Color with Me

Hi there. How are you?

August 2nd was National Coloring Book Day. (Yep, it's really a thing.) Adult coloring is very trendy at the moment...Book stores now have whole sections of adult coloring books. It's nostalgic, it's stress relieving, it's colorful. I love this trend!

I Made my Own Coloring Page

After spending much time drawing in my sketchbook over the past few weeks, I realized that the drawings I was making would lend themselves really well to coloring. So I took this one, and turned it into a coloring page.

The Process

I started by scanning this drawing and cleaning it up in Photoshop, and then imported it into Illustrator. (I'm sorry I don't have screen shots of my process to share. I was too excited about what I was doing to document!) After much You-Tubing and trial and error, I was able to turn my drawing into a vector, so that it would be crisp and clear at any size.

Click the photo to join my email list and download this coloring page!

A "Freemium" is born

I read a lot about business and marketing. One thing every marketer will tell you is that you need a mailing list. It is one of the most effective marketing tools around. I have had a mailing list for years now, and have been working to grow it. I used to offer a 10% shop discount to anyone who joined, but that didn't seem to overly effective. I started thinking about offering a "freemium", (think Free + Premium) that I could offer in exchange for an email address. 

Artist Mandy Ford's coloring page

Learning from Others

I came across Mandy Ford's coloring page on Instagram just about a week ago. So cute! She was using it as a freemium for joining her mailing list. Brilliant! Like any good artist, I stole this idea and worked like a dog to get my coloring page ready for it's National Coloring Book Day release to my mailing list. (Thank you much for the inspiration Mandy! Totally enjoy your work.)

Jack's Coloring Page

Matt's Coloring Page

Family Coloring Party

The night before National Coloring Book Day, Matt, Jack and I sat down to make sample pages that I could include in my email to my mailing list. (Though I staged the photos with crayons, they actually used colored pencils to complete these pages.) It was fun to do an "offline" activity all together.

Share your Work

At the bottom of the coloring page, I added my web address and a hashtag. Social sharing is a great and free way to get the word out about you and your work.

When I sent the link out for the coloring page download to my mailing list, I invited them share their completed creations. Here are the pages completed by the Masterson familly, some of our dear friends! It's so nice to have creative, supportive friends. Thank you much for participating Lu, Efrem, Lorena and Brad!

Coloring page by Efrem, age 9

Coloring page by LuElla, age 8

Coloring Page by Brad

Coloring Page by Lorena

Now it's Your Turn

Would you like to color along with me? To get your free coloring page, please join my mailing list. A download link will be sent to you in a confirmation email. And if you do color my page, do snap a photo and email it to me or post to Instagram with the hashtag #drawwithJen. Sharing is caring friends!

Ta-Ta for now. I'll be back with more next week!

Art Fairs are a Tough Way to Make a Living.

Hi there. How are you? Me....I've been better. 

2 years ago, I quit my teaching job. We moved 300 miles away from home, so my husband could start a new career. I was hoping to make art a full time gig in our new surroundings. 2 years later, I'm feeling dejected and pretty lost. Full time artist, I am not. 

Art fairs were part of my full time artist plan. I had been doing a fair or two each year while I was still teaching and had much success. (I won "Best of Show" in the first art fair I ever participated in.) Now....I'm not so sure about the art fair gig. Let me explain.

I spent this past weekend participating in an art fair in Chicago. This should have been a good show for me, or so I thought. It was a well run, well promoted fair, with a great reputation in a well-to-do Chicago neighborhood. I was surrounded by high caliber artists and I was excited. Conditions seemed ideal for sales. 

Before I get to the bad news,  I'm happy to report that I did sell this Male Cardinal original! (I knew this guy was special and would sell quick. I did this piece just a week before the show.) Otherwise, this fair was a bust..... I  didn't make enough money to cover the application and booth fees I had to pay to participate in this show. This was the second fair in a row this summer that I've lost money doing. Ouch. 
 

I've had bad art fairs before. Plenty, in fact. But there seemed to be a very logical reason why those shows turned out bad. The show was poorly promoted, the fair attendees were not my target demographic,  or I was placed in a really bad spot with no traffic. There seems to be no excuse for this one. It's hard not to take this one personally......I start questioning my skills as an artist and a salesman.  I wonder if it will ever be possible for me to make it as a full time artist. I have my home town art fair in 2 weeks time. This usually is my most profitable show every year. But after 2 really bad shows, I'm even worried about this one. I'm losing my confidence.

There are plenty of people out there who make their living at art fairs. I have some ceramicist friends that have been doing the art fair circuit full time for 20 years. I just don't think I will be one of those people. It is so much work and travel for so little reward! I know I don't have the constitution for that!

I'm at a crossroads. After 2 years, I've spent much more money on fees, travel expenses and supplies than I've made participating in art fairs. My credit card debt is ballooning and it doesn't seem fiscally responsible for me to continue to pursue many more art fairs. Matt and I can't afford for me not to make money!  If I'm going to make it as a full time artist, I need to find other revenue streams....But where? This is my current struggle. I'm feeling pretty lost right now. 

Don't worry, I'm not giving up, but I have to find a better way. Ta-Ta.