Gracious Acceptance (and I need your help please!)

“Gracious acceptance is an art - an art which most never bother to cultivate. We think that we have to learn how to give, but we forget about accepting things, which can be much harder than giving.... Accepting another person's gift is allowing him to express his feelings for you.” (Alexander McCall Smith)

I love to give. I grew up in a big family and sharing what we had was part of the culture of who we were as a unit. It's stuck with me through the years. I've always preferred to give presents than to receive them. I get all excited and find it hard to keep a gift a secret! "I have a gift for you!" "I know it's not til next month but I just got you the best birthday present!" "Ahhhh!!! Open it already!" My whole body literally tremors with excitement when I think about someone receiving something from me that will bring them joy. I have fed friends over the years making meals magically stretch out so that they wouldn't go without (I have a lot of artist friends who need decent meals!) I have given time, money, energy to those around me to invest in those I care about. Sometimes I have given it to those I don't necessarily care about just because giving is ingrained in my training as a human being (thanks Mum!)

Give. Give. Give.

Giving is good.

But so is receiving. In fact, if you have one without the other then you can get all lopsided and your personal spiritual bank account can go into the red.

Before receiving you really have to put what you need out there into the world. 

This requires asking.

Strangely enough this is not easy for me. Giving - piece of cake. But asking? And asking to receive something?  What I have to actually ASK someone for... gulp... help? 

I need help with asking for help! 

I have been doing a lot of self work recently which naturally is flowing into my life in all kinds of ways. First up is the practice of valuing myself and honouring who I am and my purpose on this planet. To do this I am realising I have to first give love to myself. In giving love to myself and truly valuing my souls journey I realise this has opened up the passage to asking for help. "Help! I need somebody! Help! Not just anybody! Help! You know I need someone! Help" (Thank you to The Beatles for this lil mantra). 

First up I am asking myself to help myself.

(And I am writing this blog entry to help myself learn about helping myself - yes, we are falling down the rabbit hole here...) 

Second I am asking the universe in help with helping myself.

And thirdly I am being brave enough to ask and to ACCEPT the help offered.

So.. What am I asking help for?

Jetblack Publishing (the company who published my first ever illustrated book The Day Jake Logan Robertson Ran Out of Hugs) has started a crowd funding campaign through Kickstarter to turn this and another four books into printed copies. 50 % of the printed books will go to the generous people that pledge over $50. The other 50% will go to schools, libraries, childcare facilities, galleries etc. Some will go to the authors and illustrators too :-)

Jumping on this help wagon is easier than I thought - because I believe in sharing stories with children. I love picture books. I love reading. I love children. And I love illustrating for them! So the thought of holding an actual physical copy of a book I illustrated with much love and care truly fills my heart with unspeakable joy.

I love the idea of crowd funding. I have often gotten behind others to support their dreams using crowd funding. I have helped launch theatre shows and films, sent people to school to train in the arts, helped artists tour the world. The idea of having a reward alongside your pledge is a fantastic motivator for both the pledger and those who set up the crowdfunding. 

If you pledge over $50 your reward can include a copy of one of the five books. 

I just pledged this morning and requested a copy of my own book.

But there is a LONG WAY to go to reach target.

And only eighteen days!!! 

But with your help I know we can do it.

So...

Here I go:

(Please and thank you in advance!)

CLICK HERE to help: You are awesome at helping!!

With much gratitude

Lou xo

one two caribou!

"Courage and willingness to just go for it, whether it is a conversation or a spontaneous trip or trying new things that are scary - it is a really attractive quality"
(Alanis Morissette)

So it begins! I have just opened my first ever online shop!

Introducing.....

one two caribou - Original Prints by Lou Endicott

Here is a screen grab of my little online shop:

 













 
A few months ago I was asked by a Facebook friend if I sold prints. My answer was "Not yet" - which sounded better than no! I had for some unknown reason had the phrase "one two caribou" stuck in my head over the last few months. I love a good rhyme and a bit of nonsense so the catchiness of the phrase stuck. So when it was time to name my shop the words just fell out onto the screen.

It's been a little bit of a challenge to open this new store. On a student budget, test prints and paper are worth as much as my weekly shopping bill - so it was a risk to put the money forward before having an actual sales.

But I decided that it was worth the risk. I have belief in what I do and have had such incredible feedback from friends and strangers alike since starting this illustration journey. It was time to step it up a notch and to see myself as a professional and begin to play in the market place. 

So far, I have sold five prints. FIVE! This may not seem a lot to seasoned shop owners, but to me (only three days in) it's a cause for celebration. My best seller so far is my Back Stroke Maiden (whose creation I shared some months ago here on my blog). She has remained a favourite with me - and obviously others like her two :-)

Here she is on her side, just enjoying the water....

I go back to college on Monday after a 3 week break (which has been heavenly!) I am excited to be learning new things again but also a little nervous as this term my design course heads into the direction of multi media and coding. Not my strong point. 

But I have to trust that if I don't know how to do something I will have the courage to just ask for assistance.

Recently I decided to be a little brave and contact a Melbourne illustrator for advice and tips on working in the industry. You can check out her beautiful work here:Laura Wood Illustrations  

She most graciously replied to my email with lots of advice and even gave me the name of her printers (which I have used for my shop). I subscribe to her blog and a few days ago received a blog entry that mentioned she gets contacted by students from time to time and she wrote up even MORE tips and advice. Legendary. I hope that when I am working full time in my field my door will always be open to share what I have learnt. 

Among her pearls of advice on her recent blog posting was this one:
Where should a person start if they want to pursue this career?

Regarding starting out, my first tip for someone that is about to get out of college is to not wait until you finished college to promote yourself or find the first commissions. An art degree doesn't make any different in the illustration world, so my advice is to start now, immediately, do not wait any more time to actively start behaving like an illustrator and look for work, commissions and possible clients to contact. 

I would highly recommend you to get a proper professional website (behance is good to share stuff with other peers, but not so much as a professional window for your work to show to a client). Having one helped me enormously. 

Then you could start emailing the clients you would like to work with. A nice brief email introducing yourself with a link to your new shiny website will do. 

Most of them might not reply but some will do! And those might become your first clients...

I particularly resonated with this as it is on the same track that I feel I have been on the last few months. Apart from this blog I have a professional portfolio on The Loop, a Facebook page, an instragram account and even Twitter (though this last one is still a little confusing!)

I am feeling like I am on the right path. It's a bit rocky and the going is uphill, but the view is exhilarating and every bit of encouragement from my friends and peers helps.

I hope that wherever you are today the going is easy and the view is a delight.

- Lou