freedom - kind of...

last night i finished my last mat for my last exhibition. as a painter, for years exhibitions were my focus. that's basically how i presented my work. there's a lot of pressure around exhibitions. sending out proposals. lots of rejections. some acceptance. making the work. photographing the work (to send out with the next proposals), shipping the work, doing press coverage, getting people to come to the opening. coming to the opening. the opening. the reviews (or not). the sales (or not).
making "craft" - there's so little of that. i love participating in group shows - it gives me a chance to make something different, maybe something not quite as accessible. but mostly these days i make work to sell - for my studio, for other shops, now for my online shop. and the craft fairs. there's pressure to get orders filled on time. but it's straightforward. i know what i'm going to do when i get up in the morning.
a couple of years ago i decided that maybe if i did exhibitions of my mats, i might not have to work so hard. fewer but more expensive pieces so less work. it didn't turn out that way. sales at the exhibitions were not what i had hoped for. i had 4 shows this year so i was making that work plus all the other work for shops and craft fairs. i remembered that i didn't like that pressure.
so now the work is done. i'll send off these mats tomorrow. and then i'll knit...