What time is it? Time for you to find your joy.

It has been a quiet year for me as an artist.  I have been creating and learning new things but mostly; staying at home.  Instead of travelling to several different artshows this year I decided to restrict my schedule.  I have picked shows that I have to do so I don’t lose my place with them, ones that don’t have a heavy overhead or ones that take me places that I can advance my technique.

One of my greatest supporters (thank you Holly), in an effort to make me feel better; mentioned that I had made a good choice.  I had talked about how difficult the year was going to be with a new administration that was so completely different than most of the ones we had had before.  She said I had made a pretty solid prediction.  I mostly wish I had been wrong.

When I did an art business education program, they counselled us to understand our market.  Where they lived and how they spent, and I invested time understanding who purchased my work.  I like my collectors and I am worried for them, I can see why they are holding on to their money right now.

I have been lucky to pick up some commissions, I am thrilled to be able to do that.  I am also very grateful for them.  One of them was completely out of my comfort zone and my manager asked me, “doesn’t it inspire you to paint?”  I had to think about it for a second because I realized that while I found the project challenging, it wasn’t something I would seek out again.

As an artist, we can be seduced to create for the market so that we can be popular or sell.  It can be very heady stuff to sell a lot but I have seen what happens when you just produce for sales.  You can lose your joy of creation and burn out.  There is so much you have to do as an artist that is joy sucking; book work, marketing, inventory management, taxes, bill paying…… why would you remove the one thing that is magical; the one reason you became an artist?  While time is slow right now (hardly any shows for me), I am going to keep learning and creating for the love of it.  Remember, there is a time for everything.  Sometimes you just have to pay attention to what time it is.