Small Business, What The World Needs Now

Our country was built by farmers, independent business men, family businesses, all small businesses. Canada grew from these people working hard for themselves, for their families. I believe that this is where we need to return to, the small family business, where employees care, customers count and return business no matter the dollar spent is important!

I have worked for both small family businesses, my own small business, and large companies and world wide corporations. The ones that care about their; employees, customers and community the most the small business man. The larger companies are around for the proverbial bottom line, everything between the front doors and the bottom line are only a means to achieve the bottom line.

The world has become so lost in the in big box stores, mega corporations, corporate owned or controlled farms the small business has become all but forgotten. Recently, there has been a growing movement to return to small business, it couldn't have come at a better time.

Having a group of people who care about what they make, create, sell. Having people who want to help people find what they need and NOT sell them all the possible add on accessories possible because that is what the boss wants. Small businesses where the product being sold was made with care, by people who care. Businesses where employees are a lot more than just a number, whose opinions count, where the customer is respected and their business matters more than what they added to the day’s numbers and the bottom line at the end of the quarter.

Backwoods Country Arts is a small family business. We work with locally sources base products so that we keep local people and families employed. I have my children working with me, not that any of them are children, they have all graduated high school. Over the last year or so we have seen growth in sales, I believe partially because we care!

 The largest part of our products are hand-painted and hand crafted signs, signs for in home and outdoor décor. We make everyone with care, they are not mass produced, everyone is created when ordered.  We have had repeat orders, recommendations to others who have bought.

I have taken all that I have learned thus far working for family businesses and large companies and I am trying to blend the best of both into our new family business. We offer personal caring service like a small business would, we watch what people want and changes in the market like the big businesses. We don’t try and “upsell” anybody, we don’t try to sell more and more to the customers’ order.  We want all of our customers to come back because we did what they wanted, helped them with their needs.

It is time for the entrepreneurs to work for local community, local people, look at old principles and revive them. “Do unto others as you would have done unto you”, not “Do add everything to that order before the other realizes what you have done to them”.

Small business built the world we live in; large corporations have brought us to ruin in so many ways. Let’s bring back the ways of our fore fathers where we care about our business because we care about the customers, employees and all the things that make that business successful. 

http://www.backwoodscountryartsstudio.com/

A New Year… Time To Reflect On The Past

 We have seen the year 2015 slip away and become 2016. With the passing of a year people sit and reflect on the year that has gone on before, the good the bad, things hoped for and unexpected events.

I have seen some 57 years come and go, the early ones I don’t remember and I doubt any of us would remember our very early years. I have some childhood memories, more memories from my teens and the memories become clearer as I get older.  My live has had its ups and downs and some events that I wish didn’t happen. I am no different than any one in that aspect of life.

As I was looking at some of my art work over the Christmas break I saw a paddle that my wife Julie has used to decorate a part of our home. It is a scene of a Muskoka chair sitting on a dock over looking a lake. The scene brings back memories of our cottage and sitting by the lake watching the loons on the lake. It reminds me of our children and the fun they had, paddle boat races, building log rafts and racing to the floating dock.

I had memories of painting canoe paddles for people, with many scenes of Canada. Canadian farms, islands off our West Coast, Mules pulling wagons, old train stations in Northern Ontario and more.

Memories of my late wife and I living in Nanaimo and leaving our home to go skiing up Island with friends. Living in Kapuskasing Ontario and the cold weather that makes you appreciate Southern Ontario’s “cold Weather.”  Watching bald eagles fly both on the Island and in Kap.

Memories of Julie and I and our blended family looking for a cottage off the beaten path, the number of places we looked at before finding the perfect one. Camp fires, roasting marsh mellows, camp fire pies. Sing along’, sleeping in tents, walking in to the cottage in winter, rebuilding the cottage and more.

All of that goes into my art, it is a life filled with adventures on and off the beaten. I have always loved small towns, towns that aren’t thriving metropolises. It is there that you see the real beauty of our world, our country.

Small town Canada, where people care about their neighbours, say hello to people on the street as they walk by, whether they know them or not. Where you can walk down the street and go fishing off the pier by the pump house with your grand father. Where you can drive out of town and see bears, deer, moose. Where you can look out your font window and see birds galore. Small towns where your neighbours shovel driveways for their neighbours just because.

These are memories that I have tried to put into my artwork. It is there either visually or in the time spent creating a piece.

As you look at something in your home, what memories are triggered. I hope you can reflect on your life and take a minute to enjoy it. Happy 2016 and may the year ahead bring you love, joy and peace.

Art By Any Other Name...

Good Morning and Merry Christmas! As I sit in my studio on Christmas Eve day I am thankful that I have completed all of the orders for various wall hangings.

It has been a busy couple of months, with pieces once complete being shipped all over North America. I have orders that have been shipped to multiple places around Ontario, the farthest being Thunder Bay. Other items have been shipped to Vancouver B.C., Leduc Alberta and as close to home as Lindsay Ontario. There are wall hangings that have found homes in Arizona, Minneapolis, Boston Area, Missouri, New Jersey and Florida.

The most popular item this year has been my wall hanging “Fruit of the Spirit”, I even had a request for one for Australia but the shipping was going to cost far more that the item was worth. I have done a number of Dragon Boat paddles this Christmas, plus a number of other style of wall hangings.

Why am I mentioning this? I got those orders through promoting my studio. I have my own website, a shop on Etsy, a page on Facebook, twitter and Instagram. I photograph items and share them on social media. Most of my orders have come through Etsy and social media. We need to promote ourselves and our work.

We need to let people know what we do. I paint pictures and I paint wall décor. The wall décor sells faster than the paintings, which is understandable as history has shown that artists don’t sell paintings every day. Hence all of those “Starving Artists” sales. I have sold a number of my paintings over the years, but I have sold far more décor style items. They are all art, just different styles of art!
I enjoy doing both paintings and the décor art. The money made on the one allows me to do the other.

This year was very busy, and although at times I wondered if I would get everything done I thrive on having a lot of work to do than just sitting around with nothing on my agenda. It is relaxing  for me to spend time in my studio creating. To take a blank canvas, what ever form that canvas comes as – actual canvas, wood, mail box, paddle, and turn it into a piece of artwork is a great way to relax from the stresses of the world around us.

Yes, I love to paint a piece that depicts Canadian Wildlife or the Canadian Landscape. I also love creating other styles of work and seeing them go to a different kind of collector. Creating any style of art is still taking your God given talent and putting it to good use, adding to your own life as well as helping others add to their own. Don’t allow anyone to put you down because you don’t just do what is traditionally accepted as art. Tradition is just a “rule” of sorts and “rules” were meant to be broken.

Think out of the box, look beyond the white canvas make it “An Adventure In Creativity.” Art work by any other name is still art work!

Pursue, Promote, Persevere

I have said before that you shouldn't quit. I have suggested that you need to push yourself, try new things and keep working and practicing your craft. That is very true, as that old saying goes "Rome wasn't built in a day.”

I have been painting since my teens and I have seen my craft develop as I have; continued to practice, work, push myself to try new things, to try new ways.

Pursue, pursue your dream, make your dream happen. No one can go after your success in the art world but you. You have to be willing to put yourself out there. Let your work be seen. Try new styles, new pieces, new forms. Go after your dream, pursue it.

Promote yourself, promote your work. Look for methods of promoting yourself. Look for shows, events, fairs that you can get a booth at and show your work. It shows the world that you believe in yourself, lets the world see you work. Look for on line places to promote and show your work. Hold open houses, donate your work to charity so they can raise money. Look for unique, creative methods of exposing yourself  to the world.

Persevere, a fancy way of saying don't quit! Give yourself time to develop your craft. Don't listen to they nay Sayers. I have been told my work isn't very good by some people very close to me. But, I have been told by people I don't know that my work is very good. My work has taken time to get to where it is. I have painted on so many surfaces, painted things others have asked me to paint, some had no success, some limited success and some  surprising success.

Without trying, showing, continuing to try I never would have sold a thing. If I didn't pursue my dream, which I continue to go after, I would have so even a painted jewelry box. If I didn't allow myself to be seen  I wouldn't have heard opinions of nine family members. Others wouldn't have had a chance to see my work or have a chance to buy it. I went to shows, used on line sites and more. I promoted myself and continue to do so. I have persevered, I haven't quit and won't quit. I love to paint and try new things.

My advice to you, no matter whether you are a visual artist, writer, musician, actor, what ever you do pursue you dream, promote yourself and persevere.

Backwoods Country Arts : A Day In The Studio

Backwoods Country Arts : A Day In The Studio: My day started at 5:30 a.m., holding a cup of coffee, to help my me fully wake up. I sat enjoying my coffee, looking at Facebook, playing a ...

A Day In The Studio

My day started at 5:30 a.m., holding a cup of coffee, to help my me fully wake up. I sat enjoying my coffee, looking at Facebook, playing a few word games on my iPad. A little later after a quick breakfast I headed to the studio.

I had four orders to work through. As I worked on each of them, setting each one aside while paint dried, I worked on a couple of unclaimed pieces. 

I can go downstairs to my studio, work on whichever project I have going at that time and feel encouraged. I get many ideas for the next project while working on a current piece.

I know of artist that will only remain true to their main artistic focus, i.e. Landscapes on canvas. They won't waver from it, they will create and hope for a sale. They will do limited advertising, go to a few art shows in hopes of catching someone's eye.

I love to paint landscapes, wild life, the occasional other subject matter. But I am realistic enough to know that I will not sell a painting everyday. I paint wall hangings to fill  in the gaps, help pay for the art supplies and more. I have sold a number of painting, but I have painted and sold over 700 canoe paddles, 50 plus dragon boat paddles. I have painted a number of wall hangings over the last couple of years. I have some of them left, but most have been sold. I advertise, have a web site and share my work through any number of social media websites.

Spending time in the Studio, relaxing, doing what I enjoy, will help me destress, feel more creative, feel encouraged. As a project progresses, I love seeing it come together. Working on a new project, I can see little improvements that can be made. 

The studio is my version of the man cave. It is where I can go and be away from the world for a while. It is where I can go and be creative, let my mind go wild . I love a good adventure, The studio is An Adventure In Creativity!

My Studio My Place To Create, Refresh, and Relax

I love to go into my studio and paint. It doesn't matter whether I am painting an image onto a canvas, or painting some new piece of décor / subway art. As I sit in my chair and get ready to work I begin to feel revived.

Everyone needs an outlet, needs a way to set themselves apart from the stresses of the world we live in. Some watch T.V., listen to music, walk, run, drink, go to the gm. Me I sit down at my desk, my easel, get some paint out, a canvas, some wood, turn on some music and then I paint.

I have tried over the last couple of years to get others to see the value of using painting as a way to refresh, distress and more. There is an area in the studio that I will sit down at and lay out larger projects, or package items that are on their way to the new owners. This is the area of the studio that I display  my art, in all forms. This is the same area that I use for classes that I open the studio for.

Some think I am crazy, but I don't think so, everyone has their own style, their own way of doing things. Their art will be their art, in their style. If my showing, teaching others how to do something creates another artist, fine, let them enjoy the possibilities that are now open to them. I am not the only artist, the only one who paints landscapes, wild life, subway / décor art in the world and won't be the last.

If the world was more into showing others how to use, develop skills it would be a better place.

Creating art is an adventure, an adventure in creativity.