Update #11 - Where I get ready to launch my online shop, do my seasonal review, and gaze lustfully at giant canvases

This is where I share what I’ve been up to behind the scenes to move my art career forward - the good, the bad, and the as-yet-to-be-determined. 

May 1st marks the beginning of a new season for me (I like to plan my year in seasonal quarters following the Wheel of the Year) and that means I’ve been spending some time reviewing and reassessing what I’m doing and where I’m spending my time. I’ve been at this art biz thing full time now for around three months, which is long enough to have gathered a bit of data from all the spaghetti I’ve been throwing at the wall, and it’s become very clear that whilst there are some parts which are going brilliantly, there are some parts which are decidedly not. Let’s investigate…

April’s Rose, Bud, & Thorn

The Rose is something that went well, the Thorn is something that didn’t go so well or is challenging, and the Bud is something that is still percolating…

ROSE

I’m still thrilled with YouTube, and how it’s performing for me. I love the feedback I’ve been getting, the speed at which it has grown this month, and how much I enjoy making the videos, but I am butting up against the limits of my capacity (I’ll talk more about this below) so I’ll be trying a few new things moving forward, especially concerning the type and frequency of videos. I’m thinking maybe some live elements could help to ease the workload and still be fantastic value for my lovely viewers. I’m excited to mix it up a bit and experiment some more!

Painting-wise, I have been creating much, much more and that has been incredible. It’s tough to find the balance between making the art and running the business but I’m really happy with how it went this month. I’ve been working almost exclusively in my sketchbook so far this year, though, and I am so ready to bust out the big canvases again! Watch this space for more giant, colourful, joyful, wonky paintings!

Finally, I had some incredible feedback on my work this month which absolutely moved me to tears. I was on a call with some amazing women, two of whom had both bought some of my Little Wobble paintings. One of them said that she had had a bad day recently and then she saw her Wobbles and it reminded her that there was still joy in the world, and then the other lady joined in and said that every time she sees hers she gets a little dopamine hit. It was such a rush for me to hear that, because the reason I make the art I make is to bring people joy and make them feel better when they’re sad. To hear that I’m succeeding in that mission is utterly wonderful.

BUD

Something which has been a bit frustrating this month, and has taken a lot longer than I expected it to, is getting everything set up behind the scenes for my shop. Denmark does not make any allowances whatsoever for microbusinesses, so in order to sell my work worldwide (which is where my audience is), I need to jump through a LOT of legal hoops. There are all kinds of registrations and extra reportings and of course it’s all in Danish so that makes things even slower for me. But, all grumbling aside, I am slowly working my way through the process with the help of my wonderful accountant and my brilliant (Danish) husband.

And you know what that means? Very, very soon you’ll be able to buy my art from my website! Woohoo! I’m planning a studio sale for late May/early June (depending on how quickly I can get everything done) where I’ll release a selection of works on canvas - plus I might even have a rummage through my plan chest and clear out some old sketches and works on paper too. I’d really like to have a range of stuff available at different price points so everyone has the opportunity to get something. I’m also exploring payment plans and things so it’s even easier to buy the art you love.

Alongside selling original work, I’m also investigating some print options. I’ve had so many enquiries from people wanting to buy pieces from my sketchbooks and the only way I can really do that is by turning them into prints. But, the logistics of running a print shop are way too much for just me, so I’m looking into some print-on-demand and drop-shipping options to see if I can make this work within my capacity.

The final thing budding on my business tree right now is the idea of leaning into my neurodivergency advocacy work. I’ve been speaking about being a neurodivergent entrepreneur and artist for a number of years now, but it’s been something quite incidental. My art is so closely linked to my experience of neurodivergency I feel like there’s a natural crossover between the two, and it’s something I’d like to emphasise more in my marketing and communication moving forward. If you happen to know of any podcasts or groups looking for a speaker or interviewee on this topic, please do drop me a line!

THORN

Something I wrote about in last month’s update was my struggle with handling my capacity. As a disabled person I am sometimes blindsided by the affect my disability has on my ability to do things. And yes, I know that is a ridiculous sentence.

Learning how to not get over excited and overload myself out of sheer enthusiasm and desire to do ALL THE THINGS is a constant struggle for me. Which is only made worse by the fact that every couple of months or so I have a burst of energy so pure and intense I can do all the things, but only for a very short while, before I return to my normal baseline of not being able to do all the things. In fact, most of the time I can barely do some of the things.

I get a tiny bit better at managing this every time it comes up, and I’m very fortunate to have lovely people around me who know me better than I know myself and are very good at coming up with ways to help me deal with it.

As I mentioned above, starting my YouTube channel has been one of those instances where my ambition exceeds my capacity. Which is very cross-making, but also a fantastic opportunity to do things differently and experiment. One of my favourite things in business has always been seeing what other people are doing, trying it out, and then breaking and remoulding it to fit my own needs. I guess YouTube is no different.

Finally, I have been rejected so much this month! And ooh it sucks. I applied for a bunch of opportunities at the end of February, and I got rejected from all of them except one, which I won’t hear back from until mid-May. I really, really, really want this one to accept my submission - it’s such a fantastic opportunity and I think it’s a great fit, but we’ll see. It’s in the hands of the opportunity gods now.

Wish me luck!