Aug17
Wordless Wednesday: Tree Sculpture
Aug16
Guest Post: How Artists Can Get a Side Gig Off the Ground, by Stephanie Haywood
A big ARHtistic License thank you to Stephanie Haywood for this article on creative ways to earn money to supplement your income. Stephanie Haywood is happy to be living her best life. Personal development and self-care gave her a boost when she needed it most, and now she works to share the gift of self-knowledge, self-care, and self-actualization with everyone who visits MyLifeBoost.com
For many artists, having time to create is essential. However, if your work isn’t selling as fast as you’d hoped, you might need something else to pay the bills. One great option is a side gig, a work option that’s growing in popularity, according to Accounts+Legal. If you’re wondering why a side gig is a smart move and how you can get one off the ground, read on.
Why a Side Gig Is a Good Idea
While there are lots of artists, not all of them can make ends meet through their creations. That’s why having a side gig is so important. It gives you an opportunity to earn extra income.
Side gigs can be incredibly profitable. Plus, as Sharko Studios points out, they give artists a ton of flexibility. You can pick and choose your projects, control your schedule, and make sure that you always have time to create.
Types of Side Gigs
There are a surprising number of side gigs out there. However, some may be a better fit for an artist’s skills than others.
If you’re looking for a side gig and aren’t sure where to start your search, here are some options for artists:
Social Media Marketer
Stock Photography
Mural Painter
Technical Illustrator
Art or Music Tutor
How-To YouTuber
Video Editor
Photo Editor
Presentation Creator
Online Course Instructor
Background Actor / Extra
Content Creator
Etsy Shop Operator
How to Find Side Gigs
When it’s time to find a side gig, there are plenty of places you can turn to for opportunities. If you’re looking for local work, getting flyers up can be a simple way to get started. Coffee shops, independent home improvement stores, bulletin boards, and similar places are all worth considering.
Otherwise, you’ll want to head online to secure opportunities. Setting up your social media profiles to advertise your services is a great move, as well as joining relevant groups and message boards. You’ll find handy tools online that allow you to quickly and easily design a Facebook ad, even for free. Such an ad creator helps you customize your branding message with your own logo and other graphic assets, plus it automatically sizes for posting on Facebook.
If you want to work online, freelancer platforms are a possible resource. Places like Fiverr and Upwork make it easy to connect with people looking for short-term hires, making them a good place to start.
You’ll likely be working from home as a remote worker if you do go the freelance route, which means you’ll be spending more time there than ever. This calls for creating an at-home workspace that inspires productivity. A clean, clutter-free and organized workspace ensures a positive flow of energy. Eliminate anything that could build negative emotions or thoughts.
Turning Your Side Gig into a Small Business
For many artists, turning a side gig into a small business is an excellent idea. You’ll secure a reliable source of income and maintain control over your professional future, all while having enough time to work on your art.
That said, if you take on employees, a few additional tasks are added to your plate, such as keeping tabs on pay. While tracking your employees’ hours may seem like a challenge, it doesn’t have to be difficult. In many cases, starting with an Excel spreadsheet is a great option, which also applies if you’re managing inventory and orders.
However, as your business grows and your business tasks expand, you’ll be better served to look into enterprise resource planning (ERP) software that handles everything from inventory management to order fulfillment, scheduling to payroll.
After that, you’ll continue to find clients and schedule jobs. But instead of doing all of the work yourself, you’ll have a team by your side. You’ll earn more income while still having time for your art, making your side gig an ideal solution.
Aug15
Monday Morning Wisdom #375
What is done in love is done well. ~ Vincent van Gogh
Aug14
From the Creator’s Heart #369
Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful (John 14:27 HCSB).
Aug13
The House O’ Nuts
Last week I posted a memory from my childhood, one I’d totally forgotten for decades. Old scenes are making their way back into my mind.
This week I remembered another one, also long-forgotten.
The first family vacation I can remember happened around 1959. We drove from our home in New Jersey to Miami Beach, Florida. I’m guessing it was during Easter vacation (what is now Spring Break). I would have been 6 or 7. My dad did all the driving. My mom rode shotgun. The back seat was my realm. I had my blanket and my dolls, and my mother was afraid I might get bored, so she actually bought me a few new things to keep me occupied. The only gift I really remember was a Captain Kangaroo cut-out book which with I constructed a replica Treasure House with artifacts like Grandfather Clock. (Old timers, do you remember Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans and Grandfather Clock?) There was also a cardboard box on the floor of the back seat with canned juice, cereal, bread, snacks, and a picnic lunch for the road.
We stopped for gas at a place called the House o’ Nuts. In addition to the gas pump, there was a gift shop that sold nuts. After the attendant filled our gas tank, he explained that they also offered a chance to win some money. My mother’s ears perked up. She wanted to play.
I don’t remember the exact mechanics of this little gambling operation–I can’t recall if there was a wheel, or cards, or mathematics puzzles to solve–but at the end of it, my parents were down $25. Now, this was the late 50s. I don’t think my dad earned $100 a week at his full-time job.
As we drove away, my father bemoaned the loss, feeling cheated. This would prevent us from doing some of the things he’d planned to do on the vacation.
A little while later, he saw a traffic cop and flagged him down. Dad related the story of how he had lost $25 at the House o’ Nuts. Mind you, my dad had a strong German accent, which might have motivated the gas attendant to lure them into gambling in the first place. Not everyone was very nice to Germans, especially this soon after WWII. Gambling was illegal in (Georgia? I can’t remember), as the policeman told my father. But for some reason he decided to help.
He followed us back to the House o’ Nuts, and went inside while we waited outside in the car. A few minutes later, the gas attendant came out with my dad’s $25 and a box of chocolate-covered nuts, and explained he wasn’t trying to cheat him, he’d just given him a chance to win some money. My dad said thank you, waved to the police officer, and skedaddled out of there, greatly relieved.
We stayed at a beachside motel in Miami Beach. I remember walking along palm tree-lined streets with the wind fluttering the palm branches and coconuts clonking to the ground. When I heard the wind in the palm trees in Arizona 30 years later, it launched me back in time to that trip (although I didn’t remember the House o’ Nuts until this week).
We saw the mermaids at Weeki Wachee, visited a shell museum, swam in the ocean and in the motel pool, and I’m sure we did all the typical touristy things that northerners do on vacation in Florida. But when we got home and friends asked how our vacation was, Dad regaled them with the story of the incident at the House o’ Nuts.
Aug12
Creative Juice #307
Quilts. Writing. Art.
- I love to see how different people using the same quilt pattern come up with significantly different quilts.
- More beautiful quilts. (Keep scrolling to get to the quilts.)
- Still more beautiful quilts, including Southwest designs.
- A gorgeous quilt, and the inspiration behind it.
- What kind of writers group do you need?
- Scripture journaling.
- “As human beings, we flourish through our collective efforts in society not in isolation. In fact, the degree in which we are able to cooperate and collaborate to build complex and sophisticated civilizations is uniquely human. This trait sets us apart from other species.”
- Writers, do you know Margie Lawson? She’s like a magician—do what she says, and your writing will sparkle. Read this article about giving your novel a great title. This article appeared last February, so the course info at the end of the article is obsolete. But if you’re intrigued, check out her website. If you can’t take a class, you can always buy the lecture notes. I have “Deep Editing, Rhetorical Devices, and More.” It’s fabulous.
- This is an article in 5 memes about writing (and other kinds of) success. There are a lot of good points in the article, but the fifth meme is in bad taste. Skip this if the f-word will spoil your day.
- Funny bumper stickers. (Warning: some are kind of offensive.)
- An overview of the popular Fudenosuke pens.
- Watercolorist Minnie Small.
Aug11
Video of the Week: Why Unpublished Authors Should Have an Author Website
Aug10
Wordless Wednesday: Mesquite
Aug9
Both Sides Now—Joni Mitchell, Then and Now
Roberta Joan “Joni” Anderson was born in Alberta, Canada, on November 7, 1943. She is almost exactly 9 years older than me, and her music was a soundtrack of my high school and college years. Her light, incredibly high soprano voice was always impeccably in tune, though she wasn’t afraid to bend a note when she wanted to. She didn’t need scores of musicians backing her up; on many of her songs, she accompanied herself on guitar or piano–that’s it, so simple, so lush, so perfect. She was a gifted songwriter from an early age, and other major performers recorded her songs before she became a star in her own right.
At age nine, Joni contracted polio and was hospitalized for several weeks. The polio permanently weakened the muscles in her left hand. (A few years later, when she taught herself how to play guitar, she compensated for her fingering challenges by using alternate tunings for the strings. These tunings contributed to untraditional harmonies in her compositions.)
Chelsea Morning, recorded live at Carnegie Hall, NYC, February 1, 1969:
In school, Joni struggled with academics. She was more interested in art. (After high school, she went to art school for one year and didn’t really like the focus on technical skill, abstraction, and commercial art. Though she dropped out, painting has always been a major part of her life. She did the artwork for many or all of her album covers.)
By the time she was eleven, she loved singing and dancing and writing poetry, and thought maybe she could be a performer. In October, 1962, just before she turned 19, she started performing folk music in small clubs and coffeehouses.
Big Yellow Taxi:
In 1964, she discovered she was pregnant. Her boyfriend bailed on her, and after she gave birth to her daughter, she placed her in an adoption, because she didn’t have the financial resources to raise her. She needed to go back to performing. (Joni reunited with her daughter in 1997.)
In 1965, Joni met the American folk singer Chuck Mitchell, and they began performing together. They went on tour in the US, and soon married; Joni Anderson officially became Joni Mitchell. The marriage only lasted a couple of years. In 1982, she married bassist Larry Klein. They divorced in 1994.
Help Me:
The Circle Game:
Joni has always had a lot of support from other musicians. Her friendships are a veritable Who’s Who of the folk, rock, pop, and jazz artists from the 1960s through today. She was linked romantically with the likes of Leonard Cohen, David Crosby, Graham Nash, James Taylor, and Jackson Brown, among others.
Woodstock:
River:
Around 2000, Joni’s voice began to deepen. Although she was a smoker all her life (she started when she was 9), she believes that the loss of the top of her range is due to nodules on her vocal cords, changes in her larynx, and lingering effects of polio.
Coyote, recorded live at Gordon Lightfoot’s house, with Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn:
Below is an interview from 2013. It is worth your time to watch. One thing she says that really got to me is, “If you listen to that music and you see me, you’re not getting anything out of it. If you listen to that music and you see yourself, it’ll probably make you cry, and you’ll learn something about yourself, and now you’re getting something out of it.” I can’t tell you how many times in my life I’ve listened to Joni Mitchell’s music with tears streaming down my cheeks. The combination of her pure voice, simple accompaniment, and poignant lyrics touches me deeply. These days, when I listen to her, I long for the bright, vivacious young woman she was (and for the bright, vivacious young woman I was).
In 2015, Joni suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. Her injury caused a great deal of damage, and she worked very hard at her physical therapy to regain her mobility.
When Joni Mitchell was celebrated at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2021, I was heartbroken to see how frail she was, and I wondered if she’d ever perform again.
But you can’t keep Joni down. She recently appeared at the Newport Folk Festival with Brandy Carlile.
Both Sides Now, 2022 Newport Folk Festival:
Aug8
Monday Morning Wisdom #374
ARHtistic License 