ROOTMIX [life-as-art]: art

Showing posts with label art. Show all posts

online like it's 2007!

original acrylic on canvas "hearts" by zarah darling 16"x20"

It's great to just do and not think, eh? Thinking has gotten me tied up in lists and behind on dreams. Today I just jumped in and focused on income activities. What activities generate money? Blog posts? Not yet, maybe with advertisers and affiliates? But need more readers too!!! Painting? Yes - got some of those. Had many pieces admired during my open studios. How about making them accessible for collecting?

original acrylic on canvas "royal strawberry" by zarah darling 12"x9"

So I did that thing that invites money, I posted two paintings in my etsy shop. Though I had opened my etsy account in 2009, my shop had never been set up and so now my shop open date is officially tomorrow (as it's marked in east coast time). That's good. It won't look like my art's sat around online for 5 years :)

Check it out if you like. Here.

And the title of this post? 2007 is when I first put on a list that I would make and sell items on etsy. Now I know lists are toxic to my productivity.

so happy for saturday

Lots I could do today, including rest. We'll see what happens. I'm very excited for my upcoming open studios, the first weekend of April. Here are some pieces I've been getting ready. Pulling together in-progress canvases with the theme TOOTH WILMA STRAWBERRY.

photo and art by zarah darling [TOOTH WILMA STRAWBERRY, in progress]

Also, may have found a new, sunny home. It's got the three L's: location. Fingers crossed.

Very excited for my friend at The Westhood who had her photo featured on sfgirlbybay's #sfgirlguide. Yay-pants Megan!!! Here is the pic picked. Love the colors :)

photo by megan @thewesthood

Missing swimming as I'm working from a different location than usual. I mean floating. Floating is what I usually do. And somersaults.

that's not me. in fact, that's an oil painting by eric zener called somersault

Have a great weekend everyone, what are you getting into? Oooh, let me know your favorite open studios art snack too! #grocerylist

xo,
z$

inspiring guy.

Oliver Jeffers Author Film 2013 from Oliver Jeffers on Vimeo.

of the four seasons, spring is my favorite

Krisztianna

what i immediately signed up for last week {the listserve}

Last week I was introduced to *the listserve*. I immediately signed up; it was day one. When I told someone about it the next day the total number of people signed up had grown from 3264 to 6487!

I mean, the opportunity to send an email to 1 million people, right?! How exciting and nerve-racking that would be?! How it stops you in your tracks. What would be the perfect thing to say? What's worth telling one million people? It was hard to not think of it as a marketing opportunity. But don't we market ourselves everyday? Even when we stay home - we're protecting our brand and the outside world from grumpy me... Life is art and the way we speak and what we choose to share about says even more than the actual words coming out of our mouths or fingertips (onto a keyboard... I think you caught that one).

What if you could offer your YOU art a bigger audience? An audience of thousands, approaching a million? What if you were called upon to share a message with this group of a million, randomly. Wait, let's flip this around - what if you got to read a message from someone each day that was put under this unique spotlight condition and rose to the challenge of saying something worth a million listens?

The other interest that comes to mind is, "You'd better get your act together, self, if a million people could hear something you say." Have a life worth advertising.

Either way, I'm stoked to be a part of this process. I may be called upon to share a message with thousands upon thousands of people, the email lottery. But for sure, I'll be offered a new email each day from a new person with a perspective I may not have been exposed to, someone who is willing to share a bit of themself with so many of us.

Here's a little more about the listserve and a link for you to sign up too.

Three days ago, the listserve hit 10,000 and today I received the perfect indoctrinating email from Emil Stenstrom from Sweden containing a splendid balance of heads-up, use-your-power-for-fun, and warmth-of-life, kindly message, gently nudging this project forward into a special place in my heart.

If you'd like to see the email too, leave a comment below (with your email) or email me at heyrootmix [at] yahoo dot com with "Emil 041812" in the subject line and I'll forward his message to you.

You all rock.

(And yes, it's like TED for email.)

{video love} supakitch & koralie

I've just finished up my online class, Get Your Paint On, and am keyed in to all this inspiration on the interwebs. Now that I've gone through the slowed down process of making my own big painting, I love seeing the process other artists go through.

This hubby and wife collaboration by Supakitch & Koralie is really facinating to watch as their vision is reavealed across a large wall.

My favorite hubby and wife artists! Euphorie.

what i like today...

//misterrob via etsy//

//helen du toit via etsy//

//smiling knitting via etsy//

//this lovely image from the portable fortitude kickstarter project//

these little habits... what are yours?

take care, zarah

p.s. remember to visit my give-a-way and sign up!

{power year} march madness!

It sure is March Madness! This month's assignment and challenge from Megan Quicke's Power Year came through on March Eve and already there's been a maddening amount of goal-getting! (Read the March Message here for yourself if you'd like to play along at home.)

Megan's challenge this month is to share our plans publicly. As I thought of possible public declarations of my intentions for my Power Year, none of which really excited me, this invitation came bounding into my email inbox: a Salon-Style Bicycle Art Show!!! So, see Goal #3 and #4 below. Done and done!

Madness!

My March Madness Goals:

1. Send an email offering an introduction and explanation of my services to have friends share with their friends. (Due: 3/5) [Update: done!!!]
2. Create goodies for the Power Day give-a-way happening March 11th! Stay tuned on how to enter!
3. Test and complete artwork to show at the Salon-Style Bicycle Art Show!!! (Due: 3/22) [Status: In progress]
4. Sign up for MailChimp email service, upload all of my contacts, and send an announcement about the art show. (Due: 3/16)
5. Do the math on an affiliate program I will offer and send around an email announcing the program. (Due: 3/31)

And overall, aim to do 32 hours of work that either is directly billable or will lead to income generation. Build up to that this month.

*Bonuses that will rollover to April: do my taxes; complete or schedule these tutorials from The Curious Pug.

A Wrap-Up of February:

It went amazingly. I gave myself just enough structure and just enough space to really have fun fulfilling these goals that will serve me well on the way to my dreams coming true! It really boils down to being OK with succeeding and having compassionate expectations of myself; that's what's new for me this go-around.

Thanks for all the support and encouragement!

xox

what i like today...

loving this block print by twoems...

and her tiger!

and thanks to Craftaholics Anonymous and guest poster Maybe Matilda for this awesome crochet headband tutorial, I jumped right in and made one. #instantcrafting felt really good (and it's keeping my head warm!)

I also really like playing the guitar, practicing finger picking
and I think I got my cooking mojo back!!! It's been over 12 years!

Happy Friday y'all! Oh, and here's where I was tweeting today... right... here!

xoxZ

what i like today...

google video chat (love!) yes, I just used it for the first time...

that etsy blue stamped crepe paper

//source//

plotting march madness for my Power Year! it feels so good to accomplish goals!!!

a touching conversation with my bandmate, aaawww!

thinking of a master plan... (1:08)

my first singing lesson vocal exercises, now just to practice them!

this TED video, so inspiring! "We didn't push the limit, we just showed it was further than anyone thought!" What bridge can you create?

{sweet sunday} mae chevrette

such inspiration!

{white rabbits!} summertime, and the living is easy

i am enamoured by this artist...

white rabbits, y'all!

xoxo,
rootmix!

tomorrow i would like to go here...

and make art!!!

{datenight} keep on rockin' in a free world!

i love music!!! what a lovely way to spend an evening with someone special going over your music collections together! or, just exploring some music on your own!

{via rosiemusic}

have you listened to your old mixtapes lately? any old tapes for an old flame? i use to play sinead o'connor's *nothing compares 2u* over and over again in recognition of a lost love. finding that tape again recently has been a flashback!

{via kate*, flickr}

are there lyrics that just make your heart ache with joy? or the tone of a song, a note being held just right and just long enough to tickle your heart?

{via mixed plate}

do you have any new artists you've been wanting to checkout? i love exploring youtube or myspace and just clicking along to the next song link to see where we go with the music...

{via jennipenni}

and of course, there's always jamming out with some live music! RAWK!!!

{via rosiemusic}

who are some of your favorite bands? let us know in the comments who you recommend or what old mixtapes you came across!

xoxo,
rootmix!

p.s. if you want kate to draw one of your mix tapes, follow this link and send it along!!!

a spa day for our professional minds!

wow! i showed up for a free conference at san francisco's herbst theater yesterday. even considered not going. but since i went, looks like i've had a life-changing experience.

what was it? the *dynamic adaptability conference: new thinking and new strategies for the arts*. when introduced by the director of grants for the arts at city and county of san francisco (yes, we have that), kary schulman explained how the conference planning committee decided to design the kind of conference art world professionals would pay thousands of dollars to attend... but let's make it free!

ah, the power of free!

i would have been suspicious that the conference was jenky, except for the option to reserve your own box lunch! for free also! at that point during pre-registration i felt they must have excellent funding.

turns out the wallace foundation is in the middle of a four year grant with an over $7 million budget. their charge is basically to research best practices for artists to be supported, promoted, sustained. which in turn builds and sustains our communities.

the agenda of the 9am-5pm conference covered

the brain science behind creating and appreciating art,
data and stats on the professional lives of artists and how to best engage with their audience,
inspiration for creating a deeper connection between artists and their communities, and finally
an overview of demographic and technological changes

{jonah lehrer and holly sidford}

the highlight of the day came for me at the beginning with johah lehrer's presentation on the science behind decision-making. the research he shared helped illustrate that there is a scientific reason behind things we do. for me, the data released some of the burden that *i should be different, better, faster...* and he also provided a solution for success: being educated on how the mind functions, accepting the mechanisms of how we work, and staying focused on harnessing the strengths of these outcomes.

in fact, the whole tone of the day was highly focused on what's *right* in our artistic worlds. there was a lot of good news. as artists, we've already accepted a life-long recession. topics of the day pointed out ways to hyper-succeed at leveraging our best practices, of engaging with our communities, of bringing excitement and joy into the lives of our audience members, making them part of the process, bringing us all together.

all in all it's pretty simple and straight-forward:
find art you like. have a better life.

*i'll be sharing more specifics of my experience at this conference over the next week, including a list of actionable take-aways! chime in if you were at the conference or have heard about the organizations or presenters who participated!

forcast screams for rain!

it's a rainy one here in san francisco! lots of big droopy raindrops... puddles abound! it's nice to be at home baking a squash to warm up after my adventure out in the rain. i love the rain! and looks like we've got a few more days of it: