I’m heading back to chapter one…again.
My Shawnee Rising Studios online shop was an amazing first try at becoming a full-time artist. It really showed me what it takes to run an online shop and to sell artwork. Not only to sell, but to market myself. There’s a constant need for social media posts and I almost burnt myself out. I almost gave up Instagram for good!
(more…)Things are not going to plan, but I’m still planning on opening the shop in the future. It won’t be soon…just someday. 😁
I’ve stopped trying to plan so much and just take it day by day. I know what I need to do and I just need to take it slow. The problem is that I want it done now, today, and I get disappointed when things don’t go my way.
(more…)I want to talk about my new NFT spaces and shedding some light on Shawnee Rising Studios.
But first, I want to talk about why I closed down my online shop in the first place.
I was broke.
Honestly, that’s pretty much it. I thought I would be able to make enough money and help out around the house and pay some bills, but I just wasn’t making enough money from my shop. We got behind on bills and I had no choice but to shut things down and end my subscriptions to my website in order to save some money.
(more…)I have made the extremely hard decision to close my Online Studio for an undetermined amount of time.
I want to thank everyone for the amazing support, encouragement, and motivation to chase a dream that I’ve had for so, so long.
At this time, there are no plans to continue making earrings, paintings, or podcasts as I focus entirely on work and my financial responsibilities at home.
I don’t know when I will continue this venture of being a full-time Shawnee artist, but as of right now it’s not financially viable.
For the month of January, enjoy 50% OFF on what’s left in my Online Studio as I get ready to close on this amazing journey!
For those who are patrons on my Patreon, I will send the notification out before I shut things down and give you an official date. Your support has meant everything to me and, hopefully, I can pick things up again in the future and gain your support again and come back stronger than before. But I don’t know when that will be.
I’ll talk more about everything in another post as to why I came to this decision.
Until then, have a happy New Year!
NIYÂWE, CÂKIWIYÊFA! (Thank you, everyone!)
I finally got a part-time job after searching for a few weeks. I start in a couple of days.
I can’t say that I’m excited as I hoped to have more time to work on my own business here at home. But we need more money coming in and we have projects that require a little extra money.
But I’m going to keep working on my business as much as I can while working and keep trying to build it to where I want it.
This isn’t what I wanted. I was hoping for more time but plans change, I know that.
I hoped to be further along than I am, and I can’t help but wonder if I’m doing something wrong. What could I have done better? What can I do better?
My small home business was supposed to help support whatever needs came up, and I can’t help but wonder if I’m even good enough to do it. How do I get people beyond my friends and family to see my work? I made the websites, I posted on social media, I told people about it.
Yet, most of my family and friends haven’t even looked at my website or listened to a podcast that I’ve made. Someone might ask me a question and I will tell them it’s all on my website or in a blog I’ve written.
“Oh, I usually don’t click on the links.”
It’s all right there. Here. It’s all right here on the website. Click on the links and share them. You don’t have to buy anything, just share the damn link!
But, as time went on, I realized that it was me. I’m not focused enough on the tasks to get them done and marketed consistently enough that would help boost my views and/or ratings.
For a few weeks, I didn’t even have internet or hotspot to get online to post anything, which is another big hamper in my future plans for Shawnee Rising Studios. My internet sucks!
But I’m just whining now.
I know I need the job in order to start saving money for plans and projects needed to move forward. I need a workshop in order to move my workspace out of my bedroom. I need room to breathe and spread out.
I don’t have that now and it’s needed badly!
But I’m getting by and I know things are going to start changing back to normal where I can work on my home business full-time.
I just really, really don’t want to get a job!
I’ve had something on my mind the last few days and I wanted to share it. Something that kind of opened my eyes to what I’m feeling when staring at a blank canvas or page.
When it comes to artist’s block or writer’s block, especially when it comes to starting a new project, apprehension is a feeling that I believe most people mistake for their block. At least it is for me.
I think there’s always a small fear when starting a project. You’re not sure if it will come out how you want it or you don’t know if it will end up being a complete waste of time. For me, I always feel like I’m not good enough to create what’s in my head, so I always feel like it’s going to be crappy and be a complete waste of my time.
Challenging myself puts me at a standstill and I tell myself that it’s just artist’s block or writer’s block, depending on what I’m doing. But my apprehension isn’t allowing me to focus and see the bigger picture in my mind.
I forget sometimes that creating art, especially painting, that nothing is certain. You have an image in your mind, but it’s the beauty of going through the different steps of painting, seeing something in it, and then following it somewhere else, where you might see something totally different and follow that.
But no matter which direction you take, the feeling, the heart, of what you were wanting is always there. I know other artists may not see it this way or even feel this way, but I do, and I think it’s an amazing journey through a painting and your own psyche during its creation. Your mind travels around and sees different things you hadn’t even imagined putting into the artwork.
This is why I try very hard not to tell anyone, even myself, what I will be painting unless I know for sure what I’m going to paint. But if there’s something I’m wanting to create, and I’m not exactly sure the path I’m going to take, then I keep it to myself and try to keep my mind open and focused on the feeling or message that I’m wanting to purvey through the piece.
It’s almost, if not exactly, like outlining and pantsing for writers.
You have people that will outline their entire story or novel, mapping out their entire path before they even think about leaping into writing the story.
There are people who paint the same way. They will sketch out their entire painting, whether on a piece of paper or on a canvas before they even lay out their brushes.
Then you have pantsers, people who write by the seat of their pants. No outline. No path. Just an idea of what they want. They let the story unfold as they’re writing it. Which is how I write my stories most of the time.
But this is also how I paint. I put brush to canvas and let the painting unfold in front of me as I paint it. If I see something that I don’t like, I paint over it and redo it.
Pantsing is such a strange thing. You write or paint as if someone else is transcribing it to you at that moment. You are just another tool along with the pen or brush as someone or something writes or paints through you.
I just wish they were a better painter!
Many blessings and have a safe and happy holiday season!
Niyâwe! Thank you!
You can catch up with me on my Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or contact me using the form on the Contact page.
So, I’m looking for a part-time job in order to bring in some more money so that my wife and I can start saving for our workshop.
A while back, my wife and I bought a large shed that we were going to convert into a tiny house, but circumstances changed and we were unable to start working on it. So, after I quit my job and began working on my art full-time, we decided that we could turn all or part of the shed into a workshop so that we could expand our workspace and get out of our bedroom.
(more…)I just wanted to give a little update on Shawnee Rising Studios!
It’s been a while since I’ve written in the blog or posted a podcast and I just thought it was time to give an update on why.
So, I quit my job back in March and I had these huge plans to build my little art business at home, eventually pulling in my wife to help with some stuff. Original artwork, beaded earrings, and bracelets were a few of the items I have made and sold in my Online Studio. Soap, lip balms, and possibly bath bombs were in the plans for future endeavors. All of this was supposed to happen by the end of the year, with my wife quitting her job to help after saving money back.
None of this has happened yet.
It’s now October. Things haven’t really fallen into place and for the last few weeks, I have been in that state of mind that most artists go through when they’re starting out; feeling like an imposter.
I’ve heard of artists and creators going through this phase of their careers, but I didn’t think would be such a debilitating feeling.
Imposter syndrome is when a person doubts their skills and abilities and has feelings of being a fraud. You feel like you’re inadequate and failing.
I have hit this phase of my art-building career.
When things don’t sell and I can’t get people to buy things, I wonder if what I’m doing is even worth it. If I don’t have money coming in, then none of it is. Without money, I can’t help my wife pay bills and/or buy groceries. As much as I would love to be able to do my artwork without charging, it’s impossible. Society has placed such a burden on us to need money that even the smallest of services must be charged for.
I’m not getting the money I need to continue with what I’m doing at this moment.
Was I not good enough? I don’t know. I can’t get people to answer my questions about my work or website. I can’t get people to review my Facebook page or products. I can’t get people to share posts or links.
Nobody, but a small few, will tell me how I’m doing or how they like my work.
Nobody, but a small few, will listen to my podcasts.
I’ve messaged many people on Facebook and asked if they’ve ever clicked on a link to one of my blog posts, and they’ve all said no. So, they won’t read this.
It’s no one’s fault. It’s mine.
I haven’t marketed myself or my art the way I should have and I don’t spend enough time on social media to talk about my art. I’ve been a quiet person my whole life and that has, for the most part, spread over into my social media.
At this point in my art-building career, I feel like a fraud. I know the feeling will pass. I know I just have to give it time, but time is running out. I don’t want to still be working on my career when I’m in my 50’s.
I have to get a job.
I have been actively putting in applications to places close to home because I’m not making any money.
I feel like a failure in the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do with my life.
Like I said, this feeling will pass.
We have things to work on to get my workspace more like an artist shop. At this time, it’s in my bedroom and there’s very little room to do anything.
So, at some point, I will be heading back to work. I don’t know when and I don’t know what effect it will have on my artwork if any. If I don’t post or do anything for a while, I’m most likely focusing on work until I get settled in.
Going back to work was the one thing I never wanted to do again.
In the meantime, I’m working on a book; a novel. I write when I can and it helps when I’m feeling unproductive.
I love to write. I wish I had learned more about writing in school, or grammar more specifically.
I love to write, but I sure don’t know how to. After many drafts of getting my story and characters the way I want them, we will come to the editing portion; editing my book line by line to make sure all of my sentences are clear of mistakes. I’m sure there will be many.
There are many aspects to writing a book that I’ve never learned how to do; description, world-building, etc., but I’ve watched hours of videos on it.
There’s an awesome community of new and old authors on YouTube that teach their way of writing. They each tackle books in their own way and it’s awesome to learn from people that actually know what they’re talking about.
But, that’s about all right now.
I hope that you stick around to see what happens in the future. I’m still fighting like hell to make things happen, even when I feel like a fraud at times.
Niyâwe! Thank you!
Hato, niwikana! Hello, my friends!
As I work on marketing my artwork and Online Studio, I am going to extend my break from the podcast for another week or so. I need to think about getting more earrings and paintings made, while also helping around the house and getting things fixed up.
(more…)Podcast transcript below
[Opening & Intro Music]
Niyawe! Thank you for checking out the Shawnee Rising Podcast and tuning in to the last episode of season 2. This has been a pretty good season. A lot of things happened during this season and I only hope things keep getting better. I feel like I’m starting to get a hang of this podcast thing and I really hope that my podcast will continue to grow and get better. It was a slow start, but things are slowly starting to come together. I’ve been a pretty patient person most of my life, and this is just one more thing I need to allow to grow and take shape naturally, while feeding it organic and authentic content.
(more…)(Podcast Transcription Below)
[Opening & Intro Music]
Niyawe! Thank you for checking out the Shawnee Rising Podcast. If you missed it, I had some new artwork drop in my Online Studio at shawneerisingstudios.com. Go check it out.
In this short episode, I just wanna talk about something for a bit. There was some sad news in Canada this last week or so…an unmarked gravesite was found at a residential school where the remains of 215 First Nations children were discovered. It was the Kamloops Indian Residential School located in Kamloops, British Columbia, in Canada.
(more…)
Michael Daugherty 