Notes at the End of September
Boise
I started off September with a trip to Boise to visit Jared. Sam and Jacob came for this trip, and our time was fully-packed; we went to Jared’s arty cafe, spent time at Art on the Park, and explored the Boise wilderness a bit. We spent a lot of time at Jared’s new studio/shop, where he’s set up with a few other creatives. He’s been keen on expanding into sculpture, and we spent time tinkering with his kilns. I made a silver ring with the jeweler in the shop and had long discussions with the young bladesmith.
I did a live painting at Art on the Park and connected with a few other artists— the main concept of the trip was to do networking and to try and sell some art. I left Jared quite a few oil paintings so that he might put them up in the cafe and make future sales. We made trades for goods—I walked away with some frames, floating shelves, and quality ceramics as exchanges. We went to the lumberyard to purchase more stock for frame supplies, which I’m expecting to receive this week. I also brought back the onggi that I’m planning on reselling which Jared purchased from Andy.
NEW INSPIRATION & PLANS
Leaving Boise, I was filled with new inspiration. My first thought after the trip was that I should really extend my practice into somewhere with more space—I’ve been considering a studio for some time, and now I’m looking for a larger space, dedicated to painting. Jared always has great thoughts about the production of art and the principles which drive our growth forward, and I agree that having sufficient space to create always helps.
My apartment is piling up with pieces, so I’ve been happy to offload some of them to local cafes. I’m hopeful that I’ll move more inventory through the upcoming shows to make room. I started a few new pieces upon returning, including some of the commissions that I’ve secured, and I have a lot of ideas about future production, especially if I find a larger space.
I spent time in September tinkering with ways to disseminate my art locally outside of art shows. I’m still planning on going door-to-door once the weather cools down a bit more— I’m eager to get outside and do some knocking. Additionally, I experimented with local ads on Instagram. So far, I’ve had a few little bites, but no sales yet—I’m happy to connect and start the conversation, and hopefully I’ll set some appointments to showcase my art in someone’s home soon via this pathway.
I did have the opportunity to showcase some of my work out of my apartment-gallery to someone I connected with at jiujitsu. He’s keen on getting a large painting for his space, although the timeline is probably around six months. I think this alone provides strong signal around trying to go the direct connection route.
A FEW LOCAL SHOWS
In the later half of the month, I attended two art shows. I prepped for the shows by ordering and packaging quite a few prints, given that my expectation was that neither of these events were ideal opportunities for selling original oil paintings.
One was stationed at the Cartel Coffee on Tatum & Shea. This event went OK—it was primarily a car event, but all of the venues in the lot had their doors open and were socializing throughout. The rain dampened the turnout overall, despite low traffic to begin with. Fortunately I was able to connect with some other creatives and I did end up selling two prints!
The next event was last Sunday. I had no idea what to expect going into this event, primarily because it was a gallery from a friend-of-a-friend and I didn’t receive much info. It was their first time doing such a gallery. The theme of the show was “Phoenix Needs You!” where the aim was to promote the arts culture and community in Phoenix as an alternative to the concept that artists need to move out to LA or NYC.
Walking into the event, I realized that it was unlikely I was going to use the opportunity to sell; most of the attendees seemed like they were still students or freshly graduated from college. Within the venue, each of the artists chose a wall or corner and made our own displays. I broke out the level, ladder, and measuring tape to organize my display high up on the wall and helped some other artists put their stuff up. There were baristas slinging coffee in the middle, largely inaudible due to the adjacent loud speaker.
It was a small sampling of everyone’s creative process— some mixed media art, some photography, and a film running on a projector. I used the time to socialize and paint an 18”x24” panel of one of Jared’s vases that I brought for the event. I did end up connecting with someone who was particularly interested in my work, and I offered him the wet painting (as I didn’t want to carry it back in my already-full car). He accepted and offered me the cost of materials for it, and I was happy to accept.
Overall, both events were “for the vibes,” and I’m hopeful for future events. I think selling art takes time and requires community and connection-building. I’m excited for more events in the fall.
DIGITAL CONTENT & SCALABILITY
I realized this month that I’d like to regain clarity around my vision for my lifestyle. A long time ago, I attested that I didn’t want to be a “full-time artist,” and I still maintain that art should be a primary facet of my life, but I’m not confident that selling art is the only income stream that I’d like to pursue. I’d almost rather just create stuff and have it be a nice bonus, but find other ways to support my lifestyle— this would take some of the pressure off of creating. Therefore, I spent a long time reflecting on what’s the smart move for the next few months.
My first thought was to try to keep growing my email list (and again, thank you for being here to read this). I did a small print giveaway of a limited release print for email subscribers and saw my email list grow to about 120 people! I think building this direct connection is something I’m eager to lean into, especially with the ebb and flow of social media algorithms.
I decided to prioritize some creation which supports long-term growth and scalability— I see the value in building assets. I’ve been helping clients with fitness for a while now, so I distilled the lessons into a new version of my personal training document and I’m currently building out a more intro-friendly 6-week course which will build exercise identity and orient new students around weight training. Stay tuned for the release!
I’m also expanding on the “assets” concept for art itself— I’m revamping my oil painting course, although this project is lower priority as I’ve had limited interest. I’ve been exploring more ways to release prints, so I dropped some postcard prints and I launched a Print Club on my Patreon. As always, I’m eager to keep painting more, which will inherently expand these offerings— but I’m shifting the focus away from selling oil paintings themselves for the next few months while I hope to build out digital offerings. I’ll still be painting for pleasure, as always.
Thanks for reading,
— Kevin
