CherylAnnHillsArtist

The laws of nature are always at work whether we are aware or not. Even our daily lives can be affected by it. These transitional seasons Autumn and Spring are often busy times filled with completing things from the previous season and starting new things for up-coming seasons. At the end of September, I exhaled; my art show season had finished and I could look forward to new projects in the studio, time spent in thought and losing myself in the creative process. I created some breathing room but as nature abhors a vacuum that space was quickly filled with plans and ideas for new events. Then of course I needed to set aside time to create the plan(s), gather the materials and execute the ideas. I’m super happy with the progress of my plein air painters’ group . This season I’ve seen the best participation since I began the group in 2019. Members are happy and active, and the work produced has been amazing. So, encouraged by this wonderful growth I decided to plan a year end show an...

Failure. It’s a word we’ve been conditioned to dislike. It makes us uncomfortable. For some it can be the source of sleepless nights and hours of therapy. Yet, failure is the doorway to progress. If we never fail we cannot grow, move forward, improve, and eventually excel. It’s a big topic. And it tends to draw mostly negative connotations but as noted, without failure there are no successes. Ask every single successful person if they’ve ever failed at something. The answer is always YES. Its not the failure that will hold us back, its how we respond to failing. Let’s read that again: Its not the failure that will hold us back, its our response to the failure. That’s the really hard part. Our natural response is to hide the failure. Cover it up. Put it into the back of the closet. If it’s a terrible meal you made, you throw it out. And tell no one! Those of us who are creators are told “only put your best work out into the world, never show your failures”. That’s terrible advice....

 The early morning sun of a new day lights gently upon the shoulder of the slumbering artist as she awakens from her peaceful sleep with a smile and a heart full of gratitude and joy. Happy birds flutter in through the open door with cheerful chirps and begin to select her wardrobe carrying a gayly patterned dress to her. She smiles warmly and spins around with glee! “Thank you, sweet birds of the forest!”, she exclaims. As she twirls and prances around her room and towards her brightly lit sparkly clean art studio she wonders how she ever could be so lucky…………………. vinyl scratch……………. I don’t know about you, but this artist has not yet had the forest animals smile and dance around the room with her. A typical day for me begins usually at 5am with my alarm sounding and quickly followed by two more alarms with four soft feet and deep purrs nudging me awake so they can enjoy their First breakfast quickly followed by a snack of dental crunchies. This spring, I’ve made the commit...

Great! Now I have your attention!! Remember the old commercials with the cool sing-along jingles and the terrifyingly large cartoon characters that would tell you why that thing was sooooo GRRRRReat!!!? Sadly, that type of marketing is gone. We’ve oversold ourselves and now no one wants to listen to anyone who asks us to buy this or buy that. Every second of every day is filled with sales pitches and marketing gimmicks. And we’re really good at scrolling past… Recently I read on social media someone’s post talking about the new generations (30 and under) and how they buy everything from Amazon, and no one can compete. I feel that’s only partially true. While price and accessibility have always been important to consumers; more often, we are looking for products that are made local, are socially or environmentally responsible and provide the best quality product for a fair price. I’m a Gen X and these things are important to me too as a consumer. There will always be those who sho...

When I think of things that define an artist the willingness to try is one characteristic that is prevalent. Willingness, as defined by the Oxford dictionary is: “ the quality of being happy and ready to do something ”. And try is defined as: “to make an attempt or effort to do or get something”. So basically, artists are often happy and ready to make an attempt or effort to do or get something. I see so many artists who are willing to try their craft, create a work and sometimes even share that work with others. But often those same artists are uneasy about sending that same artwork into a gallery call, or an art competition or even applying for a spot at a market to sell their work. Let’s pause here for a minute: Why do I feel its important to share your art? Simply because art is often an expression of joy, or sorrow, or whatever it is that the artist is feeling. (this is the same for dancers, musicians, writers etc) AND when you share your feelings/emotions you can...

Love what you do. Sounds contrite, like some bumper sticker on the car in front of you that you stare at mindlessly during 5pm rush hour traffic on the 403 highways system in Ontario. But really, it’s an important 4 words that many of us ignore for most and sometimes all of our lives. are we happy? As we sit in the midst of the Covid pandemic considering our lives, what we’ve done, what we’re doing and what we want to do; perhaps some of our thoughts should consider; For many of us happiness is actually very simple. A few good friends, the basic necessities of life and doing work that we feel is meaningful and that we love to do. After being forced to self-isolate over the past several months these things should be fairly clear to us. Yet many of us will slide back into our previous unsatisfying lives when this is all over because we cannot nor will not see the alternatives we can build for ourselves. It doesn’t have to be that way. Artists can fall into the same tra...

Ok so first, I apologise for the week delay on this last part. I’ve been prepping for my upcoming solo art exhibit in Hamilton . Tomorrow I will be at the gallery installing the exhibit. I will cover this adventure in a future post. Stay tuned! Now on to Craft Show tips . Marketing tools; brochures, bus cards, booth display Your decision to include or not various marketing tools before, during and after the show depends greatly on your overall vision of your craft making activities. If you are a hobbyist who has simply run out of room at home for all your wonderful crafty creations and your friends and family are finding it hard to be surprised with your gifting; then maybe it’s time to sell some of your inventory. As a hobbyist your risk is minimal because your crafty activities are not your main source of income. Printing off a few basic business cards on your own ink jet printer at home is the most you probably need. You can also make a basic sign to insert into a d...

So last week we covered how to find vendor calls, fees, advertising and general expectations. Today we will look at additional budget purchases and vendor culture at art & craft shows. Purchasing your show materials As a newbie, I bought only very basic display materials for my first few shows. I also recommend this to you. While it may be tempting to go out and get the state-of-the-art display gizmo for your wares so you look and feel like you know what you are doing; don’t do it. Start small. You have a shorter distance to fall if you fall (I said fall, not fail) AND you won’t break the bank and wallow in regret. Since I make and sell original oil paintings, I went to my trusty dollar store and picked up about 10 of the mini wooden easels they have in the craft aisle. My first show was a fall show. So I also picked up a few fall themed decorations to adorn the table so it would be all cutesy and attractive to buyers. In total I spent about $40. I already had ta...