Keeping Track of Yourself and Your Work

Keeping track of yourself and your work.  Don’t try to juggle too many programs at once.

Years ago I discovered I named two paintings with the same title.  That was a bit of an oops but it taught me to create an inventory number that helped me know a lot about a piece just by looking at it.  Why keep track of my originals with inventory numbers?  I paint a lot of paintings in a year.  When I was lucky enough to be granted the residency, I had to learn to take a picture of each piece I did.  At that time, the program I used for inventory had no way to keep track of the images.  Enter in my current inventory program Art Work Archive.  I can’t say enough about this program, I really love it.  It helps me follow my sales in each show, schedule things, list and track my limited editions and keep a list of my collectors.

This year is coming to a close and I went and looked at my old program to see how many pieces I had done this year.  It seems I had fallen short of my goal but, when I looked at Artwork Archive, I had surpassed my yearly inventory goal.  What happened?  Well, I can’t seem to let go of the old program and I haven’t been as diligent in keeping it up like I have the new.  I could spend the time referencing back and forth between the two and making sure that they match but perhaps it is time to let the first program go.

There is a small problem with doing that, there is information that I keep track of in the first that isn’t offered in the second.  It’s time to problem solve and figure out what to do.  I can’t keep working with two different groups of information.  Things will get lost and details omitted if I keep trying to do this so I am trying to figure out a new way to work with the new program.

Ultimately, you have to be flexible.  Don’t let yourself get stuck in a rut and cling to a program that doesn’t work or straddle between two or three.  There is always an answer out there.  You just have to keep trying new things and working to learn about what you have access to.  Good luck, I’ll keep trying.