Beginning Of July Tally, etc.

Once again, I am late in posting my beginning of the month info, but I do always make a note of the numbers at the beginning of the month.

Credit Card Debt: $880.29 (Down $206.86 from last month's 1087.15)

Auto Loan Debt: $3864 (Down $138 from last month's $4002)

Paintings sold: 1!

I was happy to sell a painting, as always. This one was different to me because the other paintings I've sold have been to people I've known in some way, though often the connection was vague. This was the first painting I've sold to someone who just stumbled across it on my etsy site. Of course, I would love to be selling a lot more paintings. I told my boyfriend it would change my life significantly if I were able to sell 15/month. Even 10/month would be great! I stepped up my getting-myself-out-there efforts last month by doing more with twitter, making a facebook fan page, and trying to be more active with the etsy forums. I got more twitter followers and more views when I post new items, but it hasn't seemed to help with sales. I think with a lot of that stuff, you're advertising mostly to other etsy sellers, and they aren't necessarily buying. So, in July, I am starting my journey into actual advertising. I looked into a nursery decorating blog, because I think roosters and chicks would look great in a nursery or kitchen. I submitted an ad and they still have to approve it, but I have high hopes that this could help. If I see some sales from this, I will look into more advertising. I was able to find a hip, high-traffic nursery blog quite easily, but my quick search for kitchen decorating blogs hasn't turned up quite what I want, yet. I have a while, though, so I can see how my initial effort works first.

Moving on to money matters: I was glad about the amount of debt I got paid off in June, because it was kind of a high-spending month for me- I went to Chicago for four days to see my boyfriend. I put a certain amount of money aside each day to be split between savings and going on these trips, so it's not too much of a financial hardship, but it is more spending than usual. So far in July, I've had to buy contacts and some clothing (I really didn't have any summer type pants in decent shape) and I put those items on my credit card, so I'm up a little in debt. I'll try to pay that stuff off by the end of the month, but I don't know. Saving is starting to seem like it should be my main objective, so I may back off on paying the debt down. I feel conflicted about the whole thing- I would love to be (credit card) debt free, but the economy is worrying me so much. Things at work are kind of scary, and I'm probably going to be okay, but I think many people are having that worry. I do work for tips, and even if my job is secure, it's a scary time to be depending on generosity. I just have to keep doing my best and hoping things will be okay, like everyone else.

Beginning of June Tally (at the end of June)

I said last month that I would try to do a beginning of each month tally and then I totally dropped the ball for June. I keep records and I did take notes on the first of June, so I do have the info, even if it's late.

June 1st Tally:

Credit Card Debt: $1087.15 (Down from 1184 last month)
Auto Loan Debt: $4002 (Down from 4133 last month)

Slow progress, but still going the right direction.

Number of paintings sold: 1!

I'm happy about it, since I hadn't sold any for a while, and I am starting to step up my efforts as far as promoting things.

Keeping this entry brief since I will be hopefully posting more in the next few days regarding the new month, but I also wanted to note that in May, I applied for one group gallery show, which is another positive thing as far as getting people to see my work. I won't find out if I'm accepted until August. There was an application fee, but I see it as being offset by the sale of the painting. Like I said, moving slowly in the right direction.

Recent Works in Progress

One of the most important (and most interesting) parts of attempting to sell paintings is making the paintings. So instead of regaling you with more of my titillating money/debt/hopeless and misguided promotional method talk, I thought I would share some works in progress. I tend to work on multiple paintings at a time, so at any given time I can have 10-20 things partly done.

A few things I'm currently in the middle of:















This one may actually be done.






I hope to have these done within the next few days. maybe I'll have some completed shots up soon.

Far More Effort Required

I feel like I haven't putting nearly enough effort into my work and the promotion of it lately. I really don't know how anyone can balance a full-time job, making art regularly, doing the millions of online and real life things that are required to garner interest, attempting to have a social life, and still have time to bathe and eat. I do feel, however, that if I were to really put the effort in and start making some sales, it would be kind of a domino effect and it would be somewhat easier to make the sales.

Things I am doing that I wasn't doing before:

• Updating my twitter with a painting of the day
• Updating my facebook with a painting of the day
• Trying to be more active on the Etsy forums and reading/contributing to the daily blog post.

It does seem like I've been getting a few more hits this way, but nowhere near what I need. I'm wondering if I should be adding some of the roosters to my deviantart account. I really haven't used it for a couple years and when I did use it, I didn't really think there were a lot of people there interested in buying work.

I might start looking into advertising, but I'm not sure I'm able to do anything like that yet. The restaurant industry slows down in the summer and I am noticing a drop in income already. Grahh.

In other news, I've decided that when I do get my shit together and lose the debt, I'm pretty sure I would like to get my Master's and teach art at college level.

What online stuff do you do that helps with selling your work?

Starting Point: May

I'm going to try to always have an entry early in the month documenting what progress I've made with my debts.

April was a decent month, debt-wise. I pulled a little money out of savings to pay off the balance on my highest interest credit card, and that made me feel better. I have two cards left: one is my lowest interest card, and one doesn't accumulate any interest below $250 (and I only have about $175 left to pay on that one.)

May 1 Tally:

Credit Card Debt: $1184 (Down from over $3000 on January 1st)
Auto Loan Debt: $4133 (Down from about $4800 on January 1st)

Paintings sold in April: 0 (Wooo!)

I had a few unexpected bills towards the end of last month. I have a student loan that isn't bundled with all my other loans, and the payment just started this month. (It's only a quarterly payment, but I thought it was starting next month.) Plus, I had a car repair that was twice as much as I thought. I had some money saved and I didn't end up needing to use my credit cards, but I ended up using up a big part of what I had saved (which, honestly, is not much). I think , for May, I'm going to concentrate on building up savings. I know this will set me back a little bit as far as paying off the debt, but I think that if my long-term goal is pay off the debt AND eventually move out, having a decent amount of money saved up is a very important part of that. It will also be good, art-wise, to have some money to be able to pay the entrance fees for various shows.

Another art note: I decided not to participate in the community art fair in June. I just found out about it too late and wasn't prepared. You need to send in a photo of your display system, and I don't have a display system. I researched some professional craft fair display setups, and I found one for $175 and the rest were $500-$1000. Ugh. If I know about this earlier, I think I could have built something respectable. It was also a bad time, for various reasons, but I'm still kind of disappointed. I guess this is a lesson that I need to be actively seeking out these opportunities so I know about them way before I need to take action.

That's all. Also, this blog is boring and lame and I need to work on SPICING UP the writing. I can write, but I wonder if I can make interesting writing about money?

Debt Reduction Attempt One: Lost In Space

So, I live in the Philadelphia area and my boyfriend lives near Chicago, and we met up last weekend for the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo (SPACE) in Columbus, Ohio. I've been to several of these comics conventions with John, but this is the first one where we really tried to put some of my stuff out. I knew it wasn't really the right forum to show paintings, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to put them out, maybe a couple people would like them. John also helped me put together a booklet of drawings from my sketchbook, with a hand-printed gocco cover. (By "helped", I mean I had a sketchbook and he did basically everything else.)



Anyway, one of the reasons we like to go to this convention is because the table is inexpensive, it's in a location halfway between the two of us, and we (or, usually, just John) make enough money to offset the cost of the trip. So even if we don't make a huge profit, we get to see each other, and that's always a good thing.

Things didn't go quite as well as I hoped. It seemed like maybe there were fewer people than usual who were interested in the kind of work we were doing. I didn't have high hopes but I certainly hoped to at least make my half of the table back, and I didn't. I sold a couple booklets, and some people looked at the paintings and liked them. I also think people had less money to spend than the last couple years. I did make some cool hand-printed business cards, cut out in the shape of roosters, and I thought those were successful. I wanted to make something that's cute and kind of a small piece of art in itself, because I knew people would like that and want to take them with them. I feel like if I picked up something like that, I might hang it on my bulletin board and look at it instead of throwing it away like most business cards I pick up. People liked them, and took them, and maybe they will look at them again and visit my Etsy site. I also had some interest from some people who have an online art magazine, so that's something. I think that right now, it's a good idea to pursue whatever opportunities present themselves.

We actually ended up staying an extra night in Columbus because our original plan of taking our respective 8-hour drives home after the convention on Sunday seemed too draining and somewhat unsafe. I was definitely glad we stayed, but it meant I went beyond the money I had set aside for the trip. Overall, I'm glad we went, and I don't mind spending money to see John, AND I'm glad that I got some people to see my work and take my card...it's still annoying that I would have been financially better off if I just went to Columbus to see John and we didn't go to SPACE. So I have mixed feelings avout the whole thing. As far as debt reduction goes, this clearly wasn't the way to go.

Moving on, I'm thinking about more ways to get my work out there. I'm glad to have some cards now, so I'll start trying to put those out wherever I can. I'd like to start applying to some gallery shows (maybe with prints and not necessarily the paintings) and join some artist organizations. The issue is, all of this stuff costs a lot of money. I'm thinking of entering a local arts-in-the-park show, but it's a $45 application/entrance fee. I don't mind paying $45 for a table, but I don't want to pay $45 to apply for a table. I only have a few days to decide about this thing, and it would be kind of a conflict with work, but it would probably be a good idea. I'm just worried about applying and not getting in. I guess it's true that you have to spend money to make money, so I need to start putting money aside for application fees for various things.

More soon.

So, What is This Blog About?

Hi, I'm Siobhan.

I'm a recent graduate of Tyler School of Art (Temple University) with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts, with my focus in Printmaking. Obviously, it's a bad time to find a job and I'm working in a restaurant, glad to have steady employment, enough money for what I need, and health insurance. However, I still live at home, paying a small amount of "rent" that isn't comparable to any real world housing prices.

I've been making small rooster paintings for a while, and I've been putting some effort into trying to sell them, but certainly not enough effort.


Meanwhile, I have about $5000 worth of debt from credit cards and my car loan. I'm obsessed with this debt and feel like I would have a lot more freedom if I eliminated it. I've been making significant payments each month but I've figured out that I need to be putting another $350 a month toward the debt in order to meet of deadline of paying it all off by the end of the year. My restaurant income is steady but not great, and it's variable. I've been tracking my expenses and making the most of the money I have, and I know I'm not going to find an extra $350 every month.

I've thought of getting a different or second job, but what I have is a good fit for me right now. I'm in a long-distance relationship and it's important that I'm able to have a flexible schedule. Plus, I want to eliminate the long-distance part of my long-distance relationship as soon as possible, and it seems dumb to try to find a more serious job in this area when I probably won't be here long term.


So! I figure now is the time to make things happen with my art. My roosters are small and affordable, I enjoy making them, and I would only have to sell about 15 of them a month to meet my debt payment goal. That certainly seems possible. I guess, for me, the dream is to eventually be able to support myself with my art, and I feel like this is a good time to start pursuing it. I don't want to get a second job, I don't want to work (at non-art jobs) any more than I have to. I know that making any money in art is hard, and I know it will be a while before I will be able to do it full-time, but focusing on paying off a debt with the talent I've worked for is a good step.


To answer my title, this blog is about art. It's about money. It's a way for me to document experiments in getting people to care about my work. It's about figuring out what works and what doesn't, and how to be successful in art. Well, at least, I HOPE it's about how to be successful in art.

Anyway, if this first entry has been terrible, you'll have to bear with me...it's 3 a.m. and I am trying to get this thing started before I go to Columbus and attempt to sell these paintings at a venue that may be inappropriate. Well, we'll discuss it next time.

To see more of my paintings or to PURCHASE one, please see my etsy shop.