Ok I do not often blog because I feel I have little to say other than "I do stuff," I make stuff, I sell stuff, I use stuff; its all just about stuff. I am not terribly innovative, I do not break any ground in any of my endeavors, I am just a regular guy scratching out a living and trying to dig myself out a hole or two in the process. But I have a blog and it often sits idle.
Do I have a sales website? Sure do. I use ETSY because it is cheap, easy to search, easy to do transactions on and it is easy for me to populate and do sales on. Are there limitations? Sure, but they are few and until I can figure out how to do this stuff in another way then its ETSY all the way. I am greeted with disappointment sometimes when I tell folks I am on ETSY and I am not sure why. If they really want to find my stuff I have made that very easy, I put it on my business card and I put it on my FACEBOOK page. Can't get much easier than that but it still does not seem to be enough.
Do I have a website where I talk about my process and have videos of me making stuff? No, though I am kind of a show off, I do not want to do a video of me doing anything unless I can get a voice over and I think Morgan Freeman is out of my pay scale. Hey if you are gonna do a voice over why not go big.
What do you do to promote your stuff? Well there is that FACEBOOK thing that features Today in Clay posts and What's Good in Wood posts that show off my work as part of the process and how much I am producing and what it looks like at various stages of the game. Well this should all be enough right? I should be reaching people in all areas of the world, with my products and my processes and my face should be on billboards and buses right? Nah. I am just not that interesting or do not put enough effort into it.
So here we go, I am reviving the blog, I am going to post more process stuff on Beastly Woodworking on Facebook, I am going to load the Shawn B. Riley artist page with paintings and ceramics and carved pieces and get the world all hyped up about me as an artist so I can gain the interest of those looking for my web and social media presence, and then I will wonder why I am not producing as much art, why I am not posting more stuff on ETSY (sorry its just ETSY), why I am getting fatter than before I started SNAPCHATTING, TWEETING, INSTAGRAMING, YOUTUBING and BLOGGING, because the web and social media presence is just that important.
Well you can call me all sorts of things, old school, stodgy, defeatist, fearful of technology but it really comes down to this, I am one guy, who is trying to produce some artwork, doing some sales at certain local venues and on ETSY or if someone sees something I am bragging about on FACETWEETSTAGRAMCHATUBEBLOG.
I do not have a production staff, I have a job, I am trying to enjoy a couple hours of my day with food I make or hanging out with my cat or talking to friends and family on the web or phone so there may be less presence than most social media people want on channels that are their choice and not mine. If there are any volunteers out there who want to promote my stuff, help with videos, know Morgan Freeman, take great photos, want to cook for me or play with my cat so I can chain myself to the web well then Step Up and be heard, I will add this disclosure, I know people who are really good at all the stuff I mentioned but I am not and though I am happy for them for their success I am not capable of joining them in their success because I am just not that capable of completing all those things as well as them. This is by no means a condemnation of their efforts, this is by no means an excuse of my lack of presence, it may seem vaguely like a cry for help but, really it is just an explanation of why I do not do what more successful people do. I just am not that good at this stuff.
So here is the URL for my ETSY site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RoundbyRiley?ref=search_shop_redirect
Here is my art Facebook page, follow but I am not accepting friend requests from people I do not personally know: https://www.facebook.com/shawnbriley1
Here is my woodturning page, same rule applies: https://www.facebook.com/sbeastlyr/
I am the solo artist in a show in the Neil Britton Gallery at Virginia Wesleyan College: https://www.facebook.com/events/1694607757467345/?ref=3&ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular&action_history=null&source=3&source_newsfeed_story_type=regular
And finally here is a picture of something I made:
Something I have painted:
and Finally My Cat; P-Kitty
And me doing something that I do.
