OFFBEAT! ICONIC!

Monday I'll be delivering paintings to be exhibited in Green Airport, Warwick, RI, part of my Shoemaker Series

Here's the official description of the show...

CATE BROWN
KATHY HODGE
ALEXANDER NESBITT

OFFBEAT ICONIC features three artists who portray quintessential Rhode Island subjects in unexpected ways. Subject matters include our state’s landmarks, manufacturing history and maritime heritage. Views presented, however, are of the overlooked, bygone or rarely accessible aspects of these subjects. The viewer is invited to stray off the beaten path through the unique vision of these three artists.

So if you are taking a flight, and not running frantically for your plane, take a little detour to the lobby area at the base of the stairs to the Post Road pedestrian overpass. The show runs from January 13 through April 30,  2015.

If you'd like to preview the catalog of The Shoemaker Series: St. Hugh's Bones, and/or purchase a copy, you can see it HERE

Day Job — the Apocalypse

Where I make (made) money

Where I am happy

At the end of this month, my day job will come to an end. After over 30 years in the newspaper business, surviving wave after wave of layoffs, I've finally ended up in the crosshairs and my job will be outsourced in February, to "ad centers" in the U.S. and India.

So, no more day job! I can spend all my time in the studio!

**SNAP OUT OF IT!!**  Turns out I'm not close enough to retirement to not make money anymore, and not far enough away (age discrimination being alive and well) to find a job easily in my field, which is all things web.

And then there's healthcare. Thank goodness my state (yea RI!) has set up a health exchange with many options (yea Obamacare!) so I should be able to get coverage, but no health care program is cheap these days.

So, I must make more money than painting sales can provide.

And...

I'm too old to stand for a job that bores me to death.

So here's my plan.

1. Treat my painting more like a business.
The trade off to having no time was the luxury of not worrying too much about selling. Sure, selling was great, but if it didn't pay the rent, that was what the day job was for. Now I will have to make more of an effort to market my work.

2. Become an expert in Social Media Marketing and Analytics. 
Businesses are constantly being told they have to get "out there" but do not have the knowledge or desire to Tweet, Facebook, Link In, Instagram, etc, etc, etc. So I will offer to do it for them, beginning with myself. This will have the dual purpose of helping me promote my work, and giving me a marketable skill to offer small businesses. So if you see me suddenly getting extremely social, it's all in a day's work.

So....
Follow me on Twitter! @KathyHodgeArt
Friend me on Facebook!  http://www.facebook.com/KathyHodgeStudio

Pin me on https://www.pinterest.com/hodgepainting/

3. Design web site for artists
Because they have so much money to spend on web design!

4. Teach small classes. 

5. Apply for grants.

6. Last but not least —Collect unemployment!

Well, according to the social media tips I've been reading, this is longer than the optimal blog length for reader engagement, so I'll en—

Hello? Anyone there?