Still Living In AZ

 

we have seen these rocks over and over since being here



Ok folks, we did it, we took a few days off and relaxed. We had a great Turkey Day with Hannah’s cousin and her boyfriend. I ate and ate and drank and drank. Woke up a bit hung-over and watched Blu-rays all day. We caught up on a lot of the newer movies. We were also told about “red box” which just might be the best thing we learned about so far.





a bird on our skylight

We still managed to stick a show in there too but I wont blog about it till we do the second part next weekend. We did come up with great ideas and have a few things we want to try to see how they affect us. We had a great time chatting with one of our favorite artists here in Arizona and he gave us some great insight into what he does and how we do some stuff too (which all will make great blogs in the future, but for now you good folks have to wait). But I gotta say, I got a great idea for a show which might take place in Denver in June, maybe.

Its has been getting cold these past few days and we decided we needed to be hooked up so we can have hot water and run the heater. So in a freak chance, Hannah came across places to stay that were affordable on craigslist. So we got a great place to stay for the week since we really need to sit still and work. Got a new commission and got some other things I need to do before the next show.



one of the best sunsets we've seen so far



We are also going to start attacking the gallery scene here in Phoenix. One of my goals on this tour was to get into a gallery in every city that has a professional sports team and The Suns is on my list (so hopefully soon I can blog about this too). Remember, its not about getting into the gallery its more about getting the gallery to know who you are.

Ok, time to work…..

 

3 Months On The Road





I am being asked a lot about how everything is going and how we are doing. And even though I blog after every show people are asking about how the shows are doing and how sales are going. A lot of people are asking about the van and how we are adjusting to RV living. Some people are asking about some of the places we have been and how the art scene is and some still wanna know when I’m coming to their city. So this being somewhat of an anniversary I wanted to go ahead and answer a few of these if I can.

Well its been 3 months since we loaded up a moving truck and headed out of Denver and its been 2 months since we got our van. We have put about 6k miles on it since getting it and have spent every night in it. We do love this life style and plan on continuing for 5 years or until I get super huge and famous and I don’t need to be on the road trying to get my name out there, which every happens 1st. I still lay in bed every night staring at our place thinking “are we crazy or what” it is still all very new to me but I love every minute of it. It feels kinda like what I would image living in an airplane would be like.

We haven’t really had much time to enjoy any one city since we need to get back on the road to get to the next city for the next show so I haven’t gotten a real feel for each city and its art scene. If you remember back to me moving to Denver and trying to take it over, it took about 6 months before I became a player in the Denver art scene. We have been in Arizona for about a month and in that time we have had 5 shows (we still have 2 more to go before we leave). I have met a few of the locals and am getting a feel for the art scene but we need more time and we need to visit more galleries and go to more shows. Its one thing to have a show and another thing to go to a show.

We have been having some crazy ups and downs with our shows and commissions and everything. We are still keeping our heads above water and we don’t plan on giving up. We knew the first year was going to be the hardest. We will be new to almost every place we go and every show we do. No ones going to know about me or my art and since we haven’t done the show before we wont know which ones are good ones till we meet them face to face. Its all about building a name and introducing everyone to our art and smiling and shaking hands. We figure this time next year we will have a start on a great list of shows and places to show at where we can be successful then we can alternate a new venue here and there and build from there.

One of the cool things about doing the show circuit is that most of the same artists travel around doing the same shows. We have seen so many people at the same shows over and over and we really get to know each other. Its really cool cuz we have become much like a family and we look out for one another. I’m really surprised by how many people there are out there traveling around doing shows, living out of their RVs and hotels. Some making a living off it, some its just a weekend thing. I plan on interviewing a few of them and seeing how and why they do what they do and giving you guys a chance to see more than just my point of view.

One of my goals for this tour was to get into every city with a basketball team, not for any other reason than to say I am. We got San Antonio and Denver down and we are looking at Phoenix right now, Scottsdale might be better but who knows. We did hear about a gallery in Tucson, but again, who knows.

And as for when I’m coming to your city? We have the southwest, west cost and Texas in on our sights. We are thinking about staying north for the summer and Florida next winter but having a house on wheels means we can end up anywhere at anytime and anything can happen. If you know of a free or cheap venue that we can set up at and show for a night or 2 let me know and we will go do it. All we need is people to show up and we can do the rest. Can't wait to see what the future holds for us. Thank you for reading and staying right along with us.

ArtFest of Scottsdale 2010

Wow, this show started off like one of our older shows. This girl walked in looked at the work then walks off to talk about it with her mother then comes back in and says she wants two pieces, whips out her credit card and it’s a done deal. We thought to our selves, wow this hasn’t happened since the summer in Colorado. We did get a few more sales but mostly smaller stuff like prints and necklaces.

The venue for this show was beautiful. Grass was everywhere, fountains, ducks and more roses than you can count in many different, wonderful colors. It was located at the civic center and we were right smack dab in the middle. At times the place was packed and others it was pretty dead but the people that did make it into our booth stayed and chatted a bit. We even had a girl come in and said while she was on vacation in Denver she had seen us on Santa Fe, which was cool cuz I only did one show there.



if you know me, you know I love the free food at shows



On Sunday it rained on and off but it didn’t hold anyone back. They came out and they had a good time. So did we. I did get around and talked to a lot of the other artists and it seemed like there was more than a handful of them not going too good. A lot of them said they wouldn’t come back next year. We will be, well if Tucson is good too.

Artisan Markets

Artisan Markets in Scottsdale was something I saw a Twitter friend talking about setting up at. I just had to ask what it was since we were only about 10 minuets away. Turns out it’s a very new thing, they have only been doing it for a month. These 2 weeks we did were week 4 and 5.





1st ones in







last ones out





The location was great, lots of beautiful people, great restaurants (well I was told I’m a bit of a downer on a bad show so I’m just going to say) but at least no one got shot. We were very pleased that no one stood on the top of one of the buildings and started shooting. How crazy would that be?





our booth



Ok, ok, I know you really want to know how it played out. Well the 1st day we made about 40 bucks and we thought it was slow cuz it was veterans day but on the 2nd day we had even less people and did even worse. We figured about 10 people came into our booth and we made a whole 7 bucks. As you might be able to tell, we wont be doing this show ever again. Well maybe a little different if we ever do do it again.





this was to our backs



1st off we wouldn't pull out our whole tent and bins. We could have done ok with just our 2 tables and mainly putting out necklaces and prints. Note to self “no more 2 hour tent set ups when the show is only 4 hours long”. So if nothing else, we learned that. All the artists were great and we met some really cool people. On to the next show, this is already the longest weekend we have ever had.





at least people were watching this guy paint



Grand Canyon, Time Shares and Rejection

Best part of this week was going to see the Grand Canyon. We got there and we did the basic loop then we stayed the night, which got down to 22 - brrrrrr it was so cold. We wanted to get up at the crack of dawn and have our coffee while watching the sunrise, but like I said it was too cold and we tried to stay under the covers till the sun could warm us up a bit. We did get up and saw the two studios and went on the shuttle to see the rest of the south rim.

We also stopped in Sedona to check it out, wow, can we say theme park? As we walked down the street a guy asked us where we were staying and when we said in our RV he said where and we said we didn’t know cuz we were just planning on staying at a Wal-mart or rest stop. Oh did we get suckered into hearing a presentation about buying into a time share. Once they found out that we didn’t make much extra money after paying our bills they sent us on our way. We did mange to get a free RV stay with all the hook-ups and we made 40 bucks for listening to the 2 hour presentation, we laughed cuz at our last show it took us 4 hours to make 40 bucks.

We used the extra money to stay at RV parks for the rest of the trip. So no parking on the side of the highway for us. We ended up at Dead Horse Ranch only because we had to dump, but it’s a really nice place, wish we could stay a few more days. We scraped the bumper twice while looking for a place to dump and we some how found a place to buy diesel for $2.99. We still need to get some propane but we are doing fine.

Now, the rejection, we didn’t get into a Texas show and a California show. Didn’t know how we were going to pay for them if we had but oh well. Just means we wouldn't get to spend as much time as we wanted to in California and we get to try for the King William show which I wanted to do even more.

We are back in Scottsdale working and waiting for two art shows. Much good can come from this weekend!

Living In The Big AZ

We started off staying at Hannah’s sister’s apartment complex’s parking lot. We washed all our clothes, got to watch some TV and had a kinda turkey dinner. They also have a place where we can fill up our tank with water, which is nice since we only have a 20 gallon tank. The weather here has been really good to us, we heard it was really, really hot a few weeks before getting here. We drove around a bit and passed though Tempe, which seems like a great place to hang out at, I’m a sucker for hot chicks and short shorts on bikes (note to self - find show in Tempe).

We managed to get a screw in our tire and since it was on the corner we would have to get a new tire but the friendly guy at Discount Tire pulled it out and low and behold it didn’t make it all the way through and since we didn’t have to pay for a new tire we got a much needed washing. So now we are looking as good as we feel.

I have been trying to kick out a few commissions when I can find the time. I had one dog and just got another dog. Then I have a really cool landscape I am working on for an old coworker of mine. He lives in the Cayman Islands and had all these cool pictures. Hannah collaged a few of them together to come up with something I could put circles on (will blog about them all when I am done with them).

We did spend a few days at RV parks in Cave Creek and in Scottsdale, both very different from one another but both still great spots. In Cave Creek we were out and about in nature, we saw many cool little animals and cactus. In Scottsdale we were just in a huge parking lot, there was horse stuff going on but we didn’t go see what was going on since we were busy.





my view as I was working



I know I said I wasn’t going to donate any more, but we found a great little place called Camelot Therapeutic Horsemanship where people with disabilities can go and ride horse. We had a drawing of a horse that needed a home. We also got to pet the horses and see the place, they do something great and we wanted to help.

Well we are back at the parking lot that started it all off making plans and working.

Carefree In Arizona

Well we were not very carefree in Carefree. We did see the potential of a bigger show like this one and we heard some very good things going down. There was even one guy I talked to, who seemed to have a line of buyers every time I looked over there, he said he might have been averaging a 1000 bucks an hour. Must be nice to be selling something people want, huh?

This Carefree show is put on 3 times a year and we met a couple who only did those 3 shows and could make a living. Seemed to me that most of the people I talked to have done the shows for many, many years. I being the optimist I am, feels that we could do better if we kept going them too. Good way to get known is to be well known. I do realize it takes a while for people to see something new for the 1st time, understand it, gain interest in it and finally purchase it. Then maybe they will come back for more and send their friends. And you have to be there every time each step happens with bells on.

We are wait-listed for the one in January, so if they ask us we would love to participate. We met a few other artists that I could see us becoming good friends with. We also met a pretty famous artist which loved my work. Its always good to meet people in places you want to be. We saw what few family members we have out here and saw a twitter friend in person, too

All in all this was not a very good show for us, in that we didn’t even make back the booth fee. However it was a good chance to break into a new art scene and to get some new eye balls on my art. We still have 5 to 6 more events to do here in Arizona, so who knows what kind of action we could get. As of right now we are in a parking lot working and trying to figure out the rest of this week.

some pictures:



the spot was ready for us





these girls played Katy Perry's "California Gurls" over and over and over



And We’re Off



Our Monday morning commute was just like any other, about 400 to 500 miles down a lonely highway. We stopped early at a rest stop near Van Horn to put in a few hours of work (I had a few commissions I needed to finish before getting on with a new series). I really do like these stops at rest stops along the highways, there already was an RV parked for the night in front of us and the humm of an 18 wheeler kept us company all night.

Then we shot across New Mexico like a bat outta hell (oh yeah a Meatloaf reference). I don’t even remember being in New Mexico at all. We did managed to get all the way into the Saguaro National Park to watch a sunset there. We met a nice little girl who grew up here but hadn’t been back in a while and we chatted about bugs for about an hour or so. Saw a sunset then drove outta Tucson to a Walmart with a nice parking lot to sleep at. Woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the Gentle Dental and did some shopping in the Walmart (we need a cereal sponsor).

Well we made it out to Cave Creek near Carefree, Arizona, we found a great spot to stay while we wait to set-up for the show tomorrow, then we stay where ever the RV parking is for the show. Oh I hope this one is a good show - we are in need of a great show to start this month off right. After we parked our RV we were told there is great, quick walk on a trail over to where we could pay, well after an hour hike in the sun with very little water we are all ready for the night. Can you say pork chops….

You know I’m not one to listen to people, but I did get a lot of negative comments (I would never dare say what I heard) about being a “brown person” and coming to Arizona (and if you don’t know what I’m talking about just keep it that way, wish I did). I say to all these people downing Arizona, “poop on you” there are tons of Mexicans around and I even saw some Mexican restaurants and most of the names of streets and towns and what not are all in Spanish. USA is still the greatest place on earth and Arizona is in the USA. Although, it could just be me, I mean I didn’t meet anyone rude in France either.

Necklaces By Nemo

While at a slow show a few weeks ago, we were talking to a lady selling cheap jewelry (around 2 to 10 bucks each). She mentioned something about how it wasn’t really her art and that it was just what made her money. She started asking us about making jewelry to at least make our booth fee back (which was something we were far from doing). She also mentioned putting my art on dominoes (so I searched it on etsy and found quite a bit of it).

Now I have always said I need to get into jewelry cuz that’s where I see money being spent theses days (and on lawn art, but that’s another story). I always thought I had to come up with something new and change direction or apply for shows under a different name and hide the fact that I was doing it. I never thought about how we could use my art, well the images, in a new way. I have always tried to stay away from prints and reproductions or copies. I never felt “copies” were as cool as the original art. I have been on the look out for something and domino necklaces seem cool to me.

As some of you may know I can't work 16 hour days anymore cuz my hands and wrists hurt so bad. So we have been trying to come up with different ways to help me out. If you guys have any other cool ideas like this let me know. These necklaces were a hit at their first showing. Its also a great little product to introduce a younger crowd to my art as I see young girls really gravitating to them.

So how are they made? First, we get lots and lots of dominoes that Hannah drills a hole in and sticks an eyelet in. Then she prints out some of our most popular images (this is the most important part, use the wrong image and your dead in the water). Then I spray the sheets with a UV protective coating and then she sticks them to the dominoes and cuts them out. Then we coat the crap outta them with polycrylic and string them with ball chain. Finally we set them out at a show and hope for lighting to strike...and striking it has been with selling 30 the second time we showed them.