As we all know, the national economy has been quite slow for a few years. It has been evident in my sales at the Farmers Market/Artist Alley for the past 3 years. I take home around 70 to 80% less each day (with a few exceptions) than I used to. Although it is still very nice to tear down at 12noon, and have the rest of the weekend off. I'm really very tired of the downright hard work of setting up a booth, sitting through the slow sales period of 2 or 3 days, tearing down the booth, with a long drive home ahead of you. Consequently, I'm considering retiring from jewelry making next year. The amount of sales just isn't adding up to the amount of work we put in. We both enjoy actually making the jools, just not the hassle of trying to sell it.
I love to paint. I paint miniature landscapes now, although have painted larger in the past. I've been entering gallery art shows geared specifically towards that niche, and have been fairly successful there, with sales at higher price points than what I would get locally. I've also been awarded 3 Best of Shows, several Peoples' Choice awards, and purchase awards. Those are such a thrill to get! The photos at top are some of my past work. The Barn Owl was posing for us on admission to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum a few years ago. The cornfield is in Dewitt County.
So I'm thinking of just doing paintings, and exhibiting those next year on a less busy schedule. Still not sure about the jewelry though.
The "jury" is still out on all these possibilities! Stay tuned.........
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