Happy One Year!

I'm taking the time to celebrate.

I began making art in earnest one year ago, with the hope of being able to make a living at it. One year later, and I think there's promise! I've learned so much, and I feel (mostly) hopeful about the future of the Paper Fern Studio.

Things to celebrate this year:

I made my first sale to someone who was not related to me! Thanks, Alice. I would keep the dollar up on the fridge, but it was through Etsy ;)

I did my first ever market/show in the spring, and did three more during holiday season, including a really cool fungi festival. I think they went well! I have nothing to gauge them against, so I'm going to say they were successful. Monetarily, I cleared my booth fee on all of them, sold to lots of people I don't know, and for the most part made what I thought was a decent amount. In other respects, I learned a lot, met a lot of cool people, got lovely and helpful feedback, and had fun!

I moved to a place that gave me more space, mentally, to practice my art. I was feeling very stuck in Seattle, and we were finally able to move out of town.

I was able to turn my home studio disaster into a neat studio situation, in finding rental space at the Burkhead Art Center. In many ways it has turned out WAY better! Because of this, I got to participate in the Snohomish Studio Tour, and meet several people through the center. I even have plans to start teaching classes there next spring! It's the best commute ever, and so far on the grounds I have found: pacific tree frogs, deer, peacocks, various hawks, great blue heron, and so many beautiful and inspiring plants.

I got the opportunity to display my work at Big Whale Consignment this fall for their holiday market and pop-ups. It's been a surprising income booster, and a great learning opportunity for expanding my business.

I was approached by a few stores about selling wholesale, which has been a completely new experience for me that I'm hoping blossoms next year.

There are many more things, I'm sure, but I'll stop there for now.

Many, many, MANY thanks to my partner, Jim, for agreeing to move, and supporting me, emotionally and financially, during this start-up, for helping me with markets, for helping me package up cards, for helping me paint my studio, for sharing my reels on social media, for buying things on Etsy and leaving reviews when I had zero, lol, and so, so much more.

Thanks to my mom for always listening to me during the not-so-good times, for humoring my incessant ADHD-ing about creative details, for buying my originals, for hyping me up to all her Facebook friends, and giving me advice, always.

Thanks to my Dad for helping me with markets and giving feedback on artistic endeavors, for sharing show experience and coming up with last-minute solutions! :)

Thanks to my sister for being my biggest social media fan, getting people to come to my markets, being my guinea pig, and helping me drink about things when I need to!

And thank YOU, all of you who've bought something, given a thoughtful word of art appreciation, shared or liked my posts, and generally made this all worth it so far!

Happy New Year!