WHAT A YEAR 2020 HAS BEEN!
My biggest lesson this year? Adaptability and persistence are very powerful, this has been true for both my personal life and my business.
This year started with the worst bushfire season Australia has seen in decades. As we slowly recovered from fire damage, lost lives, lost homes and millions of lost animals, Covid19 hit and with it lockdown. I am endlessly grateful that my family, both here and in Denmark, have not suffered significantly from Covid19 nor from the fires (although it got very close!), however I am aware that millions are not so lucky.
The first and only lockdown I experienced came in March and instantly closed all of the shops, which meant no income from my retailers. I had also just launched my in-person workshop, which got cancelled, and I had to pay back money to my lovely costumers who of course could no longer attend. This was quite a hit for my newly started business. Luckily I had been working on an online workshop in the background and I decided to try and finish it as soon as possible. It was a time of great uncertainty and stress. I was in full lockdown with two little boys, while my husband was still working - however we did not know wether he was going to keep his job. All of a sudden we were looking at having my little side business as our only income.
I finished the workshop and launched it with success. This made me realise that I had to diversify my income. I signed up to Bluethumb, an Australian online art gallery, and to my surprise sold quite a few original paintings.
Here are two of my favourites.
Later in the year I signed up to become a part of United Interiors and got excepted!
These are just a few from my print collection with United Interiors.
Another highlight was when I got commissioned to do two big prints for two different hotels in China. Unfortunately I can not show you any photos of the finished rooms yet, but here are some progress photos I took while working on the commissions:
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Commissions:
I have loved working with my collectors to create special paintings suited to their space. One of my favourite commissions this year was a for a lovely collector who commissioned me to do a large painting in bright pinks and blues. It was at the beginning of the pandemic and I was just amazed that anyone would buy original art at a time of such uncertainty. My collector loved her first painting so much that she has just commissioned me to do another large painting.
Another of my most recent commissions was for a collector who saw my prints in The Nook and decided to commission me to do two floral pieces as a present for his partner. I made three paintings for him to choose from and he loved them so much that he decided to buy all three.
Collaborations:
I have recently been asked to collaborate with Nara papers, an Indian brand who creates synthetic paper for alcohol ink artists. The paper is 100% non-porous meaning that it can be wiped completely clean if you are not happy with the result. This makes Nara papers great to use if you are just starting out experimenting with alcohol inks.
Every order placed using my code JMD will receive 30% extra sheets, and I will receive a small percentage of the purchase at no extra cost to you.
EmpoweredGifts is an Etsy shop selling personalised perspex plaques. They contacted me a few months ago asking if I wanted to supply them with some of my prints and they would make them into these beautiful stands. You can also check out their website for more products.
Easely is a newly started company selling limited edition prints and original art by Australian female artists. I love that Hannah, the founder of Easely, is passionated about supporting emerging artists as well as providing her costumers with excellent quality prints at a reasonable price.
BIG LIFE EVENTS:
Other than attending to my business I have also been busy raising two little boys. My second son was born in November 2019 and was only about 4 months old when the outbreak reached Australia.
My mother came over from Denmark a few weeks after my youngest was born and stayed for 6 weeks. It was lovely seeing her again and I really treasure the time we had together. This time became even more precious when we realised the severity of the Covid19 and how difficult it would be to travel overseas. My mother arrived back home to Denmark just a few weeks before the world went into lockdown.
Australia went into lockdown in mid March and I was now home alone with two boys. This was a hard time and I had very little time to create art or attend to the business side of things. Luckily the first wave was not as bad as in many other countries and we came out of lockdown after about 8 weeks.
My oldest son turned 3 in March and my youngest turned 1. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching them both develop, learn and interact with each other. My youngest has gone from not being able to move, to crawling and now he is walking around the house.
Looking forward:
I am currently in the process of planning my business for the next year. 2021 is the first year I will be planning and I am excited to see where that will take my business. I will also be back at University after having taken a years maternity leave. I will begin my placement as an art therapist in 2021 and finally finish my Art Therapy degree at the end of 2021. Running my art business, attending University four days a week as well as being a mother will not leave me with much spare time.
Other than managing my time better, I would also like to focus on getting my business as environmentally friendly as possible. Unfortunately I work with resin which creates a lot of waste and requires the use of a lot of plastic. Resin sticks to everything except plastic, which means that I cover my workspace with plastic sheets and use plastic spoons to mix the resin. I have recently changed the spoons out with biodegradable cornstarch spoons. I am also looking at changing my plastic sheets out with a sturdier silicone protective sheet that I will be able to reuse. Finally, I am hoping to change to a more environmentally friendly resin. This will increase my prices but I think it is worth the price increases.