etsy sales...

this week i started selling things on etsy. its mostly to help clear out my studio since i can no longer function in it.

i noticed this morning preparing for my "glam" paintover class....(awesome people in my class, all my favorite people. so cool)..... that i was getting a little confused...OK more than a little. i have had my studio organized in the past by my dear friend kathy olsen....but that was long ago and my stuff shifts and breaths on its own and today i went to grab my teaching tools and they weren't where i thought they would be. good thing i was up early to figure things out. but in the end i took way too much stuff - i mean wwwaaaaaay too much stuff. it exhausted me. and its confusing for class. which was too bad since it was one of my favorite classes of all. so now more than ever i am wanting to rid myself of stuff. i have cool stuff too - it's not like its junk...that's why it is so hard to make myself part with it.

but i am needing to take drastic measures now. drastic times call for drastic measures. that's what i used to say to my son when he didn't brush his teeth - i would be holding up a brush with ajax pile on it- threatening to use it if he didn't brush after every meal. it worked for a time.....but it would be back the drastic times.

so etsy. i have been placing shoebox sized boxes jammed full of studio images, cutouts, paintovers on paper, ATCs, ATC backgrounds, ribbons, stamps, scrap book paper, vintage papers (yes i am even parting with them too) and now i am going to put paints tubes in there too. acrylic paints. i have too much. ugh.

but, every sliver of paper in each box is meaningful or purposeful - i selected them for a specific reason, the rest i have to throw away. the boxes are heavy - so i am grateful for the postal deal where you can send stuff up to 70 lb.s for the flat price. the shoebox size is $10.35 in postage to ship anywhere in the states. which, truthfully i thought was high until i found that mailing is frickin' expensive no matter how you slice it.

then there is handling charges - the box, unless i use the US postal one is over $2.50 then there is tracking - and something else - maybe its insurance. jacks things up anther $5.00 or so. well, i'm not insuring these fodder boxes.

yeah, i am calling them fodder boxes, because it makes me feel good to get rid of stuff (fodder) that is useful in the making of art, like unfinished or partcially finised work, bits and pieces of painted images that can help someone finish their own project.

so, the fodder boxes are $20.00 each.....

i have sold over 12 boxes last week that shipped to all over the nation, some places are very obscure. even to canada! i have had great reports about them, maybe one or two recipients will write about them here...i'm hoping.

the point is this all got me thinking...i like this idea of contributing to other people's art projects. what if i sold little hand painted elements little tiny dragonflies or dog, and cats or people and flowers so that others could put it on their art piece. i could be a contributor or a collaborator.

so then i started to sell half finished paintings on paper - for a few dollars each. each one acts like a prompt to the receiving artist to finish. - a portable muse. i send these half done paintings out with my name already signed at the bottom (upon request) so that when the new recipient/ owner has the piece they can finish it as they please and claim that it was in a collaboration with me. it is an easy way to expand and learn when you have to wrestle with someone else's prompt.

a prompt/ it belongs to them.

so, i decided to name my etsy shop, "pimp my art".

this painting you see here is a finished (signed) piece on paper, these old for $20.00.

it is a painted over magazine rip outs, finished and signed by me.

the buyer can scan and use the image again and again as a practice piece to learn from. then frame the original for their studio. or sell it. these are a great deal when you consider an original painting that size on canvas sells between $95 - $125 from my gallery.

so stay tuned - you people who like original art for cheap. i am happily working hard on more paintings.

but first - tomorrow - i am taking drastic measures, i am throwing out more stuff, right after i brush my teeth with ajax.

_________________________

thank you , everyone who helped me today, especially with clean up. and thank you, randy and edna for coming and filming me - and suzi blu too. kathy, as always, you are the best.