I've decided to start a blog. Finally.
As a ramble-y sort of person who thinks out loud, a blog is great. I can let all of this word jumble out and just leave it here for you. You poor poor person who has found my blog.
I apologize.
Since I am an artist, I plan on posting about art that I make, have stumbled upon, and ideas surrounding art. Also, I'm going to post about whatever I want and like. Baths. Cake. Cats. You get it.
So, about how I got here.
About a year and a half ago, I quit my day job. It was really hard to do; as in, I felt guilty quitting. I thought about doing it for a year and it took me that whole year to build my confidence so that I could one; give myself permission and do what I want with my life, and two; disappoint my boss by sitting down and telling them to their face that I wanted to leave to do something else. I was doing graphic design for a small business. It was fine, but after 3 years, it wasn't challenging.
So, in May of 2015, I quit.
I started painting like mad. I did so much research and read art business books. (If you're going to read one, I recommend Art & Fear.) Youtube videos are so inspiring. I went out and visited so many art shows. In 2016, I had gotten into and sold at 5 different outdoor shows. Two flipped a profit. I'm not easily discouraged.
I recently invested in a nice home printing setup and opened up an Etsy store to sell prints of my work. A few people that I know started buying prints. They say you need many baskets. Like, of eggs or something... anyways, you know, many different revenue stream options.
It's all still starting to grow, so it's a bit of an uneasy time. In a Colour in Your Life video that I keep going back to, (I'll put the link at the bottom) I remember an artist saying that the reality is that you need someone who supports you for those startup years that you need to get going. It's invaluable. It's necessary. It's the biggest help an artist can receive. My s/o is doing that for me and I'm ridiculously grateful. I remember all the time to bring it up and thank them. I can't wait to contribute again. I write a lot of lists and the top of my goals list is to bring my equal share to the table again as soon as I can.
Being mindfully grateful and trying to live your life slowly has increased my overall happiness. by the way. I highly recommend actively thinking about it. Breathe. Slow down where you are. Think. Think about what you are grateful for.
Until then,
Coffee and thread,
Hemming and pins,
Abby
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