Creative Block by The Jealous Curator

It's finally here! I've got my copy of Creative Block by The Jealous Curator aka Danielle Krysa. This book has been the talk of the creative blogosphere for months now and for good reason. The premise of the book deals with the doubts and insecurities that every artist deals with in regards to their work. Am I good enough, do I know what I'm doing, does anyone care, should I bother, what if I fail, what if it doesn't sell, what if I'm rejected, what if, what if, what if.....this is my soul.

About five years ago Danielle and I met at our kids gym-time and we got to talking about being artists and how we both wanted to get back into making art but it was tricky trying to find time between the dishes, breast feeding and laundry. Besides, it was scary. We joked about how appealing laundry can look when you're being confronted by your art insecurities. While we both wrestled with the doubts, Danielle took to writing about artist's work that she thought was enviously amazing. Hence the Jealous Curator was born. The response to her blog was fantastic and she soon had a large following of her daily posts. 

One day,  I was tearfully complaining to Danielle that I wasn't selling my art like I wanted and that I was wishing that I didn't want to be an artist at all. Maybe I'm just not good enough. Danielle offered to reach out to her readers and see what advice they would give. The response was so amazing and heartfelt. So many people responded with a resounding , "I can relate" comment. Not only were the responses coming from readers but some were from very "successful" artists that Danielle had featured on her blog. I found that I wasn't alone in my fears and that the truly successful artists are the ones who have figured out how to get past their insecurity and create work despite it. 

In Creative Block Danielle asks 50 artists about their art practice,why they feel the need to create,what inspires them, and whether they listen to their inner critic.  She also asks each artist to give a project to the reader to "unBlock" their own creativity. Some of the projects are simple and some are quite complex but the underlying theme to most of them is "just create, don't think. Just do." I will make this my mantra.

I highly recommend getting a copy of Creative Block if not for all the great exercises but for the collection of great artwork. Julia Pott, Jennifer Davis and Kate Pugsley are just a few of my favourite artists that are featured in the book. So lovely, so inspirational.

I just want to say "thanks" Danielle for being an empathetic ear and getting all of us creating despite our fears. I'm jealously happy for all your success. Mwah!

How do I price my art?

I've been thinking about this post for a while now. As an artist, I have struggled alot with how to price my work and determining its' value. Now that I have decided to be more proactive in selling my work, I have had to question its' value everytime I post something on Etsy.

 Etsy is an amazing site to find so many highly talented and skilled artists. I have found, however, that  there are alot of artists who sell their items too low. This is great for those of us looking for beautiful things for very little. It's not so great for people like myself that realize that I have to compete with those prices. It's taken me many a years to convince myself that I deserve to be paid well for my images and ideas. 

 As such, I have tried different formats of my work to make it more "sellable" to the Etsy shopper. I have created digital prints of my monotypes  and paintings which have turned out to be amazing in their clarity and color. I have access to a Canon Pro9000 and have found it to produce images better than anything that I have sent out so far. Being that they are still archival I think that I may use the printer for my collages which will deteriate much faster.

I have also created some glass pendants of my images which I just love. Now my images are portable!

So even with all the adjustments I've tried to make to reach my "target market", I have to say that I haven't sold one digital print or art pendant yet. I have only sold original paintings and hand-pulled prints so far. Go figure.

I would love to hear from other artists and their thoughts on pricing their works  and how they market their talent.

As a side note, I would like to share with you some of the finds I've seen on Etsy. I love posting my favorites and wish I could puruse the art pages even more than I do.

I recently bought some pieces from meluseena, a.ka. Lisa Falzon. They will be hung up on my wall of inspiration. Lisa's work is fantastic and she collages with a computer in a way that I only wish I could do. Now that's a good use of a computer!

Another artist that I am kicking myself for not buying from is five in the morning. This edition sold so fast that I lost my opportunity to own such a well done print. I kept looking at it and its' description to determine why the artist was selling it for only $15 (!). I will check back often so that I don't make that mistake again.

As I opened up one of my Decor8 daily I was blown away by Natasha Morton and was heartened to see that she sells originals. I would love any painting set by her but I just might convince myself to buy one of her collages.

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Finally, I love the work by Etsy artist Francois Dyment but luckily I get to see his work all the time. I ended up marrying an amazing painter and he has really inspired me in so many ways. Francois is also selling originals and is at the higher end for Etsy prices but has a selling history that justifies this.

Tell me about your amazing finds on Etsy. Is there an artist on there that you feel deserves some more recognition?