Cowgirl Christmas and Wrangler NFR

     Let me begin by saying "shame on me" for not being a diligent and dedicated blogger, though I am convinced only 2 people actually read the blog portion... one of those people being my mother.  (Hi mom and thanks!)  Let's move on.  In December and November I had the opportunity to share booth space with my friend Katie from Leather N Lace - a cowgirl boutique entrepreneurial gal pal - at "Cowgirl Christmas" in San Luis Obispo.  For those of you that don't know me I recently moved from San Luis Obispo to Bakersfield, Ca so the very thought of spending a weekend back at "home" felt amazing.  It was a two day show immediately after Thanksgiving in preparation for the Christmas season and promised cowgirl-types out in droves hunting for the perfect Christmas present for family and friends...as well as some well-deserved self-love prezzie's.  To be honest the traffic was a little slow, but all in all people were fun and friendly.  I ended up selling "Silvia" at the show as well as some other smaller items.  In the process I learned a lot - mainly, that I don't particularly like traveling with my wares to trade shows.  I know, I know, it sounds terrible, but inevitably I will chip a very tiny piece of paint or even damage one of my pieces lugging them all over the place.  In my mind they are art pieces, not furniture and they just don't want to be moved all over hell and gone on a regular basis.

     Through the experience at "Cowgirl Christmas", Katie was able to hook me up with a gal that was shortly on her way to the Wrangler NFR Rodeo, the mac-daddy of all rodeo's in the U.S. that takes place annually over 10 days in Las Vegas, NV.  Where blinged out cowgirls and cowboys go to spectate, compete and shop til they drop.  After careful consideration I (painstakingly and very carefully) packed up my "Miss America" skull since I figured bling and patriotism would surely be appealing at the mac-daddy of all rodeo's(I promise I wont say "mac-daddy" ever again).  I was taking a chance on having someone I'd never met, but who came with very good and trusted references, take my biggest and baddest skull to date to another state and rep her for me.  Scary, but again, I had references I trusted vouching for the whole situation and it meant I didn't have to sit in a trade show booth.  Truthfully it's not the long hours of working a booth that I dislike, I've done that before for multiple companies.  I've found the difference is when it's your own work.  It's one thing to hear people down-play a product of a company you work for and have the ammo in your back pocket to educate someone on why that product is actually awesome and they should buy it - or not and everyone moves on.  This is the first time I've ever had to hear people openly criticize something I not only made, but spent a ton of time on.  Frankly, it wears on a girl.  Needless to say I was ecstatic about not having to go to NFR myself, to send only one skull and cross my fingers that she sold and if not, I would only have one to ship back.  Well, I'm glad Katie talked me into this scenario because my skull sold in 3 hours!!  Not only that the gal Carrie from Just Peachy was amazing to communicate with and so bubbly and personable - she really made the whole experience fun.  I would love to be able to send another skull or two with her next year since it was a great way to get my style out there to a bigger market of people that are inclined to like what I've got going on.  All in all two enthusiastic thumbs up!...and I've already been dreaming up some ideas for next year.

Inspiration and "Customs"

This topic is two sides of the same coin for me and yet I tend to have an odd perspective on a lot of things so see if you get my wavelength here, my apologies for being less than articulate if not.  Where and how is someone inspired to create something? And "Can you make..."?  A few people, ie my mother, have asked me where I come up with the ideas for my cow skulls and a few others have asked if I can create something specific. 

Firstly, the inspo comes from all over.  Often times I think of the name of the skull before I start creating it - something along the lines of "Thalia is a cool name, Now what would she look like if it were a skull".  Or a color pattern or swatch.  Or friends giving me leftover art supplies (weee thanks Friends!). Or an abstract idea. Or materials not commonly seen together such as the skull "Penelope" - I just decided one day that pennies and pearls needed to go together.  So that's where it comes from for me, now for where it DOESN'T come from...Other people's art.  And here we have arrived at the other side of the coin.

I have also been asked a lot if I can make something specific or custom, which is an idea I'm open to... Truthfully I'm not WIDE open to the idea since I started this endeavor as a way to express myself and I have so many ideas for skulls bubbling up inside me (yes I am that weird).  My own personal artistic journey if you will (yes I am aware of the pompous tone of that last statement and I truly don't mean it that way).  I just wanted to push myself to simply "see if I could".  I always wanted to be artsy, even as kid.  I thought up all these great ideas but could never seem to put them into form.  I wasn't very good at pottery in school, I can't cut or draw in a straight line, knitting and crocheting seem like they take an insane amount of dexterity and well I just sucked at calligraphy.  It was a bummer to see such beautiful things around me and not be able to Create myself.  (I grew up in SF and therefore museum visits were a frequent excursion and still are).  It finally got fun when my aunt started teaching me how to take photos when I was 18, but that is another story and I'm very good at digressing...maybe I can really be an artist after all!   Where was I?  oh yeah "Can you create?"  Since that was a question I've been asking myself for awhile I guess it was only natural for other people to begin asking it at some point.  Which was cool at first because it seemed like a good way to press myself further, to try new things and mediums.  It became Not Cool, when I started getting asked to copy - not necessarily create.  Let me make my point very clear:  I will NEVER copy someone's work.  Ever.  Being creative and artsy is a gutsy and brave thing I'm finding out and sometimes, very hard! So someone puts their mind, passion, talent and labor on the line and puts it out there for people to see, appreciate and potentially buy.  Awesome and kudos to them!  So go buy it there if you like it, but do not ask me to try and copy it.  Whether it's a painting or skull, if it's already out there, I'm not going to do what's been done.  I strive to be unique and one-of-a-kind...just like everybody else.

This coin might be three sided now, so let's think of it as a cube for easy reference. Since I refuse to copy, I assumed for some reason that other artists had that philosophy as well.  Well, you know what they say about Assuming right?  Mmm hmm.  Since I started my Facebook page, I get very excited when my phone tells me I have a bunch of activity on my page.  Yes it is usually my sister liking every single picture to show her support, but I still get excited ok?  Even better when I see my page or a post is getting shared!  Heeellllo internet viral goodness.  But then sometimes I read the comments on the Shares and see things like, "oh hey so-and-so, you should totally do this one", or "I can make that p-sha".  And I'm sitting staring at my screen thinking, but HEY, I made that!  I was lamenting my dismay to a fellow craftsman last week and he said, "But that's art, where there is art, there will be copying.  Consider it flattery." Um ok if you say so (?!?(&^(&)^?!?) So while I'm still trying to change my perspective on that notion, I stand by my choice to not copy the work of others.  Ok, this rant is officially over.  I'm going to go paint some skulls now and attempt to call it Art.

"Penelope" - because Pennies and Pearls just work together