My £1k a Month Boundary
It keeps me grounded, pays my share of the bills, and delivers me freedom to never reheat soufflés.
This morning, I dipped my toe into my studio at 6am.
Actually, I literally dipped my nib and paintbrush into the inkwell, as I had some fresh ideas for more wordery works that have been knocking around in my sketchbooks for a while.
Waving off the first 6 because they were always going to be crap due to wobbly, unsure hands after ten days away, I found I had made a good choice. Working these Inkpressions made a good way back in for me.
Wordery Works Drying - Inkpressions
These works came out of nowhere a few months ago - I say that, but you and I both know that ideas and collections never really come out of nowhere - they are often side-bubbles and visual thoughts that appear when working on other collections.
I made a couple to test them out, liked them, and posted them on Instagram and Pinterest. Bowled over by the response, I gifted a couple to see how they were received and was happily rewarded with offers to purchase.
‘Share The Love’
Hanging in the window of ‘Hairsmiths’ in Norwich
I sold enough for this side project to wash its face in terms of time spent on them, then packed them away for another day/week/month/year/decade when I might look at them again properly - I do this to keep focused on the commission at hand: in this case it was a family of three dogs making five paintings.
Now that my dog paintings are delivered and happily on their forever wall, it’s time to revisit these wordery works.
Some years ago, post-Covid, I made a collection of original Ink drawings called ‘Inkteriors’. These still life drawings took inspiration from our home items and, frankly, how f&*cked we would be without them when we were all locked down. I found myself looking with fresh appreciation for these functional items, and Inkterior drawing works were born. You can still see some of them here 99.9% of these works are now sold.
That was 2023, and sadly we can’t reheat soufflés, or I would be continuing to make and remake these drawings forever after. The sparkle and excitement I found in discovering and making these works can’t be prolonged; no matter how many people ask to buy, once it’s over, it really is over. We can’t stretch out our interests forever on one thing, or I can’t anyway - sigh and bummer.
New ideas, interests, and projects come along, and as artists we really can only follow our tummies, or we wither up and die of boredom.
Stretching out projects into art prints, tea towels, aprons, etc, is an option, but I know that then brings the focus onto selling units, then ordering items and marketing things I didn’t make myself - been there, done that; my experience tells me that I need to be free to move on. This is why I sell only originals, or edition prints I make on my printmaking press - with a small dip into digital printing once in a blue moon (as in my recent collection of paintings called ‘Renesting’. (Again, many of these works have now sold and gone).
I love and value the freedom to hop about; in fact, it’s essential to me - much as it must pain those around me who depend on my financial contribution to my household. It must be hard to swallow - but I always make my £grand a month to pay the bills, this is non-negotiable and my responsibility. I think this also keeps me grounded. I’m a commercial artist after all; at the heart of my business is a desire to make work that sells, and thankfully it does to the tune of my £1k per month.
This is my enough.
There is liberation in knowing your ‘enough’. This is a subject for another day and another article, but during my 30+ years of practising, I recognise that creative fulfillment and freedom to satisfy new ideas fits perfectly with my need to bring in £1k a month.
A good balance which keeps me making, delivering and selling to meet the bills ✔️ and offers me time to follow my tummy into new ideas ✔️
It helps hugely, of course, that Carl (my partner) and I are not all about the money, or we would be buggered!
So, once the studio has cooled off after the heat of the afternoon making it impossible to get into, I will be working on some more wordery works: Inkpressions - to see where they take me.
Much love
Sam x
