Print Proofs, Oh My!

Giclée Proofs

It takes a lot to make me nervous. Sharing my writing with others is one. Sharing my art with others - for the them to keep- is apparently another. 

Last summer a friend and I started talking about my many hobbies and I confessed to her that I spend lots of money on the materials. I'm a crafter, too. I spend money on beads and paint and sewing materials and yarn and ... well, I could go on. While I'm fortunate to be able to afford my supplies (perhaps at the expense of building a good savings account!), in every other part of my life I've become much more budget conscious.

My friend in passing said what friends have said to me before -- "you should sell some of the stuff you make, pay for the materials, at least."

I thought about it for the better part of 6 months. Most of the paintings I make are deeply personal. I paint through a whooshing ear (shout out to my sigmoid sinus diverticulum sufferers!) and insomnia. These paintings are therapeutic. Most of them were painted before I had any intention of sharing them with anyone but myself. 

But at her urging and with the desire to show friends what I was up to, I started to share a few of the finished pieces with family and friends. Positive responses, some of them surely too kind, made me look into selling a few pieces. 

So, I decided to start small with a few paintings that I like aesthetically and that I believe would look good as decorative art in someone else's home or office. I've omitted the ones that I think are too personal or too introspective to be of interest to others. 

I ordered test Giclée prints on art paper and on textured art paper over the last two weeks. 

The corrected prints of a few I intend to sale came today. WHAT! OH NO! Not only do they not suck or look amatuerish, but they look like art prints for sale. Suddenly I have to face the prospect of sending them out into the world. 

We'll see how it goes.