Friday, August 15, 2008

Giveaway Winners and Yet Another Milestone

Drum roll, please...

And the two winners from my gift tag giveaway are...

April, of

And Sydnei, of

Congrats to you ladies and I want to thank everyone who entered and gave their best business advice. I only wish I could have made everyone who entered a winner. But alas, I'm not a slave to my gift tags and making that many sets would have just about killed me.

I have another milestone to add to my belt (metaphorical, not literal. I don't actually wear a belt of great milestones, although I should, because it would probably look pretty cool. Unless it was made from actual stones. Then it would just be very heavy).

I am in the middle of adding original illustrations to my shop *deep breath, deep breath*

I'm an artist, right? I should have original illustrations in my shop. I've always thought this and on occasion, I will suck up my courage and add an illustration or two... but unless they are immediately snatched up (I've sold two originals on Etsy so far and that was very hard for me to do! I miss them a lot), I most likely remove them before they sit for longer than a few weeks.

You see, the idea of parting with my beloved originals scares the daylights out of me. I used to draw for my friends all the time. I put my heart and soul into each illustration I created and was always so happy to give them away to my friends, who loved telling me what they wanted me to draw for them.

I stopped giving my pictures away about 8 years ago, when I discovered one of my favorite pictures ever - this pen and ink horse that took me ages to draw - crumpled in the backseat of my former best friend's car, with her dirty sneakers on top. I didn't cry, but I wanted to.

Then, in early college, I began selling my original illustrations to families of the children who attended the elementary school I worked at. I made quite good money doing this, as the parents were more than happy to pay a fortune for the illustrations. But after the pictures were gone, and I knew I would never see them again, I just felt soooo sad.

So the milestone I reached yesterday is a big one for me.... I've finally reached the point where I can put my originals back in my shop without needing to tuck my head between my legs so I don't pass out. Yes, this is a slight exaggeration on my part... but only slight.

I'm really hoping that parting with my originals will get easier the more I do it... but I'm not so sure. I can't stop having nightmares that one day I'll stumble across one of my favorites sitting dejectedly in the corner of someone's garage sale. What an awful thought!

But in the meantime, my originals are there in the shop with their own special section titled "Original Illustrations." Clever, I know.

Enjoy!

xoxo,

11 comments:

Denise Felton said...

Oh. My. Gawd. No wonder you're gunshy. When I read about what happened to the horse drawing, I actually got tears. *shuddering*

Morgan said...

Hey darling!!!

Wow you are brave!!!!!

I haven't slept in 17 months if you need someone to do an ass whooping I'm the gal to call cuz I'm mean mommy!

Melanie @ Whimsical Creations said...

That's sad about the horse picture. BTW...that picture is gorgeous! Love pen and ink, never learned to do it, but love it.
You will do fabulous! Just keep taking deep breaths. They will find fantastic homes.
=) melanie

Anonymous said...

you can do it!! I'm pretty sure if people pay for the art, they won't crumple it and leave dirty sneakers on top. and hey, a dusty illustration in the corner of a garage could be discovered years later when you are famous and sell for millions :)

sweetpicklespottery said...

Oh gosh I would be upset about that too!!
I ofcourse LOVE all of your work so I think its a great idea!!

Kim said...

yay for taking this huge step!
I can't imagine the gall of someone crumpling that amazing picture...or even of any picture that was a gift...
You will be glad you are doing this :) Your work is amazing and I'm sure you will find many followers :)

Marie said...

Oh my, that horse drawing is beautiful. I can't ever imagine treating artwork like that.

My cousin illustrates children's books and I still have some of his drawings I saved before he went to NY to pursue his career. I cherish them and totally understand why you would feel the way you do about your drawings.

Marcyanna said...

It is always heartbreaking to realize that the people we care about the most don't always appreciate what we do as artists. As difficult as it may be, we need to recognize those that don't value our talents and make sure we don't "give" them anything for free.

We ARE talented & valuable. We should be treated that way & our work should be treated that way as well.

As far as selling your originals... just make sure you charge enough for them. You ARE worth it!

Best Wishes!

Beth said...

Thanks so much for coming by to visit, it's so great to meet you!

As a mom of two myself, I adored reading your post on your childrens' milestones. Congrats on being up to date on your baby books. My kids are 9 and 13 and *sigh* I don't see that happening for them anytime soon.

Congrats on your milestone and shame on your former best friend. I so get what you mean about your difficulty parting with your originals. It is a big part of yourself to share but in doing so you are bringing yourself to a new level of accomplishment as an artist. Really great to meet you!

idyll hands said...

Yes, I do believe it's time to put originals back up in the shop. I can see the anxiety with parting with the art, when it's the original, but it will be joy to someone's art collection.

And you're a bigger person that I am, had I seen something I spent a lot of time on just crumpled up on my friends backseat, I would have had WORDS to say.

Kelly Drill said...

Ok, first of all I actually cried over the horse drawing on your behalf.

Second, I nominated you for a blog award, chica. :)

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