Covid-19: Timeline of Our Stories (Pt. 5)

Hi friends! Welcome back to the Covid-19 series, where we explore various perspectives from this year. So far, we’ve seen a lot of ups and downs, all of which have been a valuable insight into the minds of people going through tumultuous times. This week, my best friend and talented artist, Shelby, will share how this year has given her the opportunity to work on her art during quarantine. This is Covid-19: Timeline of Our Stories (Pt. 5):

Art And Quarantine

On March 12th, 2020, everyone at my office was sent home for the next two weeks to work there. At the time, I really thought I’d be back at my desk in no time. As we all know, that didn’t happen. Here we are, over eight months later, and I’m still not back at that desk! Though this year has been full of ups and downs, and so many challenges and hardships, I am going to focus on one bright spot of the pandemic for me, and keep it light and happy. 

In the early days of the shutdown, I felt what I think a lot of people did- the urge to be productive, and fill my time. All around me, people were busy. Every block I walked past in my neighborhood, someone was painting a house, or planting a garden. People were baking bread, hosting virtual events, and learning to knit, or sew, or, or, or, or. It was so easy to want to do the same.

When COVID hit, and I was home every day, I had 3 hours of my day back that were no longer spent on my commute. I could get off work, not move an inch, and draw! And so I did. For days I was drawing and redrawing, scrapping my work and starting over from nothing. I’ve always been too hard on myself, and this time was no different. Something I’ve learned throughout my art journey is that I need to learn to be okay with imperfection.

I had always thought it would be fun to sell my artwork, but truly did not consider myself a “good enough” artist to do so. I still fall into the trap so many of us find ourselves in, of comparing yourself to others. But since I had the time to learn more, and practice during quarantine, I figured it was worth a shot. Last December I told one of my former supervisors that it would be fun to have a booth at the annual craft fair he hosted. He told me to get in touch with him and I’d have a booth for the December 2020 fair. The next couple months after we spoke, I thought it was just another thing that I thought would be cool, but never actually did. But with shelter in place, I actually had the time to make that goal a reality. (Though with COVID- looks like that’s a no-go for this year.) 

I spent some time researching more about Redbubble, making sure that my designs were the proper sizing for all sorts of cute things, and dreaming up what I wanted to name my small business. (It’s still so weird to refer to it as that!) Ever since I floated around the idea of having a booth at the craft fair, I had been trying to think of the perfect name. It was hard, and none of my ideas felt right, so I kept putting off actually drawing, actually making anything, with the excuse that I couldn’t even open up a shop without a name. 

I don’t know what it was, but one night, the perfect storm hit, and I had a name, out of nowhere. As soon as it popped into my head, I grabbed my laptop, and googled it to make sure there wasn’t another shop with the same name. I couldn’t find any results, which was a SCORE for me! I immediately made an Instagram account, an email account, and a Redbubble account with the name. Snail Mail Paper Company was born. I didn’t have anything to post yet, but I couldn’t bear losing the name to someone else. Creating all those accounts made it real, and the next day I started getting more focused on my art, and completing my works to sell online.

The day came! On April 18th, it happened! Snail Mail Paper Company was officially live on Redbubble! I honestly thought if I was lucky, maybe some friends and family would buy some of my cards or stickers to support me. But then my first sale came in from a state I’ve never been to, where I don’t know anyone who lives there, and it hit me. Actual humans were buying my art! People who weren’t related to me were buying it! I can’t even explain how exciting it felt to see that other people liked the things that I made. Seeing the orders come in from Canada, Australia, England, and more, is still so surreal to this day. I am so proud of myself, for making a goal that I’ve had for years come true. You couldn’t wipe the grin off my face if you tried. And hey, if you’re a big fan of silly looking animals, fun puns, and more, Snail Mail Paper Company might bring a smile to your face too. 🙂 

Reflecting on Shelby’s Experience

What I loved about this piece was how Shelby shed some light on something positive. Getting the opportunity to work on her art and sharing it with the world is so cool. It takes a lot of time and courage to put yourself out there and seeing Shelby do it inspired me to put myself out there, both through my blog and my own art.

I could also relate to that relentless need to be productive at the start of the shut-down in March. Like she was saying, everyone was redesigning their homes, cleaning, baking, and hopping into new hobbies. In that way, quarantine kind of forced us to try something new and maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

Concluding Thoughts

This hasn’t been an easy year in the least and while it’s important to acknowledge that, I think that it is also valuable to recognize any glimpse of good that has happened this year. For Shelby, it was finally getting the time to create her art and make it available to the public. For me, the good was creating this blog and connecting with other amazing writers and artists. Maybe it’s something small or maybe it’s something big, but what’s one good thing that’s happened to you this year? I would love to read in the comments below!

About Shelby

If you missed it, here’s a list of the previous installments:

• My Story
• Eric Drury from thethoughtfulbeggar.com
• Alden Zac, musician and instructor
• Mary, senior citizen

Thank you for reading Covid-19: Timeline of Our Stories (Pt. 5) and as always stay safe and healthy!

Good luck on your journey,

Harumi