cartbeforethehorse newsletter #262

[cartbeforethehorse]

Why hello.
Here's the art. . .

http://www.etsy.com/shop/cartbeforethehorse

What should you do when opportunity knocks? I guess it depends on what
you see through the peephole. Jo was approached recently about
licensing her designs for mass production overseas and national
distribution of those CartBeforeTheHorse reproductions. We made lists
of pros and cons, we wrote to other more experienced artists, and
finally Jo and I arm wrestled. The arm wrestling was just for the fun
of it though, because we both pretty much reached the same decision to
not open the door on this opportunity. In 2003, when we started our
little art business, we wrote this simple explanation of who we
were. . .

"We are a mom and dad business, a two person
company of artists. We make the kind of art we'd
hang on our walls, then we open our doors to you.
We call ourselves CartBeforeTheHorse
because we're always getting ahead of ourselves.
All of our creations are made one at a time.
We make them with our own hands,
since these are the only hands we have."

This is a sentiment that we couldn't abandon easily. We're not against
reproductions, but we'd prefer it if our hands were the ones to make
them. So this is the road we're presently headed down. We've gotten
some of our art printed on fabric, and we're figuring out cool stuff
to make out of those prints, like this Little Red Riding Hood
necklace.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68053743/little-red-riding-hood-cloth-print

Jo is also working on paper dolls that will be available soon for you
to put together yourself. We're excited, so hopefully you all will be
as well.
So. . . what have we learned today? When opportunity knocks, sometimes
the best answer is, "Dave's not here."

-Dylan


You can find past newsletters on my blog:

http://dylansnewsletters.blogspot.com/

Jo's blog can be found here:

http://www.thecartbeforethehorse.blogspot.com/