I owe y’all a real update. not a “sorry for the inactivity!!” caption slapped over a pretty flat lay — an actual one.
Where i been
Since march, i went quiet. not because the ideas stopped — they never do — but because life did that thing where it hands you five fires at once and says “figure it out.” i was job hunting while still trying to keep this business breathing. some weeks that meant showing up as siyanne the artist. most weeks it meant just showing up, period. for myself, for my family, for the version of me that needed to get through the day.
Im not going to dress that season up as a “growth era” with a bow on it. it felt like failure a lot of the time. quiet, unglamorous, behind-the-scenes failure — the kind nobody posts about. but i kept the studio alive in the background even when i couldn’t pour into it out loud. that counts for something. i’m choosing to let it count.
June, i landed a new job. that gave me room to breathe again — and room to come back to non.sense studio with both hands instead of just the leftover ten minutes at the end of a hard day.
Juneteenth market
Right in the middle of all that, i did my first vendor market — meridian township’s juneteenth festival. booth, signage, the mailbox, all of it. and honestly? it was a full-circle moment. proof that even in a season i’d call “unemployed and unraveling,” i still built something people could walk up to and hold in their hands.
what i learned:
— i can build a whole brand experience from nothing but thrifted materials, a vision, and stubbornness. the “chaotic luxury” shadow box’s i imagined in my head? it came together.
— people respond to the story as much as the product. the broken plate is still an 8 — and customers get that immediately when you say it out loud.
— i need systems, not just hustle. the numbered menu workaround, the tracker, the signage — all of it made the day smoother, and all of it is stuff i want to build out properly instead of assembling last-minute next time.
— doing this alone while working full time is not sustainable long-term. i need to pace myself and build with more lead time, not less.
what’s next
so here’s where i’m putting my energy from here on out:
• keeping the blueprint series going monthly — the confessionals, the business-mind updates, the real talk
• building out the found color poster series — color walks turned into something you can hang on your wall
• No more markets, (at least for now) i plan to just make art to just make art
i’m not back because the storm is over. i’m back because i decided the work doesn’t wait for perfect conditions. it just needs me to keep showing up — imperfect, tired, and still making.
— siyanne