Lists, Lists, and more Lists - Cleaning Up.

Lesle Saeta is cleaning up and reorganizing the physical space in her studio and has invited other artists to join her, re-organizing their studios.  For me, my physical space is working well these days, however I've been wicked dragging my feet on a big "clean-up" task that's needed attention for a long time now:  my mailing lists.

A few months ago my intern started consolidating information.  She did a great job in-putting information from lots of scraps of paper, onto a new spreadsheet.  The only thing left was for me to cross-reference a few other big lists I had which I finally did on Monday.  

Even after all Abbie's hard work, the cross-referencing took me all day.  It will be so nice to have one place where all my contacts are and where I can record new ones.  It was getting mighty confusing! My plan now is to finally get a new newsletter out and get back on track with some of my 2016 marketing plans.  There is always so much to do, but I really do find it invigorating.

In addition to mailing list troubles, I had some earlier systems of recording artwork and collectors which worked at the time but as time has gone by if I need to refer back for information it's way too difficult.  I think I now have a system in place that fixes all that and so my next "clean-up" will be to start back-recording old sales information into my new system.  I'm lucky that in addition to painting, I do love to organize!  

If you have some tips and methods that help you out, please share them in the comments.  I'd love to hear what helps you stay organized.

January-2016

This photo pretty much sums up my January in the studio.  Here's looking toward February!!  Have a great weekend!

Studio Shots

Aaaahhhh . . . back to normal.  After my Open Studio it's always nice to get things back to a very clean normal.  It won't look like this for long, but I thought I'd share some art studio photos.  Have a lovely day!

Autumn Studio

"Autumn Studio"
6" x 6"
(watercolor on aquabord)

(what this painting could look like framed)

Click here to bid.

I took a little break from painting the basket and in did this little painting.  Wouldn't this make the most charming studio?  I think it's just an empty out building, but it was so delightful I knew I had to capture those lovely shadows in watercolor!  The little "house" is in Petersham, MA down a side street in the center of town, in case you're ever in the area.  :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Great Weekend

I thought I'd share some photos of my studio from the Backroads Studio Tour last weekend. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures once the tour got underway because I was so busy! :) It was a tremendous weekend. Saturday, the weather was a little chilly but the light was gorgeous. It was sunny and really beautiful . . . quintessential New England Fall weather. Sunday was warmer but rainy in the morning and overcast most of the day. However that didn't stop the tourists. Both days I met lots of terrific people and thanks to them, made many sales. It far exceeded my expectations. I am very grateful.

So these photos show the new set-up. My hubby made me some great shelves so that I can prop up my framed pieces and not have to put holes in the walls to display them anymore. We decided to make a shelf that runs the length of the room, so that I could repair the wall and paint without having to go all the way to the peak. Gitty-up! 

I have an old tea-cart that is a wonderful side table that holds my palette, brushes and paints.  I can roll it around if I need to,  store things on the shelf underneath and in the drawer.  I can also use the glass tray to quickly move items on top if I need a clean surface.  And I could probably use it as a palette if I painted in oils or acrylics.

In the far corner by the door to the kitchen, I hang my primitive paintings on 3 old, hinged shutters.

The table in the middle of the room is where I usually paint during the day.  My roll-top is where I do my paperwork.

The little red box on the bottom left has a little t.v. in it and I often have that on while I paint.  :)  The top shelf continues across the room so that I didn't have to climb up the wall to paint the peak!

Lots of notecards!

I am very grateful to have sold many notecards, prints and original paintings. It was a great weekend!

Guests helped themselves to warm cider and brownies on my old wooden ironing board, which by the way is a great make-shift table when another flat surface is needed.

I kind of took today off to rest, although just finished up the second class for my workshop tonight. I love my ladies and they're doing great! I'm also excited to get back to my own painting tomorrow and into my routine again . . . in my nice, new and clean studio! Thanks for checking in . . . have a great day.

Studio

photo by Tom Rettig

I thought you might like to see my studio.  This photo was taken last year during the Backroads Studio Tour.  (I got it off of the Worcester Living Magazine site.)  I wish it looked like that right now -- it's a total MESS!  But I'm hoping to get it all spruced up -- with even a new paint job before this year's Tour.  The walls have been marred quite a bit by all the nail holes from hanging paintings.  But Dan has built me some wall shelves so that I can place paintings on them.  They also serve as a border so that when I repaint the big wall, I won't have to go all the way to the peak.  How's that for clever?  Anyway . . . tomorrow I'll be back working on my Fisher Price series, picking away at older paintings that need finishing and I have some smaller works ready to start. I really need to post some new stuff over at Daily Paintworks, so I MUST get my act together.  Thanks for visiting -- have a great day!