Tuesday, January 23, 2018

My Etsy Shop

Today I'd like to put to record that I finally made my first sale on my Etsy Shop yesterday! About a year ago I was commissioned to paint one of Tucson's talented bassoonists as a matryoshka by her husband for her birthday. Yesterday her husband also bought three of my cards. Thank you!

I strive to succeed as an artist and that is why I utilize several online platforms to make my art available for viewing to as wide an audience as possible. Here's a list of them all:

Facebook Page: Gipsy Pirate Octopi or Margaritabrosovaart
Instagram: @margaritabrosova
Online Portfolio: mbrosova.myportfolio.com
Etsy Shop: margaritabrosovaart.etsy.com

While two stores in Tucson do carry my art cards, Old Paint Records Shop at the Old Town Artisan's and Petroglyphs in the Lost Barrio, I prefer to sell my own product because I do make more money that way. I found out last year that selling my cards to a retailer has almost no profit for me if you take into account the travel time it takes me to go a drop the product off as well as the time it takes to package the cards before bringing them to the stores. But I do it anyways because the goal is to have as many people see my art as possible, so if they see it in the store that's great too.

I think about how I'm going to make it in this art business/career dream I have, and I try to imagine what my end goal is and I must admit, I actually have no idea what will get me there because I don't yet have a very clear vision of what I'd like to do exactly. It's hard to go after something if you don't know what it is. I remember in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies Captain Jack Sparrows has a compass that will only take you where you want to go if you know exactly where that is. I feel like in life having a clear vision or a dream is like that. It's impossible to attain a dream if you do not know exactly what it is.

So I am now very aware of my challenge to really take the time and decide what I want to do. I know I want to illustrate books, but I'm often not sure if I want to illustrate books for other authors, or if I want to attempt writing myself. I also often question weather illustrating books is something that I will be happy doing, because it seems constricting to work on one story for several illustrations, right now I just paint whatever I want, but if my job is to illustrate then I have an assignment I must do which is very different from doing whatever I want.

I do know that selling my own art on Etsy is something that I'd like to be successful at, although I don't think it's my ultimate goal. I think of it as a step in achieving success artistically and also it's a challenge to run as a business and I like challenges.

I will conclude with posting the three cards that were purchased:




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