wolfie and the sneak

For those of you who know this blog well enough, I'm sure you've noticed my distraction lately. Perhaps what hasn't been apparent, is the reason for distraction. I'm pretty tired, I've been working my health insurance providing full-time job (see bullet point 1), going home and working my full time passion job, keeping my home as a home (which means things more like being loving and communicating rather than cleaning and housekeeping), and generally working my ass off. Let's clarify some key points, shall we?

• A job without passion is tiring itself. I do that tiring job 30+ hours a week, but let's examine some other things I do, shall we?
• What sort of art have I been making? Lessee--Peer, Calendars, communicating with consignors, running my etsy shop, etc.
• As an artist, I have many different aspects to art making. None of them provide me with luxurious living, but everything I work on is meaningful to me. That means I give it proper time and attention, and I don't make crap to make a buck.
  
• Making crap to make a buck just adds to the landfill later. Definitely against my better judgment and my philosophy in living. And crap art is easy to part with.
• Important art is priced accordingly, though barely at an amount that makes significant profit. I don't charge $30 for a mass produced item that originally costs me 19 cents.

There was a guy at Renegade that wanted to haggle with Jess about a price. So consider the fact that here and many places elsewhere in the world, there are strict laws on minimum wage. Assuming my honesty in saying I don't make crap, that means there are stacks and stacks of drawings and images that never make it out into the world for sale. This takes time.

Then there is the actual piece that makes it, that I'm excited about and ready to share.

So it gets scanned, and manipulated until it will make a nice, archival print. Let's not consider the equipment and money I've invested in that equipment to get a nice, archival print.
But there is time and energy making sure I produce work with high-quality inks (no, I can't buy them at Target), I research both the environmental quality and the longevity of the paper (paper is a terrible pollutant), there are proofs and issues worked out once the printing begins, then I have to spread the word about these new pieces available.

I look into fairs and shows to do, I crunch numbers to see which method of sales will be most worthwhile. I research, I brainstorm, I package, I sell.

I am product development, producer, advertising and graphic design, communications coordinator, tech person, marketing department, consignor liaison, shipping and receiving, customer service and more.

And while I love etsy for all it provides for me, it doesn't provide the outlet I seek for a more stable living as an artist, so I pursue that non-moneymaking aspect of art simultaneously. I love it, sometimes I gripe about the process, I'm sure, but if I didn't truly love it I wouldn't do it because I'm damn sure I'm not in it for the money.

When I offer discounts, I do it because of kindness or excitement to share what I do, but I don't do it to promote some crap I've got too much of, like a 5 for a dollar coupon for some generic soup.

I certainly don't go shopping somewhere and ask for the clerk to take a pay cut so I can get those 5 cans of generic soup for 80 cents instead.

So who in their right mind thinks they have the right to ask an artist for a discount? Thank you for being absolutely rude by telling me my time (as well as the 24 other artists who were involved) that your money is more valuable than my time and my (our) talents.

Perhaps if you understood the value of the individual, the local economy and the investments associated with independent sellers, you would understand that you've just emailed me out of the blue to ask for a cut of my livelihood. While you might think it's funny and acceptable, I think you're audacious and infuriating, Ali.

Perhaps you'll read this before you send someone else an email like the one below that you sent me, and it will save you some embarrassment, but I have a feeling you still can't even begin to fathom what's wrong with being cheap and tasteless.

"like the coloring book --- any discounts available -- i collect coloring books -- saw it on notcot......
$50 coloring book --- what economy melt down ? sorry for being smart ass ;))))"