After years (literally, years) of anticipating this moment, I am now officially a full-time artist. I have been juggling my incredibly stressful corporate job with making art for almost a decade, and for half of that I have also been selling art. It has been my dream for a very long time to be able to put behind me the days of people crying to me on the phone and moving heaven and earth to meet deadlines that had a lot on the line. I was good at it and doing the work was necessary at the time for my family, but my recent health issues made me re-evaluate how I was spending my time and gave me the nerve to pull the trigger on fulfilling this long-awaited goal.

I had been in a constant state of trying to keep my head above water for so long with having essentially two full-time jobs, but thankfully my days look a lot different now. While I haven’t worked at my corporate job since mid-July and I officially quit a few weeks ago, the new pace is still something I am getting used to. I’m trying to prioritize my health and focus on decreasing stress. I’m pretty sure I have been sleep deprived for my entire life so I am sleeping more than I ever have before – while that is eating into my gluing time, it is for the best. And all of the house-things like cooking dinner and going grocery shopping take much more time than I anticipated. But overall, my life is more balanced and calm, and I am looking forward to seeing how this allows me some more breathing room to create, experiment and think through new projects. There are some ideas that have been put on the back burner for too long that I may finally be able to do something about.

Long story short, this is a very exciting development for me. And it is also quite scary from a financial perspective to give up the steady paychecks and 401(k) match. So, if you have been thinking about getting some magnets for Christmas presents or a framed canvas print for that one empty spot in your house, now may be the time! I am so appreciative of everyone’s support throughout this art journey and as I take this huge leap of faith.