Lisa Call

Why More on Twitter

Clint Watson offered for me to write a guest post on his blog over at Fine Art Views after my previous post about twitter.

This is that post - I’ve sent it to Clint to post but am also posting it on my blog, which is probably against some blogging etiquette rule but I write best in wordpress after all these years of blogging (I know - kinda weird huh) and it seems silly not to hit publish for my readers, as my experience is few people actually follow links in a post. Although I do recommend Clints blog as he as some interesting opinions about marketing art. So check out his blog here: Clint Watson’s Fine Arts View Blog.

Why Tweet

My top 10 List of reasons I might think writing a tweet for twitter is a better use of my time than creating art in response to Clint’s comment on his blog:

Why ANY artist would think that sending a “Twit” is a better use of their time than creating art is totally beyond me.

My list:

1. As an artist if I made art 24/7 and never marketed it I would eventually run out of room in my house for the art. I spend a full 50% of my time running my art business. I think Clint knows this as he advocates blogging, so I will assume his comment meant "why would an artist tweet vs. doing any other marketing activity".
2. I do not view what I do as "selling" my art. Instead I look to just be me. Authenticity is my goal in marketing myself and therefore my art. For me this means having a conversation, not selling. Making a connection is what I’m interested in, not doing the hard sell. Even if not connecting with a real live collector every minute on twitter, it is all a wonderful opportunity for being authentic and writing openly about myself and my art.
3. Twitter gives me a chance to be authentic in a different way than with my blog. With my blog I put a lot of thought into my posts. They tend to get long and can take a few hours to compose as I edit and re-edit a lot. My tweets are much quicker thoughts dashed off in a few moments. It’s basically me, uncensored. Very authentic.
4. I think with twitter, at least the people that are using it to connect and not sell, you get to see the real person behind the art. It’s a fine line to walk between being boring, giving too much information and too much self promotion. I find myself dropping the feeds that are only about selling - it annoys me and adds zero value to my life. I want a conversation with someone that feels like a real person. I don’t watch tv, I block ads on the web via adblock in firefox, I rarely listen to the radio, read no newspapers and few magazines - my tolerance for advertising is very low - if I feel all I’m getting is an ad - I’ll turn it off.
5. I believe social media could likely become a more effective method of communicating with ones tribe than email. I think we are all completely overloaded with email. There is simply too much of it and we need a more efficient way to communicate. I find myself emailing less and less the more I use twitter. I can’t see into the future but I see the present and I see a lot people not liking email so much. At my day job as a software engineer, email has been rendered virtually useless as noone has time to read it anymore. A very common theme I hear from artists is that email takes up way too much time. I don’t view twitter just as addition to email, but hopefully a way to reduce that email so it takes less time.
6. I’ve been online since 1983. Admittedly I’m a geek. For me, one of the most natural ways for me to communicate is online and I’m very comfortable in public chat type forums. This is absolutely authentic for me. I think some people communicate well this way, others don’t.
7. I can completely relate to Steve Pavlina’s comment on his latest blog post about facebook:
   

   No doubt some people will question how Facebook could help me with my business. The truth is that I don’t really care. My modus operandi is to pursue growth experiences and mold my business around that, not the other way around. So all I’m looking for on Facebook is to make new connections that can lead to interesting growth experiences. I don’t center my life around a profit motive.

   There is more to being an artist than making cash from the art. Connecting with other artists is incredibly valuable on both a personal and professional level. Where will it lead? Let’s find out.

8. I find some really great information on twitter that helps with with my art career. References to articles and tools that other artists are using. While this might not be a direct sale of art to a collector, who’s to say that an opportunity I learn about via twitter doesn’t? It’s networking at it’s finest for only a few minutes a day.
9. My 16 year old son tells me only old people email. Kids text, they use social media. Email is too heavy weight for them. My son assures me I am far from cool, but at least I’m willing to give this new thing a try.
10. I buy art. I’m on twitter. I found art on twitter I liked. I bought it. I do not believe I am the only artist that buys art. And if I am, well so be it. Hopefully someday I’ll buy one of my own pieces and twitter will pay off.

My Thoughts Without Numbers

Okay - truth in advertising here - this isn’t really a top ten list. It’s just a random list of the things I thought of in no particular order and I attached numbers to the paragraphs because I always wanted to write a top 10 list.

I have no idea what the future of twitter might be and what type of value I might get out of it in the long run. And honestly, I don’ really care, which is why it has taken me over a week to finally sit down and write the article I promised Clint.

The short answer on why it is not beyond me to understand why an artist (me) might tweet instead of make art: Making art is a solitary activity. As a full time software engineer and full time artist, my opportunities for getting out are fairly limited. Twitter is a way to connect with my tribe in a very immediate way. It’s a fairly new way for artists to connect and I have no doubt I am making all sorts of "mistakes" that I will cringe or laugh about in the future, which is a large part of the appeal - testing it out and seeing where it will take me.

A final note. This is my experience. I’m not saying other artists should or shouldn’t hop onto the social media bandwagon. I think everyone needs to evaluate it for themselves and determine if it will fit into their art career. I’m happy to see Clint is actively using twitter now and his opinion in the future will be based on experience.

Still More

After writing this I can see I might have another post about twitter in the future. About how I actually use it. I think that might be of help of those that want to try out twitter but aren’t sure what to write about. Look for that post some day in the future. Not sure when.

 
PS - You can follow me on twitter here: Lisa Call’s Twitter Profile.

PSS - You can friend me on facebook here (just note in the request you read my blog): Lisa Call’s Facebook Profile.

PSS - Clint always does a PS so I felt I should follow the tradition for this post.

First - The Trees

(scroll down below the pictures if you just want to read about art and success)

 
As my long time readers know, I recently moved and am remodeling and putting an addition on my house to add a studio. So in addition to my normal art writing, this blog will, at times, resemble an episode of This Old House because I’m really excited about the work so I’m going to write about it.

The remodel will be starting very soon so first step was to get some trees out of the way.

In area #1 (as marked on the first photo) were 2 cedar trees much much too close to the foundation. They made a mess, not so sad to see them gone.

Area #2 is my beautiful crab apple tree in the backyard (pictured above) that I talk about often. It too had to go, as the new studio will be sitting smack dab on top of it. It took me over a month to admit this was a reality. My builder was patient with me as I finally came to terms with losing the tree. It was simply too close to the house and there was no way to keep the tree and still do an addition. They guys that cut it down said it needed to go even with no addition, so that made me feel a bit better. They also said it was one of the most beautiful crab apple trees they had seen.

Area #3 was another large crab apple wedged between my house and the neighbors. It was ruining my driveway with it’s roots. Again, much to close to the house, and it was already rotting and was dropping limbs when I cut it down.

The trees are now gone as seen above. My yard feels HUGE and full of possibility. It’s exciting. And much less sad than I anticipated. I can’t wait for the remodel to begin!

Lesson learned - those cute little trees that we all plant in our yards. They eventually end up as really big trees. So best not to put them very close to the house or the next home owner will have to pay big $ to have them chopped down.

Success - A State of Being

In my last two blog posts I wrote about
- why I want to know my definition of success
and
- what being a successful artist meant to me.

In both of these posts I wrote about success as a destination. Success defined as a set of goals to be achieved. I’m a big believer in planning out the future and working on the those goals so I stand by that definition of success. It helps to define what actions I should take.

But success is more than that. When I wrote the first post about why I wanted to know my definition for success, I was thinking about putting in "so I will know when I have made it" as one of the reasons. But it didn’t feel right. I couldn’t find any words to say this that didn’t rub me the wrong way.

That is because I consider myself a successful artist today, even without reaching those goals. I’m so ecstatically thrilled every day I wake up and think "I get to make art today". No amount of external recognition or achievement is better than this feeling.

I’m so fortunate to have found something in my life I am so passionate about and love doing so much. Even the marketing stuff is really growing on me and I get excited about it.

The process of being an artist is the best part of being an artist. Even if I never reach the goals I set out in the last post, I will always consider myself a successful artist by the sheer fact that I am one.

Although honestly, I’m pretty sure I will reach all of those goals, and it will be a fairly effortless process because I find all of this to be pure fun. I don’t feel I’m grasping or desperate, it’s just total joy each day to wake up and think about what I can do to move my career forward.

For me, success is both a destination and a journey and I wouldn’t want to give up either.

ACEO #12
3 1/2″ x 2 1/2″
sold

 
A few unrelated topics…
 

Twitter

A series of articles I’ve read related to social media:

1) In a recent post, titled A Spectacular Way to Avoid Doing What Really Matters, Clint Watson definitively states:

Unfortunately, I keep seeing artists who seem to think that Twitter is some sort of revolutionary marketing tool that will help them sell art. It won’t.
…
Why ANY artist would think that sending a “Twit” is a better use of their time than creating art is totally beyond me.

 
2) A recent post by Seth Godin titled The small-minded vision of the technology elite:

"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home."
—Ken Olsen, ceo of DEC,

Only 31 years ago. DEC was one of the leading computer companies of the day, but not for long.

Take a look at the geek discussion boards and you’ll see an endless list of sharp-tongued critics, each angling to shoot down one idea or another.
…
PS the marketing elite have precisely the same problem.

 
3) An interesting point of view by Bill Weaver is presented in an article on his new blog The Artists Center: What’s up with social media.

I recommend the entire article and here’s a small bit:

So last year when I found out about Twitter I joined but really didn’t get it until the last few months. Coupled with my Facebook toolbar for Firefox I now get regular little blurbs that pop up on the bottom of my screen whenever one of the people I am connected with has something to say. That very action has allowed me to get to know what used to be pretty close to complete strangers. As a result, I have several potential partners for workshops or seminars each having a strong skill I am lacking in. I hinted above about communities, again this is one of the things social scientists have found occuring more and more as a result of staying connected with each other.

 
4) My twitter profile: twitter.com/lisacall (guess that makes it clear where I fall in the conversation).
 

PFD Fabric For Sale

As I’ve mentioned before I purchase the PFD (Prepared For Dye) fabric directly from Kaufman. I love this tight weave, high quality, 100% cotton pimatex fabric. It’s very dense and in my opinion some of the best fabric out there for making quilts (definitely a matter of opinion). I wrote a post about this fabric here: Kaufman PFD Pimatex Fabric

Kaufman has changed their rules for keeping my account active and I need to purchase more fabric than I can use each year. Would anyone be interested in purchasing some of this fabric from me? The cost would be around $5 a yard (including shipping). Unfortunately I don’t have the time to investigate shipping out of the US so currently this offer is for US residents only.

If you’d be interested in purchasing some fabric please send me email and I’ll see if there is enough interest to pursue this. I sure hope so cause I LOVE this fabric and don’t want to lose my account.

ACEO #12

Last night I didn’t get to my studio until about 9:00pm. I finished construction of Structures #99 before work so the next step was to piece the back and baste the quilt. I was in no mood for that so instead I decided to make an ACEO. This artist trading card is a combination of the bright colors from Structures #98 and the more somber dark gray/browns from Structures #99 as they were jumbled together on my cutting table.

If you are interested in purchasing ACEO #12 please send me email. It is $21 US and includes shipping to anywhere (I accept payment via paypal or check). It’s sold.

ACEO stands for “art cards, editions and originals”. Originally known as ATC, Artist Trading Card, and are traded between artists. When sold to the public they are referred to as ACEOs. The primary rule for an ACEO or ATC is they be 3 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ - the size of a trading card. They are created in many different mediums and are collectible, trade able and affordable art for everyone.

Backside:

Fall in Colorado

The weather is Colorado is beautiful this time of year. Warm days, cool clear nights (well except for the recent rain). It’s beautiful. This is the view from Jim’s deck up in the mountains. Visiting my boyfriend is better than going on vacation. I love living in this state (I know I said this same thing just the other day - I’m very grateful for my life!).

Structures #62    © 2007    33" x 19"

A Slow Reply

Eight or nine months ago Meagan asked me the following question on one of my posts:

Something a little off topic, but still related: How do you know when your art work is “good enough” to start marketing it? (Obviously this isn’t a problem for you, Lisa, since your art is amazing!) Previous commenters (Ed) have mentioned that in the beginning of their career, they sold stuff that really wasn’t very good. How do you know when your art work has reached that particular level?

I’ve had a draft of this question sitting around waiting for an answer ever since. As I wasn’t up to a dissection of my studio newsletter as promised, I decided to go back and deliver on an older unanswered query.

It’s about Growth

The article I wrote was about selling my artwork (click to read). My thoughts have changed over the years and today I will answer this differently than I might have 3 or 5 or 8 years ago when I was not looking to pursue an income generating career from my art.

Today my answer is: You are ready to start marketing your artwork when you are ready to take that bold step and put yourself out there. It’s a big leap as it comes with many risks but also many rewards.

Sure, five years from now you might look back and think "Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I tried to sell that junk." But that’s the future. What matters is right now, today, this moment. How do you feel about your artwork? Are you happy with it? Do you think it is good? Do you want to market it? Great - go for it.

And I don’t think that’s such a bad future, to be a bit embarrassed about your work from years back, because it means you are growing as an artist. This is a great thing. Maybe something to look forward to.

How Will You Handle Set Backs

Artists are often advised to ask others for opinions about their work. Is it good enough? Will it sell? While this isn’t bad advice I’m not sure I’d recommend that. I suggest just going with your intuition. If you have the desire and resources to market your artwork, then go for it!

What’s the worse thing that could happen? You might fail on first try. The question is, what will you do with that failure? Will you let it destroy your dream? If so maybe you aren’t ready. I think this is probably the single most important question to answer.

Sure you might never face rejection, but chances are good you’ll face more than a few "we aren’t interested" situations. As Christine Kane says:

SWSWSWSW: Some will. Some won’t. So what? Someone’s waiting!

[Read her excellent article about not taking things personally here]

Even if you do face failure you might learn something. You might get better and grow. You might find new ways to do things. You might meet people that want to help you over that hurdle.

When you are ready to fall down and get up and keep on going. That’s when you are ready.

I’m Finally Ready

I’ve been making art that I really love for the past 10 years. Yet I’ve never taken the leap to go after an solid income with my art. I always have an excuse:

• I need to build up cash reserves.
• The kids are only at home for a few short (18) years.
• This work isn’t quite good enough yet.
• No one buys art quilts.
• I could never replace my software engineering salary with an art income.

Well, no more. I’m doing whatever it takes to get rid of the day job and replace it with the art income.

First up on the list of to-dos is to sell the house that requires a really big income. If I wait until I have enough money from my art to pay this mortgage it could be a pretty long wait. So I’m short circuiting that problem and downsizing.

It’s a huge task and when I think of all that needs to be done to get this huge home on the market I freak out, which is the reason I’m still here. I thought about moving 6 years ago after my divorce and then again 3 years ago, but I didn’t have the courage to do it.

Now it’s the year of courage, which gives me the focus needed to work through all that needs done. I don’t think about the huge list of to-dos. I make short lists of easily doable tasks. Things I can accomplish in a few hours. I’m just focusing on each step, one and time, and steady progress is made every day.

In the meantime I’m not ignoring my art. I’m in the 7th day of Artist Breakthrough Program with Alyson Stanfield and it’s fabulous. I’ve made huge strides in getting my new website ready to go. Tomorrow I’ll blog about how I did with my goals this week and what’s up for next week.

And yes - at some point I’ll write about all I learned when doing my studio newsletter. Hopefully you will not have to wait 8-9 months for that answer.

The above image was the one I selected for this post 9 months ago, I can’t tell you why. It’s orange. Maybe that was it.

Markings #10    ©2007    69"x 77"

Another Sign on My Wall

In January I started a series of posts about intent and things I do to help me hold my intent and stay on track. I got sidetracked with all the postings about my show, Markings: Repetition and Pattern, now on exhibit in Boulder but it felt like a good day to write about fear so I’m combining the two topics.

In 1998 or 1999 I read Who Moved My Cheese along with millions of other people.

My favorite quote from the book, which I immediately wrote on a piece a paper and hung on my studio wall:

Real Courage

I had just joined my first critique group and I was terrified. I had a group of women I respected that were going to tell me what they thought of my art. I started to second guess everything I was doing in my studio. What would they say, would like like it, could I handle their comments?

The fear ground my art production to a near halt. I remember sitting for long periods of time staring at this sign. Slowly I let the message sink in and I went back to work.

Real courage is not about waiting until the fear is gone before you proceed. It’s about proceeding in the face of fear. I rarely let fear stop me from creating now but I can still taste that feeling I had almost 10 years ago. And I’m not going back there.

I still have self doubts but I don’t let those voices speak very loudly anymore. I now act as if I am not afraid and move forward and the fear slowly dissolves.

Enough Time

When I wrote the post about there always being enough time to do the important things in my life, I mentioned that when we find ourselves not doing something it is likely to be something that we don’t really value.

The other thing I find is that I avoid things that I am afraid of. I use the excuse there is no time to do it, but the reality is I’m afraid of it. Recognizing this fear and admitting to it is a huge first step to just getting on with things. To having the courage to do it anyway.

Fear is not comfortable but the only way I know to make it go away is to face it head on. It’s why my word for the year is courage. Much of the marketing stuff I used to claim I don’t have time for is really stuff I’m afraid of doing. My intention is to become a self supporting artist and to hold this intention I have to face fear every day and just do the marketing work anyway.

Markings #10

Back in October I posted some images of Markings #10 in progress that capture the texture that is created with my extensive surface stitching. This piece is the largest artwork I’ve made to date (not counting traditional bed quilts I’ve made) at almost 37 square feet. It took me 55 hours to do the surface stitching on the entire piece.

It also speaks to what I wrote about Friday, the disruptions in the pattern. I feel that without the unexpected changes in the pattern, my art and my life would get a bit monotonous and stale. The trick is to appreciate these disruptions for the beauty they provide instead of getting bent out of shape, just like the mice in Who Moved My Cheese.

Related Holding Intent Posts

Transitioning and Intent
Holding Intent - Part I [Realistic Goals]
Holding Intent - Part II [Excuses]
Holding Intent - Part III [Focus]
Holding Intent - Part IV [Enough Time]
Holding Intent - Part V [Self Care]

Structures #9    ©2002    31"x31"

Alyson made the following comment on my Blogging as Popularity Contest post last week:

… Your blog works, your blog is popular precisely because you share in an authentic way. It’s accidental marketing, if you will. And it works so much better than forced sales speak…

That might be true. Maybe my blog is a useful marketing tool even if I don’t think of it as such. Although none of my readers have yet ponied up thousands of dollars to buy my large artwork so I’m not necessarily convinced. [But please, I’m open to the idea of someone proving me wrong so don’t let my opinion stop you from buying some large abstract textile art for your loved one for the holidays. How’s that for marketing? har har…]

 
Alyson continued, in response to this comment of mine: "I write my blog for me - because it helps keep me focused and on task, because I learn about myself and my art by writing about it, and because I’m basically a geek and this is the socially acceptable way for geeks to communicate", by asking:

But would it keep you on task if no one was reading it? Would it be the same if you were writing the same by hand in a journal? Or does it work precisely because so many people are reading it?

First, there is no way I would do this if I had to write it out by hand. The inability to easily edit would be a problem. It is partly my new ability to embrace the revision process when writing these posts that has improved my writing over the last few years.

I do keep a personal journal that I write in about 3-5 nights a week. The focus of the journal the past year has been about gratitude and appreciating the people and world around me. I also work through personal issues, which I rarely write about in my blog, in those pages. I do believe there is value in such a journal but that is not the focus or purpose of my blog.

I think the piece that was missing in my last post is that I also blog for the community that comes with the territory. I implied that in my "I’m a geek and this is how we communicate" comment but it was probably a bit cryptic. I’ve been on the internet since 1983. In 1984 I started reading and posting to the usenet newsgroups and I’ve been involved with online communities ever since.

This form of seemingly private but really public conversations is part of my social, creative and emotional support structure. While I am still a member of 1 email mailing list the majority of my online interaction with other artists is now through blogging and private emails that ensue. I pick the conversations I want to read and those that care about what I have to say can come and read my posts. It’s a great system.

As to the keeping on task, I do think that publicly stating goals gives me a bit of extra incentive to meet those goals. Although I believe in holding myself accountable for my own goals and I don’t post them every week or even every month, yet behind the scenes I’m still working on them. I’ve never tracked it but I suspect I do about equally well with staying on track the weeks I post my goals and the weeks I don’t.

I have to admit I totally failed to meet my goals the last few weeks. I decided to toss them all out and just spend time with my kids before they left. So I did little more than attend kid events and hang out with my kids the last few weeks. We have a new favorite board game called Ticket to Ride. Both the kids and I really enjoy it and noone has to be talked into participating. Or bribed - I used to offer to pay them if they could beat me playing blokus. They won once and now they won’t play anymore, which is a bummer because I really like that game.

My kids are now in Europe (my son says he’s eaten the best indian food ever their first day in London) so I now have 3 months of kid free time to really focus. I’ll get back on track with my art and business goals in a few days but first I’m spending time with friends who I haven’t had much time for given my year, and wrapping up some holiday and personal chores.

 
Paula made the following comment on my last post about goals:

Isn’t having a goal just the same thing as wanting something?

I absolutely agree and it reminds me of the quote I posted a while back:

Discipline is remembering what you want.
- David Campbell

Having the goal is the first part. I find it important to write down what I want.

The second part is the follow through. I find it helpful to break down my goals into small steps to actually achieve them. I find I have the discipline to complete smaller sized tasks and when a goal is huge and parts are unknown I am more reluctant to start working on it. Much of what I post about here are the smaller chunks I break down my goals in to.

 
I didn’t want to have another long wordy post with no pictures so I found some artwork I’ve never posted online. This 5 year old piece was made for a specific exercise in a Nancy Crow workshop years ago.

Structures #84    ©2007    7"x23"

 
Over at Laketrees, Kim Barker has compiled a top 101 artist blog list, based on technorati rating.

A blog’s rating/ranking is calculated as follows (or was when I last saw a note about how this was done): For each in bound link source, 90 days old or less, a blog gets 1 point - total up the points and that’s the blogs "authority rating". The "technorati ranking" is where a blog falls in the big list of all blogs. These numbers go up and down daily as the inbound links age and new ones are added.

I check technorati every so often to see what the inbound links are around in case I miss an important tag (I still owe a 5 random things about me list for stacers). But I never paid much attention to how I ranked in the specific world of art blogs. According to Kim’s list my blog clocks in at #9 of the blogs she identified as being by an artist.

Did I need to know this information? Did I want to know?

 
If I drop down in the list does it mean I’ve become boring? If my rating goes up does it mean you like my new haircut? Do I write and link to others just so they write about me and link back to me? The pressure.

Should I jump on the art link cloud viral tagging started by Casey over on the colorist to get even more links even if it’s not about content and just a link farm?

Okay - I admit - I’m clearly bad at the marketing game - maybe this is what we are supposed to do.

 
Instead I’m going to try to ignore this and just write what is authentic for me to write and not worry about who might or might not link to me as a result. This is the advice I give others - don’t waste time worrying about all that linking and concentrate on content. I believe it is content that keeps people around - not marketing hype or popularity. I read blogs that I find interesting, not ones that other people find interesting. Content is king (or make that queen).

I write my blog for me - because it helps keep me focused and on task, because I learn about myself and my art by writing about it, and because I’m basically a geek and this is the socially acceptable way for geeks to communicate.

If all my inbound links disappeared tomorrow I’d still blog. If noone read what I wrote ever again, I’d still blog (although I’d probably spend less time fixing typos and poor grammar).

This blog, while I suppose a potentially great marketing tool with my popularity, will never be thought of as such by me. I know Alyson, I just don’t get it.

 
The above piece was made a few weeks back when I was making small work for the holiday art market at the arvada center. I hadn’t yet hit upon the idea to make 9 similar pieces and was playing around just having fun.

In my dreams all 9 pieces will sell opening weekend (it opens thursday) and they will call me up and ask for more work, and I’m all ready with new pieces. Maybe if I did more marketing (like sending out the flyers that feature my work to my mailing list) I’d succeed in my goal. Sometimes I am my own worst enemy.