This month we took a a look at our website, bzfurfur.com, with a critical eye and had to make some decisions about what works and what doesn’t. Two years ago, when we moved off Etsy and decided to launch our own website, we made a lot of decisions about the organization of the site. …
Creating a successful small business as an artist is hard work. So much has to go into creating your work, building an audience and managing the back of house. Now consider you have to do all this and still be profitable. As much as we, as artists, want our business to be about the art, …
As a small business you often have a vision. You want to create the things that you love and you want your customers to love them as much as you do. Honestly, I would love to just make the things I want to every day. In reality, though, this isn’t always how it is going …
I’m not going to sugar-coat things. 2024 has been a tough year. Prices on essential goods are going up, pay growth for most people isn’t matching the growing cost of living, and the first thing that most people need to sacrifice when going through these tough economic times are non-essentials. This includes art and home …
Being an artist can be an inherently independent endeavor. More often than not it is you, the tools of your trade, and a blank canvas. You can join guilds, collectives, and the like but when you are creating it is just you and your muse. At least that was what I thought. Getting to Know …
It is natural to want to stick to things you know. As artists, we practice our craft over and over again, so much so that it becomes second nature. We become comfortable with techniques, ideas, practices – they become “muscle memory”. But also as artists, we need to be creative. Creativity can mean many things …
It being Independence Day here in the US it is a good time to reflect on how lucky we are to have the opportunity, as Americans, to run a small business and do the things that I love. Having spent the better part of my adult life working in retail and in the government I …
“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” ― Andy Warhol I am an artist. It took me a long time to admit that to myself. Before making this realization …
Four Tips for Working with your Artist on a Custom Piece
They say that art is subjective, and rooted in personal opinions and biases. Conversely, as artists, we still strive for community. How does one take a mostly solitary endeavor, which is so aligned with one’s personal preferences, and make it communal? You can brainstorm with other artists and share ideas, but ultimately, one artist works on a piece at a time (with the rare, very cool, exception of two artists co-operatively painting on the same canvases simultaneously)
