I created my first art collection (and opened my online shop) ❤
If you've been here before you know that I am slowly rebuilding an art business after failing at my first attempt, and today I am SO HAPPY to announce that I am reaching another milestone and opening my online shop.
Today, I want to introduce you to my new illustration collection, and tell you how I went about creating it.
Last year, I created my YouTube channel, as a first step towards reaching my goal of being an independant artist. I made a list of things to do. I started small. How things have changed since then!
I have always known deep inside I was an artist. But it took me a long time to understand that who I am could also be a job, and so I wandered off my track: I listened to anybody's opinion but my own on what to do with my life, and I put energy into doing stuff that was going nowhere. I could make a whole video on that subject matter, and we could debate if those were years lost, or not... Years of not drawing, of trying to fit into another person's mould... I choose to believe that this was part of my path and made me who I am today.
Two years ago, my partner and I moved to the quiet countryside, I found a stable dayjob with comfortable income, and I started to tend to my metaphorical garden as well as my physical garden. For the first time in ten years, I had a garden again!
Unsurprisingly, the more I tended to both my internal garden and my real one, the more energy I had to put towards creative endeavours. I started sewing again, doing embroidery, silly little craft projects, I took fiddle lessons... I started writing again, too. On with the journaling and morning pages.
This little garden has brought me so much peace and inspiration in those two years.
The end of the first year in my new home, I started reading The Artist’s Way and got into a routine of writing morning pages, and most importantly sketch booking. Inspired by this new creative energy, I discovered many artists who I still follow and interact with regularly : Werka Maciejewska, my amazing friend, Sophie mc Pike (my muse), Kornelija aka Koza on instagram, Céline (Petit crocus on instagram), Lilas (Gruumo on instagram), Apolline Muet, Constance (Yer Ana on instagram)... I filled sketchbook upon sketchbook and started filming for YouTube, and a world of connection opened up to me.
There were moments I compared myself with the greats, the established artists, the people who know exactly what they want and go for it... But this routine of daily connecting with my inner world made it easier for me to hold on to the simple truth. Figuring out what I want to do is slowly coming to me and I need to be very soft and listen very carefully to understand what it is that is my path.
Now, upon building this habit of tuning in, hearing my inner truth is easier.
Last month, I took a two weeks trip to Poland to visit my friend Werka. I had this idea that as well as a holiday from my day job, this would be kind of a work trip for my solo business. A sort of creative retreat. I know that being surrounded by like-minded, business-driven, creative people, is very inspiring to me. And ohmy was I right, because in a fortnight there I painted more than I had painting in the previous months since January had begun!
I came home at the end of march full of inspiration and determined on launching my first ever collection.
I had never worked like that before but seeing Werka do it made it look very easy, and simple : straight to the point. Think of a collection. Paint it. Sell it.
As it turns out, it was a little bit more complicated than that, and a lot of hard work.
I wanted my collection to be very small, so I told myself I would paint ten small illustrations. I wanted to draw gnomes, so I thought, why not garden gnomes? And then came the moment for thumbnail sketches. THUMBNAIL SKETCHES, who even am I?? I used to do only finished drawings in my sketchbook and draw something once and never look at it again. Always had to reinvent myself. And now there I was, roaming through my old sketchbooks to find drawings that I could turn into paintings.
Not all ten thumbnail sketches made it to the final collection. Garden gnomes was my chosen theme, and I saw at some point that not all illustrations fit into the theme, but when I painted my first illustrations it all became clearer and clearer where I wanted to go.
The actual painting was quite fun, and full of twists and turns. In less than two weeks I had come up with over ten original paintings, the finalists being the ten I am going to introduce to you at the end of this video.
But painting was the easy part: what remained was figuring out how I wanted to sell them, at what price, what I wanted to do in regards to prints, stickers... All of this took me days and days of research, talking with artist friends, taking notes, doing the math... And then, I had to take product photos, put things on my website, write product descriptions... Hours worth of work.
One thing that I really hadn't thought of was shipping materials, and the cost of that too. So after long hours of research I chose how I wanted to send out and protect my art, knowing full well that even with doing preorders I could not avoid having some upfront expenses.
I decided on a preorder system for the prints and stickers, this way I can assess the popularity of my paintings and avoid unnecessary costs. All paintings and prints will be sent by the end of May, so you still have a bit of time to decide which paintings you want to purchase!
I still have a little way to go. I still want to design thank you cards, and certificates of authenticity for the lovely customers who buy me original art. But I am here, ready to introduce you to my lovely paintings collection, GARDEN GNOMES.
Did you ever see your cat meow at something, or someone, that you thought was here but couldn't see? Then you might have garden gnomes living nearby… If you’re quiet, patient, and if you leave them something to snack on, you might be lucky enough to befriend them one day…
Have you ever roamed through your garden and thought you spotted a tiny speck of red between two salad leafs?
Then you might have a hungry gnome living in your quarters. If you’re very patient, soft, and keep still, they might someday show your their face.
Did you ever look at a patch of clovers, just one second, and spot at first glance a famously lucky four-leaf clover? This might well have been the works of a lucky gnome that took a liking to you. These garden gnomes like to help the dreamers and give them a little nudge, just a speck of hope…
There are rumours that at night, when all is sleeping except for the owls and the mice, little people come out wearing all their favourite colours and dance to the stars to help your vegetables grow...
Do you know of these orange flowers called Escholztias, that have pointy hats, and look just like little gnomes? Well, I heard that the night before their flower buds open into delicate petals, you can actually see them dancing in the starlight…
Did you ever notice in your rows of radishes, just one or two radishes vanishing when you could have sworn they were there just a minute ago? This is without the shadow of a doubt the work of a garden gnome. Friendly to all creatures, even slugs, they can be a menace for your tiniest vegetables who they depend on to feed their families… So don’t forget to always leave a radish or two for them, and you might gain a friend…
If you look at your plants, while you walk around the garden, you might spot a freshly cutted branch or two. This is probably the work of a garden gnome… They like decorate their houses with beautiful flowers or colorful leafs. It has been said that the branch of the Moonwort (lunaria annua) is one of their favourites, as it is said to bring luck and prosperity to a home…
Have you ever wondered what the frogs and the gnomes do on rainy days? Well, just like us, they like to sit back and enjoy the sounds of nature, while sipping on warm tea and telling stories… So if you want to spot them, I would suggest building a little pond, at the back of your garden, and then of course be very patient and wait for the rain to come…
Did you ever take a walk in the forest, and hear crackling sounds followed by the ruffling of leafs? Have you ever spotted a freshly cut mushroom foot, when nobody was around? This sounds like you might have encountered a mushroom hunter gnome. These are the most adventurous of garden gnomes, they sometimes wonder out of bounds. If you are a lucky one, though, you might someday see the top of their hat even in your own little patch of land…
If you could grow hope, it would take the shape of a watermelon. Gnomes are not oblivious to the revolution, and they want to inspire you to sow seeds of resistance. One watermelon at a time.
My shop is now officially open, and i am SO HAPPY to tell you that if you join my Patreon for five euros you can get a 10% discount on all my shop. I am very grateful for the support and enthousiasm I have here thanks to all of you, this shop would never have opened if it wasn't for your kind words and all of the time you have spent watching my videos!
Sending you love and warm hugs.
Tata,
Pip pip
