As Autumn changed to winter I was in the basement of a school building standing behind a small table trying to sell my snowman artwork at a last minute Holiday Market. It was my last ditch attempt to make some sales before Christmas.
The basement was lit by florescent lights and the walls were yellow. Outside it was an uncharacteristically warm day for the first day of winter, the sun was out and in some places the temperature rose to nearly 7o degrees.
I only had one sale on the first day of winter, an old friend dropped by to say hello and wanted to pick up a gift for a party she was attending the next day. I gave her a two dollar discount and the sale didn't even cover the cost of renting the space for my table.
It was a terrible year for sales of my snowmen. I did three different Holiday Market shows on seven different days from late November until December 21st and didn't even come close to covering my expenses. Admittedly, people aren't sending as many Christmas cards these days so the low sales of my cards isn't too surprising. And perhaps the positive sales I experienced in 2012 weren't reason enough to justify the higher prices I initially was charging, about halfway through my season I lowered all my prices.
This year I introduced a new product, three dimensional wooden snowmen paintings to hang on the wall.
Irving - acrylic on wood - 2013
My initial price for these was $40 which I thought was justified because of the amount of work that was involved in creating each piece. I sold only one at that price. Where I reasoned that it was a one of a kind piece of decorative art that would last for years I guess most shoppers see $40 as too much to spend on one decoration.
I'm not sure how I'll continue in 2014, as no sales were happening either online at my Etsy store or at the Holiday Markets I was attending, I looked in to the idea of selling my snowmen on the street in New York City, it's something I have to seriously consider if I want to go forward.
People seem to like my work, if I had a dollar for every time someone looked at the snowmen and said, "It's so cute." I would have nothing to complain about.
There were several bright spots this season, a commission for a small snowman painting coming in through my Etsy shop and a mention by the fellow who runs The Little Drummer Boy Challenge over on Facebook.
little drummer boy challenge day 25 almost home
So, winter is newly arrived and there's several months of cold weather and snow and opportunities for snowmen ahead, let's see what we can build.
