Happy Halloween!

Well I guess I have already started the challenge of writing every day and the be brave part too.

Today I sent a self promoting email to decor8. It took a bit of bravery since I was rejected by Trunkt, but being mentioned at Smidge was encouraging as well as getting a table at the market over at Poppytalk Handmade for November. Now I must admit I am going to be paying for my table at Poppytalk and I decided to also advertise at Smidge.

I find myself a bit stumped by the fact that on one hand I want to advertise my shop while on the other hand I feel a bit pressured on time with my shop as it is.

I pride myself on careful detailed packaging- color coordinating the work with tissue paper, ribbon and cards. Including a magnet with the meanings behind the piece as well as including the longer explanation and a note from the gift giver if someone is sending it as a gift to a friend. This brings me joy and takes time.

I am working on getting systems set in place to make this go smooother.

The other day I found myself with my hands in my hair completely flustered at what to do next as I looked around my studio at the disarray. I caught myself and started to rattle off things I am grateful for.
Sending out my work all over the world.
That people have chosen my work to share with friends and family.
That I have all the materials I need
That I have a studio space
That I keep getting more efficient
That I have a table full of new work to share, a vase of flowers in the spare bedroom waiting to be photographed, new materials waiting to be used in new creations.
That I have a husband that supports me
That I love what I do

Time to celebrate

Self Portrait Challenge ~ sort of...hee hee

I am sitting here bursting with excitement-thrilled-clapping-so happy.

Sarah from Photosmith photography took some pictures of me wearing my jewelry this past week. She is absolutely mind blowingly talented. Last night she sent me some of the photos and I am so in love with them! I am going to use them on my website-when I get to working on it:) giggle.

I have watched her hone her talent over the past couple years and am so proud of her for all she has achieved. She just launched her new web site and is starting out on a beautiful adventure of being a portrait photographer. I am so happy for all the people that will use her. They will have beautiful photographs to last forever.

If anyone lives close enough to get photos taken by her I would book her quick while she is still affordable. This girl is going to make it BIG I tell you.

Here I am wearing my joy pendant and my flowers is the sea pendant. I just sold the flower in the sea pendant but the joy one is still available.

Happy Monday

Here are three of my new necklaces. I have at least 5 others drying and three others photographed and ready to post. I will add more tomorrow-maybe tonight, if I get stuff done.

I am beginning to wonder what the heck I was thinking when I signed up for the blogging once a day for November challenge.

I think I am going to combine it with Jessie's "Be brave" adventure.

Ok I have a ton I have to do....off I go.

Trio - these are now offered in my shop as 5x7 and 10x14

My mind is all a blur. My son is off at his Grandma and Granpa's today. There is so much I want to do with this free time, yet I am having a hard time figuring out what to do first. S when in doubt-Thea edits pictures:)

Itis cold and a bit damp here today. I am going to put on pandora to hopefully lift my mood. I have every reason to be happy with all this alone time. (It's funny how a few hours is "all this alone time"-it just feels decadent to me I guess.

New stuff

These are awful pictures - it was dark so they are all blurry. I will try to post better pics on etsy tomorrow.

These are new stamped aluminum squares and circles. I thought it would be fun to have a larger funkier pendant with one of the key words associated with the photograph as part of it.

They are super fun.

The earrings are fun too.

On Sunday night one of my girlfriends came over to watch The Secret. I think it is the only movie I can say I have watched/listened to at least 30 times. What astounds me is that I still get so much out of it every time I watch it. This is a positive spin to %$#I can't believe how easy this simple secret is to forget. But let me tell you folks it may be placebo but I would swear it really works. It is so strange that I feel some sort of validation for believing this since Oprah had a two part show on it:)

For me the key has been- the wish or creation has to be believable to me and I have to really feel as if not just think as if it has already come true. Oh and the biggest key-I have to feel worthy of it to be able to really feel it.

I will part with a link to a feature of two of my pieces on Modish. I was super happy about this since I am crazy about the blog. Thanks Jena!

After sitting with a few of my pics for a bit I realized that the colors seemed too loud so I redid them a bit and am much happier.

I am excited to start offering my prints as cards within the next week. I will list them as soon as I get them.

I am also working on really cool new jewelry pieces that I will post by tomorrow.

Some of you asked about the buddha pendant and wanted to let you know I added some more to my shop.

Autumn lake

Autumn lake
Originally uploaded by colorsonmymind

Yesterday was a fabulous day here.

I got out in the morning for a photo date with myself. It was glorious and so fun.

This is one of the pictures I took. I will post more soon.

In the afternoon I went to Sarah's house and she took some photos of me wearing my jewelry to use on my shop I am working on for my website. I am so excited to see what they look like.

I wanted to thank Gabreial for featuring my shop on Vintage Indie: http://vintageindie.typepad.com/vintage_indie/2007/10/the-daily-swa-6.html. I am so honored.

Hope all of you had a great weekend.

Love

Somehow this photograph seems tender to me so I wanted to use it in a post to give some special thanks and love to

Swirly for the inspiration and love, Jennifer for featuring me on her blog and to Andrea for a session full of amazing feedback and tips.

Muah!

"Life has been your art. You have set yourself to music. Your days are your sonnets."

~Oscar Wilde (1854- 1900)

Dreams

Wish

Sphere

Veins
Happiness

All the thinking that went along with my last post gave me a headache and left my soul grasping for some grounding and comfort. So, I grabbed my camera and ventured out into the sunny crisp late afternoon to capture the beautoful details of fall. In these moments my dreams came true, to be out with my camera and my little man, experiencing the joy of nature through my lens.

Sometimes I go out and take pictures and then only edit one from the bunch. This leaves many photos behind in my archives. So this time I decided I would edit a bunch. These photos and the experience of taking them brought my thoughts to some poems from my favorite poet, Mary Oliver. I have matched some poems to the photos.

These are listed in my shop and are limited to 10 prints.

Pricing

I have read numerous places and overheard and been a part of many conversations about pricing.

The most common things I have heard are: women, women artists, all artists in general fall subject to underpricing their work and that higher pricing adds value to your product.

Now I agree with both of these statements to some degree but they just don't seem to sit right with me and my photographs for some reason.

My passion is photography and making jewelry. I get unmeasurable joy out of sharing these passions with people who buy my work. Nothing pleases me more than imagining my art adorning the walls and bodies belonging to beautiful souls who connect or get something from it. I am not really interested in marketing to someone who wants my work just because the price is high enough to tell them it has value. I want to have prices that feel fair to me and my efforts. I am pretty happy with my jewelry prices for the time it takes to make the pieces and the cost of supplies. I am not as sure about my photograph prices.

I can't get out of my head that my Cotton Candy Photograph has been looked at over 800 times and featured in a few spots online yet it has not yet sold. Why is that?

It makes me a bit sad. Yesterday we went to an arts fair. There were a lot of customers milling around. I was particularly interested in seeing the jewelry and photography booths of course:)

I liked most of the photographers work. It was a juried fair and the photographers had good displays and work.

I was surprised (and it may have been a unique occurance to this fair-I am not generalizing or making an assumption that all photographers at all fairs are equal) that the photographers there were sitting or standing in their booths looking miserable. There were lots of people looking at the photographs and then walking out without making a purchase. Their prints in bins had grungy worn labels from being handles over and over. Most unframed matted photographs were between $40-75 and the framed photographs were upwards of $175. I didn't see lines forming or sales coming out of their booths. I saw a lot of people walking out empty handed.

It made me think about how pricing works. About what I would want my fair experience to be like if I decide to do one in the future. Do I want to price my work at what people say is "the right price-the desireable price", and then sit around waiting for that one person who may buy? Or do I want to see the joy and light on peoples faces as they walk away with a photograph that moved them that they will hang on their wall because it was priced at a cost they felt they could afford for the amount of joy it brought them?

I truly truly want to have people enjoying my work. I still have so much to learn about taking photographs and am unknown. I know that there are photographers that are very skilled and very very busy selling prints at high prices because they are in demand. They have been noticed by many people and their prices reflect their popularity. I think this is fabulous and I would love to be there too someday. It means people derive that amount of pleasure from having one of their photographs-to pay that price.

But until I get that sort of popularity and demand I want there to be movement and sharing occuring with my work. I don't want to have all the stickers on my work getting grungy from being handled over and over but never bought.

Now if I was selling my original drawings or only one print of each photograph well then the price would be higher. If I was in the darkroom developing my prints by hand or having the film scanned then of course the prices would have to be higher.

But I can order multiple prints for a reasonable cost. I am not swamped with business to the point where I need to increase my overhead (more hours of babysitter) to get all my orders out.
When that happens an increase in price will be warranted.

But right now all I want to do is share the joy my photographs bring me.

So to begin I am putting 3 prints on special in my shop as an experiment. I am also changing to all prints having free shipping.

I am going to see what the response is.

Maybe it will make sharing my joy a bit easier.

Namaste

edited to add***** I have been fretting a bit about this post since writing it. I feel some unease that the words didnt fall on the page as they are in my mind. That I have come across wrong. That maybe my work isn't selling because it sucks-yet I can't write that here because all you lovelies keep listening to my insecurities and giving me your support.

I was comforted this evening to know that I am not alone in some of these thoughts and worries. Nina at Ornamental and Christine over at swirly girl....thank you for being open and honest about your journeys. They brought me comfort tonight.

"I have very mixed feelings about the idea of trying to pursue a level of success that will ensure that many people cannot afford my original work. I am not interested in undervaluing the work I do, but I feel like I am straddling two worlds, or maybe the better term is two mindsets - one, which I lived by for a very long time, was about wanting to share my work as widely as possible and earning an income was all about volume. The second is also about wanting to share my work as widely as possible, but earning an income is more about developing a strong enough following as an artist that my work commands higher prices and therefore volume is not the goal. " Christine Mason Miller

The journey of an artist

The afternoon before last, I applied to trunkt.com (with some trepedation). I have arrived at a place where I am ready to put myself out there to the world that has yet to meet me and my work. Putting myself out there to you -my blog readers and friends has been much easier. LOL.

Yesterday morning I got a rejection letter from trunkt. It hurt. It made me question myself for a bit. I wanted to curl up and protect myself. Especially because they don't provide any feedback as to why. The good thing is that I reached out to friends because I knew I wanted to believe in myself and not go the retreated hurt place for very long.

I was a bit embarrassed to post about it. Maybe afraid that I would reveal I am not really good enough.

But my beautiful sister in law and my friend Susannah gave me some, loving, yet firm, reality checks. And my soul listened and I sat up and felt a strength rise in me, and acceptance that never used to be there, about who I am and what I have to share. Not all people will connect with my work. That is ok. It reminds me of a tough lesson I learned when I was a first year teacher and kept relearning every year. Not every student would like me or my teaching style, but many would. To learn to honor myself and others for being individuals with different needs and preferences.

So in some strange way this rejection makes me feel like I have arrived, to the life of an artist that feels good about her work. One that is learning to revel in the joy of creating, rather than worrying about who ISN'T moved the same way by my photographs or jewelry that I am.

I decided I needed to take some affirming actions so I bucked up and headed to a florist to buy some flowers to photograph with my new 100mm canon lens (wow steep learning curve-I will show some new pics soon). I decided to bring one of my moms old portfolios with my photographs and some jewelry to show the owner. They agreed to allow me to sell some jewelry there. The amazing thing is instead of being thrilled to be accepted by someone-I decided this wasn't the type of store I wanted to house my jewelry.

I came home and took pictures of some new pieces with my (blurry awful ones I might add:) new lens. It is challenging to say the least. Definitely need a tripod. LOL.

Copper toned buddha (sold)

Buddha

Follow your bliss

Halo of Happiness

Then I resubmitted my application to trunkt with just photos this time-thinking maybe the jewelry part is too competitive.

In the evening I met with a parental figure I haven't seen in a while. I gave them my new cards upon our greeting and then started to talk about this journey. I found myself saying that although I loved teaching and felt natural doing it-this feels more like an expression of me-my soul. That I am really ok about not trying to be the best photographer, or the best jewelry designer. Often I expect myself to be perfect/the best or I quit. That it is about expressing my heart and what I love. It is an expression not a goal to accomplish.

These loving eyes looked at me and repeated what I said-and I saw the beauty in it when it was spoken back to me.

When I got home there was a second rejection from trunkt. This time I just said in my head "oh well".

I closed that email to find that I had three orders. One from an artist I soooo admire, one from Tara Whitneys clients that just received her necklace and wants to get a gift for a friend, and one from a sweet patient understanding woman who was kind about something confusing.

I think I have arrived at the door to a beautiful journey of finding, loving and expressing me.

Namaste

Thanks to everyone who supported me about my last post. I am doing ok.

Some of you asked about the ring I posted a picture of. The ring is sterling silver and adjustable.

So far I have made one elephant and one fade to blue lily rings.The ring setting costs more than I would prefer but it was the only source of sterling ring I have found so I bought a few to see if they would sell. For now I will only premake a few- but I will take requests.

They are $46.00 and available in my shop I am starting to direct people to my new website. I still have a ton to do, so for now the shop leads right to my etsy until I am done loading things in my own online shop.

Tears

Yesterday was my due date. For those of you who came after the event-I am sorry I have cut and paste a lot of my archives, to make this a slightly more professional place;)
I lost a baby to anencephaly In March. We did genetic tests and know he was a boy. I have been doing pretty well-but today I just can't stop crying. There are so many good things going on for me and I am so grateful for them-and then their are some stressful ones too-luckily my husband and I are a pretty good team.

One of my good friends-who got pregnant a week after me gave birth to her daughter the night before last night. I am truly deep down happy for her and want to see the baby.
But today my insides feel shattered and broken. The sadness has enveloped me. I am going with it. Listening to the weepies (that made me smile) and just telling myself it is ok.

And then the tears really start to fall for all the parents who lost their babies even later than 13 weeks. Although I got to see him every week on ultrasound it still was only a few weeks to get used to the idea of him-to imagine what he would be like, look like. How similar would he be to his brother?

So I am trying to focus some of my energy on creative pursuits.Here are a few pieces I worked on yesterday.

This is a new ring setting combo I have recently ordered.

This picture of sepia roses I have named "honey" as it makes me think of Mary Olivers Poem:

Honey At The Table

It fills you with the softessence of vanished flowers, it becomesa trickle sharp as a hair that you followfrom the honey pot over the tableand out the door and over the ground,and all the while it thickens,grows deeper and wilder, edgedwith pine boughs and wet boulders,pawprints of bobcat and bear, untildeep in the forest youshuffle up some tree, you rip the bark,you float into and swallow the dripping combs,bits of the tree, crushed bees - - - a tastecomposed of everything lost, in which everything lost is found. Mary Oliver

These are two pictures I took last weekend when we went up to my husbands Grandfather's camp.

I just finished some custom orders. I am really happy with how they turned out so I wanted to share them.

The first set is for Tara Whitney . She is an amazing photographer in CA. These are new larger square and rectangle bezels I ordered for her. They are so funky and chic. Just like her:)






The second is for Belle and Boo . It is the first custom order I have done for an illustrator. She my all time favorites child illustrator. I just hired her to make me a custom drawing that I should have by the end of October. I have ordered most of her pins and plan on wearing one every day and my son will too. They are the cutest ever! If you need any little girl or boy birthday gifts her prints are perfect. And in March I am going to give her pins out for favors at my sons birthday party. I just love her!

On request I grouped a few of my photos together to sell as sets. I will list them in my shopthis afternoon.

Ocean Blue:

Gentle heart:

The girls: