Posts Tagged ‘Dumb LIttle Man’

A pretty unproductive week this week in terms of blogging, what with fighting a mild case of the flu. I’m even behind seeing what’s going on the net. But I did find some cool ones…..

50 Places You Can’t Reach Without Climbing – and wow, are these ever gorgeous!!

Again, some helpful hints from 365 Project: 5 Classic Composition Tips To Improve Your Photography.

From Dumb Little Man comes 5 Ways to Overcome Mental Blocks.…timely for me this week! Some good stuff here!

Very disturbing, but necessary to watch – the perils – and death – in plastic……

A collection of video on the meteorite from Russia:

You may have already seen this video of an iceberg calving – this is the LARGEST ever. Nature is absolutely amazing!!

Guess the Spot – how well do you know landmarks? A fun quiz.

Love this commercial for the Lottery, and I am such a dog lover!

Love this next – you have to be very good to make yourself look very bad! An ode to gymnastics……

And finally – this has been making the rounds for a while, but the message is a good one.

This has been a very busy couple of months, and I am into a lot of planning for this coming year. Here are a couple of articles that might be helpful as you look ahead to what you want to accomplish for 2013.

From the artbizblog and Alyson Stanfield comes a 5-step plan for generating income for 2013.  I think a lot of us forget about step one, analyzing your income for the previous year. This should help drive some of your goals for the new year.

From Dumb Little Man comes 88 Simple New Year’s Resolutions. These cover a wide range of categories, and you should find a couple that will work for you. Here are just a couple:

 I like number 29 – I am slowly getting through my unfinished quilt projects, especially since I am using them as practice pieces for all the new free motion quilting I have been learning. And concerning TV – well, there’s not a whole lot on that’s really worthwhile – I’d rather be in a book.

This last is something I am going to focus on this year. Harriete gives LOADS of useful web and design advice, and this one is about correctly tagging our images we have on line. Since I have redone the website, I need to address these. She has four tips for improving searches on your images.

 In other marketing news on this end, I am getting the newsletter ready to go out with announcements about our “Fabric of the Month offerings this year. The Etsy store has been restocked….well, we’re marbling like crazy to get new fabric available. We are planning for Seattle, as well as a magazine article that will come out in March. One of my goals this year is to get a better handle on using social media….at least, I’m thinking I can……

I cannot get over just how quickly this year is flying by. It’s nearly the end of November.I enjoy doing these posts because all the great stuff I find is now in one place where I can easily get at it! Here’s this week:

Some hints for pattern writing – something I’m very interested in, as I finish us two new ones.

From The Best Article Every Day comes an interesting look at past and present: World War II photographs superimposed on the present. Quite intriguing.

Also from The Best Article comes their Thanksgiving offering on “humanity.” Wonderful pictures.

Now here’s a mom with a great idea for a gift….not that I believe in zombies. From The Best Article Every Day, which you must read to see the whole transformation process of basic sweets……

From Dumb Little Man – advice about protecting yourself while working from home – not quite what you think!

From Design Seeds, another great color combination – this one is so restful. And I would love a quilt out of this.

I love Morgan Freeman. The Shawshank redemption is my absolute favorite movie. Here he is in a new add for marriage equality – very eloquent.

From the 365 Project, yet another set of gorgeous pictures.

Balluminaria 2012 by Cathy Donohoue

Wonderful little piece of history from the civil rights movement from Letters of Note. Short, succinct, and in your face…..

And…finally, in honor of holiday food season, one of my favorite videos by Vi Hart, recreational mathematician. How CAN you optimize your potatoes and gravy?

Have a great week! Let me know what you find online that’s really cool.

So it is the end of Monday, and I am slowly getting things done in marketing. The last two weeks haven’t been incredibly productive – things have gotten done if they have had definite deadlines. Otherwise I have been plodding along, thinking about things to do, but that’s as far as it went. Which is why this article from Dumb Little Man hit home. Sometimes it just seems like there is a huge roadblock in your way – in this case, an icebereg.

“Icebergs can be deceiving, because what you see above water level is only the visible part of it. However, in some cases the iceberg could be a huge ice mountain, where the majority of its size is hidden underwater. Do you now see the connection between a iceberg and those certain types of tasks on your to do list? The task may look insignificant outside, but there is so much more to it than you think. It’s the hidden part that fools us into underestimating a task and promises an unrealistic optimistic timetable for finishing it.”

I think making my lists sometimes turns into an iceberg….I am still playing catch-up with to-do’s from four weeks ago.

To balance this article is another one from Dumb Little Man about balance.

4. Give yourself mini-breaks whenever you can.

8. Allow yourself the freedom to say “no.”

So I’m considering the last two weeks a mini-break….that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Love the headline. This article comes from Fine Art Views blog, and the message for me is very timely, and hopefully it will resonate with many of you. Here’s a quote from the article:

“Keeping the chickens flying means you will find a way to make it. The old farmer took the risk to haul double the amount his truck would carry. He knew he would have to keep half of the chickens in the air. It’s sorta like us juggling our budget to make ends meet. You are facing two choices, give up or find a way to keep your chickens flying.”

I think so many of us are trying to figure out new ways of working and diversifying so we can make it as artists. Lower prices, develop new products, try something completely different, double down our marketing efforts…..we will find ways to make it.

Sometimes you need to look at networking with others. I’ve written about The Textile and Fiber Arts List before. This is an amazing group of textile and fiber folk from around the world. $75 membership, one time only, no renewals. Lots of marketing opportunities. We are not alone in our work, even though it seems that way as we work on our art, stitch by stitch.  We need community, and TAFA is a great way to begin. Consider it your professional organization for your resume.

And while we’re at the motivation stage, here’s an article from Dumb Little Man. Everything just kind of goes together.

Here’s hoping to a productive art-making week – and art-selling week – for all of us.

Ps – any spelling errors are from one-fingered typing – put the needle through my finger……