While everyone else was choosing a word for the year back in December and January, I chose a poem: Start Close In by David Whyte. I chose this poem as a reminder that you have to take the first step, to go down any path. And that first step is the hardest. It is full of fear and uncertainty. Full of excitement at the same time.

I’m reminded of all of this today as I take a first step with this announcement: The Kat Eye Studio Shop is open! I’ve opened a shop on RedBubble, where I’ve made selected work available for order as greeting cards, postcards and quality prints of various types and sizes. Whether you would like a matted or framed print for your wall, or a card to connect with a friend through the mail, you can find it here. Just in time to order a few holiday gifts!

Opening the shop is one of those big “first steps.” It’s been on my list of things to do since moving back to the US, but there was so much else I had to get done first:
Start up my classes. Check.
Complete the postcard swap. Check.
Move to a new website. Check.
Figure out how to sell my work. Today I can check that off as well.

As excited as I am for this step, I am nervous too. As with any new venture like this, it brings up all sorts of uncomfortable emotions. Fears that whisper “who do I think I am” in my head. But I’m pushing through, taking the step I don’t want to take, by actually announcing the shop opening here on the blog rather than letting it quietly sit on my site to be discovered. That’s what I really wanted to do this morning – talk about anything and everything else here and hope the shop just gets “discovered.” But I’ve learned over time that things don’t work so well that way…

I hope that you will take a moment to visit the new Kat Eye Studio shop. Let me know if there are any images that you would like to see added. I’ll be working on adding more of my favorites over time, but for today… A first step is enough.