I Could Live The Life

Happy 2013 everyone!

As I was perusing some blogs I came across a piece of artwork that spurred this blog post.  I tried posting the image here but it must be protected so here is the link artisticoutpost.blogspot.com and the blog entry is December 19, 2012.

Never in my entire life did I ever think I would be living my dream.  A self employed artist, keeping my own hours, making art, managing a store (with employees - yikes!), doing retail craft shows, filling wholesale orders, doing unique special orders, OMG, the list goes on and on.

Oh, I had dreamed of not working for a corporation any more, but could never figure out how to get out of the rat race.  But a stroke  good fortune and the support of my loving partner allowed me the freedom to get off the treadmill and onto the winding path of creativity.   Since 1999, I have taught decorative painting, sold my work at craft shows, edited a newsletter for an art guild, and changed my medium from painting to primitive dolls.  The flaw in this equation was there was still a full time paycheck ( and benefits) coming in through my partner's efforts.  My efforts alone were not enough to pay the bills.

While I was making the dolls,  we were offered the chance to learn how to make the wind chimes .  We jumped at the chance to learn something new.  We took what we learned, added our own twist and Tempest in a Teapot was born in 2001.  Lucky thing, since my partner was forced to retire from the corporate world and needed a job (no more steady pay check, but we still had benefits thank goodness).

We took the bull by the horns, placed one ad in a magazine, and next thing we knew, we had a sales rep!  Next came wholesale shows and dealing with galleries and gift shops.  Before we knew it, WE had our own gift shop.  It has been quite the wild ride and it's not over yet.  We never know what the next day will bring and we look forward to each new experience with great anticipation.

So, whatever your dream is, don't be afraid to desire it.  You never know when (and in what form) your day will come.