Collaboration 1.1

So I was introduced to the local shop owner by a friend at work and this helped me enormously, not only in getting into a commercial shop and selling my pictures but all in my confidence. After you get a few sales under your belt you get a buzz from it, having people not only appreciate your work but also actually paying cash for it – its a real buzz and confidence builder. When the shop changed hands and the new owner wasn’t interested in selling local artists work I was disheartened and had nowhere to sell locally. Fortunately within a few months another shop had opened in the town centre and although it was a mix of baby clothes and gifts I approached one of the co-owners and made the same deal I had previously, although she did want to get approval from the other owner before committing. Fortunately this was approved and again I went into business

Again the pictures went well, I reminded my products by dropping the most expensive and larger ones, these were £40 each, approx 20” x 16” and harder to make, harder to find wall space for and harder to sell. So instead I concentrated on the smaller ones. These were 14” x 11” and could mount an A4 image, the images were cheaper to print and a lot easier to find an online print store to process for me. They were easier to mount, I also slightly adapted my images as the originals had a border, to make this align with the mount was hard and meant I had many failed attempts at cutting matt board for them to mount in. So I dropped the border and mounting them was a lot easier as the cutting needed to be less precise

The main thing about the refinement was that now my smaller images were priced at £25, this price bracket, the on or under £25 is a great place to be, its good for impulse buys and its good for presents. Most people will splash £25 or less on a present or on something for themselves, but above this they think more and deliberate and may talk themselves out of the purchase

So, back to the main point, all this was possible because of my friends introduction to the original shop owner, and this, some call it networking or collaboration between artists but whatever it is I think its valuable and helpful. I think not only in a commercial way but also in a mental health way. Artists supporting and helping each other is beneficial in many ways and I’ve never met an artist who isn’t in the same frame of mind, they all want to help each other and interact, chat, share stories and resources

So I’m also thinking of joining or starting a local group, to collaborate, help and support each other. I’m not sure what is available and yet to look and although financial support would be nice also I’m pretty sure that could be hard or impossible to source. Plus I’d rather keep money out of this particular equation for now so I’m looking more for like minded individuals and possibly space

Space is something I often struggle with, as I have a converted attic there is no storage there, so of course my shed is full, there is no garage either so space is a premium and I utilise lots of corners and double up on the use of some rooms, as my daughter is older now she doesn’t often use her room so although I made an ‘office space’ at one end for her to be able to study I now use that along with the larger monitor to get creative and do my online updates etc

Fortunately for creative and messy space I don’t need much at the moment and I the spring and summer I utilise the garden too, but this is obviously limited in the colder and wetter months. So access to a creative space may be more important than monetary support and therefore may be easier to obtain. As my neighbour is a local councillor I’ll bring up the subject and see what we can do, as I wont be asking for money he may breath a sigh of relief and support the idea, he is also a creative and into video so I’m hoping for good things