While off in the north woods of Wisconsin working on my business plan I took some time to sketch a couple of rough landscapes. Then I stole Tracie’s watercolor set and tried my hand with them after a twenty year hiatus. Not exactly Rembrandt, but I am happy with the results and can’t wait to get back in the studio to to translate these into some new windows.

Hoinville Lake. The play of greens was simply too rich… and then an eagle was soaring overhead.

White Pine and a twisted cottonwood trying to find the sun from the shadows.

Purple clouds and a blue sky, even though the rain was falling just a few minutes later.

Hiding out this week in the Wisconsin north woods… the Heartwood Conference Center just out side Minong to be specific. Beautiful setting, quiet in terms of people and traffic but very melodic with birds and frogs where you can sleep with the patio doors open all night long and wake to the call of a loon. But in truth, the mosquitoes have not been too bad.

While this photo was taken a few years ago on Madeline Island, it is still a potential window inspiration… and I forgot my camera, so new photos are not an option at this time.

Marketing, Goals, and Focus

I have been doing some sketching of the great spring landscapes, crooked pine trees, and the lake, but mostly working through business strategies. This is the second year I have done this, and I love the time away from the studio to think and plan for the future. Last year my focus was on my business identity, brand, and direction. This year my focus is on marketing goals. I will revisit the notes and plans from last year to make assessments and adjustments as well. While I am not creating a traditional ‘business plan’, I am defining my why, the how and a plan to keep myself focused. This self-imposed retreat helps me to figure out what I need to do, and where I want to go, though I tend to get fuzzier in planning the path to get there.

But now that the sun has come out from behind the clouds, I think it is time to get the sketchbook back out…

Memorial Day is not just about the loss of people in our lives; pets play just as important a role – we lost Charlie 10 years ago and this image is still my computer background.

When my father passed away about 12 years ago, that was one of the hardest losses yet. Not because we had been so close, but because we hadn’t. We had just started getting to know each other, and it was to worst thing in the world to know that time was running out. But when I hit my thumb with a hammer or a 2×4, I think of my dad. Come to think of it, every time I use my saw, I see him trimming branches up on a ladder and then he wasn’t because he cut the saw cord – the yellow tape now holding it together reminds me every time. Yes, some things that you wish were not genetic, really truly are.

While life marches on, Memorial Day helps remind us that we come from someone, not just somewhere. And I am very grateful to have my memories.

And yes, I still occasionally cry when I think of how short of a time we had together.

Early glass layout for a piece I am calling Fall Creek – though you can’t see the water yet.

I have been working around the clock – well my feet feel like it has been like that – in the studio getting ready for the spring ACC and Art Crawl. So far, there are 7 new window panels are on the table and ready for cementing (this post tells a bit more about that process).

blue, clear iridescent ice, bevels and more blue

While I couldn’t resist working on a couple of new birch and maple trees, most of these new pieces reflected the blue wonder of water.

Caribbean turquoise – reminds me of Key West.

Some of the new windows ready to be soldered – you can even see the arrows and notes I use when working out the cuts.

Brenda Brousseau, Tracie Thompson and Christy Johnson will be joining me for this April’s open studio.

I have an open studio 3-4 times a year. Two of them are in conjunction with the Saint Paul Art Crawl and I invite guest artists to show their work with me. It has become a fun collaborative event!

Here are 11 things you must do to promote your open studio event:

1. Postcards – mail and hand out to everyone I know and many I don’t. Make sure you have contact information, address and a small map (or QR code linking to a Google map)
2. Email blasts – I try to limit this to only 2; one announcing the event, and the second a simple reminder that it is this weekend so as to not annoy my clients.
3. Write a press release and send it out to the news-people you know. And if you don’t know any, look them up and find out how they like to be approached.
4. Facebook/social media/blog – make an event page, invite people, talk about it on the page and the blog and your personal page. And make sure the other artists are doing the same. Nobody wants to be the only one marketing and bringing in customers for everyone else (it creates tensions for obvious reasons).
5. Variety: like a traditional gallery, you need to have items for sale in a range of price-points. It is sometimes disheartening to only sell greeting cards or a small print, but if the experience is good for that customer, eventually they will come back for something original.
6. Have some refreshments, but NOT a lot. Too much food, and people just eat. A few nibbles and they browse and are more likely to shop.
7. Try to have at least one artist working in the studio – people LOVE to watch and ask questions.
8. Talk to EVERYONE that walks in the door, with a SMILE. Even if that person is the only one to show up for the last 2 hours, if you welcome them and they have a good time, even if they don’t buy something now, they most likely will come back and brings friends because it was fun.
9. Make the experience pleasant and don’t try to force a sale. Tell your story. Why are you an artist? Why are you doing this? You are in this for the long haul and not just for the weekend, so start to form a relationship with your potential customers.
10. Have a sign-up sheet for invitations to future shows/events – if you don’t have a way to invite anyone back, then they for sure will not be coming back.
11. Follow up with the people who walk in the door: send a thank-you note (especially if they purchased something), send an email, post a thank you blog, etc.

I do all of this IN ADDITION to whatever the Crawl organization is already doing. The first 2-3 years I had an open studio, only friends and family came; we played Rummikub one afternoon for 3 hours…

Repetition is the key, so don’t give up if the first time if it is a flop – learn from the mistakes. Now we average around 100 people and we artists are not the only ones sampling the refreshments!

Almost forgot – be careful with pricing your work at an open studio. You need to make absolute sure that your pricing structure is the SAME as in the galleries where you have artwork. Remember, your gallery relationship is important and undercutting them will destroy it. Not to mention that you do have time and expenses with an open studio: postcards,  display set-up, refreshments, lost work-time, and the time it takes to run the show. You will be earning that gallery commission on your own this time.

the studio dogs playing the snow… not monkeys that can work a input data for Artwork inventory software, LOL

At first, a major draw-back was the single image limit, but that all changed in February when they did a massive update. I have high hopes that some other features that are not yet available will be soon…

I love it, it is easy to use, I can now upload multiple photos (though it is a pain going back to upload the additional images into the database) and since it is online, it is accessible from anywhere you have an internet connection. While the yearly subscription to Artwork Archive is not the greatest aspect (I am partial to buy it outright software with a one-time cost), it does give you a lot of bang for your buck. And seriously, $79/year is a whopping $6.58 each month – 2 coffees anyone? Not to mention that this seems to be the trend for new software, like MS Office365, Cloud back-up storage and photo-sharing sites like Flickr.

More pluses: they respond quickly to questions, they just had a major awesome update last month, and it may seem trite, but because the interface is friendly looking and very easy to use, it makes it a pleasure to actually upload and create archive records of my artwork.

Now if I can only find a ‘monkey’ to do the uploading grunt-work…

Well, the answer to that is actually pretty simple. I start with and idea, usually a photo, or a sketch, or a painting. Then I begin choosing the glass. The glass can be in a palette that matches the inspiration imagery or it can be something that you may like. Either way, I begin by laying out the glass intuitively while glancing at the inspiration image

Step 1

With the inspirational image of a Super Nova star exploding in the background, the glass is being laid out on the work table. You can see the piles of blues, oranges, yellows and some red glass scattered around as I select each piece. While it may seem like the glass is ‘precut’, I actually cut sheets of glass for every projects. Yes, I cut a pile of pieces, but every one placed is held up to the light to make sure it fits where it needs to go. And if the piece is being made a particular size, many of the pieces will need to be trimmed to fit the overall dimensions required.

Step 2

The lead came (the lead is shaped like little I-beams) is individually cut to fit each piece of glass. Horseshoe nails – because they are flat and will not dent the lead when nailed in place – hold the pieces loosely together. I use zinc came for the outside edge; lead is not strong enough to support a panel without an additional frame. If the panel is to be installed in a wood or metal frame, lead edging is OK, but I still use a zinc edge for added stability. Then, once the lead and zinc edge has been completed, the joints are soldered.

Step 3

The last major step in the process is called cementing. Don’t worry, it is not really cement, it is more like a flexible grout. The window cement is scrubbed onto the surface of the window panel with a natural bristle brush, working the cement under the lead came, creating a seal around the glass pieces. The whiting (calcium carbonate) is brushed over the panel and allowed to dry for a bit, then everything is scrubbed off and a sharpened dowel is used to clean the edges along the lead. The cement serves a couple of functions. First of all, the process itself cleans the window, then as the cement drys, it creates a water resistant surface and stiffens the panel.

But the best part of the whole thing? Holding up the window to the light for the first time!

This window is called SuperNova The panel’s finished size is 25″ x 25″, mounted in a Mission style custom Oak frame.

This window installation was pretty scary for a couple of reasons:

1. it was on the stair landing (awkward location for ladders) in the newlyweds first home.
2. it was the first time creating a multi-panel, inter-connected, layered group of small panels hanging from a single piece of wood.
3. it was quite large – 57″ tall and 27″ wide – and that translates to heavier, harder and more nerve-wracking to transport and hang.

Window installations usually require a ladder, so I am used to that. In this case, the ladder was on the 3 foot wide landing 3/4 of the way up the stairway. Little fact about me: I do NOT like heights, and a few short feet above the ground, my knees start twitching…

There are 12 interconnected panels hanging from a wood top bar in 3 parallel rows. In front are 4 golden amber canopy panels towards the top with one piece lower on the left side. The 3 vertical elements in the central layer represent the trunks of Aspen trees. The back layer is 5 panels, 3 canopy pieces and two lower blue-green panels.

Packing up the “curtain” in the studio. The cardboard remained in place until the wood header was attached.

Since all of these pieces are hanging from a single piece of wood, connected with narrow chains, everything moves. Unlike a single panel to hang onto while screwing in the wood bar to the window header, this one moves and wiggles and had to have the cardboard packing to help stabilize it until it was in place.

Speaking of packing material, it took over an hour just to pack it – mostly because the cardboard was cut and taped in place as it hung from the studio ceiling. I also recruited a friend to help take it down from the ceiling once it was packed since there was no way I could uninstall it and keep it from falling at the same time.

But, wow, once the packing was removed, even though the sun was hiding behind some clouds, the golden-amber glass just glowed. And every time you pass on the stairs, the interconnected pieces wiggle and sway.

10 pitches, 3 strike-outs to end the game.

One of the earliest lessons I ever learned was in high school. I played fast-pitch softball, and I could throw the ball really hard. I also threw it over the backstop, took out my mother (she never did agree to be my catcher again), lost count of how many batters I hit and I even disabled a few umpires. Even though I threw the ball very fast, I never did know if the batters were just a bit slow or just too afraid to actually swing at the ball, so if they didn’t get hit or walk because even the catcher couldn’t catch the ball, they struck out.  My softball coach wanted me to change how I threw the softball (slower) so that I would be accurate and throw more strikes right away. You could have said that I was an abysmal failure as a pitcher. But my pitching coach Rick told me to forget about that, that once I learned the proper technique, accuracy would naturally follow. Receiving diametrically opposed directions from each coach forced me to make a tough decision: I decided to trust that the strikes would come with more practice without losing any speed. It did.  And almost 30 years later, I can still pick up a softball, and after a couple of warm-up throws, deliver a strike because my muscles still remember how to do it.

What I really learned was that building the right foundation will help tremendously in the long run and to focus on the fulfillment of long-term goals, not the short term quick-fix.

As an artist, I still learn the most from negative critiques, mistakes and failures. Why? Because if all you ever hear are “kudos”, you won’t have room for improvement, and there is never an incentive to grow.

Smooth.

I recently contacted Kent Scheer to see how the project turned out and he was thrilled to talk a bit more about his project:

“The purpose of this Declaration of Interdependence project is to spread this new statement of deeper environmental compassion as broadly across Minnesota as possible: to give caring Minnesotans a non-confrontational public means for declaring their environmental concern, and to provide a vehicle to get people talking with friends and neighbors about how we can do things better.”

While the Interdependence project is not yet complete, I feel very good that I was able to refer a connection that worked on a piece of it. I am looking forward to seeing all of the components together with their unique stories.

Stay tuned for an update…