You opening and reading this is a warm hug to me Reader!

And I know a lot about warm hugs. The past few days, which is out of the ordinary for me, I've been at a small conference of about 10 folks who have a similar business to me. That kind of IRL kinship once again blew my heart wide open.

So, my whole body hurts, but my heart is crazy full! I drew a couple of the people. I'll share it in the next note because I don't have a picture right now...

I'll keep this short and send another note soon so I get in a better habit of checking in with you :).

Here's what's going on in my world...

DC Pen Show Date and Times Announced!

The Washington, DC International Pen Show is happening in Arlington, Virginia in August! I am coming back for my second year to give two (hopefully sold out again) ink and watercolor sketching sessions. They're 90 minutes each, limited to 25 seats, and the highlight of my year.

If you're local or coming in for the show and you want to come to the workshop, you can get first dibs on tickets here:

​https://b2bwi.thrivecart.com/watercolor/​

You can also use the discount code LOYAL for 10% off your fee as a special thank you for already being subscribed here! <3

My Focus

My "business" work is really in flux right now. AI is changing the marketplace, the economy is shifting budgets, etc. That's a lot of what we talked about at the conference this week.

As a fun goal, my friend Laura challenged me to try to make $10K from art stuff this year. I am going to try it! The FP show should net about $4K, so that leaves $6K on the table. I am going to try to hit it by 1) emailing a couple other local shows to see if I could teach there and 2)... I haven't said this out loud before... but I am going to try to sell some original art!

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This is interesting to me and I thought I'd share because despite the fact that my whole job as a coach is helping people work through obstacles to what they want. And when I write out that I am going to sell artwork... every mental barrier and wall I have SNAPS up and tells me, "that is so fF@#( ridiculous, you dummy." But I'm going to do it. To heck with what happens.

That's the power of tiny little experiments and embracing not knowing how things will work out. It's terrifying. It's also fun.

I don't think commissions will be first because that stresses me the hell out to have someone expect something to look a certain way and then I mess it up. But I'm going to get out the GOOD materials (I have higher quality paper and watercolors hidden away) and make two things and list it somewhere. I can commit to that tiny little step!

Currently Inked

The most important thing to happen to me recently is Teranishi Guitar inks. Someone wonderful in the Pen Addict slack sent me a bottle and a few samples of the bottom four inks shown here, addition to the opera rose I already have had inked for months:

I haven't been able to stop using them! I love them so much. Absolutely new favorites. The shading is top notch but not too watery, the saturation and mood of all the colors drives me crazy. So excited.

Something else I did for the first time was be a total WEIRDO about these new releases from BENU, which pair so frickin' perfectly with the spring Kakuno series. So instead of buying six new pens (lol) I... printed them out and journaled about how much I loved them...

Ah, finally, I painted my cat more and more. I started adding ink washes to past portraits and they turned out so moody.

So, that's all for now. Take a deep breath, it's almost May! I have a contract starting with a new client mid-May or towards the end, so that's what I'm kind of counting down to for some financial breathing room. Hopefully the summer just gets better from there.

I'd love to hear from you...

What are you working on?

Sarah G.

P.S. What if I share some of my inspo pictures I've taken on walks and in the city... if you draw any of them please send it to me to let me know!!

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