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Fifteen minutes left before midnight to write my post for Blog Action Day! Can I do it? I’m sure I can but you might be distracted from reading it since there’s all the excitement bursting forth over to the right on your screen! Do you see it??? After much agony and needless struggle, my intuition finally won, and I am now the purveyor of downloadable ready-to-print art! This makes me so, so happy for a few reasons. Where to begin?

For starters, every time I think about producing 50 or 500 or 1000 of anything, I have this horrible sinking feeling about putting more things out into the world that require trucks to drive across the country or planes to fly around the world. Not to mention the paper. This is not because I am the greenest mama you’ve ever met (come over and witness the waste and squalor!) but because my ecological footprint already rivals the mythology of Big Foot and company. I am not opposed to creating zines and prints that you will cherish forever, but I would prefer to do it when it really, really matters–when I know I’m making something that you will need to keep by desk or nightstand for many years to come.

All that said, I am also SO aware that sometimes little sentences or pictures come to me that some of you would like to have RIGHT NOW, who cares about forever. In two months or six or ten, these little thoughts I paint will not be so essential to you, because the ideas behind those words will be part of the fabric of your heart, but until then, it would be so nice to be able to print that treasure up and tack it on your bulletin board or put it in a little frame from Ikea and let it speak to you for a little while until you know it from the inside out.

Some of you do these little printing projects already, I know, because you write me confessional emails, worrying about the “borrowing” and wondering what can be done about it. I hope this little downloadable shop offers a way for us to make sense out of one of the ways we can give to each other, and lay any angst on either side to rest. I finally have it through my head that my art is worth sharing, and these sweet email confessions have convinced me that you would not feel oppressed if you had the opportunity to purchase it. This is very hard for me and new territory, since I prefer most things to be free, but I’m not ruling out that this kind of exchange doesn’t mean we can’t both be creative and collaborative and generous at the same time.

For example. I’m always rushing around wondering what would make a good present or a good card and the idea that either one of us could come to this little gallery and find the just right thing to make someone’s day for very little money feels just fantastic. I love putting together a present out of nothing. Christmas is just around the corner and if you want to buy one download and print it up five or fifteen times for presents, there’s nothing to stop you. The thought of you sending it to the printer and picking out the frames, trimming the prints down to size and all that feels great to me–like you made the present yourself with only the tiniest bit of help.

And lastly, in all my woes trying to get certain pieces into print production, I can never escape the fact that my art always looks best when I print it out on Best Quality and bright white cardstock off my inkjet printer. To do that en masse would cost me a small fortune, but you can do it for next to nothing and get the benefit of the most true-to-life colors, CMYK and digital output be damned.

Everything about this feels right to me, even though it feels a little bit vulnerable to be so frank about it all.

I chose these three little prints about Trust for my first offerings, not because they are the most brilliant or most clever thing I’ve ever done, but because they reflect my heart in this process. All this year, I have been learning about TRUST. About trusting my instincts, my intuition, and most recently, my heart’s truest desires. I’ve been attached to the idea that the best things come from struggle or having every little thing figured out, but no more. I’m choosing instead to trust in what flows, what energizes me, what gives me life, even if it feels a little messy. This is new territory, but I welcome the adventure so much.

In my best dreams, I see myself adding little bits of inspiration to this shop all the time, knowing that these pieces are better off in your hands than stacked in piles on my studio floor. (And believe me, I have stacks of finished work that’s dying to come off that floor!) I look forward to this becoming something we both come to expect–so I can get on with the business of telling stories in this space that reflect and inspire and bring you (and me) lots and lots of joy.

I want to go back and edit the hell out of this, but I won’t. Here’s how I’m feeling in all it’s awkwardness and glory! For what it’s worth, dear friends! I trust you’ll know *exactly* what to do with it.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 at 1:18 am and is filed under Journal, blog action day, downloadable art, green, ready-to-print PDFs, trust. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.