Good Morning, Gents!

3 day weekend! Life is still good!

I finished this yesterday, so you get a two for this long weekend. This is an American Kestrel. I believe it's the smallest falcon we have here in North America. I fell in love with these the first time I drew one, which was about 3 years ago. In fact, it was my first study using this medium. I'll leave that one in the comments for you to see also.

This completes my 2027 calendar, so I can take it easy the rest of this year.

However, I have a location where I've had my drawings for about a year & I think one has sold, so they could use a face lift, so that'll be my next project. 6 new drawings for them.

And I've decided to run a little experiment. Everyone & their dog claims to LOVE hummingbirds. People have been begging me to draw them for years. You'll sell so many of them. Or my favorite: I'd buy a hummingbird if you made one. Okay, let's test that. I'm finally drawing a hummingbird. Actually, I'm drawinig a male & female visiting the same flower bush, but drawn in two separate pieces. I'm willing to bet they don't sell. I'm willing to bet that I can print them on merchandise, which I'll probably do, & those won't sell either. I'll bet all of this hoopla over hummingbirds is hype. And this will serve as proof that you don't EVER draw what people demand, because it's all fake. Unless, of course, they pay for it. That's different. Someone comes up & says I'd like for you to draw a fox & they pay me for it, then you bet, happy to do it. And thankful for the business. But the people who dangle sales in front of me are not real. They want me to draw something that they can enjoy for free. What's that line in the Gladiator, "Are you not entertained?!" I'm going to prove this.

Now if I'm wrong & both sell quickly & the merchandise sells & people put their money where their mouths are, then I'll be wrong. And I'm always happy to be wrong. But in order to be wrong, I have to be wrong. If I am wrong, then I'll have to rethink my stance on hummingbirds. Honestly, they're not my favorite birds to draw. They just aren't. I don't get the hype. I understand people's infatuation with Cardinals. I'm infatuated too. Mesmorized is probably more accurate. But not with hummingbirds. However, if I draw them & there is huge demand, then I'd make a hummingbird calendar & other things. I'd figure out a way to make it fun. And it would be worth the transformation. But I'll bet I'm right.

Anyway, back to the calendar. No one buys calendars any more. Or do they? I actually sold quite a few last year. Actually, my first year, I sold a lot just on my own, so I assumed that selling in stores would be even more. And I was right, though on my own, I didn't sell as many as I did the first year, so it wasn't huge numbers (if I had sold what I sold the first year & sold what I did in stores last year, it would've been a lot more stressful for me than it was, so kinda happy that didn't happen). And I know which locations sold & which didn't, so this year I'm more experienced & wise, so hopefully it'll be a smoother ride.

It's good to have goals & always good when they're accomplished. And good to experiment with different mediums & different styles & different subjects. It keeps things interesting. It keeps you growing. And it's good to test things & prove whether your preconceived notions are actually right or not. If I remember correctly, I told all of you back in January that I was going to try to expand my product lines in a few plaecs. I've still done a piss poor job of expanding into new locations this year, but expanding my product lines in those locations exploded sales unexpectedly in the first quarter. The week of Mother's Day I sold more in one location than I've ever sold before. Those locations competed with my best selling locations, which was awesome. And I think I remember telling you that I didn't really have a plan for the 2nd quarter (summer), so all of this may just be it for this year. But perhaps the summer plan is to experiment with hummingbirds. Maybe that leads to super summer sales & opens doors or maybe it doesn't. The only way to know is to explore, right?

So, we'll explore this. And as always, thanks for exploring with me & taking this adventure with me.