Taking inventory

I want to tout the wonder that is Flick!, an inventory software designed especially for artists.

Even though I am a super-organized person, for most of the 13 years I have been painting professionally, my artwork record-keeping has been sloppy. My studio storage shelves and flat shelves for works on paper were like black holes; lots of stuff was in there, and I never knew exactly what. I kept meaning to address the pressing problem of what was where, which became readily apparent whenever I received inquiries about my artwork. But I was so excited about the act of painting that I just kept making work and stuffing it into any available nook or cranny once I was finished.

Finally I decided to try and get it together. Having spent years as a secretary at MIT, I prided myself on my ability to create tables in Microsoft Word. So I tried setting up a series of tables and typing in all the pertinent information about each work of art I had on hand. But it was difficult to make each little section the right size for the varying types of information I needed to keep track of -- titles, sizes, prices, etc. Plus I kept thinking of new and necessary categories after each table was finished, so I'd have to go back and make painstaking alterations. Also it took so long to import images, since the software wasn't really made for that purpose, that I soon gave up.

Luckily, the wise and generous painter Rebecca Crowell came to my rescue. Rebecca told me that she had had good luck with a software designed especially for artists to keep track of their inventory, so I went to their website and clicked around a bit. It seemed easy to use, and since it only cost $30 to buy, I went ahead and made the purchase.

I'm so glad I did! Since this software was created with artists in mind, there are handy fields for all the unusual information that only artists need, from varying dimensions to provenance to calculations for the artist's take minus the gallery's percentage. What has really worked for me is that I can create and print out inventory reports that group the work by size and include a photo of each piece (images can be quickly and easily uploaded). So when the phone rings and someone is asking about a particular piece or series, I can quickly and accurately look up exactly what I have and give complete information about it. And whenever a new series is finished, it only takes a few minutes to update my records.

I highly recommend Flick! Here is their website.

Desert series continues

I am very much enjoying working on this new series, the "Desert" series. (As opposed to the "Dessert" series, but it does look a little like a parfait, doesn't it?)

I made this one yesterday; it's acrylic on canvas, 44" H x 30" W:




Here are details:







I like these colors and this technique so much that I'm considering making some "strip-like" pieces resembling the style of the top detail, with the scrolling line running the entire length of the canvas. We'll see how it goes!

Keeping tabs on success

As much as I hate to admit it, I am one of those people who forgets to appreciate what they have, at least in career-related matters. I'll have a successful show and then a week after it's taken down, I start fretting that my career is stalled. Or I'll create a breakthrough painting or series, then a few days later, I start worrying that I don't spend enough time in the studio.

To help combat this "never enough" perception problem, I've created what I call a photo diary. I started it a few years after I finished graduate school, when I realized how much I had actually accomplished even though I was feeling like I hadn't done enough with my life. It's a looseleaf notebook with plastic page protectors that I can slip papers into and out of, with a page for every year I've been alive. On the lefthand page is the year and my age that year, followed by a monthly summary of various professional activities such as shows I was in, sales of my work, or classes I taught. On the righthand page is a photograph of me that year. (I admit it, that part is vanity! But I figure that some day, when I'm in my 90s, I'll look back and admire how young I looked in my 40s!)

To keep the diary updated, I sit down every six months or so and, referring to my calendar for date information, create or add to that year's activity list. Every December, I print out a final page listing the activities for each month, then select a photo of myself from the year, and print that out.

Obviously the early years are baby and little girl pictures, and beside those, I wrote down where my family was living at the time (we moved a lot) or which school I was going to. Then as I got older, I started listing the various degrees I earned or the different jobs I had.

It's interesting to keep a yearly reference like this, to help remember what happened in which year, or how long I worked at something. But it's also good in that, whenever I start to feel like I'm not accomplishing enough, I can read over the book and appreciate how far I have come. To anyone else who deals with feeling "inadequate" as a professional, I highly recommend this type of diary as a tool for regular reality checks.

Works by Mixed Media students

Here is a sampling of the wonderful works created by students in my professional development Mixed Media course at the Danforth Museum of Art last week.


By Sophie Rosenberg (below):




By Anne Sargent Walker (below):




By Julie Hom-Mandell (detail, below):




By Emily Ortmann (below):




By Meghan Drew (below):




By Susan Baxter-Joyce (below):




By Kate Jones (below):

Fresh and free new directions

Here are the fruits of my Fourth of July weekend!



I'm looking at 6 weeks of teaching, starting tomorrow with at least one week of predicted blistering heat, so we'll see how all of this coordinates with my studio time. This set of three works feels good, though, like a fresh and free new direction.

Play with orange continues

My play with orange continues. I completed this painting today; it's 44" H x 30" W. Planning to keep going, and make it into a grouping of three.