What is Encaustic?
What is encaustic?
I get this question a lot.
The other question I get is, did I invent it.
These are not silly questions. Encaustic is not a well-known medium. Why is that? That is another good question.
Turning Corners
I believe "talent" is a myth, it is practice, but it's also trust. Trust in oneself to find the information and then bend it to one's process. Trust to know when the rules were made to be broken.
Meaningful Connections
When you are selling art in person, it is vital to engage with your customer and share enough of your story to connect with them. These meaningful connections translate into building a relationship and selling your art and products.
The words "relationship" and "genuine/meaningful connections" can be scary and intimidating, especially when, as an artist, you've already put so much of yourself out there in the world.
The Gotta Go’s
Have you ever suffered from an incurable case of the “Gotta Go’s”?
I have suffered for as long as I can remember from the burning desire to go somewhere. I remember as a kid looking up into the sky at the passing airplanes and desperately wanting to be on one. It didn’t matter where the plane was going, I just wanted to go. I wanted to go and see new things, smell new smells, taste new tastes, and have new experiences. I want to explore!
Recently, the Gotta Go’s became too powerful to deny, so I packed my bag and I went!
Ode to the Humble Glue Stick
Ode to the Humble Glue Stick.
I think the glue stick might be the most overlooked and underrated of the art supplies. Well, to be more honest, *I* did not see it for it's value until recently.
I saw the glue stick as a holdover from grade school, something that little kids used. But when it came time to make the things I wanted to make, it was the glue stick that came to my aid and the glue stick that saved the day.
Flower Goals
This year one of my top goals is to improve my watercolor skills. One of the exercises I am utilizing to measure my improvement is to paint the same image at regular intervals.
Five reasons this workshop is for you!
Let's start at the beginning and get some questions out of the way. Do any of these statements resonate with you?
Who in their right mind would want to take a sales workshop?
Who is this workshop for?
Who is Jill and what does she have to offer me?
How hard is selling art that I need a whole workshop for it?
I don’t want to be cliche or cringy. I’d rather just be authentic and natural when it comes to selling my art. I don’t think this is for me.
Communication Malfunction
When I began setting up my table at art markets and fairs, I observed within a few hours during my first market that I was interacting with my customers in a way that other vendors were not. In some cases, I was the only person interacting with customers while other vendors pointedly did not interact at all.
Inspiration vs. Motivation vs. Discipline
Inspiration is not the muse I rely on to decide when to paint, instead it is what I use to inform what I will paint. Inspiration is walking through the woods in the rain, smelling the salt air on the beach as the marine layer rushes in, or watching a beautiful sunset create a painting in the sky. Nature inspires and informs my art.
Art Left to Find
Lately, I’ve been exploring the idea of leaving art for other people to find. People have been doing this for ages with things like painted rocks, yarn bombing, and geocaching (to name just a few!
Subject Matter?
I allowed myself to be paralyzed by subject matter. I didn’t know what to paint. I never knew what to paint.
Grow Your Soul
Experience the joy of spending a few moments each day in a creative state of mind to, as Kurt Vonnegut said: You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.
My Thoughts on “Feeling” like an Artist and “Being” Creative
It seems to me that a lot of time, energy, and general PR has gone into dictating what an artist is, what it feels like to be an artist, and what a creative lifestyle looks like.