In December, I set myself a challenge to do at least ten Acts of Kindness or contributions.  And in the process, I shared it with my friends and co-workers as one of my goals.  As I put it out there, new ideas came in and I inspired some of my buddies to do the same.  Here is what my family and I have done so far:

• Purchased $5 meal vouchers for needed families through the Vitamin Cottage
• Purchased books that local kids have picked out (for their Christmas presents) at Barnes and Noble  
• Purchased books for my children’s school library through a special program at Barnes & Noble
• Contributing to two Adopt a Family for the Holidays through friends at work
• Asked my two closest friends to skip sending me a Christmas gift and instead contributing the money to their favorite charities
• Contributing to my friend’s fund raiser to purchase a goat for a family in Latin America
• Contributed to Salvation Army

And with two additional contributions, I left 2008 with Hope and my goal is to inspire Hope in 2009.  My Ten Acts of Kindness has been a good start.

This is my first time posting to Sunday Postcard Art.  I found the site several months ago, but just never could get it together.  So I was bound and determined to post this weekend.  And although it is late on Sunday, I am going to do it. 

I loved the idea of a hat and I am really focused on Asian images right now.  So, I searched for an image that might have a hat and I found this fabulous image from ARTchix Studio.  Helga has fabulous images and this one is one of my favorites. 

I used decorative papers as the background for her and laid that on top of a tea stand postcard from a Japanese restaurant catalog.  Then I used ribbon to pick up the color in her kimono and create a focal point.  Then finally, I used metal bits from Creative Underground to anchor the collage.

The piece came out pretty cool.  I am going to mount it on a larger canvas ultimately.  How fun!!!

This week is the big week!!  James Judd and Son Vineyard starts bottling their two newest wines.  They are a Tempranillo and a Cabernet Sauvignon.  Why am I talking about this?  Well last year during the Castro Street Fair, James (the son) and his partner stopped in my booth.  They took a business card and left.  The following day, they sent me an e-mail after checking out my Flickr site.  I still have the e-mail. 

James had a new family of wines coming out and wanted to do a different and cool vintage design.  Their thought was that many people purchase wines based on the label.  And they wanted to come out with something new and creative for this new line they were releasing. 

They had secured the name “A Cellar Full of Noise” several years ago.  It is from a verse out of Petula Clark’s I Know a Place.  And they wanted a label that gave you a sense of A Cellar Full of Noise.  I took on the project in October and delivered three final designs at the beginning of December 2007.  One of the cool things James committed to and did was add my website url on the back of the label.  So it says “Cover Art by Venita Hawkins-Bird” and my website url.  Is that cool or what?

Amanda Campo, a graphic artist, took my original design and created the actual label layout and all the text that would go onto the label.  The label went through approval, which happened in March.  Then they order labels and bottles and set a bottling date, which starts this week. 

The wine is sold in southern California and in the Washington DC area.  I am hopeful to go out to California and pick up a few bottles of each design.  And I have friends all over the states and in Europe that want bottles as well.  So need to workout how to make that happen.

You can see both labels on the Commissions page of my website.  The one displayed here is one of James’ favorite of the three designs.  They now have it framed and hanging on the wall at home. 

James was awesome to work with and was glowing about all the designs.  I feel so honored to have done this project and to see my work on a wine label.  This is one of the precise moments when I realized that I really am an artist.  I am truly blessed.

Now that I have a blog, I want to participate in some “challenges.”  So, with that said, I have been working this week to submit an image to Mixed Media Monday.  I first discovered the site via an article in Artful Blogging by Somerset Studio Summer 2008 issue.  There are several cool articles in their newest magazine and I really liked the interview with Diane Whatford.  So last Monday, I went out to the site to see what the upcoming swap would be about.  And this week’s challenge is to do something you have never done before.  AHHH!!  Did that open the floodgates or what? 

What should I do?  What should I do?  Well I decided I would do a collage via software.  No paper.  That has been, suffice it to say, for me a huge challenge.  I don’t have or know Photoshop.  But, I do have Microsoft’s Digital Imaging Suite.  I have made at least 15 different images to get to just two that I could share in a public forum and am happy with.  I called the piece “She protects us from Evil.” 

I love Our Lady Guadalupe.  And I found the background image from “Crumble.Crackle.Burn” by Von Glitschka.  It is a kind of cool book and comes with all the backgrounds on CD.  I purchased it here locally at the Creative Underground at Timeless Creation.  Christi definitely has some cool stuff.  I used the Private Property sign as the base and then tinted it with the hue function, then overlaid an image of collage roses (that I cropped from another art piece of mine).  And then turned it transparent and tinted it as well.  Then finally I cropped an image of Our Lady Guadalupe, turned her transparent, and then over laid her on the piece.  And there you have it.  It seems so simple and took all week to learn.  And as you can see, I like that transparency function allot!!!  LOL!!!

I also made an equivalent piece with an American Indian on the same background.  The imagery really resonated with me.  The thought of the Indians seeing their once free lands sectioned off into ranches and farmland, truly spoke to me.  I will show that in another entry this week.

All in all, this has been a good exercise (albeit a touch difficult).  But, I am glad I did it and it got me out of my comfort zone, which I think was really the point.  I think moving forward, where feasible I will create my challenges in digital format, so I can really get comfortable with the medium.  But, give me paper and paint anytime!! 

I just received an e-mail from Sarah Fishburn.  They have advertising space in the July issue of Pasticcio.  I am going to go for it.  It drops in July and is a great time to advertise my new website.  I think I may try to fit a note in about the Santa Fe show in August, as well.  The ads are competitively priced and reach local, national, and international subscribers.  I think it is just a great way to create awareness for my site.

It is really interesting working out what to do for the advertisement. I think I am going to design another multi-image ad.  When ever I think of the art ads I have seen, they tend to have multi-image designs.  One of my favorites is Sally Jean’s advertising.  Her ads are great and give you a good sense of what she offers.  And right now I think it is important to show the diversity of my work.  Then I can ultimately go to single item ads.   So here is what I will be submitting.  I am so excited to be marketing my work!

Today was the big day!  My kind friend, Janet Morris, hosted a Virtual Launch party for me at work.  Here’s how it worked.  We did a virtual meeting and she invited friends and co-workers through out the US to attend at their local sites.  So there were folks from Boise, California, Colorado, Vancouver, WA and the east coast. 

I showed my new website www.venitahawkins.com (as of last night!) and talked about what it is like to be a micro business.  Is that fun or what?!!! 

I talked about my art, inspirations, getting started as a micro business, the website, blog, social networking, funding, taking credit cards, opportunities (marketing), where I plan to go from here and a call to action “help my website go viral”.  I was so excited, I couldn’t stand myself.  I was really worried that folks would not come.  But they did!!!  Janet estimated 30 people, which was awesome.

I got some great questions like: dealing with copyright, commissions, creating low price point art, are you more a micro business or an artist, and how do you find time to do it?  It was fun and truly touching that folks took the time out of their busy and intense schedules for an hour.  I am still so appreciative that folks came out today.  It has made me smile for the balance of the day. 

The last slide I showed in my presentation today is one of my favorite quotes:

Remeber All Things Begin and End With Gratitude 

This was an awesome day.

This has been a two year journey. I realized last weekend that two years ago this month a business venture blew up in my face. And I was devastated and felt like a complete failure. It would take me six months to finally get back in control of my own destiny and to get focused on what I truly wanted to do.

In December 2006, I got in to my first show. It was and is the Fine and Funky, hosted by a wonderful lady named Maggie Kunze. I had a table and several pieces of small collaged art pieces, one shrine, and my I Got Something to Say T-shirts and cards.

Here is one of the first pieces I sold at Fine and Funky. It is a collage on an 11×14” canvas. A vintage image of a sweet little black girl (I got her from wonderful and generous lady by the name of Tiffini Elektra X), lace, buttons, and cool decorative papers.

I remember my first art sale. That night, I would sale three collage pieces. And I hugged everyone that bought a piece. I sold a few shirts and several cards. It was awesome!! I was thrilled to realize people liked my work and was inspired by sayings from I Got Something to Say.

From there, in 2007, I was a featured artist at the Artists’ Nook, La Luz, and Jerry’s Artarama. I also had art at the Castro Street Fair (San Francisco), Fine and Funky, and the Taxi Show (Seattle).

And now and now, I am at the brink of achieving a true dream. I am launching my website, blog, and etsy site within 48 hours. I can’t believe I have gone from a cyber recluse to hooked up to two social networks, website, blog, and store in a matter of a few weeks.

There are so many folks to thank, so much hard work and blind faith. As the old spiritual says “I am blessed. I’m truly blessed. I’m blessed. I’m blessed.”

In the summer of 2006, I sat on my front porch and had a wonderful heartfelt conversation with my great friend Kelly Kilmer. As we talked about where I wanted to go in this life, I shared about my recent business heart break and my art and how I wanted to evolve my art to a different level. Somewhere during that conversation Kelly said (and has said subsequently), you need to at least get a blog going. I said I don’t have anything to say. She said, “if I have something to say, Venita I know you have something to say.”

So this blog has been born out of the desire to share with my friends and family near and far how things are going for my art life here in Colorado.

I decided to use Frida in my banner, because this etching represents a woman that in many ways was ground breaking for women. There were many before and after her, but she has captured the imagination and fascination of so many overtime. And so many of us look to her as an inspiration for our work and dreams.

Frida Kahlo – “I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality. “