During this time of fear and uncertainty, I have found myself fluctuating between varying states of okay and really not okay. At least six times a day I encounter something that makes me want to scream out loud. I’m sure that I am not alone in this feeling. A lot is happening and it is hard to feel hopeful for the future, but I’m still trying.
I’m hoping that our nation’s leaders get it together and realize that its time to take sustainable action against this disease that is killing thousands of Americans each week. I am also hoping that the surge of awareness about racial injustice evokes actual change, not just in the mind of the average American, but also in the white supremacist systems that our country is built on.
Aside from these very, very heavy concerns of the world, I’ve been thinking about how I move forward in my own life. Everything feels very stagnant right now. I do not have the independence that I did a year ago. Last year at this time I was working for a print company and running my small art business on the side. My plan was to leave the print job in January and start my career as a freelance artist.
I had saved up a little nest egg to help with the transition. I gathered clients, arranged contracts, even invested in liability insurance. I was poised on the edge of what I hoped to be a successful leap into my new life. Unfortunately, as we all know, COVID-19 arrived in the US. The West Coast, where I lived, was hit first and shut downs were inevitable. I watched each of my carefully planned income sources drop like baby birds from a nest, it was devastating.
I made the choice to give up my home and my studio, and to leave Oregon to go live with family in California. I am very fortunate to have a support system in place, and I am grateful to my generous family members who have provided me with a place to live and studio space to work in. It does however, feel like a big step backward. A hard reset on the life that I was building in Oregon.
It has been a real struggle to know what to do next. It’s difficult to make plans for the next thing with no timeline for how long we will be living with this virus among us. What to do with this time I have? I can’t make ceramics right now, so I’ll focus on chainmaille designs. I can’t participate in markets, but I can use the time I have to improve my game for next year (or the year after). I can’t connect with my community in person, so I’ll connect with them online, and that is precisely what this blog is about. Connecting.
I never considered blogging in the past. I’m more of a visual person, really. But desperate times and all that. I may not be the blogging sort, but I am the problem solving sort. Anything we do now has to involve a clever work around for our current circumstances.
What This Blog Will Offer:
I am planning at least one online art event. I’m hoping to include several other like minded artists who need a venue for their work. More details to come on that.
I will also be posting a blog bimonthly. My posts will range from useful how to content, to less useful, but still intriguing, personal updates. My first three blogs will be about finding your community in the art world, pricing your work and an explanation about why I’m writing this blog followed by examples of what I will write about. I’m actually writing that last one as we speak, so things have gotten bit meta. My hope is to be a present and contributing part of the online art community.
Next post: Finding Your Community (August 14th, 2020)