Have you wondered where the name MollyBird Studio came from? It was my mom’s nickname for me: Molly Bird. As a young girl, my mom and I would go on treasure walks, looking for hidden gems—old costume jewelry or broken & discarded toys. We would amble along aimlessly, looking for unexpected beauty. My art journey has been a bit like that as well—walking along a bit aimlessly, looking for that unexpected beauty to pop out and inspire. I therefore find it appropriate that the moniker that started out as a nickname from those ambling and carefree childhood days has now become the name for my art business 30 years later.
Staying Focused: The Steps I’m Taking and the Challenges I’m Facing
I have been illustrating my first children’s book, and it’s an exciting but long process. Through that long process, I see my old ambling ways creeping back in, and I find that I want to dip my toes into all of the ideas floating around my brain. I want to paint, write, and illustrate; I find a lot of joy in all three, but not enough time in the day. All three avenues pull me pretty significantly in different directions.
I’m only one person with very limited time, which brings me to the question of, how do we create balance in the businesses we run? How do we trust ourselves enough to know which path to take—when we are the ones calling all the shots, making all the decisions, and making the daily schedule of what to get done in a day? How can we put all of that together to make a living from creating art?
Building Confidence, Balance & Multiple Streams of Income
These questions are things I’m still figuring out myself, but at least one aspect of it is putting in the work, both physically down on paper (creating consistently) and mentally with how you talk to yourself (goal planning and confidence building). Through putting in the work, the right next thing to do will present itself. Once that winning project is found, it’s about diversifying that one avenue into several different income streams—original paintings, prints, commissions, digital downloadable art, creating an online course, or starting a blog, just to name a few—that don’t pull you in 3 separate directions.
As I’ve touched on, it’s taken me a while to settle on which artistic path to take. Even now, I find myself distracted by all of the things: learning this cool new marketing technique, or painting huge canvases of people’s cats, dogs, or some of my favorite landscapes across Texas, or the #100daychallenge on Instagram, where we as a community do a little painting or drawing every day in the effort to create consistently.
The directions in which I am feeling called to are not necessarily aligned, and I am working through how to navigate that. The process of illustrating a children's book is such a long one, and one that I haven't figured out how to diversify yet. It is for this reason that I want to do other projects in the meantime, to get art out for everyone to enjoy a bit quicker.
This brings me to an announcement: while I have very much enjoyed writing to you these past 5 weeks, in an effort to balance my workload, my writings will be shifting to a monthly schedule rather than the current schedule of every Friday. This is in an effort to give me more studio time—more time to bring out all of the fabulous projects I have in mind. This also gives my writing brain a chance to rest, with some studio art time coming in to balance things out. So, every 1st Friday of the month, you’ll find me in your inbox, maybe even with some new art one of these days.
This blog post may feel a bit confused, a bit wandering, a bit aimless. It's okay to feel like that sometimes—like that little girl going on a treasure walk, not knowing what she'll find. Maybe my takeaway message is that it's okay to feel uncomfortable while we figure things out, as there is typically not a lot of growth happening in the comfort zone.
3 comments
Sounds like something I experience often—sort of a creative ADHD
Not all who wander are lost.
Saw your announcement, and fully understand the need to shift to monthly from weekly blogs. That said, I personally will miss your thoughtful and soothing writing, both qualities being so rarely found these days. One more specific comment: I fully agree that when I just put in the work, the next needful thing will present itself.