I have to admit I have become totally attached to having computer and being without one is really cramping my style. Today the stress of being an independent artist really broadsided me. I packed up all the work for the Xen Gallery show and shipped it off and I made the deadline for the calender to be finished. It is relieving but working for the future does not always bring money in today. It is sometimes gets very tight financially and the loss of my computer has just exacerbated my feelings of struggle.
I am doing my best not to feel sorry for myself...and I am constantly reminded of the good fortune in my life but I gotta say being an Artist does not make one financially secure. Sometimes it gets really,really scary. These are the times when I think to myself I am going to go to work for a big company designing nic nacs and get a regular paycheck with benefits.
I know it will all work out. It always does and now that I don't have my computer to distract me maybe I will finish that book that I have been trying to read for the past three months.
11 comments:
i hear ya!!
Hello !
I understand that being an artist can be very hard... but it's also a great chance and you do a beaufitul work ! really ! I love it ! Bye !
hey diana, i am always saying "everything always works out", but having just gone into artist mode this year without any other day job, boy that money thing is such a nuisance. and i really get way way down & distressed about it. lately i'm just trying to visualize having enough to get by....THAT"S ALL I ASK! keep up the unwavering dream--you're doing the work, you're true to yourself and you're not selling out. bravo. best to you always, jen
trust in yourself and your talents. it will all work out : )
okay, i am offically in tears...thank you so much for the words of encouragement everyone. i didn't sleep much last night but after a good melt down this morning i am feeling much better. xxooxxoo
so glad you are feeling better... will chime in w/ the it's all worth it and totally know how you feel [i just spent HOW MUCH shipping work? gulp.]
you are a good egg missy! your work is amazing. trust it!!
xo
i know you
are feeling better
but i just want
to pipe in
to say...
your work in
beautiful
and
with every
great struggle
comes
great beauty
and reward...
it will come
to you...
wish i was
rich and
could buy you
a computer!
diana, i am SURE it will all be wonderful. glad you had your "time" and that you are feeling better now.
life is always a risk.
xo
susan
I know exactly what you're going through. My husband lost his job last year just as I was getting my full time jewelry business into the swing of things. I've had to put my business on temporary hold and go back to a full time job in the past couple months just to keep us in electricity and food and it's has been a very, very scary year. But don't worry, things will work out...it may not work out when you want it to, but it will work out and you'll be that much stronger for it!
Take care!
Yes it can be very scary (and I'm only a student). Somedays I just think "Oh my god! what have you done leaving a comfortable career to jump into the unknown?" and I feel my legs weak. But then I go to classes and I see all my teachers and think about so many people in this same situation that I feel OK and I put my hand on clay and I'm in peace with myself.
I'm with you and you can make it and everything is going to be alright. You know that!
I wanted to offer more words of encouragement to you - and a little advice if I may...I am also an artist. And I'm about to make that leap from working at a full-time day job into the artist's life (again!) After thinking about it for quite some time, I know I have to do it differently than I have in the past, when after a couple of years on my own, I'd end up right back working another lousy day job, I believe the key to survival outside of the 9 to 5 system is by creating several streams of income. For example, I plan to return to free-lance graphic design. I also plan to begin my creativity workshops again. Another idea is to to diversify my artwork. In other words, I do portraits & photography, right? Well, they'd probably look good almost everything: cards, stationary, lampshades, clothing, you name it...even stencilled onto furniture! Your work, for instance would make GREAT black and white woodcut or lino prints. So, let them enter the 2 dimesional world and take a printmaking class, then photograph them, slap the photos up into Photoshop, convert them to black & white, use the "Threshold" command to reduce the lines and artifacts, print them out, transfer them onto linoleum, then cut 'em, roll out your ink and get to printing! I envision beautiful cards and prints of your work. Our artwork always has a greater life then we sometimes envision for it. So, open yourself to catch WHATEVER idea you can have to stay out of that hell known as an office job! Good Luck to you - I hope this helps!
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