In the Studio

Quietly moving into 2021... learning to re-group. [...]

2019 was FULL of joyful celebrations, exciting plans and goals, and lots of surprises. [...]

Reflections on 2018, Gratitude in 2019 January 2018 was pretty normal with reviewing 2017 and beginning to plan for some business growth, but then I landed in the hospital for a week with a severe case of pancreatitis. It is amazing how the body works, and consequently how long it takes to recover from something that requires you to not eat or drink anything in order to ‘fix’ it. While I am physically recovered, the mental stigma and lost time is still following me around as I slowly catch up on delayed projects. Mentally, it is hard for me to reconcile the [...]

One thing I love to do each year is review what worked and what didn't over the the course of the year. Part of this is figuring out those 'best laid plans' and possibly why they didn't work out quite the way they were were intended. Plan 1 – business plan: harder than it seems, and daily work gets in the way of planning Plan 2 – improve studio practices: again, daily work gets in the way of process planning Plan 3 – documentation of artwork: ugh, daily work gets in the way of completing the task Do you see a pattern here? yup, me too. And the [...]

Top SEVEN Highlights from 2016: Handcrafted America Episode 9 aired on INSP in April (filmed last October) won 2 out the 10 media awards for the Saint Paul Art Crawl with 'Hold the Moon' and 'Seasons in 4/4 Time' completed 6 major commissions, including my first ever church installation: 'Legacy' at Central Presbyterian signed half a dozen more commissions for work in 2017 participated in a baker's dozen art shows attended the SGAA annual conference in Chicago (and mom traveled with me this time) continue to sell my work through the Artful Home, The Grand Hand Gallery, and Plum Bottom Gallery This doesn't seem like much as I type [...]

I’m currently hunkered down in a coffee shop (trying to stay warm now that winter has truly arrived) as I try to remember all of the awesome things that happened last year. There were so many milestones this year it was difficult remembering all of them and I had to limit myself to 25 highlights. In fact I almost forgot about the film crew! Year in Review: completed over 60 square feet of commissions hung a show at the Phipps Center Atrium Gallery 12 week online ArtBiz Bootcamp class finally got the new, replacement kiln up and working like a charm modified [...]

When I was working on my list of accomplishments for 2014, I also made the decision to invest in growing my business this year. Specifically in setting up and IMPLEMENTING systems to market my work and better get it out into the world. So I signed up for Alyson B. Stanfield’s Art Biz Bootcamp. And even though it’s only been a week, I can already feel the shift in my energy. The first week’s lesson forced me to confront a number of “beliefs” that are actually not true, even though I have in essence made them into self-fulfilling prophecies. We all know [...]

The Highlights from 2014: 11 year anniversary for the studio completed just under a dozen commissions sold more than a dozen art panels Saint Paul American Craft Council Show 2 Art Crawls, plus the Last chance Holiday open studios Art-A-Whirl at the Grain Belt Bottling House Ramsey, Mabel and Peggy helped sell my artwork participated in the Minnetonka and Bloomington Art Centers Holiday Shows the Grand Hand continues to represent me made more than 400 snowflakes and trees, plus 400 plus stars made another 100 snowflakes and 1200 stars for a new wholesale account printed the 2015 CD calendar and more note cards continued ‘sketching’ in watercolor, encaustic and mixed mediums was a finalist to be mentored by a [...]

Part of the mundane housekeeping issues in the studio is goal setting – this year I am simplifying my life and not creating a huge to-do list or even a detailed plan. I am going to work from a simple, clear life plan. Yes, life not work! My 3 goals for the year: Blogging as a means to talk with my clients like I would if they were standing in the studio – so hello! Spend more time developing relationships with new clients and deepening the existing ones; and be bolder about asking for referrals – know anyone I would like to meet? And most [...]

What’s been happening in the studio lately you ask? Well… over the holidays, I generally take care of a lot of really, really, really boring things. Things nobody ever wants to do, but really need to get done anyway, and when it is cold outside (well, since it has been so warm I have been a bit distracted by early spring fever) it is a good time to do some of these things: empty out the email inbox & sent folders (keeping important ones of course) and resolve to not let my inbox become a [...]