Category: A Life of Art Blog

June 6, 2015

Five Improvements that Made My Second Art Fair Easier

I did it again. Art in the Park! The second time was nothing of the feat that I accomplished the first time. It was soooo much easier my husband and I wondered what the big deal was the first time around.

So what made it easier?

1. I improved my work flow. I quit talking about it and I actually did this. I now have a list of everything I must complete when I finish a painting, receive prints or create pendants. This include logging inventory, creating certificates of authenticity and marketing notes. It isn’t a long list but it isn’t painting and I generally don’t want to do it. I really dislike doing it in bulk leading up to an art fair more.

2. I changed my work spaces. My laptop lives in the dining room now. My paints live in the studio. I finish the grunt work then enter the creative space guilt free and glowing with freedom. This has made me so much more effective.

3. I’m packed up. I have labeled boxes of supplies. A box of fabrics, a box for stands, a box for prints and signs, a box for scarves, a box for hanging supplies, a box for originals in frames. I have a file system for certificates, storycards, display mapping and change. I have an improved display for pendants that I can literally take off the wall and take anywhere.

4. I’m stocked up. I have a ready stock of bags, boxes, storycards and marketing materials. Now all I have to do is order them when I run out.

5. I have a sturdy setup. It is windy by the lake. And it was windier the second time. The first time, I had to take down my scarf display when the wind wrecked it. This time, I watched a centerpiece painting face plant on the gravel when the wind hit it. Ouch. Another wall of prints collapsed in a gust. Jewelry displays flew across the path or crumbled.

My canopy shook (a lot) but nothing fell. I didn’t have to change anything thanks to sturdy walls built by my husband and a 4 x 4 we used to anchor the display on the wall-less side. Plus, don’t forget the canopy weights and have duct tape around just in case. I didn’t use it but I would always bring it.

What would I change next time?

I sold some originals between fairs which meant I had to rearrange the configuration of paintings on my walls. I also reconfigured tables and displays. Because we didn’t have time to practice beforehand, this slowed down setup. We are going to add more hooks to the top of the panels so that reconfiguration isn’t problematic and bring lots of hanging wire. Even without sales, I’ll have some new paintings to display and that will cause another reconfiguration.

Take A Peak

My daughter learned how to use iMovie at school. This inspired me to make this little one minute movie of the adventure that is prepping and setting up for an art fair. Please enjoy. Take a look at those awesome walls by my husband and improved pendant display.

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June 3, 2015

Resistence

Steven Pressfield Quote: The War of Art

Steven Pressfield’s book “The War or Art” has been on my to read list for a few months. Reviews are powerful and even transformational.

You know those days when you just can’t pick up a paintbrush? Can’t focus? Wonder why the hell you choose such a difficult career path? And you think just about anything else would be easier than this thing that would let your soul sing?

So you start to run down that “easier” rabbit hole?

This is Resistance. Ultimately a destructive force, the yin to our creative yang and your biggest enemy.

I’m not far through this book and it is unlocking a lot of meaning for me. It is a book to savor, highlight and reflect upon.

I already highly recommend it for anyone struggling to find themselves in any art or transformational endeavor or those of us just living… and living… and living.

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May 29, 2015

Beauty is…

Like any artist or lover, I love Beauty.

But here’s a challenge: define Beauty. And why does it matter?

I intuit Beauty is important to the human experience. I’m sure some happiness researcher has done a study that shows Beauty is important to cultivating happiness. And geesh, happiness is so important these days that scientists study it. The magic happiness pill makes lots of money.

Beauty is healing too. And Beauty is more.

Here is a story

I’ve started to sell a little on Etsy. A customer approached me in a conversation about a print Fertility. She has been having a hard time conceiving and she wanted a piece of art that would help her imagine conceiving but also a healthy reproductive system. She wanted to know what my thought process was going into this painting.

Fertility (c) Marika Reinke

It took me a year to conceive my daughter. I relate to this struggle. It was one of my most difficult times.

Here is my response.

I painted this when I was having a hard time conceiving as well. It is such an exhaustingly emotional and baffling time. I didn’t know what was wrong or if there was something wrong. It was just hard and trying and gut wrenching. As you know. I was learning a different relationship with my body. I didn’t have full control of it. I was powerless in a way I never expected.

With this painting I was trying to imagine what my body looked like from within. I was learning to love me as I was. That it could be beautiful, not a scientific drawing, an x-Ray or broken somehow. It was and is amazing.

So it is a painting of a beautiful womb, artistically experienced (not scientifically rendered) from the heart. There are ovaries, and layers of red, shapes of the feminine ovals, circles and hearts. It is a place of love and power as it is. It is a place of potential.

There are suggestions of implantation. Yes. At the time that was my dream. But not a reality.

The blues are deeply soothing and mark and frame the womb. They bring power and contrast to the subject. They are organic shapes to suggest movement, other organs and life. I love that you see feathers! Yes!

Personally, I love the colors in this painting.

For my limited edition prints, I will hand highlight and embellish the painting with iridescent paints, silver or gold. If you have an idea you would like me to embed in the painting when I do this, I’d be honored to mark it that way for you as well. I embellish them when the order comes in. If you decided to purchase it, just send me a message and I can do this. They are high quality prints on watercolor paper and take this paint beautifully.

My hope is that it would help give you some peace and self-love in a difficult time and it would be meaningful for you as well.

In all, we exchanged 37 messages. By the 6th or 7th exchange she purchased a print. For the next dozen or so, we exchanged messages on how to hand embellish the print. This customer took full ownership of her print, directing me to mix a 1:1 ratio of gold and silver and very specifically directing me to the places she wanted highlighted. Here is the result:

Fertility highlighted (c) Marika Reinke

I loved the exchange. We collaborated and connected. As we communicated, I learned about her and her trying time. I have deep empathy and hope for her. I hope that she loves herself and through her process she becomes a mother.

Equally, the process made us both vulnerable. I had hopes this print would bring her peace and support. She had hope this print would touch her and bring her beauty, healing, peace in an emotionally exhausting time.

I mailed the print and we waited, holding our breath that our hopes would be realized.

Here is the beginning of her 5 star review. I say we succeeded:

“When I saw my painting I could not restrain tears of joy and hope that filled me up. Thank you, Marika, for a beautiful custom work! …” Read more here (In my opinion, it’s a good read).

But also this is Beauty. Not just Art the Product, but the Whole Process. Beauty.

And I love Beauty.

BUY HERE

Buy “Fertility” On Etsy Here

Buy Prints, Original and Cards at My Shop Here

Original: $250 with shipping

Customized Prints Available: $50 with shipping

Pack of 10 5″ x 7″ Art Cards: $35

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May 29, 2015

Reflections at Marika’s Art Studio #2: A Quarterly Newsletter

Spring has been busy and granted me incredible learning opportunities with many mishaps and a few victories. I’m very grateful for every success and I’m learning all about the joys and perils of accepting rejection too.

Lesson for all: Keep knocking on doors, some will open.

I’m expecting a summer full of the same. Let the roller coaster continue.

I’ve released my second newsletter, coming to your mailbox soon (or already). Take a peak here:

Marika’s Newsletter for May 2015

Save these Dates!

Details are on my Events page.

Art in the Park on Summer Thursdays:

June 4^th11-6, and July 16^th and August 4^th from 11-8
South Lake Union Park in front of MOHAI.

Queen Anne Days Art Walk

Saturday, June 11th Art Walk 11- 9 pm
Queen Anne Community Center Field

May 27, 2015

Draw a Blank

Truth: An artist comprehends no separation between art and life.

But recently I learned that I subconsciously regard aspects of my art as separate.

I have told myself this: Writing is not painting. But writing is most definitely art.

In this way…

When I decided to take the leap of faith and become a painter, I let go of others’ judgment and my worry. You know, that little voice that wants to please and seeks praise? I threw that out the window. It does not help the artistic process. Truth: I have an unique artistic voice that is not for everyone and that is the nature of art.

My paintings touch people and some people profoundly. I focus on this. When I paint for someone or some theme, I do my best to put their skin on and see the world from their perspective. The painting should be profound for that person or theme. If it touches more people in the process, that is a lovely side effect.

Paintings are an expression that creates meaning, relationships, and ultimately expand our understanding of life. Mine will do that for a few or many. But not all. Ok. I accept this and let go of worry.

When I handed “A Healing Place 2” off to my client, she stood in her living room and announced that she was going to read the story card aloud to her daughter and husband.

A Healing Place 2 In route (c) Marika Reinke

“Ack!” I choked and covered my face. I had a mini-panic attack right there. I wanted to run.

It was a Moment of Truth. A Teachable Moment.

Here on this blog and in all my marketing attempts I have exposed (one aspect of) my artistic soul in a gallery of public paintings and processes. I have no panic attacks. It is a struggle but ultimately I trust myself here.

But in that moment I could not listen to someone pronounce my words. I wring heartache into writing. I did not want to hear it and be faced with a critique.

Some damage, huh?

Writing is a cracked and bleeding medium for me. This is a revelation. I have been manipulating words and hiding behind the painting, a coward. Writing and I have a long history, longer than painting, but before I knew how to protect myself from all the real, imagined and self critics. It is my first love saturated with juvenile expectations and painful miscomprehensions. It is riddled. A puzzle of meaning and pain.

I need to get over it. If there is something my painting can teach my writing, this is it.

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May 21, 2015

A Healing Place 2

“A Healing Place 2” (c) Marika Reinke

Description

A healing place in not a simple beautiful place. It is complicated with compact meaning. The tumult of injury, lingering pain, peace and healing. A place of innocence, a place before the world completely changed. A place to return and make sense, to pick up this life and re-puzzle it, but maybe…not… solve… it. A small hope to fit a little better. A place to relearn to love oneself as broken and complete simultaneously. A place of redefined beauty and ever-altered perspective.

Watercolor 24″ x 18″

Story

This painting was a commission for a client who deeply loves and connects with Arches, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. She deals with chronic pain with a cheerful disposition and laughter. These parks were the last long vacation she had before she discovered the root of her long term pain, which has since not been resolved. These red, red, walls are packed with meaning.

And in hanging this on her wall, I hope it brings her peace and my hope of some alleviated pain.

BUY HERE

Buy “A Healing Place” Here

Customized Prints Available: $70
Pack of 10 5″ x 7″ Art Cards: $35
Original: Sold.

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May 20, 2015

A Place for Peace of Mind

“Work-In-Progress: A Beautiful Mind” (c) Marika Reinke

Yesterday, the Seattle Schools District teachers walked out (as they should) to demand the money that was voted to be allocated to K-12 schools and has yet to appear. Please don’t get me started on this. I worked at a community college for long enough to understand the politics of this travesty. Political excuses aside, it is a travesty that the United States literally values its public education with a minimal budget, resources and outright condescension. Our under-funded school system may be the root of the demise of this country in the long run.

The point is that the kids were home all day.

Thankfully, we are reaching a parenting milestone and turning point. The kids are old enough to entertain themselves especially with the neighborhood kids over.

And I could work.

I love that I have a studio but it is located in a far away corner of the house. For all their independence, I feel better being able to hear my kids chattering, thumping and screaming. I just can’t do that in my studio.

So I brought my laptop into the dining room and dedicated the day to getting sh*t done. Literally, the stuff on my list I really don’t want to do – the dreggy, non-creative, linear, detail oriented shi*t. This is what grading is to teaching. Generally, yucky. And though many of these items have been on the list forever, I have not been able to focus on it. My records are a mess, my mailing list is scattered everywhere, my website is not cohesive and makes no sense for e-commerce. I have no idea what I’ve posted anywhere.

Usually, when I sit down to address this problem, I space out and forget what I’m doing.

But not yesterday.

Yesterday, I got sh*t done. I got a lot of it done. More than I have in a long time. I felt so productive it was like I was back at my old job, cranking out the high volume grading and lesson plans.

And the difference? The dining room. Or more specifically, not being in my studio.

My studio, is my haven; my place to forget words, hear my heart, listen to pictures, lose time. It is a place where I don’t look at where I am, but what is inside. It is a place that lures me. My most recent work-in-progresses whisper at me, they work at me subliminally. When I’m still, I’m working in my studio. When I’m staring at my database, I’m working on a painting.

The studio is not a place to get sh*t done.

A lesson well-learned.

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May 12, 2015

“The Edge of the Universe Necklace” available now on Etsy.com

“The Edge of the Universe” Pendant on Etsy (c) Marika Reinke 2015

When I painted this, I based it off a picture of a galaxy I have pinned on my “Color Schemes” Pinterest board. I wanted pinks, rich purples, blues and some white blasts of light but not a literal translation of the photo. The final doesn’t look like the galaxy, it was never my intent to end there, only to start there.

As I worked on it, I added the white gouache to the wet colors and watched the white expand and speckle the painting. It was amazing. It looked almost exactly like the galaxy, but I didn’t do it, the water did it (I swear it!).

There is mystery everywhere but also order. I love chaos theory.

This necklace is a reminder that living in that mystery, accepting the chaotic order and creativity of the universe and being inspired and engaged there is a worthy life purpose.

This one has been sold. But I’ve listed a couple others left over from my Art in the Park debut on my Etsy shop for $40 plus free shipping.

CONTACT ME

I will collaborate with you to make a personalized custom pendant for $50. They are a great gift with a special message. I also personally make pendants from any of my paintings for $40. Send me a message for details.

[email protected]