It seems funny to me now, but I wrote down this line a few months ago, ‘Stop chasing the shiny new thing’.
It was supposed to be a way for me to focus on just a few really great art opportunities with galleries and art shows that I really wanted to chase, and complete.
Rather than thinking I had to do it all and then running myself ragged trying to get everything finished, including getting art scanned, photographed, varnished, framed, styled, and shot in all the correct formats for all the different online art portals. I did my due-diligence. I went through the past year or so and looked at what I had entered, what had more traction, where I got the most engagement and what made sense for my work.
Slow progress, is still progress.
Looking back at it now, I am thinking, maybe this should have been stuck to my bathroom mirror. To be read each morning and night. I have definitely come a long way from where I was a year ago in so many ways, and in particular with not signing up for every art show that comes along, but I still have a way to go. It is such a difficult season in growing my art biz, not just due to the financial climate, but because I have reached a stage in my business where I feel like I am really starting to scratch the surface of where I can take it, and that is super exciting, but at the same time, its been like trudging up struggle street.
Limited time available to work on art, all the amazing opportunities that keep popping up all over the place, lots of life changes personally taking a giant load of emotional energy and the slowing down of sales can be demotivating, in turn making it difficult to invest back into the business both financially and emotionally. It is a time that makes it really hard to say no.
To admit, you have way too much going on to simply say yes because the calibre of artists in the show is amazing and something you have dreamed about being involved with. It is a time where it feels like if you don’t say yes to everything, it will be a missed opportunity that may never show up again.
And yet that shiny new thing keeps popping up, teasing me with its endless opportunities. I am still trying to be considerate in which of those I get involved with, but at the same time, I am very grateful for all these shiny new things and the endless possibilities.
They continue to keep me driven and through all the glittery goodness and I can see a lovely art community that are there, chasing the opportunities as well, and sharing the love, helping each other grow and championing each other. It is very compelling.
And that is, a shiny new thing I am more than happy chase.
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