A Success, Chaos, and a New Start

I've been thinking a lot about different ways to market my work lately. I mentioned in the previous post about getting some tips for online marketing from a fellow DSM artist. As it turns out the strategy worked like gangbusters. Within 36 hours of posting my last painting (and the sale thereof) on this blog, Twitter, FaceBook, and an email to my slowly growing mailing list it sold. In fact it nearly sold twice. One potential customer, an old high school friend, emailed me via FaceBook about purchasing it directly through me instead of the Etsy account. By the time I returned home to take the listing down I discovered that the painting had already been bought and paid for. Excellent news, but it did mean that I had to get in touch with my initial contact and explain. Thankfully she took it well and in the end I wound up getting a commissioned piece out of the deal. Everyone was happy. The people that purchased the painting via Etsy, as it turns out, were old school friends of mine as well. Thanks a TON Carla and Dave!

You can be sure that I'll be doing that again in the near future. I've got some inventory left from that shop that was showing my work that recently closed. I think this would be a good way to get it out there. Show it to a wider audience. I would rather sell art than sit on it. I love my work... I love it more when it goes to a good home.

So there's the good news...

That same day I received a call from my soon-to-be ex wife telling me that she was in an accident involving a car that we jointly own. The car sustained some measurable damage, but she's OK. That's the important thing. Cars can be repaired and regardless of anything else I was simply relieved to hear that she was unharmed. Seems there's always a little dose of chaos thrown into our lives to remind us to keep grounded.

Last night I was able to get a good start on my next piece. It's based on a pic I took while I was on photosafari in Ames a couple of weeks ago. I posted the source pic and the initial canvas sketch shortly thereafter. Don't make me go back and look it up... I've started to take the graphite sketch and expound on it a bit with a mixture of Ultramarine Blue, Sap Green, and Burnt Umber. In the pictures it tends to look black, but it's anything but. It will also go up for sale via my Etsy account when it gets finished.

Keep an eye out for other works showing up on Etsy soon.

Cheers,

R