The above image will make its way onto a tote bag in the shop soon.
I created The Colormobile about one and a half years ago. During that time, I have created a site using my abstract pieces on home decor items. I then also participated in several Instagram art challenges, and this was also a goal of mine - to improve my illustration skills. Everything was going well until meta declared that in June of this year it would be scraping all art posted to its platforms.
I copyright every single piece I make before posting it anywhere on line; but no matter, tech gods can do what they want anyway. So, I stopped posting any of my illustrations online. At that point, this summer I took a month off and just created home decor mockups to post on Instagram, not really caring much about my abstracts because, frankly, abstracts are so easy for me to create, and also, all of my abstracts have been online through my licensee for 15 years or more. What do I care? But my Instagram feed is currently very boring, to my dismay. But isn’t that what one does when one doesn’t want to be robbed - dress everything down, not calling attention to ones’ self, etc.? Instagram is a dead platform anyway, unless you can post reels or have been actively engaged for the last ten years, and way before it began to favor reels in order to complete with TikTok.
At the risk of vomiting over tech’s theft and its prostitutional algorithms, and of boring myself to tears in the interim, I have added a line of licensed totes to The Colormobile. The Colormobile is meant to be an online boutique. I initially dabbled in t-shirts and mugs for awhile, but was ultimately unhappy with the fit and ubiquity of the tees and the fact that mugs break during shipping - added to the fact that, as an ex-fashion student, I really don’t like t-shirts, so I quit selling those things.
A week or so ago, I got the notion to add some pretty totes to the shop - a fun art activity I could do without having to worry about theft, etc. Using my large stash of licensed art from other artists has also been something on my to-do list. Thus, I have combined the two into a fabulous and extensive line of Licensed Totes, about which I am very excited. These items do not use my art, and are therefore set aside in the Shop as being “Licensed.” I love the idea of an artsy tote! Tote bags are extremely practical items - who doesn’t need a pretty tote bag?
I continue to add pretty totes to the shop weekly. Some of the nicer ones take a lot longer to digitally arrange, so they will be placed up in the coming weeks. Once these totes are all up on the shop, I plan to then apply myself to illustrating, and as well, creating some wallpaper designs for Spoonflower. One of my goals is to have a huge portfolio of secret illustrations that I can shop around for freelance and licensing work. Another of my goals is to create some vibrant wallpaper designs, because almost everything I see on Spoonflower bores me silly.
Once settled somewhere, The Colormobile will expand into handmade items. I will also then be able to flesh out my IG profile with more than just mockups. I may also begin specializing in local craft and art shows because that has so much more charm and femininity than the raping of art by tech bros for their fast and easy “content.”