the beginnings.......

early in january, i was in a very historic bookstore......when i got a wake up call from the universe
i had just thought to myself......
i need a job

then i said out loud to jen 'i need to get the studio back in shape'
next thing i knew a lady was pulling me to a desk in the back and giving me names of buyers for that bookstore.
the card department
gift department ...etc

now i have been drawing, painting and sculpting most of my life....with a short rest while i was making dolls
i came full circle in the past few years .....drawing and painting my ducks

then the wild birds around our home here in pa

now it's time for me and my paintings to leave the nest and go out in the big world

it's scary and exciting all at the same time

so that is the beginning of why i am doing a kickstarter project
to enable my paintings to be printed as cards and go out into the world

now i am still adding paintings to the birds.....and the basic idea is print 6 of the nest paintings and 6 of the bird paintings.... and sell them as a set of greeting/note cards with envelopes

i hope to have them very well priced so that i feel that whoever helps fund this project gets a very good reward..
oh kickstarter?
wow that is a wonderful thing....it's group funding for creative people
not a hand out.... but a sort of presale (especially in my case) to help creative projects happen

hence this blog
i haven't set up the project there yet as i am still working on getting a commercial offset printer in place.
and i need to make a video ......... and as of yet i don't have a video camera

if this is successful, the card project will come to life........ people will end up with them
i will end up with not only having the intense satisfaction of having the cards printed and out in circulation
but also i will have some profit for my hard work
(and a kickstarter promotion is HARD work..... mental and physical)
it takes about 30 days on the website, updates are important
and if you present it well AND if it is an appealing project...complete strangers will help fund the costs of the project.... which also helps an artist feel validated in her work

basically it's a win win situation, because if the artist doesn't get ALL the funding needed the project doesn't happen.... the people who are funding the project won't get charged a dime.....unless the entire goal is met

now kickstarter takes 5% as a fee off the top
and they move funds through amazon which takes another 3 or so % off the top so you also have to figure that into your estimate and 'rewards'

rewards are things that the people that fund your project get for it!
this is how it ends up not being charity or a hand out....
you get to presell (at least with my project i do) what you are doing!

i love this whole idea......
and if this project is successful it won't be my last one

i have botanical illustrations i want to do and would like printed, as well as interesting halloween art and decorations (nothing gory or gruesome) and the crow series both as prints...possibly a calender and as a counting book!

and in the process of researching i found some places that will do short run bound BOOKS at prices that aren't insane!


so anyway, i started this blog to document the process of what i am doing and where i am with the project

right now, i am still searching for a commercial printer as it looks like there are going to be 12 designs, with 500 cards per design - i would like to sell these in sets of 24 (2 of each of the 12 designs) with possibly a few bonuses if i exceed my goals, one of which will be the fledgling in his nest either as cards or fine art prints....
or even fine art prints of the paintings as sets
that will be up to how the project goes
meanwhile i am trying to scan these myself
i may have to get them done professionally if i am going to offer fine art prints but that would be down the road
first is the printer, so far i have found internet printers but local guys are not calling me with the quotes they've promised even if i call them a second time.......so they won't work

oh and the lower case stuff?
i've got tiny tiny hands and even on the laptop key board they don't reach as well to hit the shift key!
it's pretty simple really

til next time