More advice for budding arts-and-crafts entrepreneurs

In retrospect, I wish I'd started this blog way sooner than I actually did.  I should have begun building a fan base for my paintings (and the twisted sense of humour behind them) before I even opened the store on Etsy.  Then when the store actually did open, I'd have a built-in audience who'd run over to see it.  As it is, I opened the store and now I'm trying to drum up an audience from scratch, and it's becoming obvious that this will take a while.

So, yeah, a word to the wise: if at all possible, get people interested in you and your product ahead of time!

Another thing I wanted to mention is that rookie mistakes are inevitable and you need to be aware of this and forgive yourself (and try to have some money in reserve so you can fix things if need be).  For instance, I ordered business cards and then a month or two later I realized I should've gone in a different direction with them.  The cards I ordered are totally cute and still useable, just...not quite in line with my new and improved idea of how my brand should come across (by then I had made my store banner - the same one you see at the top of this page - and decided my promotional materials should all match it).  I beat myself up for a while over wasting money, not thinking things through, etc., but then I realized that everything is happening exactly as it should.  I needed to actually have the business up and running before I could know how best to represent it; I needed business cards before the business was up and running so I'd have promotional materials to pump it up.  No matter how compulsively I tried to plan things out ahead of time (and I am a compulsive planner, oh yes), it was inevitable that my ideas would grow and change as the store actually took shape.

Therefore, my second piece of advice to those starting a business is: plan ahead, but be flexible...and don't expect that you'll do everything perfectly from the getgo.  All businesses have a bit of trial-and-error to them and if you put "I'm gonna stick to my original plan" blinders on, you could miss out on a lot of cool opportunties.

And here's a weird thing: when I sold that painting the other day, I realized "Oh - there's one less item in my store now.  I'll have to replace it.  And if more people buy things, I'll have to replace those, too!"  I mean, I knew all of this in theory (and I have many more paintings I haven't uploaded yet, so I'm certainly in no danger of running out) but in practice it kind of caught me by surprise.  I'd become so obsessed with promoting She Said Pop that I've been doing very little actual painting lately!

My third piece of advice, then, is this: promoting your store is really important but don't lose sight of your primary mission: to make an amazing product!

I hope these thoughts have been illuminating and helpful. :)

An open letter to George Lucas

Dear George (can I call you George?),

The Star Wars franchise holds a nostalgic place in my heart.  Episode IV came out when I was three or four and my parents took me to see it in the theatre; it was quite possibly the first movie I'd ever seen.  Later on, I saw Episodes V and VI in the theatre and enjoyed them quite a bit.  And episodes I, II and III are...also examples of films you have made.  Anyhoo.

One of the things I like about the Star Wars movies is that certain villains are named after English words with the the prefix "in-" removed, like Darth Vader* and Darth Sidious.  I've taken the liberty of making up some more totally rad villain names for you in case you want to make more Star Wars movies someday and can't think of any:

Darth Carcerated
Darth Cestuous
Darth Toxicated
Darth Ept
Darth Capacitated
Darth Sipid

Oh, but let's not forget Darth Maul, where you clearly said to your creative team, "Guys, let's throw all attempts at subtlety out the window and flat-out name this guy after the fact that he mutilates people."  That was awesome.  If you want some more names that describe what a villain does to his enemies, I came up with these:


Darth Wedgie
Darth Noogie
Darth Kidneypunch
Darth Defenestrate

And if it's okay to depart from the formula and take the beginnings off long words that don't start with "in," I also have:

Darth Turbation
Darth Latulence
Darth Lamydia
Darth Crastinator

Like I said, you can totally use these.  I don't need them for anything.  And I'm not even asking for any money!

If you do use any of my ideas in one of your movies, though, it'd be really nice if you could put my name in the credits.  But only if you want to.  And only after all the actors have already been listed...I don't need to be first or anything.

May the force be with you,
Meredith

*Okay, my boyfriend just told me you got the name Vader from the word for "father" in German or Latin or something.  But we both know you also noticed the similarity to the word "invader" and thought "OMFG cool".  Right?

WOOHOO, FIRST SALE!

Today my mighty Etsy store got its first sale!  Let's all do a happy dance!

I packaged the order up the minute I got home and shall send it off tomorrow.  The brand new, meticulously packed cardboard box looks so...official!  It makes me want to squeal a little bit.

My tentative theory is that people will be more likely to buy things now that "the seal is broken" and I have a sale under my belt (I know I prefer not to be someone's first buyer...that "100% positive feedback" section is so very comforting...).

Wish me luck!

Gender Wednesday: Contrast

My absolute favourite body type on a guy is slender and androgynous (like The Boy, around whose ankle I can touch my finger to my thumb)...but I can definitely appreciate the contrast of muscled manly-man vs. pretty pink lace, yes indeedy. (link NSFW...duh.)

Contrast is in fact a huge part of my longtime fascination with androgyny and crossdressing.  I remember seeing k.d. lang perform on tv when I was a kid (on an awards show, I think?); she was wearing a dress, and it looked all kinds of wrong on her.  Initially I mistook her for a guy, actually.  And yet, in male or gender-neutral clothing, k.d. doesn't look male to me.  Her clothes bring out the feminine or masculine aspect of her features depending on what she wears; her face is like an optical illusion, but instead of rabbit/duck it's guy/girl.

For me, the whole flipping-back-and-forth thing makes androgynous optical-illusion-faces endlessly fascinating to look at.  I tried to capture that perfect state of between-ness in this painting:

Girl or boy?

Did I get it right?  Does this painting flip back and forth for you between male and female?  Or does it look only like one or the other to you?



(pssst - it's The Boy in drag.)

Art is what brings us together

I'm currently reading the book Eat Pray Love, an autobiographical story about a woman writer who travels to Italy, India, and Indonesia in search of herself/god/inner peace/really good gelato.  I'm at the India part now, and the author is explaining that meditation is a way of getting past our own egos (which tell us we're different, separate and special) and realizing that (in addition to being different, separate and special) we're all part of each other and part of the universe.  I hope I described that properly...I'm too lazy to look up the actual quote.

I also own the Stephen King autobiography/how-to book called On Writing, which describes writing as telepathy: you're essentially sending thoughts to the reader across space and even time (Shakespeare transmitted his thoughts centuries ago and we can still pick them up) without speaking a word out loud.  I love and agree with this theory, and further posit that art and music do the same thing.

I've heard people say that the arts are as important to society as math or science or history, and although I wanted to believe this statement (for obvious reasons), I never really understood it.  But I get it now.  The arts are important because, like telepathy, they help people communicate; and, like meditation, they help elevate humans and let us sense that we're part of something bigger.

I experienced a pure transcendental moment at a Regina Spektor concert a few years ago (though at the time I didn't think of it as meditation or telepathy).  Regina played Samson, a bittersweet breakuppy song, and it was as though the audience's energy amplified the sadness of the song.  I burst into tears, and I think a lot of other people did, too, and for those few minutes the barriers between us (our egos?) dissolved and we were all just floating together inside the song.  Letting Regina's thought transmissions buoy us up, flow around us, sweep through us.

But my most amazing spiritual experience ever was with my own art.

I often use painting as a form of therapy - I vomit all my emotion out on the canvas without censoring or editing myself.  This usually results in pictures that feel to me like melodramatic baby tantrums:

Call the waaaaaaaahmbulance!

I honestly figured people would look at this stuff and be disgusted by how maudlin I am, how utterly whiny and emo and pathetic.

I haz a sad. :(

But instead...people relate to it.  They see some particular painting of mine and it knocks the breath out of them and they go "Oh my god I so totally get this!"  Our experiences may be different - maybe something I painted out of breakup sadness reminds you of a recent death-in-the-family sadness - but the feelings are the same.

The positive reaction to my work made me realize three things: 1) I'm not the only one whose inner child is a petulant little drama queen - I've watched people look into my most emo paintings and see themselves as surely as if they were looking in a mirror.  2) When people love and understand my work, it makes me feel less alone.  Imagine telling someone your most horrible private secret embarrassing feelings and having them go "So what's the big deal?  I feel like that all the time" - that's what it's like.  3) Holy crap, my paintings can dissolve people's egos and make them one with the universe!  I must be pretty good!

And that's about the time I decided to do the Etsy thing.  Before that, I was painting this stuff purely to put my demons into the canvas where they couldn't bite and scratch at my insides anymore.

Conversational Snippet #7: Lady Gaga

Shambolicguru: I have a grudging respect for Lady Gaga.  I'm not into her music per se, but at least she writes it herself.  And she can even play an instrument!

Me: I didn't know that.

Shambolicguru: It's true!  Actually, I think she can play two: piano and guitar.

Me: That's hard to picture because usually Lady Gaga is wearing, like, a lobster-shaped oven mitt on one hand and a ukulele stapled to the other.

Shambolicguru: I heard she has a special device for playing the guitar that's basically a just pig she straps to the ukulele.  She puts on the pig, and then she kinda...flails.  [Pantomimes strumming a guitar with a pig that's strapped to a ukulele that's stapled to his hand.]




[I have awesome friends]

Staycation!

The holidays are a time for relaxing with our loved ones.  It says so in all the Hallmark cards, and who am I to argue with Hallmark?  They're a huge and powerful company and I'm just, like, some chick with pink hair. 

Anyway.  I'm gonna close my laptop, put on some flannel jammies, and watch cartoons in a big cuddle pile with my boy and cat while consuming potentially lethal amounts of chocolate.

Posting will resume on Monday, December 27th.

Merry Christmas*, everyone!

p.s. I'm working on a fun little treat for you guys.  It should be ready in the New Year.  Stay tuned!


*If you don't celebrate Christmas, please pretend I just wished you a super-happy weekend instead.