You know what this means?

This means I am going to the third ever New Forest Fairy Festival. This isn't a ticket just for entry, no that's much cheaper. This is a ticket to exhibit my lovely creations. I have a shelf stacked full of materials to make things, and I better get busy. I do have several months to prepare, but I know from experience that time flies under these circumstances, and I will need to work "little and often" to keep up. The two Fairy Festivals I have exhibited at so far have taught me much. I have a lot of thinking to do, concerning my costs, and what I can afford to do. I'm not shy of telling you all my business secrets. Last year I made enough money to pay for the pitch, and to pay myself a very modest wage. I'm not making a killing here. My budget is tight. Lucky for me, I managed to get hold of a lot of free wood, and only had to pay to get it sliced up. I've also bought a fair amount of ply wood, cut into very neat shapes. With all this wood and a pyrography machine, I just have to figure out what kind of designs people are going to love. What do people want? I am just a little bit obsessed with the Flower of Life design right now. I just bought myself a Flower of Life pendant to wear. I didn't notice ANYBODY selling this design at the festival last year or the last year before. Does this mean that I've found my gap in the market? I was just a little bit annoyed last year when I thought I had come up with some really good ideas, only to find out that other market traders had come up with exactly the same ideas! A whole heap of market stalls selling the same stuff is not very exciting. The key is to find your fantastically original niche. This means using your imagination.

I think a lot of people must assume that artwork is easy for those who are "gifted" with talent. The most difficult thing for an artist is thinking of something original. There's no use creating something that looks the same as everyone else's work. That's not going to get you noticed. Maybe you will only be subtely different, but you have to make sure that the difference is in the quality of work. Perhaps your hand to eye coordination is just a little bit steadier than the next person. Perhaps your flair for colours is just a little bit more exciting. Perhaps your concepts are just a little bit more witty. Know what your strengths are, and showcase them for all to admire. A big part of this challenge is having confidence in your abilities. If you keep telling yourself that everything you do is crap, then you're just gonna have a portfolio of crap. As soon as you create something that makes you think, "wow, that's not half bad", then you're onto a winner! This means being kind to yourself.

I have been selling things for a long time now. My first sales were paintings on small canvases. I used to post pictures of my work to online message boards, and offer very reasonable prices. My little paintings, completely original and one of a kind, would then be wrapped up and sent off. I studied Fine Art and Illustration, to get myself a proper degree, as I was assured this would provide better job prospects. This depends on what kind of work you want to do though. You don't need a degree to run a market stall or an online shop. The degree course did teach me some valuable lessons about making art though. Over and over, they drummed into me the message: do something original! This means being completely authentic.