My heart swelled. I wanted to hug him, love him, wish him unending luck, pinch his cheeks, and dump $50 into his little jar of dollar bills.  Instead, I got my portrait drawn.  And made my friend get her portrait drawn.  And heckled a few passers-by into forking over the dough to get their portraits made, too.

Johnny’s out there living his dream.  He’s showing up.  He’s looking people in the eye and making art.  He’s earning money for it.  He’s a little crazy and a little fearless.

This week, let’s forget our fears, all the ‘what-if’s and reasons to give up.  Let’s go make art.  Just like Johnny.

Want to read it on the blog? GET LIVING.

The more creative juice you’re putting into the world, the more lovely goodness you need to soak up and internalize.  It’s dreary February.  I long to be outside for hours at a time without turning into a popsicle.  Instead, I’m holed up with a book and a mug of tea.  No long photo walks or blooming flowers in sight.

Thus, I turn to the interwebs, home of today’s source of inspiration: the bookworm.  Enjoy the eye candy and food for thought.

The best part of My Fair Lady: the library.

It’s similar to this one…that giant ladder makes me weak in the knees.

Remember when the beast gifts the castle library to Belle? I was so jealous.

No library is complete without a tongue-in-cheek illustration or two.  I love Handy Handlebars, from Hisss Illustration.  Just $14.  Purchase here.

You may as well haul your laptop into the library and watch  Handmade Nation, a documentary film about the DIY/arts & crafts movement that’s swept the nation.  If only Netflix was into indy flicks and grassroots films, I would have seen this by now.

Modern libraries require chic magazine organization!   This vintage magazine rack on sale at Fishbone Deco.  (Feel free to purchase and ship to me.)

While you’re busy being a bookworm, you must be chic.  I love Anthropologie’s latest take on bookworm-dom.  This updated plaid dress, called Atop the Mezzanine, is off the hook.

Of course, Quiet Hours is none too shabby, either.

Each image remains the property of his or her creator, which isn’t me.  It feels kinda dirty, since I usually show off only images I’ve taken, but it’s a brave new world, baby! (Do you dig it?  The inspiration post like this? Or not so much?)

As you nod off snuggling a book, don’t forget the GloWorm.  Did anyone else fall asleep to the light of this as a kid?

Finally, share that library card goodness for Valentine’s Day.  Card shown by Card and Envelope.

Want to read it on the blog? INSPIRED BY: THE BOOKWORM

This post made me cry.  A lot, and happily.  You can do this.  We can do this.

Copied and pasted from The Blogging Mum blog:

I asked for reality. I said I wanted reality. This morning, I got reality.

I had the best 30 minute conversation of my life this morning. I love that I have supportive family and friends, but I really needed to get some honest to goodness business advice. I want to be able to focus 100% on my work instead of having a part time job on the side just in case. I needed help in making this my reality. So I hired someone, a wonderful woman who is energetic and real and whose work I love.

It was kind of hard, in one sense, to hear her give it to me straight. She even confessed that she though I was going to cry or hang up on her. I had to laugh a little at that. Everything she told me was right on the button, though. Everything that I’ve been struggling with and feeling at odds about, bam! She nailed it. She was able to give me advice on how to do what I love for a living and still maintain my heart, and how I want to help people.

I’m going to be relaunching my business under a new brand and new name with a goal of January 2010, and I feel really set free about it all. All those things that were holding me back are now gone away. I was able to come away from the session with a very precise focus, some great advice, and kind of feeling like I’ve just been given the best present in the world.

I know I can make it work. Seriously, that was probably the best money I’ve ever spent. Ever. Do you have branding issues? You should check her out, then. Kristen, you rock!

Want to read it on the blog? THE POST THAT MADE ME CRY

Image copyright: Amy Meek

Found in Denton, Texas.

(I am so sad to live so far from such a magnificent business.)

Want to read it on the blog? FOCUS IS IMPORTANT

And instead of driving to my studio, where the original theme files lived, I installed a new template and went to pimptown on it.  The new features, ladies and gents:

IntenseDebate.  Lovely reader, you can now login to comment with your Twitter or OpenID accounts.  Oh, and you can reply to a specific comment — all threaded and civilized-like.

PSST!  There’s a WordPress plugin for this!

1. Back up your blog.
2. Hit up Plugins–>Add New from your WordPress dashboard.
3. Search for ‘IntenseDebate’ in the ‘Search Plugins’ box, and it’ll pop up.
4. Click ‘Install’ and choose ‘Install now’ from the popup that appears.
5. Click ‘Activate plugin’ and voila!
6. You’ll need to configure it under ‘Settings’ from your WordPress dashboard.  I totally learned about easy plugin installation like, two weeks ago, so I’m an expert.  (An expert at breaking blogs.)

RSS feed.  Yes, you diehard folks who read blog posts in a feed reader, you now have RSS fodder.

Merit Badge Mail: You can now opt in to learn about the latest Brand Camp happenings — and believe me, they’re going to be outstanding.  So sign up in the top-right , pretty please.

Want to read it on the blog? PIMP YOUR BLOG — BUT BACK IT UP FIRST.

You:

- are having some sort of branding trouble

- want to throw a big ol’ tantrum & are frustrated

- don’t know where to turn for help

I:

- will hit you up with a branding survey via e-mail

- will analyze your answers

- will chat with you on the phone for +/- 30 minutes about your branding

We:

- will do a happy dance because you’re on the right branding track!

Just comment below with your biggest branding woe between now and next Tuesday, the 29th, and THREE of you will win a mini-consult with me.

Want to read it on the blog? YOU + BRANDING CONSULT = ENTER THE CONTEST!

I got this book in the mail yesterday, hot off the presses, and literally GASPED at the clever uses of everyday products to make fun, unique, witty, and downright fantastic things with your images.  My clients will all be getting the photo ornaments the book includes!

So go! Get inspired, make stuff with your hands, and love your camera even more!

Want to read it on the blog? PHOTOJOJO BOOK REVIEW.

At any rate, in the spirit of adventure, and of practicing what I was busy preaching to a lovely branding consultation client today, I’m launching a Facebook ad campaign.  Please oh please don’t search for me and then skew the results — just know that I will report whatever happens.  Even if it means I get 0 clicks per day and 0 inquiries, total.

I’ve created two VERY different ad campaigns set to run at the same time, to the same demographic, with the same budget per day, for one week.  And whatever I learn, I’ll share.  I’ve targeted the people I *THINK* will be interested in my product, and I’m anxious to see the results.

Copyright Bill Watterson

More importantly, I’m anxious for you to have an adventure of your own.  You can read all the books about best business practice in the world, or you can learn from experience.  So put yourself out there — market the everloving hell out of your artwork, your services, your experience….and see what happens.

I’d love to hear about it!  brandcamponline@gmail.com

Want to read it on the blog? ADVENTURE, TOGETHER.

“Computer says no” is the epitome of what anyone who works with computers every day feels: frustrated, ridiculous, and absurd.

As working artists, we spend SO MUCH time at our computers — e-mailing, forum-ing, Facebooking, Twittering, blogging, blog-stalking, culling, editing, ordering, designing, and SEO-optimizing.  What if computer says no to everything, today?  Or this week?

What would you accomplish — what would you shoot, where would you go, what would be explored — if computer says no?  (And iPhone, Blackberry, wifi, mobile-broadband-enabled-card, modem, router, internet — WHAT IF THE WHOLE STINKIN’ WORLD WIDE WEB JUST BROKE, is my point…)

In a profession easily dominated by the digital, how can you make your analog artistry better?  Go out and shoot?  Take a bike ride to clear your mind? Learn to work a strobe or two?  Go trespassing at that nifty old house on the corner that looks surprisingly abandoned and security-free? Outsource your post-processing or ordering or customer support to someone else? What strides can you make it limiting computer time to what’s absolutely necessary, thus embracing the life that’s out there to be lived?

Want to read it on the blog? COMPUTER SAYS NO.

Well, I launched two products and visited the shop. It hit me like a ton of bricks: I WOULDN’T BUY FROM ME. The whole dealio looked rather rinky-dink, despite the hours of customization I put in behind the scenes, and the code I learned to tweak for ultimate bad-ass-edness.

I wouldn’t buy from me.

I cried.

What can you learn from this? Take an honest look at your work, your website, and your blog. Would you buy from you? If you’re looking with your most honest, most critical glasses on, what could you do better? What can be tweaked?  Which galleries can be pruned, which articles shortened (or lengthened), which products photographed better? If you wouldn’t buy from you, what’s the first step in the rebranding process?

In my case, a new logo, a more magazine-y/fashion fair, color scheme tweaks, and a newly-appointed storefront customization brought everything closer to my vision for Brand Camp. It isn’t easy. It’s a time-consuming, tricky, and rough process. But it has to be asked:

Would you buy from you?

Want to read it on the blog? WOULD YOU BUY FROM YOU?