This week’s EBSQ Blogger of the Week is both a exceptional artist and a captivating blogger. Her art is sometimes whimsical, sometimes surreal and often a little deliciously creepy! I especially love reading about her art WIPS!

Who and where are you?

I am a very late bloomer to the art scene here in Denver. When I graduated from art school I was a widow with two small kids, so I immediately had to work. About five years ago I quit my part time job with the Post Office, and began to do art again. I started by selling on eBay to get a feeling for the direction I wanted to go and to have a sense of the business of art. A little later I took some on line marketing classes from Alyson Stanfield (Art Biz Coach), who happens to live in  near by Golden Colorado. Shortly after I joined an old co-op I used to belong to right after art school which gave me courage to try for a co-op in the Art District itself. So I have belonged to both for the last few years.

Over the years I knew I wouldn’t be happy unless I gave my all to making a name for myself here in Denver. I live in the foothills west of Denver I have a studio in my house, quite literally. Recently a friend and I have rented a studio down in the center of the art district. It’s an exciting place to be right now, lots of energy, lots of great art and we have a huge First Friday Art Crawl. Since it is centrally located we both teach classes there and work of course. It’s been a very gratifying experience.

How did you get started art blogging?

I decided to start blogging when Alyson, made a very good case in one of her classes about web sites vs blogging. She pointed out we need both but if we could only afford one then blog….why? Blogging uses lots of words, for search engines to pick up and they almost all connect to Facebook and Twitter. Your message and name can go almost viral sometimes depending on your topic.

Any tips for other EBSQ art bloggers?

I would say that the single most important thing is to do it regularly. I had someone ask me last First Friday if I added content on a regular basis, I knew he was asking me was it worth his time to check in every so often. You need to keep it interesting and give people something to come back for. It’s a great way to show your new art. I really like showing point A to point Z during a project. Sometimes I feature things I see that are of interest  on other blogs (always ask permission first). Some of my content is about my dog who is a real character, I did a recent flyer featuring my dog. On my blog we can also add a snippet of a sentence or two to help entice people to swing in for a look. One time I was having the blues about my art and the short phrase I chose was “my art sucks”…boy did I get a lot of interesting  comments and a bunch of hits. Pictures are always good I use them almost every time I post. Try to be concise, sometimes you don’t need many words, people tend not to read long rambling posts. I try to mix it up, with tips and suggestions to just posting art. Spell check everything!

What’s your musical inspiration of choice when you’re working in your studio?

Well I like to listen to the tv in the other room and my favorite show is NCIS and on the week ends the scifi channel, just can’t get enough of bad horror and sci fi moves…lol. It’s in the other room so it works like background noise to help keep me from getting distracted. In my studio down in town I have a ipod with podcasts from a couple of local art podcast shows and music which runs the from old Walyon Jennings and Johnny Cash, to vintage rock ‘n roll, Leon Russell and some BB King. I have eclectic taste I guess. However I do have strict work rules for myself and work during my studio time whether it’s home or down town. I’m pretty serious when it comes to not wasting time.

What’s coming next from your easel?

Currently I have a big show in May coming up, so I doing both clay assemblages and paintings, for that show. I’m hoping to have one semi big installation piece made up of smaller pieces, the clay molded ones I’ve been working on and been blogging about. Also I will have new paintings which feature black and white animals and backgrounds which have a little more substance for that one as well. This show will loosely follow the sideshow carnival theme I have been exploring for a couple of years. Then in the fall a small group of artists will be doing a carnival happening show in the district and another one in Boulder. I will also have another show at Pirate the other co-op at roughly the same time. So I will be crazy busy late summer into winter! Keeps me thinking and working hard.

http://croulier.typepad.com

Thank you Claudia for being an EBSQ Blogger of the Week!

If you are an EBSQ Artist and would like to be considered for Blogger of the Week just add us to your blogroll. I’m searching EBSQ profiles weekly for links to artist’s blogs. If you aren’t an EBSQ Artist, what are you waiting for?