Review of 2009

2009 in Review'Hot Spot'

January 2009 saw 'Hot Spot' short listed for Wildlife Artist of the Year which meant that it was later displayed in the Mall Galleries, London. That achievement was undoubtedly my highlight of the year.

In July I had work displayed with NEWA on the Wirral and in September with the Society of Feline Artists at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery in London. For the second year running I sold work before the SOFA exhibition officially opened. In 2008 it was 'Aristocrat', in 2009 it was 'Moody Blue'

'Moody Blue'

In November I had a stand at the Supreme Cat Show held at the NEC in Birmingham which I felt was very successful. Thank you to all my customers and to people who simply stopped to say hello.

Also in November I had an article about my work published in the local newsletter for the Cat Protection League.

Towards the end of the year I started painting ACEO's and offering them for sale on eBay as I had been asked if I could produce some smaller more affordable originals. I am delighted at the response I have had to these and I now have several International collectors of my work.

Sales from my website slowly increased over the year and in December I had my best month ever.

I produced a Step-by-Step demonstration of how to draw a cat's eye and sales of these have far exceeded my expectations, I mail one to somewhere in the world at least twice a week.

Looking back at my aims for 2009 I didn't achieve what I wanted around the production of new work.

I only manged to paint 4 pieces for SOFA and certainly didn't produce a new work each month. I did however update my blog on average 3 times a week and spend time in marketing. The marketing was based more around my online activities than getting my work into a bricks and mortar Gallery as I felt that was a better option in the financial climate.

That looks to be paying dividends as my sales from online sources have increased monthly.

I did tweak my squidoo lens on Drawing and Painting Cats and created a new one on 'Drawing and Painting Birds', plus I gave my website a overhaul.

I'm reasonably happy with what I achieved in 2009 and hope to continue to move forward in 2010.

My next post will be about my goals for 2010.