Wall Street • Main Street • Street Fairs

These are strange times to be selling art at shows. We pay our jury fees, booth fees, our hotel bills and set up our work.
We show up.
We're there to do our best all the while knowing that the public must open their hearts and wallets to grace us with sales. Sometimes this happens. When it does I genuinely thank people for their recognition of the passion it takes to make a commitment to buying art. I never take a sale for granted.
Each one is important to my survival.
They let me have my life!

With these slow times there comes a sense of loss of control. Artists, especially us self-employed ones, are by nature, control freaks. We wear multiple hats and have to wear them well to succeed. Most of the time we can do this.
When I find myself feeling a loss of that control I feel the need to regain it ..........somehow.

Today I made soup!

Yes, soup!
The elixer of all things that need fixing.
A pot of creamy garlic soup with wild rice.
I'm not sure why, but the task of cutting and preparing soup settles me like nothng else.
It's my own creation. I don't use recipes.
Each pot is a one of a kind.

I also wrote these thoughts which resonate with current events.

The people have spoken with wide, bold strokes.
The markets have responded.
We all have our 'battles',
be it Wall Street,
Main Street
or our Street Fairs.
They are all passages.
Passages to power,
to homes,
to our incomes.
We traverse them in good times and in bad.
They take us where we need to go.
For artists and craftspeople,
the highways take us to the
parks and neighborhoods that will embrace our creations
with acceptance and grace us with purchases.

Our work becomes their collection.

A wonderful mingling
of financial commerce that is good,
fair and
far from greed.
Far from Wall Street.
It is this commerce that lets us small business
artists have the lives we live and
take us to our homes
where we find solace
down the roads we are most familiar.
A passage to our own passions.

Travel safe and continue doing your best work!
Abundant blessings to all of you!
༺♥༻
Patricia Hecker

༺★ Day of the Dead Long Tattoo Dream Box ★༻

★´¨)
¸,•´¸.•¤´¨} ¸.•*¨)
(¸.*´ (¸.*`¤~ Here is a close up of my Day of the Dead Long Tattoo Dream Box! This box measures 13 1/2" wide and 4" deep and 5 1/4" tall. A great box has purple feet with festive red trim. Emblazoned with skulls,dancing skeletons, armadillos, crows, cowboy skulls, mariachi bands, bones, and day of the dead ephemera and has what it takes for any Day of the Dead afficionado!



On etsy
75.00

Patricia

༺ Altered Art Long Tattoo Dream Box ༻

★´¨)
¸,•´¸.•¤´¨} ¸.•*¨)
(¸.*´ (¸.*`¤~ Featured today is my Altered Art Long Tattoo Dream Box ! This wonderfully long box measures 13 1/2" wide and 4" deep and 5 3/4" tall. It has a detailed gold latch opening and painted two tone feet. Olive on the top with teal on the bottom and black fringe. Inside, the bottom is lined with sultry black velvet. Emblazoned with wonderful altered art images, artists stamps, butterflies, crows and women.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

On etsy
75.00

Have a great day!
Patricia

★ Pro-Bama-Kin Obama Supporter ★

Yes, a one of kind Pro-Bama supporter.
Fully flexible.
Fully sturdy for the road ahead.
Inspired!!!
Able to embrace CHANGE!!

This articulated wooden artists model is emblazoned with the good karma
of the importance of voting, 2008, change, hope and ideas.
It comes to you from a fellow Obama supporter who belives that
on November 4th change for the better of our country will happen!!!!
We the people, will vote in leadership, honesty and the return of the Amercian Dream!
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
On November 4th, PLEASE VOTE!!!
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Height is 13 1/4" tall.
There are millions of Obama supporters, just not too many like this one of a kind verion!

*McCain supporters not available!!!
See igloo's and old farts.
★

On etsy:
28.00

Retro Nostalgia Dream Box

Some things are better seen then written about.
This might be one of them.
I've recently had some wonderful repeat collectors who have been buying my boxes on etsy
and they tell me the box looks even better than the photos! Amazing since my
husband Jon takes such great photos! We want buyers to see just what they're getting.

So sit back, relax, clear your mind of the financial and political scene and
have fun looking through my collection of boxes on etsy!

Click on any of the box photos to the right and you're there!!
While there, if any tug at your heart, sign up and add them to your cart.
These are one a kind, aromatic boxes filled with images that ignite memories, conjure up warm feelings and look fabulous wherever you place them.

Featured here:
Retro Nostalgia Dream Box
65.00
on etsy.com


Patricia

Biden and Clinton Discuss Women's Issues

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Feel free to share this, spread this and keep this vital information flowing.
This IS the most important election of our lifetime.
To lose this election to the Republicans would be the worst horror of all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h1pLEqI3Pw

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Patricia

Scott Wade • Dirty Car Art

Catching up from being gone......Today I'm blogging about performance artist Scott Wade. He graced the Atlanta Arts Festival with his unique type of painting. He paints on dirty car windows with the dirt on them. Utilizing tools to scrape away and reveal images! It's amazing!
After Atlanta he was flying out to do an episode on the Bonnie Hunt Show.

So good to be home!
Patricia

Dirtycarart.com

♥ I love you Mom! ♥

Thirty three years ago this morning my Mom lost her battle with cancer. It was before mamograms. She was 45. She found her cancer early and it was already a Stage 4. She had two radical mastectomies and yet it spread. She fought the good fight wanting to live long enough to see my brother and I graduate from high school. As it turned out she died one week into my brothers senior year and my sophmore year.
I was 15 and he was 17.
I used to think 45 was ancient. It's not. When I reached the age she was when she died, it was a turning point in my own life. I'm 48 now and celebrate every year I'm alive. I will never be one of those intolerant women who begrude having a birthday since it means they're a year older. To complain about age is a waste of time and energy. It should be a celebration!
They should be so lucky!

So, when this happens you grow up fast and make your own life early on. This is what my brother and I did. I guess we still are. I feel she would be proud of the lives we have made for ourselves and the people we share them with.
I feel her presence and her absence every day.
Does it get easier? I'm not sure. I'll let you know that when I figure it out myself.

Continue your self-exams and be dilligent.
But also, love every day you have, life is shorter than we think.
♥
Patricia

Nests and 9-11

Today is too important a day to not blog.
Sometimes I have no idea what I will write about until this blank white window opens and the empty void slowly fills. I would be remiss to not mark this date that still draws with it such pain. Today began much like it did 7 years ago, in some ways, and yet it was much different. The sky was clear, the air feeling like the subtle beginnings of fall when we learned raw hell was breaking out.
I need to replace the fear and loss with something more powerful but yet never forget the pain still so visceral.
What can replace such hatred but love?
Sounds simple and it really is. Love and kindness is far more powerful than we will ever know!
Sometimes I'm convinced that the simplest concepts are the deepest but most important to learn.
Before we can learn them, we have to connect the dots.
On that note I will share this.

Last night, on our way to Atlanta for an art fair, we dropped off a table I stamped for a dear friend of ours. He gave me this very old table back in July and asked my husband Jon to strengthen it's structural integrity with his skill and have me stamp it with mine. A true team of structure and surface as we went about making this table strong and useful again.
The name for the table is 'The Peace Table'.
Tables in particular, are furnishings that draw people and ideas together to share, be it nurishment or ideas.
Maybe they are synonomous.
One feeds the body, the other the spirit.

In another seemingly unrelated conversation with a friend today at the show, we spoke of birds and nests. My friend Holly Hambrick uses natural materials in her work and the subject of homes and nests arose. She told me how she'd just read in an old French publication how a mother bird smooths the inside of the nest she builds using her breast. The smooth contour of the nest for the eggs made so by the warmth and curve of the birds breast.
I got goose bumps.
It all came together.
I knew this would be in my blog.
It tied together everything so beautifully.

It's how we build.

We build from our heart.
We strengthen what's damaged, from our heart.
We make our home, from our heart.
We become whole by opening our heart.
So, a day marked by loss, a broken yet fixed table, and a birds nest.
It's about replacing the pain with what's in our heart.

So, on this forever memorable day, find love.
Open your heart and know that when you do,
the goodness flows in, the pain is eased, and what
feels broken becomes whole.

Abundant Blessings~
༺♥༻
Patricia

★ Retro Nostalgia Tattoo Dream Box ★

★´¨)
¸,•´¸.•¤´¨} ¸.•*¨)
(¸.*´ (¸.*`¤~ Here is my Retro Nostalgia Tattoo Dream Box ! This upcycled cigar box measures 7" wide and 7 1/4" deep and 6" tall. A great box has detailed gold and black feet with festive trim. Emblazoned with trolls, lava lights, old telephones, peace signs, dials, clothes pins, coca cola bottles and memories of days gone by!

Available on etsy
$65.00

༺♥༻
Patricia

"100 Square Feet"

On any given weekend across this country, artists are
setting up shop in their portable galleries.
For those two or three days, we may well share art and our skill with
people who have never been exposed to such.
We speak with people who may have never seen or looked at art.
We are a rare breed of business people, and fiercly independant.
We wear many hats being self employed.
I am proud to say, this has been and continues to be our main income
for the last 24 years.
I wrote the following poem and presented it at the NAIA Directors Conference
held in Lancaster,PA last fall. I've posted it before, but for those that missed it, here it
is again.
A sweet reminder of a grand love affair with our profession!
I share it with you here:

"100 SQUARE FEET"
by Patricia Hecker

We criss cross the country
in our vans of white-
to sell what we've made
at an art fair site.

This is the life
we've chosen by trade-
to sell to the public
things we've hand made.

The booths we fill
with displays 10 feet wide
are secured in our vans
for a long distance ride.

Created by day
and driven by night
to arrive in town
at your art fair site.

This gallery we build
in our 100 square feet
can withstand mild wind
but not snow or sleet!

The sun and fair weather
are art fair friends
as we hope for blue skies
and upward sales trends.

The consumer is fickle
when stock markets dive.
Collector confidence
keeps art fairs alive.

With jewelry and pottery
and paintings so bright-
we offer our best
for the publics delight.

To future young artists
we meet in our booth-
imagination and crayons
are part of their youth.

We might light a spark
by something we say-
and meet them again
as artists some day!

To share and inspire
are what we do best.
'Making a living'
is put to the test.

We want to feel safe
in our 100 square feet.
It gives peace of mind
to all that we meet.

Booth fees oh my-
And jury fees too...
We pick and choose
by what shows we'll do.

We too are consumers
of this thing called a 'fair'
to decide to apply
with the art we will share.

These shows stay alive
by the art we all do
not just white tents
but advertising it too!

This dual commitment
for artists and shows-
To give it our best
as everyone knows.

This isn't a hobby
or part time thing.
This is what fuels us
and thus what we bring.

We've supported ourselves
and put food on the table.
Sent kids to college
and donated when able.

We've seen each other
at our worst and our best-
and keep making art
with an undying zest.

We're in this together.
We've accomplished great things.
Artists and directors-
the art that it brings.

This tight knit group
is why we're all here
to hold securely
a lifestyle so dear.

Proxy exhibitors
hurt what we do-
by faking all out
on just who's who.

With imports off shore
and buy/sell so cheap-
it's the honor of our trade
we fight hard to keep.

This is our life
its critical to see
that I respect you
and you respect me!

༺♥༻

Patricia Hecker

༺ ••Cats Art and Friends •• ༻

Yesterday we exhibited at Penrod, the one day blow out art fair in Indianapolis. It had been 16 years since we'd done this show. Incredulous weather had folks glowing and it did our soul good to be with artist friends. Lots of Obama shirts and buttons and buzz among the artists and patrons. A high five to all who wore their Obama gear in the conservative Indy. Lots of great shared stories of McCaint and Carabou Barbie!
Artists share the common, undying thread of hope.
It's what keeps us making art in such tough times and always hoping things will get better.
Obama = Hope!

This show draws well heeled patrons who pay $15.00 per person at the gate. It's a social event. Beer flowing, symphony, ballet, all the society perks alive on the Lilly Estate which is home to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Sales were not record setting, but we have several strong leads we can follow up on and reminded folks we'd be at the Carmel show the end of the month. What did us good was being around our friends. They are our touchstone in these diffictult times. There is no explanation needed. We all know what one another is going through. The quiet victories and the joy of each sale, no matter how small. We know how each can cover a bill or give us peace of mind. As I have said, the comraderie is like nothing else. We have all seen each other at our worst and our best!

Our tiger family was happy to see us come home on a Saturday night. We told them we'd be quick! We got in around
11:30 pm after a really long, slow take down. Milo, our yellow kitty was very happy his bed (our luggage) had returned. He loves crashing onto it and caves it in. This is his bed when we're home. That's him above.

Work continues as we prepare for Atlanta. A visit to Zoo Atlanta will be our reward after the show.
For those that came out and supported the artists and spoke with us, thank you! We appreaciated it greatly!!!
All in all, a great weekend!
♥
Patricia

★ ★ ★ Tattered Circus Box ★ ★ ★

★´¨)
¸,•´¸.•¤´¨} ¸.•*¨)
(¸.*´ (¸.*`¤~ Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, step right up!
I'm featuring today my newly listed Tattered Circus Box !
You can almost hear the pipe organ and smell the pop-corn!! This upcycled cigar box is available on my etsy site. Emblazoned with lions and tigers and performers and elephants and circus carts and clowns...... oh my!!! Note the fun dots around the lid..........lots of colorful detail abound!!
Perfect for the inner-kid in all of us!!

Price: 65.00
★ ★ ★
Have a most fantabulous day!
Patricia

I Have Sexy Feet!!!

Above is a sneak preview of the feet of a Day of The Dead box I will be adding to my etsy site later in the week. For now, all I'm showing is the sexy new feet that I made for it. They are painted, airbrushed and have silk thread at the top of them!
Lust away, lust away, lust away all!

༺★༻

Patricia

How We Elect Irresponsible People.....101

Are we a shallow society or do we have such poor leadership that we look for the mistakes they have failed to find?
Apparently 'hot photos of Palin" is the number one search in Google photos. Millions of Americans feel the need to vet the
Republican VP selection more carefully than the 72 year old McCain did.

I personally think he has no desire to win.
I think he was the best of the worst to throw to the lions!

Palins mighty use of firearms and her scorching ability to kill wildlife all the while saying she values the living is a huge contradiction of her beliefs. Be they what they are, she is pro-life even in cases of incest and rape.........I find that unyeilding decision disgusting. I say this as a pro-choice Catholic.
If the Republican party thinks women want a female in office so badly that they are going to vote for this overly busy soccer Mom who is still changing diapers for her own 4 month old and will now soon be doing so for her 17 year old daughters unplanned child.........get real!!
We are not that stupid!!!
Glass ceilings were broken by Hillary Clinton first, not her!! She can sweep up the mess, not build platforms on the broken chards and reach through waving a flag and hope we see her!
If this scenerio of choices was playing out in the Democratic party the Republicans would have a field day.
I'm just going to watch it all unfold and pray that this country elects Obama.

We don't need four more years of the same.
We can't afford four more years of over spending, war and mis-use of power and lies.
We can't afford a President who says the uninsured should use Americas ER's as their healthcare plan.
We don't want an out of touch President who thinks middle income is 5 million a year.
Who thinks $50.00 an hour is the going rate for farm workers picking lettuce.
Who is emotionally and intellectually as inept as President Bush.
Who owns more homes than he can count.
Who ranked near the bottom of his graduating class and cannot think on his feet......
Who is 72 year's old!!

I cannot watch the RNC.
There is not enough tequila to listen to the lies and false concern over the people of the Gulf Coast.
They cannot make up for the last 8 years in the next few months!
Besides, what a tragic waste of tequila that would be!
★
Just my thoughts.....
Patricia