News — nothing to do with art

Entropy, noun: lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder. Entropy is one of the most frustrating parts of life for me. No matter how hard you work at something, if you don't do it for long enough, your skills will decay and you will have to start over.  Ok, fine. You don't literally have to start over, but it can feel that way! Your last memories of the time you did the activity are of you at your peak; then when you try it after a while away, your skills no longer match up with your memories.  I...

The stereotype of “starving artist” exists for a reason, but I just came across a talk by a local KC artist and gallery owner that wants to challenge that concept. Vanessa Lacy presented the concept of “Profit First” for artists via a free Facebook Live.  I started watching the video and I’m only halfway through, but I can already tell it’s changed the way I’m thinking about money in my art biz. I’m definitely guilty of not paying myself at all from my art sales. Part of this is because I have a full time job with a good income,...

Sometimes life throws an unexpected curve ball at you, like around this time last year when my husband fell off our porch step, broke his foot, and had to be chauffeured to work for a few weeks! And when these things happen, we need to be able to give ourselves the grace that staying afloat is perfectly acceptable. Sometimes it's enough to just survive, even if we're not thriving.  Our society tells us we need to constantly hustle, that relaxing is a waste of time. After a while this messages seeps into us and we tell it to ourselves as well....

Marie Forleo's B-School is an intensive, expensive program promising to walk you through how to get your online business started or existing business growing. It's focused on creating your business's value-aligned marketing through 6 weekly modules. In February 2020 I signed up for B-School. A different online entrepreneur that I like quite a lot and have been following for years was swearing by it, and offered (what I thought at the time) was a very nice bonus incentive for signing up through her. I knew it was an affiliate program and she would get paid for my purchase, but that is...

I am a big fan of John Scalzi's writing and have read many of his scifi books. I've been perusing his blog off and on this year, and his post "The end of 2020*" struck me as how I feel about the turn from the old year to the new as well. Basically, 2020 isn't over yet. It totally feels like "same shit, different day" everywhere in my life. On the personal front, I am feeling totally uninspired to paint, I have no energy or desire to plan or set goals for 2021, and my job is a boring dead...