The story of how I became PainterPaige

I think I was an abstract artist as a child.  As long as I can remember  I have always loved drawing and doodling.  As a kid I would sit for hours with a box or crayons and a pad of paper.  I will fill pad after pad with scribbles and doodles that I  would then spend time filling in with different color crayons from my box of 64.  I would do this endlessly.  My father used to be able to copy pictures he saw and I was in such awe of him being able to draw so well.  I think this was when I realized that people could actually draw things that actually looked like the real thing.  It seemed impossible to me.

Me about 10

 

The first time I knew I had some talent was in 3rd grade.  All of the 3rd graders in my city were asked to create “Be Friends With Animals” posters.  My teacher pulled me aside and asked me to stay after school to keep working on mine.  I didn’t really think much of it.  That is until the principal interrupted our class one day and I was called to stand in front of the room.  My first thought that I was in trouble, but no she told everyone that I won 3rd place and she presented me with a certificate and $3. My poster hung in city hall for a month.  It was a huge deal for me back in elementary school.

My elementary school in Allentown, PA

 

But art for me became a thing of the past when I started to get self-conscious and intimidated by my peers.  No way was I going to put any art out there for their review  or possible ridicule so I stuffed down my love of art for many years.  Even when I wasn’t creating art all of those years, I always knew that I wanted to be an artist.  How to become one, I wasn’t so sure.  Since I didn’t create anything while in high school  I had nothing to submit to art school.  Plus my parents were way too practical to let their daughter study something like art.  So I majored in communications where I knew I would at least have a chance to take some art classes as part of the curriculum.  

Fast forward 10 years later, I am married with two small children.  I still desired to be an artist or something in a creative field so I went back to college to get my interior design degree.  I was obsessed with decorating my home and thought I had some real talent.  But after two years of study I dropped out when I had no more money to invest in the program.

My family back in the day

 

A few years later I took  a floorcloth painting class  and that class changed everything for me.  I fell in love painting with acrylics and loved the entire process of taking my ideas and seeing them actually take shape.  I put a few floorcloths around my house and starting getting a lot of compliments and was encouraged to start selling them.  It went well right away and the response was really positive.  I sold  floorcloths for about 4 years until the economy took a turn for the worst and trying to sell anything became extremely difficult.   Many of my customers and admirers kept asking why I didn’t paint canvases but I honestly still felt so intimidated.  Painting floorcloths were one thing because I didn’t consider them “real” art.  

One of my favorite floorcloths

Another fun one!

 I don’t know what exactly made me paint that first canvas but I know I haven’t looked back since.   My love of painting has grown with each and every painting I create.  And slowly the intimidation has worn off.  People say my paintings make them feel happy.  I can’t think of a better compliment.  I’m living my dream.  And I guess I can finally call myself an artist.  

At a recent indoor art show

Scenes from my encaustic workshop

I took a 2 day workshop in encaustic collage this weekend.  The word encaustic originates from the Greek word encaustiko, which means to burn in, and this element of heat is necessary for a painting or collage to be called encaustic.  Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added.

The first piece we did was pretty simple and it was just for us to learn how to apply the wax to the top layer of our collages.  But even getting that perfect  was out of reach for all of us in the class.  The wax has to be applied, then heated so it melts and then hopefully it will behave itself and lay flat and not create lumps and bubbles.  Here are my first two pieces.    In the second piece we also learned how to carve into the wax, apply ink and then remove the excess without having a big smeary mess.

Our next piece we created another collage and learned how to layer the collage with other papers and other flat elements.  Here is the collage in progress with one piece of painted deli wrap over the bottom photo.

Here is the piece as it progressed

On the final day of the workshop we learned how to embed objects into a collage.  Here is what I did for my first piece.

And here is my final piece.  It was a lot of fun and a lot of work.  Not sure if I will pursue this seriously but learned so much during this process.

Our teacher said that you need to be working in encaustic for at least 7 years to be considered an encaustic artist and to be taken seriously.  That's how long it takes to really master this technique.  Needless to say, I don't see myself spending that amount of time on this method but I really enjoyed the class and if nothing else, I rediscovered my love and passion for creating collages.  I have put collage to the side for the last year to concentrate on my painting but I do feel this is what I am really good at.  So I am going to jump back in and can't wait to see what I come up with.

Flower Power

I am having a fantastic time creating this very large 36" x 36" painting.  I knew I wanted to use colors that I don't normally pick and create a large flower painting.  I am so glad I picked the bright green background.  It makes all of the other colors really pop.  I'm not even close to being finished but I hope you love seeing my process as much as I love sharing it.

1st layer- bright green mixed with yellow

Some large flower shapes

adding details

The Pieces are Finished!

Here are the final pieces that I shared in my earlier post where I showed you my backgrounds and the first layer of spray paint.

I thought you would be interested to see how it all comes together and what they look like when they are finished.  I mounted them to hardboards last night and painted the edges this am.  They will be ready to sell this Sunday at Eastern Market DC.

I love SPRAY PAINT!

I love spray paint!  I love making collages.  I love the layering process.   It starts with 140lb mixed- media paper.  A few layers of paint.  Some spray paint.  More spray paint.  Some deli wrap and painted stamps.  Details  are next.

first layer - multiple coats of acrylic paint

Second layer- spray paint through stencils

Third layer- deli wrap and painted stamps

A new year. Welcome 2015

A new year.  A time to make new commitments.  To set new goals.  One of my goals every year is to blog more.  And every year so far, I have not kept that commitment.  Here it is January 27, 2015 and I haven't blogged since August.  AUGUST!  Oy.

I am still struggling with the "who cares what I have to say" fear.  But I am going to start anyway.

I am just going to write about my life as an artist.  My wins and failures.  My struggles and achievements.

Ok, I will start with some achievements from 2014.

1.  I  more than tripled my income from 2013!  Not bad, not bad at all.

2.  I was accepted at bigger and better shows.  Another good step.

3.  I have grown tremendously as an artist.  YAH.

4.  I have continuously put myself out there.  I let myself be vulnerable.

5.  I created my website and its up and running.  I printed cool business cards.

6.  I started selling prints of my work so that I don't have to keep reinventing the wheel over and over again.  I sold tote bags printed with my designs.  Keyword, is "sold"

7. My twitter followers has grown proportionately to how much effort I put into tweeting.  Funny how that works.

8.  I took my first in-person art business course.  I learned a lot and met some really great people.  A win-win.

9.  I still work full-time and do shows on the weekends, sometimes working 6-7 days a week and haven't given up.

10.  I survived!

My Kefa Cafe show

Here is a link to my Kefa Cafe show information that was just posted on their blog
http://space710atkefa.blogspot.com

My Society6 shop

The artwork on Society6 is created by hundreds of thousands of artists from around the world.

When you buy a product from Society6, we produce it using only the highest quality materials, and ship it to you on behalf of the artist.

 I just opened up a Society6 shop with items made with my artwork.  They make it so easy to do.  Just upload your jpg in the right size and have your designs turned into all kinds of products without losing the rights to your artwork.  

I now have a shop full of tote bags, pillows, coffee mugs, skins and prints.   I just got my computer skin last week and it looks fantastic.

Here are some more samples of products available in my store.  http://society6.com/PaigeSchillerHirsch

My RAW artist video

To go with an older post about my art show at RAW Baltimore, I thought I would post the video that they sent me a few weeks later.  Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e34R4B_lnGU&list=PLpIUe_p9ff5MUBZzE7bKnN516FkyblQe4&index=9https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e34R4B_lnGU&list=PLpIUe_p9ff5MUBZzE7bKnN516FkyblQe4&index=9

My mission statement

I am currently reading Tara Gentile's ebook "52 weeks of blogging your passion" http://www.taragentile.com/tell-your-story/52-weeks/ and one of the first things she has us do is create a mission statement for our blogs.  I really hadn't thought about what my mission for the blog was.  I just blogged occasionally because everything I read about starting a successful creative business urges you to have a blog.  So I had a blog.  But every time I went to write a post, I kept thinking "who the hell cares?" and it would stop me from continuing and there would be large gaps of time between each post.  Unless I had something special to write about I backed off blogging.  But creating this mission statement has really made me see what I want my blog to be about and what I want reader's to get from it.  Here it is:
"PainterPaige is the place to go to learn how a self-taught abstract artist can build an art business that is growing and thriving.  You can learn along with Paige as she struggles to make sense out of the confusing and often difficult world of owning a successful creative business."
I think that's it.  The only thing I have to offer is myself.  My life, my business and my processes.
My successes and my failures.

Next Up- Sewing

As some of you already know, I have been taking sewing lessons for the past few weeks.
I've had some of my painting designs printed on fabric and want to start selling items using this fabric.

One problem, I didn't know how to sew well.  So I started taking lessons from Kesa @FreehandsCraftStudio in Silver Spring and things are going really well.
I thought pillows would be a great way to incorporate my fabric but I think they are going to be too time consuming and too bulky to pack and display at shows.  We did sew one pillow and it came out great, so maybe in the future I will venture this way again.

 But for now, I am focusing on scarves and little bags.  Last night we finished my scarf prototype.  Its a patchwork design infinity scarf.  I love how it came out but it might be just a tad too bulky so I might cut down the size of the squares slightly to see if I can get it just right.

 And next time I will actually use my fabric.   Just too scared to ruin it on my first try.
Next week we tackle small bags with a zipper!
I will share pics when I have them.
Wish me luck  If you are interested in sewing lessons I can't recommend Kesa enough.  You can find her here:  http://freehandscraftstudio.com

My amazing night at RAW Baltimore

I had an amazing time showcasing my paintings at RAW Baltimore on Thursday, April 3rd.
There was a large fun crowd milling around most of the night and I met some really inspiring and interesting people.  Gail and Eric, our two besties came out to show support and of course, my family was there as well.  It was such fun that Noah and I are thinking about doing RAW Washington, DC this August.  I already spoke with the head of the DC location and she is psyched to have us both there.  I can't wait.

The Evolution of a Painting

I thought some of you might enjoy getting a peek inside my process.  Hope you enjoy.

I am Maruca Design featured artist this week

I was excited to learn that PainterPaige would be the featured artist on Maruca Design this week.  I thought it would be a fun idea to try something new to get my name out there and when they asked for fans to submit their art for consideration, I thought what the heck.  Its a great way to expand my reach and to do something different besides Etsy and local shows.  This is the year for me to try new things, to really try to expand my business.  This is just the first new opportunity for me this year, with a few more exciting opportunities to come.  More on that later.

I honestly love Maruca Design purses and own five of them.  The designs are really fun, they last forever and for me come in the perfect sizes.  My friend Nina bought me my first one and I have been in love with them ever since.

Head over to http://marucadesign.com/something-special/to see my artist bio and some of my work.