CHOCOLATE, PAINT, and TENNIS

My latest newsletter was about resolutions:  I am keeping my resolutions for 2011 simple:  More chocolate, More painting, More tennis.  My newsletters also function as a thinly veiled marketing ploy to get my latest art work in front of people's faces, but you didn't read that here.

To make a newsletter interesting, you have to give people a thought or a glimpse of something personal.  After all, they signed up for my newsletter because they liked my painting, so what else can they expect?

Very often, a reader will respond to some blog post I've written saying that I inspired them in some way.  I never thought of myself as an inspirational figure ( I think you have to be taller than 4'11"), but I have found the teaching I've been doing CAN inspire other artists to try new things.

So, in my last newsletter, I suggested to readers that they should take the plunge.  If there is something you've been wanting to try for a long time, but just haven't gotten around to it, put it on your TO DO list in 2011 - AND THEN DO IT. Hope I'm not sounding too much like a Nike commercial. Most of the time, it's just inertia or plain old fear of failure that keeps us from trying new things.

I wish someone had kicked me in the butt and got me into painting DECADES ago.  When I was in college, it was fear of failure that pushed me out of my art major into something safe that would pay the bills when I graduated.  If I had stuck with the art, I bet I'd be famous by now!

Click here to see my latest newsletter - then take the plunge.

5 comments:

Marie Flynn said...

Carol,I know what you mean. That is why I decided to do something new with my own blog.
by the way,you are an inspiration!

Carrie Waller Watercolors said...

5 in 5 days Awesome!!! 2011 going well for you:) Love your work and I hope you keep that trend going!

Anonymous said...

Dear Carol,
After reading your message to take the plunge I called a local gallery that I contacted last year and nothing came of it.... about my work and they took a look at my web page and set up an appointment with me to take a closer look. I am very nervous but excited. I can do this. I have come a long way in a year.
You are certainly an inspiration to so many of us...we are here, watching and learning. Thank you once again for sharing so much of yourself with us.
Vickie

Carol Nelson said...

Vickie - that is absolutely fabulous news! I'm so glad to have played a small part in your success.

Carol Nelson said...

Update from Vickie:
Carol,
Many many thanks for your news letter about taking the plunge.
A week or so ago I wrote you about contacting a gallery. Well I am in! Yeahhhhhhhh....
I took 7 pieces to them and they kept them all...and I think one may already be sold. I am so over the moon...I will be presented as a emerging artist in March.
Thank you again. you never know what a few words might mean to one person.
Have a wonderful day!
Vickie Warner