your art still matters, even if you're not a bestseller
I recently visited my friend Julie in her new home, when something caught my eye. It’s a gorgeous, 100-year-old house with a lot of character and even more wallpaper. I was there to help her paint a few rooms and catch up.
Sitting on the couch that night, I looked over and saw something familiar: a sunflower painting, framed and displayed on a bookshelf, looking fabulous.
My heart swelled when I saw it. I was honored and delighted to see that she was still displaying the artwork she bought from me many years ago.
Likewise, my grandma - now in her nineties - still has a watercolor picture of a horse that I painted when I was a teenager. Every time I visit her, she reminds me of it. Even n the visits when she’s not wholly there, she proudly shows off the horse watercolor that her granddaughter made.
Similarly, my sister in law had a baby this spring. I had crocheted a baby blanket and sent it to them just before the baby was due. Then, the first picture they sent to the family group chat was of lil bean in a familiar blue-and-white blanket.
And last month, someone from Australia bought one of my Stardew Valley art prints.
Why do I tell these stories? Because I want you to see that art matters even if you aren’t a best seller.
The point here is this: in terms of income, I am an amateur artist (for now). I don’t make a ton of money off my art. I am a very small creator. I have less than 200 followers on Instagram. I sell a few art prints a month. I haven’t yet published any of my fiction.
I am not a “professional” artist in the monetary sense.
And yet - my art still makes impact.
Sometimes, I try to map in my mind all the places that my art must live. A baby blanket in Michigan. A watercolor horse in Pennsylvania. Art prints from my shop in Australia! I’ve sold stickers and prints to Massachusetts, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Colorado, Tennessee, New York, Maryland, Wisconsin, Florida, Arkansas, California, New Jersey, Alabama, Illinois, and Texas. Isn’t that incredible?
I have a dear follower on my Instagram who lives in Austria, and she always comments on my posts - even DM’ing me to say how much she appreciates the message of my Instagram reels.
So in one sense, I have done so little as an artist and writer.
And in another sense, my art is connecting with people all over the world.
Look - I have big ambitions as an artist. I want to publish my fiction. Be a best-seller. Make oodles of money with my art. Change lives.
And I also hold that while on my journey there, I am already a thriving artist - because my art is already connecting.
If you’d like to support what I do, you could leave a comment below! Tell me where you’re from and how you already see your art connecting with people.
You can also check out my Etsy Shop for prints, stickers, and bookmarks.
This was a nice reminder to read. I desperately want to get to the point where I'm making art consistently and actually selling it. I guess I sometimes forget that my art still matters, even if it's on a small scale. I was reminded that my Grandma prints off copies of every picture I send her with my art, and her friend has a whole mushroom corner with mushrooms that I've painted. Even though I'm not doing anything big, that still matters. Thank you for this reminder :)
Thanks, Elizabeth. I completely agree. My only art is my writing (I don't have a visually creative bone in my body!), and even though I've been writing for over two years now, I have little to show for it. BUT. I did make a few pounds from getting an article published, which I sent to a website on a whim. Plus, every time someone interacts with my Substack, I know I've connected with them on a personal level. I'm also writing fiction and hope to publish it one day and make oodles of money, but like you say, in the meantime, it's one long journey, and I have to bed down and see where it takes me!