Be a Part of Something BIG!

I'm excited to announce that I'll be participating as an artist in Creative JumpStart (CJS) 2018, run for the 7^th time by Nathalie Kalbach. If you're not familiar with CJS, it's a one-of-a-kind online event to kick your creativity into high gear in January 2018. 

Learn techniques, discover new materials, and connect with other artists and crafters. 

Head on over to Nathalie's site to sign up and for more details by clicking: Here

You get 31 Downloadable videos - over 6 hours of unique content -  for just $40 (USD) if you sign up by November 29 11:59 pm EST, 2017. 

Afterwards it will be $45 USD until December 31st, 2017 before it goes to its normal sale price of $50 USD. 

 So what are you waiting for? JUMP into Creativity this upcoming year!   You can do so by clicking  HERE.

Throughout January participants get access to 31 downloadable videos from 31 featured artists. I'm proud to be one of those artists, called “JumpStarters.” See for yourself:

https://vimeo.com/240541282

Until next time, Create to Live and Live to Create!

Jodi

OHHHH BTW---today (11/27/17) is the last day of my full shop sale over at Etsy.  Go check it out and see some of my new offerings!

Start Where You Are

"Be the silence that listens."   Tara Brach

What a whirlwind weekend and a hot one at that!  I don't know about you but here in North Carolina, it's like an oven when you open the doors and step outside.  I'm permanently wearing my hair up with a head band to control the sweat dripping down my forehead.  Appetizing visualization, isn't it? Sorry about that!  I have to laugh because the above picture was taken outside--what was I thinking trying to work in 95 with a feels like 110 heat out there??

(PS..the winning entry for my class giveaway is announced on this post....read on to see if it was you!)

awww much better...I may never do my hair again now that I fallen in love with  big old head bands!

As I was trying not to melt over the weekend, I spent a lot of time working on my upcoming classes at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point  this weekend along with working on projects for my newest online classes set to be released in about 6 weeks and a few other misc projects.   After all, if it's too hot to play outside, then we might as well art it up this summer, right?  Here's a peek at a couple of things I've done recently in case you want to see:

I'm obsessed over patterns and rocks as you might have guessed based on some of my latest  paintings!   I really think I'm going through a 'grounding' and foundation stage of my life and art. It seems to keep coming back to me in a variety of ways no matter what my original intention was.

The first rock painting above was a sampler for the larger painting right here.  Many times I like to test out ideas on small surfaces before I go big.  Not always, but sometimes. It's a great way to work out ideas or to practice techniques before becoming overwhelmed with a large painting.

I took a little side trip with a friend of mine in search of inspirational houses for my paintings along with texture and patterns.   When seeking ideas,  sometimes it's best to get beyond your 4 walls and  see what's happening out in the world.  I can play with this picture in photo shop or some other editing program and really get some interesting colors and  texture to inspire me for some future paintings. I also like the faded lettering peeking out on either side.  Be observant!

My friend and I also took a rode trip back to our home town in NY together for the holiday.  Knowing that I was looking for houses, barns, and landscapes that were interesting...we made a few stops to take in the sites and gather up inspiration.   The trip took extra long but who cares, right? Stop and find the barns ;)  It's all good.

I still need to finish packing all my supplies for the classes this weekend--that's an overwhelming task to me when I fly.  Oh my goodness, I've been procrastinating doing it because I'm afraid I will either forget something so I want to be doubly triply sure that I have all I need, and also because I am still using some of the supplies I need for the class in my work this week.  I have to draw the line in the sand and I think today is it kids. It gets packed and I need to move on to something else.

Have you ever obsessed about something so much it put you in a state of inaction?  I've collected everything, It's all staged, but I have yet to pack it despite it needing to get done like yesterday!  Something crazy is going on in my mind is all I can say! lol   Anywhoosers, this is what I've been up to in part over the weekend and in the past few weeks.

Now for my other announcement today, I ran a little contest over the weekend which I am giving away a spot in my upcoming workshop,  Zen Houses and boy oh boy, did the comments come in with some GREAT tools you all are loving!  I could go broke just reading what you favorite new supplies are on your table!  If you missed it, go back and check it out! The drawing is closed however and the winner is....tadahhhhh:

Lori Bradford said...

Tough choice, picking a favorite, but I'm going to go with my Gelli Plate. It's so fun to lay down paint and stencils and just let things happen.

Im going to share your post on my facebook page Lori Bradford's Art and my Instagram. I enjoy your classes a lot and hope that others will too.

www.loribradfordsart.com

10:26 AM 

Congratulations Lori, I'll try to contact you but if our paths cross, email me at jodiohl@hotmail.com to claim your prize!

Now, for the other announcement,  I did a bit of soul searching and made the decision to shift the launch date for my new class to September 6th.   Some unexpected things have come up personally and professionally (some good, some not so good) that are going to compete for my time over the next couple of weeks and I just knew in my heart of hearts that I would not be able to finish all the post production parts on time and deliver the quality product I aim too.   I've already sent messages out to the students that have registered so far, so hopefully you saw the email from me yesterday evening. That is in part why I didn't get the blog post up yesterday with my winning announcement, I wanted to get the class and student information out to those people first as soon as I made my decision.    Thank you all who have reached out to me, you all rock!  Such kind and understanding hearts.  I swear.   I'm so grateful to all of you!

I also decided to extend the pre-sale for a few more days at the $90 price until August 1st, it'll go up to $99 after that so if you want in at the pre-sale price, be sure to register soon!   

I'll leave you with something I wrote in my journal to remind myself,  things don't happen over night and they don't get fixed over night.   

"Start Where You Are.  Just Begin Again". 

  We need to be kind to ourselves when we are struggling.

Until next time, 

Jodi Ohl

Friday Favs! Abstracts in Acrylic and Ink edition! (Guess who wrote that????))

When I was a young woman, I dreamed of writing a epic romance novel, or envisioned traveling around the country writing about eclectic local eateries (watch out Guy Fierri!). I even toyed with traveling around the world writing about the effects of economic systems on the citizens of various countries.  (That was a very short period of my political/economic writing while in college ;) Needless to say, none of that happened.  Instead of pursuing a career in writing, I went into retail management and then later on worked as a bank manger for many years.

 Flash forward to me at age...late 40 something, and I am living out a new dream that has percolated for many years: writing a book that mimicked one of my workshops!  My first book (hopefully there will be several more to come), "Abstracts in Acrylic and Ink: A Playful Painting Workshop" will be released on December 26th, 2016, but is available on Amazon for pre-order now! 

The great thing about Amazon is that when you pre-order, you are guaranteed the lowest sale price prior to release, so it's a win win!    

Just like you feel when you fall in love with the significant other in your life, I fell in love with art and painting--but even more so with teaching adults about finding their creative voice. One of my goals for writing this book is to help those that want to paint in an abstract way with acrylics to get over the fear of the blank canvas in a playful, non imposing way. What's the word???? Yes, PLAYFUL!  

I can hardly believe all the work that started more than a year ago is finally coming to fruition. Honestly, the work began YEARS ago, but the book portion of this baby of mine started in earnest in September of 2015.  It was about this time last year I was finishing all the projects and getting ready to head to Cincinnati to do the book photo shoot.  Wow, was that a project!  Having never prepared for something so monumental before, I had no idea what to expect or frankly how to prepare.  Do you know what I did?  I just dug in.  When you don't know what to do, the best thing to do, is to simply start and trust your instinct.

Here I am reviewing the PDF file of the book to ensure it was all put together correctly.  I can't believe this is happening!!

That's one of the big themes in my book.  You don't have to be an expert to simply start and learn.  Abstracts in Acrylic and Ink, is very similar to attending one of my workshops except for one or two main projects...there's 22 projects to learn from!  Wowza is right!    You'll learn about a variety of surfaces to use from wood to Yupo paper; you'll discover how to incorporate a variety of mediums into your paintings to create depth and texture.  Students who read this workshop/book will also be encouraged to just play and try anything!  What do you have to loose?  Nothing...but you have EVERYTHING to gain!

Case in point...I didn't choose the cover but I love the painting that the editors chose.  It's bright, colorful, full of texture and patterns, contrast and movement. BUT...this wasn't a painting I had intended on creating as a cover for my book, rather it was a painting I completed during a painting session that I had for a very large work. Here's the original piece I was working on (it's still available fyi :)

"Hanging On By A Shroom"  36 x 48

  In other words, it started off as what I call my "palette painting".  I had a smaller canvas by my side as I worked on my biggie and cleaned off my brushes on it. I  kept layering and layering as I worked on my main painting.  I loved how it came together but it wasn't intentional at all...it was playful and full of instinctual mark making.   Of course I  finished all the details so it tied all together in a composition that I was happy with, but my point is, I didn't stress over it being a masterpiece. It just came alive as each brush stroke was laid on the surface.   Just play, and you never know where that work may take you.....It just may become a cover of your first book!!!!!!! Here is the full painting in case you are interested:

If you'd like to pre-order my new book, be sure to click HERE!  I will also be offering a few packages for sale myself that will include a variety of choices for limited edition prints with a signed copy.  I don't have my website ready for that since I've been traveling so much lately  but that's one of my next main priorities to get set up. Stay tuned for those offers coming up!

Thank you for joining me today for this introduction to my book, "Abstracts in Acrylic and Ink". I'll be sharing a few demonstrations from the book over the next few months as well as even more inspiration for you to get started painting. That's my main goal-to inspire artists like me to get started painting and let go of any pre-conceived notions on how something should be.  Just play and see what happens!

In addition to my book in this Friday Favs article--I wanted to also showcase a variety of mediums I used in the book and use A LOT in my work.   You can't go wrong with any of these acrylic products used to enhance your work! 

Have a great day, make time to create this weekend and beyond!


Fluid Mediums:


Texture Mediums

Glass Beads

Other Fav Crackle Mediums:

The Journey to the Impossible

New work in the shop!

 Tomorrow is my deadline to submit my book manuscript....can you believe that?  I can hardly believe after months and months and MONTHS of work, the time has come to hand over the project in entirety to be beautified and completed by the editors and design team, all of whom have already been working along side of me in countless ways as we birth this project from inception to publication.    I'm so excited for this 'child' of mine to be released out into the world, but that will come many more months down the road. If all things going smoothly, we should see the release date in the latter part of 2016.   The experience has really pushed me to be higher limits than I ever thought were possible.  I already push myself pretty  heartily, how could one project exceed those limits?  Try writing a book and you will understand!  It's a labor of love for sure, and one that I am so proud of and hope that you will enjoy when the time comes.

One of the reasons I felt stretched beyond my limits was  that the timeline to write the book and produce the work wasn't ideal for me and my schedule.  It all started to unfold during perhaps one of my busiest travel seasons yet and during a time I also moved into a new studio, had a solo show, and spent almost a month out of commission with the flu. 

Yet, despite my own personal challenges, is there ever a right time to do something that is going to push us to our limits?  We can find excuse after excuse to not do something while at the same time, if we put energy into seeing how we can make it happen rather than just saying it's not the right time, you'd be amazed at what you can do.  

There were times when I thought all of this was impossible for me to accomplish.  Tears would flow and I'd become paralyzed with self-doubt.

There also would be times when I was in the flow and creating pieces for the book and  companion pieces for future collections that I would dance with joy from the fruits of my labor.  

Like most things I do, I take the project to the next level...I created so many pieces and many much larger than needed for the book, I could probably write 3 books.haha...but to me, it was necessary to experiment and try new things before I made final decisions on what to use for exercises in the book.  We don't know what we don't know, right?

Now, it's the day before the due date.  I sit here with a great sense of accomplishment, and bit of emotional release that this day is almost here.   Looking back at my journey to get to this place and time, I would never have thought I'd be where I am today.  I think that is the point.   Don't limit yourself to the possible, rather expand your world to the impossible. There's such a fine line between both states of being, why not reach higher and go farther than you imagine could be?

I want to give a huge nod to my editor Beth Erikson who has been the rock behind this whole project, keeping me in line, offering advice, soothing my fears, and urging me a long. Thank you for all you have done.  Thank you also to the acquiring editor, Tonia Jenny for nudging me to take this leap and for allowing me first to have this opportunity. My gratitude is wide and deeply felt for your belief in me!   There's so many people behind the scenes at F & W Media who have made this project come to life, I think you all for working so hard to create beautiful books and various artistic material, you do so much for the artistic community that you don't even realize!

Lastly, thank you all for your heartfelt comments to my previous blog post. Wow...amazing reactions and such love and support I felt from all of you. That story is such a small but yet poignant part of my life, it doesn't truly tell all of what has gone on, especially in my formative years, but it does let you know that we all have stories to share, ones of resilience and accomplishments,  fear and self doubt, love and rejection, and triumph over sorrow.     The story doesn't really tell you how my beloved Mother gave me more strength and will power to not just survive, but to thrive, not just back then but to this day.  It also doesn't discuss that I was adopted by the man I call my father when I was three, so even though my biological father didn't want to open the adoption and relationship back up, I did have a male figure in my world during those early years and remains part of my life today.  There's always more to the story but I wanted to add those points in as I felt I didn't do justice to just how amazing the role my Mother played in my survival after the accident and how much inspiration she is to me to this day and forever will be.

Jodi:)

Go Behind the Scenes with Jodi Ohl at the Filming of her latest DVD's

Throughout the week of taping my DVD's, the film crew were like little mouses, sneaking around with the cameras and asking me oddball questions..lol   Here's a quick little promo videos with a couple of the out-takes. Everyone had a great sense of humor and lots of fun during filming :)

To view all of the products and options available from F&W Media,  please click 

HERE.

The Burning Question: What Do I Have to Do to Get Business?

"Grace and Love"  18 x 36  

The other day I had a conversation with someone who was seeking out business advice around her art/craft business and one thing that became apparent within seconds of our conversation starting was how unhappy she was. Frustration, despair, anger, and negativity oozed from her lips as we talked about ideas around running a creative business.  

What was lacking anywhere in the conversation was passion.

I'm not saying she wasn't passionate about what she did, I'm sure she probably was, but it was buried so deep within, she was not conveying it.

All I could hear was how there were roadblocks everywhere.

Nothing was going well.

Business was horrible.

No traffic.

She didn't have money.

She wasn't going to sell online either.  

She didn't have a computer and wasn't about to get one, she couldn't afford it.

Collect emails and send a newsletter?  No way, I don't even have an email address, why would I do that?

The truth of the matter is, there's not one person out there that goes into business for their self, that doesn't come up on a roadblock or an obstacle to overcome, at one time or another or quite frankly, frequently in what they do.  

If you are lacking passion or drive to do what you want to do that is bigger and stronger than a monetary reward, than you probably aren't going to be successful.  Those roadblocks will trip you up every time if you are lacking drive and passion.

It's that drive to create and to put your ideas out into the world anyway you can that keeps you fueled on a day to day basis. You have to keep seeking out opportunities. You have to continue to hone your skills and improve what you do all the time.  Will you need to refuel from time to time and take breaks? Of course.  No one's well is at full capacity 100% of the time.  Ever.  Bigger than drive perhaps is  a compulsion  to do this more than anything else in the world.

When things aren't happening, you have to take a good look at yourself and  consider that part of the reason may be external factors, but also take ownership for what you are doing or not doing to the best of your ability. What needs to be changed? What can you do differently?  It's easy to get discouraged during down times. I've been there and done that too...but the important thing is to know that there are MANY things within your control that you can do to be better or more successful (whatever your definition of success is).

If there is a roadblock that you refuse to cross for whatever reason, then know that maybe that is just the thing that is keeping you from being successful.  Be open to change, because change happens whether you want it to or not. Perhaps that roadblock was put in your way by the 'universe' to force you to change directions. It could be a little bit of both, too.  Something you need to cross over, or something you need to turn and go a different way.  Thank about that for a minute.

As the conversation continued,   she fought me tooth and nail on any suggestion that I had for her.  I don't have all the answers for sure, but the lack of consideration even for a minute of anything that I mentioned showed me that she wasn't asking out of a sincere place of trying to improve her business, it was coming from a place of desperation and need to just survive.   

The passion wasn't apparent. 

Also lacking was an entrepreneurial spirit.  The fact she was in a creative business was more or less because she couldn't find a job elsewhere and this is what she knew and what she enjoyed doing.

It's very difficult to make a hobby a business if you lack drive or are working from a place of despair.  Honestly, there are a lot of creatives that aren't great business people...but you either have to roll up your sleeves and learn how to be a business or surround yourself with those that are. Hire out. Trade services. Join clubs or organizations that can provide mentorship.  

I never want to discourage anyone from creating or doing art because I think it is life changing  for not just yourself, but for those around you as well as the world at large.    My point for this post is that if you are in business or looking to be in business for yourself, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons and be willing to do whatever it takes to make it work.   But most of all, never loose the passion that drove you to do what you love. If your attitude is in the toilet,  chances are your business isn't going to be far behind. 

  The person I was speaking to that inspired this post is a good person and the interaction was a teachable moment for both of us.  I think  she knew most of the answers but was unwilling to hear them, for me..having the courage to tell someone something they didn't necessarily want to hear was hard honestly.   If someone is struggling and wanting to find a way out, if you say everything is rainbow and unicorns, and wonderful--well, that isn't helping anyone either, right?

Find your way to shine and let the world see all the good that you have to offer!  "Positivity" and belief that you can do something is 1/2 the battle...figuring out the steps to take to make it work and running after them as if there is a lion chasing you is probably the next step ;)  

Remember:  let your passion shine for everyone to see.  If it's buried so deep within your soul,   the world is going to pass by without noticing your gifts and that would be a shame. 

I've said this before and I'll say this again,  think long and hard before turning a hobby into a business...even if the start up cost is lower than say buying a software company or restaurant chain, it doesn't mean that there are no costs or no investment necessary.  Time and energy being the biggest investment of all..but of course there are other things you just have to have or do to make a creative business get off the ground.

Lastly,  remember...no one has all the answers you are seeking.  The questions are always changing. The answers are always evolving. The path is winding and the starting points are all slightly different.

Make YOURSELF be the authority on what you do by never stop learning and discovering around your chosen business/art/craft.   The art of discovery is a great fuel to keep your passion going, which is at the core of how to generate business...if that is indeed what you want to do. 

Thank you for stopping by today!

Artfully yours,

Jodi 

******************************************

Have you signed up for my newsletter?  A couple times a month I share art business tips,  creative inspiration, subscriber specials, and previews of new collections or classes coming up to my readers.

To subscribe, click HERE.  This month's edition is coming out soon and there will be some exciting news along with an awesome sauce special that you will have first dibs at!

******

HUGE HUGE HUGE milestone hit this week (more about that later) in my Etsy shop!

Before the New Year, I had about 40 items in my shop
Art by Jodi Ohl...today, I topped over 100 items. I've been slowly adding on items, extending lines and just overall doing a better job at listing my work and keeping the shop updated.  I had a goal to hit a 100 items and I was going to try to keep it around that  number of offerings but I think I'm going to continue on and up that goal to 150 items before the end of the year.   I have a blog post or two about some 'aha' moments as to what has happened this year and why that hopefully can helps some of you. Stay tuned for that!

To see other items in my Etsy Shop, please click HERE. :)