Greetings!

Create a Post
Verdaccio

Verdaccio

MGF, Master Grumble Framer
Joined
Jan 22, 2007
Posts
757
Loc
Berthoud, Colorado
Hello Everyone. :)

My name is Michael and I have just joined your forum after looking about for the past three months or so. I love the site and thank you all for the incredible content that you have contributed here. It has been very helpful to me as I am writing my business plan for a frame shop I intend to open in May in Colorado.

I am an artist specializing in painting portraits and still life. Painting provides a bit of side income, but not enough to live completely on. So I have worked as a project manager for the past 18 years in industry...a path for which I am firmly burned out. I have done framing in my basement for my work and for friends and others for a number of years. While I understand that framing is a hard go, I am hoping that it, combined with having a bit of gallery space for my work in the front of the shop will allow me to make a full living in a creative field. We shall see.:faintthud:

So while I am terrified, I am also encouraged by what I have read here!

I currently am living on Flinders Island in Tasmania, Australia. My wife and I have landed here for 6 months to manage a B&B, paint two portraits, and plan the next step...so I am busy planning and preparing to risk a lot to see this enterprise in self determination go!

I look forward to participating and asking lots of questions! I am sad that I will not be in the states for the upcoming convention in Las Vegas. I hope you all have a great time and hopefully I will be in attendence next year. :)
 
Michael...welcome to the Grumble. It sounds like you have the determination to make a go of it and I wish you the best of luck.

As you have stated, custom framing can be a difficult way to make a living and I wouldn't encourage anyone to enter the craft if their primary goal is to become wealthy*. However, if your goal is to make a living with creative endeavors then combining your artisitic talents with framing sounds like a logical gameplan.

As you already have experienced, the Grumble is a bread basket of information and we look forward to your contributions too.

Dave Makielski

* off course, most of us are fabulously wealthy already and that's why we can afford to do what we do...LOL!
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the Grumble. You have just plugged into one of the best resources for the success for your new business. The information that I have recieved here has opened my eyes to things I would not have found out any other way. Good business decisions that have resulted in the growth of my business.

I believe in learning from other peoples mistakes instead of making them myself! Oh I've made a bunch on my own, but I've tryed to allow others to learn from me too.

I hope you'll take the time to cruise the archives, they have a wealth of info in them!

Again Welcome
 
Welcome to the Grumble Michael!

Tasmania huh?? That's one breathtaking place, judging by the stuff I have seen so far. Just keep an eye on the poisonous stuff and the Tasmanian Devils!
 
Hi Michael, and welcome to the Grumble.
Fasten your seatbelt, because you're in for one heckuva ride. And you came to the right place to find other folks with the insanity and dedication to be a framer. Welcome to our world.
 
Welcome to the Grumble Michael! When you are ready please consider joining the PPFA. We have a local chapter here in Colorado and offer great events throughout the year. We would love to have you join in. It is a great way to network with other framers and to soak up some top notch education too.
 
Ah thank you all for the wonderful welcome. :beer:

I have sent an inquiry to the lady who runs the local chapter of PPFA a few days ago inquiring about membership info. :)

Tasmania, and the Bass Strait, where we are at, are just stunning places! The weather here is not "resort-y" so there is no build up. This means that you get glorious days mixed with windy and cold days even in summer...and you get beaches that are almost completely devoid of people, highrises, and junk. So while it can be quite rugged, it is also pristine with an amazing quality of light! I can highly recommend it as a destination for a "get away from it all" vacation.

Here is a recent sunset from Trousers Point beach here on Flinders.
sunset07.jpg


Cheers!
 
RoboFramer said:
Welcome Verdaccio!

Please tell how Trousers Point Beach got it's name and if it does not invlove naked women, make something up!
Click to expand...

"Officially..." there are two possible explanations for the name, and it is hotly debated here as to which one is right:

1. A ship called the Sarah Blanche wrecked on Flinders in 1872 and a sailor named Richard Burgess was reputed to have washed ashore without his trousers.

2. Another (less dramatic!) story ascribes the name to discovery on the beach of a box of trousers washed up from the wreck of the iron ship Cambridgeshire in 1875.

But you know....*sotto voce* I heard that it had something to do with a bunch of naked women, a wombat, and a tub of popcorn butter...God's Truth! :popc:

__________

Edit: I just realized that the picture did not post. Here it is again and hopefully this time it will be visible. :)

Sunset07.jpg
 
Last edited:
Welcome Michael!

I'm a newbie here too, and just like yourself, I'm a portrait artist taking the leap into owning my own frameshop after working for other shops for 7 years!
You'll find a TON of priceless information and advice from the great folks here.
I open in March and I can hardly SLEEP from the excitement/stress, it's like I'm a little kid waiting for Christmas day!!!!

Good Luck with your business and check back here OFTEN!!
 
Hello Lisa! What an amazing coincidence! Another portrait artist going the framing route. :) Portraiture is a "hard-row-to-hoe" and make a full living at it as the demand needs to be part of the culture of a place. Hence, it does really well in the deep south and a bit in upper class east coast parts...not so much in Colorado.

So you open in March! How exciting! I would love to hear about your shop - how big, what type of location you chose, what equipment you chose to start with, are you putting your own work out as a bit of a gallery?
 
Create a Post
Back
Top