Beats Selling Eggs

Of the Sun, 4.5 x 6.5"

Fun day in the studio, now that I have let myself in.  I have been gathering ideas the last couple of days and today they all started pouring out.  My mission was to complete something today.  Anything.  And here it is.  It's small, it's cute (as cute as I get anyways), and it's going to be affordable.

I'll tell you why.

My daughter just finished watching the American Girl Movie Kit Kittredge.  A great movie for young girls!  Anyway, the movie is set during the Great Depression.  Families all over the country are broken up as fathers go to cities in search of work.  The rest of the families do what they can to keep their homes.  Kitt's family, as most of the families in their neighborhood that manage to retain their homes, takes on boarders, sells eggs, and makes clothing from feed sacks.  Life for them ain't easy. 

My family has been fairly lucky during this recession.  The hubby still has employment, and I have not been forced to give up my art to be a Walmart greeter or coal miner. However, I do miss the income I have enjoyed for the last several years.  I use my income for home furnishings, clothing, vacations, books, and ART SUPPLIES.  Darn those things are expensive.

I want to keep on doing as I have been doing.  I like making larger pieces of art.  But they are not selling at this time.  My idea of large is probably not the same as somebody else's idea of large, but regardless, cheaper is selling better at this point.  I think this fellow here will cost $26.00 and $4.00 for shipping.

I'm not sure I want to get into selling prints or doing notecards.  Textiles just look so much better in person.  The idea of my art is to touch it myself, and when I'm done touching it, I want it to go out in the world to be touched by someone else.  So, for now, until I'm forced to sell eggs, I'm sticking with creating originals.  Smaller originals.  With content that I think people will like.

Selling out?!?  I don't think so.  Meshing my interests with the interests of the marketplace?  I think that is how I can best put it.  Birds are hot!  I like birds.  I have put birds into my art for years now, and I'm not about to stop.  So . . . more birds!  Text?  So far, I have not used text in my work.  Possibly because so many others have used it in their work.  But I love text.  I love a letter.  I love a word.  I love a phrase.  And so on.  I have collected a handful of "antique" books for the collages I used to do in the dark ages.  Although, I could never convince myself to cut them up.  I pulled a couple of books out this morning and started ripping and cutting.

One small slip of paper that has been in my idea folder for, uh, 10 years (wow), has finally come out of the dark.  It says, "words for wings."  So now my birds will have words for wings.

So, let me know what you think.  Really.  Whether you like it or not.  Whether you think I'm selling out or not.    Be honest.