Some of my barns went out into the world this past month and I have received some photos of them in their new homes. It's so fun when people send me pictures of my pieces, since I miss them so much when I send them to their new homes.
This first one is living in the mountains of NC now. I sent it to one of my favorite artists, Nina Bagley. I met Nina through her blog
Ornamental, check it out if you haven't seen her amazing jewelry. It looks happy in it's new surroundings doesn't it?
The second photo I received was of Alison with the two pieces that she commissioned. Remember the pocket watch and the cello player? Well here they are and look at the
painting!! How absolutely perfect!
And then just a bit ago, my virtual friend Yolande posted a photo of a piece she bought from me on her blog Burnt Normal. Again, a great blog and an even better artist. I couldn't bring the photo over to my blog because it was too small but you can
check it out here on her blog. So that little piece is now living in Canada with an amazing potter. Happy homes for my work, YAY!
I am so grateful every time someone buys a piece of my work. I spend so much time with these little barns and we get attached and then off they go. And when they go off to artists that I admire, it freaks me out just a little. It's one thing to sell to the general public, that's hard enough. but artists
know....
you know? So, this has really given me pause. Nothing goes out of my studio anymore that I have just "settled" for. I had three pieces that I fucked with forever, trying to convince myself they "would do". I just couldn't convince myself, so I smashed them last week, even though there was a lot of time involved making them. They just weren't good enough. If you are trying to convince yourself a piece is ok, then it isn't. My standards for what is acceptable to sell have gone way up and my work has to pass the "I'm mailing this to an artist I admire" test now. It's a good way to measure what you think is good enough. I look at it and think, if I got this in the mail, would I be excited, would my heart go pitter patter, or would I say, oh this was a mistake....
I think you should be proud of what you have made, proud that someone wants to own it, and when you send it to them, let them know this purchase meant something to you. Send a handwritten note, wrap it nicely if you can, go the extra mile to make the purchase a great experience. Packaging can be less than attractive and that's ok. When I ordered the buddha sculpture from Yolande it arrived on my doorstep in a Huggies diaper box. This made me smile, because Yolande has three small children, of course she is using diaper boxes. I also like getting newspaper wrapped things, you can read what's going on in another town. The point is, if someone takes the time to buy
your art then they should feel special when they open the package. I bought a bar of handmade soap yesterday at Whynot Pottery and the craftsperson I bought it from had taken the time to order unbleached wax bags online to use as a shopping bag. I love that. It's those little extra touches that bring people back to buy from you because they had a better experience than they would have at the mall. This is a good time of year to make sure we let our customers know how much we appreciate them and take a little extra care with their purchases. Thanks to all of you for the photos. I LOVE it!!!! xoxoxo