J. Wysocki Arts

A Wealth Of Information On Starting/Running A Business

2009-07-24T14:54:00.003+01:00

I found a great site full of information on starting and running your own business. It's a UK site, but I think people from all over can use a lot of it. It seems to have a ton of valuable information so I thought I'd share it. http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?r.l1=1073858805&topicId=1075215800&r.lc=en&r.l2=1073859137&r.s=tl

Back To Painting

2009-05-30T16:02:00.002+01:00

Well, after taking some time off painting to adjust to a new job (care assistant at a nursing home) I am back to painting! You can see a few of my latest paintings on the right side of this blog, or at my website: http://www.jwysockiarts.com . More to come soon!

Changes

2008-08-08T04:54:00.000+01:00

Well, we're up and running and have made a couple of sites for our fellow Etsians and for a local cafe owner. Both Julian and I are finding it a lot of fun! The last couple of weeks have been quite a period of change. We've moved home and started a new business all at the same time! LOL

First Impression Websites

2008-07-21T23:19:00.000+01:00

Tess here...It's all very exciting! As some of you may know, I've started up my own business. I've finally decided to call it First Impression Websites http://www.firstimpressionwebsites.co.uk/etsians.htm .

For the past 2 years I have been trying to help Julian sell his art and manage the business side of things for him. Now he is going to help me in my business by being my graphic design consultant.

This is especially exciting because tomorrow is our 6th wedding anniversary and to me it's very special that we work together on our various projects.

Sunday Ponderings

2008-07-21T00:16:00.000+01:00

The earth and everything on it are all interconnected.
What is good for one is good for all.
What harms one harms all.
A little Sunday thought.

Combining Skills

2008-07-16T16:40:00.000+01:00

Tess and I have FINALLY decided to combine our skills in a new endeavor! We have decided to launch a new service for crafts people/artisans and artists of all sorts.

We are offering our services to produce for you a custom single web page at a reasonable price. The picture with this listing is an example of my front page and the kind of thing we will make for you.

I have a BA in Graphic Design from Kingston University in London and have been an artist all my life. Tess built my own web page along with her personal poetry page.

Here is what you will receive:
One complete web page CUSTOM DESIGNED for you. This will feature your logo, avatar if you wish, Etsy Mini, a link to your Etsy shop, and anything else you would like to put on one page. Unfortunately, we cannot offer things like a shopping cart, java, flash, and things of that nature.

WHAT WE CAN OFFER is a great basic web presence for you.

***Please Note: this price does not include a domain name and hosting. If you need help though, once you create an account with a domain and hosting company I will be glad to install the page for you. I use http://www.fortunecity.com as they are very reliable and very reasonably priced (I've been with them about 6 years now and have never had a problem).

Children And Art Collecting

2008-05-24T10:27:00.000+01:00

CHILDREN AND ART

Having a combined total of 15 nices and nephews, and by our natures being child-oriented (Tess used to be a special needs teacher in the US), we often think about children and art. It is well known that art is a very beneficial persuit for children; it helps them express themselves and improves their fine motor skills, to name but two benefits. Lately, however, we have also been thinking about the idea of children collecting art and what benefit, if any, that would be to them.

In the modern throw-away culture, art collecting teaches children that things have value. It also teaches gives them the pleasure of having wonderful and unique things in their lives in this era of mass production.

Helping a child start an art collection doesn't have to be expensive. The craft fairs are filled with artisans of all types, many of whom have at least some inexpensive items in their stands.

From our observations and our own experiences as children, it seems children have a natural tendency to want to collect things. Why not encourage them to use this tendency in a way that can provide both great pleasure and great benefit to them.

Sleeeepppppp Sleeeeeeppppppp

2008-05-18T20:40:00.000+01:00

Tess here...Sleeeeppppp Sleeeeep or lack thereof! Why oh why do we do it? LOL Got our timing all mixed up and worked late last night then decided to watch a movie (40 Days of Night) which wasn't even that good and didn't get to bed til after 4 am! I think sometimes we are just big kids and stay up late because we can. hehe

Awwwwwwwwwww

2008-05-17T10:35:00.000+01:00

Hi, Tess here. I took this picture of the lambs that are down the lane from our house. Aren't they just too sweet? They have spray painted numbers on them so the farmer can identify them. For some reason I just happened to choose "Number 36" to be "my" lamb and Julian chose "Number 1" to be "his". It's always fun to stop and look at them as we pass by. On the business side of things, we have some news we find really exciting. We've had our first Etsy sale, and to top it off, Julian got a commission to translate the image of a house someone drew into ceramics! It seems determination, persistence and patience are very important when starting a business and do pay off in the end.

Pictures From The Fair

2008-05-16T08:29:00.000+01:00

Here are a couple of pics from my recent craft fair. It was so much fun having the kids stop by to watch me and then get playing with the clay. It's amazing how quickly they picked up the techniques I showed them. I had other kids stop by too...clay and kids...they seem to go together like ....well comment and make a suggestion :)

Kids having fun with clay!

My craft fair stand.

This Weekend's Craft Fair

2008-05-12T21:18:00.000+01:00

Well, we (Tess and I) had our craft fair this weekend...it was only our third one. The venue was about a 5 hour drive, so we went on Friday and got set up at the campground (our sleeping accomodations for this fair). Luckily the rain held itself up until after I got the tent pitched...but only by seconds!!

The fair was part of the BASC Country Fair (shooting, dogs, etc) and was organized by Ellen from Crafts 4 U Events. While business wasn't good (smaller than usual attendance to the event, the economy, etc) we had a most wonderful time! Ellen is such a warm and lovely person she made us feel at home as opposed to just one of many, and the other crafters were very friendly and extremely helpful to us newbies. Even though we didn't make a profit, we gained invaluable amounts of tips and advice which we will use in future shows.

My First Post

2008-05-05T23:55:00.000+01:00

Hi, Tess here, half of the husband-wife team behind J. Wysocki Arts. This is our very first blog post, so be patient :) We noticed a lot of people from Etsy blog here, so thought we'd get in on the fun. This is going to be a busy week for us, we have a craft fair this weekend in Stirlingshire (Scotland) and are also producing new items for the upcoming Royal Highland Show in June.

I actually made my first ceramics today, which are refrigerator magnets. My husband is the true artist in this family, but I thought I would give it a go myself.