You can probably tell that I haven't posted to my blog for quite some time now. 2009 has been a year of expectations not equaling reality. It's difficult to keep a stiff upper lip at times and not feel so discouraged as to give up your dreams. 2009 didn't start so well and sort of kept that pace all year. Many things fell through, classes didn't go, but I did manage to get into a gallery last November.
I've been rather mad at technology lately, as my computer has been giving me problems and it seems I spend an awful lot of time on it. Really, I'd rather be creating something, but the Internet has taken over as a marketing tool and if you're not represented on it, well, you're not with the times. Textiles are hard to sell on the Internet, I think. It's such a tactile medium and it's hard to represent it well in photography, especially compressed photography. You just want to touch it. So, 2009 has been a year of finding out some lessons about presenting your craft via the WWW and learning to deal with an economy that isn't art friendly right now. Now, I see the Internet as simply exposure.
On refection, I've thought of a list of New Year's Resolutions (NYR); doesn't everybody? And these are ones I think I can actually keep.
My first NYR (I thought I'd throw that in there, since acronyms are the thing in computer texting) is to be more vigilant in Internet marketing and keep my blog and sites current.
On top of that, I would like to pursue more craft shows (second NYR). The outlay for some of the higher end shows can be daunting though. I simply don't have the capital to rent a space for close to a grand for the weekend, never mind the outlay for the physical booth itself. So, I'll start with participating in various guild sales and smaller shows to get my feet wet. Those usually don't require huge outlays of fees, nor do they sock you with huge commissions on sales.
A third NYR is to try to get my Herchomers into galleries that specialize in whimsical artwork. I'm thinking perhaps Fireworks for starters. They used to be in a gallery in Snohomish, but it went out of business several years ago. It's a shame to have them sitting on a shelf in my studio.
A fourth NYR is to get my dog coats into upscale pet boutiques. They've been sitting on Etsy for over a year with no results, so it's time to get them into places where people can touch them and try them on their dogs.
The final NYR is to work on my creative groove. I've been finding myself lamenting over times when I was much more creatively robust and had more zeal. With life's challenges, creativity can take a hit, so I need to focus on dealing with challenges in a more creative way too. One way is to enroll in professional development courses designed for artists. There's one in my area I'm keen on.
There are no pledges of weight loss, exercise nor promises of complete personality changes. Except for maybe parts of the last NYR, most of mine involve professional development and I feel they are realistic, concrete and lasting. Besides, personal growth on the emotional level is a lifetime's worth of work, not something one can simply change in the context of a year, other than being involved in the process.
So, these are my NYRs and since I'm posting them on the WWW for all to see, I'll add an addendum - a NYR on accountability.
