Referencing my previous post here about my atelier non progress, I finally have to concede that the world is in a bad enough place that they would not want to buy my art and creative crafts or merch right now. I’m not saying I’m the worst artist out there, nor do I want to imply that beginner/amateur artists shouldn’t go for selling their creations especially if their health or life circumstances don’t allow for standard jobs, but I’m clearly so far from the best artist, let’s be realistic. So I decided it’s not worth spending my precious remaining brain cells and energy on art if I’m not able to give it my full focus (due to my full-time job.)
I’ve made my peace with this. I’m actually enjoying reserving my remaining brain cells and energy to building community, talking to my loved ones, supporting other artists who must surely be way worse off than me (unless they’re doctors which I highly doubt?), and of course, educating and relaxing myself.
But I’m not completely giving up on selling my art and sewing either. I have so many artistic ideas that I want to express to others, and crafting and sewing make me happy, well, usually. I also don’t know how long life will be this comfortable to allow me to create art so cutting out creating completely is short-sighted and unnecessarily depressing my mood. I’m just scaling back my expectations, putting off deadlines until I finish actually important tasks (but not putting off too long lol).
Here are my new expectations!
1. instead of creating 1 new creation every month, it’s 1 creation every 3 months. I was busy and didn’t create anything the last 2 months due to holidays and other obligations, but hopefully I can get back to schedule in the spring/summer. Or rather, I did create a bunch of small things already this year, but I decided to make most of them freebies instead.
2. make free zines and zine templates, print postcards to sell. something useful, relating to the written word, as a fight against AI and censorship and fascism. so no prints, not that my art is good for them anyway
3. still work on my fashion line, but maybe stick to accessories and using the materials I have at home instead of trying to buy more stuff or ending up with a large item that isn’t perfect quality
I think these are doable, quantifiable goals. I’m looking forward to showing you my progress in April! Until then, I have to study…