JWGDesign Blog

"New Black Friday" Sale

2010-10-29T11:30:00.000-04:00

It's sale time! Since the big retailers are giving deals today, I thought I would also.

3 days only! 30% off everything in the johnwgolden Etsy shop!

Moving the Blog!

2010-07-17T08:59:00.000-04:00

After another lengthy period of inactivity here, I am once again hoping to get on the stick post-wise. As time to blog, twit and post on facebook gets shorter, I have been trying out HootSuite in an effort to get information to all my online friends without too much duplication of effort.

I hope you will follow me over to http://johnwgolden.wordpress.com/ and continue to be a reader. Wordpress works with HootSuite, which I hope will allow me to provide more content on a consistent basis.

ReadyMade Blog Giveaway!

2010-07-16T15:01:00.000-04:00

I am a tad slow getting this news out, but ReadyMade Magazine is giving away some of my mini-triptychs. See details here.

Etsyversary BOGO Sale!

2010-07-16T14:55:00.003-04:00

Etsyversary BOGO Sale! I am about to celebrate 4 years on Etsy on July 23rd! That means a good deal for you. Buy One item, Get One item of equal or lesser value free. Limit 2 free items per purchase. I can't extend the BOGO to my block-based items, but if you buy one of those, you can still get a print of equal or lesser value free. Sale ends July 23, 2010 at Midnight EST.

To take advantage of the sale, just put the item you want to pay for in your cart, and then tell me the free item in the message to seller during checkout.

New standard sizes!

2010-05-11T11:15:00.000-04:00

I have recently been revisiting the sizes available on some of my work, and now have available many series in standard sizes. The critters are now available as 5"x7" (and as blocks, for a completely finished solution).

Check them out here.

Monsters of Block - Mini Monster Art Blocks

2010-05-10T09:31:00.000-04:00

Got these new little blocks in the shop. They are based on my Monsters collage series, which combines cute little monsters with concepts like conflict, heartache and intellect. These little blocks can sit on a shelf or some similar flat surface.
They are not toys and are not intended for play or handling by children.

Something to do...

2010-02-05T10:29:00.000-05:00

Found a fun site: Jigidi.com that has tons of user generated online jigsaw puzzles. Since I have lots of images, I thought I could probably add a puzzle a day for about a year and a half. Not that we all need something to do, but it's a nice little break from the hub bub. Check back here daily for a new puzzle.

This discovery comes at an odd time. I remember going to my paternal grandmother's house in South Florida, up into my teenage years. Every visit, the card table would come out, and a jigsaw puzzle was spread out, to be completed over the course of the visit. At any given time, there would be 1 to 4 people working on the puzzle.

While I was in college, my paternal grandfather passed away, and my grandmother moved away to live near my aunt and her family. That was over 20 years ago.

Jigsaw puzzles bring back many other memories of the Florida house. Chasing and catching lizards with my cousin, unsupervised cane-pole fishing trips to the lake at the end of the street. Hooking myself in the seat of my pants on one of those trips as I ran from an approaching thunderstorm. I could see the rain move across the lake. Long walks to the 7-11. Getting tar on your feet at the beach in Lantana, and then a Yoo-Hoo on the way home as we sat on the burning hot turquoise vinyl seats of my parents Rambler. Jolly Time popcorn made in one of those plastic dome popcorn poppers. You squeezed this slab of butter-flavored lard into a well at the bottom of the popper and then poured the kernels in. It was salty, especially if you had spent the day at the beach. It burned your lips. The pantry of the kitchen that was dark and woody smelling that contained 6-packs of glass-bottled Coca-Cola that I would drink so I could collect the 50 states that were imprinted on the liners of the bottle caps. And these awesome plastic mugs she had with characters from Walt Kelly's Pogo comic strip on them.

As a teenager, I spent a extra week in Florida, after my family had returned to NC, and then took Amtrak back. On that trip, my grandmother took me around to what must have been every surf shop in the area so that I could get a few t-shirts. I tried to weasel a Quiksilver jacket out of her, one that was aqua blue on the outside, with a black lining with aqua blue stars. She was too smart for me, and I ended up with only t-shirts. But she went everywhere I asked so I could get those.

I don't remember much about the Florida house after that. My grandmother has a painting of it that my mother did hanging in her room.

My grandmother still remembers the trips to the surf shops. She told me so the other day. I think she remembers everything that ever happened to her, in astonishing detail. She has been talking to the family this week, saying her goodbyes. She is 94, and having yet another bout with Pneumonia. She has decided that she is ready to go. The bouts with Pneumonia always lead to a trip to the hospital, where it seems she often ends up with MRSA, and she can't go back to her room at her assisted living facility until the MRSA has been cleared up, which is a difficult and lengthy recovery.

I have lost count of the number of times she has gone through this cycle of Pneumonia, MRSA, recovery, back home. But I am certain she could tell me. There have been a number of times that we have thought she was too far gone to recover, only to have her bounce back. But I don't think that will happen this time. She is under the care of hospice, and they are keeping her comfortable, but letting the Pneumonia take it's course.

She has lived what she calls a wonderful, perfect life, and a long one at that. And she has kept her memories of it, right up to the end. She has decided that it is time for her to go. She has done what she came here to do. And now it's time to go back home.

Mini Robot Art Block Set of 8

2010-02-03T14:53:00.000-05:00

It took me a while since first announcing this series, but a long stretch sitting at the computer, babysitting the printing process gave me an opportunity to finally get 8 of these little guys together. Each block is wrapped (except the bottom) in a fine archival print. I then burnish the seams, paint the seams in a matching color and seal the print.

Got a few more ideas for this technique, maybe some friendly monsters and some urban buildings.

I fortunately have been very busy as of late, which has curtailed my generation of new works, but I have managed to grab a moment or two to create some new stuff. The art blocks themselves quickly went from "Yay, I get to do some blocks!" to "I have to do blocks now". :) I'm not complaining though. I should be so lucky. I'm very pleased with the reception my mini-triptychs have received, and I can't wait to see what folks think of the mini Robot Art Blocks.

Blocks are available as a set of 8 for $48 USD, and individually for $7.50 ea. in my Etsy shop.

Nice to be noticed

2010-02-01T10:41:00.000-05:00

Many thanks to TimeOut New York for featuring my Five Boroughs Art Blocks in their Best NYC Home Decor feature!

The blocks are available here.

New Year BOGO sale is ending tonight at Midnight!

2010-01-31T14:39:00.000-05:00

The Holiday/New Year BOGO sale is winding down! Ends at 12 Midnight Eastern tonight. Hurry if you want to get twice the art!

Let's BOGO a little longer...

2010-01-16T10:36:00.001-05:00

I have extended my BOGO Sale a bit longer to allow folks that are just now finding out about it to participate. Sale will end without notice.

http://johnwgolden.etsy.com

Found: Elevator Advertising

2010-01-12T08:50:00.000-05:00

From the leave no space unsponsored file: Some interesting uses of elevators as advertising space. I suppose it makes sense to market anywhere you have a semi-captive audience.

http://www.sharenator.org/No_This_is_the_best_elevator_ever/http://www.sharenator.org/No_This_is_the_best_elevator_ever/

RYBLK - The Mini Robot Art Block

2010-01-11T08:24:00.000-05:00

A new piece and series! Mini Robot Art Blocks. The first is called RYBLK, pronounced rib-lik.

I'm all lost in the Supermarket...

2010-01-09T14:22:00.000-05:00

'Cept I'm not. I have been accepted to sell on Supermarket, a very cool, design-y online marketplace from Brooklyn-based Supercorp. I am excited to have my work included with such a great line of art, craft and design.

My Supermarket store will carry my non-wall art endeavors, while good ol' Etsy will still have everything I do. I am still in the process of stocking the store at http://johnwgolden.supermarkethq.com, so check back frequently for updates.

Look for more new venues for the art blocks and jewelry soon.

New! My Heart Series on Mini - Triptych Blocks

2010-01-08T11:01:00.001-05:00

And a film can collage about love for good measure! One of the things I like about these little pieces is they are small enough to fit in many places, and you don't need a wall to display them.

They are love-themed, so they are great for Valentine's Day, but diminutive enough to have out year round. These are available in my Etsy shop, and also some new online shops that I am opening on some new handmade markets. But more on those later.

Beats for You - Mini-Triptych

Belongs to You - Mini-Triptych

Skips a Beat - Mini-Triptych

Carrying a Torch - Mini-Triptych

Found: A parable. A very simplified, perhaps cheesy parable, but a parable.

2010-01-08T10:20:00.000-05:00

Something to keep in mind. And after that?

http://tenna10.googlepages.com/newstoamuse

Can't seem to get anything done! Is this why?

2010-01-06T12:53:00.000-05:00

Interesting article about how we might keep ourselves from getting things done.

I definitely agree that often times we need to just find what we enjoy about doing a task and concentrate on that. And if we can't do that we just have to accept that we need to do a task, and find joy in getting it done.

Found: welivenow.org

2010-01-06T07:27:00.001-05:00

Some good ideas for this morning.

Image: weliveorg.org

It's Tuesday, what's new in music?

2010-01-05T13:08:00.001-05:00

Every Tuesday, I hope I am gonna find some new music to excite me. Haven't seen a lot new stuff here at the end/beginning of the year, so I am holding it together for the upcoming release of a few albums.

Looks like next Tuesday, Jan. 12th will bring the release of Contra, by Vampire Weekend. VW is a band that sneaked up on me, as many bands seem to be doing these days. I would listen to a track here and there, without really getting hooked, then one day I find myself listening to them non-stop.

Here's a look at the first video/single, Cousins.

Also looking forward to the new Spoon album on Jan. 19th.

Whilst sitting in a heat-less darkened movie theater

2010-01-05T12:32:00.001-05:00

Over the holidays my wife says, "Let's take the kids to a movie." Turns out we missed the Fantastic Mr. Fox run. And the Christmas Carol run. So Alvin and Chipmunks: the Squeakquel was chosen.

The heat wasn't working in many of the theaters that day, so we got in on the senior citizen discount. It wasn't so much that it was cold, as it was that the heater continued to blow cold air.

My younger kids loved the movie, and I kept telling myself I was doing it for the kids. I was struggling not to post some snarky facebook status when my wife gasped and grabbed my arm.

"What?!" I said, turning to her.

"Your picture," she said. I looked back at the screen but it was gone. Turns out my Lunar Lander poster that Land of Nod carries was on the wall of the chipmunks bedroom. And I missed it. Guess I know one person who will be buying that DVD. Hopefully moviegoers will be paying better attention than I did.

The lesson? You are always where you are supposed to be. Even if it seems you would be happier elsewhere.

See a gallery of additional images from the film at reelmovienews.com

Treasury Thanks!

2010-01-05T11:55:00.001-05:00

Thanks to EWMcCall for including me in a fiery love treasury!

Found: Secret Fun Spot

2010-01-05T08:27:00.000-05:00

Of course I love this. Why wouldn't I? Chock full of old graphic design, kitschy stuff and such.

http://www.secretfunspot.com/

I'm bringing waving back...

2010-01-04T16:27:00.000-05:00

I have always had a love/hate relationship with the handshake. I often get beat to the grasp. I get my fingers out there, just enough to have the other person clamp down on them and leave most of my palm free. I almost feel as if I should curtsy.

On the other hand, I am quick to extend my hand to strangers and introduce myself with a handshake. I can't bear the awkwardness when meeting someone new in a group setting, and your friend, who knows this new person, doesn't introduce you. So, I usually pre-empt that with an introduction. Then I read to beware of people like that. Can't remember why, but you are supposed to be wary of a person who extends his hand first. So, no more handshakes, I guess. Since neither of us can extend a hand first. Whether or not to extend your hand is the new 4-way stop. You go, no you go. Did you see that guy? It wasn't his turn. He just went.

By the same token, I'm not cool enough to Fist Bump. I just cannot pull it off. And I have bony knuckles. And I don't run with a fist-bumping crowd, whoever that is.

So, when I was adding some new pieces to my film can collage series, I pulled up my original film can illustration I did for The 3 Aspects of a Good Handshake (done years ago). I was reminded of how much I felt like that particular image and title was the most education film-like. When I start the can illustration, I know a film title, but I don't have any idea what the text over it will say, much less what it will refer to. That part comes to me as I create the textured version. Sometimes I have to think about it a while before an idea comes to mind.

When I created this particular film can illo, the fist bump did not exist. But now it seems tailor-made to contrast with modern day the era in which films were made to educate and refine us. This is, in it's own way, the essence of the film can series. Contrasting now with then.

I'm neither celebrating the handshake (See aforementioned personal issues with handshakes), nor dismissing the fist bump. I think I may be asking for a third option.

Treasury Shout Out - Jan. 4, 2010

2010-01-04T13:50:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the following folks who have included me in their treasuries:

Itsalljustmenagerie included my No Monsters Allowed Print in a Bright New Start treasury.

Nauli included my Vespa No. 1 in a Warm Reds treasury.

Happy New Year! Now let's make with the Valentine's stuff...

2010-01-04T11:27:00.000-05:00

Time for another year of this making a living from my art! I know I am very fortunate to be deriving any income from my art right now, much less all of it. It has been a new experience doing this during a down economy. Fortunately for me, people have continued to support my efforts, and I am extremely thankful for that.

I researched quite a bit this year. Mostly about the business of being a business by reading books that on the surface seemed to be very pop-culture, but actually contained a lot of business theory. One book was about holidays, and how the retail calendar is driven by holidays. To some extent, all retail businesses adhere to this calendar.

For some of us, it is merely a big push during the Christmas / Hanukkah / Kwanzaa season. I do a couple holiday pushes a year, mostly Valentine's and the December holidays, and it helps to even out the ups and downs of the retail calendar. Others take every opportunity to use holidays to drive sales. Once you are a business, you don't always have the luxury of not making the most of every opportunity to sustain your business. In some cases, if you don't promote to a holiday, it's like closing up shop for a while, as other businesses that do follow the holiday marketing calendar attract consumers, and your business just catches the occasional passer-by. Keeping this in mind makes it easier for me to not be so offended by the rapid transition to the next holiday retail displays.

The sales of the last quarter of the year can generate a lot of momentum for a merchant, and I often hear of proprietors who make most of their income on the days leading up to Christmas. Then the tumbleweeds start to blow by in January. As a business owner, it seems a shame to let any steam you have gathered just dissipate.

Now, I'm not talking about the big retailers like Target and Wal-mart. They always seem to have something that people need. But they also have to compete for holiday dollars. In this economy especially, they have to get those Christmas decorations down quickly and get the hearts and cupids up right away. It's about maximizing the opportunity for sales during a given period of time. It may look like greed, but they are businesses that have to stay afloat just like the rest of us. Not promoting when your competitors are promoting is not going to help one stay afloat.

People say it starts around Thanksgiving, but really it happens all year long. "It's disgusting!", we say. "Every year they start earlier and earlier." Christmas Creep, it's called, but it could just as easily be Cupid Creep, St. Patrick's Sneak, or Mother's Day... well, I can't think of one for Mother's Day. Maybe just being Mother's Day, a holiday created to generate commerce is enough. (Mom's do deserve their own day).

Point is, many businesses base their promotions on our buying patterns, and we tend to spend a lot of money during holidays. I think most people's complaints about Christmas Creep is directed more toward big retailers, the largest adherents to the holiday retail calendar. Who can blame the little guys for using whatever accepted reasons are available to encourage people to help keep their businesses alive? Especially these days? Who can blame the big guys? It would be nice to have a break from be sold to all the time. It would be nice not to have to sell all the time. Boon or bust, the competitive market is gonna creep all over you.

Found: A visual history of the credit card

2010-01-04T09:49:00.002-05:00

This is a pretty interesting look at how the appearance of credit cards has changed over the years and the history of the credit card.

I totally forgot to add the link yesterday! http://www.thebigmoney.com/slideshow/plastic-flashback

And, did you know that there is an American Credit Card Collector's Society?

Article by Caitlin McDevitt. Image credit: creditcollectibles.com

No blogging... must sleep!

2009-12-12T20:55:00.001-05:00

The old familiar push at the end of the year. Little sleep, lots of things to keep straight, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

It hasn't been a banner year for online art sales, but it has been good considering the state of the economy. I still get to this every day instead of digging ditches. Holiday sales are slower than years past, but to be making a living selling my art now? I count this blessing every day.

A slow economy spurred me to final get rolling on new projects, like my art blocks. I've long wanted to make my art in a format other than wall art. In the coming year, I'll get to branch out a bit into new venues with the blocks.

It took a long time for the blocks to really form into an idea. I had trouble sourcing blocks like I wanted, for one thing. Then one day, boom! There they were, in an unlikely place. I thought I was looking for single blocks that I could put my art on, but I saw these smaller, narrow blocks, and I thought: Triptychs!

Course now that I have amassed the largest collection of small blocks on the east coast, and now that I have gotten used to the idea of probably looking strange purchasing blocks in that quantity (they are re-purposed, and for what they were originally intended, no one would buy more than a few), I see a lot of triptychs in my future.

Of course, now that I have more triptych block pieces than I know what to do with, I have stumbled on local sources for single art wall blocks in 6", 8", 10" and 12", as well as a variety of shapes for mini art blocks that sit on a shelf. Those are what I originally envisioned using, but could not find them (and I don't really have time to cut them myself).

So here I go, for more than a few years, thinking this is the idea I want to do. This is how I will do it. If only this one thing (finding a source) will happen. Then I can do it. Then life says: Interesting idea, but how 'bout you do it this way? You asked for a source, so you got a source. It may not be a source for what you wanted to do, but it's a source just the same.

Once I pursued the idea that life threw in my path, ways to do the ideas I had been lugging around for a while appeared.

Now I just need a way to explain to cashiers why I am buying so many blocks.

To the 5 Boroughs...

2009-11-30T07:30:00.000-05:00

A few years back, I started a series called City Monikers, based on the nicknames of cities. For some reason, I included Brooklyn in that series. Being neither a nickname nor a "city" the way the other cities in the series were, it may have seemed out of place.

But, it was pretty much just the way I work. The idea was to do all 5 boroughs, and make that a subset of the Moniker series.

I have finally done that with my newest wooden block piece. I also have a version with almost no color that will be available later.

Holiday BOGO Sale time!

2009-11-27T11:28:00.002-05:00

Time for my Annual Holiday BOGO Sale in the johnwgolden Etsy shop!

Details: But one print get one print of equal or lesser value for free. Limit 2 free prints per purchase.

Triptych Blocks, Gift Certificates, Jewelry and Mats are not eligible as free choices. However, you can purchase one of those items and get a free print of equal or lesser value.

Purchase only the print(s) you want to pay for, and then tell me your free choice in the message to seller.

Sale will end without notice.

The Holiday Madness Begins!

2009-11-24T08:33:00.000-05:00

My Etsy shop is filling up with new items for the holidays. I have lots of new jewelry to list, and I expect to have new Mini Triptych Blocks in both johnwgolden and rovinato by the weekend.

Debating whether to do a Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotion... Have to decide soon :)

Some of the new batch of jewelry...

2009-11-18T09:11:00.001-05:00

I spent this last week and maybe the last of our warm days here locally making a new batch of resin jewelry. I have over 300 pieces, and following this weekend's Art for the Masses show here, I will start the process of adding these to the Etsy shop.

Glass Tile Graphic Pendant & Ring Tutorial

2009-11-04T10:58:00.000-05:00

Here's my latest how-to! For those of you looking for a jewelry making process that is more durable, but relatively non-toxic, I present my Glass Tile Graphic Jewelry. Glass tile over graphics is nothing new, but I have paired that method with a silver plated pendant tray and a silver plated flat ring. The flat ring covers the entire back of the glass tile, making it less susceptible to snapping off, and limiting exposure to moisture. Same goes for the pendant tray.

Judikins DG3 Art Gel is the adhesive that is used, and while it is water soluble, these pieces handle incidental moisture contact very well. When one of these comes out less than perfect, I have to soak the rings for about 15 minutes in water to get them to come apart. I have a pendant that has been soaking for over 24 hours, and while some of the adhesive on the side of the pendants is softened, the glass tile is still stuck fast, with no water seepage into the paper.

Enjoy!

Ringy-Dingy y'all!

2009-10-23T22:47:00.001-04:00

After a long absence, I once again have some rings in the shop. These are a little different than the last design (more of those are in the works). They use a glass tile instead of resin, and are open on the sides.

Only 6 available, so check them out now!

Downloadable Cut-Out Black Kitty Project

2009-09-16T18:21:00.002-04:00

A new free downloadable for ya: A Black Kitty Cat Cut-Out! More colors to follow soon.

Click here to download the PDF.

Step-by-step instructions with photos are available here.

We know it's a rule, but we know better

2009-09-02T11:40:00.001-04:00

You know how you see some things that seem like a minor injustice? Like, say, in a crowd of people when half the crowd is following the rules and the other half is ignoring the rules and benefiting from doing so?

Do you see this sort of thing happening and imagine yourself doing something clever that turns the situation upside down? That your clever act of heroism will suddenly make disadvantaged all those who are gaining advantage by doing whatever they please?

It's not often when I leave the house that I don't see some sort of behavior that breaks rules that are there to keep things fair or safe. I'm sure I break some myself. I try really hard not to, and I try to consider how anything I do might affect those around me. It can be very frustrating as well when one is trying to do the right thing, and you are inundated with example after example of people thinking only of themselves. Just last night, as I stopped at the grocery store, I noticed a pretty good-sized sign that had been placed in the fire lane. It read: No Parking - Fire Lane.

Less than one car length past the sign, I could see the tail end of a silver Porsche. Parked in the fire lane with the driver inside. Now... they probably had to drive right past that sign to park like that. They most likely had seen the sign. But I don't know that they did. In fact, I would venture to say that someone who is that unaware as to think that they don't have to follow the same rules as the rest of us probably was not paying that much attention.

I looked at the sign. I thought, "Maybe I should drag that sign around to the front of the car and leave it there, so this guy can see it. And then he'll feel embarrassed and never park in fire lanes again." But considering the sign had about 80 lbs. of concrete at it's base, I feel pretty sure the message would have been, "I'm stupid enough to expend the energy needed to drag this heavy sign in front of you just to make a point." I have felt stupid in the past after trying to point out someone's inconsiderate behavior. They are not even considering what they are doing, much less doing it for the purpose I suspect and my behavior would be very pointedly meant to grab their attention by treated them poorly.

I really don't think that my efforts would have been all that effective. So, I just let go. Instead of putting a lot of effort into changing this person's behavior, I put much less effort into changing mine. I don't need to care about that person and what they do unless it is truly dangerous or criminal. Little I would do in that situation would be likely to change that person's behavior. All I can do is follow the rules myself. I walked on in the store, and seconds later, I had forgotten what was going on in the fire lane.

So... knowing that I tend to see little "injustices" everywhere, I try to use them as exercises to reduce that tendency.

Everyday, I take each of my children to school. This means everyday, I sit in 3 different car lines. For a while there, I think my wife had to seriously weigh the benefits of letting me drop the kids off (or pick them up). Could a few moments of peace and quite at home be worth the inevitable litany of injustices that I would bring back with me? I would find myself bringing up the car line in conversations. It was becoming a bit much.

Everyday now, I start the day with 3 chances to either get all wrapped up in what people are doing in the car lines, or 3 chances to exercise my ability to ignore people's unconscious behavior. That's something that made what folks are doing easier to stomach, the realization that most of us really are not thinking about what we are doing. We do much of what we do in our daily lives, especially that which is routine, unconsciously.

I still see the behavior, and I still struggle with some of it, but I try not to think about it beyond that notice. I am not truly ignoring it, but I don't carry it home with me. And I remind myself that it is unconscious behavior.

In the middle school car line, there is a certain entrance that the school wants us to use to enter the parking lots. They do not want us to let our kids out anywhere else than the steps in front of the school, under the watchful eye of 2 teachers stationed there to make sure the kids get in safely. You might guess that neither of these two rules is followed by at least half of the parents.

Those of us that do as the school asks spend a much longer time in the car line. There are two reasons for this: One, the kids that are let out in the street and in a second unofficial car line that has developed in another part of the parking lot have to cross through the official car line to get to school. So we get stopped a lot. Two, the cars from the impromptu unofficial car line have to be let back into the flow of traffic that is the official car line.

That's a situation that is just ripe for me to get all twisted up with what these other people are doing. But it is also my opportunity to do the opposite. Instead of grousing and such, I just remind myself that even though I don't think the impromptu car line is fair, it is necessary. The official car line can not handle the volume of kids that have to be dropped off each day. And the wait in the official car line would probably actually be longer if everyone used it. I make sure that my perspective of that other car line is, while maybe not 100% positive, it is a little less negative every day.

Then each day, just to be sure that I take this exercise to heart, I do one other thing that I never used to do. Where the two traffic lines meet. Where I would once have said to myself, "Hah! See if I let you back in!" to the drivers in the other car line. I stop my car and I wave at least one of the other drivers back into the flow of traffic. It feels better than going home and telling my wife about all that negative things I just experienced.

Cool Craftster Project: Tiny Halloween Town

2009-08-29T13:20:00.000-04:00

I love these little houses by phizzychick! Check them out along with lots of other great projects on Craftster.org

I am awed by people's vision sometimes, and items like these take a strong vision and great skill. You can find phizzychick's work for sale at her Etsy store, www.phizzychick.etsy.com.

Using judgment for good

2009-08-29T12:11:00.002-04:00

As an artist, especially as one with a graphic design background, judgment is a tool I use on a daily basis. So, it can be difficult to try to minimize the "bleed" of this requirement to constantly judge things in my work life. By bleed I mean how the habit or pattern of judging makes its way into my personal life.

I believe that we judge constantly. Situations are judged as good or bad, safe or dangerous, boring or exciting. People are judged the same. So it's a natural tendency we all have. I don't know if people who have to rely on judgment in the workplace have more of a tendency to judge in their personal lives, but I know that for me it is all too easy to slip into the role of judge.

Now, to be clear, I don't see myself as the judge, jury and executioner of every little thought I have about a situation or person. Not that I haven't seen myself in that role at various times of my life. I try very hard now to be conscious that I am judging things, people, places and situations. I then try to remind myself that unless I am using judgment for practical reasons (such as to make decisions at work), I need to stop judging whenever I can.

Judgment makes situations bad, people not worth knowing and your sense of self negative. It makes you less or more than other people. It makes your troubles greater, as it does the faults of others. It makes someone else's views less important or valid, and it makes you right and everyone else wrong.

Not judging allows situations and people to be what they are. An absence of judgment can make your problems manageable, and your own faults and those of others less glaring.

With judgment so ingrained in our day to day lives, it seems impossible to eliminate it. I'm not always successful in doing so. I just try to be aware that I am judging everything. I'm not always successful at that either, but I know I am judging less every time I catch myself doing it.

What I try to do when I catch myself judging situations is remind myself that it is my perception of a situation that determines how good or bad it is. When judging people, I try to turn that spotlight on myself. One can't help but notice what people do, and subsequently assign it a good or bad value. You may even say to yourself, "I would never do that." I find if I try to take what I see and then begin to judge to my own behavior and say, "I have to be more aware of myself doing that same thing", I don't follow through with judging that person or their behavior.

What brought this on? This topic? Yesterday, after my post about how hard it seems to get people to interact, I had to pick my daughter up from school. (And yes, I am aware that judgment played a part in making the observations I made in yesterday's post) I was more so than usual aware of my interactions with people. About half of the folks with whom I made eye contact, smiled and said, "Hi!". The other half were closed off. But that's not what brought this post to mind.

Gotta go further back for that.

Last year, at the end of the school year, my wife and I attended a little picnic for my daughter's class. There was a little girl there whose parent did not attend. She was seated near us. She was quiet and closed off from the rest of the group. I was right next to her, as we ate pizza, and tried to make conversation, as did my wife. She would nod responses, kind of tentatively, but she did not talk.

Later, I mentioned her to my wife, and we had both sensed a sadness in the little girl. That was our judgment. She may have been sad or not. She may just have not cared to really interact with the rest of us. Who knows. She is in my daughter's class again this year.

So, yesterday, as I walked my daughter out to our car, we followed behind that little girl and her mother. Her mother talked on her cell phone the entire time. It was a casual, personal call, not business. She walked many steps ahead of her daughter, with the only communication between the two being an occasional roll of her mother's hand to signal hurry up.

Now, of course, I'm walking along thinking just how crappy that is. But I catch myself. I don't know if this is their relationship in a nutshell. This may be the only moment that the two are not completely engaged with each other.

So, I turned the spotlight on myself. Do I do that? Do I take one of the few moments everyday that my 7-year old and I have where it's just us and waste it? I can't recall taking phone calls instead of interacting with my kids, but I suspect I have. I know that I have spent time thinking about other stuff, when I should have just been there, giving that moment my full attention.

I caught myself again. I had stopped judging that woman's behavior and used it to be more aware of my own behavior. My judgment of her behavior had led to me being more conscious in the future that I shouldn't fill the opportunities I will have to be with my kids with other things. I owe her for that.

Still, I felt bad for the little girl. With this type of interaction, how would she ever be anything but closed off to other people? How would she ever learn to just say, "Hi!"?

As both families entered our cars, the little girl turned, and while her mother went on with her conversation, the little girl gave us a little wave.

Can't you just say, "Hi?"

2009-08-28T07:40:00.006-04:00

I find myself asking that (in my head, of course) of other people throughout the school year. It's my response to being thrown in amongst the throngs of parents shepherding their kids to class or attending PTA meetings or class picnics. Here we are, adults, having lived a couple of decades at least. We should have some experience interacting with others, right?

Those of us you that have given birth have been in what must be a far more awkward situation than having to acknowledge another person. Especially one with whom we at least have in common that our children attend the same school. You have had a group of people, some of whom you have never met before, doing all kinds of invasive things to you. You survived that. Could a simple head nod or wave be any more difficult?

One might think that who I am and what I am doing at your kid's school might be of at least passing interest to you. I certainly don't look like I'm heading to a job after dropping my kids off each morning, or like I've come from a job to pick them up. Who is this guy who could use a shave and has time to be at school at 2:30pm in the afternoon? What kind of job could he have that he gets to wear flip-flops, shorts and a t-shirt? Does he even have a kid here?

Hmmm... sounds like I want them to take an interest in me. Sure, that would be nice. It always feels good when someone seems to care about us, or finds us interesting. But really, I just want them to acknowledge the rest of us, return our waves, to give us more than a blank stare or an awkward downcast expression. I just want them to be acknowledged in return, and for us all to benefit from acknowledging each other.

I try to be a happy person, and it often seems that these non-communicative types are deeply unhappy. I try to keep that in mind when I am making all these little judgments in my head about why so many of the parents don't seem to know that there are others of us there. They have a lot on their plates, they are thinking about work, or the disagreement they just had with their husband or wife. Maybe each of us has a limited capacity for being friendly with everything else we have going on. Maybe we have so many people that need things from us that we just don't have anything left for the folks that just happen to travel in the same circles as us.

Okay, so that's a reason for people ignoring each other. Just don't have it in me. Only so much to go around.

The thing is, it really doesn't take much to wave, or nod, or even smile and say "Hi!". And it's amazing what you can get back. For one thing, it spreads a positive feeling of being connected instead of furthering the isolation that I think some people feel. Being acknowledged feels good, and acknowledging someone else feels good, too. For folks like me, who are constantly creating in their heads, imagining people's backstories, the nod each morning can lead to a "Hi!" each morning to eventual conversations. These usually prove my imagined backstory extremely inaccurate. This reminds me that I don't know everything, and makes me less likely to judge people and situations the next time.

Those conversations lead to the exchange of experiences, to a commonality and collective-ness. That feels good. It gives one perspective on one's own life to hear about the lives of others. It brings you into the moment. It gives you another purpose to be there that goes beyond the routine of your day. Maybe you are meant to find out that someone else is going through difficulties that make yours seem insignificant. Maybe you are meant to do the same for someone else. Maybe you will be lucky enough to share with others, or to make someone learn that you can't judge a book by it's cover.

That is an awful lot in return for just saying "Hi!".

Downloadable Cut-Out Owl Project...

2009-08-24T13:45:00.006-04:00

Something new we are trying 'round here is free printable download projects. On a regular basis I will post little illustrations that you can download, print, cut out and paste up. These make great projects for kids and grown-ups, too. You can now own your own piece of my art that you help put together.

I am always on the look out for ways that I can share my abilities and knowledge by helping other folks experience making something. These projects are intended to do just that.

The illustrations are created specifically for this series, and can be printed as many times as you like (good for classes and groups). You will need Acrobat Reader, available here, and a color printer. You can use any weight paper you want, but I use a paper heavier than text, but not quite card stock.

Our first project in this series is Owlbert in green. He is a cute little owl who looks great on bulletin boards and is quite at home of fridges as well. My daughter and I used a glue stick to put him together, but you could use double-sided foam tap to give his parts a little more separation. It's a pretty straightforward project: Just cut Owlbert's parts out, and glue him together according to the little line drawing on your printout.

Click here to download the Owlbert PDF.

Your luxury accommodations await...

2009-08-10T09:43:00.003-04:00

Spiders and ants included. A week-long stint in the foothills of North Carolina can be yours for free if you'll just take responsibility for 17 kids.

I highly recommend it. You will learn things about yourself, and you will learn things about those kids. And because there are 630+ other kids attending, you will learn a bit about crowds and personal space as well.

You will learn that, in general, rural folk and city folk approach kid control differently. If you are city folk, you may feel a bit ineffectual, like a bit of a weak egghead if you share your campsite with another group that hails from the country, even if that country is only about 25 miles from the heart of your city.

With a rural inflection, a simple but quietly spoken "Boy. What are you doin'?" stops all foolishness, and a "Put that out. Don't do it again." keeps the foolishness from happening again. In the event that it doesn't squash the foolishness, a good long stare from the adult usually does.

In contrast, the city egghead version goes something like this (paraphrased with the hidden meaning of what is actually said added by me):

Adult: "(Insert kid's name here), why are you doing that? Don't do that! It's dangerous!"

Kid: "Well, I'm not doing exactly that. I'm doing a slight variation of that, that's just different enough that you telling me to stop does not exactly apply. So I can continue to do it."

Adult: "Well, I don't agree that what you are doing is significantly different from what I have told you to stop doing, but just the same, the fact that I have told to stop doing something should be enough to make you stop doing whatever it is you are doing."

Kid: (Either evasive silence, or repeated contention that they weren't doing exactly what they were told to stop doing)

And... Scene.

Whenever I attend camping related events that throw together different parenting styles, I inevitably end up feeling a bit ineffective. As much as I want my kids and any kids for which I am responsible to mind what I say, I really don't want them to do so because they are afraid of me.

One of our kids went up to one of those well-minded leaders, the ones that can control their kids with a look and few words. Our kid said, "Wanna see a card trick?" as he held up a deck of cards. The very leader, who all week had been there on the periphery of my vision, as I parented and led my group; Who I felt watching, whether he was or not; Who I thought was probably judging my control over my group, and finding it lacking. He says, "You mean, Poof! You're a pile of sh*t?"

That guy probably learned nothing that week, but he was part of my lesson learned. What else did I learn? Of what else was I reminded?

Well, the kid I worried about was better than expected, to a point. So I learned that even people I have given up on will surprise me. I learned that if an 11-year old can handle everything he brought with him getting absolutely soaked in a rainstorm with an unflappability you don't see in a lot of adults then I can handle things a lot more calmly myself. I was reminded that not letting yourself get overwhelmed has a lot to do with how much you choose to let things overwhelm you. And as much as I enjoyed my week in the woods, I was reminded that I really just love being home.

Them Duggars got nothin' on me

2009-07-29T20:33:00.007-04:00

Me, just after climbing the Knob, before I got stung by a humongous ground wasp. The swim test in that lake earlier in the week nearly killed me.

I thought I might call this post "17 kids and counting". It's been harder for me to avoid the large family reality shows lately. They show up everywhere I look. Kate Gosselin and the plus Eight were even in the hall outside The Golden Gallery as they passed by on their way to Caravan Beads. They were on a day trip whilst they were vacationing on nearby Bald Head Island.

Who's to say what I would be doing right now if they had seen the signs for my customizable characters, a la Mot and Dot. Up to my neck in orders?

Well, I have my own big brood a'comin'. An "insta-brood", you might say. On Sunday, I will head into the wilderness with 17 kids for a week long camping experience. I say wilderness. There are trees. And we are sleeping outside. In tents.

It's actually gonna be fun, and I am really looking forward to it. I have known most of these kids for about 6 years. Some I don't know at all, and some I know just a little. Fortunately, I have been to this camp before, so I know my way around. I know where the best plumbed bathrooms are, and a locking shower facility. I'm not sure I could handle 17 kids without that.

I also will have help from 4 other dads. That's fun, too. The hanging out with other dads part. And it spreads around the responsibility for keeping 17 kids alive and out of trouble.

Last year, on this same trip, I was really tested by this one kid. He's a bit of button-pusher, and has a knack for engaging in the most disruptive activity possible at the worst possible time. It's a gift, a talent, no doubt. Of course, every time this kid makes me say I am never gonna do this again, I get some glimpse into why he might behave the way he does. What kind of baggage he has. So I tell myself I will do better next time.

Although, I am up against a genius here. But I do have back-up. Maybe one of our various parenting styles will get through to the kid. I think he just wants to belong, but he mistakes making himself the center of attention for belonging. His antics got so bad last year, that the rest of the group would not let him ride in the passenger van on the way home. He rode with me in our mini-van, and my son, who gave up his chance to ride in the passenger van so that the kid would not have to ride by himself.

I tried talking to the kid on the ride home, but he's pretty good at staying just out of reach. Your questions get vague answers, and you can tell he is not really considering your questions before answering. Getting kicked off the passenger van really affected him, but I could tell he really did not understand that his behavior was making other kids not want to be around him.

Here's hoping that he has grown up some this year, that he feels more a part of things, and that I can do a better job remembering why he might be so hard to handle.

The Jewelry Findings Are Back

2009-07-21T11:07:00.003-04:00

After a wait that was way too long, Golden Supply Co. on Etsy is an active shop again. It has been very interesting running a supply shop, because the business model is different than from my Etsy art shop. I have learned a lot, and I have made plenty of mistakes.

Buying someone else's product to sell is a very different animal from producing your own product. You can't always control what you have on hand to sell, it takes longer to correct your errors in inventory control, and you don't always have answers to customer's questions.

But...It's well worth it in the end. The whole supply store idea sprung out of the Resin Tutorial Video I did last year. I wanted to share something I was doing with others, to help others experience the creative process.

I soon found out that the findings were not easily available yet online, so I felt a responsibility to make them available. I don't think I fully thought through what taking on that responsibility would entail. So, my plans and systems for the supply store weren't always adequate to deal with everything a supply store makes you deal with.

Hopefully, our re-examination of how we run the supply store has fixed a lot of the problems we encountered over our first year. 2 days ago was the first anniversary of opening the store, by the way. We are striving to offer a significantly reduced turn-around time, and more items in stock. We will be stocking some new items I am very excited about soon.

The video recently reached 100,000 views for the first part. About half those folks that watched the first part continued with the second part. Can't expect to retain everyone for the whole length of a 23 minute video :). We now make our videos shorter if the process allows it.

Thanks to everyone who has watched the video, and to all who have been so patient with us as we went through the growning pains of Golden Supply Co. We look forward to supplying you in the future.

Tell us again where you've been...

2009-07-19T20:59:00.005-04:00

It's a little funny that, right after starting my series on some people's perception of artists as directionless slackers and on the new wave of business-savvy artists, I would become so slack with maintaining my blog.

I have been staying busy with the transition from the tiny, cramped house (that allowed us to afford to follow my dream of being a working artist) to our new home. I know this house is the space that will allow me to expand the business so that we can get my art out to more people, but I did not anticipate it would take several months to really get settled and get my various Etsy shops back up and running.

Over on the Golden Supply Co. side of things, I have been struggling to get caught up with orders and inventory. I'm pleased to say that I am getting close. The GSC Etsy store, which has been on vacation so I could catch up, is about to re-open. We have had to implement a better inventory control system (many mistakes were made). Hopefully, that system will help us stay better stocked and less likely to sell items we think we have but don't.

Over on johnwgolden.etsy.com, I have stayed busy filling orders from my makeshift office. Our garage, which will be the world headquarters of all things John W. Golden, has been filled to the rafters with the contents of our 2 storage units since we finally cleared those out a few months ago. This weekend, we had the first of several yard sales to start shedding a lot of those contents. I can almost see the space where the desks will go. Maybe in a few weeks.

There are some exciting things brewing concerning my art. A few new opportunities are developing which should mean more exposure for my art. I'll let you know about those as the opportunities are realized.

At home, we are dealing with one loose tooth (not mine), whose owner is reluctant to let anybody get it out, a change from kid-size hangers to grown-up hangers for the kid who sold off all his Pokemon cards at the yard sale, and a little less getting into everything by our youngest. My wife is finally getting to unpack all the art and such that went into boxes during our stay in the little house. I've built a fence, did some minor organization of tools and such in the garage, but mostly I have been shipping packages.

I always try to look for lessons in life's situations, and lately the situations have been pretty pleasant, and I admit that I don't pay as much attention to the lessons when things are going smoothly. The worst problem I have had lately is that my back went out yesterday morning (first time that it has done that). That laid me out for the day (I got off easy I'm told), which happened to be the day of the yard sale. I was carrying (with the help of a friend) my fiberglass darkroom sink out into the yard on the chance that it might catch the eye of someone who still maintains a film darkroom.

We got about halfway to the street when suddenly I felt a sharp pain about 2/3 up my back. I could not hold my arms up, and could only get relief from the pain by bending over with my hands on my knees. Any attempt to straighten up brought the pain back. It felt as if something were pushing down on my shoulders and creating the pain right on my spine. I slouched into the house and spent most of the day laying on icepacks. A couple of times, I was able to stand up straight, and I was able to get myself to the ibuprofen and the bathroom if needed, but it was a quite a struggle.

This morning I did not think I would be able to get out of the bed. Most of last night, I was barely able to to roll on to my side or on to my back due to the pain. I managed to get up though and with a lot of heat packs, was able to get moving and get some work done today. It still hurts, but it's manageable. I don't like to take painkillers or muscle relaxers, so it's grin and bear it.

I have had lower back pain since college. I used to have to lower 300lb. boxes of Arches watercolor paper by hand off the back of a semi when I worked for Cheap Joe's Art Stuff in its first few years of existence. That plus some pretty bad posture while sitting, and a rear-end car collison in 2002 left me with chronic sciatic problems. Many times over the years, I had cursed my lower back pain, and a few times I have been sidelined from it, but the pain yesterday was far worse than any I have felt before. I almost felt like I could not breathe when standing.

Here's the thing though - if not for those years of living with back pain, I think yesterday's pain would have dropped me to my knees. I would probably still be flat on my back, and I would probably be whacked out of my mind on painkillers. And as a working artist, I can't afford that. All those years of pain helped prepare me for the worst physical pain I have felt in my life. And it helped me to get going again.

Oh, wait a minute... there's a lesson in that.

The artist as a directionless slacker... pt. 1

2009-04-24T09:50:00.002-04:00

Don't ask me why, but I watched a holiday movie a year or two back where the main character was an artist-type. I think I secretly like bad, cheesy television because it makes me feel like I have taste. I don't like it for the quality, but for the fact that it makes me feel like I can identify bad quality. Backwards, I know.

But the way the artist-type character was depicted made me realize that the screenwriter's perception of the artist (and more so the person who wants to make a living from their art, and not more traditionally stable occupations) was that of a directionless slacker. All the other characters, except for the reluctant love interest, thought of the artist as one who could not figure out what they wanted to do with their life. Is that how the world sees us? Perhaps the writer(s) lived the situation before writing it into a movie. I don't really think that was the intended message of the movie: If everyone around the artist-type can just suffer watching all that wasted potential long enough, a straight-laced business type will eventually come along and take the artist off our hands.

As I look around these days, I think that business type has arrived. Not in the form of a significant other who takes the edge off the drifting artist, but in the form of the Artisan Entrepreneur. So, it's not in the form of some outside force or influence, but part of the artist-types themselves.

Artists are creative thinkers, and creative thinking is not always valued in the traditional workplace. So the artist-type doesn't always fit well in some traditional workplaces. They are square pegs trying to fit in round holes. If they want to be happy in their job, they often have to either find a (usually) lower paying job that requires little more than showing up and doing what you are told, or they have to find work in one of the accepted artist-type positions (see Graphic Artist, Copy Writer, Illustrator, etc.). The former type of job is more easily found, but worries the artist-type's circle of friends that the artist-type will never reach their full potential. The latter type of job exists occasionally in the traditional corporate world, but are more readily available in the creative corporate world of design firms and the like.

Seems there were always freelancers (Copy Writers, Illustrators, Designers) who liked the freedom of setting your own hours, having some input in what you create, etc. An early version of today's artisan entrepreneur. If you go that route, you're bound to learn more than a little bit about running a business.

Seems there have long been quite a few artists who could make their living by creating great art, and commanding high prices for it. But it also seems that route has often required someone else with business sense to manage and guide that career. Another route where the artist is bound to develop a business sense over the years.

But the Artisan Entrepreneur differs a little. They may have been the freelancer, and they may still be one. They may also have done the work-a-day job, and may still be doing that, too. For one reason or another, they are trying to move on from that. They may want more control over what they produce. It's a direction which does not guarantee success (not that the others mentioned do either), and in many cases that I have seen, you start out without really knowing the ropes.

I've done the freelance thing, and I have done the design firm thing, and I have done the in-house corporate design department thing. I've also done the day job that pays the bills. All of those jobs taught me something about business, which positioned me to make decisions in my latest iteration as working artist. I think all Artisan Entrepreneurs draw on their past work experience to some extent. But they also have to use their creative way of thinking to further their business, and they often do so in unexpected ways (that's the entrepreneur part). They also use their imagination and a pretty strong belief in their own ability to make a go of it.

To be continued...

I just can't do all this... Wait a minute... Yes I can... Stop talking to yourself...

2009-04-23T10:28:00.005-04:00

Sometimes I have to ask myself if I seek out a schedule that is overloaded. Like I can not stand to be idle. Like I attract the hectic and challenging situations in which I find myself.

"Well, you do, you know", says myself.

9 years of freelancing (and the years prior of full-time employment) conditioned me to be able to work 20 hour days. I don't recommend it, but after a while of burning the midnight oil, I believe your body gets accustomed to the lack of sleep. And once you are conditioned to be awake, it seems you will be, whether you need to be or not.

Since stopping the freelance work and doing the art thing full-time, the hours got slightly better and the stress level went down. As my art business has ramped up over the last two years, and as I opened another shop to supply folks with the findings I use in my rings and video tutorials, the hours necessary to stay on track in both businesses increased, and the stress level spikes a bit every once in a while.

Most of the stress comes from making people wait for their purchase, and more often than not I put it on myself. To not let myself get stressed about a delay in an order seems like I am not giving that customer's order proper attention. Folks are great about being understanding and most times exceedingly patient.

From time to time (see Day to Day, or daily basis), I say to myself, "I just can't do all this". Though I have known for a while that if I tell myself such things that I am ensuring that I won't be able to do it all, I still do. It's only recently that I have begun to catch myself and to say, "I can do all this". Yes, I talk to myself. A lot. It's not like I buy myself 2 cups of coffee so that the 2 me's can each have one while we sit down and have a real conversation at the coffee shop. Yet.

What I try to remember these days, more than any thing else, is that none of what I deal with is truly a problem. I am so fortunate to have a business with stress to worry about. I truly believe that if I was still freelancing, or even full-time at a design firm, I would be facing down-sizing or a complete lack of projects. It is by pure good fortune that I am in the position I am in right now. Sure, I have to consider every day that I might sell no art, but I really believe that with the reach of the web, I can continue to find customers. I just have to make sure that my reproductions are affordable and continue to do things that put my name and my work out there.

I gave up long ago trying to understand why people connect with my ideas and images, and now just count it as a blessing that my art continues to connect. That's really all I can hope for business-wise, as that is what supports my art business. It is a job, with stress and problems, but if you have a job without stress and problems, you don't have a job.

So, on any given day, one might find me down on the capacity I have to do it all, or one might find me thinking I have it all under control. I just have to remember that I need to just be happy that I am being found by you and many others. And to hope that I am not talking to myself when you find me.

New Dog... for the White House and for me!

2009-04-14T12:28:00.002-04:00

Every once in a while, I can get another dog done. The list of requested breeds is long, but Portuguese Water Dog is near the top. This breed is a lot better known than it was even a few months ago, which I expect will means lots more options for PWD-themed merchandise.

I personally look at that as a good. We own a Wire Fox Terrier, and you don't find that one very often on the dog keychain rack.

This one is in the Etsy store.

The Value You Can't See

2009-04-11T13:10:00.004-04:00

As a self-managed working artist, one has to make many daily decisions based on the value of things. One have to ask one's self is one thing worth doing over another thing. Can I possibly make my money back on this advertising? The questions may be phrased differently, but the choice for me often comes down to: "What has the most value to what I hope to achieve?"

It can be difficult to make these decisions, because the face value of something can be far lower than its hidden value. I find that it's easier for me to be more confident when making these decisions if I keep in mind that everything I do to add value to my art business builds on what I have already done. More importantly, I really can't accurately judge what will be the value of any action, judgment or dollar spent.

Case in point, a .20¢ listing fee on Etsy. The face value is .20¢ that buys you a 4-month listing on Etsy. At one time, a hidden value of the .20¢ was 5-10 minutes of exposure on the front page of your category. That exposure is not as likely to happen now, but it does not mean that there isn't some exposure value in listing or renewing a listing. Renewing listings made it possible for me to establish a presence on Etsy. But, Etsy was far less populated then, and it takes a lot more renewing to make a splash now. It may not worth it for some, but it always will be for me because of the way I see the value of the .20¢.

There is at least .60¢ in listing fees that I have spent on Etsy that have had immeasurable value.

The first .20¢ was about 2 years ago. I listed one of my dog series. That listing was seen by a publishing company. In fact, one of the largest fine art reproduction companies around. As a teenager, working in a frame shop, I can remember looking through this company's catalog. That listing led to a licensing agreement with said publishing company. That agreement has led to my work being seen on major retail websites, in catalogs and the like. That agreement has allowed me to continue making art on my terms, the art I want to make, while putting my work in front of a larger audience that I could never hope to reach on my own. That agreement allows me to spend my days working as an artist.

The second .20¢, and the third .20¢ were spent within days of each other. I was contacted through Etsy by two major catalog companies directly to have my work sold in their pages. Without my publishing agreement, I probably would not have been able to even consider these opportunities. Running my Etsy shops fills my days as it is. It would be murder to try to fill catalog orders as well. Or maybe it wouldn't. Me judging situations again, but I am pretty sure it would be more work than I can handle.

I can go on, as I am sure a lot of us could if we sat and thought about it, about little things we have done that blossomed into much larger things. Sure, everything business decision I made before I relisted the dog, or the By Order of the Managment Sign, or the Tin Toy Box Art led to my being found by the right person in the right place at the right time. I probably didn't even consider to what those particular relistings might lead. It's part of my daily routine, something I don't really consider beyond, "Well, these 3 pieces will look nice together", etc.

The point is, in the midst of the myriad of decisions I make each day, some expensive, some not, it has sometimes been the littlest, least expensive decisions/actions that have nudged my work into to just the right spot to be seen by someone who can help me to continue making my living as an artist.

I always hope that each .20¢ I spend to list or renew will come back to me as a sale. But it's exciting to think that I never know what I am gonna get.

And all the obstacles will disappear...

2009-04-09T10:06:00.002-04:00

I have to say, again, that these last few weeks in our current home are dragging. I knew they would. Maybe I should have told myself they would fly by. Maybe by "knowing" that they would drag, I am making them drag. I fully believe it is our perceptions that define situations more so than the reality of those situations.

I think this is a test to see how well I can live in the present, rather than that magical future several weeks away. I keep telling myself, once we get into the new house, I'll have help in the Etsy shops. I'll be able to stay on top of so many things that I can't right now. I am so telling myself that once this thing happens, everything will be right in my world.

How's that for setting myself up for a let down? Certain things will have the potential to be much better. The shops ought to be better managed with two people putting their efforts toward that goal. Makes sense. But there will also be a 4-year old interjecting herself into the process, and if I don't just accept that as part of the new way of life, I'm bound to be disappointed each time it happens.

One thing I know will be different: I will have more time to create new art. Okay... I don't know that. And really, I know from experience that every time in the past when I have thought that a change being made would lead to more creative time, it has not panned out. But I am hopeful anyway.

Hopeful is good, right? As long as I don't base my happiness on any of these positive changes I expect to happen actually happening. It's hard not to do that, but I have to be okay with the positive changes not taking place, too.

One of the things I learned over the last two years was not to judge situations. If you judge a situation as bad, it will be bad. If you judge it to be an obstacle to what you really want, it will be an obstacle. Saying I have learned it and actually practicing it all the time are two different things. Many times I have lamented our current living situation. Too small, too noisy. No room for a home studio. Etc., etc. But there have been many good things about it as well.

I have seen that living situation as the biggest obstacle to taking the next step, to taking my business to the next level. But I have also seen it as the very thing that has made taking that next step possible. It has been both, depending on how I felt each day.

Now, after 3 years of waiting, this situation that I struggle not to judge each day will finally change. If I can just make it through the next few weeks. I'd like to imagine that the new situation will be so great that I won't feel compelled to judge it on a daily basis, that when we sign those papers, get those keys and set foot in our new home, all obstacles to what we want from life will disappear. But that's judging the situation. Instead, I need to accept that no matter what the situation, even if it seems an interminably long wait or new living arrangements that don't live up to my lofty expectations, that is exactly where we are supposed to be. And all the obstacles will disappear.

Leaving the nest for a bigger nest...

2009-04-08T11:17:00.006-04:00

Way back in the day, before Pottery Barn Kids and such, when my wife and I were outfitting my young son's bedroom in a robot and space theme, we had a hard time finding robot-themed artwork. So I made some, and then I made a whole lot more. It's exciting to me that in the interim, more ways to find other robot/space art have appeared and grown. There is a lot of great robot-themed stuff out there.

Now, as we prepare to leave the tiny abode we have been in for the last 3 years, one of the things we are looking forward to is a bedroom for each kid. So we need some new artwork. I leave those decisions to my wife, and it just so happens that when I told her I had decided I wanted to do some new bird collage prints, she told me she had decided that our youngest daughter's room would feature bird art.

Our kids have lived for quite some time now within pinching and kicking distance of each other. It is my hope that these close quarters created a closeness that my kids might not have had if they had spent that same amount of time in the, "everyone with their own space" arrangement of a newer, larger home. I know that I am looking forward to everybody being able to separate when needed. I think most of the chaos in our home comes from the kids not being able to get away from each other.

So...why birds? I've already created a lot of bird art, and there is plenty of great bird art out there. Why am I suddenly drawn to birds again?

Well, here's what I think is happening. I really do think ideas find me, rather than I come up with them in a vacuum. Sometimes it's a response to what's happening in my life, sometimes it has to do with my affection for something.

If I look at what is going on in my life: We are leaving our little house, our nest if you will, for bigger digs. My girls will sleep in a room by themselves for the first time in their lives. They are growing up, and we are pushing them out of the nest they have known for so long. It's just a tiny push, but it's a push just the same. One girl, the younger, is excited to have her own room. The other, our middle kid, is excited too, but a little nervous about being by herself at night.

My oldest kid, my son, is a bird in this scenario, too. But not a tiny little scared though excited one like the girls. See, the day we close on the new house, I have to get over there and put up a fence and get a start on all things we want to do before we move in. It's a finely orchestrated plan that requires me to work quickly, with as little delay as possible. That same day at 4:00pm, my son's Scout Troop is supposed to go on a mountain backpacking trip 3 or 4 hours away. It is a trip he needs to go on to stay on track with advancement and attendance requirements.

He's not yet been camping by himself. I'm a leader in his Troop, so I usually attend outings. I try to stay out of his way on trips, because I know that the kid who goes on these trips by himself has a different experience than the kid whose parent tags along. I know that, eventually, he will have to go on trips without me.

So it looks like life may be trying to tell me that it's time to start pushing my son out of the nest. It certainly is setting up the scenario where I will have to decide whether or not to do it, while limiting my options for deciding against it. I would have a hard time deciding not to go, if it weren't for everything that we will have on our plate. It will still be hard to let him go.

So there you go. The whole bird thing, retro-fitted into my increasingly grown-up life. Someone asked me once why I thought people are so drawn to birds. Her theory was that we wish we could fly. My theory is that I wish they wouldn't.

Some people just have it... but you can tell they worked at it too

2009-03-31T09:17:00.008-04:00

Image © Harry Stooshinoff

Wanted to tell you folks about a fellow Etsy artist whose work we love around here. Harry Stooshinoff is an artist and teacher living north of Lake Ontario. His work just blows me away! It is loose and precise all at once, and the minimal detail he uses is amazing.

I heard it said once that you know a painting is done when you would add nothing to it and take nothing away. His work has a life to it that seems it could only come from a quick gestural interpretation of a scene, yet each piece is so precise in its composition. No fussing and tweaking is apparent.

When you see work like that, you just know that the artist is one that has an innate ability to capture a scene, and distill it down to only the elements most necessary to give the viewer what they need to recognize what's there.

It's obvious that Harry is a much practiced and skilled artist. You could not do what he does without great knowledge, understanding, practice and control of your medium.

Do yourself a favor and check out his Etsy shop, paintbox.etsy.com.

Changes and Ends

2009-03-29T10:04:00.005-04:00

Got some new artwork in the Etsy shop, 2 space patrol craft box art images and a new robot named Lois.

So, in a previous post, I alluded to changes and things ending. What's changing and ending?

Well, in a little over a month, we will be moving house. 3 years ago, we simplified. By that, I mean we made our lives smaller and less expensive. We have been living in a tiny little 1920's cottage house since then. We have owned that house for about ten years, and had kept it as a rental house while we flipped another house. We moved back in 3 years ago so that we could meet the requirements for selling the house without having to pay capital gains tax. It has been a tight fit, especially as the kids have grown, but it has been a good exercise for us. Dumb luck put us in a very manageable lifestyle for the current economic climate, so we are very fortunate to be able to buy in the current home market.

Part of our reason for simplifying was so that I could attempt to make my living solely off my art. My family has accommodated this dream, as it has made me a much happier and accessible person. Not so much, "I can't do that right now because I have to work." My full-time job has been being an artist for about a year and a half now.

Moving into a smaller space meant that my studio had to be moved to a separate location. This makes it difficult to work on shipping, etc. outside of the 9-5 workday. Selling your work through the internet means that people everywhere can buy at all hours. It also means that they will have questions at all hours. I can't answer some of the questions until I get into the studio, and that means folks have to wait, and they can't buy until I have answered their question. Having a studio at home again would make answering questions immediately possible again.

Sometime in mid-May, I will have all my Etsy shops operating from our new home, and I will have the added benefit of my wife, Lee, being on site. She's amazing with organization, and somehow, when I can have her involved, it takes a few hours to do what takes me a whole day by myself. Hopefully, that means more hours in the day to correspond with customers, quicker turnaround times on orders, and more time to create new work.

Our time in the little house is ending. For for 2 of the last 3 years, we have said, "It's just 2 years, we can make it." For the last year we have said, "Okay, we have been here 2 years, we can move now." Now we only have 1 month left. The 3 years sort of went by in a flash, but this last month seems to crawl. I know when I look back in a month, it will seem like the past month flew by as well, but it's a challenge to know that what you have been working towards for three years is within your grasp. But if that's the worst of what we have to go through to complete this change, I'm happy with that.

ABC's Cupid: A Print Giveaway!

2009-03-26T08:37:00.005-04:00

Photo: ABC/Kevin Foley

Several months ago, I was contacted by someone from ABC's Cupid series to have 10 or so of my pieces used on sets of the show.

On Tuesday, March 31st, the show will premiere at 10/9c. I am having a giveaway to celebrate my art appearing on national TV. The first person that contacts me with a sighting of my art on Cupid will get a free print of their choice from my Etsy shop! Gotta have details like where you saw it: Trevor Pierce's apartment, the bar he works in, the psychiatrist's office, the psychiatric ward, etc. Also need to know what piece of artwork you saw.

I don't know what episode(s) the artwork will appear in, or even which sets, so you may have to watch a few episodes before you see anything. Giveaway will run until we have a winner.

Cupid is a remake of the cult favorite series of the '90s, from series creator Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars). It is described as such by the ABC website:

"Trevor Pierce is a larger than life character who insists that he is Cupid, the Roman god of love. He claims that he has been sent to New York City by Zeus to bring 100 romantically challenged couples together before being allowed to return to Mt. Olympus. His persistence eventually lands him in a mental institution.

Three months later, Trevor is found to be harmless to himself and others and is released -- but under certain conditions. Placed under the care of psychiatrist and self-help author Dr. Claire McCrae, he must attend her singles group therapy sessions on a regular basis so that she can monitor his progress.

Trevor returns to his rented room upstairs from the struggling Tres Equis Cantina, owned by Felix Araiza and his sister, Lita. In exchange for rent, Trevor becomes a bartender and creates an atmosphere for singles looking for lasting love. His ideas, such as half-price margarita nights and mariachi karaoke duets, could help him bring couples together and ultimately take him closer to the day that he gets to return to Mt. Olympus.

No one believes Trevor's story, but everyone finds him to be quite charming. Although he possesses a great knowledge of Greek mythology, Claire finds that Trevor constantly interferes and contradicts her when it comes to her pragmatic style of helping lonely hearts find their soul mates. In true love, Claire believes it's all about friendship and mutual respect; for Trevor, heat and passion conquer all. Only time will tell who will win this battle for love.

Cupid stars Bobby Cannavale (Will & Grace) as Trevor, Sarah Paulson (The Spirit, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) as Claire, Rick Gomez (What About Brian) as Felix and Camille Guaty (Las Vegas) as Lita."

Wow! Technology is amazing!

2009-03-12T18:25:00.001-04:00

So... I just downloaded a little blogging app for my iphone. Now I can post to my blog anytime and I don't have to wait until I have a free moment at home or at work. I will be a blogging machine.

I say all that knowing full well that I will not be blogging any more frequently. It's more about having something to write about than any ease of use or having time on my hands. But I will have something to write soon! We are in the process of looking for new digs for both the Golden empire and the Golden family. Time has come to put it all in the same place. I can't do it all myself anymore. Gotta take advantage of that free family labor.

So, why a picture of what's probably a 300-400 year old oak tree all chopped up and being carted away? I don't know. I hated to see it destroyed. I don't know where came from or where it was going. It could have been destroyed naturally. But it reminded me that everything changes and that all things eventually end.

-- Post From My iPhone

Chasing my youth...

2009-02-08T09:51:00.006-05:00

Over the last year, my son has taken increasing interest in skateboarding. This is not the often passing interest that little boys can take in many things. Not the way he is into Bakugan the week before his birthday, and then when a relative buys him something Bakugan for his birthday, he's not into it anymore.

No, not like that. Now he skates every day. And he asks me to do it with him. Cool. I can do that, but I can't do that. I have this to do or that to do right now. So, he goes out on the back deck and practices his Ollie. When I can, usually on the weekends, I'll take him somewhere we can skate together.

Ten years ago, when we moved back to Wilmington (hometown of both my wife and me), I thought to myself, wouldn't it be interesting to raise my son where I was raised? To surround him with similar interests and activities as I was around? To see if those interests and surroundings shape him the way they had shaped me?

Some things are different. He went to an elementary school that pushed him harder academically, and as a result, he has made straight A's in middle school. Me? I made a B in second grade, and it was all down hill after that until I failed Trig in 11th Grade (I rebounded in college).

He plays guitar and sings a good bit. I grew up surrounded by guitars and various instruments with a musician father and I did not take a real interest in playing music until college. He already plays as well as I did at my first public performance.

His art is highly detailed and while it once held the place in his life that skating now holds, it's no longer a daily pursuit, but he does draw a good bit most weeks. He was selling his work around age 8. I was just about his age now (11) when I started to sell my work.

Gone are the days of action figures and costumes. His mom packed those away this week, as they have not found their way out of their chests and storage containers in some time. If he is not actually skating now, he is either watching it on TV and DVD, or playing at it on the Playstation or the Wii.

I worried that he might be relegated to the same experience in skating as I was. I loved it more than I was good at it. I was not bold enough to attempt what many of my contemporaries were pulling off. I could do enough to enjoy it, but not enough to excel at it. I always wanted to do more, but I feared what failing at doing more would most certainly bring. Pain, occasional embarrassment, possibly missing teeth, etc.

I took him to our local skate park, somewhere I won't even go yet, as my limited skills are very rusty. I had barely signed the waiver for him to skate, when, in the midst of skaters far more skilled than either one of us, I watched him walk out to the lip of a large bowl, and caught my breath as he proceeded to drop in. He didn't pull it off, but he didn't break his neck either. That's him in a nutshell. Much more confident than I ever was. Sure that he can do whatever he attempts. Eventually.

I stopped myself from shouting out to him. From telling him not to drop in just yet. I knew that I would embarrass him more with that warning than any fall in front of the other skaters would. I knew his lack of skill we be evident, but if he was okay with that, them I would be too. I knew that he could get up from a fall, and try again. That the trying again after a fall would earn him more respect there than never trying would.

He fell a lot more that day, but he got out there. While his skating was timid and tentative a lot of the time, getting out there and trying was the big trick of the day. Skating is a good lesson for that. It's as much what you are willing to try as it is what you succeed at that determines how you see yourself and how others see you.

On daily basis, I struggle with feeling like my kids aren't listening to me. It's a battle getting them to do or not do. There's not often a call for being encouraging, as much as there is a call for discouraging this or that behavior or action. But every once in a while, there is that opportunity to calm a fear, or point out strengths, erase a doubt. And sometimes even then, it doesn't seem like they are listening. But we have always told them that they can do it, and if they find themselves failing, that it's important to keep trying.

Watching my son repeatedly practice his Ollie over and over when I can't clear 2 inches on my own (yet), or drop in to a bowl when I know it's beyond his skill level, I know that he has been listening when it really counts. I know that he is already better at most of what he does than I was even 7 years after the age he is now.

So, I think of myself out there, riding my skateboard amongst a bunch of people half my height. I wonder, "Am I chasing my youth?" It's pretty far gone by now. I won't catch it. Riding a piece of wood with a bunch of kids won't make me young again. But for now, it's the best place to be reminded of so many things. To keep trying, to get back up from a fall, and that there comes a time in every parent's life when it's time to stay quiet and see if you've taught those things to your kids.

Another blog post about how I'm not posting enough on my blog? Or... I'm always where I'm s'pposed to be

2009-02-07T11:30:00.005-05:00

Okay, so I promise not to say how long it has been since I posted, or how I should post more, but really...

I really do wish I was here more often and sharing much more meaningful posts than the occasional new work post. Sometimes that's what it seems life is being reduced to though: I listed this, I'm packing packages, etc. That's a big part of making the web a big part of the way you sell your work. Chasing online sales by creating a presence everywhere you can. Twitter, Facebook, Blog, re-list, repeat.

I truly know how fortunate I am to be creating for a living. It's a process that finds its ways to remind you that there cannot be good times without bad, or bad without good.

Over the last year, my wife's mother, Jan, found it harder and harder to breathe. Despite multiple check-ups, nothing was ever found to be the cause until this past Christmas Eve. Her primary care physician (the same one who responded to her multiple office visits to determine a cause for the breathing and other problems with an exasperated and aggravated, "Well...what do you want me to do about it?") had a member of the office staff call and let us know that the diagnosis was most likely ovarian cancer. To her credit, the doctor had tearfully told her in person the week before that cancer was likely the culprit. But that previous office visit was the last time that doctor saw her. The doctor was there but not available to see her patient on following visits. We're all busy, right?

Over the next 24 days, the preliminary diagnosis was confirmed by pathology, and treatment began. She was hospitalized at first, while treatment focused on what was thought to be blood clots in her lungs, and reducing fluid in her abdomen (a symptom of advanced Ovarian Cancer).

Her breathing became easier with the fluid gone, but there was debate about the clots in the lungs. While that can be a symptom of active cancer, her pulmonologist felt that it was not clots, but tumors. Her trip home was brief, as the fluid returned and her breathing got worse, and she was re-admitted to the hospital. Seven days later, she was gone. The cancer had spread to her lungs.

On the evening of January 17th, she just stopped breathing. She had already said she did not want any more procedures and did not want to be resuscitated. I was standing in the lobby of Indochine, the always hopping local Thai restaurant, waiting for take out. We had left the hospital about an hour before. 5 minutes prior, I had talked to my sister-in-law, who was spending the night in Jan's room. There was little or no change in Jan's condition. The the call came that we needed to get to the hospital as soon as we could. We raced across town, through several red lights, but we were too late.

We think she held on until most of the family had gone for the night. She constantly told us to go home in the last few days, to stop worrying about her.

A few days before she passed, I was waiting for the doctor (the lung guy, not her Primary Care) to check in on Jan. I had stopped even trying to get any work done. I was fortunate to realize that this situation called for me to do anything and everything that I could to make this easier for my wife and her siblings and for my children. Two years ago I would not have been able to recognize that. I would have been stressed about work and how much I was getting behind, and I just would not have been available to my family.

She was sleeping, and the room was growing dark. My wife had just gone home after waiting all day for a doctor, any doctor, to come through so that we could find out something more about Jan's prognosis. At that point, we still did not know whether she was going to make it or not.

Jan woke up and called me over. She told me I had been a good son-in-law. I don't remember what I said. When I told my wife later what Jan had said, my wife started to cry. "She knows she's going", she said.

The doctor never showed, but that was fine. I know that's not really why I was there that night.

So, there was a lot of bad this past January, but a lot of good as well. There is a big hole in our lives where Jan used to be. Personally, I was lucky enough to truly experience being where you are supposed to be, doing what you are supposed to be doing. I spent a large part of my free time over the last few years learning about that, and now I know what that feels like. I never once thought I needed to be at work instead. My son finally learned to do an Ollie, my wife is learning that she will be able go on without her mother in her life, my oldest daughter learned a lot about loss, and our youngest daughter taught us all that we can be sad for our loss, but we should be happy for Jan.

My business/professional life kept going without my full attention. Lots of folks had to wait longer than they should have to receive their purchases, but they were all very understanding. A lot of the things I have been working on career-wise over the last year came to fruition. Catalogs came out, major retailers began carrying my work, other major retailers are considering carrying my work, etc. All great things, things that make me feel good about what I have done as an artist.

But I feel so much better that with all that going on, all I cared about is what I needed to be doing as a husband, father and son-in-law.

2009-01-15T10:03:00.001-05:00

New in the shop this week: Conversation Heart Collages. I started on these images about 3 years ago, and finally finished them up this week. They are on Etsy for now.

Gift Certificates!! and Virtual Gift Notices!!

2008-12-17T08:32:00.003-05:00

If you need to get a gift from johnwgolden.etsy.com, and it's past Dec. 18th, watcha gonna do?

Get 'em a gift certificate!! or buy that gift anyway and I'll send a virtual gift notice!!

Gift Certificates

Available in $15, $25, $50 and $100 denominations, these Gift Certificates can be delivered via e-mail up until Midnight on Dec. 24th, 2008. I can send the electronic version of your certificate to either you, for printing and wrapping, or forwarding if you want it to come from you. Or I can send it directly to the recipient in your name.

Virtual Gift Notice

Say you want to purchase an actual gift, but it can't get there in time for the 25th? You can still purchase the gift, and I will send an e-mail notification to your recipient with an image of the print(s) you purchased. Then, in the days following the 25th, your recipient will receive the actual package containing your gift.

New Dogs!!

2008-12-16T07:18:00.002-05:00

It should be so hard to get dogs done, but it always seems to take for ever :) I do have a couple of new ones since the last time I was in here.

I now have a Pit Bull (which I hope to have variations of very soon), and a West Highland White Terrier.

I am smack dab in the middle of the busy season, and will write more once the 18th comes and goes.

CYBER MONDAY BOGO SALE*

2008-12-01T08:31:00.000-05:00

One day only! The only public BOGO sale I'll have this year.

Buy one print between 9:00am and 12:00am on Dec. 1st, 2008, and receive a print of your choice of equal or lesser value. Put your BOGO choice(s) in the Message to seller. Purchase only the prints you want to pay for.

I'll honor the BOGO on up to 4 purchased prints. Offer not available on non-print items. Sale ends Dec. 2, 2008 at 12:01am.

Home stretch 2008!

2008-11-23T23:21:00.004-05:00

Been super busy these last months! Launching a supply store has taken up what little free time I had, but I am grateful that the shop has been well-received. Now if I can just shorten the turn-around time for orders. Thanks to all who have been patient with me on that front. I'm still doing both stores all by my self, which I don't recommend unless your shipping system is well-established but adaptable.

It has been very educational running a different type of store on Etsy. I spend a lot more time on communications in the supply store than I do in the art store. The supply products tend to generate more questions for potential buyers than does the art. And supplies take longer to package. But in most aspects, running both stores is pretty similar.

Good things are happening art-wise. Several new catalog opportunities are brewing, so it ought to become easier for more folks to buy framed reproductions of some of my work soon.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving, as it might give me time to try to get a few more dogs ready in time for the Holidays.

Hope you all have a nice holiday!! Don't overdo it.

Welcome to Etsy - Wardomatic!

2008-11-14T08:56:00.005-05:00

I am very excited to see that a buddy of mine has his Etsy shop up and running. I have always loved his work, and really like what he has available. Soon, we will also be able to enjoy and buy his wife's photography on Etsy as well.

Check out Wardomatic.

Cool giveaway!!

2008-10-29T08:23:00.003-04:00

Momsbyheart.blogspot.com is sponsoring a giveaway of 3 prints of the winner's choice from my Woodland Critters Series.

Rules on how to enter are here.

Fabribot Invasion!!!

2008-10-23T00:14:00.004-04:00

After letting this big pile of printed fabric sit around for the better part of 4 months, I finally got down to business with Fabribots, cloth versions of my Quelstar Tin Toy Robot Series.

I was a bit rusty at sewing, but after the first few, I was able to pick up a little speed, and have used almost all of the fabric I had on hand. Got 5 more to sew (including Electroman and the x-9) and I'll be done with this batch. Just ordered fabric for another 36 robots, so I hope to have more for the Holidays.

These are not really intended for children under 6.

Land of Nod...

2008-10-21T09:33:00.004-04:00

We love Land of Nod in our house, so I was pretty excited when they contacted me about carrying a few of my prints.

They chose 3 images from my Quelstar Tin Toys series, and it's nice to finally be able to share this news with everyone.

These are available at the Land of Nod website, and as they tend to do, they have created a nice room with available bedding and such, a room of which these prints can be a part.

UV Resin Tutorial...

2008-10-20T08:44:00.001-04:00

Another tutorial, this one on UV Resin! UV Resin is much easier to apply than 2-part resin, as you don't mix anything. It starts to cure once exposed UV light, so you can cure it in sunlight as an inexpensive solution, or using a UV lamp for more consistent results.

Has a nice window of workability in which you can deal with bubbles and such prior to exposing it. It sets very quickly though once exposed, so it is important to minimize bubbles and such as much as possible prior to exposure.

One of the best things about it is that the quick "setting" of the resin lets you see which pieces aren't coming out well, and the resin can often be popped out of your finding before it sets completely, giving you a do-over of sorts.

A new leaf, and all that...

2008-10-13T08:39:00.003-04:00

So I am about to take the littlest one to preschool, and when I get back, my wife and I are going to start a walking program. And by walking program, I mean we are going to walk around the block at least once. Maybe on Wednesday we will go twice.

Over the last two years we haven't had a lot of exercise, so we're trying to get active again. I had started walking/running this summer, after I returned from a week at summer camp in the mountains. I started that week with a swim test that I thought would kill me. I had to jump into some pretty cold lake water which was over my head, swim 200 yards, any stroke, and then backstroke 50 yards, and then tread water for 30 seconds. 100 yards in, I thought I was gonna die. I had thought that my arms would tire, and that is what would get me, but it was the breathing that was the culprit.

I made it to the end, and got out of the water, equal stunned that I had made it, and that it had been so hard. It took 2 hours before I felt back to normal after that.

Then there were the hills. And shinsplints. But towards the end of the week, I started to crave the burn. And when I got back to the flat ground of the coast, I couldn't walk fast enough to get that same level of exertion, and I'm not quite ready to full-on run just yet. So that, along with a low-level of fitness, and my general lack of dedication to physical activity led me to stop walking in the mornings.

But now we are resolving to eat smaller portions, walk 3 times a week, and get more sleep. So new leaf, consider yourself turned. For now.

New Digital Art Demo

2008-10-11T10:17:00.002-04:00

This new video has been waiting on deck for me to do the voice over, and it's finally done. It's probably an intermediate level demo, in that it might make more sense to you if you have a little Photoshop™ experience, but I like to think you can just watch it just to see the process I go through as I create my digital art.

My latest tutorial...DG3 Art Glaze

2008-10-10T07:39:00.001-04:00

New Dog: Shih Tzu

2008-10-10T07:34:00.002-04:00

How about that? Only a little over a month between posts! I have to do better...again.

Finally finished a Shih Tzu. Available at Etsy.

New Dogs...

2008-09-08T20:37:00.002-04:00

I finally had a chance to do some new dogs, a German Shepherd and a Doberman. On the way to those breeds, I ended up with the beginnings of about 7 other breeds. Got lots more breeds to get done before the holidays.

You can find them on Etsy.

Back to Normal

2008-09-08T20:23:00.003-04:00

Everything is back to normal, following Hanna. We are keeping those in the path of Ike in our prayers.

Had a pretty cool thing happen recently, that I have been meaning to post about.

One of my customers in England sent me this photo of something he happened upon whilst shopping in a John Lewis store.

Yup. Those are some of my dogs, all framed up and available without shipping charges. I'm pretty excited to be getting my work in front of new viewers and to be included in such a high-quality store.

Now just trying to catch-up from a half-day on Friday.

Pretty Quiet Night

2008-09-06T08:57:00.001-04:00

There was some wind, but very little rain as Hanna passed through.

We lost power at some point, but it was back on by 4:30am or so.

Headed out soon to check the studio, gallery, etc.

It's moved again

2008-09-06T00:26:00.002-04:00

The 11pm advisory has Hanna going 30-45 mins to our west. It has been extremely quiet, with little rain or wind. Last I heard, landfall was going to be around 3am.

Not staying up for that.

Ho hum...

2008-09-05T21:05:00.001-04:00

Still pretty much just rain. 8pm advisory seems to say same projected track.

Battening down... or not.

2008-09-05T18:46:00.002-04:00

The much mentioned trip to storage finally happened. Saw one store that was shuttered, a grocery store.

Did not see any other dwelling or structure with any hurricane prep. My house included. So I would say many folks here aren't expecting much damage, IMO.

Annnndddd...She's back

2008-09-05T17:10:00.002-04:00

That did not take long. The 5pm advisory shows Hanna's projected path heading right over top of us again.

It's actually a little sunny out, and I can tell it rained a little. I fell asleep on the couch watching the Weather Channel. Told you the wait was exciting. :)

Still have not gone to storage, so that's gotta happen soon. It will be interesting to see what folks have done to get ready.

I am not Hurricane/Tropical Storm Obsessive enough

2008-09-05T14:13:00.002-04:00

Can't believe that I let a whole 20 minutes go by before I realized that the 2:00pm advisory was up. :)

So Hanna's a bit stronger, close to hurricane strength, and it is picking up forward speed, and the path seems pretty much unchanged since 11am. We had the first rain bands come through about 45 mins ago, and they were pretty heavy for outer bands.

Gotta head to storage units to secure some things there.

A little bit of wind...

2008-09-05T12:45:00.002-04:00

We are getting ready by grabbing all the loose outdoor stuff and securing what we can. The 11am advisory has the storm passing further to our west, so for at least the next hour or so we are no longer directly in the path. But we are still awfully close. Looks like it may move through a little later than thought in previous forecasts.

We are starting to feel the wind pick up and a few raindrops now and then. Going to run out in a little while to secure things in our storage units.

Here comes Hanna!!

2008-09-04T12:49:00.002-04:00

Welllll...Looks like Tropical Storm Hanna is headed our way, and she may be a hurricane by the time she gets here. It's a bit of a scramble today, to get as many orders out as possible, so they won't get stranded in the Post Office here if things get dicey.

We are hoping that the storm will stay a lower level hurricane, which is what is forecasted.

Should give some time to blog though. I blogged about Hurricane Ophelia as it passed through 3 years ago, and I like to say I think I really captured the mind-numbing level of boredom that a wait for a hurricane to strike can achieve.

It's supposed to start raining tomorrow, so at some point I need to stop and get everything off the floor here in the studio (possible flooding) and cover everything with plastic. Many years ago, the building that the gallery is housed in had a collapse of a facade on to the roof of the building. It took out 3 floors on the way down.

I'm next door to that building, in a building just as old (1850s).

Hopefully we will not face anything worse than power loss.

Handmade Kids Contest

2008-08-27T10:33:00.008-04:00

It has been a busy summer, and once again, I barely blogged about it. So I will have to do it in retrospect.

First bit of news is that I am a finalist in the art category of Etsy's Handmade Kids contest. Yay! You can go over and vote for all kinds of cool handmade kids stuff here. And, of course, if you want to include me in your votes, that's much appreciated. My "No Monsters Allowed" print was chosen. Voting enters you for prizes. Mmmmmm...prizes...

Got more news about spreading my art across the world, but I'll save that for another post.

Golden Supply Co. is off and running. I have begun to set up a page for Golden Supply Co. on johnwgolden.com for those of you that are not Etsy members. I've got lots of new findings coming in, and I am excited to get those up and available.

What a couple of weeks...

2008-07-28T11:25:00.003-04:00

Well...the drawing dogs in the back of a van as it drives across half the country was an ill-fated idea. Much too bumpy :)

The trip was good, and the subsequent week in the woods at summer camp was nothing short of transformative, if that's a word. Walking up and down hills all week went from "this is killing me" to "my body is starting to crave this".

Back now, in the studio, filling orders. My wife and I have opened another Etsy store, this time to meet the rising demand for the ring blanks that I use in my resin tutorial. We will also be offering the pendant plates I use as well. So many folks were having trouble finding the rings, and now they can get them using Paypal.

The new store is called Golden Supply Co.

More on my week in the woods later...

19 hours each way...

2008-07-08T10:47:00.005-04:00

End of this week, I will embark on a long and arduous journey. My son and I, and my sister, my uncle and my folks are all piling into a vehicle and drving halfway across the country to our annual family reunion. Sure...flying would be faster, but I'm looking forward to the opportunity to spend a lot of time with my son (in addition to the full week we are going to be spending at Scout Summer Camp later this month) before he goes off to become a middle-schooler. And I am looking forward to the time with my extended family.

It has become harder and harder to find large blocks of time to work on creating new art, and the list of requested breeds for my dog series has gotten long. So, I'm thinking as I cruise through North Carolina, Tennessee, and parts beyond, that I could get a little art done. and maybe shoot a few photos on the way. And maybe eat an indigenous sandwich or two. I have this dream to one day rent an RV and travel the country eating the sandwiches that originated in the various parts of the country. I have a feeling that this will be a $5 footlong version of that dream, at various Subways along the way.

If I can get Wi-fi access, I'll post each day's progress.

For now though, I've got a lot of prints to get out before I leave. Got new rings and pendants underway, working on glass pendants, and thanks to Spoonflower (some fellow North Carolinians, I might add), I'm getting closer to seeing my robots in a form you can pick up and hold. I wanted to create something using my Quelstar Tin Toys series, in keeping with the era that inspired that artwork. So, introducing the Fabribot, a retro-styled stuffed fabric robot in 6 or 7 models. These will probably be sold with a small print of the box art for that robot design.

These are hand-sewn by me, using fabric that Spoonflower has printed for me. Yes, I sew. It was a requirement that I be able to sew and do my own laundry before being allowed to leave home for college.

It will probably be a few weeks before I can get these in the shop, due to my upcoming road trip and a week at summer camp shortly thereafter, but maybe I can get a few in there late next week.

So slow to post...and to grow

2008-06-26T21:42:00.003-04:00

I've had plenty of little tidbits going on that I might have blogged about, but I have been I have sort of been keeping my head down and working. I finally got caught up on leaving feedback (some went as far back as December), and may have finally, after almost 2 years on Etsy, perfected a system for making sure that every buyer gets a personal estimate of ship date and a personal notification of shipment. I have had to rely on the e-mails that are automatically generated since things got brisk on Etsy about a year and a half ago.

I have been thinking lately that I am standing on the brink of more growth both personally and professionally. Two people gave me Eckhart Tolle's book, "A New Earth" for my birthday back in May. One gave me the printed book and the other the book on CD. I read the book whenever I could get a moment, and listened to the CDs driving to and from work. The reason these folks gave me the book was because they saw me in its pages. And I did too. It has helped me a lot to get to work on changing a lot of conditioned behaviors that I exhibit and that I think waste a lot of my energy and keep me from being focused on the task at hand.

It did help me figure what I think my purpose here is, just in time to have a chance to serve my purpose pop up (see prior post). But still there is a lot of growth to come there.

Father's Day was great! Got lots of cool t-shirts from Etsy sellers and Mario Kart for the Wii. I'm looking for Wii friends to race, so you can comment here if you wanna join in. Just put your Wii number (comments won't be visible, unless I approve and post them, which I won't do for Wii numbers).

I got to thinking about how much our perspective of our progress can affect our actual progress. I think my life as a working artist is bursting to grow more and needs to grow more and is going to grow more, but I am nervous about being able to handle more business than I already have. I think I need another set of hands to handle a lot of the managerial aspects of the business. As it is now, I do everything related to my Etsy store, with the exception of my wife listing for me when I am trying to get packages out.

So then I started thinking that maybe it's me thinking that I can't handle any more growth that's kept growth steady but slow. Never more than I could handle. I do believe we get what we ask for, and by fearing more success, I may be asking not to be given more than I think I can handle. So I have stopped thinking that. For the most part.

So, then, some major things happened business-wise this week. And those things have great potential to lead to great growth. Of course, we will all have to wait and see.

So...what's my point? My point is don't hold yourself up with doubt. If the potential for growth comes, don't worry if you are ready for it. It wouldn't be there if you weren't. Oh, and give "A New Earth" a chance. It has been life changing for me.

Here's to being overwhelmed.

New Critters...

2008-06-19T08:38:00.002-04:00

From the moment I created my very first critter in my Woodland Critter series, I have wanted to create other groups under the Critter umbrella. So, finally I have begun the Aquatic Critters. Right now, that consists of the Colossal Whale, the Nimble Octopus, The Playful Porpoise and the Patient Seahorse.

More subsets, sub-series, etc. to come.

These are available in my Etsy shop.

Opportunities to do what it feels like you were meant to do...

2008-06-12T09:23:00.003-04:00

So I write a good bit about about some of the more mental and spiritual aspects of trying to follow a dream, for lack of a better term. It's now been more than a year since I realized that being a working artist is what I am "doing" with my life.

So far, so good. No one at the Golden house is going hungry. But it still feels like there is a long way to go before being what I wished for will make a comfortable lifestyle for us. Of course, being a working artist has removed a lot of the stress and turmoil that is built into being a freelance graphic designer, so, in a huge way, we are already living a more comfortable life. A shift in attitude from "There is always something else I need to be doing for work" to "This is exactly what I am supposed to be doing right now" has resulted, and all kinds of opportunities present themselves.

The most fulfilling of those has been the opportunity to give a piece of my art work to someone for whom I truly feel it was made (plus the opportunity to have my almost six-year old daughter at my elbow as I type this, telling me the words I am typing, "You writed (sic) 'good' in your sentence didn't you?").

About 2 years ago, I created "A Good Robot Would Do Wonders for Your Soul", as a companion piece to my "Rayguns Don't Kill People". At the time, I chose text that I thought was a play on the idea that a traditionally "soul-less" oject, a robot, could be good for your soul. These little text snippets that I use pop into my head, and I know that somewhere, out there, that the art and the text will click with someone and have some meaning to them.

If you go deeper, I would say that robots and depicting them has been very good for my soul, as I now am able to finally be a working artist, and that drawing a few robots has allowed me to draw many other things for which I have affection. But I don't believe that to be the true meaning anymore.

Many folks have connected with "A Good Robot...", and I think we all have different reasons for connecting with the piece. Once again though, a stranger reached out and delivered a message. The message in this case was the answer to the question: What am I here to do?

My thanks go out to Bryn for helping to get "A Good Robot..." into to the hands of the two people that I feel somehow it was made for.

I will warn you, this link takes you to a blog that will break your heart. But it will also inspire you, and may remind you that your own troubles are small. I am linking you to the entry from 11 weeks ago. I recommend you read the entries in order.

Matt, Liz and Madeline

International shipping is back!

2008-06-03T13:02:00.002-04:00

After much research into the myriad of affordable options for shipping internationally...well, okay...it's not a myriad exactly, I am pleased to announce that I have reinstated international shipping in my Etsy shop!

Now everyone can get their mitts on some John W. Golden art :).

What's better for aches and pains than camping?

2008-06-02T08:36:00.002-04:00

I took 7 kids camping this weekend, just so I could sleep on the ground and add a whole new set of aches and pains to my repertoire. We went on a 5-mile hike, but I don't feel any worse for the wear from that. Except for the sunburn. Had some of the best spaghetti, and some of the best scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage ever cooked by a bunch of 11-year olds.

On the art front, I continue to work on my list of dogs and cats, critters, etc. and I am gearing up for another round of rings and pendants. I hope to add another resin pendant design – a stainless steel tab with rounded corners and no sides. I'll shoot a sequel to my resin tutorial that covers that process.

I mentioned before that my resin how-to has been entered in the Spread the Craft contest over on Mindbites.com. The overall winner will be picked by judges, but there is also a People's Choice winner, determined by voting. You have to register to vote and rate (and it will be a few more weeks before voting begins), but I do appreciate any votes and ratings that you throw my way.

Aches and Pains...A sign of summer

2008-05-27T08:04:00.003-04:00

Too much yard work this weekend :) I'm used to sitting in a chair all day. Got some shipping to catch up on this morning due to the long weekend.

So...I have had so many folks that want to know where I get my ring shanks and pewter pendant trays that I am considering becoming a retailer. I have to be careful what I add to my work flow, because it is really set up for just shipping art. I would almost have to sell the rings as supplies from johnwgolden.etsy.com, just so I could keep orders in the same pipeline so to speak. I don't know how folks that have orders coming from lots of different sources keep up with it all.

Saw my first firefly of the season about a week ago. Gonna consider switching to a summer schedule that allows taking the kids to the beach a few times a week. We finally realized last year that we live right next door to something that a lot of folks wait all year and pay a lot of money to visit, and that we were wasting that benefit.

It's always really calm in the morning, but not so warm. Great time for taking a kayak out in the surf though, which I vow to do more regularly this summer as well.

The Aftermath of Sharing...

2008-05-26T10:20:00.004-04:00

The response to my resin jewelry tutorial has been overwhelmingly positive. One kind viewer tipped me off to a site called MindBites, which is running a contest called Spread the Craft. The video can be viewed as one 23-minute opus there.

The idea behind making such an in-depth video that shares every bit of my resin/jewelry making process is too see what it's like to directly spark creativity in other people. I have made contact with lots of friendly, creative folks and certainly caught the sharing bug.

I am currently in the voice-over stage of a new video called Pixels to Perches – The Digital Fish Art of John W. Golden. It's not so much a tutorial, but a demonstration/documentary video about how I make some of my digital art. The process is a bit too lengthy and complex to be parsed in to a how to, but I hope it will give a little insight into how I create my art.

I want to encourage everyone out there to "spread the craft", so to speak. I realize that we all have techniques that we have learned over years of hard work, and techniques that we have developed on our own that we might be reluctant to just give away. And that is understandable to feel that way. I have techniques that I may never share because I feel they are an integral part of what makes my art my art. But I think it is important to consider while we work our way to success that being successful is much more rewarding when you can encourage success in others.

Resin Jewelry Tutorial Part 1, Rings are Up

2008-05-18T12:17:00.002-04:00

At long last, the resin jewelry tutorial that I promised is completed parts 1 and 2 are up. Part 3 is on the way. Also got most of the rings up last night. Pendants should go up for sale today.

Finally done!

2008-05-16T13:59:00.004-04:00

I've got bunches of new rings and pendants going up on the Etsy shop tonight! Some of these are already gone, so they are not all available.

2008-05-14T21:27:00.002-04:00

Here's a glimpse of some of the new jewelry I have coming out featuring my artwork and designs. This is part of an in depth tutorial that is in development.

Lots more Jewelry...

2008-05-14T19:26:00.003-04:00

Worked on more pendants and rings this afternoon after I got the day's orders out. I am videotaping this go-round, so that folks can see how the things are made. Should have about 11 round rings, 12 Square Rings, 17 square pendants and 14 round pendants.

Here's a tiny taste of the round pendants...

Working on a snippet of the video for another post later.

Modofly is live!

2008-05-13T08:29:00.007-04:00

It's been in the works for a while, and I am really excited to be able to add my voice to the chorus that today is screaming, "MODOFLY IS LIVE!".

Now, you are probably asking yourself, "What the heck is a Modofly?" Good question. Well...on one level, Modofly is the brainchild of Jordan Pollard and Kevin Scott. These two took an idea of an artists' collaborative and turned it into, of all things, and artists' collaborative. And on that level, Modofly is a group of 25+ artists whose work is currently gracing the covers of the most flippin' sweet Moleskine® sketchbooks I have ever seen. Kevin and Jordan do the heavy lifting of getting the artwork on the Moleskines, and offer them for sale on Modofly.net (the part that is now live), and on the Modofly Etsy store. The other member artists, besides creating the artwork, do their part to spread the Modofly word by acting as a street team of sorts. Blogging, sending press releases, approaching local retailers, all the things that can contribute to the success of the collaborative.

I am really excited to be a part of this wonderful group of artists, who have proven that they are as exceptional as people as they are as artists. It is a globe-spanning group that is combining their individual levels of success to create a greater level of success for all. And I really feel that their hard work is about to pay off. So check them out today!

Another year older, another year wiser?

2008-05-07T08:30:00.002-04:00

Well, another birthday has come and gone, and now that I am a year past the new 30, I have learned the secrets to life and the universe.

Not really of course, but it seems that I have become aware of possibly more in this past year of life than in all the years before it.

I received some wonderful gifts, and can't wait to see what becomes of them in the coming year.

On the art front, I've got 24 more rings on the way, as well as pendants. I have been working extra hard to try to create a few extra days this week where I will be able to get through special requests from the Etsy shop. Thanks to all who are being so patient. Also got a May newsletter to get out.

Ring-a-ding!

2008-04-29T08:36:00.004-04:00

Among the 50 blue-million other things I have going right now, I managed to get the rings and pendants done. Everything came out much better than I could have hoped, this being my first attempt at pouring resin. The rings look awesome, so they are going up on Etsy.

The first round of pendants, I think, will go to more happy homes if folks can actually see and handle them. I am very happy with how they look to the naked eye, but when they are magnified (as happens in the product photography), I am less happy with that. So the pendants won't be available on Etsy until the next round. I will have some group photos of the pendants here though.

See the rings I have listed here. More to come.

Wakka Wakka Wakka...

2008-04-12T07:20:00.003-04:00

Friday was a big and busy day! After an early start to get some packages together, I was interviewed for a project that the UNC-W Randall Library is doing on the history of local art. As part of the project, the University is purchasing a collection of art, with a piece or two from each of the artists interviewed. So...my big orange Robot Worker Pfk-1 (around 3'x4') has a new home now on the university library walls. And a 12" x 12" "Dry Dock" from my Rovinato Series went with it as well.

The interview was fun, sort of my first interview of the sort, and covers my development as an artist from the beginning up to current day, in about an hour. It was videotaped, and I will post it once I get a copy. All you ever wanted to know.

My pewter pendant trays and Silver-plated rings came last night, so I am looking forward to getting started on those really soon. They will be available on Etsy as soon as I can get the hang of pouring resin. May have gone a bit large with some of my choices, so I am gonna order some smaller pendants shortly.

I came into possession of an early '80s Pac Man Cocktail Arcade Machine this weekend. That's the table version. It does not work, but it turns out you can get just about any part you need online. So that's gonna be a project later on. Or maybe it's just gonna be a table.

I'm being followed by a beach ball...

2008-04-10T08:43:00.003-04:00

So the other day, I was driving home from the studio down a street that I take everyday. It cuts through a part of town that has seen better days. It's a 23-block drive. You have to be really careful, because there are lots of residents, young and old, at play, on street corners, etc.

So..., at about 10th street, I noticed ahead of me that two cars were stopped in the road, and I can see some kids off to the left, in a yard. Then I saw why the cars had stopped.

There was a beach ball bouncing across the street. Not your average beach ball. This one is transparent with deep, jewel-tone colors. Not like any one I have seen before.

One of the kids walks out, gets the ball, and we all go on our merry way.

So the next morning, I'm on my way in to the studio. My route to the studio is on a different street, about 2 blocks over from the street I take to go home. At the time of the morning I head in, that part of the surrounding neighborhood is empty.

As I crossed 15th street, off to the left, I saw something bouncing slowly toward me. I slowed down and watched as the jewel-toned transparent beachball rolled/bounced up 15th street, in front of me, and off to my right to disappear in to the woods.

It was like the shopping bag scene in American Beauty. The ball had drifted up 5 blocks and over 2, in a period of 16 hours to cross in front of me at the exact moment that I was doing the same thing, though in the opposite direction, that I had been doing when I first saw it.

Just weird.

Thank you Parents Magazine!

2008-04-04T19:22:00.004-04:00

Parents Magazine gave me a double shot of love recently. First, they featured the By Order of the Management series on their Goody Blog (goodyblog.com), and then they did a feature in the magazine on a nursery that happened to have some of my Lunastrella Series on its wall. Big thanks to Elizabeth and Peter for buying the prints and making them part of their gorgeous nursery. And big thanks as well to Jennifer, an Etsian found me on Etsy and let me know that the prints were in the April 2008 Issue. Featured prints were the Lunastrella Robot, Saucer and Space Station.

Scooterrific!

2008-04-03T08:47:00.003-04:00

There just aren't enough opportunities in life to add "-errific" or "-iffic" to the ends of words. :)

I love old Vespas, so it is a subject I return to from time to time. This one is available on Etsy.