tortagialla blog

Tidy Things Up and Catch Up!

LTieu — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:37:35 +0000

Last week I skipped my weekly take action task as there were some family events that took over my time. So today I’m playing catch up on a variety of items. First off, I need to tidy things up in my new studio space…

As you can see, my space is doubling as drying clothes space – yikes! Not the most pretty or inspiring, so I really need to clear things out and clean up. I require a clean space to really get cracking and working efficiently. Although I’ve learned to at least put like items in the same place, over time it still becomes a messy pile. Time to sort and organize!

I think it’s important to actually plan in buffer time for your projects and generally – for every day life! Catch up days, extra buffer time here and there. We all need to catch up once in a while, right? Do you include catch up time in your actual calendar scheduling? Something to consider!

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Succulent Dinnerware Designs With Lilla Rogers Make Art That Sells

LTieu — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:19:30 +0000

For the second week of Make Art That Sells with Lilla Rogers, we learned all about the home decor market and ended up playing with designing dinnerware. I decided to concentrate on my drawings of succulents and transforming them with splashes of bold color. It was a design that immediately came to mind, I just had to make it happen.

I think there’s really a place for bold hand-drawn lines with bright colors these days – can I call it trendy sophisticated? It was my attempt to try something different – instead of my usual cute factor. I like the results, even though by the end of the week I realized that I’m not a huge fan of designing for the round shape.

More and more I’m realizing that my joy lies in conceptualizing the art to begin with… not necessarily all the layout and details afterwards. I would not be fit to be the manufacturer’s technical designer. LOL! Maybe that means I’m just lazy!

I could pull out the baby card and say that I don’t have time while taking care of a 3 month old – but that’s not really the reason. I just don’t like to tinker because it kills my joy in the end.

I think it’s important to learn what part of the process you enjoy the most, so you can maximize the joyful time and minimize everything else. Makes sense doesn’t it? For everything in life. I believe that striving for that will make the world a better place… and will make you a happier person. I’m so zen today, huh?

As I was playing around, all the designs overlapped looked appealing as well, albeit chaotic. I started to think my designs were too simple. I suppose that I need to achieve a balance that suits me in the end. Still learning, still growing.

Enjoying my time in Lilla’s class and loving her creative wisdom, as well as the entire group of students. Tempted to take the course again in October just because…

Just Draw It – Pensieri Issue 7 is Digital!

LTieu — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:32:35 +0000

The most popular issue of Pensieri is by far issue 7, Just Draw It! It’s about doodling fun and letting go of the fear of drawing. I go through the basics with lots of examples and fun exercises.

Read about my philosophy of drawing fearlessly – 31 pages of creative wisdom and playtime. BTW, CraftyPod interviewed me about this zine a while back.

You can grab a digital copy and download instantly in the tortagialla shop along with all the other issues of Pensieri. Let me know what you think and enjoy!

Make Art That Sells with Lilla Rogers

LTieu — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 07:45:16 +0000

I’m happy to report that I “made it” through week 1 of Lilla Rogers Make Art That Sells class.

It’s been quite intense with at least one post every weekday, mini exercises and an assignment to complete by the end of the week. I’m filled with inspiration, motiviation and possibility… as well as some initial doubts and fears. There are over 400 students who are super duper talented and amazing. In just one week our group has exploded with fantastic artwork. I was naturally intimidated, but concentrated on creating my own artwork – whatever made me happy – and soon enough I was moving forward on my own creative high.

The experience has already been awesome and I can’t wait for the coming weeks. All my classmates are amazingly supportive – everyone offering great comments and constructive suggestions. You really couldn’t ask for a better group to help you grow! Not to mention, there’s Lilla with all her wisdom and industry information. Creative learning heaven?

One thing that has really blown my mind is Lilla’s talk of icons and basically the process she has shared on how one might approach designing bolt fabric. I love the idea of creating little icons – that’s what I do in my sketchbooks! I love to draw and invent little characters – it just makes me happy. See below, my character filled swatch for the first week about bolt fabric.

I think we often have this misconception that great art just spontaneously combusts into existence in the minds of great artist. When in fact, it’s actually the fruit of very hard work and the routine of letting yourself creatively play.

Suffice to say that I’m happy to have made the investment in taking the class. I also bought Lilla’s book and slowly working through it.

When I filled out the pre-class worksheets, I totally circled this part about the course being the biggest thing in my life right now – at least, after family! Living in Italy and sliding into this culture of slow living has unfortunately pushed me to the borderlands of procrastination at times.

However, now that I’m a mommy, I’ve actually gotten better at managing my time because I have less of it for myself. The estimate of 7+hours a week is nothing if this is really the biggest thing in my life – forget TV and other stuff (laundry?!) – it’s about gathering up all possible time for this one important effort.

I’ve made myself a special journal for the class as well. It’s been so enjoyable to absorb the daily lessons, collaging in my journal and taking notes. It’s learning and creative play wrapped into one!

With all the information my mind is definitely a flurry of ideas. It’s been challenging to actually get everything done on the weekdays, but it gives me time to absorb and marinate ideas. Thankfully, my hubby helps with childcare on the weekends so I have a bit more time to concentrate. By Sunday night I’m totally whipped, but happy at the same time.

It’s like being drunk with creativity. I see the possibility and can’t wait to make art (that sells) – yay! I’m so looking forward to going to class… thank you, Lilla.

New digital issues of Pensieri – Chinese Brush Painting and Gustav Klimt

LTieu — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 08:23:09 +0000

Two more issues of Pensieri have been posted as digital downloads – Chinese Brush Painting and Gustav Klimt. They are part of my artsy crafty zine series to inspire, teach and help you have some fun with art and creativity.

It’s really fabulous to finally have my zines available for digital download – because it’s instant gratification. We all love the ability to buy and download immediately. The zines are in the tortagialla shop as well as my Etsy shop, now that Etsy has the immediate digital file download feature.

Enjoy and let me know what you think. And btw – thanks so much for your support – it really means a lot to me. Ciao ciao!

Regular Website Maintenance

LTieu — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 08:23:00 +0000

This week my take action task is to perform some maintenance on my websites. I started by revamping LindaTieu.com – how do you like it?

The idea was to go simple and let my art shine through. Although I still have a lot of room to grow, it’s also been enlightening to finally have a library of my work all there front and center. It’s been a great confidence boost as well! Like all things in life, over time the dust piles up and things simply need adjustment and renewal. Same for your website and online presences.

Fix those broken links, update those photos and post those new works already! I’ve found it helpful to actually schedule in time for website maintenance. Monthly, quarterly and yearly for different aspects of your website works well.

So what do you need to shape up on your website and/or blog today?

Peek Into My Sketchbook

LTieu — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 14:08:35 +0000

Working on cute girls – what a surprise for me, eh?

I realize that calling them “big hair girls” is not the most creative… but my first thought of “hairy girls” is decidedly worse. LOL. I crack myself up like that all the time, because I am that much of a nerd. Sigh sigh… hope you are having a lovely happy start of the week – let me know what you think!

Pensieri Issue 04 – Carve and Stamp Digital Download

LTieu — Fri, 31 May 2013 17:16:54 +0000

Carve and Stamp is issue 4 of Pensieri, my artsy crafty zine. Previously handmade, now it’s digital for all to enjoy as an immediate download. This issue is all about the art of carving your own stamps – 35 pages of details and full color photos going through the basics of carving and stamping.

Included are also a bunch of printable pdfs of sample designs, so you can start carving right away! Join me in some carving and stamping crafty fun – check out Pensieri issue 4 – Carve and Stamp.

Are you guilty of not utilizing your website analytics data?

LTieu — Wed, 29 May 2013 18:23:00 +0000

This week my take action task is all about my website analytics and I’m using Google Analytics to be specific. It’s free and helps me collect data on my website visitors – where are they coming from and what are they doing on my website. Analytics is an extremely powerful indicator of what is working and where you need to focus your marketing energy.

First, you need to be collecting data to make any use of it.

Don’t hesitate to start, even if you don’t have time to dig into the data. It’s just like starting your email list… even if you aren’t ready to send out a newsletter, start collecting those prospects. They will still be there when you are ready!

So the next step in analytics is actually looking into the data and getting useful information out of it all.

Not just to pat yourself on the back (even though you should do that as well). You might be surprised to learn that certain parts of your website are never visited. You might also learn that a certain type of post is driving huge amounts of traffic to your website – are you capturing those folks effectively?

I’m taking time this week to dig into my analytics – even just a little – and figuring out how the information can drive my future marketing efforts.

If you want a getting started guide to Google Analytics I recommend Liz Lockard’s free email course – a great primer! Craftypod also has mini online classes on Google Analytics for Crafters. There are lots of resources out there, so make use of the power in analytics.

Do you have Google Analytics setup on your website? And are you using that information on the regular basis to push your business forward?

Peek Into My Sketchbook

LTieu — Mon, 27 May 2013 15:52:10 +0000

Sketching around… art prints to come!

tortagialla blog

Tidy Things Up and Catch Up!

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Succulent Dinnerware Designs With Lilla Rogers Make Art That Sells

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Just Draw It – Pensieri Issue 7 is Digital!

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Make Art That Sells with Lilla Rogers

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New digital issues of Pensieri – Chinese Brush Painting and Gustav Klimt

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Regular Website Maintenance

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Peek Into My Sketchbook

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Pensieri Issue 04 – Carve and Stamp Digital Download

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Are you guilty of not utilizing your website analytics data?

First, you need to be collecting data to make any use of it.

So the next step in analytics is actually looking into the data and getting useful information out of it all.

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Peek Into My Sketchbook

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