In the absence of art/craft productivity, I have spent a little time poking around Etsy to find ways to empty my PayPal account (a difficult task, I know). In doing so, I came across an oil painter named Andrea Coats with a lovely little painting blog and an even lovelier shop. Andrea’s gorgeous little paintings are oh-so-affordable…I am planning to buy a small set (2? 3?) for the new kitchen after we move. Some of my favorites are below. Aren’t they gorgeous?!?

(All images by Andrea Coats, used with permission)

I should also mention, in the spirit of sharing, that I found another new-to-me shop selling Marimekko’s Unikko Lac print in blue for only $15/yard. It normally retails for something around $40/yard, so this is a really good deal. And seeing as this is the exact print, color, and size that I’ve been looking for, I bought two yards and can tell you that it is quite lovely in person. I plan to put it in the yet-unseen dining room of our yet-unrented apartment, so I hope that nothing in it clashes with blue. :)

Finally (and this did deplete the PayPal account), I am happy to announce that I am the proud owner of my very own piece of Amy Ruppel’s encaustic art. I have loved her work ever since I first saw it online and decided during her recent online art sale that now is the time. I mean, there will never be a “good” time to spend money on art — which is so easily viewed as non-essential — unless you make it. So I made it. And now these little birdies will be flying to me soon.

(Image by Amy Ruppel)

I turned out that someone purchased the piece I wanted, but Amy very kindly made me a new one. So perfect, isn’t it?

Husband doesn’t know about this yet, so I guess this is my way of seeing if he checks the old blog. ;)

Probably not so much posting this week (or next), as I am busy packing and working on this. After all the very helpful comments you left me on my what-to-do post, a 2nd shop seemed like the very best option. Paulabirdy will remain open and have all the birdy-themed items, while PaulaGibbs will carry the Day at the Beach prints, some new gocco prints, and a few other things.

Already done:

• create new email address
• create new shop
• create new banner and temporary avatar
• order new prints (they came!)
• take photos of prints
• design rough draft of business cards

Still to do:

• order new business cards
• come up with a new promotional postcard or freebie
• edit and resize photos for Etsy listings
• create new listings
• finish writing shop announcement, email to buyers, etc.
• make a few changes to the Paulabirdy shop
• fiddle with PayPal settings
• come up with a new packaging scheme (i.e. not ribbon)

Sound like fun? If you’re thinking about opening a shop, it’s a good idea to make a pretty complete to-do list first…I’m sure I’m still missing some things, but my current list is already long enough to banish thoughts of finishing everything in a week. :)

Given the current state of my apartment (=chaos) and schedule (=hectic), I’m putting the Monday moving sales on hold for a few weeks. I want to start adding old drawings and paintings next, and at the moment I’m not even sure where they are. I am hoping to unearth a little pile of sale-able art in the near future so I can resume the sales!

After a full day of housecleaning and stuff-sorting on Saturday, I’ve come to the realization that — as always — this moving/packing thing is going to take me longer than I’d thought.

Sorted so far: parts of craft room, knick-knacks, some tableware, linens, books.

Still in disarray: other parts of craft room, kitchen stuff, my clothes, very full file cabinet, photos, portfolios, random personal belongings.

Waiting till husband is done with school: huge quantities of CDs and VHS tapes, his clothes, desk area.

And then there are any number of categories that I haven’t even thought of yet, like stuff that lives in the bathroom cabinet that you really don’t want to throw away because that eye cream container has a little more left and you want to use it sometime, just not now. I try to psych myself into thinking that I’m not the kind of person who likes clutter, but the evidence points strongly to the contrary. I mean, I rounded up my vases on Saturday and found that I own at least 15. Yikes.

The approach to packing/de-cluttering that I’m currently employing is Slow + Steady. Start now, tackle small areas at a time, and try not to get really bogged down in memories. Stuff is really a treasure-trove of memories, isn’t it? I hold on to so many things not because I love the object itself but because I’m afraid that I’ll forget the person who gave it to me if I pass it on. But as I sit on the verge of a major move and the prospect of paying to ship all my whatsits to Florida (or storing them in my long-suffering parents’ basement), I think I need to part with some of my treasures. So I am picking things up, looking them over, smiling at my memories, and setting them resolutely on the yard sale shelf.

Even though the first box won’t be shipped for weeks yet, my move has already begun.

Monday Moving Sale:
In light of all the other things going on, this week’s sale is pretty low key. I’ve marked the Portrait of the Artist gocco prints (Cardinal and Puffin) from $10 to $8, since I’ve decided that $8 will be my new 5×7 gocco print price point. I toyed with the idea of starting a new gocco print set (I have them all planned out!), but I think that it will have to wait until the end of May.

I am (literally) seeing things a little differently this week, as both husband and I picked up new pairs of contacts on Saturday. He has never had them before, and I haven’t worn them since our wedding day and, previous to that, my senior year in college. It’s kind of strange not to have the familiar frames perched upon my nose. We immediately picked up sweet new pairs of sunglasses, which are a luxury that neither of us have had in ages, and I love the freedom of not having something in front of my face all the time. I’m waiting for the you-messed-with-your-eyesight migraine to start anytime now, but contrary to my expectations, Excedrin and I have had been getting along quite nicely so maybe this will work out after all. I really don’t want to wear glasses for the rest of my life. Father-in-law has asked for photo documention of this momentous change in our lives, so I might try to snap some pics this week.

Before I forget, this week’s Monday Moving Sale special is on 8×10 prints. As with the cards (which are still on sale as well!), I am selling off my inventory and don’t plan to print more. So if you’re interested in A Bird for All Seasons, Three Days of Christmas, or Hats, get ‘em now while they’re only $10 each…

And speaking of forgetting, my fam reminded me that I haven’t posted the winning Renaissance Fair poster from a while back. There’s a short bio feature here…um, can you tell I’m a little more long-winded than the other girl? I didn’t know how long it was supposed to be, so I was squirming in my seat at the awards ceremony when my “about me” statement seemed to go on and on. Sigh.

You can find images of all the past posters here, and I think the progression is really interesting to look at. They’re pretty diverse, but I think that some of the older ones are more graphically inventive – 1979, 1986, and 2003 are my favorites. What are yours?

The finished poster:

The painting:

A closer look:

Stepping out of the pages…

Here it is — painting no. 3 in the Day at the Beach series.

This piece was an interesting challenge to paint because of the translucency of the seaweed. All of the other items in the series so far (starfish, rocks, barnacles) have been opaque, and I wasn’t sure that I could get the green-filled-with-sun color I wanted. I think that oils are a far better medium for that sort of thing…I’ll probably have to convert, eventually.

Husband really likes the background in this and the starfish painting, and I was pretty pleased with the way that they turned out as well — a bit of abstract-ness to go along with the realism of the main object.

I did have an inquiry as to whether the pieces will be for sale, so I’ll go ahead and clarify that now. The four in the set have been made specially to hang at Thee Malebox Spring Gala ‘08 at Asher + Matt’s house on April 25-26 (er, if you’re local and don’t know where that is, let me know and I’ll scrounge up the actual address). The paintings will be $90 each, and any that are left will go into ye olde Etsy shoppe afterward. Interested in one now…? Send me an email or leave a comment and I’ll be in touch. I will be making some prints, but I have to say that the original pieces have a texture and luster that can’t be replicated.

A note about art sales: I try to keep this blog from becoming one big advertisement for my Etsy shop and I hope that you don’t feel as though I am trying to sell you things all the time. I’m not. I like to talk about the painting process, and a lot of times I end up trying to sell the finished piece since it’s nice to get paid for my time + effort and it makes me feel like a legitimate artist/craftswoman. However, I really don’t want my friends to feel as though I expect them to buy my work! Please feel free to read and look and never buy a single thing from me, if that’s what you want.

In the spirit of preparing for our May (to Pullman) and July (to Pensacola) moves, I’ve decided to start clearing out some inventory through my Etsy shop. This will involve both items that I’ve decided to discontinue (cards, some prints) and some original pieces from a few years back.

This is both fun for me — hey, everyone loves a sale! — and good for my overstuffed craft room, which cannot possibly fit into a box at the moment.

The first Monday Moving Madness sale is on the Sparrow and Quail Notecards, which are now $5 for a set of four. (Some other card sets are discounted as well). I won’t be re-printing these, so get ‘em now if you like the design!

Because you are my loyal blog readers, I’ll go ahead and give you advance notice that all the 8×10 prints will go on sale at some point, but the Alphabirdybet Letters will not. I need to scrounge around my portfolios for the originals, but I’ll probably be selling off some pencil drawings (leaves, shells, etc.), a scratchboard piece or two, and maybe some watercolors. And they’ll be priced to sell. :)

Also, I am always happy to waive shipping costs for locals if you are willing to pick the item(s) up from my house or at church. I feel very silly shipping across town!

I finished an entire painting on Saturday, which is a marked speed improvement over the last one! (I also discovered that I can paint while sitting on the couch, which is certainly comfier than the dining room chairs…will definitely try that again sometime.) But since my train of thought is still running down the Etsy + printing + prices track, I’m going to wait a bit for show & tell.

I really appreciate each of you who took the time to leave a comment on my printing post, and I’m adding Rosina’s name into the drawing mix since she spent a pleasant 15 minutes talking with me in person about the post. In continuing the discussion, I’m going to take the liberty of quoting from the comments since I always like it when someone responds specifically to my question/point and assume that others feel the same way. I don’t know how many of you readers have Etsy shops, have made purchases Etsy, run another type of crafting business, etc., but I hope that this discussion will be profitable for you as well and that you won’t mind the big long post.

(Esther said)
My input, as someone who likes to buy art but doesn’t have a big budget to do so, is to raise the cost of shipping and require delivery confirmation. I don’t mind paying more for shipping if I know it will help it arrive safely. But I know I would have to swallow hard before I started considering $45 prints, especially for my kids’ room.

Delivery confirmation (and insurance) seems to be the way to go, so I’m definitely going to change my shipping policy! You’ve confirmed my fear that I am starting to price my friends out of my prospective market for the big prints, which is something I’d like not to do–I really don’t know how to handle that situation. But then again, I’m also hoping that the individual letters provide a low cost alternative.

(Meg said)
You should make whatever art you want to make to sell- it sounds cheesy, but as long as you enjoy making it (and aren’t just making it to suit a particular market) it will show through and people will buy it.

Meg, this is an important issue that deserves its own post sometime. Quite frankly, it can be really hard to tell when I am orienting my work more toward my own vision and taste and when I am orienting it toward the market. I think any artist struggles with “to thine ownself be true” vs. paying the bills, and an illustrator is even more entangled since he/she creates art to fill a need and needs usually come with restrictions. (The items in my Etsy shop are really more fine art than illustration, but the art training that I’ve had has primarily been from the viewpoint of the illustrator and it’s hard for me not to feel as though I am illustrating for an imaginary client, the Average Etsy Buyer.)

Plus, there’s the added temptation to take a look around Etsy and see what other people are doing that sells well–it’s kind of like doing marketing research. I am not referring to copying outright, but if folksy animals or sweet vintage children seem to be the ticket to 1000 sales, it might not be a bad idea to make some notes. Take a look at this post over on A thing of beauty…see any themes?

The downside is that it’s hard to maintain enthusiasm about a style or subject matter that’s not your first choice, and I think that the buyers can tell this (which you alluded to). Plus, certain categories seem so often-repeated (ink drawings over old book pages, anyone?) that it seems as though painting one more would be like writing yet-another high shool essay on Shakespeare. I do not at all mean to knock the creativity of the first five (or ten or fifteen) people who tried this technique or to say that it doesn’t look good. I also don’t mean to imply that you have to create stunningly original works each and every time or that you need to find a market niche to belong to. I just mean to say that the issue is complicated and that I would LOVE to hear some honest discussion about issues of inspiration, originality, and the marketplace.

(Lauren said)
Prints probably sell better on Etsy than originals. Especially when originals are priced as they should be.

Pricing is so hard! In the Etsy forums, I frequently see new sellers encouraged to raise their prices, which is undoubtedly the right thing to do as artists frequently undervalue their time. Uncle Ted made the perceptive comment that “People are hardwired to believe that high price equals high quality in art. Perversely enough, you will sometimes see sales go UP if the price is higher, because they assume that you are an elite artist.” I remember this from my marketing course, and I am sure that it’s true. But it is also intimidating to raise your prices by $100 (which you certainly could!) since it really decreases the pool of potential buyers.

I think prints generally do sell better on Etsy than originals because prints are a low-cost, low-commitment way of experiencing an artist’s work. Which brings me to…

(Monica said)
As a previous buyer of an original painting that I absolutely love, I think you can definitely raise your price on original art and have more of those available. They don’t have to be big, so you can still charge more and still be affordable, but the buyer gets the pleasure of getting an original work of art and I think that counts. I like prints, but when the costs of a print start creeping up too high, I tend to prefer to buy some original art or craft instead.

Monica, it is quite kind of you to say this and I do believe that I will be taking your suggestion…I think I’d like to offer more originals (with prices raised but not out of sight) along with some inexpensive gocco prints. This is where the big Alphabet print is again uncomfortably in the middle–expensive for a print, but not an original. I might end up phasing it out in the end. Sigh.

(Mackenzie said)
And I second the original art thing, too. Have some prints available but original art, even if it’s teeny tiny is a HUGE draw (at least for people like me). Multiple products at multiple price points - have some more affordable prints and more lucrative originals and you can draw a wide range of customers, says I!

“Multiple price points” is a phrase that I’ve seen in a number of places, and it seems to be the key. I won’t forget this!

Uncle T, I don’t take issue with your keen business sense or your well-informed comments. Artists probably ought to talk with businessmen more often…I think it can often be viewed as selling out when it’s really just a source of selling wisdom. Right?

I don’t think I’ll change Paulabirdy at this point since it causes a small blip of recognition and, well, I just happen to like it. But if I was starting all over again, I’d just be Paula Gibbs.

I’ll quote you on Return on Investment, though, since I think it is a very necessary point for the independent artist:

With all the pressure on you, you will simply not keep something up that doesn’t pay back. What you need to do is say, “my time is worth $20 per hour, on average for each sale I am putting in around 10 hours of worth, therefore, I will charge $200. This means that you need to cut out all the bottom prints. Your intuition is absolutely correct.

I think that the problem with this concept is mainly an emotional one. The artist is keenly aware that his/her product is not as necessary for daily life as a hard drive. No matter how well-reasoned the arguments for the place of beauty in one’s home, the art market still feels like a luxury market. And when you feel as though you are selling something non-essential, you don’t want to ask people to pay a lot because you’re afraid they won’t. And then you’ll be stuck with the 10 hours of unpaid work, and at least $5/hour is better than $0/hour.

Of course, my impressions may be shaped by the fact that I leave in a community where people are usually cheerfully scraping by. I don’t know what it’s like to have neighbors with BMWs and expensive leather couches and Chanel handbags. I have seen these places and know that they exist, but my experience with this type of buyer is so limited that I find it easier to cater my work toward what I know than that which is unfamiliar.

…

Hopefully you won’t all think I’m a moron after reading this or that I’m completely money-driven. This blog is my place to think out loud right now, since I find that putting thoughts into words is a really good way to clarify them. If you have any other comments or want to continue the discussion, please please feel free to chip in. I do love feeling as though we are having a discussion instead of just leaving comments.

Oh, and you probably thought I forgot! The winner of the little drawing (thank you, random number generator) is…ROSINA.

And no, I did not rig the results just because you gave me some yarn. :)

The starfish painting is thisclose to being done, so I think I will (finally) have some art for you tomorrow. It’s been sitting on the dining room table all week, but last night I finally found my missing enthusiasm and spent a few hours working on it. I am very bad about leaving half-finished projects on the table, but husband is very patient.

So, the reason why I’m writing today is to ask for a little reader input on the problem of printing. Actually, I have a big problem with shipping as well, but it’s related to printing since outsourcing my prints requires shipping.

The backstory is that I have been trying and trying and trying to ship an Etsy buyer’s order for a large Alphabirdybet Art Print and have encountered THREE failures in row:

• Print no. 1 was shipped by the postal service but never arrived (I think it was probably swiped from her apartment’s mail area)
• Print no. 2 was sent first to me as part of a batch order but UPS left it sitting on my doorstep, which is next to a busy street, and I never got it. Am trying to get my money back from UPS.
• Print no. 3 was supposed to be sent directly by my printer via UPS (which I have since learned is an Etsy no-no), but due to a miscommunication with my printer TWO prints were sent to another buyer. And buyer no. 1 didn’t get any.

At this point, my poor buyer called it quits and I refunded her money. And felt like a really, really bad Etsy seller. And lost a fair amount of money on the deal. Also, the buyer seems very understanding but I am waiting to get my first negative feedback. :(

This is the sort of situation that eats up a huge amount of time, money, and concentration and is really not related to Making Art, which only adds to the frustration. I’m hardly expecting to become rich off of Etsy, but I really need my sales to generate enough money to make them worthwhile. And at the moment, it’s kind of a toss-up (especially now that I’ve done my tax spreadsheets!). I haven’t lost money overall, but I’m making like $3 an hour on some projects by the time you add up all the nights and weekends and lunchbreaks. Even the Idaho minimum wage isn’t that bad, people.

Sooo, I’ve decided that I need to figure out a better system. I like to keep my prices low enough that my friends can buy my stuff, and a few items (like the individual Alphabirdybet Letters) can remain priced as they are. But I think that I  need to raise the price of the big alphabet print since they are just so expensive for me to order and have shipped (especially now that I need to Fed-Ex them to ensure that a signature is required). And, I need to find a way to ensure that any new products I create don’t need to be outsourced.

Ideas for the shop that I am currently entertaining include:

• Raise price of the 11×14 alphabet print to $40 or $45 and only keep one or two in stock at a time. :(
• Add a bit to shipping costs and start using delivery confirmation on all items over $10.
• Phase out 8×10 prints (like this, this, and this), since they are printed on photographic paper and have a finish that I don’t love. May experiment with printing them at home with archival inks instead.
• Phase out all commercially-printed cards (these, these, and these), since you don’t even want to HEAR about all the problems that I have had with card printing.
• Offer more 5×7 gocco prints (like this, but with a simpler sketch) for $10/each.
• Offer some gocco-printed notecards for around $8/set.
• Have a really big sale so that I can clear out some inventory before I have to box things up and move. (The sale might include some original art from my school days, too.)

Another thing that I haven’t mentioned yet is the idea put forth by husband that I move away from the bird theme, since it is somewhat restricting and–quite frankly–rather oversaturated in the Etsy marketplace. I’d keep the name, of course, but what do you think about showing up at http://paulabirdy.etsy.com and finding prints of dogs, chairs, houses, people, etc?

And what do you think about all the other ideas?

Added bonus: Leave me a helpful comment, and I’ll put your name in a hat for the 8×10 print of your choice (or 4 alphabet letters, if you prefer). You have until Sunday at midnight….

I’m holding it together a little better today, so the new prints are finally out ‘n’ about!

Both prints are from a new series that I’m pretty excited about titled “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bird.”

My goal is to add a new bird to the series each month (the Young Cardinal was supposed to be the January bird, but he flew in a bit late).

I was madly jealous of all the artists who planned ahead and had calendars for sale last fall. So at the end of this year, I will have 12 birds and can make my own!

Each of these prints will be a limited-edition run of only 25-30, and each one has been hand-printed with all of the accompanying dots and dribbles.

I love the fact that they are each slightly different.

As you can tell, I like my birds to be of the literary persuasion.

In my two gloriously snow-bound days off, I did a little redesign of the ol’ blog and etsy shop banners that you might have noticed. There was nothing wrong with the old ones, I just got bored. I also wanted to change the look a little in preparation for my new gocco items (which should be out + about in a few days).

I ran with the image and also ordered some new business cards, since I’m almost out of the old ones.

Oh, and a postcard to add as a freebie to all my orders.

[I also wanted to say to anyone who might be jealous of my snow days that the inevitable bad news came trickling down this morning. It turns out that the snow days are mandatory annual leave, i.e. vacation time. Thanks, WSU. I always knew you had it in you.]