the empire is expanding…

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ha! if only my arty-crafty biz was an empire. i’ve got a long way to go.

but i am starting to buckle down and get more serious about it. and due to an out-of-the-blue wholesale request the other day via email, i’ve decided i might as well put it out there that i am now interested in wholesaling my stuff to shops and stores. select signs, clocks and even t-shirts if you want ’em. or really anything i make, i’m willing to wholesale if you’re willing to buy in quantity. just get in touch for pricing and minimums and we can work it out.

you can see my current inventory online in my etsy shop – always accessible via the widget in the upper right of this blog, but here’s the url if you want to bookmark it: http://www.etsy.com/shop/artbymags. and please take a stroll through my picture galleries on this site using the menus to the left – they link to my flickr site where you can see pics of all kinds of stuff i’ve made over the years and see the latest things i’ve been working on in the studio.

i’m also now expanding my stencil obsession to portraits. i’m currently working on a series of pop icon prints/paintings purely based on my own interests, but am open to commissions of anyone or anything you might have in mind. i’m even doing one of my cat, sticker, and if that turns out well i might totally start offering that service for pet owners. it won’t be cheap cuz it takes time to go from photo to stencil and then also figuring out the composition and coloring of the painting, plus finding some salvaged material to paint it on. but if this is something you might be interested, please email me.

it’s time to start making some $$ with these skills i possess and stop being so passive about it. so help me out: share me with a friend (or all of your friends via facebook or twitter!), give me feedback about my stuff here in the comments , and let me know what you’d like to see/read more of here on the blog.

new small canvas, working out some new ideas about $$$

refocusing.

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after months of feeling like i’d lost my way and lost all inspiration, finally things seem to be shifting a little for me. i had a day full of energy and firing on all cylinders yesterday, which seems to happen so rarely to me now. (not sure if it was the extra cup of coffee or that big chunk of salmon – brain food! – i cooked up the day before, but i haven’t had such clarity in a really long time. it was nice.)

so i think i’ve decided to recommit to the art life. i was on the verge of abandoning it entirely, but i now am feeling new inspiration and a desire to buckle down and get serious about it. so in the coming weeks, i will be tweaking this website a little, moving some of the less art related stuff over to my new domain, margaretcoble.com (catchy, eh?), which will serve as more of an overall personal and professional site. and in so doing, i will refocus this site more on my art and crafty life and process, with the intention of making this blog more interesting to read. (and hopefully update it more frequently.) i might even shoot some video or make a podcast or something crazy like that!

i took the above picture this afternoon in my outdoor studio (otherwise known as the back yard!). i’m working on a new series or set of stencil paintings that i hope are going to turn out the way i want them to. some will be on salvaged wood and cabinet doors and such, others will be on canvas. some will be straight up stencil paintings and some will be more mixed media oriented. i have a million ideas jotted down, but the process will take a while as it requires me making a LOT of new stencils, both of pop icons and objects as well as textures and patterns. i hope the results will be interesting and aesthetically pleasing as well as marketable. it’s not exactly groundbreaking or even highly original in concept or technique, but it is something that i want to make and express and will challenge me while hopefully also paying a few of my bills. it’s a good place to start. and hopefully it will lead to more interesting things.

one of my favorite soulful house songs has lyrics that say “you’ve got to move to create change.” i love that line. this is me moving. just gotta keep it up.

so stay tuned. and bear with me. thanks!

new year… now what?

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ten days into the new year and, well, there are no big distractions to keep me from trying to figure out the answer to my big existential question of the past year or so:  now what?

the saints are out of the playoffs, and i don’t frankly care who wins the superbowl from here on out, though part of me feels like it might be kinda fun to root for the big underdogs who beat our asses, seattle. the pure joy and excitement on the faces of the seahawks’ fans and players after our game ended last weekend reminded me of us last year.

and yes, it is carnival season now… but we’ve got a long slog until the first parade (krewe du vieux, on the 19th of february!). now that 12th night is over, there’s not much for us common folk who aren’t in a krewe to partake in carnival-wise until then. (aside from eating our body weight in king cake.)

so i suppose it’s time to get my brain out of holiday mode and start trying to figure out this next chapter of my life.

i wish it would be as easy as my horoscope says it’s supposed to be. susan miller says all the strife i’ve been having with money for years and years is supposed to ease up and get better. and in fact, i was supposed to come into some large sum of money just a few days ago! but alas, this has not happened yet. i keep waiting, but so far, nada. i mean, i got a couple of orders on etsy out of the blue… but come on. that’s hardly a windfall! in fact, if anything, things have gotten worse this month so far because all the holiday shopping frenzy is over. even things with magicmonkey have even slowed down as nita gets some work done in her house.

i won’t hold my breath on money falling from the sky.

so i guess it’s time to start polishing up the old resume (as if i actually have one!) and throwing it out into the world to see if it can get me anywhere. i’m still a little torn between trying to find some type of professional or career-y track type job that would pay nicely and possibly stimulate me intellectually in some way (though what would that be? see, the same old problems crop up because i still don’t know the answer to that question)… or just finding some kind of mindless menial job that pays enough to help me pay the bills but doesn’t tax me brain-wise or emotionally. might be fun to just work and play and have fun for a change.

god, i’m tired of thinking about all of it. i just want to have said job, whatever it is, and work hard and get paid and stop being stressed about having enough money to live on. in some ways, i sort of don’t really care what it ends up being. i just need it to happen. something. anything. some movement. some activity. i need to get out there. get out of my house. be around people. be a normal person. work. (i make a really good workaholic, actually, when given the chance.)

why is this so hard for me? no really. i really don’t understand it. i am not a stupid person. i am not generally a scared person. i am not afraid of people. or of work. i have done all kinds of work in my life. i’m pretty open to whatever work comes my way. i just want to feel useful. productive. participating in society. i want to have a life outside these four walls and my cats. i’m tired of working alone in my house.

that is my intention. i’m naming it. this is what i want for my new year. something new and different. simple, really.

wanna hire me?

🙂

but seriously. i wanna crowd-source this shit. if you know of any openings, gimme a holler. the only thing i’m not really terribly interested in is service industry. a) i don’t have any experience, and b) i think i’d suck at it. not motivated there. but i’m good at all kinds of other things. (here’s the closest thing to a resume that i have online, my linkedin profile. it doesn’t have a lot of the little side job things like dog-walking/pet-sitting that i’ve done but does have most of my “professional” experience.)

thanks y’all.

happy carnival!

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yes, it is now carnival season, officially. i’m always amazed every year how this town glides so effortlessly from christmas to new year’s to poof, now it’s carnival season, without missing a beat. and this year it will be such a long season – mardi gras isn’t until march 8th!

last night i decided to take in some of the 12th night/epiphany revelry which marks the official start of the season by scooting downtown to see the krewe de jeanne d’arc parade. i think this was their 3rd year parading, but for some reason i’ve never made it down to see it. i went solo, hoping to run into someone i knew, and voila, i did. in fact, i ran into lots of folks i knew, which was nice.

my photos aren’t the best – my now very old digital camera doesn’t do great with nighttime shots using flash – but you get the idea. joan was lovely on horseback wearing her chain mail, making her way through the crowds.

and she had several maids of honor who followed behind her on beautiful clydesdales. god those animals are gorgeous. i was impressed with how calm all the horses remained sandwiched in such tight crowds, particularly when the parade turned onto st. phillip from chartres towards decatur.

though these small walking parades are not the visual spectacles nor sensory experiences of the larger traditional krewe parades, they are so much more creative in many ways, particularly with throws. i did not score any of the coveted handmade items, but was happy to have ended up with some joan of arc matches and a lovely krewe card. i like what it says on the back:

“on this day of birth for joan of arc, the maid of orleans, we celebrate the rebirth of new orleans. we walk on this night to reflect on the past year and rejuvenate for the new year. we honor all those who have fallen by the sword, fire, and flood. we burn candles to brighten this twelfth night, lighting the way for mardi gras season. joan of arc, saint, warrior, leader, and honorary maid of new orleans, we thank you for shining your golden light on us and ask you to bless new orleans in 2011, on this, the anniversary of the 599th year of your birth.”

guess they’ll have a super rockin’ parade next year to celebrate her 600th!

by the time the parade reached its end, at the golden joan of arc statue by the french market, of course, the crowds had swelled to quite a large number. i wish there would have been more organization to the “party” at the end of the parade, as it seemed most folks were just standing around wondering what was supposed to happen next… and after about a half an hour, the crowds dissipated. but it was fine. i enjoyed my joan of arc experience, recalling fondly past moments with both the lesbian avengers and queer nation in the 1990s when we claimed joan as one of our own via street actions. if only her statue had been in its present location for those events – they would have gotten a lot more attention! (she used to be located over by the world trade center and rivergate, before harrah’s was built – it was moved in 1999.)

sadly, i ate no king cake yesterday. i’m hoping for some on saturday in tandem with the saints playoff game vs. seattle. but it was still a lovely kick-off to carnival season.

last minute push…

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well surprise, surprise. just when i thought the arty-crafty biz was in the shitter… suddenly, without me even really trying much, stuff is selling. (thank you, universe!) i put very little effort into marketing this holiday, i made very little “new” stuff (i made some bottlecap signs and a handful of clocks and printed some scarves, but no new designs), and i only had 3 markets in december. but all the markets turned out pretty ok, especially last night’s “last stop shop” which was actually pretty great. we had a lot of fun and a good crowd and for the first time in a long while, i sold lots of stuff! it was nice and reassuring.

and then today, i’ve had a big sale on etsy – the last of my rachel maddow stencil paintings, which i’d basically given up on selling and hung on my own wall, FINALLY SOLD (along with a clock in the same order) – and have had a few custom orders via email come in. and there’s still a week left before christmas, so i think i’m gonna put a little effort into trying to list everything i’ve got left up on etsy and maybe even craigslist, to see how much i can get rid of.

see, i think the key to me finding new inspiration is to GET RID OF ALL THE OLD STUFF that’s cluttering up my view. i have this problem, in that, i actually LIKE much of what i make – and really, most of the things i make and sell started as something i made for myself, to decorate with, to wear, or to give as a gift to someone i love. and then i started making more of them. but so, i often end up decorating my own house with some of the things i make, making them hard to let go of… and also, making it hard to come up with new ideas. maybe it doesn’t make any sense to anyone else, but i have often found, when i don’t have much of my own work around, then it makes me want to come up with new stuff. but whenever i have lots of it still around – like now – it’s harder to feel inspired. instead i feel defeated because so much of my stuff hasn’t sold, like nobody actually likes or wants it, besides me.

so yeah. hopefully the universe – and shopping friends and strangers alike – will help me get rid of more of the current inventory, so i can start fresh in the new year, and hopefully find some new inspiration for new creativity. but between now and christmas (and probably new year’s), i’m just gonna try really hard to sell what i’ve got. (i will of course always make custom orders, if someone wants something i don’t have in stock – a different color of clock or sign or whatever. just ask!)

anyways. big thanks to all who have been supportive – either by purchasing stuff, recommending me to others, or even just offering encouraging words – this holiday season. it really means a lot to me. and apparently it’s helping!

happy holidays, y’all.

to market, to market…

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freretstivus market, that is. TODAY! noon til 5pm – i will be there. come enjoy the beautiful day before we get more nasty weather tomorrow. and don’t forget about the last stop shop at the big top on thursday, 6-10pm (1638 clio street).

and remember, i do custom work also… so if there’s a clock or sign design you like, i can make it in your favorite color combo and have it done in plenty of time for christmas. i even have some blank scarf material in stock and could print up the scarf of your choice. so don’t be shy – just ask!

happy holiday shopping, y’all.