Off to the Printers!

Four more designs sent off to the printer this morning. I'm excited about them, especially the Christmas design! I can't wait to see how they turn out. For those of you who are paying attention, I kept the fifth design home for a little while longer. It's not quite finished, and I haven't decided what direction to take it in yet. It still has something to say, I think.

Aside from that, I haven't been able to do too much this week due to a sick child. I don't think there's anything worse than watching your precious little one be completely miserable and under the weather. Happily he's on the mend.

Back to work

My migraine has finally resolved itself, and I managed to squeeze in some time on my latest project. It's the third in my "Flowers of Power" series, and I get immense enjoyment out of creating them. The first two will be made available on Etsy very soon, just as soon as I get my prints back!

I may have limited time to work on projects this week, as I have to scramble to make my toddler's costume for his preschool party on Friday, figure out what to bake for same party, come up with a last-minute birthday gift for a party on Saturday that we just found out about, and work with my advisor to hammer out a class schedule for next semester.

Oh, and work out a budget that will convince my husband that we really can afford to continue as we are without me returning to "traditional" work, i.e. full-time employment. Because we can, and I want to focus on the important things in my life right now: my son, my education, and my art.

Every day I can spend doing any of those three things is a precious gift to me.

My story

Well, it's my first post, and I figure I should start things off by telling the story of how I got here. In short, I lost my job. It was a good job in a very left-brained field (more on this later), and three years ago I never would have dreamed that my life would take a drastic turn. Enter my first child, who with one shared glance rearranged my priorities (more on this later as well).

Anyway, I had a job, I asked for a reduction of hours so I could spend more time with my son, and I ended up jobless. So one day, while I was feeling sorry for myself, I was sifting through various clutter and stumbled onto one of my drawings from about a decade ago. His name is Ben, and prints of him will be my first listing on Etsy, as soon as they come back from the printer. Ben told me something very important. He said: "You know, everyone has bad days."

Okay, so that doesn't sound so important. But I remembered something I read once, and that is this: It's not what life gives to us that really matters in the long run. It's what we do with what life gives us that counts in the end. The good stuff and the bad stuff, all of it.

And right now life is giving me time without a job, to do... something. As I looked at Ben, I knew what that something was - I needed to gather my courage, swallow hard, and get my art out there, out in the light, for better or worse, and see where I go with it. Poor Ben has been in the closet for a decade, and it's high time I do something with him, and with my largely-ignored right brain.

Looking forward to see what spills out of that side of my head for a change...