DREAMS, GOALS AND STRATEGIES...

I have been putting off writing this blog post because I, like many of you, would rather be in my studio making art, and that is just what I have been doing. I have also been thinking a lot about what I would say and realizing that, although it was my original intention for this blog to follow my path from the present to my show in August, the voice that I have found has something different to say. I have done my calendar because it is important to me at this time but I am feeling that the whole calendar subject may be a bit premature in the context of this blog. First, let’s talk about how we get to a place where we may need a calendar.

"When Dreams Take Flight"
Acrylic    12" x 24"

Your dream is the big picture. It is what you will align your life with and what, if you achieve your dream, you will create as your reality. My dream from the very beginning has been to be a self-supporting artist which, in my mind, means that I don’t have to work for someone else in order to pay my bills. There are a number of ways to show and sell art but I would say that craft fairs, gallery representation and online shops/websites are the most common and easiest to access. Because I live in a remote Northern California town, I knew that I would have to embrace all three in order to succeed at realizing my dream.

So where does someone who is just starting out as an artist, or in a new medium, begin? I only have one answer: measurable goals and a strategy for achieving them. I say measurable because it is really difficult to know when you have achieved your goal if it isn’t measurable. The measurable goals are the WHAT, and the strategy is the HOW in this process.

This is how it looked for me.

First Measurable Goal: Get my paintings into a local cooperative gallery. Co-ops can be a hot bed of personality issues but they are often looking for new members. Many artists have gotten their start in a co-op gallery and what we are interested in at this point is showing our work and building a resume. It is called starting somewhere and your chances of success are pretty good.

Strategy: Paint a cohesive body of work (8-12 pieces in the same medium) and take professional quality photos of the pieces. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have them done professionally, but you do have to have them. There is a great tutorial on Etsy that tells you exactly how to do this with your own little digital camera.

Strategy: Develop a compelling Artist’s Statement. This is very important when you don’t have any experience to put on your resume. Anyone that you approach will want to know who you are just as much as they want to know what you do.

Strategy: Put photos and artist’s statement on a cd (to send or give away) and make a professional presentation binder with the same contents.

Strategy: Find a good artist’s coop that my paintings would work well in and apply for a guest membership.

Strategy: Enter my paintings into every local art show possible. Exposure and experience.

Strategy: Donate one or two GOOD paintings to charity events. This not only has the gratification of supporting a worthy cause, but gets your work seen by people with money. The first painting that I donated was the best painting that I had ever done. It broke my heart to “give” it away but I can tell you it paid off in the long run.

Strategy: Say YES! to opportunity even when I am scared or don't know how I am going to do it. "Yarrow, would like to show a few of your paintings in my shop at Christmas?" Yes! (Hurry home and start painting...)

Even though I list these strategies separately, they were all working together to get my work into it's first gallery setting. 

The strategies enable the measurable goals and the goals lead to the realization of the dream. It is a process, a journey, not a direct flight and I hate to tell you, sometimes you really DO have to go through Denver to get to China!

"Finding Her Voice"
Acrylic    6" x 12

It is all about making your voice heard, your art recognizable, and your presence known. If you live the truth of being an artist, others will believe you. Nurture this incredible gift of validation and your dream will move closer and closer.

Namaste,

Yarrow

To see more of my prints, cards and jewelry, please go to my Etsy shop.