Between 2020 and present, I have created an impressive amount of Art. Mostly acrylic paintings, all hanging around the house, some watercolor and a few mixed media. Then there are the antique ceramics that I so lovingly and joyfully created and ALL of them went back home with from last Satuday's pop-up at Tansy. However, I'd be remiss not to mention that I did sell the Mary Poppins plate outside of the event to a friend on Instagram.
The Tansy pop-up wasn't a compete bust. I sold one small original piece of mixed media Art, two prints, and a few bookmarks and stickers. Every one of those sales, down to the $1 sticker of my Cat portrait brought me joy. It wasn't just because of the money, either. It also wasn't just because strangers saw value in my creations
enough to WANT the thing. It was about decreasing my inventory that most brought me joy. Letting go.
It's easy to detach from any feeling of "letting go" of your own creation when a) it's a printed product and b) you create it with the intention of letting it be enjoyed by others and you get full price for it. There are so many paintings in my house. Almost all, I barely notice anymore. They hang on the hallway walls, my bathroom, bedroom, and studio walls not just as decoration and appreciation, but as a kinder way to store them. It's like I have forgotten the intention of each piece in the first place. These were created for others to enjoy. Some, I'll admit, were just created as a practice, and I still find them worth hanging up. Well, except for this one painting I did in the middle of 202o that I titled " 'Be Small', They Said."
I thought it was good at the time I created it, and it had a personal backstory to it. It wasn't for sale. We hung it up in my bedroom, and for over a year, every time I'd look at it, I'd frown. It wasn't just because of the idea behind the painting. It was because....it just wasn't good. I started to really dislike the piece. Called it "ugly" in my head, which seems unkind but I'm all about being honest with myself Why would I create such a piece? I'm better than this. I finally decided it was enough, I took it down and whispered sinisterly to it....."I'm painting over you!"
(I just don't know what, yet)
What about all the other paintings?
The ones that hang on my walls and also live digitally on my website with full priced tags on them. It's a tough (art) crowd out there in my Burbank community when I show my Art in person at these pop-ups I keep doing. Not many people are interested in buying original paintings priced between $150-700. Especially from an unknown Artist like myself. I'm hesitant to treat my paintings as "stuff". Like many, we are in possession of quite a bit of "stuff". Seems like we've done almost a dozen garage sales in the last decade. I have clothing listed on Poshmark, various items on Facebook Marketplace, and a garage so packed from wall to wall, covering every inch of floor space, it's comical yet sickening. Needless to say, we are open to purging and detaching from our stuff.
But....but....my "Art" isn't "stuff"! Cries, my Ego.
Still....we need to move it. Or, at least try, which is why I am learning to detach and reduce the prices!!! Something I've been so hesitant to do because it feels like the antithesis of me doing all this positive money mindset work which self worth is the crux of. It feels like lowering my prices = de-valuing my work, thus undoing the efforts I have made in getting comfortable charging what my Art should be charged. If you're an Artist yourself, you totally get what I mean. Actually, I'm pretty sure that even if you're not an Artist, you can understand.
Well, I like challenges and I like change. I don't have much time left in my 30's. I'm entering a new age bracket. Starting with the number "4". Immediately, I'm like "I need a new hairstyle and wardrobe, damnit!" In 2020, I started planning my big-birthday-art-show-bash for late May/early June of 2022. Fully confident that I'd be ready by then. Well, I so wasn't. There is no big birthday bash for my 40th, but instead several intimate gatherings with the people closest in my life. I think I like this best even if it is many occasions spread out in a span of 2 weeks.
"Forward Forties"
That's what I'm calling it.
Instead of New Years resolutions, I'm setting goals for milestone birthdays. I will turn 40 on May 31st, the day after Memorial Day. Memorial Day happens to be one of the largest Sale Days advertised in our country. I've seen a couple of my Artist friends promote sales on their birthdays using their new age as the percentage off. It's been like 30% for Andrea who turned 30 or 22% for Brigit who is turning 22. Well, imma do 40% off! My first BIG sale...because I'm gonna be a BIG girl now! I've decided without anyone suggesting me to do it (because I hate that), and it feels more empowering than it does regretful, like...something I don't really want to do but feel like I'm "supposed to" do it. Screw that. I will only do things that feel truly authentic to me. It feels authentic to offer my heartfelt creations from 2020 and 2021 at 40% from Memorial Day, Monday til the end of Tuesday the 31st, my 40th Birthday.
I was so giddy when the idea came to me the other day that I immediately wrote out my sale strategy in my Artist's Journal. The "when", the "how", the "what's". It gives people who admire and maybe desire a few of my past pieces a chance to afford it. It releases the past to make room for the future. It brings in abundance, not just for me, but to the individual who finds connection to my Art.
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