Happy Friday!

Greater Hartford Arts Council

The seminar I attended Saturday was FANTASTIC. It was so well run, and so informative that I left the day feeling totally energized to be an artist. It also offered a fantastic opportunity to network and practice networking.

Some of my takeaways:
- Most artists have "hybrid" careers - one job to make the money, tons of other little jobs to execute their craft. Made me feel good that that's what folks do. It's hard to earn a living off of one thing.

- The seminar reinforced that ART SELLS PRODUCTS - hello, why are you attracted to that CD label, cereal box, wine label??? It's because the ART captures your attention. The world revolves around ART!!! We can't forget that!

- As artists we need to build our own communities for support and empowerment. Get your inner circle going and meet on a regular basis to brainstorm, critique each others work, provide support and share resources etc.

The keynote speaker was James Grace, an attorney (and author among other things) who founded the volunteer lawyers for the arts of mass. he was fantastic. He talked about a program he pulled together called the "Artists Professional Toolbox" its a program that helps artists develop the skills they need to move to the next level of their career and realize their dreams. it's definitely worth checking out. My take away from his speech was profound, and yet very simple. As we move ahead along our artistic journey, we need to remember that we are, and seek out opportunities to be:

- an artist
- a person
- a small business
- an agent for change
- a Community member/leader

My head is still buzzing! The next workshop is scheduled for May 1 in North Haven. I'm signed up and ready to roll. Go here for more info: www.letsgoarts.org

Morning Sketches

I love it when I can wake up before anyone in the house and go to my studio/office and draw. This morning is one of those days. I was able to get these three drawings out of my head. It's a great way to get the creative juices flowing.

I especially like the barrel of Monkeys, I think I'll take that one a step further and refine it. It makes me laugh. The Ladybug drawing was in my head yesterday but as you can see with my post yesterday, I executed it in illustrator versus my handy black pens. The drawing of the bashful girl is loosely based on the four year old who is presently asleep in her room. She still has crazy hair, the haircut she gave herself last year (the Mullet!) is slowly, slowly, slowly growing out. Thank goodness.

I'm going to a seminar in Hartford today "Business Strategies for visual artists" I'm very excited to network and learn some stuff. I'll definitely post anything that I've learned. So stay tuned.

Happy Friday

Coast Guard Academy

My nephew is interested in going to the Coast Guard Academy in New London, so my sister and her family came up this weekend to take a tour and I was lucky enough to go along. What an amazing opportunity! First of all WOW what a great experience for any young person. You are taught leadership sills, get a fantastic education AND get a career upon graduation not to mention the fantastic opportunity to travel the world and do things most humans do not get to do. I wish him well and hope if this is what he wishes, that he gets it. but mostly, I was VERY happy my Federal Tax dollars go to something like this. Awesome stuff. For more info www.cga.edu