Heartbreaker vs love of my life

Last week, my son started grade 1. A big step in many minds, but to him it just seemed to be another day. I started putting little notes in his lunch bag when he was in JK - just to say I love him, or sneak him a kiss, especially on days he seemed to wake up on the wrong side of the bed. Well, I did one last week too as he is transitioning into his new grade 1 role. Apparently, I wasn't the only mom I found out on the school yard one morning.

Well, James asked me to stop sending them because he didn't want to get teased. It broke my heart. It really shouldn't have, because wasn't the purpose to make him happy? And if they weren't, then why should I be upset. Anyway, I was a little.

 James asked me while I was making lunch how to spell love. I told him, but so busy thinking about how he doesn't want me to send love notes anymore, I didn't even pause to think why he wanted to know. Well, this morning I was rummaging through my purse at a meeting and out fell a little note, a love note from James. He sure knew how to bring a smile to my face.

So how does this tie into business? Well, it doesn't totally. But it did get me thinking about are there things I do for my customers that are really things I would like as opposed to what they would like? Maybe it's time to ask them...

Borrow a book, call a friend

Well, learning from our kids is nothing new, but I thought I would share another life lesson I learned from my son a few summers ago. It's something that comes up over and over in both parenting and even in other aspects of my life as well.

James asked me if we could fishing. Not that big a deal, except the fact that I had never been fishing and had absolutely no idea where to begin. And that's how I answered thinking that would be the end of that and we would move on to something more within my comfort zone. But, not with James, he said 'well then let's go get a book from the library to learn how'. Darn library!

We did go to the library, read a book, stocked up on supplies (all the wrong supplies mind you), and headed down to the lake. Thank goodness for not catching anything that first time, I didn't even have pliers with me.

We then enlisted a friend, an avid fisherman, to take us on a fishing trip. We learned a ton, got the correct supplies and have since caught many fish together. All it took, was a little curiosity, the desire to learn, some good resources at hand, and a little practice. Sounds a lot like art doesn't it?

Collaboration is tricky for branding

Well, tomorrow is the end of a special project that I am apart of called Kollaboration Kingston. There's 16 artists working on several projects in small, medium and large scale works of art in all mediums to be shown at the Sandra Whitton Gallery for the month of May. It's been a truly amazing experience in many ways and I can't wait to see the outcome. (to read more about the project go the blog http://kollaborationkingston.blogspot.com/)

What I really found interesting about this project though is not the works of art being produced, but rather, the concept of collaboration and what it means to others and how it works too.

One of my main observations is that collaboration is easy for emerging artists and it's easy and inspiring for established artists. I think it's easy for emerging artists (and new entreprneuers in general too) because they (insert we, as I'm in this category too) haven't developed a hard core clientelle yet. We haven't branded ourselves yet, we still developing that. We still often venture all over the map, trying to find our niche and therefore we are willing to collaborate with anyone on anything, with hopes it may lead us down the path of success. Plus we are still in learning mode.

For established artists (and established businesses too) collaboration is a necessity to feed inspiration. They have been doing this long enough that they need to spice it up a bit. And they have such a dedicated following and clientelle now they don't have to worry about their brand. Their customers will be intrigued and follow them anywhere.

So, that leaves the mid-career artists and entrepreneurs, the ones stuck in isolation. They have struggled to find meaningful collaborations (from my view anyways) as they are at the point in their career that really defines them as an artist. They have a following, but still need to nuture them a bit. They have proven they know their art form, but still risk looking amateur. So collaborations can be very risky for them at this point in their career. What a hard place to be. The good news is that soon they will be so amazing they will all be established artists, with a diehard fan base and need the inspiration of collaboration.

My goal? Go from emerging to established... can it be done?

Tooting my horn!

I got a huge wholesale order today - from a gallery in California. Yeah!

I surpased 100 followers on twitter yesterday. Yeah!

I sold a pair of earrings within 30 minutes of posting them to my etsy page. Yeah!

I was featured on the Baby Bundle Boutique Blog this week. Yeah!

Hey, everyone's got to toot their own horn once in a while :-)

Everything I know I learned from a 5 year old

Everyone knows that we learn a lot from our children, but here is just a quick list of some of the things I've learned from my son over the holidays:

1. "The presents will still be here later mommy." He told me when I tried to rush him into opening more presents instead of playing with them along the way. WHY RUSH THE GOOD THINGS

2. "Kids need food more than toys." He said when we were picking which charity to help this year, but most amazingly is his logic, compassion and conviction. FOCUS ON THE BASICS

3. If the reward is good enough, it's worth the wait. Nothing quotable here, but my son didn't need a single video, game or activity between Kingston and London for this trip. He just talked with us the whole way and was excited to get there.

4. "Can I start doing my checklist again mommy?" Everyone likes some sort of routine (even though I fight it) and after a chaotic holiday it's good to get back to some structure GOOD TIME TO SET UP BUSINESS ROUTINES

5. "You can't feel older mommy, that's impossible." This will serve me well I'm sure. My son said this on the eve of his birthday when I asked him if he felt 6. I hope I experience the same thing on my next birthday! AGE IS JUST A NUMBER, IT'S NOT A FEELING

A walk to the park and birding

This past weekend, I realized that our family seems to be stuck in a bit of a rut. We do the same things all the time. We used to do a lot more hiking and adventuring, but now a weekend for us is pretty much a walk downtown to get a coffee, then to the studio for some crafts with James, then to the Yacht Club for snacks, a beach walk and hanging out. Not that there's anything wrong with routine, it just gets a little, well... routine.

So, last night we made an Adventure Jar. In the jar we wrote on slips of paper fun activities we can do like hiking, biking, hockey, swimming, etc. Then when we don't know what to do, we just pull a slip from the jar. James wanted to try it out right away. So we each pulled a slip and were going to vote on the best choice for 730pm on a school night. Well, we decided to do all three instead - 'a walk to the park to look for birds. 'Although we didn't succeed at finding any birds, it was fun to be out and about doing something different.

I realized that this can apply to the studio too! Can't wait to try some new 'adventures' there!

Time to Partay!

It's time to celebrate - I've finally moved in to my studio. Consider this your personal invitation to my studio warming.

When: Friday, Oct 23
Time: 7-10pm
Where: NGB Studios, 12 Cataraqui Street, go in the red door (look for details on my website - www.lindseyfair.ca)

Hope to see you there!

Diving in Fully Clothed

Last night, after dinner, we decided to take a quick trip down to my favourite rock beach. It was a beautiful night, light breeze, big waves where you could actually hear the rocks being tumbled ashore and washed away again (thanks Matt for pointing that out), and 3 giggling Fair's messing about. James was looking for sticks to make into pretend weapons and in between jumping waves trying not to get wet, Matt was watching the sailboats in the distance and wishing he was out there I'm sure and me with my head down on the 'hunt'.

At one point I said, 'come on orange'. Referring to my desire to find an orange piece of beach glass. Looked down and was what at my feet... not an orange piece of beach glass, but a piece of an orange peel. Note to self, be more explicit when I call out my wishes.

I continued to think about a piece of orange glass and giggled as I pictured myself diving in the water, fully-clothed, blackberry and all to get a piece. And there's no doubt that that's what I would have done if one had caught my eye. There's not many things in business that I would jump in fully clothed for, but it's good to know that I still have something that gets me that excited.

What about in your business, is there still something that would make you jump in fully clothed (and it doesn't have to be literally like in my case)?

The Working Holiday

Before I get into the working holiday bit, I wanted to share one of my favourite photos of me with you. It's not my favourite because of how I look, but rather the authentic smile / laughter that it captured while I was beach glass hunting on my favourite beach. Thanks Tracy Olan from Beautiful Day for capturing it!

Now it's down to crunch time preparing for the working holiday. It's definitely the way to go. Not crunch time, but the working holiday that is. The trip to PEI originally started with just me going to be a vendor at Canada's first ever Sea Glass Festival, but it quickly grew to be the annual family vacation. We have always wanted to travel down east (or for Tim's sake out East), but kept putting it off. Now we found a way to make it happen and now it will be a tax write off too! Shhhhh.. don't tell anyone. The downside is you have to pack for both things and you have to make time for both things, but the pros definitely outweigh both of those things. My suggestion is to keep two separate packing lists and don't intermix the boxes - well that's what I'm going to try and do, I'll let you know how it goes when I return.

Studio News

Well, I can finally see my dining room floor.... because I have a studio! Well, ok so my actual studio is still being built but in the same complex I am now moved into a temporary studio until mine actual one is finished. My studio is at NGB Studios on Cataraqui Street. It's definitely not fancy, but it's full of character, lots of other artists and it's my own space. I haven't fully made me it my own yet as I am reserving that effort for my permanent space (although resisting that urge is hard), but I'm working out the kinks and it feels good.

I'm going to try and be there for Thursdays and Fridays during the day for the next little while, so please feel free to drop in and check it out. Come in the front door right on Cataraqui Street - the somewhat scary looking green door up the 3 stairs and look for the sign straight ahead that says 'Recycling Depot' - how perfect is that for a beach glass artist eh? Not my idea, was there before I moved in.

Now I'm just one of those artists with a studio, but not enough time to spend in it. In fact, I'm going to keep this short so I can head to the studio right after this. See you at the studio!

Bailouts all around

Ok, I've been trying to ignore, ok not ignore, but at least not jump on the auto industry bail out opinion band wagon. For those that know me, you know that keeping my opinions to myself is very hard and I've lasted a long time on this one. But I found some relevance to the art world that triggered some thoughts.

Yesterday, as I was getting interviewed for a story in Kingston This Week (coming out tomorrow) about the Gift Giving Show this weekend at Little Cat, Rob and I got talking about all the changes in the newspaper world. Iconic newspapers across the continent are closing, our local newspaper is making major shifts, KTW went from 2 times a week to a weekly, etc. Locally in Kingston we have seen over 80 jobs lost in the last year in the print media industry alone. And yet.... no bailout.

Today (in the newspaper funny enough) I read about one of Kingston's oldest retailers, S & R Department Store closing this summer. A lot of readers weighed in with their comments and yes it is a sad story, I make at least 1 trip there a week, sometimes 1 every day! And yet... no bailout.

When my life wasn't going as planned and I decided to leave my job and enter the art world full time, I didn't ask for a bailout (getting a credit card was hard enough). I made the necessary adjustments, planned, worked with my team and changed courses - all on my own! Just like the newspaper industry is doing and just like the retail sector is doing. Yes we will see some of these iconic stores and media groups close, and lay offs will happen; but innovation and inspiration doesn't come by doing the same old same old. You have to move with the times, in fact, in business.. you have to move ahead of the times!

Tooting my own horn - well actually someone else is...

Sorry for the second post in the same day, but this just came in and I had to share it! Gill Deacon (Canada's combination of Oprah and Martha Stewart, mixed with David Suzuki) wrote an entire blog about my beach glass jewellery! Have a look >>

Here's a picture of her wearing one of my necklaces!

Merry Christmas to me!

Merry Christmas to me! Yesterday, a much anticipated book arrived in the mail for me: Pure Sea Glass by Richard LaMotte. I have wanted this book for over 2 years. I'm already half way through it. Many people have this book as a coffee table book, but for me it's much more than that, it's a reference book. It helps me identify the dates and origins of the beach glass I have found. Some of the pieces I have in my collection that I thought were only a few years old could actually be from the early 1800's! That's so cool. The bottle topper for instance that I showed in an earlier blog (http://thebizofart.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-should-i-be-called.html), according to the book was made between 1860 and 1920! It also said that finding an orange piece is so rare that even avid collectors will only find 1 in every 100,000 pieces of glass they find. It's rare because to make orange glass they often use real gold to achieve the right color. I was lucky enough to find one and then sold it. Congrats Erin on your lucky piece.

A trip down memory lane

My son the other day laughed when I told him about when I was in kindergarten. He didn't believe that I had ever been in school. So I dug through my memories box and found the Ziploc bag labelled 'kindergarten' (I used to think it was crazy how organized my mom was, now I'm so glad she was). The two of us had a good laugh going through it. Everything from the 75 cents it cost to go see a puppet show for a field trip (25 for the bus, 50 for the show) to the photo of me with pig tails.

I also noticed the artwork. I'm surprised I didn't become a fibre artist, it seems 90% of my art was done with wool that year. My son pointed out that I spelled my name using both capital letters and lowercase letters and he thought that was funny. Until this fall when he started school we had always written his name using all capitals, but in school he is told to use lowercase. The first month, he kept correcting the teacher and telling her how to properly spell his name. I started getting worried, maybe we had taught him wrong, or maybe we should have started with lowercase letters earlier... maybe he'll always be confused! Oh no! Seeing that I was a confused little 5 year old and I eventually figured it all out and turned out OK (for the most part), I realized that I have nothing to worry about. James will turn out at least as OK as I am.

The next thing we noticed was a ribbon for 1st place. James asked what it was for. I couldn't remember. Every piece of the artwork brought back a vivid memory, a smell, voices, what table it was created at, but that ribbon... no idea. We strive all our lives to get 1st place, and when we do we don't even remember what it was for. Now that's a lesson we should always remember.