Hacking YouTube with Art

I’m hatching a little plan to hack the youtube algorythm with an art project. I’ll let you in on it. The only reason it’s a secret is that no on is reading this blog yet.

So here’s the plan. I want to test and see what will happen if I release one video every hour for 24 hours on youtube. I don’t know if good things will happen to the channel or bad but I’m going to try anyway.

I’ve already completed 24 paintings in 22 videos. I have two more to do and I’ll do a bonus 25th video as well. Once all of these painting sessions are done I’ll list each item on the website for sale. As this is a test I’m going to be using test prices to get the ball rolling. I’ll start out selling them for $50 a piece. Including shipping. Which is an absolute steal if I do say so myself.

When I launch the project I’ll use edited versions of the videos sped up with voice over. These one to two minuet painting videos are intended to be the rocket fuel for the channel. If they don’t do the trick then I’m hoping that the wrap up video for the project might generate some buzz. Let’s try.

I’ve included some of the first crop of the lifestream paintings bellow for your viewing enjoyment. I have the full length livestreams archived. Take a look at the live stream section of Dirt Creek Creative’s YouTube Channel.

The idea with this project isn’t to set the world on fire. That comes latter. I just want to see if I can move the needle. If this doesn’t do the trick then I’ll try again. Thanks for checking in.

I really must write myself more often

I posted 5 items on the site tonight. It feels good to finally get them up. There’s a rush about hitting that publish button. There’s also a complete lack of certainty. I think this will all turn out well. And soon enough we’ll see. Oh and it may be helpful to write to myself more often. As likely I am currently the only on reading these words. But they do light a spark under my backside.

What is a DirtCreekCreative?

Currently; your guess is as good as mine. Though I should provide a little more information.

My surname is Silbaugh. It’s an alternate spelling of a small German town, Sylbach, which I have never been to. In fact I don’t even know anyone who has been there. My ancestor came to America sometime in the 1800’s. Our family’s best guess at what this means is Silt Creek or Dirt Creek. Though every German speaker I’ve ever asked has absolutely no idea what Silbaugh could possibly mean. Lost to the mists of time I suppose.

So there’s half the name. what about creative.

Well I like too many fields of activity to simply append one of them to the end of the business name. Woodworking, painting, design, economics, gardening. And my interest in these things flows and ebbs like the tide. If I focus on just one I am doomed to fail. Instead I’ll throw ideas at the wall and see what works.

I’ll be creative.

Hopefully people will pay me.

DirtCreekCreative.

Thanks for dropping by.

Stepping Past the Fear

I feel I must confess to the world. I do not know if the things that I make are worth what I will charge. No idea. Of course as an artist, I pour my heart into every piece. I’m not even really a woodworker. I am an artist. That’s why I can sell both things on the same website. But despite my certainty over what I can do; I am uncertain as to its value to others. This problem is currently being used as an excuse for procrastination with posting my work on the site for sale. I don’t know that I am worth the money that people will spend on my efforts. Or at least I doubt my worth. Why would someone be honest and open about something like this?

Here’s the reason. One day I will be successful. I will sell furniture and art and podcasts and classes and documentaries on this site or one like it and someone will want to know; how did he do it? What did it feel like? How did he know what his work was worth. They’ll really be asking. How can I do it. And as uncertain as I am about the future I do know that the first step is knowing that you can’t know everything at the beginning but that you have to take a step in toward the goal, best as you can, like a baby learning to walk, or a kid learning to ride a bike, or like that day when before God and men you dedicate your life to one person. The beginning is always uncertain. That’s why those who strive are remembered. That’s why I’m Stepping Past the Fear. And since I did; you’re going to step past it too.

Thank you for your support on my way. I hope you find yours.

Try Until it Works

I’m not entirely sure what these posts are for. But I think they are placeholders for the story that I will tell in the future. The story about how this business became successful. I have no idea how to sell my art. I know that I will figure it out. When my wife and I started a window cleaning business we had to try several different methods of advertising. We didn’t know which one would work. I don’t know which of the art projects I enjoy will be in demand. I don’t know what social media site will be best to advertise in. But I’m just going to throw things at the wall with a smile and see what happens. It’s a slog though. My confidence comes and goes. I need to protect it and build it up. One day I’ll be successful.

Art by any Means Necessary

The brushes drift the way they want.

At least that’s what it feels like, when they’ve been dipped in the paint. Slipping from one corner to the other. Making magic as they go. It’s interesting that at times it feels as though the paint tells me what to do and not the other way around.

I imagine that it’s that which is boiling underneath that moves the colors and the lines. The subconscious on canvas. There’s no planning to this magic. I am the audience for the trick. The canvas is the record keeper. The painting is the record and the beauty is that no one really knows what it means but you can try to figure it out forever. There’s always a new way too look at the abstract.

Sometimes art is like magic. Sometimes it is like engineering. The 2x6 cut into their rough dimensions. Put through the jointer and the planer, dried to house humidity by resting in the spare bed room next to mine. Then it get’s cut precisely, mitered corners, splines friction fits, sanding, polishing, revealing the knots and swirls that were there all along and just mine to display and admire like everyone else.

Art can be done in many ways. But let it out let it free. Let them see.

Why write a blog on an Art website?

Here’s the thing, the writing is for you and for me. I need to tell my story. Bit by bit. I don’t really know why I need to do this. It’s just the way it is. There may be a day when someone stumbles across this blog and looks at these old posts. They may be small now but that’s the point. You can start small too. I’m not sure of my success, you don’t have to be either. Just take the next step.

I’ve been thinking about the next step for years. About two at this point. I keep finding my passion for creating things and getting disappointed in a lack of success. This will be my fourth attempt to make a success at business. The first was accounting, the second was paintings, the third was window cleaning. Window cleaning does pay the bills but just barely. This fourth attempt is the waking dream. Ideas float through my head nearly fully formed ready to jump from my hands into reality. If I can find enough people to buy the things I make who knows what wondrous ideas will have their birth at my finger tips.

I’m not sure that I own them. Not really. They stay with me a short while. Belong to the people why buy them. I am simply the wet nurse of these sweet dreams.

I will keep writing so that some day. I will have something to say. I don’t know what it is yet. That’s why this sounds mostly like nonsense so far. It will get better. I hope.

Welcome to the Store

It’s the privilege of an art store owner to talk about whatever he likes on his website’s blog. Well here it goes. I’ve started selling the things that I make with my hands. When I come home from cleaning windows, what I want to do is make things. When I have a day off, I want to make things. I don’t know exactly how it works but I love to create objects. Paintings, boxes, furniture, any random idea that comes into my head really. The thing is, when I’m done I have to find somewhere to put them. I explore the wood the canvas the paint. The smells, the patterns, the way one piece interacts with the other to make a whole. Brushes and saws, dreams of whatever comes to mind. I go where the wood takes me where the paint takes me and I leave the safe keeping of these objects to those that love them. They need homes, your’s might be just the place they are looking for. Thanks for stopping in.