Friday the 13th – April Fools Day

February 16, 2015 by
Show Announcement

Show Announcement

Coffee Break – The business of slipping back into WordPress is now creatively interrupted by the Art Show in San Anselmo. Perhaps this will be the last call for Coffee Paintings. At least for awhile because this how will remain in “public” until April. Actual running time is Friday the 13th – April Fools Day It feels unexpectedly different from my debute ABRACADABRA show last December. Not necessarily better or easier. In ABRACADABRA I felt like I was a part of a group even though I was a 100% newbie. This time I feel quite alone and it feels odd because it’s in my town, my surroundings and sponsored by my past website client, SAN ANSELMO ARTS COMMISSION. I’m not sure where this feeling is coming from but I’ll be happy for the arrival of a new “take” on it.

Coffee Wash over pencil

Coffee Wash over pencil

 

 

Maybe it’s because I don’t feel like I have enough new work to show. I clearly made myself stay with the Coffee Painting style  because this venue was too appropriate for a coffee painter to pass up. As I quietly drink my morning coffee I wonder if I’m just ready for a Coffee Painting Break.

Filed Under: Blog, coffee painting, Lingering Logs, San Anselmo, WordPress

Re-Purposing My Purpose

February 7, 2015 by
pencil-gray

In the beginning I was just drawing pencils — with pencil.

Where did it all start? I’ve made a confession to myself that I am sort of a Geek. However, I need to have a fair amount of Geekness in me if I am ever going to pull of the technical side of designing websites. OK there it is — I said the geek-thing, and after doing a little more combing of my past I see it started in 1999 when I first registered www.nancynichols.com. I didn’t have a website right away but my first email address was pencil2b@slip.net — I still like the way it sounds. This was all around the time I got my first computer. Of course I had no idea how that “gift” was going to mess with the rest of my life. I’ve now self-confirmed that I can’t give it up but, luckily, I can’t give up the Pencil either. The Pencil has been a lifetime favorite tool and some friends even call me “Pencil”. It currently is symbolizing my connection to my creative side and my job is to continue merging the art and the business.

Filed Under: Lingering Logs, WordPress

Making Lemonade

January 26, 2015 by

Wondering what to do with all of these lemons I seem to be hanging on to. As a child I never had a lemonade stand. I wasn’t even given lemons. In my family there was no incentive for women to make  money. I honored the image of  The Starving Artist and had no reason to believe there was any connection between Business and Art. Now I have grown too comfortable being uncomfortable with just making due. I need a reality jolt—I need to set up shop.  Can I move forward with my design experience for artists and use WordPress?  Can the Artist out shine the basic WordPress templates and themes?

New York Times Mix

Trying to get out of the Box.

Generic is not a word that defines artists—artists need the opposite of generic. They are not generic it bothers me when I see their websites looking generic. If an artists goal is to be shown, found or collected there needs to be a way for their “extraordinary” to be available in the midst of the ordinary. They need to boldly stand out while still being assessable to a wide audience. The Internet offers this platform and I think there are a lot of artists that are not making the best use of it. It is clear to me that Custom Websites are “over” and I am ready to embrace the possibilities of WordPress themes and templates to show off one-of-a-kind personalities. Can I still make websites work for artists?

Filed Under: Lingering Logs, WordPress

Don’t Quit your Day-Time Job — yet

January 13, 2015 by
Art for Money's Sake

Art class assignment to create a magazine cover. 1982

Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.
I am at a point of transition that is impossible to ignore. Several months ago it was actually part of my I’ve got to change my life plan to be at this crossroad.  But I wasn’t expecting feel the surviving interest in my past Website Design work to be so strong. I thought I never wanted to design a website again. Could there still be a place for this work?  Could this be my Day-Time job? I had done custom websites for artists for more than ten years. I wanted to see if I had any of my own creative juice left – or as I said at that time “I can always just be an artist.”  I felt like I’d rather be a starving artist than a starving website designer

Now, for many months I have enjoyed immersing myself into a creative arena. I’ve painted, I’ve drawn and I have participated in an art show and introduced myself to an art community.  In the process of meeting new artists with my identity being a fellow artist rather than a website designer for artists allowed new perspective. I wasn’t expecting the rewards of this inside view. Interesting observation for me because none of the artists I met saw me as a web designer for artists. They saw me as an artist and my daytime job wasn’t part of my identity. What I realized is how much their websites could be enhanced and show their work in a better way. Now I’m “in the  artists arena” and enjoying making art but realizing I still need to pay my way. I  see a need for a website designer for artists more than ever before.  Perhaps that’s still me.

Filed Under: Lingering Logs

Red Dot Suc­cess

December 18, 2014 by

• The Abra­cadabra Art Show actu­ally cre­ated Magic. It was hard for me to pre­dict any expec­ta­tions  for my re-entry into a Real art world. My #1 Expec­ta­tion was to step into it. Just do it. It appeared out-of-the-blue as an invitation to a Land-Line-Landing or a place for the gallery in my head to actu­ally Show-Up in real time. AKA — Real­ity! If every chance I dared to take could be as suc­cess­ful as the Abra­cadabra Show was I would just call myself brave and then leave myself alone.

I want to follow the thoughts and inspirations that came up during the show. I enjoyed being a part of ArtWorksDowntown and meeting new artists. A place in the art world that seemed comfortable, encouraging and even Fun.It felt comfortable and that was a nice surprise.

The Wall

The Wall. My space was the wall in the back of the room. It was perfect.

Filed Under: Lingering Logs

Daring Greatly | Coffee Color

December 16, 2014 by
Coffee House. Ancient doorways painted with coffee

Coffee House •

Hammer with nail 7"x7" watercolor block

Knock Knock

Coffee Art is the highlight of the month because I have signed on to participate in my first Art Show. AbraCaDabra Now I feel obliged (pressured!) to focus on something. A collection. The commitment forces me to Turn Up the Heat and move my coffee buzz to the front burner. My instruction manual is asking me to fine tune my Coffee Collection and to blog about what it feels like to Go Visible — Invisible is now my new Deal-Breaker. Theodore Roosevelt said “Daring Greatly is to be in the Arena”. If you are curious about his – The Entire Speech. here it is.

showcards
Last night I met with four of the eight artists that will be “Showing” It felt good that I felt so good to be in their presence. At least for now my stage fright doesn’t seem to be as blinding as I was fearing.

For now I am putting the Hammers away for awhile to make room for a more variety in my coffee paintings. I still like my focus on Just Hammers and the exercise kept me drawing every morning for over a month. I was pleased to find a Just Nails artist! Only Nails Art

 

Visit Portfolio pages to see more of my art.

Filed Under: Blog, coffee painting, Lingering Logs, Pencils
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