Get this – I just spent the last hour and a half playing with pastels and getting embarrassingly messy. Me! Playing! And having fun!

I am so happy right now. I’m really feeling joyous. I never let myself do that, especially before I’ve done any work whatsoever.

Me having fun. Gosh, what is the world coming to? Maybe it’ll start raining unicorns next. (Can it please? I would love that.)

Looking for my tribe

So this morning, I started thinking about who my Right People are – the ones who will nourish my soul and who might just become friends. The people who I want to be part of my tribe.

Now up until this point, whenever I’ve started thinking about this, I’ve always pulled a big blank and had a freak out moment. I mean, how could I even begin to define the kind of person who’d buy my art? What would that even look like?

I mean, come on, do they even exist?

I think part of the problem is where I live – round here, the really popular artists paint small children frolicking in the snow, puppies, and flowers. Lots and lots and lots of watercolour flowers.

Now I’m not knocking any of this work, there’s nothing wrong with it. But you can’t deny that I don’t exactly fit in.

So for a long time, I just assumed that my ideal person wasn’t real; they just didn’t exist. And then I sold two paintings in one day. Suddenly it occurred to me that, oh my god, my Right People do exist and want my work and here I am, hiding myself under the table and not making it easy for them to find me.

A personal ad

Havi at the Fluent Self wrote about personal ads a while ago and she recently wrote one to her closet. (No, she’s not insane. She’s wonderful. Just go read it, you’ll get it.)

Anyways, I’ve done similar stuff in the past without realizing it and I’d always wanted to do it for my Right People but up until today, I’d been blocked. Completely.

But for some reason, it actually started flowing this morning. I managed to pin down some qualities about my Right People that don’t sound completely deranged, even to me. So I thought I’d share it here, just in case, ya know, you’re one of my Right People.

Here goes:

I think they’re going to be non-conformists. I don’t think they’re going to go home and listen to Britney Spears, or start reading the latest Cosmo. They’re individuals and perfectly capable of thinking for themselves, thankyouverymuch.

They can’t stand paintings of happy flowers, frolicking puppies and small children eating cupcakes and cookies. They want something with more depth, more soul, more meaning. They want powerful paintings that they can really connect to. They want work that touches them deeply and moves them. They don’t mind art that’s a little bit sad sometimes, or a little bit nostalgic or angry. They’re okay with that, it doesn’t make them freak out.

They also want work that will calm them. I think the closest I’ve ever come to describing my work is that it’s like my meditations on life. It’s me just sitting and being in the moment, pausing to absorb the life that’s going on around me and then transferring it to the canvas. I think that’s where the sense of stillness, peace and calm comes from – life slowed down and frozen onto canvas.

So maybe my Right People meditate. They might do yoga or tai chi. They’re interested in self development and are conscious people. They’re aware of themselves. They’re probably creative in some way themselves, whether it’s art like me or writing or something else. They’re probably spiritual in some way, if not the typical ways.

And I think that they want to change the world. I think that they want to give back, that they’re aware of their own impact here on this little planet and that they want to make some kind of contribution.

They’re intelligent, witty, and probably a little snarky, because so am I. But they’re also sweet, generous, compassionate and wonderful people who are never a drain on my energy, but always nourish my soul.

Finally, they can afford my work, but more importantly they value my work. They see it and believe that what I’m charging is equal to how much they value it.

So what do you think?

Do you think that this person exists? Is this person you? (If so, woohoo!)

For me, that last one about affording my work is the least important for a few reasons. One, I offer payment plans, two, I offer prints and three, I offer cards and magnets and journals. So not everyone is going to be able to afford a $900 painting, but maybe you can afford a $3.00 magnet?

(Yes, I know none of this is clear on my site. It’s going into a redesign process so that it is clear and so I can actually connect with my Right People and not confuse you. Sorry, guys. My bad.)

You know one thing I did forget though? My Right People read my blog. My Right People will want the whole package, not just the art. We’ll connect on a pretty deep level. They get what I’m here to do.

And that is just freaking awesome.