Down to Business

As I was checking out my daughter's blog, I clicked on one of her links to the Small Business Administration (SBA) and I found several online classes for free!! There are several that look very interesting and I plan on checking some of them out at a later time. Each class is online and is self-paced and should only take around 30 minutes. Some classes that looking worthwhile are the ones on e-commercing, marketing and advertising, making a business plan and more.

When I decided to do my art full time, I actually did put together a rough business plan. It helped me focus on what needed to be done, both as an artist and also as a business person. There are things on my plan that I have actually accomplished with some things that I still need to do. One of them is getting my basement or lower room cleaned, painted and refurbished as my studio. It has been so terribly cold that the last place that I want to be is away from my cozy wood stove. However, the work still needs to happen and that will be one of my goals next week...to at least work on it a couple of hours each day.

My neighbor was also telling me about how during the summer there is an Art Tour around the city of Cambridge, MN...hitting everyone's studio and checking their work out. It is like having an open house for your art and studio!! My studio is called Spirit River Studio since it is on the Rum River. Spirit River is actually the original name of the river given to it by the Native Americans.

Recently, I also found out that I live in the "Little Africa" area of the Rum River. What that means is that everything along the river must remain natural....when a tree falls, it must fall. A person cannot take it out or cut a tree down along the river.

I have not forgotten about sharing the drawing techniques using charcoal and conte...coming soon. Look for photos of what I use, the process and the end product. Hopefully, I will have some info in my next post.

MaryAnn