As a crafter, one of the things I am sadly aware of are my limitations around sharp objects. After several pulmonary embolisms, I am on the blood thinner Warfarin for life. For those that don't know, if you get cut, even the slightest scratch spews blood just about everywhere. So, as you can imagine, I carry bandaids with me always. This forces me to be creative since I can't build things.
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We all start off with the same blank "surface." It's what we do
with it that matters.
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I love painting and feel that I am pretty creative (take a look at KrugsStudio.etsy.com), few of the items I create with paint are very similar even those created during my three - at - a - time period. Because everything was hand drawn and then hand painted, nothing looked exactly alike.
This week and in the weeks that follow until July, I am concentrating on Halloween crafts to sell in my store. I have a bunch of unpainted items!!! I figure by the end of June I will be sick of orange and then can launch into Christmas until September, where I can become sick of red and green!
It was during this orgy of painting and half listening to an audio book, a way to craft and keep up on the latest crime novel, that it hit me that anyone can buy the same things I buy at Michaels, JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby and now even Walmart ... it's what you do with it that matters.
No doubt you have, like me, seen the same "surface" in ETSY that you recognize from a purchase at one of the craft stores. What you also notice is how different their item is compared to yours or mine. That is not a bad thing. I look at it this way, there are many cars on the road, even though you are looking at say a 4-door sedan the variations and options even within one company, let alone the dozens out there, is staggering. Even the same car, in the same color could be very different from another one of the same model and color. If the world was all alike, it would be a very boring place.
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| Image a blank box - this is the colored one. |
So, it was this revelation that made me consider, HOW do I make what I do different from all the rest? Is it any different from a blank canvas? We already know it will appear very different if painted by DaVinci, Vermeer, Van Gogh, Monet or Warhol. Its the same blank canvas but oh how different it can become.
In this case I'm considering a light box I painted. It was fun and I painted pumpkins from a ghost pumpkin to a deep orange one. It has flashing "'ghost" lights even. Nice enough. But, looking at all the little pieces I also had, I considered, what if I gave it something more? If I want to sell it in my store, I felt I had to offer just a bit more, make myself different from the rest!
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| The same box with a tree added on top or a sign on the bottom. They appear very different.! |
I believe it is this difference that makes one artist stand out from the rest. As a case in point, consider the artist Jackson Pollack. He started as an abstract artist. Nothing special in fact. He painted and painted and had a few followers. After he accidentally discovered his "splatter" paintings, he was re-discovered and became famous. And truth be told, until you are standing in front of one (or are in room full of them at the Guggenheim Museum in New York), you can't appreciate the kinetics of them. They appear to vibrate off the canvas.
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| Palm Springs birdhouse with local sand. |
Returning to the box above, look at how different they appear when you add say a tree or a "Happy Halloween" on top. This is what I want to show ... value added. Sometimes you need to differentiate yourself from the original surface. In doing so you then offer something unique that you can also charge more money for. Since it is risky for me to use a saw or a knife I in turn need to be creative with the things I can buy and then add on creating a new piece with a totally different look.
You don't have to spend a lot either. Case in point is a small mini birdhouse I painted that is a sort of a scene I see every day walking my dog. Clouds in the sky are often dramatic here in Palm Springs. We have sand everywhere ... lots of "beach" in fact but very little water. In the creation of this birdhouse trying to create this scene I realized the final, finishing touch was adding sand. That is exactly what I did! It came from the field behind me.
Sadly, however, what you can't get is the money that would equal the amount of time it takes to create your masterpiece! I found that a canvas painting often takes less time to paint than all the sides, including the top of even the smallest birdhouse. Depending on the size of the birdhouse, it can even be much more demanding. The birdhouse above took at least as much time as it did to paint three 6" x 6" cactus paintings I recently finished. So I can only charge for this one item, an item that cost a dollar to buy and $100-200 in time to paint.
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The finished sign painted on
BOTH sides. Count the colors
... and REALLY count the
hours it took to paint!
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The final question, is it worth it? For me, yes. I am not in it for the money. I enjoy the challenge of playing with different color combinations. To me each piece is a challenge and at times I dream up a design I want to try and then adapt it to the things I have. Boy, do I have the "things." In fact, when I moved twice in a year in 2016, a friend that helped me make the move said as he left, NO MORE CRAFT STUFF! and he was right. I have enough for years! I had to buy three more shelves for my storage room; two for the unfinished items and the other for the items completed for sale. There are that many!
The other challenge is using them up and resisting getting new things that strike my fancy. I am in a position now where I don't need more but where I need to learn how ... how to combine things that are different from the individual items that we buy. Ideas are everywhere and it doesn't have to be new or different craft items but looking at the world around you also offers ideas.
The birdhouse above is a case in point. I look at the same scene many mornings walking my dog. Finally, I realized that this could be painted and made an interesting piece.
I just completed three small cactus paintings, again, cactus that I see many mornings walking my dog. It wasn't until I saw them in flower that I realized how dramatic a scene they made. Tall green cactus' with pale yellow flowers against the towering mountains behind them. What a scene!
You don't have to be a seller to create. You do have to be willing though to try new things. I have found that it is well worth the time and effort. If you're a crafter, it will be for you too!
Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed!
Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!
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