My First Whole Sale Order!

I started focusing on my Etsy store and actually making my first sale after a down period in my life, I was trying to get my art seen, exhibited and selling, but dealing with Galleries, market pros and business people, as well as the notion of rejection was just too depressing, and for every submission I manage to do, I would get so upset, it just wasn't worth it.

I really love the fact that the store's out there, with prices and all, and if people what to by my art they can, I don't get rejected, but I do get to shoe my art and share it with people as well as make some money off selling it, without having to face any professionals in the process.

But now that change! because I did manage to finish the whole process of dealing with some pros! It was really hard and though I was happy with the idea of making a bulk sale, the notion of dealing with another business was really difficult and I just couldn't bring myself to consider that this will actually happened.

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a nice woman who owns a beautiful store called Flora Grubb in San Francisco, and who wanted to order 10 vases, I had to do the math, find out about shipping and worry about non of this working out, but eventually! It did, I got paid and tomorrow a package full of vases is going to the post office. I just hope non break in the mail.

The coolest thing is that in the meantime, another store, who saw the listing for the first order, wanted the same deal! I'm going to make a lot of vases tomorrow!

I'm excited and a little freaked out...

Worry

Worry was the word of the week on Illustration Friday. Sometime it's really hard to find what I want to do for it, and some time it's super easy. This was one of the super easy ones, cause earlier this week I took a picture that I titled "Worry".

The photo was a self portrait I took after Ned got an e-mail that he got in to Grafuck book this year, we both send 3 images, he got one in and I didn't get any request for high resolution files which means I got rejected. I was so happy and proud for Ned but so sad and feeling like a failure for myself. Also him getting in meant that I couldn't write this off as one of those "those editors don't even know anything about art or anything" because they did show very good judgment by picking Ned's piece. So basically, however I could twisted it in my mind, the only conclusion was that I'm just not good enough.



The other day, while being in the train, I thought about a painting i made that day. I listed it on Etsy for 45$, and another one from the same day for 20$. I thought about a friend of mine that
had an art show in a gallery a few months back and now have one of her pieces in some auction site for 1,200$. And how it sort of suck and I feel about 30 times less of an artist then her. Then I thought that if I have to choose between selling 30 paintings to make 1,200$ or only one, I rather sell 30, cause it gives me the chance to make 30 paintings and though this is a pretty small comfort, it's still a comfort.

I'm really worried, not so much about the value of my art but about my own courage and abillity to step out of my comfort zone and becoming the artist I want to be.