Wednesday, August 11, 2010

SOS

Sometimes you wake up and realize there is only $10 in your checking account and you, as a substitute teacher, cannot expect to see any paychecks until at least October, based on the previous years' experience. And by "sometimes you", I of course mean, "this is what has happened to me".

I had decided that I would be working on my comic with Alec Longstreth intensity, attempting to ink and pencil a page a day for the rest of the month until my comic (projected 30 pages) is finished and ready to be mailed. Annnnd then I penciled in all of those receipts sitting in my wallet and had to face the cold, hard truth.

I really don't want to have to ask anyone to borrow money, and I had some paychecks and cash lying around that made up a portion of the rent that will come due at the end of this month, but next month...well, I need to earn the entirety of that between now and October 1st.

Don't get me wrong, it isn't as though I've been NOT doing anything. I had been scheduled to teach a summer camp at the local arts center, but that got canceled due to low sign ups. I also did some work for a local paper, and I've yet to see any green, or even hear anything back from them, now that I've spent hours upon hours doing what I didn't consider volunteer work.

So, faithful blog reader, here is the part where I span the gap from secure to feeling sleazy.

I realize that, as a printmaker, I have a TON of prints, some of them considered rather beautiful, just sitting in a giant portfolio in my house, not being viewed by anyone, taking up space. "WHAT IF," I thought to myself, "WHAT IF I sold these at prices drastically reduced from what I would normally ask?"

So I'm doing just that. For instance, I'd usually sell this print for $85.

I'm even offering to sell my only remaining print (I believe there were only 8 to begin with, and only 4 on paper) of The Birth of the TV Dinner, a local favorite, for 75% off what I had previously said was my absolutely lowest price. It's still $500, and you have to pick it up, but if you are willing to pay $500, which would cover all the money I'm trying to raise, then I am totally willing to part with it. (Desperate times - desperate measures, etc.)

I'll probably be relisting some earrings and other things on there as well. If you are at all interested in buying something, or sharing my stuff with others, that would be MUCH appreciated.

If you live in my area, I think I'll be having a print sale at my apartment, bargain-basement style, to hopefully sell some of the larger pieces that wouldn't easily ship, or some of the things I happen to have framed.

Oh! And to bring it full circle, you can also preorder my comic which will hopefully get me back on track.


FULL DISCLOSURE: also inspired by Alec Longstreth, and maybe a little by Tom, I've been learning to type using the Dvorak keyboard layout. I've been increasing the places I use it, and it's been getting easier and easier for me, but I decided I'd type this blog entry in qwerty for efficiency....and I keep looking at my Dvorak keychart and typing jibberish :o

4 comments:

Erika said...

Oh, woman, I understand you need to raise rent funds, but I believe in you and think you are underselling yourself and your art (obviously!). So I'm torn as to whether to actually buy something from you -- to help you out? -- when it's worth so much more!

Caitlin said...

Do you have anything else available or is it only the stuff on your Etsy? I'm gonna need to stuff to put on the walls of my new pad! :)
<3!

Emily said...

Caitlin - I've got a lot more -- I'll be listing more on etsy or you can look at what I've got at my house.

Anonymous said...

Oh Emily, The Birth of the TV Dinner is a portrait of life in Albany that one truly can't price. Seeing it again warms my heart, I wish I had the hundreds (thousands! millions!) needed to purchase it because I would in a hot minute.
Good luck with everything lady, miss you bunches.