I am an Artist!
Let’s start with that.
I have been playing around with art all of my life. Playing being the operative word. I never thought of myself as a serious artist, just a hobbyist. There is nothing wrong with that if you choose to continue to just be satisfied with making things and giving them away or keeping them. You could even maybe sell some of it if you want. But the business of art is just that–a business. If you want to become a person who is known as an artist, you have to put in the work.
That’s what I’m going to do this year.
I will be focusing on my art business this year and blogging about it. I just want to see if this is truly what I want to do as a profession for the tail end of my life, or continue to keep it as a hobby and look for something else to do for most of my time left on this earth. I will always create no matter what I decide. It is built into me. If you ask anyone who does something creative for a living if they can just stop thinking about it or doing it, there is a great possibility they would say no. That’s how I am anyway. I have always loved creating things, but my true love has always been sewing, quilting, and embroidering. I would throw in crocheting, but I could probably not do that–well, no I have to do that, too. Having a crochet project to do in the dead of winter with the snow falling on our Maine landscape is heaven. So, crochet is on the list, too.
I have done patterns from other people in the past. I have always enjoyed making Christmas presents for my family and friends. I’m not sure if they enjoyed getting them, though. ; ) As I learned more techniques and started to come up with my own patterns and work, I got more excited about making things. The creative process is sometimes frustrating but always interesting. So, I started making art quilts in 1998. I’ve been doing this a long time but not consistently. This year, I am going to add the consistent practice.
That is what I’m going to talk about in this blog. I’ll show the good, the bad, and the ugly of creating an art business. At the end of the year, I will assess if I want to keep going or call it quits on a business model and go back to creating for a hobby.
I am in an art show for the month of January, and I will begin talking about this on Day 2.
I hope you will come along with me on this creative year.
