M.L.
I have an etsy shop, http://www.jeweledambrosia.etsy.com
I can say, it's tanked for a while, and lots of people's shops are really slow.
Art usually does better on places like 1000 Markets, I think.
You can open an etsy say, and may do well, but you can't rely on etsy to bring in your customers alone. You have to have great photos of the art and such, and you have to promote yourself as well outside, by setting up a social networking site if necessary to generate interest and links back to your shop, or just by handing out business cards.
It depends on the type of art you make, but you could do some research on consigning or putting it in a gallery. It all just depends on what you can do.
Feel free to contact me though, I'm an etsy seller mentor and have helped a lot of people get their shops started.