Closed for the Festive Season...Merry Xmas to all my readers.

... 4 days till I stop work for the festive season, its time to reflect on art sales and progress over the last few months...as a full time artist, chasing art fairs has not been a successful venture, nor holding group exhibitions. For me ,simple online gallery sales, commissions via normal/real-time gallery representation , has provided consistent income streams. Linkedin/Facebook/Twitter have collectively provided 1/3 of sales / commissions. Seems that a good on-line presence has been the key to survival and having 'affordable art.' Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my readers. 

Layers of Sand.....history...Christmas Time !

Every year I dread the run up to Christmas, not because I dislike the actual celebration or concept, but it always triggers my worst memories or events that were negative in concept or outcome....

Its the overall ambience I guess....as Christmas makes one reflective...on the what if  and if only...but then hindsight is a wonderful thing , post a cataclysmic shift in one's life....

I still firmly believe that life has so many variables and controlling influences that we have no knowledge of or control over...no matter how strong our resolve can seem to be...besides when someone else has the element of surprise , one is extremely vulnerable to outcome....how to avoid this...??

The last few months have seen me make a go of my art as my primary income source , without crutching on my teaching degrees and qualifications....yes, money has come in...slow at first, but increasing up until today...not enough to match my previous earnings...but what a sense of relief everyday to start my own work free of others judgement/ criticism and being ambushed !! That's the answer, to avoid those wolves bearing gifts, don't associate with them... I will never trust systems that embody secretive agendas or use the ambush method to prey on one's sensibilities... how easy to lose faith in leadership systems that disregard basic human dignity within the work place....

Everyday I wake up and don't have that burden or nagging / niggling feeling that I'm going to be smite from my comfort zone in some unexpected attack on my performance...or find myself in a situation that is beyond one's own control, by factors that will intentionally seek to make one's life as uncomfortable as possible....being self employed removes the stress of the unknown factors in daily routine...save being bombed by a black bird walking to my studio, my life outcomes have firmly been passed back to me....and that is worth all the money in the world.  Art is a wonderful occupation...but it has to sell consistently to be practised as a primary income stream. I will be placing new work at higher price levels in the Whitham Gallery in January...so will see how that works out...do I think I would ever go back to teaching full time...never...I distrust ''systems'' now...and that is sad, as in the past I've worked within some excellent transparent management systems that worked effectively, because there was transparency and honesty...
The last two years have made me realise that there are people in this world who see 'systems' as ladders for their own good and power plays. Sad , but true.....

So, back to layers of meaning and depth....I see every Christmas as another layer of sand poured over me...burying those awful events and memories for the next 365 days...till they somehow re-expose themselves in their ritual rising......I guess they are my ghosts of Christmas past and will always be all my regrets coming back to remind me that ultimately outcome is never predictable, and sometimes awful people are unavoidable in the journey of life.

Merry Christmas.

Sales Today...6 works WOW !!

Great day today...and it is a Friday..I sold 6 paintings...with each client buying 2 !! New record for me...

Now I can take Saturday off to go treasure hunting.....

One of my sales today.....long may it continue...