...as a freelance Artist. It can be a solitary life if you don't share a Studio and there are no people to bounce ideas off and gauge the appeal of your work.
Over the past few weeks I have been trying to find my path. I am/was an Illustrator, and a couple of years ago hit a purple patch where I was doing back to back commissions. This run came to an end when the Publisher got into difficulties. Since then the recession hit and work dried up. This didn't affect everyone, but my work is a little more expensive than most due to the processes involved so I was hit harder.
So I decided to go back to jewellery design and orders started to come in. But here again things have declined somewhat. My problem is that I produce bespoke pieces at near 'off the peg' prices. If I wanted to be cost effective I would need to be courting the high end customer. But I am at a disadvantage of not living near a big city.
So I have sent my Illustration Samples out into the world to see if there is life left in this career. I have offered my jewellery on Etsy and Facebook. My options are narrowing and two avenues remain. The one thing that I feel I am best at is Sculpture and as such makes me vulnerable to disappointment. If I was too put all my energy into this, I would have to succeed as it is the one thing that makes me tick. I have resisted this path for years but now it feels like it is my only choice. The other option is floating around the back of my head.
Over the past few weeks I have been trying to find my path. I am/was an Illustrator, and a couple of years ago hit a purple patch where I was doing back to back commissions. This run came to an end when the Publisher got into difficulties. Since then the recession hit and work dried up. This didn't affect everyone, but my work is a little more expensive than most due to the processes involved so I was hit harder.
So I decided to go back to jewellery design and orders started to come in. But here again things have declined somewhat. My problem is that I produce bespoke pieces at near 'off the peg' prices. If I wanted to be cost effective I would need to be courting the high end customer. But I am at a disadvantage of not living near a big city.
So I have sent my Illustration Samples out into the world to see if there is life left in this career. I have offered my jewellery on Etsy and Facebook. My options are narrowing and two avenues remain. The one thing that I feel I am best at is Sculpture and as such makes me vulnerable to disappointment. If I was too put all my energy into this, I would have to succeed as it is the one thing that makes me tick. I have resisted this path for years but now it feels like it is my only choice. The other option is floating around the back of my head.
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