tjtoubeaux.com is now Live!

Sorry for that outburst. :-) 

This is something that I've waited years for, and I finally got it.  I'm overjoyed by the whole process of it. 

Creating my own website has been on my mind for a whole year now, and I always found a way to make excuses for doing it.  Not anynmore.  I finally got my site up and running, and it feels great.  Perhaps I may be able to liberate myself from etsy afterall?

Oh, btw, I'm hosting a Wordpress.org blog, and will probably stick to blogging there.  Hmmm...I haven't decided what to do about possible having two blogs.  But, I do pay to be there now....

Bloody Valentine....

A lover, and his prey.  Vampire theme.  I decided to go the unconventional route for this valentine's day...I don't know why.  I think that I really just like weird love stories.  I finally got to see "Thirst", and I think that's part of what inspired me.

BTW, Park Chan-wook is an excellent director.  I recommend seeing any of his films.  I really LOVED "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance."  Excellent film, and a beautiful score. 

Anyway, these will probably go up for auction on ebay in the next few days.  From there, on to my Etsy site.

Sights

Just some interesting sights from the past couple of days.

It's been so cold here.  When it gets to 30 degrees Farenheit I call it 'warm'.  This is the frost that was waiting for me when I got off work one night.

Sweet potato french fries.  Absolutely delicious, and more nutritious than white potato french fries.  See my recent tweets if you want to know how to cook them:-)

Mayoree's panda.  My mom bought it for her at the National Zoo.  They had a lot of fun this past summer.  I found this last night laying on the floor.  I got my Argus Seventy-Five in the mail, and was trying it out.  It's too much fun.

An oldish shot...From Christmas Day.  All these birds were on my grandmother's back lawn.  I think they were looking for worms...

Carrying a camera is good.  I just wish my DSLR wasn't so HUGE, and clunky.  Can't someone make a compact DSLR that doesn't cost a king's ransom?

Eve's Regret

One of those beloved, late night Saturday creations. I wanted to make something before I go back to school this week.  ::sigh::

She reminds me of Eve.  She has found a good home on my walls =D

Wahhhh!! (A Brief Rant)

So,I'll be posting a (kinda) brief rant before I post my goals for the new year.  Here goes.

Recently, in the etsy forums there was a forum thread that really got my attention: Etsy vs. Ebay.  The OP was a fine artist, Ebay veteran and having a b**** of a time selling there.  Most Etsy sellers already know what I'm talking about: endless tweeting, blogging, promoting etc. just to get views.  Usually when this sort of thread starts up people start bashing Ebay.  Not this time.  Now, a lot of people are actually considering going to that big auction site in the sky. Etsy requires a lot of WORK.  Not to say that we don't expect to work hard to make sales, but more time than what seems worth it.  After reading the first pages of the thread last week I decided to list some items on Ebay.   54 pages into the thread, and my first auction on ebay ended.

I sold my first item ever on ebay, and for the price I listed it for on Etsy.  Strange, no?

Here's what I like about it: no promotion.  I didn't have to harrass people on twitter, or get on facebook to do it.  Ebay has the buyers, plain and simple.

I have worked incredibly hard in my shop, and I have nothing to show for it.  Oh, I'm sorry, except the bills that I get from them for listing!  Listing fees keep mounting, but my shop is still so lonely.

For a while, I thought that it was my art.  So, just to test the waters I tried selling some of my art at a charity event on Saturday.  I was already expected to sell some of my jewelry.  The art was just a way for me to judge how people felt about the art.

I sold a photo, and an original drawing.  Both of these items had been listed in my shop, but no one was looking or hearting them.

 

So, I think that Etsy just may not be the venue for me.  I've had a shop on 1000 Markets since July, and I think that I need to work with that store more. 

I've made more money in the past three days without  Etsy than what I did last year from both of my Etsy stores.

That's one of my many goals for this year, including getting into some gallery shows.  There is a group exhibition coming up at the end of this month that I'm dying to get into!  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

And, I apologize for the rant.  I was just so frustrated.  I thought that I was creating all of this really terrible art that no one wanted to buy...I'm just glad that it's not me!

I'll be posting my goals later.  I have a lot to think about now.