Winter Trip to Florida

Winter Trip to Florida

As the time draws near for my upcoming trip, concerns become more acute. Where to stay and what places to visit will be determined by weather and what I find along the way. Plus, traveling in the winter will have an effect on places to visit (at least in the north.)

My major goal is to be spontaneous. That means planning for overnight stays cannot be arranged ahead of time. I haven’t even made up my mind on the exact day I will leave, yet. I want to do a lot of sightseeing along the way. That means that time getting through each state cannot be planned. If I like an area, I may want to spend more than one day. I am trusting that I will always be able to find a good place to stay.

Another aspect to consider is what the season is like in other states. I have never traveled in winter except to the Caribbean. Some people have already given ideas of places to visit which I find very exciting. I would like to find something in every state from N.H. to Fla.

Here are a couple of places: Skyline Drive in Va. (is that okay in winter?); Boone Plantation, Mt. Pleasant, S.C.; the Everglades; Key West; and Sanibel Island. Of course, I want to find something in Conn., N.Y. (not the city), Pa., and more. The only other times I have driven south was the same route that I plan on taking this time. However, I’ve never been to Virginia Beach or Williamsburg or the coasts of the Carolinas. Are those doable in winter? And is it too crowded?

As this is a working vacation, the places I hole up will have to be comfortable. I’ll need to set up laptop and easel. The laptop to keep up with the work for the paper and to blog my daily experiences. This way all my friends and followers will be on the trip, too. The easel because I plan on doing drawings of some scenes along the way. I may start sketches en plein air, but at a hotel room is where I’ll do the bulk of the work from photos I will take.

I am hoping that within these next few weeks, I’ll develop a following. My goal here is to not only share my journey, but get feedback and ideas beforehand. I would love to meet people in other states (if only online) and get first hand suggestions on places to visit in their areas and what the weather is like. So if you have ideas on what places I might visit or stay or if you know someone in any of the eastern states who would like to follow me on this journey, direct them to this site.

Right now, I’m kind of piecing together the plans. When I start the actual journey, my writing should be much more interesting as I share the experience.

Thank you and Namarie.

Christmas Present to Myself

Christmas Present to Myself

Every year I buy myself a few new clothes as a gift to myself. Being a plus size woman, there are not that many options for getting nice clothes and for years, I have been buying from the same online company. However, I am starting to be very disappointed in the quality.

Styles for plus size women have improved. I love the trapeze style as I am bigger on the bottom than on the top. To be able to purchase tops that have wider hemlines gives me more confidence in how I look. However, where style has improved, quality has gone downhill.

I have noticed that material is getting thinner. More items are being imported. In this latest order, the two shirts were “Made in India.” When I took them out of the package and went to iron them, I found them filthy. It seemed like they were dragged across the floor of the sewing room before being put in the bags.  They were covered in loose threads and with some colors that were not in the two shirts. They felt dirty although I did not see actual dirt. Perhaps it was flannel coming off. There was also an imperfection in the back of one of them.

This led me into wondering where the pride in workmanship has gone. I began picturing a sweatshop where low-paid workers are working in assembly line situations with no say in how the work is done; a place where quantity is more important than quality. It dawned on me that the only pride is in how cheap the company can make the product yet bring in the highest dollar.

Returning items used to be easy. Companies want their customers to be pleased. The only easy part now is that a return can be put in the mailbox. However, the last time I returned an item, it cost me almost as much to return it as it did to purchase it. When I wrote a letter to the company, they took off the charge.

But this brings up another subject. Why should customers have to complain to get satisfaction? Companies brag about good customer service, but more and more I am finding that just to be meaningless words, statements just to make the company sound good, just because it’s the thing to say.

It’ll be awhile before I buy any new clothes. I wish I liked to sew. I’d make my own clothes.

Dec. 7

December 07, 2012

I finally bit the bullet and called someone to manage my website. I’m excited because he can adapt my current site and do updates. I’ll also be able to upload my own photos. It should be updated within the week. Check it out at www.sashawolfe.net.

Planning for the New Year

Planning for the New Year

This year I am starting my plans for next year a little early. Maybe this means I’m starting to break the habit of waiting until the last minute to do things.

I totally fell on my face for this year. I’m not surprised knowing that I was/am still going through the grieving process. There were some aspects where I accomplished more than what was originally planned, but for the most part, I did not live up to my own expectations. While I did better at keeping track of expenditures, I did not keep up with inventories nor did I keep in contact with the shops where I have product. Sometimes I just struggled with doing it this way or that way and not being able to decide, I didn’t do either.

Now it’s year’s end and time to think about the good that can be achieved in 2013. It’s important to be better at the “business” end of art if I want to be considered a successful artist. Sometimes I wonder if I worry too much about charts. Sometimes I let too much time go by before I make updates. This means that one goal for 2013 is to stay on top of record keeping. I’ve come to the conclusion that I spend too much time thinking and planning and not doing the actual work.

This morning I am looking at inventory charts. In 2011, I had done some in Word while others were in Excel. I tried to make some changes in the Excel program, but never followed through. The beginning of this year, I made a couple of updates then let time slip by. So today, I printed out the Excel forms. I need to look at the hard copy to be able to view the items better by laying them side by side.

I made a decision and also made a few changes. Now I am ready to start adding inventory items to the pages. For this part, I am going to go through my inventory piece by piece and evaluate where I feel each stands for this next year. Is it still in good condition after being dragged around to shows? Do I feel it’s still worthy? Should it be relegated to a Yart Sale bin?

Now the question will be if I can follow through with this with finding time to do new work and everything else that needs to be done (or I choose to do.)

What are some ways that you keep track of things and do your own follow ups?

Fake It Til You Make It

Fake It Til You Make It

Although I have been doing art work for most of my life, I have only been publicly selling for a few years. It’s tough when there’s been a lifetime of self-esteem issues and shyness to overcome. I never have been one to put on an act, so learning to do shows and deal with customers has not been easy.

I was thinking the other day about what an artist says when asked how things are going. If you’re at a show and the day is dragging on and you haven’t sold anything, how do you respond to that question?

It’s very important to stay upbeat and positive. It’s hard when things aren’t going so well sales-wise. I usually make an effort to enjoy the work of the other artists and chat with them if things aren’t busy. I get much inspiration from others and it’s important to support one another. I also love hearing how they do what they do. I check out other artists’ set ups to get ideas. Not to copy them, but to further develop my own site.

When the aforementioned question comes up, do you put on a happy face and say, “Great! It’s going great.” Do you tell little white lies to keep up a front?

You DO need to maintain positiveness. “Fake It Til You Make It” becomes an internal motto. Put on the public act. Keep smiling. After all, a potential customer does not want to deal with a Gloomy Gus. Plus, positive energy promotes positive results.

Still, I wonder where lines are drawn. If asked how sales are going, does one put on the act that sales are great even when they’re not? This economy is tough and difficult for small town New Englanders to do big venues due to the added expense of the show being more expensive to get into and having to overnight in a hotel or campground. On the one hand, “fake it til you make” gets one by and it works.   On the other hand, there’s an issue of not being honest.

I’m not even sure what that means. Are we being dishonest by putting on a positive act? It wouldn’t help ourselves or our sales if we said that sales were not good. In thinking about this more, it doesn’t even have to be about the sales. When asked how the day is going, anything positive about the day could be mentioned. “There’s a great group of artists here.” “We couldn’t ask for better weather.” “The customers are awesome.”

So, in asking about my question and writing about it, I’ve discovered my own answers. Every day is a learning experience. Every show is an opportunity to do better. Even for artists who enjoy spending time alone, it’s good for us to get out in the public. I am certainly looking forward to this next summer and the outdoor show season.