I am starting to get extremely nervous about the fact that I will not have a steady income come June 2010, when the school year ends. One would think that this would get me working in double time but instead it has paralyzed me. In the past two weeks I have managed to get into the studio twice and I didn't stay very long. At first I thought I was just not feeling inspired to paint, that if I did my usual things that would usually inspired me (see previous blog post for the complete list), I would get right back on that art horse and get busy. Then I started to get that tingly feeling in my gut when I started to think about painting full-time and trying to make a living out of it. The nauseous feeling started to take hold and I became paralyzed with fear, which meant no artwork being produced, which lead to more anxiety, which lead to no artwork being produced, then more anxiety...I'm sure you get the picture. It was a bad cycle that I could see myself drowning in.
So what did I decide to do? Did I wallow in my misery and beg my principal to let me have my job back? NO! (And don't think I haven't thought about it more than once, too!) I decided to take a more proactive approach. I have set a goal of doing an ACEO a day for the year 2010.
What is an ACEO, you may ask? Well, it stands for "Art Cards Editions and Originals". They are original pieces of work that are 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" in size. Think art trading cards and you'll get the idea. Here's my thinking...I have a TON of antique photos that I have either already used in paintings or aren't clear/interesting/large enough for me to replicate in a painting. I wasn't sure what I could do with them so I was thinking that I could do ACEO collages and drawings with them. Just simple, quick pieces art pieces using these photographs and anythings else I could find. This would help me in two ways.
1. I would be making a piece of art EVERYDAY, no matter what. This would help keep the "Oh my god I quit my job and will be homeless/starving soon and the fear is paralyzing me so I can't paint" blues away. As long as I did something, even if it wasn't a large painting, I would keep my creative juices flowing which usually keeps the anxiety away.
2. Etsy and Ebay both have a pretty good market for selling ACEOs. While I won't be making a ton of money per piece (think between $1- $20), I will be making something which will, once again, keep the anxiety about starving and being homeless away. I read an article on Art Calendar where a couple made a pretty good living off of selling artwork (mostly ACEOs) on Ebay. If they can do it, why can't I? Right? Right!
I figured these small pieces won't take too much time to create so it won't get in the way of my other paintings. If it can bring in an income, no matter how small, AND keep me from freaking out, AND keep me creating, then how can this be bad? Now, the question is...Can I do 365 ACEOs? Not all of the pieces will be purchase worthy, but visit my etsy store to see what I have done http://www.etsy.com/shop/jhinaalvarado or check out Ebay to see what I post. I should be posting them by the end of this week. I haven't figured out how I'm going to distribute the pieces between Etsy and Ebay yet, but once I do, I will post that information here. (You can always check my Etsy store for pieces that I have on sale. I tend to place the older pieces from my inventory there for SUPER cheap prices!)
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