I sold two prints today.
That might not seem like a lot. But for me it was. It was a very good day.
The purchaser was a patron who’d discovered me locally at my booth, and later found me online to buy even more greeting cards over the last year.
That’s the goal, right?
But this was different: he bought prints. Because his family likes my work.
Prints aren’t practical. They’re not cards that get mailed to another person, or calendars that help you keep track of days, or notepads upon which you write lists.
When I started doing art as a career I never let myself believe my work had a place outside the practical. I was scared, and didn’t want to do pieces that couldn’t be used simultaneously as an asset for something utilitarian, because it was the functional aspect of the item that would help sell my art. I wanted to play it smart.
But this last year has been… eye-opening. I’ve sold more prints than I ever thought I would. It's allowed me to see things from a different perspective. It has been deeply validating, given me permission to be brave, and negated a lot of my deeply ingrained fears.
So today meant something to me. An older gentleman, who loved my work so much that his multiple purchases of greeting cards weren’t cutting it, believed in me enough to go to the next step and buy something from me simply because he likes it, not because it was useful.
That makes me feel really good. So it's been a good day.