ROBIN'S NEST STUDIO

It is 5 am, the birds woke me with their gentle, rhythmic chirping; or was it my excited mind? Yesterday I had a meeting with Szifra Burke, a marketing consultant I met while working at Albright Art+ Craft Gallery in Concord. Szifra is helping me with Robin's Nest Studio, the fine art card and print business I am starting. My passion for making cards began many years ago when my dear friend and colleague Annie Carroll was diagnosed with lymphoma. A few years ago my student teacher Ruth Rieffanaugh was diagnosed with breast cancer just as she was taking over the teaching of my mixed media classes. All the students were so devastated by the news I decided our next unit would be designing and creating greeting cards. ( see photos under "the power to heal " post, you may need to go to bottom of blog page and hit "older posts" )

Ruth was bombarded with cards. Many students had never sent anything through the post much less made a card. A few were at a complete loss at things I assumed they knew; questions came at me like, "Mrs. Litwin, where does the stamp go?" or " Where do I put the address? " It was wild, it was wooly but most of all it helped everyone. Ruth's spirit lifted with each handmade card and we all felt like what we were doing made a difference.

Once again , the power of art was like a neon sign on a dark night with a spotlight on it. Just over a month ago I posted my driftwood painting of a sailboat on Namequoit Point as part of a blog entry on rejection. The Concord Art Association had not selected it and I wrote about artists putting themselves out there. Little did I know my best friend would call right after I sent her a card of that image and said she wanted to order fifty. I said " fifty, as in five 0? " She said "yes". Since then I have sold another 225! So now I think the universe is trying to tell me something and I am listening.

I plan to market these so a percentage of the proceeds go to charitable foundations such as Cancer research and The Anne Carroll Scholarship Fund. Any brilliant suggestions relating to my venture ie vendors, volunteers or retailers are welcome. Thanks in advance.