good artist, I printed the photos from my ETSY store, no, I couldn't find the original photos either, then last Saturday headed first to Michael's who didn't have any left, then to JoAnn's that for some reason out here in the desert is better than any Michael's I have ever seen in California, who had them. There it was! Hallelujah!!! To be safe I bought two. I knew where one of them was, the other? Who knows. Several years ago, on a wild bent, I created three abstract birdhouses. Same sizes but with different feet and each one with a theme: squares, circles and combined. They were wild, very colorful and luckily too small for a bird to actually use. If it were bigger, they might have flown into the side and not the hole, which as you can see is heart shaped.

   How does this happen? While I had my own business and spent many hours working for it, I never liked the business side... you know the billing, invoicing and such. Then Sunday at a photo shoot with a group I joined out here in the desert, I couldn't find the group and another straggler in the group found me. It was fun to tour the vintage market looking at the same kinds of things we grew up with. She too faced my dilemma saying that every artist needs a business manager. I AGREE! I want to create not bill and count pennies. 

   That I had poor organizational skills, despite trying to do that very thing, reared it's ugly head when  a few days later two more orders appeared and, well, I had one but not the other. This time I opened every box in storage, I mean EVERY one, finding one I had never opened, but still no missing birdhouse. So yet again, it was back to the drawing board and for two days recreating what has got to be here, somewhere. So far I have not found it. I really, really need to do a deep, DEEP cleaning!

   Today, I looked at all the items for sale on my ETSY store to make sure I had them ... or at least knew where they were. I should know! Twice in a week I have torn this place apart. Enough with the late hours recreating something I had already done and can't find.

   When I started crafting and opened my store I used to do three at a time. Since I was using acrylic paints, but the time you were through with whatever step on number 3, number 1 was dry. I did that for a while and all 3 in fact have sold. Then I stopped ... what a mistake. 

   With all the frustration and demands of sold but missing items, it has jumpstarted my painting again. I starting doing Christmas ornaments for friends, and have regained the joy I had. Since there is no TV setup in the "studio" I prop up my iPad, watch a little news via an App or watch movies and such on either Netflix or Amazon. I really don't pay much attention, its just background noise ... something to break the silence.

   In fact the searching in all those tubs and boxes, I was made aware of how much I had that was not done. Birdhouses, trays, figures, boxes that were all begging to be painted. Humbly I started again with Christmas ornaments to take with me as gifts on my trip. I found a couple of unique, one-of-a-kind birdhouses I had forgotten I even had. So, finally, the push and desire is on. Maybe it is better to take a break. But I do not recommend the stress that I have been under the past week. There has to be a balance I realize, not too much work, nor too little. Anyway, it is good, REALLY good to be creating again!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where the emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! Be sure to check my re-opened ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. Many of the items talked about here are for sale there! AND, I guarantee the items shown are really, REALLY available.