Wednesday, March 28, 2012

A Direction, or Three

If I was lacking direction before, now I'm a fueled up engine with a bad sticker - I have lots of places to go, and lots of fuel and drive to get there, but I'm not certified yet. My real job has taken an emotional backseat to my ambitions, and finishing school is so close, yet so far. The good part is, I have lots of time to prepare, the bad part is, I want to start now!

The husband and I bet on ourselves in February and signed up for a craft fair with no crafts to speak of. We are deadline people, so we figured, we got this. I'm pretty sure it's been a month since then, and he's done lots of practicing, while I've done lots of procrastinating (and, to be fair, lots of school assignments as well). I now have one completed mixed-media (at right), one digital piece, and two half-ish-completed pieces. I decided to aim low, for five total pieces, and we plan to make prints of all our work. I may end up with several more than that, but I was intimidated by planning for a large number. My partner, on the other hand, does not share my low aspirations and chose a big round ten for his goal.

It's interesting how expressing our pent-up creativity can improve our moods and bond us together over this shared leap of faith. We don't have much idea what we're doing and view the whole thing as a learning experience. The people who attend this thing may honestly hate our work. My partner's work has a low level of appeal to old ladies, who we are afraid make up the biggest demographic for this type of show.

Recently I started listening to the audiobook Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk. I am inspired. I haven't even finished the seventh chapter, and I'm already imagining myself with a following and a successful enterprise. I need to start blogging more, and get some pieces finished so that a store can be forthcoming. This is my current direction. The rest will come later.