Diana Trout's blog

Increase Your Ability to Focus

Do you have a tendancy to jump between ideas like a grasshopper? Do you ever lose track of where you are? Is your mind a hummingbird flitting from one tantalizing idea to another? Perhaps you've recently discovered a cache of finished paintings in a drawer? 

A couple of months ago, I called my corporate-type sis about my chronic inability to organize my time and projects. She told me all about Project Management. She also recommended the book peeking out of the pouch below and a computer application called Omnifocus for Mac. I guess they must have it for Windows as well.

I downloaded the 2-week free trial of Omnifocus, here and have started to use it. It's 80 bucks (not cheap) but is a fantastic tool. I'll be buying it. The book, Getting Things Done, is a snooze-fest (no pictures!) but in between the boring blah-blah-blah or corporate talk, are very interesting tidbits. I'm slowly reading along. It's like a required college course textbook. 

The business of being an artist is really hard (to quote George Bush).  This might help.

About the pouches ... total whimmery after I looked at this post over at Purlbee on Friday. It's a simple beginner project and an excellent tutorial. I had some scraps lying around so made a couple with some small changes. I used french seams so that there were no raw edges inside. I determine the size of bags by measuring the things I will be putting in plus ease plus seam allowance. Except when I don't :) sometimes I just use what's lying about the place (like the bag below which I filled with precious scraps of fabric). You'll need two lengths of trim 2 times the width of the bag plus about 3 inches for the drawstring. 

I hope this helps you! 

DIY Business Cards

I'm here, quietly busy: my last Lesson in Rescue Book Journal is finished and preparation for a show this weekend us *a bit frantically* underway. 

Megan and I are finishing up our Bloom scarf sewing and now we have a product. The need for packaging and business cards is immediate.

To make some quick business cards gather some nice art paper (stonehenge, of course), spray inks*, an X-Acto and ruler (or paper cutter) and a pen.

Spray the inks over the papers and let dry. To get those larger blogs, I dripped some water into the wet ink. Allow to dry and trim to 2" x 3 1/2". 

A simple bit of a doodle, company name and contact information. Voila! Instant business cards. One time, I was at a retreat and completely forgot my business cards. I made up some of these and everyone loved them. It is a wee bit of original art. 

*My version of spray inks: I use a mini-mister and re-inkers (in this case Adirondacks). I put several drops of ink into the mister and add an equal amount of water. Spritz! 

Business for Artists

You want to have make money from your artistic talents? Most of the time, folks will tell you (often right as you are graduating with that BFA in hand): "That a a couple bucks will buy you a cup of joe." Yeah, thanks a lot.

The words "business" and "plan" are not easily uttered by artists. I've done (partial) business plans at least twice. Ugh. Then I heard Jennifer Lee, author of The Right Brained Business Plan on a podcast. She said some of the big-bad business plan words like: demographics, target market and market size and then spoke about pulling off a plan using visual aids. Yeah, I'm all over that one.

I got Lee's book after looking it over really carefully. My first reaction was that the visuals were a bit cartoon-y but pretty quickly saw that this was a selling point for me, it opened me up. There are other good books on the market right now. The Creative Entrepreneur has gotten good reviews. Poke around on Amazon.

I got out my gel pens, my markers, scissors and glue stick and have actually made inroads in my plan. Forecasting? Yeah, baby! Jennifer actually explains to you how to do the research for finding your target market, etc. Oh Joy! I don't feel like an idiot.

Jennifer also suggested the Levenger Circa notebook. Levenger licenses the disc and hole punch technology from Rollabind and if you are a binder person, you will love it. Some of the tools (such as the hefty hole punch, which is all you REALLY need) are cheaper over at the Rollabind site. 

If you want to make money at your artwork, you want an art business and if you want an art business, you need a plan. Start slowly. Artists deserve to make a living; to make a life from their art. Dag-nab-it! You are not "selling out" if you do so.