2022 - Milestones and More Work

It’s January. We’ve had bitter cold and some snow in the northeast, but it’s been good to take a few weeks for reflection and much needed organization.

I participated in a pop-up shop in Beacon, NY over the 2021 holiday season. That was a first for me to be in a retail setting and meet people who wanted to buy art. The experience was heady. Those who stayed and thoughtfully examined the work made comments and had questions. I enjoyed speaking with shoppers and watching them make choices about which pieces to purchase. Some returned, happy to find the work they wanted to buy still hanging. Others returned to disappointment, and in some cases, they purchased the other one they’d considered.

So now, after a month of storing unsold work, refreshing the website and packing the work that will be shown in Stone Ridge, NY, I’m ready to get back to the easel. I painted the Juncos on our patio, and I have two portraits and some more landscape work planned.

Year 2022, I’m ready!

Big Spring

This spring of 2021 seems more welcome than other springs I have known. The winter was strong in the northeast. The pandemic lockdown was hard on all of us. Most people I know are yearning to spend time with family and friends, doing simple things like having a barbecue or picnic or even just sharing some refreshment together.

I’m looking forward to all that and plein air painting! I now have a great plein air pochade box and set up (my Valentine’s Day present from Scott) and I’m ready to use it!! I think I’ll go to the Hudson River sites I love and return to the Artisan’s Park Overlook for more studies.

The garden calls for attention too and if I’m to have some vegetables with personality and flowers to paint, I’d better get busy.

The View from Artisan’s Park Overlook

I really just want to paint.

I’m not sure everyone needs a blog. I’m also not sure anyone needs to read one that I write, but it’s available in this new website, so here’s one entry to try out.

I really just want to paint, but this week, I worked on a new website.

It’s not that I’m a luddite, or unfamiliar with terms or the idea of a website builder. I just don’t do it every day, so that makes it more difficult for me. I am putting aside the questions of SEO and privacy policy and why that little mobile icon is the only one showing right now. Let me just get the pages done, some paintings uploaded, and test out the shop. Then I will get into the ditches with Google and collecting personal info.

The primary reason for moving my site is e-commerce. Exhibitions are coming back slowly after a year of lock down but sales are driven by social media and a website. I want to be ready with a shop that’s easy for my clients and efficient for me. I didn’t see why once I had uploaded a photo of my work, listed it’s size, medium and price that I should have to enter all that info again in a store. I shared that concern with the very available support staff at my last website host, and they seemed to understand, but the improvement never happened.

I photograph my work, track my expenses and sales, report and pay sales tax, but keeping a website running by re-entering data was my breaking point.

I really just want to paint.