Archive for July, 2012

I recently started promoting an “Item Of The Day”. The item I choose will be 50% off for the whole day. At this point I can’t say that I will be able to do this every single day, but I’d keep a lookout for them on here or on my Facebook Page.

The item today is “Pancake Prince”.

This is a 5″ x 7″ limited edition print on wood covered with a glossy plastic resin. It’s signed and numbered and is available today for $25.

You can order it online at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/98746536/print-the-pancake-prince-limited-edition.

Thanks for looking!
If you don’t want to miss out on future “Items Of The Day” you might want to subscribe to these blog posts. This link should give you a plethora of choices to subscribe with whatever blog reader you prefer: http://feeds.feedburner.com/jeffclaassen.

As always,
Thanks for looking!

- Jeff

Dear Ass Head Lady,

If you have two kids in your car, one of them young enough that they need a stroller, I highly suggest checking your blindspot before switching lanes and almost crashing into me. You are extremely lucky that I wasn’t texting or checking my Facebook status while driving because you would have no doubt rammed into me. And it would have been your fault. I would not admit to playing on my phone while you brainlessly smashed into me. C’mon, I’m not an idiot.

Your Number One Hater,
Jeff

P.S. You have kids in your car. Pay some fucking attention.

Shocked that I’ve never seen this before this morning. It’s good stuff.

I decided to experiment on Saturday. The experiment was promoting an “item of the day”, which was a print marked down 50% for one day only. I posted a link to it on my FB Fan Page. As you can see from the screenshot, only 403 people saw the post out of a potential 2,300 people that have liked my page. (This was four hours after posting. It’s Monday now and only an additional 103 have seen the post. Obviously, the first couple of hours will be the time your post gets the most views.)

In the next screenshot, which is from my Etsy stats, out of the 403 people that saw the post on FB only 18 people clicked the link to see my “item of the day”.

Out of the 18 people that looked at the actual item in my etsy shop none of them took advantage of the 50% off deal. You win some, you lose some.

Naturally, there are an enormous amount of factors to consider:
- Posting on a Saturday might not be the best day because more people are away from their computers than on a weekday.
- Time of day that I posted was possibly a time where less people are online.
- Perhaps the item I chose to promote isn’t a popular one. Then again, maybe it is, but it might be more popular in a different format like a limited edition print on wood with resin coating as opposed to the open edition that I was promoting.
- It’s the end of the month too, which could mean people aren’t spending money on artwork because they have rent due in a few days.
- With the amount of people on FB it’s highly likely that my post simply got buried on people’s home page within a minute or two.
- I only posted the link once. It would have gotten more views if I posted the link every few hours.
- And the list goes on and on.

My main point though is the number of click throughs. I have 2,300 “likes” on FB, which I think is a lot. I know it’s nowhere near the high profile “rockstar” artists, but it’s certainly more than a lot of other fan pages on Facebook. The thing is though, out of 2,300 people I only managed to get 18 of them to click on the link and to look at the item I was promoting. How many people would have had to see the item before a purchase was made…19…20…300? We may never know.

Armed with this information what is a DIY professional to do? First and foremost, it’s good practice to not let stuff like this get you down. It’s completely irrational to get upset because people don’t buy your creations. And when 18 out of a possible 2,300 click on your link you need to keep in mind that 18 is better than zero. You must forge ahead and keep at it.

Naturally, you might be asking yourself, “is it worth it?” In the big picture I would have to say yes. Simply because there are too many factors to say this particular promotion was a failure. I could try the same promotion with a different item and have totally different results. Possibly better results or maybe worse results. I could even do the same exact promotion with the same exact item and end with different results by posting on a Monday as opposed to a Saturday.

In conclusion, I think it’s best to continually experiment with promoting. Who’s to say that one of those 18 people won’t come back and make a purchase later?

Any thoughts, comments, ideas, past experience with your own FB promoting…I’d love to hear them.

The weirdo’s I live with are really into labeling their cereal. They don’t do this with any other items. Cereal in this household is like a sacred edible deity not to be shared with others. This box of Shredded Spoonfuls was no exception. As you can see it was intended to fill the bellies of Coral and Elliott.

Well, not if I can help it. Suckas!

James: 12 years old.

James has been begging us to take him to the library so he can get a library card. That’s a good thing. I highly encourage reading and we have a rule in our house for the kids to read at least 45 minutes a day. Like most rules it gets skipped from time to time, but for the most part it tends to happen. I, personally, have not had a library card since the third grade. To put that into perspective, the last time I had a library card was probably the same time Goonies was playing in the theater. A few weeks ago I finally walked with James to the library and we both got library cards.

Yesterday James came home with 4-5 “scary” books. Ever since letting him watch “The Sixth Sense” a couple of months ago he now considers himself a fan of scary movies. Books on the subject seem like the next logical step. Yesterday was my day to watch Elliott and Coral’s day to work. Being a responsible father, I was watching Elliott pull wet wipes out of their box, haphazardly tossing them all over the living room while I ate a bowl of Trader Joe’s Crisp Rice Cereal on the couch. James sat next to me poring over his newly checked out cache of creepy books from the library.

“What does ‘genuine’ mean?” he asked, pronouncing it “jen-u-eyeing”.
Without saying a word I walked to our little book room, grabbed a big fat dictionary, walked back to the couch and said, “Look it up” as I dropped the book on the cushion next to him.
“Nevermind” he said.
“So, you don’t want to know what the word means if you have to do the work to find out?”
“I just don’t get why you can’t tell me.”
“If you want to learn something it’s going to stick more if you do the work to find the answer. Are you really so lazy you can’t take one minute to look up the definition of a word?”
We both knew the answer was yes. After all, this is a kid that’s too lazy to flush a toilet. I left the room shaking my head in disgust and disappointment.

When I returned some time later the dictionary I left next to James had mysteriously disappeared from the living room. Then James proudly held up, what appeared to be a pretty hefty book about an inch and a half thick, proclaiming that he was almost done reading it.

“What?” I said, “No way. That’s a very thick book.”
“Yeah, look.” And he showed me the last page. That’s when I noticed the pages were that pressed cardboard material and were close to an 1/8″ thick each. He had been reading a book about vampires that must have been written for five year olds. No wonder the dictionary was such a challenge.

When I questioned about the whereabouts of the dictionary I found out that after I left the room in disgust James did look up the word “genuine”. He even told me the definition of it. Good boy.

There is still hope.

Last week a DJ friend of mine, Josh Payne, invited me to set up an easel at an event he was putting on. I haven’t done a “live art” thing in a couple of years so I thought it would be fun. Also, I haven’t opened the gallery to the public since April, so I thought it would be good to get out and do something.

In the past I’ve done bigger pieces in the 24″ x 48″ range and spent the whole night working on them. This time around I worked on 16″ x 20″ pieces of paper. At the end of the night I had two finished pieces and one that could use a few more details. Here are the two that I finished.

“Library Dude”
16″ x 20″ – spray paint and ink on paper
$100, plus shipping
Available to purchase online at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/105143778/original-library-dude.

For “Library Dude” I spray painted the background before the event because spray painting in downtown bars is frowned down upon. All the black lines were done with acrylic ink and paint brushes.

“Library Owl”
16″ x 20″ – ink on paper
$100, plus shipping
Available online at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/105143885/original-library-owl.

On this one all the pink was done with a Krink K-71 marker. All the black lines were done with acrylic ink and paint brushes.

This event was at a bar called “The Library”, so that’s where the titles for the pieces come from.

Thanks for looking!
- Jeff

I was looking through some files on my computer and realized that I have a slight octopus obsession. I’ve made paintings and prints of them, used them on wallet designs, a button, I painted two of them on an antique claw foot bathtub and even painted a couple of them on somebody’s body. Looking around the studio right now I’m wondering what else I could put an octopus on. I’m sure I’ll find something…keychain, pocket mirror, t-shirt, etc. Here are some of the octopus creations I’ve made over the years. Some of them are available to purchase and some have already found happy homes. I’ve listed them in chronological order, to the best of my knowledge, to see the evolutionary changes my octopi have gone through. Enjoy the ride.

“Underworld Inhabitants” – 2005
This is the first octopus I could find in my digging around. It’s a collaboration painting I did for the second show I put on in my gallery, The Collaboartion Show, with Lindasimo.

Unfortunately, it never sold so I eventually painted over it. If I remember correctly it got painted over with this:

“A Motley Crew Of Degenerates”

It’s hard to imagine I went a whole year before making another octopus, but I couldn’t find anything else in my files until this piece.

“Octopi Solo” – 2006 (sold)
This one brought about a new technique for me. For a long time I preferred drawing my characters with a Rapidograph pen on paper as opposed to painting them with a brush on a wood panel, but I wanted to make paintings instead of drawings, so there was a bit of a struggle. At the time I just couldn’t get as detailed with the paintbrush as I could with the pen and this new method I came up with allowed me to combine painting and drawing without having to cut my drawings out of paper and glueing them to a painted board, which is what I was doing a lot of at the time. This technique with “Octopi Solo” was painting the wood and pouring a layer of resin over it. The Rapidograph ink draws nice and smooth on the resin so I would draw on that and then pour a layer of resin over the ink drawing to protect it.

“Octogirl” – 2006 (sold)
Simple enough, just a coffee soaked piece of paper with a drawing of a girl that has tentacles.

“You’ve Been A Bad Octopi” – 2006 (sold)
This is ink on paper, which I’m a huge fan of, but I learned quick that the pieces that sold fastest were the ones that were on wood with the clear gloss resin coating. Selling artwork fast is good when the sales of your art determine if you can pay rent. At this time I started mounting my drawings on wood so I could cover them with resin. The paper on this one turned ever so slightly transparent so you can actually see some wood grain through the paper when you look close. It’s much easier to see when looking at the original in person as opposed to this picture. Eventually, I added some color digitally to use this drawing as a graphic for my line of wallets.

The wallet is available for $16 and can be purchased at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/103220337/wallet-youve-been-a-bad-octopi.

Apparently, there is another gap in the creation of octopi because I can’t find any record of them until 2009.

“Demetri, The Curious Octopi” – 2009 (sold)
Pictured here is the limited edition print. The original painting is a 12″ square and I painted it for my “Lovesick” show at the now defunct gallery, Alpha Cult. The original is no longer available, but the print is an 8″ square and available for $80 at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/73195102/print-demetri-the-curious-octopi-limited.

I also used “Demetri” for this wallet design, which is available for $16 at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/93742647/wallet-demetri-the-curious-octopi.

“No Need To Escape” – 2009 (sold)
I painted this one for my show at “Picking Daises“, which is a cute boutique that makes awesome handmade cloth napkins. For the show I screen printed a bunch of napkins in addition to showing new paintings. Fun stuff! The napkins have long since been sold out.

“Antique Tub” – 2009
My friend Adam commissioned me to paint this awesome claw foot tub he found on craigslist, which is one of the most fun commissions I’ve done to date. I’ve got to tell you though, that thing weighed more than a rhinoceros. Not to mention, the contortions I had to put my body through to paint this odd shaped thing would impress any yoga instructor.

“Fluffy Omelet” – 2009 (sold)
Years ago, I made the mistake of visiting my parents house when they were cleaning out their garage. This is a couple that has been married for over 30 years and has moved residences more times than there are silverfish living in all the boxes stored in their garage. Also, I’m pretty sure they’ve never thrown anything away. Some of the boxes being stored simply get moved from one house to the next. If you’ve ever encountered such a scenario you can understand the type of clusterfuck I’m talking about here. To their credit, they got rid of A LOT of stuff that day. Unfortunately, I’ve picked up some of their pack rat mentalities that I’m trying to overcome. Anyway, I found this super awesome cookbook from 1964 while helping them get rid of stuff that should have been twenty years deep in a landfill by that point. Instead, it was floating around in my parents garage waiting for me to find it. The cookbook was full of illustrations that I thought were awesome. I’m not sure if it was custom illustration or just cheesy 60′s clip art. Either way I thought the pages would be great to paint on. And paint I did. In addition to “Fluffy Omelet” I also painted these. It was a popular series and I made button packs featuring some of the cookbook pages. “Fluffy Omelet” is featured in this pack.

The pack of five buttons is available for $5 and can be purchased at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/62077364/button-pack-the-cookbook-series-set-2.

Sketchbook Doodle – 2009
From time to time people come into my store and ask if I can draw something in their book. I must have been in an octopus mood at the time.

Embodiment – 2010
These little octopi were done for the Embodiment Show at Native Lounge in Downtown SLO. If my memory serves me correctly this was the week where the theme was “surf”, so painting sea creatures seemed fitting.

2012 has proved to be a busy octopus year so far.

“Off You Go” – 2012
This was a commission painting and is part of a series of four 6″ square paintings. I wasn’t asked to specifically paint an octopus. In fact, I was given free reign to paint whatever I wanted so long as the four pieces looked good together.

“Friendly Octopi” – 2012 (sold)
From time to time I go through this “spray paint on paper with ink” phase, which is exactly what it sounds like. I spray paint paper. Then I paint with ink over the top of it. Although the original “Friendly Octopi” is gone there is an 8″ x 10″ print available for $16 at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/101124638/8×10-print-friendly-octopi.

“Inky Octopus” – 2012 (sold)
This little painting was done during my last “spray paint on paper” phase, but is also part of an ACEO series, which is something I’ve never done before. ACEO is an acronym for “art cards, editions and originals” and by the ACEO definition the work must be 2.5″ x 3.5″. I don’t think it matters if the orientation is vertical or horizontal. Anyway, it’s fun to work in really small scale sometimes. I probably made a dozen of these, but I only made two featuring our favorite eight tentacled sea creature.

“Prince Octopi” – 2012
This one is available for $15 at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/96816163/original-aceo-prince-octopi.

If you enjoyed this post please let me know. It was a lot of work and took way longer than I expected. My original intention was just to post photos of some of the octopus paintings I’ve done and leave it at that. Then it turned into much more, going through eight years worth of images on my hard drive hunting down every octopus I could click my mouse on. Then digging through the trenches of my memory bank to give a little story about each piece as opposed to just listing the clever title and year of execution. It’s been a fun journey for me going through these images and I hope you enjoyed the trip as well.

Bonsoir!
- Jeff

Our sassy ten year old, Evelyn, can be a real sweetheart from time to time. Check out this drawing she just gave me.

I love it.

Coral texted this to me a little while ago. I thought it was hilarious and adorable.

I should add that this might be somewhat staged. I’m slightly skeptical because that kid never wants anything to do with a “bah bah”. I’ll have to go inspect Elliott’s hands to see if Coral stuck some double sided tape to them or something. Come to think of it, my bottle of Krazy Glue is mysteriously out of place.

It’s been awhile since I’ve come up with new designs for the bottle opener keychains. Let me interrupt myself for a minute just to state that I find it very bothersome that this one product uses three words: Bottle Opener Keychain. “Keychain”, of course, could be considered two words. Either way, it’s way too many words for one product.

Two of these designs are actually brand new. As in, they’ve never existed until today. The others have been around, but they were never made available online.

The two brand new ones are from my recent Haida inspired paintings.

“The Shaman”
$5, plus shipping
order online at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/104675847/bottle-cap-opener-keychain-the-shaman

“The Fighter”
$5, plus shipping
order online at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/104675838/bottle-cap-opener-keychain-the-fighter

I have a total of 14 designs to choose from. Here’s a direct link to all the available keychains:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/jeffclaassen?section_id=5960684.

Hey, if you like these, but would rather have your own artwork/design on them let me know. I’m totally open to doing custom orders for people. Use the contact form to get in touch.

Thanks for looking!
- Jeff