pinch me!

Actually, don't!! Too much good stuff happening and I don't want it to stop!

First, I can barely keep up with the demand for my work at C'est Moi! My chunky chunks of love hearts are selling as soon as I drop them off! I'm churning them out as fast as I can!
Second, I have been selected as a vendor for the Bella Rustica barn sale September 16-17! Not only will I be surounded by amazing artisans and vintage vendors but I will also be supporting a great cause since this sale is benefitting Agape! Check out the blog where I was recently highlighted, www.bellarusticanashville.blogspot.com
Third...this is the BIG one...I'm still in shock...are you sitting down? I got into my first real, live art show, Fine Art in Brentwood, benefitting Brentwood Academy, December 2-3. This is a huge deal! The publicity, the exposure, the advertising, the foot traffic, the other artists, the amount of inventory. Huge. This show could be the difference in my artwork being a hobby or a true profession. I applied early in the process and knew that invitations should have been extended by the 15th of June. When that day came and went, along with several more, I just resigned myself to the fact that I didn't get in. Imagine my surprise 5 days later when I went to the mailbox and a nice, fat envelope from Fine Art was waiting in the mailbox. It had gone to the old house and took several days to find its way to the new one! www.fineartinbrentwood.com

I feel immeasurably blessed by this season of success! Why is confidence so elusive? I wish that I could trust myself and believe in myself without needing so much validation. I guess I can finally start calling myself an artist without making quotation fingers!!!

little e

hotcakes

little e studio has had quite the month. Whirlwind doesn't begin to describe all the emotional and physical toil of moving home and studio.

Before all the selling, buying, packing, and moving started, I had begun making cold calls on businesses and galleries in hopes of expanding my little business venture. Sales out of my studio had been so encouraging I felt that I was ready to take this next step. Unfortunately cold calls involve overcoming a plethora of phobias and a perpetual case of social awkwardness. I've had some pretty wonderful cheerleaders in my section who had set me up with a few shop owners, but even with them paving the way, I was a basket case. Ironically, it was on the way to one of the shops belonging to a friend of a friend when I made a wrong turn that landed me plop in the middle of a fabulous boutique in Brentwood named C'est Moi. C'est Moi has "funky junk", jewelry, original art, home furnishings, and Dash and Albert rugs all arranged with an artful eye and a nod to whimsy...in other words, my kind of place. After browsing for a bit, I gathered my gumption and my artwork and introduced myself to the owner. In the words of Sally Field, she liked me, she really liked me!!! She wanted my paintings in her store-a real, live store!

I was so excited, but my inventory was super low and I had committed to a street festival in Brentwood around the same time...oh, and I was moving!!! What was I thinking? I dropped off the planet for about a month while we uprooted our life. I tried to paint in between packing and chasing a crazed toddler, but i was derailed again and again. I had to drop out of the street festival at the last minute and wondered if I would ever get little e back off the ground. I decided to call C'est Moi and see if the owner even remembered me. She did! The next day my paintings made their retail debut! I felt like a singer hearing their song on the radio for the first time! Giddy!!

Even more thrilling was the call the next day that FOUR paintings had sold the first day plus they got a commission for another and a request for more small hearts for gifts!! Then the next day two more sold! Then a few days later, a customer took two out on approval and bought a big 24x24 heart! 7 days later, only 3 out of the original 13 were left in the store!! Selling like hotcakes!!!!

Needless to say, I am just in awe of this little streak of success! It could be a fluke but what a lovely fluke it is!

I just dropped off my second round of paintings today!
Check out C'est Moi if you get a chance! It is behind Judge Bean's on Church Street. I'm sure that you will find a few things you can't live without!!
shopcestmoi.blogspot.com

little e