From Interior Design to Full-Time Painting: An Artist's Journey with Lucy Clare Spooner
Ever wondered how an interior designer turned full-time painter navigates the uncertainties of the art world while still pursuing their passion? Meet Lucy Clare Spooner, a creative soul from the small town of Williamsburg, Virginia, now thriving on the bustling streets of Brooklyn, New York. Clare takes us through her interesting journey, from majoring in Psychology and French at UVA to her unexpected transition into painting. Hear first-hand about her experiences moving back to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia at a young age and the cultural shock that ensued.
In our engaging conversation with Clare, we uncover the fascinating dynamics of art business pricing and company valuations. She enlightens us on the complex art of pricing artwork, factoring in size and materials, and the concept of allowing potential buyers to determine the worth of a piece. We also dive into the unpredictable nature of art fairs and the rollercoaster ride that is making money in the art industry. Join us as Clare shares her unique journey and learn how she successfully juggles her love for interior design with her commitment to painting.
From Interior Design to Full-Time Painting: An Artist's Journey with Lucy Clare Spooner
Ever wondered how an interior designer turned full-time painter navigates the uncertainties of the art world while still pursuing their passion? Meet Lucy Clare Spooner, a creative soul from the small town of Williamsburg, Virginia, now thriving on the bustling streets of Brooklyn, New York. Clare takes us through her interesting journey, from majoring in Psychology and French at UVA to her unexpected transition into painting. Hear first-hand about her experiences moving back to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia at a young age and the cultural shock that ensued.
In our engaging conversation with Clare, we uncover the fascinating dynamics of art business pricing and company valuations. She enlightens us on the complex art of pricing artwork, factoring in size and materials, and the concept of allowing potential buyers to determine the worth of a piece. We also dive into the unpredictable nature of art fairs and the rollercoaster ride that is making money in the art industry. Join us as Clare shares her unique journey and learn how she successfully juggles her love for interior design with her commitment to painting.
Music.
Speaker 2:What up, what up? Here we are with another episode of who's Wear podcast. I am your host, Chase Menfield. We are in Brooklyn, New York, with special guest today Max. What's good, what's going on.
Speaker 1:guys Coming to you live from Brooklyn today Very excited for our second half of our first season. Very special guest today, so we hope you guys enjoy it.
Speaker 2:We got a class of 2014. Yeah, lucy Clairs owner. What's up, hey?
Speaker 3:hi, how are you doing?
Speaker 2:Great thanks for having me guys Appreciate you coming Definitely what brings you out here to New York.
Speaker 3:Well, so right after college, I moved here literally a week after graduating, and it's nine years ago Like ever since.
Speaker 2:You just are you from here?
Speaker 3:No, I'm from Williamsburg.
Speaker 2:Virginia Okay. Are you from 577? No, I'm not from 577. Do I walk up from 757? No, you can't tell me On this podcast.
Speaker 3:I'm from 577.
Speaker 1:Yeah there you are.
Speaker 2:I heard it. Okay, this is not you. I'm from 859.
Speaker 3:Of course I'm from 859.
Speaker 1:We're not down the sea on the ground. I understand, I understand. No, that's the opposite of.
Speaker 3:Williamsburg, Virginia pretty much, pretty much, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So on the East Coast, Okay, so on the East Coast.
Speaker 3:But yeah, little town to small town, girl to big town girl.
Speaker 2:So what are you doing currently? Give everybody an update on what you're currently doing?
Speaker 3:Yes, so I am an intern. I've been painting full-time for about four and a half years, and before that I was working in interior design. We can get them to that. Another point you don't want to, no, okay, but yeah. So I paint pretty much all day. It is my aim. On a beautiful, perfect day, I'll be painting all day, but there's all kinds of marketing, other stuff to do. Instagram history is going to be an hour and a half. Maybe Instagram real soon. So yeah, it's not just yet.
Speaker 2:It's a full business.
Speaker 3:Did you grow inside your radio? I did, yeah. So I was born in Houston and when I was two months old, my family, the three of us, me and my parents were kids, so I already began a small American compound called Dabran, which is a fall away on the East Coast, and lived there for all of the nineties and moved back when I was going into the third grade. So talk about culture shock, saudi Arabia tiny little, tiny compound going and, but very diverse in a kind of a strange way, like in a more international kind of a way To little ways where you never had so many great things about it, but diversity of international culture is not one.
Speaker 2:Do you still like have friends out there?
Speaker 1:Is it like digital? Is it digital friends?
Speaker 2:A little yeah, yeah exactly. Like when I moved back.
Speaker 3:I was so young, it was before Facebook, before like AIM, any of that, so, but my, my mom was doing a good touch with some people and then some some friends kind of like. We kind of found each other on Facebook throughout the years but never really acknowledged it and, strangely enough, here and there. But my mom definitely keeps the touch.
Speaker 2:That's cool. So what made you decide to come from UV? I guess it's a little bit more like a traditional path from a way of birth.
Speaker 3:To UVA.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what made you go to UVA?
Speaker 3:I always wanted to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I had a great, really wonderful girl who I looked up to a lot when I was growing up and she played tennis at Virginia and we played tennis at the same time. Well, I'm like I don't know how she looked Caroline Hammond is her name and we had the same tennis coach and all of that and so I kind of had my sights set on playing tennis at Virginia. And then I did, I walked on to the team. I was not a star, right, I mean, like you too, but it was great. You know, that was kind of how I ended up, yeah, really wanting to go on the sport side, and but it's also a great school.
Speaker 2:It's Williamsburg, a big your J&Z group Like, is that like you know? No, it's not a city.
Speaker 3:No, it's like directly in between Richmond and the beach. Okay, so it's on the more on the east side. I think there's a lot of them, please for sure. But it's also where William and I are. So it's oftentimes like kids who don't want to go, like I when I was in grade school, but I didn't want to go in high school. Yeah, it's literally across the street from my grandmother's house, and so I wanted to get. I wanted to go to a good school, but I got away from home. So did you major in art at UDA? Yeah, you majored in design.
Speaker 2:No Was that what?
Speaker 3:how did you get from UDA UDA? You read for the wandering path Absolutely. Um, so I went in and really and was very gunk-ho on the on the tennis front and I had a great, uh, sports therapist who could like totally change my life and, um, I wanted to be a sports therapist, I wanted to do the same thing for somebody else, um, and so I was majoring in psychology and then, um, because, I had taken some big classes in high school. I had like literally fell into a French major.
Speaker 2:Um, that's how I was for me a little bit, though.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You took like AP, french or something like that yeah. Yeah, I did like one class.
Speaker 3:That was actually my easiest class that you I mean I'm just that's why I was sort of taking it because I really liked them and I needed some classes that were easy to, to kind of juggle with practice, that kind of all of that I took seven years of French growing up and I made the French three.
Speaker 1:It's still time.
Speaker 3:Language is always a name for me. We can, we can work on it, oh right.
Speaker 1:I got a part of the Ruffin on say that's about it.
Speaker 3:That's it. That's it. Wait, wait, wait, um, so with those. So I was thinking I was going to go into sports psychology and it just one thing led to another um, and it was not the right path, frankly. You guys, it's a great psychological department but it's really, in my experience, it's a very good research phase and if you want to go into a therapist, you need the. Let's go on over this side. At one point I knew really well, but I was trying to make that work and when you're really research-based school, nobody who I should expect to really answer my questions on how to go down that path, which I think is.
Speaker 3:Anyway, it all worked out because my At a summer of my 30th year, I was studying at Rod and Neil in France, which is again how I landed my major, when I was a parent now that first thing I was learning in class wasn't training.
Speaker 2:Ah no, it's a little bit different, it's a little different.
Speaker 3:You need a little more time. You need a rich girlfriend, a 30-year-old that you know real quick, but I. It was just one of those beautiful moments where I was in this gorgeous old city and speaking with a friend of mine in the program. She's a photographer, now actually beautiful photographer, mina, and she's married and I can't remember her and now I can't remember her non-married. Anyway, first thing is Mina, lovely, beautiful girl photographer, but she was telling me about these architecture classes. She had taken a UVA. She said you should really take it.
Speaker 3:I had you know one more year and I kind of filed that away and then got to be signing up for classes my fourth year and that I just signed up for whatever random. And I woke up one morning just like I had totally forgotten Mina's classes and I ran to my computer and you know, actually I was reading this article and that's kind of what made me remember it to this like moment. Oh, my god, I have to sign up right now and it turns out it's the last day to add classes, and so I ran around grounds. I'm sure I was like skipping class to try to do this, but I think it's like leaving notes on the door to my professor's office like could you please let me in? I had taken too many. I signed up for too many classes, so I was emailing my Dean Dean Most best, and she's the most best.
Speaker 3:She at 11.30 that night she finagled my classes so that I dropped the ones I needed to drop and Sanda Ilyas, who was the professor of lessons and making, got me into this class that I. That then totally changed my life. Sanda then introduced me to Pam Black. She's a beautiful artist. She and I are still very good friends, and so I took that class my spring semester and then from that was a drawing class. So really those two classes were for both in the architecture school. Those are the two that really kind of propelled me to keep working on my art, but at the same time I was really wanting to go into interior design. So it all kind of works together in a way.
Speaker 2:Do you have a fear that art wasn't a career? Totally, yeah, totally. So it's like I gotta do interior design, yeah.
Speaker 3:I know. I mean, why would you do money in interior design?
Speaker 1:But that ain't no matter the design you don't want to do, interior design, I mean so my interior design is they charge me all the money. That's the problem.
Speaker 3:That's the problem. But you have to pay for the stuff, and so by the time you pay for the stuff, the people send hours.
Speaker 1:So she was telling me the truth when she said most of that's for material furniture.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's what she said.
Speaker 1:She gave me her hourly rate. There's more than charge, I know maybe you should Just a thought. So, you really weren't that big into art until like your fourth year. It sounds like.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like as far as college goes, but my grandfather was an artist he went to Pratt. Institute which is around, it's like quite close to here.
Speaker 1:Well, you're actually talking about that, but okay, really we're talking about art schools in the country. Somebody who went to VCU sent those VCUs Apparently they're already Pratt, that's right.
Speaker 2:Pratt is a dumb VCU really. Is Somebody not to be mentioned, not to be mentioned here? Little sit there.
Speaker 1:Not VCU, but that's okay.
Speaker 3:No, vcu is actually also a really good one. But my grandfather went to Pratt and then he I've always been painting and drawing and making things. That was such an only child and that's like a big way. I self-enigre, paint, lots of reading, lots of drawing by myself, so it was a passion. It was a passion, yeah, forever, forever, ever. But I just never really thought about it as a career. It was just you make artwork and then somebody has to buy it and Would you? Be trying to write more sir.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but you still have so many styles to write it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a lot of work. Somebody has to buy it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm gonna say, yeah, that's the thing. You can't make a marketing strategy, you can't make a marketing strategy. You can't make a marketing strategy.
Speaker 3:You're right, just because you put a price tag on it doesn't mean it's up. But then I was getting into your design internship in the city right after graduating, moved up here because New York City is really the center of the design in our world. But some there are designers everywhere, of course but there's it's a bigger cooperation here and I worked for a couple years here and then I entered your design and I was still drawing constantly. I was like drawing in the subway. I'm always late.
Speaker 2:But what are you drawing Like? Are you just like a figure's person?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I love to draw the figure. And because I had my first job was in Brooklyn, I was taking the subway from Manhattan and always late. It makes me very nervous to be late, even though I am always late, but once you're on the subway, if you're 10 minutes late it's fine. So I would just sit there and draw the people in front of me just to kind of pass the time and get my mind off of like my, there was some interesting drawings based on the subway experiences.
Speaker 3:They were cool and, like you know, always trying to get somebody when he wasn't looking at me or she and I was getting some good feedback from the drawings and it was time for me to change jobs.
Speaker 2:I'm just like I mean you're just talking, You're just conversations, so it's not no structure Okay all right, so you can go as far as you want to, and. I think I was more excited when I went to Paris. You can always have a job out there drawing people.
Speaker 3:But you still somebody's supposed to buy it. That's the thing.
Speaker 1:You talk about the Solid Street. Oh yeah, they just be like this, I know.
Speaker 2:You use your picture drawing. Picture drawing Like every single button.
Speaker 3:Like they'll see me. You can tell somebody else no. And then a person that comes to me and says do you want to pay? Yes, I'll pay, Are you?
Speaker 2:sure, after about 10, I was about to lose it.
Speaker 3:Here's your handle. I was like no, you should have visited yesterday. Everybody and I could have known no, no, they was going to give me $4 million.
Speaker 1:I know what comes with that.
Speaker 2:I didn't expect a donation, yeah yeah, I know what comes with that.
Speaker 3:That thing of life is free.
Speaker 2:So, before we get out of your full college experience, how was your DBA experience as a whole?
Speaker 3:Oh, I loved.
Speaker 2:DBAs. What was your favorite part?
Speaker 3:You know, honestly, I loved, I loved those classes. I took my fourth year.
Speaker 3:I also had a great time and had a great time before. That was funny. But you know I had those two classes. I mean, of course I have my friends. I left like the freedom of rolling out of bed at 10 and heading off to whatever it was 10, 14, 18, or 1 in the afternoon or whatever. But looking back, the two classes I took that fourth year were the best and I studied abroad program was teaching domestic. My friends classes were great, I think, probably when I was in college.
Speaker 3:I would not have listed my classes being my most favorite thing and now I look back and I wish I were taking those classes again. But I have wonderful friends too. So very, very different. It changed so much over the four years I was, so I don't know if I've ever been quiet really in my life, but I was much more reserved my first year. It took me a really really long time to figure things out and work through stuff and then kind of like second year is getting bigger and feeling more comfortable, and then third and fourth year just a really great time to get my stride.
Speaker 2:What's your favorite restaurant out there at UVA? Is it Boilin? I do love Boilin.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry to say I have gone back to Boilin at Slick and Adult Adult and I don't recommend it.
Speaker 2:No it's different. What about Christmas? Is it still there, christmas?
Speaker 1:is still good at 2am.
Speaker 3:I have never had it before. I have never had it before.
Speaker 2:It's not good for a slice, I don't know, about that. So post UVA, we're talking UVA, just finished UVA, and you're thinking interior design coming out of college, right? So you found a job doing interior design. I did.
Speaker 3:Yes this was also like kind of a wonky crazy story a little bit, I think, but I was starting from ground zero, trying to find an interior design job because it's not a major UVA there's really no classes on it and I was just doing a bunch of informational interviews and just adding to my list of designers and emailing them Really very scrappy, trying to find a job and I was sitting at my dining table breakfast table, whatever my roommate had Wall Street Journal and I picked that up at the Sunday issue. It has that off duty, it's called and there's an article on this woman's beautiful bathroom and it looked like it. Jennifer Eisen sat and I'm like alright, jennifer Eisen's out to the list.
Speaker 3:So, I emailed her and she ended up that was my first job Absolutely wonderful. She's like one of my favorite people ever. She lives right here in Brooklyn when are you putting her dress up?
Speaker 3:No, no, no, I know I'm good at it now. No, I won't do that to you, but she's so. That was such a wonderful experience and I was with her for two years and learned a lot, and I think they want to get a bigger. So what did you not write about the interior design? Well, so you went to another interior design yeah.
Speaker 3:I did, but in between I wasn't quite ready to. After I was Jennifer. I would have worked with her ever and ever and ever, and she knew that. But it was time for me to work for a bigger firm and rather than just jumping right to the next, I decided to see what would happen if I just only painted like, only made art. And I had met through friends this guy who had done this program in the South of France years prior. It was a second time back in France, right yeah.
Speaker 2:You're a fool. You're actually good at it.
Speaker 1:I can do it so well.
Speaker 2:You can do it all at home, okay.
Speaker 3:So we're boys. I had filed this place called the March Street School away in my mind and I ended up going there for three months. I settled it in my apartment at the time and when I painted in the South of France for three months in 2016, it was absolutely wonderful. And then I came back and worked for another firm for two years and I just I am. You asked why I got out of it.
Speaker 2:Well, I want to know first of all you tried to do like painting full time, right?
Speaker 1:So like how was that experience as far as?
Speaker 2:like trying to figure out if you could do this, so I didn't go thinking I would be painting full time Like that.
Speaker 3:I mean, I knew I didn't go thinking I would come back as a full time painter. I should say I went kind of thinking let's just see what happens. Yeah, can I paint? Does it work? You know, and it's a very intensive, like your learning, art history, your seminars, reading great literature, flannery and Conor and Dante and whatever else, and this very like full on experience. And you just made, I made a million. I made so many paintings in the three months and I did more paintings in the three months, which is a lot.
Speaker 1:So the business of painting, being a full time painter, are people contacting you like, hey, I'm a portrait painter, Are you painting, going to our gallery to sell them, or how does that kind of work?
Speaker 3:So for the last. So it's been four and a half years that I've been full time. But even before that, when I was working for a farm, I was starting and I came, I'd come back from France and it was working for a different farm and people I was posting my artwork online. So on my website, on my Instagram, and people were starting to ask like, hey, could you? I saw you painted your dog, could you paint my dog? I see like, or they were interested in something that I could paint of my own volition and and it's like I hope people do want to buy. This is great, and so they do. They'll reach out now and lots of commissions. So I have different kind of influence streams.
Speaker 3:Okay, one is like commissions, where people ask, like if your dog or house or kids wedding, whatever, and others what I call studio works. You know that I just make of my own volition.
Speaker 2:It's like technically, you know, if you create this intellectual property, so the more you create I mean technically it's inventory you, yeah, yeah, you can always sell it. Yes, oh, yeah, I mean, I can see you. So you say you make like 90 in three months. That's a lot. That was a lot. That was a lot. You're like a little wavy. That was a lot.
Speaker 1:That was a lot. That was a lot that was a lot.
Speaker 2:That's a good.
Speaker 3:That is, I have never, ever had. I have never had that comparison, Ron. That's how I'm going to start that YouTube clip.
Speaker 1:You are the most beautiful. So when you came out, you know, I know you mentioned Instagram, but when you came out at least I know a little bit older than you, but when we came out of college the internet still wasn't that big. You know, even reals with their TikTok, all that stuff, yeah, how have you? Have you used? That a lot to kind of like build your brand Is that like helping Instagram.
Speaker 3:Instagram, totally Okay, I mean Instagram without Instagram I don't think I would see around. I mean it's really crazy. I kind of shudder at the thought of like my account shut down so I can go and say it, um, but yeah, reels and stuff, I'll do. I have one woman who's like a friend who helps me now, so I can't really say that I'm a fully of what women show, but I like any of the reels or any of all of that. It takes so much time. Yeah, I mean, there's ways you can get better at it every time, whatever, but I just frankly don't really have the time to invest in it, even though I know it can help your algorithm or whatever else. But yeah, like I do that, I know I should have a TikTok. I technically have a TikTok, I have posted videos on it, but I'm not all in there a lot. It's just a lot of time I need to paint.
Speaker 1:Like my job is not to write emails and stuff Like.
Speaker 3:are you in the studio?
Speaker 1:Yes, I know.
Speaker 3:I need to paint, I need to be in the studio, so that's a juggle.
Speaker 2:That's a good thing, actually, for sure it's a true entrepreneur, for sure, trying to balance between the actual product or the actual service to the actual sales, but sometimes the product is the sales. So how do you balance that? You know what I'm saying. You're going to. You sound like you're saying it's more so me focusing on my product, because it's not my product I have in the sale.
Speaker 3:Right. But, without marketing who knows that it's there. So yeah, it's a real balancing act. I think I've kind of figured it out. I do mornings. I'm not a morning person, so mornings are not very productive. I do the computer work and I decide Mornings and then I paint, I paint and that is a good balance for now. Eventually, I think I'll start outsourcing some things. I will see you guys tell us your what paintings before I get into that.
Speaker 1:Let somebody else worry about the trains out of the station.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about this value, this pricing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there you go. I want to know this one, I want to know this.
Speaker 2:So where do you come up with the idea of how much your time is worth? How much? Yeah, your time is going to break it down for me, all right, all right, ok, this is your time, right, this is your time. This is what you consider to be your masterpiece, right In a single moment. Then how do you put a value on that? And does, I guess, start with that and then ask more?
Speaker 3:questions. Ok, so I received some very good advice when I was first starting out from a painter and he said you probably have three prices in your mind. One is going to be high, middle, low. Obviously he's like one is probably going to be too high and you're cheating the customer, one is too low and you're cheating yourself to pick the middle one. And then as you go and grow and evolve and get more of a name for yourself or whatever, your time is worth more to you, et cetera, et cetera, then that will go up. But that was the best piece of advice I ever received. And it's true. If you're thinking, oh, I could probably get this amount, but then you don't really feel so good about that, it's like I know.
Speaker 2:I know, but then maybe that's your middle number then yeah, I feel good, but I get a good 10.
Speaker 3:But, it's OK, but you feel OK. Maybe the present company accept it, but most people feel a little bit icky. But if you sell it for too low then that's like a worse feeling, frankly, and so that kind of Goldilocks bit of finding the middle.
Speaker 2:How do you take into account size and materials? Whatever you're using those types of things to come away pricing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, materials can be a bit tricky.
Speaker 2:Like Art Basel, you got people selling like the men. That's taking a walk, I know.
Speaker 3:We're not talking Art Basel here.
Speaker 2:In this studio. We don't have an Art Basel girl here. It's coming close, but we'll see. We'll see what you have.
Speaker 3:Do you have a connection Maybe?
Speaker 2:I'll see, I'll get you someone. His podcast is pretty big, his podcast is pretty big, you're pretty big, you're kidding.
Speaker 3:That's what I'm saying. Yeah, I mean. A lot of what I do are watercolors and the materials are pretty negligible, to be quite honest. I mean, of course it adds up over time, but it's not. Oil painting is more expensive in general and so with that I just think honestly it's not fair. I mean, I think that's the big secret. It's totally arbitrary the prices.
Speaker 2:About size right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'd be based on size and I kind of, when I first started and I've just continued on this way, I figure, okay, this is like a 9 by 12 and which is just a standard size, and I'm like, okay, this here's my like, my middle price that I'm comfortable with, like I just talked about, and then based on like, if it's a little bit bigger, charge a little bit more, a little bit smaller, charge a little bit less, and I've just kept that like a little bit bigger as a little bit more. It's like it's kind of, but I don't really do it by percentages.
Speaker 2:You know one thing that I'm not here raising. I'm raising capital for my company right now and I was like putting a valuation on my company and one of my, like one of the founders that I was using as a mentor. They were like take the valuation off and you might you have more success in selling it if you let them tell you what the value is from their mind.
Speaker 3:Interesting. How's that going?
Speaker 2:It's going better than it was when I had the price. And I had the price saying like extremely high, because this is my situation. So when I hear what other people are coming back with, I'm like I can make that worry type situation. So have you ever thought about anything like that? No, I'm going to put a price tag.
Speaker 3:No, no, no. It's a price. Well, you know, it's a little different, right, because it's a tangible object and what I think what's tough is that people a lot of times have absolutely no idea and it makes them uncomfortable for somebody for me to say like.
Speaker 3:Like, I have been in a position where I think I just felt like a street artist and I'm like how much is this? He named your price and I was like I can't name my price, like I don't. It was when I first went to the city of my apartment Always online to do lists, to list on more online platforms because it's just more just another, yeah, more eyes, yeah, yeah. But there often it's often like have you ever tried buy art on an online platform? I've looked at some. It's so overwhelming.
Speaker 2:I've been wanting to invest in more art because they said, you can put any value you want for your time to do. I can't oh.
Speaker 1:Art is a big conspiracy. In the arts it's a little off-dodge money.
Speaker 2:That's true. So I have a couple pieces that will be showing up on my tax return. That's a gut, that's a loss.
Speaker 3:This valuation. That's it. There you go.
Speaker 2:No, that's definitely dope. So do you still have any fears? I know you talked about having some fears out of college as far as sustainability and being a full-time artist. Do you still have any of those fears?
Speaker 3:No, I mean it's definitely more for yourself right. Because when I was working, for when I had a salary job, I had a paycheck and I knew, even if I got sick, if my, you know broke my arm or whatever, I had a family emergency.
Speaker 2:I was still going to get a check.
Speaker 3:I might not get like a bonus at the end of the year, but I didn't really get that anyway.
Speaker 3:That's more of a finance thing, I think. But now it's like I don't. I know what I made last year, but I don't know what I'm going to make this week. I get hurt, or you know, I had a family emergency last year and I took two months off and so I didn't make any money for two months. And I mean, you know, kind of rolls in and I have potential see plans and I have savings for that very reason and all of that. But it's kind of a different thing of I've figured it out.
Speaker 3:In other words, it's not a fear anymore. But it took a while of rather than kind of looking. It's like an inverse of how everything is, of how, like, you've always learned how to spend. It's like when you have a paycheck, you're spending from the future. Yeah, totally. And now it's like, okay, what do I, what have I saved and how like? What are my projections? But what if? And like the emergency kind of thing? So it's like, you know, just falling, that's extreme. But what if? Like even art fairs, different but I might be projecting to make X amount in a weekend at an art fair and then there's a hurricane. This happened and for two fairs in the last year there was, they were rained out, and so that's. There's no data.
Speaker 1:Like there's no paycheck or anything from that.
Speaker 2:So I was just you know one thing that really what I'm kind of hearing from you is like what I kind of experienced when I got into business was that I removed the fear, the uncertainty was actually less because I knew how to make money.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Versus when I was getting paid a check. I just thought this was the only way to make money.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, and now, like you know, if I need to push more for instance, like the two fairs fell through very last minute and two different times of the year I knew I needed to do another push, so I sent more emails. I like ramped it up on Instagram, yeah, I had. Like it was last October, there was the hurricane in Williamsburg and I was supposed to have this art show and show was rained out, and so I was at my mom's house and we just had a little what we call a front porch fair, and so I said that my work on front porch and invited, you know, send out an email to everybody here who I know in Williamsburg. Yeah, and they came and shocked on the front porch rather than tell me about that started in COVID.
Speaker 3:Actually, that's really where I that was one year into working for myself and COVID hit and people buy more than yes, they did because they were sitting in their sofas at home.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Looking at their blank walls, I think.
Speaker 1:I got my piece there COVID action too yeah.
Speaker 3:And you weren't spending a going out to eat or whatever. A lot of people. You know it was really difficult time for I know a lot of people but others yeah, yeah, so going off that thing.
Speaker 1:What is? What is a growth plan for you? Is it to become more of a household name, so your pizza's sell more? Inventory game, how do you grow? And the art business? Or just new business? Yeah, interesting.
Speaker 3:This is a good question. Participate yeah, nice to see you. So right now, really, where I'd like to go growth wise is right now I do so much, which is great, but the commission is something that someone else has asked me to do for that, and you'd kind of always rather do what you want to do Right. So I would love to right now, so it's 60%, and then art fairs and like what I guess to do, or 40%, and I would love to swap that and kind of have yeah, or keep it. Actually I should say it's fine to keep it like a big percentage, but I want to increase my rates and so I'm theoretically making fewer paintings for more, because, if you know, if it's a special request, that's like yeah, so there's that and yeah, and then hopefully the grant is to have fewer like quantity of commissions and then that would give me more time to make my studio do whatever I do, right, I can't I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I can just say whatever for my pieces, like for your pieces, do you like? So, the longer the piece has been around, would you say it's worth more? Or if it's worth less, because, like the Picasso's and the Van Gogh's, I don't think it can be worth less. Yeah, the Picasso and the Van Gogh's. You know what I'm saying. Like it seemed like when people die and stuff like that became yeah, always.
Speaker 1:That's the game of thinking. Never make another one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, but like so, yours has been in the inventory for longer. That seemed like that should be on sale. You know what I'm?
Speaker 3:saying I think I should not hire you.
Speaker 2:Well, we're just trying to understand the business from the oh man the tomatoes. You know what I'm saying. It would be on sale.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:So from the art perspective, you're never going to drop your price.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you never drop your price, but will you make it higher?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, every year.
Speaker 1:So every year is going to go up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so buy it.
Speaker 2:So buy quick yeah buy quick, you get best deal. That's interesting. That's until selling point, so soon as you post you got buy it. If you don't get it now, you just wait for a year. It's going to be up more. That's awesome.
Speaker 3:Now you're back in the running for my work. All right back.
Speaker 2:What would you tell someone who is interested in doing art full time? They have the same concerns you may have had and you know they may think about. I may want to be an interior designer or whatever. Like what would you suggest that person is in school?
Speaker 1:They might have a hand called dance watercolors, something like that, something like that they just want an application to work for Max.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:They really try to change things.
Speaker 2:They're goals, right now, or you can tell that person about. You know what you would do if you were in that same position. Out of that shit that's moved when Ruberter himself gets to that.
Speaker 3:I mean, honestly, I have learned so much in my path to where I am but I don't know that I would really have changed that much. I don't think I would go back and study art in college. Take some classes if you want, that's great. But the most important part to me, honestly, in the business of art is the marketing side. Like, you have to have the product, you have to have the confidence in your abilities and the style, as they say, that's your own, but in other words, the product has to be there. You can't kind of get around that too much, but so much of it is marketing. Is there what you're saying right now?
Speaker 2:Are most of the highest-paid popular artists. I don't even know who they are today, but are they the best marketers as well?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and a lot of them are working for, I mean, the art is also good, but there's a lot of talent in the world and the big there's different kind of ways to look at the art world. There's me I don't have a gallery representation the way, I really want it. Maybe you can show down the line. Galleries take 50%. Just this it's a lot. It's a lot. They do a lot for you, but you have to.
Speaker 1:I like the marketing side, I know.
Speaker 3:They do a lot of the gallery, they get some overwars.
Speaker 3:I know they market for you, they ship it for you, they stretch it for you, they do, or theory, maybe they frame it for you. All the stuff, so all the admin stuff that I'm doing now they do. But you know what I like marketing side. I like knowing who I'm selling to and who's got my work and all of that. And that really is, by the way, selling the gallery. But the really big artists now they have the galleries to do that marketing side for them and the galleries to do their work. They have their own name, credibility-wise and all of that. But that's kind of that's like I'm not really messing with that, but a lot of it is just consistency and you know, like you're a brand I'm a brand.
Speaker 3:So I show my face, I show my. You know I am the one who does my Instagram and I'm kind of like my walkie self on there and I show the behind the scenes and all of that too, so that it kind of it works and I remind people when they need to be putting in quarters for Christmas or something like that and all of that. That's like that's the main side. It's like make a lot of work to like get your, have a good practice and not lose that side of it. But if you really want to be selling, get a market.
Speaker 2:We're going to get a commission piece of this shot right here, all right. So where do people meet you or reach you? Where do you want them to go to? Like, find your stuff Seems like an.
Speaker 3:Instagram TikTok.
Speaker 2:Instagram. I don't know, you can, you can.
Speaker 3:I'm sitting on there on the long dash. My Instagram is lusiklarespoonerorg. There's no I in Claire, yeah, on my website my full name luciferspoonercom. It's good for the state. It's good for the state. Yeah, it's not full. It's not full. You know, you got email and you want to put up there Lusiklarespoon or Gmail.
Speaker 1:There you go. Sure, yeah, they're going to reach you at.
Speaker 2:We'll appreciate you being on here. We're going to do one thing before we close we're going to do my podcast, our podcast questions, so we do rapid fire questions. Okay, the first thing you come to mind is this or that you choose. Okay, all right. All right, so hotels or Airbnbs, airbnbs, listen to books or read books Read. Go to movies or watch Netflix Camels or stream Stream. Ig stories or IG posts For your partner.
Speaker 3:Stories.
Speaker 2:All right, watch the news or read the news.
Speaker 3:Read.
Speaker 2:Would you rather start a podcast or write a book? Book Apple or Android? Apple Detroit Pizza or New York Pizza? I've never had Detroit Pizza, so you're a favorite. And then our favorite one for this, for our podcast, is if you were moving, would you hire a moving company or would you get your friends to help you move? I guess it might be the same for you, don't it?
Speaker 3:I think it's the same it's fair.
Speaker 1:We'll leave it at that.
Speaker 2:We appreciate you, claire. It was great to have you on here. Thank you, thank you, that's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great, thanks guys.