Lake McDonald

Today, I mostly think all the decisions I have made are bad ones! 

I think I am just having one of those grumpy days where it feels like everything you touch breaks. I have sold 6 masks though and tidied up a few loose art ends. Creating my Facebook shop the other week made me spot a few website typos and I had missed a couple of paintings for sale off the link in the Paintings section on here. So that has been rectified. 

I also managed to put my new painting online which was a challenge commission by my sister. She found an amazing picture of Lake McDonald complete with a perfect mountainous reflection, still water and coloured stones. I wasn't entirely sure I would do a convincing job of it but it has come out quite well. I am almost tempted to keep it myself! 

So that will hopefully make up for the rest of the day, that and I am about to tackle another commission I need to do! I am not entirely sure I am in the painting frame of mind, but I am restless so I am hoping it will help settle me down a little!

Here's to hoping!

Decisions, decisions...

 I feel like I am running out of time again today. I am not sure if that is because I am about to go out for dinner, which still seems peculiar, so my evening is already filled, or because I have too much I want to complete this week and I am not sure I have time. 

I am also stressed because I just created a new Facebook advert. I completed my Facebook shop last week, and part of the reason for doing so was that they would give me a $250 ad credit to promote my shop. This equates to about £194. I was hoping this would mean that I could promote each section of my shop at a time for maybe ten or so pounds in the lead up to Christmas. But alas, I had to choose one thing to spend the entire budget on. Well, what am I suppose to choose? How long should the advert run for? What if I get too many orders to cope with? What if I get none?!

So yes, this is where my brain is at. In the end, I decided on Architecture prints for 88 days, and I have literally just had a notification through saying it is now up and running. I guess as this advert is free it doesn't really matter if it works or not, but it will feel like a wasted opportunity. That is the trouble with everything. I have just ordered a lot of face masks as I keep getting enquiries about the one I bought for myself, but how many should I buy, how much should I sell them for? Where should I sell them? What happens if I invest in a load and then have 30 masks sat in my house for the rest of my life?

Sometimes, all the endless decisions, risks, ifs and buts are a bit much. Half the problem is that with this kind of thing, the rewards are not always instant in delivery. Everything is an investment in time and money and belief that eventually, I will sell everything. 

So wish me luck, that the decisions I made today, were good ones!   

Insomnia

 I really feel like my last post wasn't that long ago! I kind of miss my lock-down discipline of yoga, blog post, work and brain space. 

That said, I am not really sure who I am today. I have already tidied up, had breakfast, posted on Facebook and completed a round of yoga and it is only 7.30am! Who am I!?!? For some reason I couldn't sleep at all last night so I just gave up and got up. It should mean I can get a lot done today assuming I don't fall asleep after lunch. 

I have a lot of art things on my mind at the moment. Two commission requests pending, one commission quote out, a possible distributor of some face masks in France, a painting in progress, and my Facebook shop to finish. 

I have a strange sense at the moment of needing to finish everything as soon as possible and I have no idea why. The world's current impending doom feeling, or just guilt for half having a couple of weeks off. Who knows. Hopefully it won't mean I get no sleep for the rest of the week or I shall look like a mess come Friday. 

My Facebook shop is looking good though, it really does look like I have managed to create my own 'brand.'

 

I am looking forward to adding my prints and then sending it live over the next few days. Maybe once it is finished, I will manage some decent sleep. 

Lighthouses

I feel like I may have lied about being back in business as another week seems to have flown by. 

I have finished making my prints though, and the Golden Temple print is being delivered on Tuesday. I also have a possible painting purchase enquiry and two more commissions to do.

The timing of all of this is perfect, as I have some time, and sales are always welcome. I also just checked my website stats. The performance, and rating of my website has gone up, but the page authority has gone down which is confusing. I need to get on and finish updating the rest of the pages. It is too hot to do anything other than melt at the moment though! 

I also need to share my latest painting, which I meant to do before! So here it is.....It is Slangkop Lighthouse in South Africa and a commission for a friend. Bizarrely I used to paint quite a lot of lighthouses when I was younger. I am not sure if this is the influence of being born on an Island or just a coincidence. This is only the second 'proper' painting I have created of a lighthouse though. The first being the 'pepper pot' lighthouse on the Isle of Wight which is more of a medieval ruin than what you would imagine. So who knows, maybe this will start a run of lighthouse paintings.