“WELCOME TO DOWNTOWN” BREEZEWAY MURAL & SIGNS IN PROGRESS, JAN.2024.
PHOTOS BY JESSICA MOORE, LIGHT + LENS PHOTOGRAPHY.
Hiya friends! OKAY– I’ll admit, your eyes are not deceiving you! It’s me, Morgan, here with a blog post a short TWO YEARS AFTER my last one. You know, that post where I promised to write “at a minimum, quarterly- but probably something closer to monthly or even biweekly” (insert eye-roll here.) Past Morgan was a big fat dirty liar, but I promise Current Morgan won’t make the same lofty/unachievable promises again.
The truth of the matter is, I enjoy writing/filming long-form content! See also my Youtube that burned bright and quickly flopped-before-it-grew-wings this time last year. In a world and industry dominated by social media popularity, viral reels, and bite-sized formats attracting more leads, it can be tough to justify the time it takes to produce more thoughtful work. So I won’t promise a level of consistency that I can’t live up to again… But I will vow to at least make a better effort to show up here for my diehard friendlies and future self.
A that being said, here’s the State of UBM during this transition from ‘23-’24 in a few categories, beginning with–
MURALS!
Still love makin’ ‘em, two and a half years in. However, lately I’ve been itching to ~diversify~ my offerings, for a few reasons. Practically speaking, murals are *really* physically taxing!! After painting most of the last few years, lemme tell you I am FEELING the ramifications of not working out to support that kind of labor!!! Additionally, the more I understand myself as an artist and also a Normal Person With Values, the more I realize how important it is to me to have affordable and approachable art available on top of my commercial work. One of the primary goals of my business is to add more color to everyday life in unexpected places. As proud as I am of how my mural projects help to accomplish this goal, it’s important to me to also have offerings available that don’t require a blank wall or “capitol” to share with folks!
WHEN PEOPLE DO HAVE A BLANK WALL OR TWO AVAILABLE, I’M HAPPY TO OBLIGE—
THANKS FOR HAVING ME IN YOUR HOME TAMARA!
Therefore, while I am absolutely still taking on mural projects (clients, don’t run!) I’m also aiming to diversify my portfolio and offerings more this year than ever before. Last year 90% of my income came from painting murals, all but one of those being commercially driven work. This year, I’d love for mural work to account for closer to 75% of my business, by also working on–
MERCH! SOLO SHOW!
Okay HERE is what I’ve been amped about since the clock struck midnight on January 1st! (Yes, I am into New Year’s Resolutions, sue me.)
I have two honkin’ huge goals for this year, and for the first time, they’re very much based on my sheer output more than measurable metric-based achievements. Drum roll, please…
This year I aim to hold (or at the very least, fully prep) a solo art show, as well as hosting four seasonal collection “store drops” here on this very site! The first store drop is already in the works/at the printers and is tentatively scheduled for the first day of Spring– March 19th. I am *so excited* to share with you all what’s been cooking so far!
As far as the show goes, I am slowly transitioning from the planning phase into building it out as a proposal. My current estimates set it at requiring about 1000 hours of self-initiated work— and that’s on the artwork alone! The big question is if/how/when I’ll be able to finance the time I’d have to take “off” from client work to build out this big of a catalog. So it may be a 2024 show, it may be a 2025 show, we’ll see. But now that a plan and general theme is in place, I could not be more excited!! The creative side of my work feels more invigorated than it has in a really, really long time.
( working title… “HOMEGROWN: The Journey So Far” but that is BETWEEN US!!! hehehe)
~*PERSONALLY*~
I, like a lot of my friends, am feeling very grateful that the days are finally getting longer again! The seasonal SADs definitely snuck up on me this year– but with a new exciting plan in place and a few great Spring events coming up, I'm looking on the bright side of life at the moment (and looking at you, FLLUXE 2024 and Redfish Fim Fest!)
Currently, I’m spinning three potential projects on precarious plates as well which always gives me an odd mix of excitement and nerves that turns my stomach. But I’m trying to inhale/exhale, remember “what will be, will be” and all that other zen BS that’s supposed to help, too. ;)
IN CLOSING
If you made it this far, thank you so much for having a vested interest in how me and my business are doing! If being a small art-based business owner has taught me anything over these two-years-and-change, it is that people are generally SO very generous with their time and help when you are working hard towards achieving your goals. I could not dream of a better or more supportive community, and I could not be luckier to do what I do every day (even when issues arise, things get tough, and the way forward is sometimes hard to find!)
I think that’s everything I’ve got so… yeah! How are you faring so far in 2024?
… talk soon!
(OH! P.S. if you really want to hear about everything going on first— join my newsletter through the form below! I promise, no spam (who has the time ???) and only 100% unadulterated good stuff & occasional memes.)