Wow 2.

This is the weekend for catching my breath, reflecting what has been going on and getting the studio back into a workspace rather than a gallery space.  At last I have almost all my work back in my possession, well the unsold work that is.  I just have to nip down to Guildford on Thursday and collect the work which has been in the No Naked Walls Gallery for a while.  Sadly the gallery does not seem to be the right place for me and despite proprietor, Sharon’s, best efforts my work isn’t selling there and I think it is time for a parting of the ways.  So I want to consider the successes and less good points about the last few weeks.

From the downside, I did not take a single commission at the Open Studios.  This was a surprise.  Loads of people expressed a lot of interest and I had hoped that this might have been one of the major successes of the weekend but no-one wanted to sign up there and then.  I wonder what that was all about.

Was it to do with people needing to go away, consult and think before coming back to me with their idea or was my idea for a deposit too expensive or clumsy?

 

For £75:00 I was inviting people to buy an envelope containing instructions, a contract, a small bag for their soil/clay sample and a memory stick for their maps, plans and images.  Clearly I need to rethink this a bit but I still believe the concept is a good one; personalised gifts which record a special time or place for ever. I wonder what I should do to boost the idea and translate it into sales. Indeed, others must be in agreement with me to some extent because I have 2 commissions at the moment.

On the positive side, I now have work in at least one archive: Battersea Art Station bought one of my pieces; I have completed one commission to the complete satisfaction of the client; I have sold a number of pieces, including a considerable quantity of older work which I am really pleased about as it means that I can have my studio looking more as if I know where I am going.  I have also sold a number of my new pieces, which is even more exciting!

I am feeling very fired up by my project in Cornwall.  I have a name for it, the Poldark Project, but I am not giving anything else away too early.

 

In addition, I’m sorry, I just can’t help myself, may I have just one teeny weeny boast?  I was really excited to get a piece into the Ceramics Open Exhibition at Salisbury but imagine my amazement when I discovered that I was joint winner of the vote from the visitors for the piece they liked most.  No number of sales or interest from galleries compares with that as an endorsement of my ideas.  Thank you all very much.  I feel extremely humbled by your choice.