Because I’ve had no formal training I signed up for a drawing class (well, my acrylic painting class does count as training but I don’t like painting with acrylics right now so pfft). I knew it was the class for me when the instructor had us turn our drawing upside down and then had us drawing without looking at the paper or lifting our hand. It’s hard.
And then this past week we drew peppers and seashells. I probably should’ve picked a more interesting shell but this is the one that spoke to me and I had a fun time trying to get the curve at the bottom to show indentation.
I didn’t take a picture of the pepper. You don’t need to see that.
And on to the links!
Today is the day! I wrote about Sarah Bessey’s new book last week as well but now it’s officially released. If we had a bookstore nearby I’d already be reading it (I actually don’t like buying books on the interwebs. I like to be in the bookstore).
2015 Holiday Merchandising Guide For all you Etsy sellers out there. Because we’re not doing enough merchandising freaking out (or maybe I’m alone with this feeling?). Sigh. I appreciate help of any sort but I feel like I’m already swimming in a quagmire of information. Guides like this are helpful but THEY MAKE ME FREAK OUT EVEN MORE.
10 Unfortunate Design Trends The other day I was taking out my trash and walked by a moving van (apartment living-yay!). It would be more accurate to say I had to walk around said moving van because the moving van took up A LOT of space. Anyway. I had lots of time to look at this moving van. And it had good things to say-good price, they did a lot of stuff beyond packing, I saw a phone number …. and no name. It took me several seconds-which is too long, in this information overload era of ours-to locate the teensy tiny absolutely no different from the rest of the words name. I can do better than that. And I haven’t done any of the ten mistakes listed in the article. Now all I have to do is actually learn all the graphic design stuff and I’m in business!
How I Price My Drawings This is an old post (five years old) but I needed guidance and this provided it. When I revamped the etsy store (the wordsremember one) I wanted to offer several price points: cheap, not-so-cheap, and originals. That worked out to photo prints, some giclees, and no originals. So I’m rectifying that situation and listing original works (“Jungle Beauty” was one). But how much to charge? Too cheap and people will wonder what’s wrong with it. Too much and people will wonder what’s wrong with me, that I think my work is worth that. So I’m being conservative, sticking between $100-200. If/when I start selling originals consistently I’ll think about redoing my price points.
And that’s it, beautiful people! It’s snowing where I am, and it’s wonderful. Mostly because I don’t have to drive in it and I’ve lived in a desert for the past few years (we’re not going to count our stint in Amarillo, ok? It was too flat and boring). So be safe, and art on!
Wordsremember 