I recently decided that I would like to simplify my life a bit more. Because I am creating my photography and art for the sheer joy of it, I no longer feel the need to sell my work. At the end of 2020 I plan to close down my business and my shop at FineArtAmerica. Since I rarely market my work and because I don’t want people buying a lot of stuff they don’t need, it will simplify my life to shed the extra weight of doing business bookkeeping and taxes.
I made the decision to close my business a week ago and then sat with it for awhile to see if it felt right. And it still feels right.
However life has a way of coming back and saying, “Are you sure that you’re sure?” That happened to me yesterday. I discovered a new phone app (artrooms) that lets me visualize my photos with different room backgrounds. It’s really very ingenious.
Just for fun I created a mock-up of the image above hanging in a room. “Wow!” I thought, “this is beautiful.” I would love to see this hanging in my dining room.” (I used the phone app artrooms.)
Visualize This
It makes such a difference to see what a photograph would look like on the wall in a room versus simply looking at the image itself. This photo surprised me because I initially thought that it was an interesting photo but not anything special. But I absolutely loved it when I saw it this way. I liked it so much that I added it to my FineArtAmerica shop.
Because of how this surprised and delighted me, I’ve decided to share an image like this every once in awhile, until the end of the year when I still plan to close my FineArtAmerica account and my business.
You may be thinking right now that I seem to be full of contradictions in this blog post. First I tell you that I plan to close my shop and then I show you a new way to see my photographs. All I can say is someone up there is laughing right now. And that I stand by my decision to close my business at the end of the year (unless I change my mind).
I am totally consistent in my inconsistency. And I am perfectly fine with that.
The thing that I realized when I saw my photograph as it might appear in someone’s home is that my photographs can bring beauty and joy into people’s lives. Now that is something that I value. I’m not in business because I care about gaining acclaim or making money (although 10 years ago when I opened my business I cared about those things). Instead, what I value most now is sharing beauty and joy. Time will tell me all I need to know. For now, it is enough to follow each tiny breadcrumb that leads me along my path.
And now a poem I read this morning and loved:
In Muir Woods
Masters of stillness,
masters of light,
who, when cut by something
falling, go nowhere and heal,
teach me this nowhere,
who, when falling themselves,
simply wait to root
in another direction,
teach me this falling.
Four hundred year old trees,
who draw aliveness from the earth
like smoke from the heart of God,
we come, not knowing
you will hush our little want
to be big;
we come, not knowing
that all the work is so much
busyness of mind; all
the worry, so much
busyness of heart.
As the sun warms anything near,
being warms everything still
and the great still things
that outlast us
make us crack
like leaves of laurel
releasing a fragrance
that has always been.
— Mark Nepo
Have a beautiful day!
May you walk in beauty.
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