Within the next six months or so, I feel I am going to be facing many tasks, all of which are going to ultimately chart my future for the next few years. I feel as though I have taken the last four years of my life off, although there have been so many emotional and physical struggles that I can't see how more time to think about things, as the days tick by, could be any better or worse.
I want to continue doing shows, and I must be brave and do them. I have to continue to show my work, and hopefully I can advance my market up along the East Coast. I have so many inner doubts about my work, about my resolve of late. I question my art more and more as each show proves that I can certainly make money, but can I support myself doing it? This is not the 80s, when art shows were outstandingly profitable, and artists could hold their own against the 9-to-5er's. It takes $250 on an average to rent a booth space, jury fees, out-of-town accommodations and gasoline to get there. When I clear $1,500 a show, it's worth it. When I clear $300, it may not seem to be. But, when you average out my hourly wage in retail, it more than doubles what I make working on the weekend. So, there is that.
Marketing is, and always has been, a strong point for me. I just seem to have a problem marketing myself. Maybe if I stood outside myself, and treated myself as a business, I could do better. I just know one thing, I need to stay positive, stay focused and start doing something about the life I want to create for myself. It's all up to me.
I am mentally packing up everything in my head to prepare for the moves I need to make in my life to create that downhill plan. I need to find a less expensive place to rent, but with the dogs, it might be harder to find some place that it already has been. So, I'm thinking I may have to re-home two of them and it's breaking my heart. I'm easing into that realization slowly. I don't know if I should stay here or if I should leave for another city...another place...another view from the window.
I'm comfortable in my workplace, but I know that there will be an end to that as well. I'm not a spring chicken. Thus the need to create my art as a source of income. Right now, I can concentrate of saving money for travel. Which, is as important to me as my own blood. But in the future, will I need to do my shows and sell my art as a means of survival? I just don't know.
This introspection is a lonely path.
2 comments:
Hi Brenda, I have quit doing outdoor shows, with the exception of 2, and I only do them because I love the people who organize them. I just did my books for the quarter, and it hasn't hurt my income at all. There are better ways to make an income as an artist.
Have you ever thought about a marketing support group for artists? I would love to find a tight knit group of serious artists who want to meet once or twice a month to talk about goals, challenge each other, and to help each other, and also hold each other accountable. I think 6-10 people would keep it small enough that it doesn't get overwhelming.
Yes, I'm about ready to take some serious time off to market to galleries, which is where, even with commission, the best way to get this out, is. I do have collectors of my pieces now, and have almost completed two 24 X 24's, which should be better at impressions than sales, but both are necessary. I have fallen into the work day trap, and it's hard to get back out, but I know a big change is coming soon, and I will embrace that and forge ahead!
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