Thursday, August 29, 2013

branddave turns 5 (almost)

dear dave

coming up on my F I V E   Y E A R  A N N I V E R S A R Y!!

officially started working for myself Sept 2, 2008, after my last year at bsur, supposedly preparing the company for my departure.

Really hard for me to believe that much time has passed, but then again it makes sense.

Here is my blog post from that day :  http://branddave.blogspot.com/2008/09/blog-post_4160.html  posted from my little desk, in my little "studio" (closet room) in Studio 4903.  CRAZY!!

So many people to thank, and acknowledge for getting from THERE to HERE:

HEX

GAYLE
ANAYLYA
PETER
DAVE K
BEVERLY
SATAREH
CAROLINE
MEGAN
BECKY
PAULA
KIM
ERIN
TOM D
TOM G
TROHV
AMY
CORD
BARB
MCA
GERAN

(unfinished)

highlights:
moving into 4903
artomatics (printing on wood!)
printing on pegboard
meeting Tom G
solo show
Baked & Wired show
shooting DAVE K
my naked shoot with C
blogging
moving to 14 ST
TROHV shows
Design Houses with Barb
speakeasy drawings / tees
Mid City Caffe show
tightewhities with Peter
Buzz shows
Dolcezza
AXIS windows
JD IRELAND xmas cards
MCA open studios
DOG DAYS sidewalk sales
Hyattsville / H St. shows
etc etc -- it's all jumbling together.

Anyway, the future is bright.  The past has been great, but the future will be even better.  So much potential.  big plans :)

Wednesday, August 28, 2013


dear dave,

scattered and stressed and excited and anxious!

more later

-------
gloomy weather
dads 82nd bday
my 5th year anniversary (branddave) coming up!
August went by too fast
NOT ENOUGH DRAWING PROGRESS
all I want to do is .... nothing
orders coming in
distracted my internet
august go away
light is changing
bugs are singing
bored by music, tv, radio, web

Monday, August 26, 2013

dear dave,

great weekend - productive and fun.

Hexy's yard sale on saturday was great.  We started putting things in the driveway at around 9, and almost immediately people began stopping and rifling through it all.  A little frustrating, because everything is all over the place, you are trying to unpack and organize, and people keep asking prices.

We eventually sorted it all out.  People came in streams, and some bought tons at a time.  All in all it was great.  Lots of stuff went out, and $ came in.  Last minute buy of the big shelf and drawers was just icing on the cake.

Then it was all about baking for Sunday -- Dad's 82nd bday dinner at John and Brenda's.  All went well - steak, cheese potatoes, salad, jello salad, fridge, plum tart, marshmallow cake.  Great weather, good moods, healthy mom & dad, and bella.

Afterwards, we crashed.  So much going on, to think about, and behind.  It's been a big summer (and Hexy has been my rock of support)

Friday, August 23, 2013

good day.  sort of a follow up to the excitement of yesterday.  things came through, which was great.

Thinking about studio upstairs, and weekend.  Distracted, as usual.

august is so laggy.

Thursday, August 22, 2013


PUBLISH

SEND

POST

TWEET

CALL

UPLOAD

SAVE

PREVIEW

COMMENT

GO

ADD

EDIT

REVIEW

CHOOSE

SELECT

CORRECT


Wednesday, August 21, 2013


1.  De installed Dolcezza last night at 10:50pm.  All went well - we were super prepared, and just ran through it.  Out in 20 minutes tops.

The show was a super great success!  I'm hoping for a few last minute sales, so I can officially label it sold-out.  Fingers crossed.  I like to think that their regular customers were bummed when they walked in today, and all was gone.  A nice little fantasy.

2.  Flash sale at VP today, so I went whole-hog on the hat (samples).  Couldn't pull the trigger completely, because I'm still a little hesitant, but a great chance to stock up and sample.  New cards too!  (great sale)

3.  Checked out a fellow DC card-maker's site today, and fizzled.  Comparing and contrasting is never good.  The artwork has so many elements that I want in mine.  Bright and bold and happy and clean.

15 minutes later I felt like such a hack.

What am I doing??

I suck!

 My work sucks!

I should be doing so much more!

(it wasn't pretty in my head).






I got over it.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

not the best of days, but I lurch forward.

found 4 prints in my hoarder-closet-clean-out yesterday!  good news.

nice weather, good mood, positive news.  Its all good.  Now if I could just sit down and draw and produce something, things would be stellar.

Monday, August 19, 2013

http://www.branddave.com/freehand/hats.html

dear dave,

this became such a draggy day.  A good chance to draw, but devolved into dust.  Sometimes I just don
t want to be sitting here!

Got my hat samples in, and am really into them.  Surprised by them actually.

Had a good, non-working working weekend.  That is probably why I'm not into working here today.

Saturday spent a big chunk of the afternoon here drawing, and editing photos.  Sunday we went to rockville, and great falls, and Lee's.  All pretty typical.

August blahs are here.  Nobody is around, emails dry up, and nothing really moves forward.  Hate it, always.  Momentum is nonexistent.  Such a great time to catch up, and advance -- but I want to be gone too!  I get that bad feeling that somehow I've been left behind.

Dolcezza show closes tomorrow.  Keep hoping for some last minute sales, but it looks like things will fizzle.  Another late august casualty.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

dear dave,

forgot to write about shooting with Kevin monday.

So much fun again.  Such a great, fun, nice, sincere, reliable guy who looks great on film - and who really inspires me.  Really excited to shoot with him, make new shirts, and reFRESH branddave.com.

:) x 100

kevin 2



Tuesday, August 13, 2013

good couple of days.  August is turning out to be better (in my head).  Feeling lighter and more positive.

Finished up well at the corcoran saturday.  A quick printing sessions, but I got all my work done.  Packed up 2 big shopping bags of inks.  They really accumulate.

Hex helped me switch out some prints at Dolcezza.  Show is up only a few more days, but all still going well.  I'm hoping to sell a few more of the big ones.  We'll see!

Finished up some fun new Halloween cards.  Excited to have a new collection (early!)

Thursday, August 8, 2013

little blips here and there, but I find my way through.

excited to be done with printing for  a few weeks.  I'm burned out on it.  time to DRAW, which will feel good.

Really happy with my new work.

Few more weeks at Dolcezza

Trohv update long overdue

Buzz getting stalled

things to work out.

Excited to shoot with Kevin next week, and to update my website.

New opportunities coming - I can feel it.


Tuesday, August 6, 2013


Really tired after Thursday - Sunday.

A big ramp up for DOG DAYS, then 2 days of selling on the sidewalk + printing at the corcoran, visiting Jimmy, and tending to ms. venus.  feeling really drained, and running on empty - but am so-backed-up on other work.  (all good problems for sure)

GREAT sale over the weekend.  Took the strategy of adding minimal new shirts, which lessoned the burden on preparing on Friday.  Really had plenty of shirts after a few disappointing shows in spring.  Was a big success!  Prices seemed just perfect.

Prints selling at Dolcezza, and some at Buzz, so I'm having trouble keeping up.  Again - good problems.

Just need to recharge (from somewhere or something) so I get to the important work of DRAWING.  High hopes for August (which we are ALREADY 6 days into).

Thursday, August 1, 2013

tired after a long day of printing.  Back at the studio with a to-do list, but my energy level has CRASHED.  Dark outside and in here, and that isnt helping.

Creativity is BACK - which is terrific.  Trying to manage my time has been rough.  Things pull me in every direction.  Add in the waste, and days go by fast.  So do weeks.

Happy with my work today - and my new cards designed Monday, and the direction I'm going.  Just need to take deep breath, and realize all will work out as it should.




hepburn sisters