I said "I never"..

I should have known that a long time ago, when I said "I never imagine supporting myself with my artwork", the complete opposite would occur. This is the pattern of my life. While I am not supporting myself yet, I am trying hard to get there.

I have built a body of work that I believe is unique and now I am ready to begin promoting myself. These seem to be the recommended steps. So that I don't forget, the following is a list of my immediate goals and next steps.

Finish by Christmas:
Write a compelling artist statement and bio. Document my work. Put together a portfolio. Submit to galleries.

Above all else, continue painting.

Back to the Grind

I started a six week Project Manager contract with another ad agency in town. While I was not planning on starting full time work again until the end of September, the opportunity arose and I took it. I am hoping that this will allow me to take more time off up until the holidays. I have been working on site at the downtown office and at first I thought I might be able to juggle my time between artwork and the desk job. This has not proven to be true. While i have a day or two off from the desk job a week, the amount of brain drain created by working in an office environment leaves me unmotivated on my days off. Lesson learned.

Staying Motivated

A month of SOSA has gone by and I feel my motivation slipping. The month has been productive I feel and perhaps I am simply taking a mental break. While the summer is beautiful and days slip into each other, I have got to stay focused. I have produced approximately 5 large painting in the "nostalgic" style that I am happy with. I participated in First Thursday which was successful and sold 10 small block prints there. Being at First Thursday also gave me some exposure and I am almost out of business cards. I was given great feedback and it was inspiring to see everyone "ohh and ahh" over my paintings. I even made a few online sales after the fact. I am excited to continue being "out there". I honestly think that is my favorite part of this whole thing.

In between SOSA, I have been doing about 8 hours a week of Producer work for one of the agencies in town. It has been good working with the team and I like the diversion from art studio. As usual, the clients we work with are difficult, but overall the project is easy to manage. I am happy to have made the connections and we will see where this contract leads. There has been discussions of building business and taking on more project work. They foresee needing someone to lead a group of project managers. I believe they are testing me out for this future role....

SOSA

SOSA stands for Summer of Shyama Art. While my producer contracts taper off this week, I am attempting to focus on my goals for the next few months. What do I want to accomplish during SOSA? Come September, I do not want to feel as if I have done nothing remarkable. So, I have decided to create a "body of work" within the current style I have been developing. The body of work will constitute at least 10 paintings that work well together and are gallery worthy in my opinion. Or, at least portfolio worthy. There are quite a few ideas I would like to explore and quite a few other styles however my goal will be to focus and push to the outter edges of the style I am currently working in. At the end of the summer, I would like to put together a portfolio and attempt to find a place to show these.

Working From Home

I have begun a new venture with a small interactive firm.. This contract fits into my goals perfectly. It is short term and will pay me enough money to take the summer off and do artwork. This contract allows me to work from home which has mixed results. While it is nice not to have to deal with the political mine field of an office environment, staying home alone all day is a little lonely. Days seems to just slide by without much notice which feels odd. However, I guess this is what it will feel like when I am working in the studio this summer. I think sunny days will help keep my energy level up. I have cleaned up the library, purchased a new arm chair, and called it my office. The space is comfortable and warm and I like spending time here.

Contractor Model

It seems like all agencies go through a phase of evaluating the balance of full time employees vs. contractors at least once. Keeping full time staff can be scarey for a company that exists in the roller coaster environment of marketing and advertising. But, contractors create high overhead costs. Companies who have seen fast growth and hired staff to support it have also felt the pain of having to lay all those individuals off when the work evaporated. Contractors do not take lay offs personally. They do not expect to be on staff for more than a couple of months. So, it is easy to expand and contract with their support. However, if an agency is going to rely on contractor support to get projects completed they must also account for the time it takes to get teams organized and ramped up.

Commitment

After weighing my job options, I decided to stay put where I am until June 2008. This is five months of commitment that makes me nervous, but I think it was the best choice. I was especially proud of myself for negotiating a higher salary for the next five months. Visions of a playful summer dance in my head.

Fledgling Freelancer

Business is picking up for this fledgling freelance Producer/Project Manager. Projects have lifted off the ground and days at the desk are not quite as slow. The prospect of changing jobs again looms. The end of my current three month contract is February, and other offers are starting to stream in. Being a popular Producer/Project Manager is a good thing, but I am faced with decisions on where to land next. Do I make a change now or do I stay where it is slow, easy, and yet boring? Do I simply leap to a higher paying gig in an effort to achieve my long range goal of taking the summer off? Perhaps...