Maker of the House

I am so excited that it’s only the second week of January and I finally kicked my own butt into gear and got some drawings set up for Giclee printing!! I have been wanting to try this out for ages, and finally got up the guts to do it.  I picked out two colored pencil drawings of Kite (my old greyhound) and took them to Digital Arts Studio in Atlanta.  This is the place I was telling you about a few posts ago, remember?  They gave me their December special in January because I said “PLEASE?!!”  Really, they took pity on the busy SAHM, woo hoo!  Is it sad that I’m excited that someone took pity on me?  Oh well.

I took the originals in for the setup last Saturday, and even though they got it done in a couple days, I didn’t have time to go back until nearly a week later.  It was really hard to wait.  Luckily, Mike was home on Friday, so at nap time, I went to get the proofs and see how they looked and I am just…wow…so stoked!  The proof on canvas looks really neat, wasn’t sure how a colored pencil drawing would translate to canvas, but they insisted on showing me, and yeah, it’s pretty cool!  And the ones printed on paper look exactly like the originals!  I cannot wait until we finally sell our house and I can unpack all my art stuff…I want to get started on some more pieces!

While I am unable to create any new artwork, I have been doing a lot of research and thinking about what I want my business to look like.  One thing I am struggling with is the advice I have been reading about keeping things consistent.  Supposedly, it is better for business if you focus on one particular style, media or subject so that you become more well known for that particular specialty.  I guess if you stay consistent, people who like your stuff remember you more and keep coming back. The reason I’m struggling is that most of my artwork is ocean related due to my past life as a marine biologist and that doesn’t really jive with the whole Maker of the House thing I’ve got going.  Also, the very first prints I will have out there are drawings of a dog, which is a completely different subject as well.  I don’t know how to bring it all together.  I’m wondering if I should keep the Etsy shop for my craft stuff and maybe the dog/pet/home-life type prints and start a new, different shop for what will inevitably be the majority of my work that is ocean, sea life related.  Or I could just throw it all together and see what happens?  The problem is, once you start, it is hard to change it later.  What do you think I should do?

So here’s what they look like…I haven’t yet finalized sizing or prices yet so they are not yet available for sale, but will be soon.  What do you think?  I think they are silly.  They make me giggle and feel happy every time I look at them…especially if you look at them sideways so the upside down dog becomes almost right side up but still goofy.  These were fun to do, and I still have one more to work on!

Upside Down Dog #1, Giclee print of colored pencil original on black paper (click image for larger version)

Upside Down Dog#2, Giclee print of colored pencil original on black paper (click image for larger version)