Monday Series: A Handful of Updates

1. Art on the Avenue was this weekend!

And it was really great! It was really nice to get out in the world and see how the work was received by a bunch of strangers. Validating really. People like it! This is great news! All told, I made 41 transactions during the market—which is great for a first time, I think! Things I learned:

• People enjoy products they can use. The bookmarks and pouches sold out.
• People seem to get the vibe, despite my fears that my work is a little too varied and disjointed at times.
• The booth setup I chose (after MUCH deliberation) ended up working really well.
• I would make a few changes to the way the pieces are set up on the tables—namely, I'm interested in looking for some kind of magazine display cases that are a little less visually distracting on their own and allow a customer to see the work from farther away.

Anyway, I don't even have a ton to say—all in all it was a really positive experience and I can see myself making shows/markets/fairs/cons a bigger priority for the business in the future. If nothing else, the exposure to a brand new audience was really great.

2. I may change the frequency of this blog to monthly.

I've been evaluating my time investments lately and have had to make some difficult decisions about what is actually getting my attention vs. what should be getting my attention. A weekly blog is probably not the best use of my time. I think it was beneficial for me to get my thoughts out in the open at the beginning but after a year and a half of this, I'm finding that I don't have a ton of new info to share on a week-to-week basis. Perhaps month-to-month will help with perspective. I'll try it out. If it feels good, great! If not, I'll make another choice. #imtheboss

3. Inktober; Sorta.

I went back and forth a lot on whether or not I'd participate in Inktober this year. Similar to the above, it's a HUGE time commitment. And the pressure to finish a piece every day can sometimes stifle my creativity. So, I've decided to do Inktober-lite. I'm going to work on a series of bookmarks over the course of the month of October—they are fun to make and customers seem to enjoy them! But as I learned last night when I forced myself to make one while exhausted—it's not worth ending up with something I hate. SO. I will prioritize this project but I will not force it. I'm trying to work on dedication without rigidity. How can I prove to myself that I'll keep coming back to a thing without being so militant that I end up hating the thing? No idea.. I'll let you know if I figure that out...