Creative-Class: Who's Angee?

I am! The author of this informational blog, Angee Chase. I am also known by my signature as a.chase, an international artist who currently lives in the panhandle of Florida on the Gulf Coast that used to have gorgeous sugary white sand beaches, until the oil came.

I'm so right brained, I walk with a list; head leaning, brain clicking, arranging the art I store in my hands. If I don't do something creative today I fear I might explode. Consequently I have a chunky portfolio, and huge array of artistic creations, in a wide variety of mediums. There's something creative going on all the time because I must be true

to myself and this passion.

As far back as I can remember I drew and painted. For many years I didn't have the ability to draw what I saw in my head so just practiced, practiced, practiced. After about 20 years, I think one day God looked down on my room full of wasted paper (from not succeeding, crumbling, and starting again) and decided He would let me have it! The creative gift. I don't know the exact day, but, all of a sudden... boom! I could draw pretty much anything I wanted to.

I have a variety of artistic and creative endeavors that have garnered me awards and attention under my belt. I've belonged to artisan cooperatives, owned a sign shop, and was president of an artist's gallery. As a result I have developed a great passion for the work of others who have also spent a virtual lifetime of practice and effort to achieve their creative status and success. These gifts come naturally but also require an inordinate amount of time to perfect. It's wonderfully inspiring to learn about creative processes no matter the medium.

At present I have a homebased business and run three Etsy shops out of my home studio. AngeeArt contains my original fine art prints and sculpture. (also has vintage and antiques I inherited from my mother) The second, WonderWorks contains hand sculpted to-scale dollhouse miniatures and tiny collectibles. The third, Visualicious concentrates on my handmade edible jewelry and gourmet confections created from my own secret recipes.

Throughout my career I've done professional calligraphy, graphic art designs, illustrated children's books, and had many creative experiences. My mediums are many. I have a 35 year career in freelance commercial illustration and graphic design working in advertising. print, and web design.

I am a children's book illustrator, and sculptor producing miniature dollhouse pieces for wholesale since the early 70s. Throughout the 80s and 90s I was the only professional calligrapher in my local area, providing hand-lettered city maps, magazines, logos, invitations, artwork, and certificates to the local hospitals, Bar Assoc., Home Builder's Assoc., and many other businesses.

I did a series of colored pencil and acrylic paintings, and began doing fine art commissions. I have a prolific portfolio and through this blog, am looking forward to discovering and sharing the work of some of the best artists I can find to encourage creative talented people who are just getting started or maybe finally persuing a hidden passion.

And finally, to be completely honest ... I am publishing this blog so I can collect some of the most awesome things I've seen on the internet without needing the extra room in my house.

Creative-Class is a grand collection. Wanna play?

creative humor

"Very few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore unseemly to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass."~Fran Lebowitz
~~~~~~~
Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue. Those who aren't artists must color things the way they really are or people might think they're stupid. ~Jules Feiffer
~~~~~~~
An artist is someone who produces things that people don't need to have but that he - for some reason - thinks it would be a good idea to give them. ~Andy Warhol
~~~~~~~
God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on trying other things. ~Pablo Picasso

by Meredith Dada

So I have joined the SAHM club (stay at home mom) which caused the people around me to say, "Oh how nice, will you be working more on your little Etsy thingie?" Leaving the patronizing tone aside for now, I thought, "yes, I probably will have more time to work on my little Etsy thingie." So I went out to my studio, put on my business hat, and took a look around.

~Oy Vey! Not good!~I have a terrible business model, plan, structure. Whatever you want to call it, it is not good!
1. Materials: I obsessively buy beads and materials like a crazy hoarder. I have bits and pieces squirreled away in jars and tins with no idea how much they cost.
2. Hours Spent: My work takes forever! I never keep track of hours spent on a piece. I know my Butterfly Wall Hanging took me 3 months, but I have no idea how many hours it took me. So how do I price things to make up for my time spent?
3. Inventory: Because it takes me forever to make each piece, how on earth am I going to keep a steady flow of inventory. I see many people suggesting re-listing new items constantly will help with sales...not gonna happen unless I work 24-7!

OK... Business Hat. Now what do I do?
*Start selling off my excess beads, start a supply shop, catalog and keep track of all supply spending, no more fun shopping sprees?

NO MORE HOARDING?

*Keep a log of my hours spent on each piece, like a time clock... like a JOB?
*Find more time in my packed day... wake up early, go to bed late, stop eating and showering?

Now I am getting stressed. How the heck am I going to make this work? With so many successful Etsy stories...how do they do it?

Again... Oy Vey!

Then I remembered a quote from the chick-flick of all chick-flicks: Hope Floats "You find something you love, and you twist it, and torture it, and try to make money at it. And, at the end, you can't find a trace of what you started out loving."

Sweet relief! What on Earth am I doing to myself?? Reality check... this may have to remain just a hobby for me, it may never be a booming business, and that is OK. So my friends and family will continue to refer to it as my "little Etsy thingie." So what! Comparing myself to the many successful businesses out there is totally unrealistic. The nature of my product will not make me a rich woman anytime soon. This is such a diverse community, what works for one person may not work for me. I can see why there are so many success stories, but not everything is possible, even with hard work.

To those of you who can make money doing what you love, my hat is off to you! To those of you who are stressed out, worrying about quitting, and disappointed by slow sales...

"Don't forget what you started out loving."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meredith is an artist and shop owner at Etsy.com. She really does make very unique and beautiful things. Plan your next shopping spree in her store. GO!

art quotes

"Above all keep your colours fresh!"~Manet

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."~Picasso

"Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things."~Degas

"As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward."~Van Gogh

"I shut my eyes in order to see."~Gauguin

"The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed. So, that a hundred years later when a stranger looks at it, it moves again... since it is life."~Faulkner

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance."~Aristotle