Most art marketing coaches will tell you to focus on ONE style or type of art.  Business coaches will tell you to focus on ONE business idea. To master and do ONE thing well, before moving on to the next project. To wear just one “hat” so to speak.

Over the years, I can not say that I have really done that. I have stuck to predominately creating just my fractal art. I have removed my photography, digital painting and photo manipulations from my art web site, and am focused on my most successful line in my fractals. I still play with the other styles now and then, but I have at least narrowed my focus, art style wise. For now.

However, I am branching out. I have taken on the Fractalcious accessory line. It has become more than just art. It is now art, fabric, clothing, accessories, bedding, etc. That’s a lot of marketing, creating, and selling. . . different markets, different audiences.

It also means that my budget and expenses (not to mention time) is stretched all across the board as well.

So why do I do it? Because everything is just falling into place. I am going with the flow. It feels right. It makes me happy.  This feeds my passion to keep going and I find I want to just keep marching forward, creating new items to carry in the Fractalicious line.

I am enjoying the journey, but I can see why business mentors tell me to hunker down and focus on just one thing. My days can be a little scattered, a little crazy, and I am not always spending as much time doing what I simply love to do – creating art. Expenses are high. With new Fractalicious accessory lines comes new samples or product to purchase to have on hand for customers or retail buyers. I have the expense of the trademark lawyer. If I want to showcase the new Fractalicious line at art shows, I have to jury in more than one area, and that adds up costs as well.

That said, would I advise others to create art in more than one area, like this too? Yes, I would, because I’ve done it, am doing it, and it is working. I am finding success in all the different niches. Everything is being met with enthusiasm. I am able to keep up with the demands, so far too! I sometimes have to pinch myself to believe it is all real. It is happening at a fast pace, it often seems dream like. But I am happy, I am having fun, and in the end, that is all that matters. It might wear on me some days. Some days I look around me and wonder what the heck have I gotten myself into. Some days, I can feel a little overwhelmed. However, I think it’s paramount to just TRY. If you don’t, you’ll always be left wondering what if, and I think that is far worse than trying and failing. The only real failure, I believe, comes in giving up. In not doing anything. We will all stumble upon our path. How we adjust to that is what makes or breaks us. Do we lie there, and call it quits, or do we stand, brush ourselves off, and continue onward? Success will find us all eventually, if we just keep moving, just keep trying. It does not have to be perfect action. Just action. As one of my favorite motivational speakers, T. Harv Ecker says, “Ready, Fire, Aim.” Just DO something. Take action. If it doesn’t work, bow out. Or change it up. Fix it as you go, adjust as you go. Remember, you’re in charge.

So, if you are branching out in multiple directions and if one of your specialties takes off more than the others, go with it for a few months! If another falters, you can ease up on it a bit. You can always go back and revise later. The important thing is to follow your heart and just try. Besides, it keeps life interesting!

The benefit of wearing several “hats” is that even if one area doesn’t succeed, you have other options to explore; alternate avenues that might work for you later.

And when all is said and done, perhaps like me, you just might like creating different types of art, or different marketable products. In the end, the mentors mean well, but it is YOUR time. YOUR expense, YOUR vision, YOUR art.

So go on. Use the creativity you’ve been blessed with, and try on a few different hats. Get out there and dabble in the different forms of art that catch your eye or make your heart sing. If you bite off more than you can chew, you can always dial it back. Life is too short to sit and do nothing, and then wonder, what if. Follow your bliss.

Just go out and make it happen. Make it a Fractalicious day!

~Kimberly

Technorati Tags: accessories, Digital Art, Fashion, Fractalicious, fractals, Kim Hansen, Kimberly R. Hansen, Kimberly Rae Hansen, marketing

What is it that keeps us going, striving, and reaching for our dreams and goals? What is it that keeps us down? Makes us stop or makes us quit?

Is it perseverance? Self confidence? Real or imagined success? Or something else entirely?

I look at where I was just a few years ago. I look at where I am today. I look at where I am headed. It is overwhelming sometimes. Shoot, if someone had told me just ten years ago that I would make my living as an artist, I would have laughed at them. Me? Create art? Yeah right, I don’t have an artistic bone in my body!  And yet, here I am. With the computer as my medium, I can in fact, create fractal, digital art that moves, touches and inspires more than just me! Amazing. It honestly does not feel or seem real a lot of the time. I always thought life had other plans, other directions. I never dreamed of following this path.

And as I roll down this path, I see it has changed, is still changing, before me. I marvel at the way things have just fallen into place with my Fractalicious ™ accessories line. It is all coming to fruition. I still am not quite sure how I am managing it all, other than I just keep taking baby steps forward. I look down the path and I can’t really see past the bends and the forks. It is both frightening and exhilarating.

I must remind myself to be flexible, bendy if you will, as I continue to navigate forward. I might have one vision of the “how” to achieve the desired outcome, and circumstance, life, God, the universe, whatever label you wish to adhere to it, certainly often has another! Often, it is a much better “how” than the one I have tried to concoct. The trick is letting go, and moving with that different flow. I can be a bit of a control freak. That is not always easy for me. I often get hung up on the “how” while floating down that river, and thus, take longer to get to the end.

While this all sounds all Suzy Sunshine and rosy, it’s not to say that I am not met with obstacles. I have this persistent nagging little voice in my head that tells me all sorts of ugly things. Some days it is harder to squelch it than others. It is not always easy to take that next step when I so want to falter. There are days when I really wonder if I am in the right place; on the right path. This is all just a mistake, right? Is it too late to turn around? Think I will just stop right here…lay down…call it quits…

We all have days like that, right? How is it that some seem to move forward more fluidly than others on days like this? Some seem to just let it all slide off their backs, and yet others let it affect them more strongly, causing things to slow down or stop entirely. Me? I am somewhere in the middle. I don’t ever fully stop, but I have had my slowed moments. Moments that startle me, get me thinking too much, slow my steps, cause me to sit and ponder and begin to chicken out or quit. Somehow I manage to stand up and take that next baby step, however. I figure eventually, I will be able to see around the bend. Maybe that next step right around the corner is THE step I need to take to get to where I am headed.

I could write and say what techniques I use to pull past it all. That is for another post, another time, as this rambling is well…long enough! But what I would love to hear is how YOU push past. What makes YOU take that step. And then the next. And the next. And the next? What tricks and tips can you share, personally, with the rest of us? I think that we can all learn from each other, derive strength and inspiration. Our paths all parallel, ultimately. Please, join in the discussion below!

Go out and make it a Fractalicious Day!

~Kimberly

Technorati Tags: accessories, art, Digital Artistry, flexibility, Fractal, Fractalicious, inspiration, Kim Hansen, Kimberly Hansen, Kimberly Rae Hansen, Momentum

If I have been quiet lately, it is because summer is a bit of a busy time of year. I just wrapped up a great show in Denver at the People’s Fair. Thanks to all who came out to support the festival, and stopped by to say hello at my booth. I even got to see an old friend I had not seen in twelve years. Talk about wonderful!

Now, I am preparing for an upcoming show in just a few weeks; NicFest. Here are the show details and where to find me!

Where is the festival?

NIC Fest is held on the grounds of the Nicolaysen Art Museum & Discovery Center, 400 E. Collins, in Casper WY.

When is the festival?
Friday, June 25 from 5 to 9 p.m.
Saturday, June 26 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday, June 27 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Where do I find fractalicious art and accessories?:)

Booth #2 in the big tent, same spot as in years past. You can’t miss me! I will have the new watches and scarves available for those that have not seen them yet. You gotta touch them, they are scrumptious and an absolute delight to wear!

I am feeling particularly festive and generous; the drawing at the People’s Fair went so well, I need to do this again for the folks of Wyoming! Be sure to stop by and register, I will be giving away another piece of fine fractal art.

I am looking forward to seeing you there!

Go out and make it a fractalicious day!

Kimberly Rae Hansen

Technorati Tags: accessories, art, Art Festival, Casper, Fine art, Fractal Art, Fractalicious, Kim Hansen, Kimberly Hansen, Kimberly Rae Hansen, NicFest, Scarves, Watches, Wyoming