Is There Really A Third Person Doing This Blog?

Yes, there is. And as usual, I'm late to the party.

Hi, I'm Kathy - the third part of the mother-daughter creative trio. I work with polymer clay and jewelry. I have played with clay, painting, drawing, sewing and many other crafty things. I learned to create at the hands of my mother and her relatives - there is nothing that they could not create: from tin can tiaras to egg carton flowers, they did it all.

Why do I work with polymer clay? I am drawn to color and pattern. Polymer clay comes in all these really great bright colors, which then can be mixed to form just about any color. It is also an awesomely versatile medium that can mimic so many materials: glass, metal, semi-precious stones, metal, and many others. Patterns can be created in so many ways. I have not even scratched the surface of polymer clay techniques, so I can see myself claying around for years to come. Which is good, since I have the attention span of a gnat.

In my next post (which, hopefully, will not take as long as this one), I will let you know what is currently inspiring me.

Kathy

I'm excited!

It's so exciting, we got our first submission for the exhibition!  I can't wait to see them all!

2010 Business Goals

Many of us have already made our resolutions for 2010.  Did we include our art goals for the year?  I know that I hesitiate to to write down my goals for fear of not meeting my own expectations.  Rmember the old saying "Hitch you wagon to a star"?  It is far better for us to reach some of our goals than to have no goals at all.  And if we don't have something to work toward, we don't know where we are going.

The first thing I have done is to buy 3 new notebooks, one for my financial records, art inventory, and show/exhibits.  I have divided my goals  into the following categories:

• Business-areas that I need to improve.  1)  I have developed an inventory sheet to use for the shows and exhibits I which enter each year.  2)  I am working on an inventory sheet for all my art work which will include a small digital image of the art piece, cost information, price and disposition. 3)  I plan to invest in professional business cards and maybe a brochure --it's nice to have an in-family graphic designer.  4)  I have bought a journal to keep a record of my art activities and art work.
• Art Work-how I am going to work at my art and challenge myself.  1)  I am going to try to do simple daily sketches.  2)  I would like to try some new techniques this year. 3)  Complete a minimum of 1 painting per week.   3)  Paint at least 3 series in either oil or pastel.
• Education--classes and workshops which will increase my knowledge base and techniques.  1)  Attend a minium of two workshops this year.  2)  Take advantage of local seminars.  3)  Explore and study at least 2 new artists and their work through books, videos, or classes.  Several of those on my want list are Kim English and Richard McKinley.  4)  Read my art journals and participate in exercises offered.  The first will be completing an underpainting project outlined by Richard McKinley in the Pastel Journal.
• Peer Groups--I find that peer groups are very motivating.  1) Increase activity in local organizations.  2)  Look for new groups to paint with on a regular basis.

Let's make 2010 the year we try something new!  Please feel free to comment and share your goals with us.  If you would like copies of my inventory sheets when they are completed, I will be glad to share them with you.

May God bless you and keep you!

New Years Resolutions...a bit late

The first exhibition, which is by invitation only until we figure out how to get a group going on one of the photo sites, is underway.  We have invited many of our friends and family, young and old, to participate.  We will be posting the photos, and creating a blog banner from this month's art.   We are so excited to see the different images we get back.

Mom is going to post on resolutions for her art business, and I think that maybe I should too.  I am thinking that because I have "tried" to start a company before and it didn't work....why?  Because I didn't have any goals set.  Since I didn't set goals, I didn't know where I was going, and since I didn't know where I was going, my business failed.  I am going to think about this and post my goals to my other blog - visualtapestrydesigns.blogspot.com - since it is all about starting my business.

All comments, ideas and feedback are welcomed!

Andrea's New Year

Hi everyone, I hope you are having a wonderful new year so far.

I have been busy. First I started decided on a name for my company.  I came up with the name Visual Tapestry Design as a description of my style of combining multiple images to create a beautiful and cohesive image.  My tag line is Beautifully integrated custom photo montages for families, groups and businesses.  Second, I have started designing my website for Visual Tapestry Design, www.visualtapestrydesign.com. It is still under construction, but has a placeholder that has a sample of my Visual Tapestry style.  In addition, I also started another blog to journal about the process of starting my business, visualtapestrydesigns.blogspot.com  I accidently added an s on the end of design so unfortunately it's different than my website.  I'm still figuring out how to change it around.  My next quest is to design a logo....harder than you think...I'm a perfectionist and have a tough time coming up with my own designs.

Today I met with Karen at church to work on 2 logos and booklets for the membership classes.  I've already designed one logo for the first class called Starting Point.  The name for the second logo is "Count Me In", and I am drawing a blank on how to visualize it.  I'm open to ideas if you have any suggestions!  I'll post the logos when I am finished.

Being a new year and starting a new business, I have started thinking about goals that I need to set for this year.  One of my goals is to market business.  I'm still working on how to do that best, but I'm thinking. Another goal is to join art groups and associations.  Still working on the rest of it.  As I make goals, I'll let you know.

Have a great day!  Blessings, Andrea

Welcome!

Hi everyone
We are a team of mother and two daughters. We are all artists, but specialize in different areas. We believe that anyone can create art, and love sharing our art with others.

Ruth (or Mom) specializes in capturing a moment in time using pastels, oils or watercolor. Kathy is a Polymer Clay Artist specializing in pens, beads, hair accessories and business card holders. She also makes jewelry. Andrea, a graphic designer, is in the process of starting a business of designing custom photomontages/collages from multiple photos and images. She also designs printed materials. We will be posting our websites for you to visit very soon!

This month we will sponsor an invitation only exhibition. We will send the same photo to each artist invited to participate in the exhibition. Artists will have a month to work on their interpretations and submit them to us. By February 5th, we will post the original photo and each artist's interpretation for you to enjoy. You are invited to participate by leaving constructive criticisms/critiques. In the future, we will have an open exhibition challenge each month.

We also invite you to come back throughout the month to read our art journals.

Blessings to all!
Ruth, Kathy & Andrea