Category Archives: Studio time

Being an Artist, Goals, New Year's resolution, Studio time

Taking stock of 2014

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A Belated Happy New Year to all!

How did you do on your New Year’s Resolutions last year? My goal was to spend at least 500 hours making art.  Despite a slightly rocky start and a fairly unproductive patch in the early summer, I did pretty well!

I made up a lot of time in the fall,  passed the 500 hour mark on November 29 and went on to complete a total of 532 hours for the year. It was really nice to be able to let go a little during the holidays, knowing I had achieved this goal. My marketing and business goal fell a little short at 238/250 hours.  I had an additional 137 hours of “supporting tasks” like research, prepping materials, framing etc., for a total of 907 hours of art related activity.

So what were the fruits of my labor? I actually had a pretty good year. Here are the highlights:

  • Seven 22X30″ drawings
  • Two 48X60″ drawings
  • Four videos

My favorite drawing from 2014

Outcry 2014
Outcry, 2014

In addition, I:

  • applied to eight shows and was accepted to four
  • won first place in one of them
  • made some sales, including one major piece
  • got a nice spotlight in the Wilmington Star-News
  • completed my grant project, learning a TON about video editing software and making time lapse videos
  • redesigned my website and made some headway using various social media platforms

What could I have done better? I had hoped to produce more drawings than I did. The video project took up a lot more time than I had anticipated. Still, I am really glad I did it and plan to continue with time lapse and maybe even branch into some animation. However, in 2015 I am upping the ante once again. I have decided that 500 hour goal will apply to tangible studio work only. Any video work will be in addition to that. Once again I will set my marketing goal at 250 hours. This goal includes tasks such as managing my website and social media and identifying and applying to galleries and shows.

So that is my overview for 2015. I am still cleaning up some teensy leftover details from last year and developing some specific work goals, but setting this hourly goal each year has helped me immensely! In the next few posts I will share some of the tools I use to stay on track. I am looking forward to seeing what the new year will bring.

Happy 2015!

PS: To see some of my drawings from this year,visit laurasussmanrandall.com

 

 

 

 

Being an Artist, Goals, Studio time

I’m Behind..

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working-momI’m Behind.

Snow Days. Corporate Taxes. Birthday Parties. Sick pets. Dirty Laundry. Just a few of the reasons that I  am  behind-probably some of the same reasons you are behind too. Gone are the days of the Royal Artist supported by patrons while the rest of us toiled in the fields. That’s a good thing. On the other hand, as individuals in modern culture we are now required to be knowledgeable about-and preferably excel at-any number of disciplines.  Parenting. Working. Finances. Technology. Making your own homemade  organic cookies with hidden veggies that you grew yourself. Oh yeah, and Art. Now  we make art while toiling in the field (figuratively, at least).

So, I’m behind.  According to my calculations, I should be at the 350 hour mark for studio work, and 175 for marketing. I’m actually at 173 for marketing, thanks to some long hours spiffy-ing up my website. But my studio hours are at 294. For those of you who like quantifying data as much as I do, that’s 84%.  When I looked up 84%, I was surprised to find that it is equal to a  B. It feels more like a B- or C to me. Not acceptable! But I think I can still catch up. With a 56 hour deficit and 18 weeks left in the year, I can do it with 3 extra hours a week. I’m going to aim for 5 because I know the holidays are going to knock some weeks out of the running.

Unfortunately, until someone starts making money from your work, the world for the most part doesn’t care if you make art today or not. (Cynical, yes, but I think true.) So you have to hold yourself accountable if art is what you want to be doing. That’s what this blog is all about.    It’s not too late to revisit your own goals-go do it!