Maisie Wants To Tell Each Of You, “You Are Worthy Of Love Dear One,” and Where Maisie And I Go From Here…

This has been coming for such a long time, I knew it, but I didn’t quite know it, if you know what I mean.

It has become evident, I believe, to everyone who has been following me for some time, that everything, every single thing, in my life seems to be changing, all for the good. The garden is going gangbusters! It took me 6 years after the fire to begin again. And as I wrote in the last post when I shared with you about the work that I loved publishing my little blue journal, The Contemplative Way ~ Slowing Down In A Modern World, I have indeed returned to my heart’s work. Since the last blog post last week I started designing the new journal and I’m very excited about it, but I was stumped as to what to do about Maisie.

This year, as had happened last year, when heavy spring planting began Maisie kind of took a respite. I didn’t have time to draw and paint, but once the garden was in and I was in maintenance mode time opened up and I began drawing Maisie’s World again. I love Maisie, she will always be part of my life, but the thing is, once I had 25 paintings finished, well, what then? It only made sense to try to put them all together and write a book. And my dear friend Cathryn offered to help me get it all formatted for publication. She is so dear and it was a more than generous offer, but once I really got serious about “doing the Maisie book” I couldn’t draw Maisie at all.

You see, for me, Maisie came in such a magical way because there was no pressure, no promises or commitments about what it would all become, I just loved her and I kept drawing and painting in an almost ecstatic way, but pressure started building and I felt I had to do a book, and then all the joy was gone. Maisie is nothing if not joyful and I just won’t allow this to happen, and, well, I don’t want to do a book. Not in the more traditional sense anyway.

I’m a writer, yes, and I could write a story to tie all the paintings together to make a book but I just don’t want to. When I’m in Maisie’s World it’s all about the art, and I need that art! And I want to get Maisie out into the world so I have made a decision, a big one.

People have asked since the early days of Maisie if I would sell prints. I have thought of all manner of Maisie merchandise that would be fun. And it suddenly came to me that it was very important to do the art and I really want Maisie to get out into the world and I’m going to do just that. It will be complicated because I see a 3-pronged approach because I really do seriously need to make income, And I’ve realized that Patreon isn’t the way for me. I’m not afraid to do it anymore, it’s just the way that work flows naturally for me. With Patreon you can end up practically making Patreon a full time job and I don’t want to do that either. I want to do my work and when I’ve done it I will offer it for sale in 3 ways. Society 6, Etsy & eBay. Here’s why…

I had not wanted to do another Society 6 shop. I had one with my 100 Ladies Project. It was fun but I made almost no money at all. You see the way Society 6 works is that the artist really makes their money when people buy their art in prints, on canvas, etc. But what people really liked buying was all the merchandise like mugs, t-shirts, tote bags and so on, but you see for all that merchandise the artist gets pennies. All the merch is a product of Society 6. I can see the benefit of doing it however because a lot of people really want a Maisie mug, say, or a t-shirt or whatever, she could be on scads of merchandise there and that would have it’s place.

I had a successful Etsy shop 10 years ago selling my handspun art yarns and fiber art. I loved doing it. But I lost all my equipment in the fire so I closed the shop. (I still, however, have a boatload of yarn and fiber because it was stored in big rubbermaid type tubs in the concrete garage or shed in back, but all my equipment was in the house which burned.) It was destroyed. However I envision a whole new kind of Etsy shop. I can also sell Maisie’s prints on Etsy. I found a wonderful source that is on-demand print making and they link up with Etsy and I set all the art up and when someone clicks on the print they want to buy the sale goes through to the print maker and they ship it out. It’s amazing to me. And I don’t begin to have a setup here, nor can I afford one, to do the prints myself. I want high quality prints not home done ones with quality that my customers and those who love Maisie deserve. So there’s that. There are also other things I will be selling through my etsy shop. My new publication can be sold as a download there. And I plan lots of little publications that I can create here and sell there. I’m very excited about this. It’s all in my wheel house. I love etsy, I love making art, and I really want to get Maisie out in the world, I just don’t want it to be a formal book. I also had a successful eBay shop years ago and I could sell prints there as well and the other things too. I have been quite amazed to see artists supporting themselves full-time selling their art on eBay. eBay isn’t just the “clean out your house and sell your junk on eBay” anymore. Well it’s that, as it always has been, but there’s so much more. And there’s all kinds of things I can create right here in my studio and do online. So this, then, is my 3 pronged approach. There’s only one problem.

The way that I would need to do all of this would be to scan the art. My inexpensive printer/scanner/copier is okay for home use but the copies and scans are not only not top quality but it only scans an 8 1/2×11 letter size document. That’s not big enough. Almost all of Maisie’s paintings are on 11×15″ paper. I’d love to go up to 12×18″ paper but I would never be able to afford a scanner that big. I found lots of scanners, well reviewed, on Amazon and elsewhere for around $300 and up, but those, too, were the 8 1/2 x 11 size documents scannable. I’ve found a really nice one that would be perfect but it’s way too much for me. The really big scanners are WAY expensive. The ONLY one I have been able to find that would accomodate the big size art is over $1300 and I surely don’t have that kind of money laying around AND all of my plans for getting Maisie and my other art out into the world depends on getting a good scanner. I don’t need anything else, just a good scanner. Unless and until I get one Maisie will not be able to make it out into the world. I’m at a loss about that. If any of you have an idea what I might be able to do with this situation please write to me, here, in the comments, or through the contact form here on the site or even directly via email: maitrilibellule@gmail.com. This is the miracle I need right now.

I’ve written about something in the last couple of blog posts that is at the heart of what I want to do with Maisie (and what I don’t want to do). You see it’s like buying my own push mower and a couple of other things to take care of my yard myself, and returning back to my homespun, handmade, heartfelt, self-published journal which will be about all the facets of living a contemplative life here at Dragonfly Cottage, or anywhere. Writing, art, journalling, gardening, making simple meals, growing herbs and berries and a few vegetables, turning my whole huge back yard into a little paradise with little flowery meadows everywhere. And my garden is an old-fashioned cottage garden but also an artist’s garden. I have meticulously planned this garden in such a way that is artistically beautiful as well with structural elements like the Serpent Garlic with tall curly tops that I will be planting all amongst the flowers in the fall. It is an amazing journey, this life I live here, and will write about in my new journal, sharing my life and encouraging others with their own worlds. I am a teacher and a dreamer and much might come down the line but it will all have that handmade, homespun look and feel and will all be created right here in Dragonfly Cottage Studio. There is a whole world here at Dragonfly Cottage, and none of it fits the norms for people today and that’s just fine. Everyone needs to do what they need to do. These are the things that I need to do.

In these last days I have planted not thousands, not tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands of flower seeds. I put some pictures up on Instagram and Facebook, and I also put up a fun post in those places of what I did today! I released 4500 ladybugs into my garden! Oh what fun, what joy. This is my world, the world I dreamed, and created with my own heart and hands and the way I want to live the rest of my life. And in this new way once I figure out how to get going with it Maisie will travel out into the world too. It will happen over time. I move slowly, but steadily.

One thing that has changed and lifted my spirits and lightened my heart is that now that I’m not going to try a book I can release Maisie’s art into the world just via sharing here, on Instagram, and Facebook too. A friend once told me I shouldn’t do that, that I should keep some things back, but I was always so excited and bursting with joy and wanting to send Maisie’s work and message out to the world. It’s copyrighted, people can see but not download or buy yet, but she wants to spread love in the world.

The painting at the top of this page, “You Are Worthy Of Love Dear One” I saw, when I finished it, as being the final image in the book, the message Maisie wanted to give the world, but I never shared it because, well, you know, it was going to be in a book and there have to be some surprises in a book that people haven’t already seen, but you see, dear ones, this is who I am, who Maisie is, who we are, bursting with love and joy and wanting to reach out and touch and love everyone. This is my favorite picture I ever drew and painted and it took a long time because of all the background detail, all of the imagery means something special, and now I can release her here in the world. But you know what? Someday it will be a print you can buy, and hey, I’d love to have a Maisie mug too! 😀

Now it’s late, and goodness, I just found a ladybug crawling around on me! Ha! I put her in a plant here and I will try to catch her and put her outside tomorrow. This is life, the flow of life, like a river flowing, never stopping, this is my life, and I’m happier than I’ve ever been.

Take care my loves, I’ll see you again soon…