Omigod. It’s here already. Open Studios starts today. Already? Srsly?
My art, in public. With a price tag on it. Ack.
Worse, with me there, in easy eavesdropping range, baring my creative soul and offering myself up as an artistic Aunt Sally for people to throw shoes at.
Woah. I must have secret masochistic tendencies. Do all artists feel like this when they put their work out there for the first time? (And will it ever get any better?)
So, to quell my rising freak out, I’m going to do a little pre- Open Studio Chicken (that’s Selma-speak for check in). Here goes:
The hard:
- Not enough work to show. I spent so much time freaking out and working on the admin side of starting selling that I didn’t have time to actually create anything new. Oops.
- Fear. I’m so damn sensitive about my work that any little tiny negative comment or situation eats away at me forever sapping my confidence. (Bren and Miki think I will need therapy over the crappy way We Must Not Look at Goblin Men was hung at the Festival of Quilts this year!) And there will be negative stuff, or at least backhanded compliments: “Mmm, it’s not bad if you like illustrative work.”
- Pricing. Ack. How on earth do you know if you’ve got it right? My seller/creator self is saying, “That’s a fair price. I can let it go for that.” My buyer self is saying, “How much? Are you insane? Who spends money like that on textiles?”
The good:
- Display. Seriously, the place looks fabulous. Miki’s studio, garden and house are gorgeous, the work is displayed around all of them, and it looks really cool. Hooray!
- Admin. I’ve done so much setting up systems this first that next time will be so much easier. It pretty much has to be.
- Cards and prints – I haz them! I love my cards that I got printed – very close details of my pieces showing the painting and stitch, my two favourite parts.
- Creative talk and time together with Bren and Miki. It’s awesome when we have time to hang out together. Lots of laughing, plenty of talk about art, life, the universe, and everything. Occasionally some work even gets done.
- Cake. My bestest Mum has made her bestest cakes to offer to visitors with their tea and coffee. Yay for cake. Cake makes life worth living even when shoes are flying.
Today’s lesson?
Cake and good friends can make up for an awful lot of fear and panic. Amen.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Good luck again! If you’re any good at what you do – and you are – there will always be some people that dislike it. You can’t please everyone, so fearlessly please yourself.
One day someone will entertain dinner parties with how this piece on the wall was the first Fi Bowman ever sold, and it was a bargain.
Hope it all turned out well, despite your very normal and healthy fears. It’s such a strange mix of euphoria and dread, no? Hope you sold lots!
Thanks for the votes of confidence. We had a fairly quiet first weekend so not so many sales as we would’ve liked, but lots of positive feedback on the work. And cake!
You go girl! How thrilling that you have got your beauteous work out there for all the world to see and enjoy and be inspired by… and to purchase!
It sounds like you have done a fabulous job of putting the whole thing together… of course! And I’m glad to hear that you’re getting positive feedback on the work. And cake!