Samantha Anne Bringing Art to Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

[00:00:10] Hey, welcome back to friends in Austin today I have Samantha Anne on the podcast, and she's a local artist here in Austin. Did you recently move here? I've actually lived here for the past 20 years. That's 20 years, OK. I thought you were out of town for a bit or something like that. Is that true? No. I was out of town. I went to Colorado recently. OK, ok. Yeah. Yeah. So you lived here the past 20 years? I have, yeah. Where are you from? I'm from Maine.

[00:00:34] From Maine. What brought you here?

[00:00:36] I ended up moving here with my family. So we've lived here, you know, for quite a while and I thought I would.

[00:00:45] I graduated in your early to actually move back to me with an. I came back for a visit and I couldn't leave, so I ended up staying my. So what kind of art, do you do, I'm an abstract artist, so I dabble in all kinds of mediums. I'm. My favorite medium is acrylics, and currently I'm working with resin and alcohol inks, which is kind of a new medium.

[00:01:13] Yeah, I don't I'm not familiar with what is resin in the context of art.

[00:01:18] Resin is basically like. It's something that you'd want to put on top of like a finished product of a painting that you've made. Mm hmm. So it's it's a chemical. So you have to mix to to like two equal properties, kind of like a chemist. You mix it all together and then you just, like, pour it over, like the canvas. But then there's also other things you can do with the resin you can manipulate. The chemical with alcohol and change the composition of what you're making. This painting that I brought, I didn't add any kind of alcohol things with it, but if you want to show it, yeah, yeah, I'd love to pull it up.

[00:02:04] I'm going to make sure that it's visible.

[00:02:09] Yes. So I just made this painting and this is actually little Miss Bossy, what is Little Miss Bossy?

[00:02:16] This looks familiar from a cartoon that I used to watch.

[00:02:18] It is a familiar cartoon. This is a children's book. The author is actually from England, which we could, like, pull up the information.

[00:02:29] I mean, well, you know, the authors now know I feel like I should know, OK, but yeah, when I was a little kid, I used to love those books.

[00:02:39] They I just loved the expressions.

[00:02:41] I mean, it was always an overexaggerated expression and just kind of like a simple thing. So the old you know, whenever I got a little bit older and I started playing video games, I was really gravitated towards Kirby. Mm hmm. Remember that game, Kirby?

[00:02:57] Yes, I do remember Kirby.

[00:02:58] Yeah, but yeah, a little Miss Bossy. She is stealing money like a little bandit.

[00:03:07] Nice. But yeah.

[00:03:09] Um, and then I've.

[00:03:12] Been, you know, selling art at Whiskey Tango Foxtrot on West Sixth Street, which is a new thing that Austin Talley, he's the general manager and he handles everything but and so Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is at a bar.

[00:03:29] It is a bar. It's a it's a nice house bar.

[00:03:32] So the repurposing it during covid to to do art or they're just doing both.

[00:03:36] They are doing so many things for so many people. And like, really it's Austin entirely.

[00:03:41] He just he has such a good heart. He. Didn't know what to do during covid, I was freaking out. All I could do was go back to my art, you know, like I was doing other things. But then I lost my job. And the only thing that I had to rely on was art. Mm hmm. So I made people face mask. So, so many of this wastebasket is fun. So, like with the whole face mask thing, I got really excited with it and I started, you know, like I would go on Etsy and I would look at all kinds of different patterns. And I just found a lot of fun stuff like from different countries even.

[00:04:23] I think one really good thing about covid is that there's tons of people that are being entrepreneurial, entrepreneurial because they're covered. One of my neighbors is selling sweets because sweets, one guy was like sort of starpower watching a bunch of cars on because of covid. But there's a lot of people that, you know, I think that it makes people realize that, you know, they can do something on their own to provide their own money totally. Usually it's something that they care about more than a job.

[00:04:49] Exactly. And a lot of times, like you're working like a really hard career or something, and then you're like, but I really love this hobby or this thing that makes me happy.

[00:05:00] And you pick the one thing that, you know, has stability over the other thing that makes you happier.

[00:05:06] Mm hmm. Mm hmm. So covid kind of got you back into your art. You started with face masks and started making some masks, and you're able to sell some of them or you're just giving them away.

[00:05:16] Or it was like, oh, it's actually like a wild covid story because I started making face mask.

[00:05:22] Then I had a really special opportunity and I learned coding for Python and Java, so I thought that was the direction that I was going to go into, but I didn't end up doing that. And I studied coding for a whole like five, six months.

[00:05:40] Oh, really? Yeah, my sister studied every day.

[00:05:43] Yeah. So I want to get more into that. My sister studying coding, I, I do coding. I used to work full time as a software developer before, OK, before I started this podcast. So I quit my job to mainly work on the podcast. I have some income on some web that I built that I'm with someone with someone else that primarily owns the company. I have some of it. This was three or four years ago, is doing better since covid. So I was able to quit my job. It's still like, you know. It would be nice to still have that income, but like I can get by. In the meantime so yeah, I've coded for a long time. Got my first job off of Twitter, actually. That's awesome. Yeah, it's really weird. But so. So you thought you were going to Dakota. You started coding for six months. I did, yes. Just turned out not to like it. Or you got back and decided to go with art instead or what.

[00:06:33] What basically happened was that towards the end of being finish, like learning all the lessons and everything, I just couldn't, like, tap into my creative side. And it made me depressed. Like, I actually got, like, really sad. I was like, I can't. I can't. You can't use, like, both parts of your brain when you're, like coding. You just can't, like, all you're thinking about are numbers.

[00:07:01] Yeah. Like, I go to sleep thinking about numbers, how to solve an equation. That's funny. Yeah.

[00:07:08] And then we were doing some meetings and our teacher, he works for Google, he's from China. He, he has like the whole life story of. Being from absolutely nothing. His parents kicking him out at a very young age, having to move around the world and then ending up in America and then working for Google. So also like he was a very hard teacher and he would just be like, why don't you get this? You need to study 20 more hours.

[00:07:42] And I'm like, I yeah. I don't know. I don't know.

[00:07:47] And my personal experience, I see that like some coding courses, maybe it would focus somewhat on numbers and stuff like that. But in practice only you do you do very, very little math. I think a lot of people think you do like a lot of weird math and software development, like I think that's what he wanted us to do. Yeah, that's that's so not the primary. I don't know, use case for coding like. Yeah, sure. If you're working on some project that is like, you know, like remember that show Silicon Valley, we're having a compression algorithm and they're like, yeah, sure, I'm sure there's some math involved in that. But and there's math involved in certain projects. But I would say the majority of projects are like webapp for a startup that wants to make something that's like Facebook or Twitter, Instagram, there's not very much math going on there.

[00:08:35] And I want to get to that.

[00:08:36] I was like, I have ideas on how to fix like some Instagram stuff.

[00:08:41] Yeah, yeah.

[00:08:41] So I was dabbling in UX design before I ever decided that I wanted to do coding and I was doing all that stuff on my own.

[00:08:50] As an artist, it seems like US design would be more up your alley than probably.

[00:08:54] So I tried to say that, but this person, he was he just wanted to like take over and be like, no, you want to be a back end developer or maybe you don't.

[00:09:03] And I was just thinking, actually, I don't. And I quit. Yeah.

[00:09:07] Yeah. That I got like a special opportunity. And then that's how I went back to my art. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. I mean, some of my art is actually like I make geometrical art as well. Mm hmm. I don't know if I have anything like that on my Instagram, but yeah, I do have I do make like all kinds of things and I'm sure people are going to see it.

[00:09:28] But let's just go ahead and say what your Instagram profile is right now. I'll take it up on the screen.

[00:09:33] And then on the other hand, it's wicked goddess shop with all of the S's.

[00:09:38] Yeah, the when you when you first text it to me, I just read it real quick and I was like, I'm going to type it in. I'm going to assume it's to us is even though there's three. Right. Yeah.

[00:09:47] But in that sense I was like well she actually spelled everything out like as it would be.

[00:09:52] It's unfortunate how they smush all the letters in together and they don't separate it.

[00:09:59] Yeah, it's true.

[00:10:01] So you went and you're you're learning code and decided it was to back in focus, and I still I still think that you should like. I'm yeah, later in the future, some time, if you're still interested in it, you should, like, go back into doing something that is more front end or UX and do X.

[00:10:19] Definitely. Yeah. I always wanted to make a Web application, actually, for art. Mm hmm. I just feel like that'd be easier, like connecting other artists with other artists that have. Similar like styles or just like, you know, like in Austin, it's it's awesome, you can meet so many people and network, but not everybody has the same hours. So you're not and most people have actual jobs. So it's hard to meet people and connect in that way. Unless you don't work and you just, like, go out a certain time and like network and whatnot. Mm hmm. Yeah, there's a lot of artists they don't like. They don't go to sleep.

[00:11:09] Mm hmm. Yeah, I've heard this. Great. If you I don't know if it's true, but creatives tend to be like no one else. Yeah, it is true.

[00:11:15] No. I feel that it is true as well, so there's enormous opportunities for yeah, like like, you know, like you're talking about like a network for artists to find each other or learn from each other or whatever. So there's all kinds of fun things to build. That's why I like you. This so interesting to make it up. Yeah. So my thing is I got really tired of writing code. I mean, it was really fun for a long time and the ability to like. Just type some stuff and then on a page, you have something that you can do, it does something really fun, really cool, awesome. It's like an amazing little experience to do that and know that you can do that. I just feel like I don't know, it's funny how something to to you at one time in life can be like so fun. And then like seven years later, it's like you just never know how you're going to feel or what you're going to want to do or whatever. And I still kind of enjoy it. And I'd like to do like I just want to get back to doing it just as like these are my little projects instead of this company needs this thing for this.

[00:12:13] Yeah. I couldn't imagine working for a company in. Having that kind of like high pressure trust and whatnot, yeah, it takes the fun out of it, really.

[00:12:22] And I felt like actually my instructor, I felt like that's how he made me feel. Mm hmm. Like he demanded a certain. You know, and then my roommate, she's also she was learning coding in same time as me. I got her into it, but I but I realized she was better at it than me. And I was like, that didn't bother me. Mm hmm. You know, it wasn't like I would I'm a very competitive person, but I didn't feel competitive in that way because I didn't care as much about being a coder that she did.

[00:12:50] Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. I'm exactly like that when it comes to competition. And I find it odd when people are like competitive in things they don't do. Like like if you challenge me to a game of, I don't know, Chinese checkers or just any any game that I don't play.

[00:13:05] And I wouldn't care because I don't practice that. Yeah, you're like, whatever if I tell. Yeah. If I could you if I practiced something on the regular, I'm obviously I want to be good at it so I want to compete. Yeah. If I lose I'm not going to get sour about it but like I will care because I tried, you know, and I will try to learn from that experience and then get better. But like some people are just competitive about anything and everything. And so you don't even practice that. Why do you care?

[00:13:34] So I've kind of felt personally attacked at some times during her classes because they're like, why don't you get this? Yeah, we have it. Like, we can't move on without you. And I'm like, everybody learns at a different now for sure. And also my heart's not thought into it.

[00:13:49] Obviously wasn't going to be it wasn't going to be the main problem. And so that's the thing with anybody.

[00:13:54] The learning to code. I always people asked me and I'm just like, well, like if it's hard or they should do it. And I'm like, well, if you like it, if you really like it, you'll get good at it.

[00:14:04] Yeah. You'll do it every single day you'll spend.

[00:14:09] More than 10 hours on it, if you just like, you know, I'm an artist, I spent I see up till 7:00 in the morning making this thing.

[00:14:19] And I had just moved into my new place on South Congress. I moved in. I hadn't even been there like an entire day. And I was like, I have an art show this Friday. I need to make art the essential 7:00 in the morning, because that's my passion and I'm excited, you know, like that's with it.

[00:14:39] Well, then you've got your passion. You should follow your passion.

[00:14:42] And that's what I'm doing now. So it's all working out and it's been great.

[00:14:46] Yeah. Yeah. I was just I have the book, The War of Art. I haven't read it. It's not about art necessarily. It's about creative people.

[00:14:54] I feel like I've read that it's about creative people pushing against the resistance for them to, like, do what they actually want to do. Kind of like you wake up every day. Yeah. Everybody's got those little crazy ideas or they think, like, I could be a director or I could do this or I could do that.

[00:15:08] But then then they struck it off and they don't think about it anymore and they just go back to their job. And that's what the book calls like resistance. And then it talks about kind of like stepping into your your territory. So it's like your territory is art. And how do you know if it's your territory? Because every time you go into it, you feel rewarded. Right, exactly. And another criteria for being your territory is there's infinite possibility to improve. And there's a third criteria that I don't remember. But anyway, an interesting book I haven't read the whole I just kind of was like skimming through it last night. Is it a new book? No, it's old, but it's like a classic.

[00:15:44] I mean, a lot of people have known I think I've read it, but I'm not sure, like, what is the book color?

[00:15:49] I think it's white on the front, OK? And it has the war of art and black letters. And there's an image on the front that I can't recall.

[00:15:55] OK, yeah, maybe I haven't read it, but it sounds like something I would read.

[00:15:59] So let's get more into your art stuff. We were going to pull up at some point, but maybe before we do that, like we kind of just stopped on, like, you know, you decided you needed, you know, money because of covid. You started doing some art. Oh, yeah. And so how did things progressed from there? Are you are you do you have a shop up yet or you still like in the process of selling anything or.

[00:16:20] So I sell an art gallery manager at Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and I get to sell all of my art there. And then I also have a client that I represent. His name's Gino Escriva Escobedo and he's also a great artist. And so I've been working with him recently for the past two months. And he makes a really cool art like Monopoly kind of stuff like political, like fun monopoly.

[00:16:58] Is it literally the game of Monopoly or.

[00:16:59] Yeah. Oh no, it's really cool. We should pull up his page as well.

[00:17:04] OK, we're doing a show tonight together and. So what I what I get to do is like I get to show my art, like sell my art and then I get to represent, like, an artist. Mm hmm. Which is awesome, because ultimately he's basically like he he did a good favor for me to be able to to do this. Mm hmm. And now I get to like, pass on the generosity. Mm hmm. Which is nice, but.

[00:17:31] Yeah, so so anyway, it's like he's actually a he actually owns like a cheerleading. Camp kind of thing, and you trains gymnastics, but on like his hobby is art and so, like, he would just he just made, like, you know, regular paintings with acrylics. And since I do resin, I get to, like, top his paintings with resin. So we're collaborating Virgo.

[00:17:58] And then my own art, um, my art has really evolved.

[00:18:04] I have always been an artist has started making art. I was like a little kid.

[00:18:11] I mean, like a whole like we used to live in Germany and I mean like a whole collage on my wood floor, nail polish, like all kinds of colors, I would just, like, hide it under a rug.

[00:18:23] And my mom was like, you were really quiet one day.

[00:18:25] And I came upstairs and I caught you just ruining our wood floor with your nail polish and this giant collage she made.

[00:18:33] And the rug was pretty big. So she she put me in art classes. And the first painting I ever made was a Vincent Van Gogh, like a purple vase with flowers and. That's kind of like where, you know, it just never stop. And then, um, you know, my parents, they separated and my dad, he was trying to make it as an artist in Germany, and he actually did make it as an artist in Germany. He's published there and. And published in newspapers and stuff like that and has done Galeria shows, so when I reconnected with my dad at 26. Um, it was it was a great experience because I couldn't really relate to my mom at all, like being an artist and just being so confused, like what to do with my life.

[00:19:22] Mm hmm. So I just knew that this is what I love, but I knew that doesn't make a lot of money. Mm. You know, it can, it can, but I just I had no idea I was like, well, how do I get there? Mm hmm.

[00:19:36] And I wouldn't know either, but it's one of those things where it's just kind of like you have to kind of have some faith in yourself and learn other things.

[00:19:44] You basically have to learn business. If you want to be an artist, you have to learn how other people are building an audience, how networking with people. How can you get your stuff in front of people?

[00:19:53] Exactly. And so, like. Some to make a long story short, when it happened, you know, there's it's been really boring, so and I don't have a car. So what I what I end up doing was I have a lot of friends and I network with already, you know, on Facebook and Instagram. And I would just go over to other places and we would talk about business or we would talk about their technique. Mm hmm. And then I just I just started doing that. And the more that I did that, the more aware I was.

[00:20:24] And I'm like, how many contacts you can make and kind of what kind or two? There's opportunities out there. There are.

[00:20:30] Yeah. You just have to go out and get it can't just be at home and just be a dreamer and be like, oh man, if only I could do this. Oh, you know, I have this good idea. Mm hmm.

[00:20:43] And then you just don't do it.

[00:20:45] I mean, kids have time to I I was moving when I was moving out the other the other day I found a pattern that I made like as a twenty three know, as a twenty six year old. Mm hmm. This is ten years ago and I saw it on Facebook four years ago. My idea. But I just never submitted the patent. Exactly why. I don't know, because I guess I just didn't have the confidence yet.

[00:21:13] So I think I think that's a really good thing that you're putting out there, because I think that's a lot of people. And as I look back on the times where I thought about doing something, I didn't it was all confidence. It was all just like I why would I be able to, like, write? I can be able to do this, you know what I mean? Or I don't know. And it's like the difference between someone who does and doesn't is just someone does and someone doesn't.

[00:21:34] Exactly. That's exactly what it is. If you want something, go get it. You know, don't just talk about it. Talkers don't don't get anywhere in life.

[00:21:46] And that's when it comes back around to like it has to be something that you care about, too, right?

[00:21:51] I mean, but I mean, I did care about it. I just. I there were two guards, both is what I'm saying. Yeah, but yeah, there were too many like, well, what if this caused this? Well, what would be you know, just what to many what ifs, then you're just automatically not going to do it for sure.

[00:22:08] For sure. Can I ask you why you didn't see your dad for 20 years.

[00:22:12] Because my parents. My mom, this is like such a bad story, you don't have to tell it, but you can. I didn't see my dad for.

[00:22:25] Twenty four years because my parents separated and he decided to stay in Germany. Mm hmm. And my mom wanted to move on with her life. And so. I don't know, she didn't have very many nice things to say about him, so it made me hard to want to, like, kind of stay in contact with my dad, but my dad, which was kind of which was really sweet, he sent me art every year. Mm hmm. It always, like, made me sad because I didn't understand him. Mm hmm. I was like, oh, he does art cool. I mean, that's not what I wanted. I wanted, you know, my dad.

[00:23:02] But, um, yeah, I'm I'm in. And I'm sure you didn't really. I mean, he was in Germany and you were in the States.

[00:23:07] Yeah. So I didn't really understand it.

[00:23:10] Kind of like picked his art over his family. Sounds like.

[00:23:14] No, no. It's basically my mom. She picked others over my dad. Oh, OK.

[00:23:21] I said, yeah, no, it's OK. I don't know.

[00:23:25] I mean, it's, it's. That's just what people did. Mm hmm.

[00:23:30] You know what kind of that's what people do. What kind of art is he doing? He's an abstract artist. He actually lives in Indiana. No, Annapolis.

[00:23:38] I was just telling you, I'm getting ready to hit the road head in Indiana to visit my family for two weeks. Yeah. Yeah. He lives in Indianapolis.

[00:23:44] He does? Yeah. He's currently building a house. He has never built a house or but he's an architect now. He's just a multifaceted human. It's amazing.

[00:23:55] So you have a consult with them and talk about art all the time. All the time now.

[00:23:59] All the time.

[00:24:00] I mean I mean, my most controversial piece last month and I was terrified that he was going to judge me for it. What was it? It was an old prohibition. Ah. About cocaine.

[00:24:13] Oh, was it the straw. It was going to be like a can of some kind that I enjoy coke because back in the day. Yeah. Coca-Cola literally had cocaine and everything, had cocaine and everything. But there's also the water.

[00:24:29] The air. Yeah. Nose. The water. Yeah.

[00:24:33] No. So one piece I want to make, it's a little kid and and he, and it's medicine you know. But they put that in kid's medicine back then and candy and there's all kinds of stuff like crazy.

[00:24:48] I never dove into it that far. But I mean I guess like before people knew. I mean, they just knew that people like it. So they just write it and everything.

[00:24:56] I mean, come back. Basically how the idea even came to be. Was I was on Facebook and I follow those page.

[00:25:06] Which is called.

[00:25:08] Things you find in your attic or basement. And somebody found old prohibition or. And I thought that was funny.

[00:25:17] So, yeah, so your heart thing was it's not because you do Coke all the time is just because, like you found some old prohibition or I mean, it has partially to do with the fact that Coke can be fun.

[00:25:33] I saw an interest. I was like, oh, ha ha.

[00:25:36] Also, I also like Austin Talley, who runs Whiskey Tango. Before I did my last art show, I brought the cocaine art and I thought he was going to be like, mortified. And he was like, I would never judge you. He's like, who cares? He's like, That's why I like your art edgy. It's out there. It's different. It's not like everybody else's.

[00:26:00] I think artist has a whole lot of room to be. You know, it's like in the business world, people have to be careful about what they say because, you know, it's like, well, what is what if someone Googles this and my podcast episode comes up and.

[00:26:10] Yeah, well, drugs.

[00:26:12] But but that's just like a normal like every I mean, people do that stuff. People have been doing it since like the beginning of time.

[00:26:21] Exactly. I mean, it's be one thing to be like, oh yeah, I do coke every day. I'm totally addicted to Coke. If I have watched that person and I was hiring, I'd be like, well, I don't want to hire that person because they. Just a minute. They're on Coke all the time, you know. But if someone says, hey, I did Coke some times in the past, here's a funny story. Yeah, I'm doing that right.

[00:26:40] Whatever, you know. Right on. Yeah. So did you have a funny story or or not or should we go should we look you out on Instagram?

[00:26:49] I'm trying to think of one I, I don't know.

[00:26:52] OK, well just hold onto that. Yeah. Well let's take a look on Instagram but yeah.

[00:26:56] Let's do that. So I've got to pull up over here and it's kind of far away, but I'm like, should I pull it up on my phone? Um, yeah, hold on.

[00:27:06] Like this right here with this drug. Anybody? I love Dragonball. So is that a poster that they made that you posted or did you make it?

[00:27:12] Actually, not my art. That's my artist. He designed the whole flier. He designed the whole flier. Yeah, he does the advertisement, which I appreciate.

[00:27:22] Yeah, I'm. How do they find out when you're having a show or then I'm assuming that I mean, where anyone having a show, where they're having a show in general, when I have a show, I let people know for a whole like two weeks on my Instagram and my Facebook.

[00:27:36] Is there an average cost of a piece of art? I mean, how much you saw, how much you sell your store?

[00:27:40] I sold my pieces from anywhere I have.

[00:27:44] I brought Tilles with me, but like, I have little tiles. I sell three for thirty dollars Tila's.

[00:27:50] And what do you want to show it right now? Yeah, I'll show you. Oh those are really nice. Those are so I mean is it like people use them as coasters.

[00:28:00] Yes, these are coasters but they can also be used for kitchen like tiles, you know. Yeah. Or like a bathroom floor.

[00:28:10] Yeah, go ahead, grab a couple of your own camera. These are really cool. OK, so this is like one of my favorite ones.

[00:28:17] How do you make this how do you get different colors?

[00:28:19] So this is what I was trying to explain earlier, so I made this painting, I painted it with a with acrylic paints, and then I just poured a clear resin over it where as this was a white tile and I used alcohol inks. And so what I did was I poured alcohol on here just like rubbing alcohol.

[00:28:43] Mm.

[00:28:44] And then I poured these little alcohol inks on it. Mm hmm. And like, kind of blew it around with a dryer and then I added the pink. That I let it try. Mm hmm. Then I poured resin over it and I added these little sparkles.

[00:29:04] It's a whole process like how long does it take you to do?

[00:29:06] I mean, you do them in sets.

[00:29:08] It takes two days to three days touchtone. Would you would you say for one or a batch or wait for a whole batch.

[00:29:16] Yeah. Like, would you do them in a batch or do them one at a time. Oh no. I would do them in a batch. Yeah.

[00:29:21] Yeah. And since I just moved I have a huge island so I can do, I can have like a little factory set up in my apartment. So it's pretty awesome. I'm going to show some of these.

[00:29:30] I really like all of them really. But that blue is pretty sick. Oh No. One, I didn't make it.

[00:29:36] And then there's that one.

[00:29:39] And then here's like a red one and what this one's like, reddish white. They're so different. Yeah, and then like this one is your pride. This one was for Pride Week. It's pretty.

[00:29:51] So you saw these four, do you say three, four, thirty three for 30 us, about four of them off of you and leave them here on the table? Oh, I would love that.

[00:29:59] Hey, I listeners, just before this episode is over, I want to give you one more quick friendly reminder to please like and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast player. Thanks again. We're talking about the average cost of art and like, OK, you bring your coasters and you set those up as well.

[00:30:12] Yeah. So this is the cheapest thing I sell. And then the paintings are more expensive, obviously. And like now that we're doing putting resin over the paintings, it makes them even more expensive because of all the materials. And basically like how we sell paintings is by Lync times with.

[00:30:32] And then, you know, like times time, I feel like people would pay twice that for those coasters, if not three times that amount. Really? Yeah, ten bucks seems really cheap. Like you get like three for 30. So ten dollars like, OK, if I went to an art show and I saw those and I wanted some coasters or wanted to replace my current coasters, I'd look at those like three for thirty dollars. I would easily pay sixty for those.

[00:30:57] So I am about to start working with a contractor.

[00:31:01] He wants me to make, you know, these tiles or houses.

[00:31:06] Namak kitchen backsplash. Oh that that could be burnt or like bathroom stuff. So that would be awesome.

[00:31:12] So things are just like evolving right now for me with my own art. But you know, for a while I wanted I thought it was like, I don't know what to do. Like I might give up, like I almost gave up, but I didn't think, gosh, I'm glad you did.

[00:31:26] I'm really loving that type of you.

[00:31:27] A sick ass bathroom to have that backlash over your entire kitchen, I mean, would be a expensive bathroom, but it'd be very nice.

[00:31:35] I would love to do that. So I'm still trying to figure out what I should even charge for something like that.

[00:31:41] People not only use materials, it's time enough for.

[00:31:43] And it's exactly. Yeah, but no, you have people out there and they're like, I want to deal. I'm like, that's too expensive. Or it looks like you spray painted it. Or just I mean, I put some stuff on Facebook marketplace yesterday and I read like five people's comments and they were like, oh, that I would never buy.

[00:32:04] That looks spray painted. And I'm just like, if you only knew, like, some people can paint and it looks like that.

[00:32:10] And does that stuff bother you? Doesn't bother me if people are talking shit when you post stuff online about your art.

[00:32:17] No, I just like that. Anybody talking about it. That's I a great way to like cool.

[00:32:22] OK, I have something, I have a really funny story. So one of my first times that I sold a lot of stuff, it was on the back bridge and I had I used to sell earrings I used to make and sell them. I'm pretty good at making that kind of stuff, but I just didn't like using my hands and legs such tiny, intricate ways.

[00:32:43] It's kind of got old. But anyways, this girl stole two pairs of my earrings and I noticed right away and I was just like I was like, I can't even be mad. Like, that's like the biggest form of flattery.

[00:32:57] It's like somebody likes your shit so much that they steal it and fucking run away with it. And you're like, damn, this is cool. And you're glad you got stolen from. Yeah, I was like I, I'm like I made a lot of money so it didn't really bother you.

[00:33:15] Like whatever. I knew how much money it costs me to make it, but I just thought it was cool that somebody would steal for me.

[00:33:24] Well maybe I'll leave today. I'm just I need, I need this piece.

[00:33:33] Yeah. I don't know. Sometimes it's better to look at the positives and negatives.

[00:33:39] Pretty much always is.

[00:33:41] Well, I'm glad I'm glad that you're coming on the podcast. It's great to have a local artist. I mean, so much for having me.

[00:33:47] We've we haven't really, like we say in our bio that we have artists on, but like we've had positions, artists, but we haven't actually had artists on. So now we're not.

[00:33:54] Yeah. Oh, no. I'm so happy to be a part of the podcast. So every show I have, I sell my tiles. Mm hmm.

[00:34:04] Which was which is kind of funny because for a whole year I was learning how to make an art and I had bought so many tiles and I was running out of room and then my best friend moved in with me and she's like, Sam, you have so much art everywhere. It's like it's a little overwhelming. We pulled this back closer. Oh, yeah. She was like, it's a little overwhelming. And then, you know, my other friends would come over and they're like, Sam, you're like turning into an art hoarder.

[00:34:31] And I'm like, I swear I shouldn't be able to sell this stuff, but I just didn't have an outlet yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:34:39] So.

[00:34:41] What's your friend what's your friend group like you got, you know, a lot of them for a long time.

[00:34:45] Yeah, I have my friend group. I feel like we've all been friends for the past, you know, like four years. Mm hmm. They've been really good, solid, supportive friends that always try to, like, hold you accountable.

[00:35:00] Are they artists as well as they do different things?

[00:35:02] They are artists. They just don't claim that as their thing, you know, like.

[00:35:08] I I really enjoyed living with my best friend, because even though she doesn't say she's an artist, she would still make art with me.

[00:35:16] Mm hmm. No. You know, or come into my I'd be like, hey, Shannon, come into my room. I want to show you something. She'd come into my room and she'd be like, OK, no, I like that. And we actually we worked on a painting together. It was a mosquito. It was a mosquito ring. And the peach, it was a peach. Emerging farting heart's a peach emoji farting hard. That might be on my Instagram. The sweet rabbit. Oh yeah. That's actually Fassel. That's seven hundred dollars and that's Whiskey Tango hanging up. Well, that's a good representation of my resident art. That's also the bunny's made out of UPO paper, so it has alcohol, ink and powder pigments. It took me like a whole month to make that damn 700. Yes, I like that piece. It's a popular one, but it's still on the wall. There it is. Oh yeah. It's gorgeous. Yeah. I think that that will be probably put on the wall very soon. I think I'm going to swap out a painting that I already have on the Whiskey Tango wall, and I think I'm going to put that one up there because I think it's hilarious.

[00:36:28] It is hilarious. So is Whiskey Tango going to continue doing this like, let's say covid ends?

[00:36:33] Yes, full blown. We are still going to be doing this.

[00:36:37] And so I do want to check this out.

[00:36:38] And so now we're going I have art shows every three weeks. And then also I I'm having some more opportunities to kind of branch out and get on Rainy Street. Mm hmm. And on the east side of Austin. So that's the hip side. Yeah. So, like paintings and everything.

[00:36:57] Nice. So I guess your your strategy going forward is just kind of like getting actually in front of people like in all set at different locations and. Yeah. Like I mean, and then, you know, you're still living just like using Instagram as like message me if you want to buy this, which I think is fine.

[00:37:13] I think that's a great idea. So you mean Facebook. Instagram.

[00:37:16] Yeah. Like instead of like spending a bunch of money or wasting a bunch of time, like building a website, like, I think it does make more sense to just like get in front of people so they can see you.

[00:37:25] Exactly. I think that's more personable. I mean, I do have a website. I think I took it down because I haven't been adding to it. Mm hmm. And I stopped coding and I'm just like kind of I'm just burnt out for a little bit. Yeah. Like, I would love for somebody to work on my website and connected to my artist website, but I think he could do that. He being who, Gino Gino, the artist? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I need a better website. I just haven't. But yeah, I think I prefer talking to people in person. People. Yeah.

[00:38:00] I think the website is like once you've established yourself as kind of like a name, then the website matters more like in Austin, of course. Yeah.

[00:38:08] But like you while you while you're just really kind of getting down to get in front of people and so people can actually see your stuff. Oh yeah.

[00:38:15] Yeah. It's more real. Yeah. Mm hmm. People get to know you on a personal level. Yeah.

[00:38:22] Well, we're running we're around an hour. Is there anything else you want to talk about?

[00:38:27] I feel like this was a great interview.

[00:38:30] I thought it was really fun. And I think you are super cool, Samantha. I'm really glad the you know, we connected and that you came on and now we've had an artisan and I'm going to buy some of those coasters from you.

[00:38:41] Yeah. I would love to come back. Maybe bring my artist. Yeah. Yeah, that'd be great.

[00:38:46] What like are you saying. Yeah. You know. Yeah, I'd love to have them on.

[00:38:49] Um, yeah. He's a whole personality.

[00:38:52] I mean he sounds like a very interesting dude doing gymnastics and.

[00:38:56] Yeah. You cheer Berry then also doing all this art. He's also a Netflix is also enough to on the floor for his chair first year.

[00:39:04] Yeah. Is this a project.

[00:39:07] I don't think he's supercharges just like those guys that do gymnastics or Superfish. I feel like he's almost my height ish or a little bit taller, but he's not super jacked. Well, I guess they're not super jacked. They're just like it's their Lemel Messer. I mean, muscle memory. Oh, muscle memory. I can't see the muscle moves and stuff. Like he's just been doing it for so many years that.

[00:39:29] Mm. Yeah.

[00:39:30] I've never really looked at his arm muscles so I can't, I just look at his paintings and I'm like I like that. Oh well thanks a lot Samantha. Yes. Thank you so much. I had a great time.

[00:39:43] Cool. And then we'll throw your Instagram up on the screen. But what is it again. It is wicked goddess shop with all of the S's. Cool. All right. Thank you. Good show tonight, right? Yes. Appreciate it.