Just wanted to write a quick post to tell you all how good it feels to be hearing from everyone, and hearing the words of encouragement. I have been overwhelmed by the support in my decision to close EcoUnique. It has really cleared my mind and I am ready to reinvent my vision of Art to Wear! I am starting on some amazing new threads this week, including a Lone Star Dress. The Lone Star Dress was a classic piece I used to make a lot and they always serve the purpose of getting my creativity going again.
Thank you ALL SO much for your kindness, it means the world to me!
*mwah*
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Living the dream
I feel like I have so much to say, but I'm going to keep this short. I feel like my head was filled up and over crowded for awhile, but with all these changes I am making in my life, I feel like there is tons of room now ;) haha. Its freeing, really. Yesterday I cleaned out my workshop to further help clear things out and make room for future endeavors. I have a whole bunch of stuff to list on EBAY today and will send out a mailing list email once I do that. I am beginning to feel like I can let my creativity out again. This time I don't care if anyone thinks its too hippy dippy, or if anyone thinks its too mainstream, or if anyone thinks anything at all....after all, this is about my vision. I am trying to live the dream, folks. Sometimes I loose sight of that dream, or am just downright confused about what that dream is. It certainly isn't easy, but its definitely the best way for me to live my life.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
From here on out
I should probably clarify things a bit. I am putting an end to EcoUnique, sadly, but I will still be making clothing. In order for me to move forward with other projects, ideas, etc, I need to put EcoUnique behind me. I can no longer make clothing as a business. I need to create other things in order to maintain my sanity and happiness, and be a fully functioning member of my family. From now on, when I make clothing to sell, it will probably be listed on EBay, or maybe Etsy, or both...I haven't decided yet.
So that brings me to what I wanted to say about this blog, and my plans for the future. Nothing is set in stone yet (is it ever?) but I have a wealth of ideas. I love having this blog as an outlet for my thoughts....sometimes my brain works in hyper speed and I just can't always keep up with all of my ideas. Writing them down here, in public, will better help me to organize myself and keep track of what I need to do.
What I am currently thinking about doing, and I'm pretty sure I will be following through on this, is going back to school to get an MFA, Master's of Fine Art. I am looking into applying for Fall 09! But in the meantime, I have some smaller goals. One is to make some crazy appliqued wall hangings, and bring them down to the co-op gallery in our town and see if I can become a member. Being a member would be great because I'd have another venue to sell my work, I would get to be around other working artists, and it would get me out of the house at least one day a month, without my child or husband! I am also going to join the Art Association in our town (our town has a lot to offer for being such a small town) and hopefully start teaching some classes eventually, which would be great experience for being a Graduate Teaching Assistant if I go for the MFA....oh yeah, a large reason for going for the MFA would be so I could ultimately teach college. In fact, that was what I was contemplating doing before I started my business, way back in the day of Mountain Sun Designs.....anyone remember that? The dress picture is from back around that time. I have more to say on the topic of looking back over the last 6 years and where it has all led to, but I will save that for another post.
Lastly, as I complete the process of letting go of this huge part of myself, I will be phasing out the EcoUnique website. In place of that, I will be creating a website for myself, an on-line portfolio of sorts. This is not going to be anytime soon, but will happen slowly as I approach applying for grad school. So from here on out, its just me, pure and simple....no clothing label to hide behind.
What I am currently thinking about doing, and I'm pretty sure I will be following through on this, is going back to school to get an MFA, Master's of Fine Art. I am looking into applying for Fall 09! But in the meantime, I have some smaller goals. One is to make some crazy appliqued wall hangings, and bring them down to the co-op gallery in our town and see if I can become a member. Being a member would be great because I'd have another venue to sell my work, I would get to be around other working artists, and it would get me out of the house at least one day a month, without my child or husband! I am also going to join the Art Association in our town (our town has a lot to offer for being such a small town) and hopefully start teaching some classes eventually, which would be great experience for being a Graduate Teaching Assistant if I go for the MFA....oh yeah, a large reason for going for the MFA would be so I could ultimately teach college. In fact, that was what I was contemplating doing before I started my business, way back in the day of Mountain Sun Designs.....anyone remember that? The dress picture is from back around that time. I have more to say on the topic of looking back over the last 6 years and where it has all led to, but I will save that for another post.Lastly, as I complete the process of letting go of this huge part of myself, I will be phasing out the EcoUnique website. In place of that, I will be creating a website for myself, an on-line portfolio of sorts. This is not going to be anytime soon, but will happen slowly as I approach applying for grad school. So from here on out, its just me, pure and simple....no clothing label to hide behind.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The Truth Is
The truth is that I struggle immensely with running a business. The truth is that I feel a need to define myself. The truth is that I am an artist, not a fashion designer. The truth is: I QUIT!
For 6 years I have: created art, been a slave to sewing, stressed myself out over trying to create a hemp clothing "line" time and time again, grown in leaps and bounds, learned my own way, spent hours upon hours just thinking, been defeated, felt victorious, and have followed my bliss. Since starting my business I have continually gone through a cycle of being intensely creative, burning out, starting again in a new way, breaking down, and then starting again from the beginning. At first this cycle took a really long time, like 2 years, but lately it has been fast and furious, repeating all too often, several times just since Keller has been born (1 year ago). This time I have faced the truth, I am not going to do it again.
The truth is, having a kid changes you, even if you don't think it will, even if you don't want it to. Falling in love also changes you. It has been over 8 years since I have been by myself without anyone or anything else to worry or think about. In that time I have grown into someone different than I used to be, defining myself through my art, my business and my family. I have realized in the last few weeks that I have come to the end of the journey with my business. I have found the courage to say I am done, I am ready to venture out into the world, not forgetting one bit of who I am, where I came from or what I've learned, but using all of my knowledge, skills and talent to carve out a better existence for myself, and a better future for my family.
The truth is, this is just the beginning. I don't yet know exactly where this new journey will take me, but I am ready for it to begin.
For 6 years I have: created art, been a slave to sewing, stressed myself out over trying to create a hemp clothing "line" time and time again, grown in leaps and bounds, learned my own way, spent hours upon hours just thinking, been defeated, felt victorious, and have followed my bliss. Since starting my business I have continually gone through a cycle of being intensely creative, burning out, starting again in a new way, breaking down, and then starting again from the beginning. At first this cycle took a really long time, like 2 years, but lately it has been fast and furious, repeating all too often, several times just since Keller has been born (1 year ago). This time I have faced the truth, I am not going to do it again.
The truth is, having a kid changes you, even if you don't think it will, even if you don't want it to. Falling in love also changes you. It has been over 8 years since I have been by myself without anyone or anything else to worry or think about. In that time I have grown into someone different than I used to be, defining myself through my art, my business and my family. I have realized in the last few weeks that I have come to the end of the journey with my business. I have found the courage to say I am done, I am ready to venture out into the world, not forgetting one bit of who I am, where I came from or what I've learned, but using all of my knowledge, skills and talent to carve out a better existence for myself, and a better future for my family.
The truth is, this is just the beginning. I don't yet know exactly where this new journey will take me, but I am ready for it to begin.
Friday, November 16, 2007
The Future is Now
So, a lot of my customers are moms, and they marvel at the fact that I am a business woman and a mom. Understandably so, I too marvel at it. Sometimes I don't know how I do it, sometimes I don't even know why I do it, but most of the time there is just a little voice in my head that tells me to keep on keeping on. This sort of relates to the idea of balance that I wrote about in my last post. Sometimes I have to break it down to the utmost basic concepts in order to move forward.
Ever since becoming a mom, I have really learned what a fine line it is for me between being an artist and running a successful business. For me, being an artist means creating from my soul, doing what I want, when I want. That in itself is contradictory to the word business. In order to survive in what I do, it means conforming at some level. It means forcing myself to sometimes do things I don't want to do. It means being creative to come up with ways of getting things done in less time. It means being able to have faith in other people that they can indeed do something for me, maybe even better than I can do it myself.
I have had help with my business in the past, it didn't work...at all. But it was a huge learning lesson that I knew would be useful in the future. The future is now. I have learned that I cannot skip steps to achieve the end result. I need to focus on each step and progress from one to the next. So I recently had a girl I know start helping me sew on an as needed basis. I had to break it down from the idea of having a fancy sewing contractor sewing many garments for me to the idea of using what I currently have available to me. It was so scary to take this step, to put trust into something larger than myself. Afterall, I have done every single aspect of my business all by myself since I started it 6 years ago. But, I took the advice of a highly respected industry professional, Kathleen Fasanella (look her up if you don't know who she is) and jumped off the proverbial cliff. Its just the beginning, really, but I am so glad I went through with this because my stitcher friend is awesome!
There is no better time than now to realize your dreams. My parents always drilled it into my head that I can do anything I want as long as I put my mind to it. Think local, think in small steps. Sometimes you just need to put the larger picture out of sight for awhile in order to get closer to it.
Ever since becoming a mom, I have really learned what a fine line it is for me between being an artist and running a successful business. For me, being an artist means creating from my soul, doing what I want, when I want. That in itself is contradictory to the word business. In order to survive in what I do, it means conforming at some level. It means forcing myself to sometimes do things I don't want to do. It means being creative to come up with ways of getting things done in less time. It means being able to have faith in other people that they can indeed do something for me, maybe even better than I can do it myself.
I have had help with my business in the past, it didn't work...at all. But it was a huge learning lesson that I knew would be useful in the future. The future is now. I have learned that I cannot skip steps to achieve the end result. I need to focus on each step and progress from one to the next. So I recently had a girl I know start helping me sew on an as needed basis. I had to break it down from the idea of having a fancy sewing contractor sewing many garments for me to the idea of using what I currently have available to me. It was so scary to take this step, to put trust into something larger than myself. Afterall, I have done every single aspect of my business all by myself since I started it 6 years ago. But, I took the advice of a highly respected industry professional, Kathleen Fasanella (look her up if you don't know who she is) and jumped off the proverbial cliff. Its just the beginning, really, but I am so glad I went through with this because my stitcher friend is awesome!
There is no better time than now to realize your dreams. My parents always drilled it into my head that I can do anything I want as long as I put my mind to it. Think local, think in small steps. Sometimes you just need to put the larger picture out of sight for awhile in order to get closer to it.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
