Went to the Farmer's Market Yesterday

I'm getting back to the summer routine of setting up at the Farmer's Market in Knoxville on Saturdays now. I think I'm pretty much clear as far as getting off from the day job on Saturdays. I might still have to go in around 5 and close the store afterwards but my mornings/afternoons should be free. Yesterday was such a great day! We have double the vendors this year, there's so many awesome things to see and buy :). I finally went and walked around toward the end of the day and left my booth to Mia (my daughter) and her boyfriend - I was in search of strawberries. They were already sold out though :(. However, I did get some awesome handmade soap (lemongrass....mmmm) and a pumpkin scone. I met some of the new vendors, some fellow Etsy sellers, and reconnected with some from last year's market. It was so fun. I had a jewelry artist in the tent right next to me named Kathy Davey and on the other side was Big Daddy of Big Daddy Lane and his wife. I hope I get in the same spot next week, it was a very pleasant place to be - I was next to the grassy area with several trees, I could here the water from the fountains nearby. I'm going to have to take my camera and take photos next week. We did have some rain, hopefully that will all be cleared out by then. My tent is a lot better this year too.....Richard made an awesome banner for me and I'm taking credit cards this year. The amazing thing is that every single sale I made yesterday was on credit cards. I think it's going to make a huge difference this summer with how much I bring home on Saturdays!

Quote for Today...

"Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work."
- Rita Mae Brown


I think this applies in so many ways to having a shop or working for yourself. Don't hope more than you work....this says to me not be so worried about having sales or who is coming to your shop that you forget why you even wanted this life in the first place. You wanted it to be creative on a daily basis. To enjoy your photography or your painting or your jewelry making (pick your own creative passion) - if you spend all your time hoping instead of creating then you've lost your focus. Trusting your instinct, well, that goes without saying. Without that, creativity is pretty much impossible.

Ok, so I lied

'Reflection'

LOL. I said I was going to do a decent post on Sunday and here it is Tuesday and I'm just now getting to it. That's sooo sad. I've decided to set up a shop on DaWanda which is basically a European version of Etsy. It's not associated with Etsy in any way but it sells a lot of handcrafted indie stuff like Etsy. I just have to list everything in euros and centimeters - it's quite fun actually. I know I've said it before but I love my job! It makes me very happy :) :) :). I was so not happy at my last job. Working from home is an excellent fit for me.

'Sunshine on my Shoulders'

We got some gas for our grill finally so we've been grilling like madmen the last couple of days. Do madmen grill? Hmmm, I'll have to ponder that one. I have some chicken breasts marinating in lime juice, olive oil and various other seasonings - they should be awesome.

My bf gave our doggies baths yesterday. I'm looking at them outside my window right now laying in the dirt LOL. Oh well. We rearranged furniture in our living room the day before yesterday too. I'm sooo happy with it. Except that I moved our big bookcases and then remembered that I painted around them instead of behind them. That's so funny. So I'm really needing to paint now. I'm so bad about half-ass doing something as far as my house goes. Not with my business however, just my house. Cleaning, painting, you name it. I'll halfway do it thinking I'll get back to it tomorrow (or in a minute) but then I never get back to it. Then I look around my house wondering how half my rooms are half painted LOL. I have such big plans for my house though. We're going to be here for a long time. Especially since Richard and I are both working from home now. We would be working in Knoxville if we weren't and the commute (about an hour one way) was our only draw back to this house (yes, even with all the plumbing issues lol). Now the commute is a non issue and we're actually using one car now too. It was kind of by default since one of them broke, but it's working out great for us. We are feeling like we are contributing to the health of our planet by not driving every day :).

'Good Morning Sunshine'

'Just Bringing Pretty Back'

'Fresh'

'Rain Drops Keep Falling on my Head'

Adjusting to my New Freedom :)

It seems like it's been longer than a week since I turned in my notice at work. I think I've been kind of shell shocked this past week, disorganized, generally optimistic, always grateful that I can get up after the sun rises :). I need to get focused this week, get a good schedule going and make sure I'm heading in the right direction. I think keeping a good attitude about finances and success and running my own business is going to be the key to it all. Anything can be accomplished if I believe in myself and my ability to make it happen. I've done some new art, I had a particularly creative day yesterday. My bf had the awesome idea of using canvas as a backdrop for my photos and I love how they turned out. It's opened up a whole new avenue of self expression. He also showed me a super cool photoshop trick that I'm going to have to master this week. I sold another photograph, it's one of a little robin family living on the tree next to our deck. They built a nest right there where we can watch them every day. There's 3 little baby robins in the nest :

I love being able to go outside and sit on the deck and watch. That's definitely a perk of working from home. You get to actually see your home in the daytime lol. Our yard needs mowing sooo bad. Richard tried to mow it today but neither of our lawnmowers would work. I guess we're going to have to get them fixed. I'm thinking we should just pay somebody to do it every couple of weeks since both of us hate mowing but Richard seems to be against it.

I'm getting ready to add cards to my shop, I'm just looking around for a good printer ~ I want one that uses recycled materials and I want to do my cards in like a square size. I just like square photos for some reason. I've not really found who I'm going to use to print them yet. Some of my photos would lend themselves very well to cards though. I'm going to sell some as sets and some as single cards.

I also want to add a matting service to my shop. I think a lot of people would utilize that. So those are my shop plans for this month. I'm going to start doing local craft shows also. There's a farmer's market on Saturdays at Market Square in Knoxville. I'm looking into setting up a booth there. It's just getting a tent and tables and mattes, etc etc together. It's a bit overwhelming. I need to make lists, that always helps.

I'm really trying to participate more fully with the Etsy Bloggers Street Team. Their blog carnival is tonight and I've yet to participate in it. I always remember to do it after it's passed. Tonight I am though. My understanding is that I just need to post on their thread with a link to my blog entry to show that I posted. They encourage you to do it weekly I believe is how it works. I suppose it's to keep everybody blogging :).

Here's my new art and I want to give a special thank you to Peachtree for being so supportive. Here's a link to her shop (and one of her gorgeous creations).

My new photographs are:

It would be a good idea if I blogged a little bit everyday I think, that way I could feature other artists better and it would give more variety to my blog. I already mentioned that in a earlier post didn't I? I'll get it together here sometime soon lol.

A Lot of Changes in the Past Week

Well, I did it. I quit my day job. I'm going from being a photographer for a photography company to being a freelance photographer. Wow, huge change. I've still not adjusted to the fact that I don't have to get up at 3,4, or 5 am anymore. I can get up whenever my eyes pop open and I can focus totally on my photography and selling my artwork on Etsy and wherever I can around here. I'm really going to have to start focusing on that aspect of it. I found out that artists can set up booths at the Farmer's Market in Knoxville every Wednesday and Saturday, that it's only $20 on Saturdays and $15 on Wednesdays. You have to apply to do it but that's definitely something I want to explore further. I'll have to get my art framed and matted though, I don't want to sell the photographs by themselves. So once I get several together, I'm going to apply.

I'm so excited. I feel like I have a whole new life starting now. I'm so glad I did it now instead of waiting. I was really unhappy there. Although working there certainly forced me to be more confident and I learned my way around Knoxville and surrounding areas. Those were certainly benefits. And I really like everybody I worked with. I'm going to miss that aspect of it. But that's all I'm going to miss. The time was right for this.

So now that's all behind me, I'm going to have absolutely so excuse for not posting in my blog LOL. I've been focusing more on summer art lately. Here's what I've listed:

So we have the beach and the meadow. I really love the one with the waves crashing. It's called "A Sense of Calm Washed Over Her". I love the warm grays in it. It's how I feel right now after leaving my job. Calm but at the same time excited about what the future holds :).

Busy Week

Busy, but I have no excuse for not posting. Is procrastination an excuse? Nah, probably not. Well, let's see. I had Friday off work and now Monday (tomorrow). So 4 days in a row...awesome! I've gotten more focused as far as what I want out of my life the last few days. I've decided my day job is going to be a not so fond memory some time in the near future. By the end of summer at the latest. My art is doing really well right now. I was invited to set up a booth at Riverfest this coming Saturday. Riverfest is apparently a shin-dig being organized by a real estate company in Florida to highlight everything our area has to offer (by 'our area', I mean TN). There is a high end developement on the river and they're having several local artists set up booths, a band, food, etc. and they're bring all their clients in to tempt them with this gorgous real estate. So hopefully there will be some people there interested in buying art to decorate their new bare walls :). I just got an email from the woman organizing it a couple of days ago so right now it's a huge scramble for me to try to get everything together that I need to get. I send my art to the printer when somebody orders it, I don't have frames, mats, anything. But I want to sell my art framed and matted when I sell it at a booth or a gallery or whatever. The problem is our mortgage is due at the moment and I can't afford the mortgage and the art. I've ordered the prints but it remains to be seen how I'm going to pay for it all when I get the frames. I just have to trust that the money will be there, that it will all come together. I know it will. I sold 4 pieces of art in my Etsy store the last 3 days. I'M SO EXCITED!!!! I feel like I'm on my way, the universe is bringing it all together for me. Has anyone read "The Secret" ? Somebody gave it to my boyfriend and I'm reading it for the 2nd time now. It's full of interestingness. It's a life altering book. It just brings it all together for you :).

I've done a whole dandelion series of art. I'm in luv with dandelions right now. I actually sold one of them today in one of my larger sizes (happy, happy, happy). Here's all my new photographs:

I guess I HAVE been pretty busy the last few days lol. I talked to my mom the other night, she's all excited about the Riverfest thing. She's excited about me opening my Etsy store period. I've finally found my niche, the thing that I'm good at that makes me happy. I'm looking forward to it all :).