Your Dream Job?

So, while I was procrastinating this morning, I came across the questions -

' What would your dream job be?

How much would you make a year?

What kind of benefits would you have?

How is your dream job different than your current job?'

This really got me to thinking. What is my dream job? Am I doing it? What more do I want/need in my life? And most importantly, if it's not what I have now, what do I need to do to make it so? I think we (or is it just me?) get so caught up in thinking that we aren't there yet. That next year or five years or 10 years from now we'll have these things we want. Is it human nature to feel like we aren't satisfied yet? That happiness lies in some future time or place?

To answer the above and to help me learn more about myself....What would my dream job be?

Hmmm, if I had answered that 2 years ago, it would have been to earn a living doing something creative. Well, I'm doing that now. But since I've been a photographer, I still felt success was somewhere ahead in the future. When I get a bunch of wholesale accounts I'll be happy with my job, when I have 20 Etsy sales a week, I'll be happy with my job, when I can afford to buy all the beautiful handmade things I want instead of bargain shopping (clothes, make up, cleaning products, jewelry, lotion, etc - all the wonderful Etsy shop lovelies) I'll be happy with my job. Mulling over these questions this morning though, I'm realizing that maybe all the ingredients are there already. Am I so caught up in the seduction of 'some time in the future' that I don't recognize what's right in front of me? I don't believe in God, but I do believe that the universe sees to it that things fall into place for us. That if we want something and focus strongly on it that it will be brought into our lives. The thing is that we may have this certain path in our head that it's supposed to follow but the universe may see a different path toward the same destination that we haven't thought of yet. We can't see the big picture when things are falling into place, all we can see is that the way we thought it would be by now isn't happening yet.

I was doing my photography full time for several months and then we ( Richard and I ) came to realization that if we are going to be able to make our mortgage payment I was going to have to get another job in addition to my photography. I thought this was the end of the world at first. It was like FINALLY I was doing something wonderful and creative and now I'm going to have to get a second job and all that's going to be left behind. The way the job market is now I just knew I would end up with a job I hate and it would leave me way to exhausted for any kind of creative thinking. Well.....that didn't happen. I actually got a job that I love. It's a retail job at a clothing store but I absolutely love it. I now get a discount on super cute clothes - they aren't the wonderful handmade clothes that I wanted but I still get to expand my wardrobe and dress in a way that says 'me'. It has also inspired me to get a sewing machine so I can alter my clothes some and make them more unique which is more the way I want to dress. This will also give them a bit of that handmade aspect I want. So even though I can't afford to buy my amazing handmade Etsy clothes, I can have a less expensive alternative now.

Back to the questions - what kind of benefits would the job have? Well, having health insurance is right there at the top of course. When I was a photographer for a school photography company, I actually had my own health insurance for the first time in my life (by 'my own', I mean not provided by my ex-husband or by my parents). I was so proud of that health insurance card with my name on it. When I dropped the job and started doing my own photography, I didn't have that little card anymore which was a step back instead of forward. Well, guess what? My retail job also comes with health insurance. That's a huge benefit in my mind and something I would never be able to afford if I was just doing art. This is another benefit of taking that job that I was absolutely against taking. See how the universe works lol...it was just making things fall into place for me even though I couldn't see it at the time.

How much would you make in a year? Ok, there's the biggie. I don't want to be a starving artist, I don't want to worry about bills every month. I don't want to leave the house that we moved into and love because we can't afford to make the mortgage payments. I definitely wasn't making enough just doing art to make a substantial contribution to our bills. And when I got this job, it was just minimum wage and barely even made a difference. But after working there for 4 months, I just got promoted to 2nd assistant manager which means a big pay increase - well a about $1.50 more per hour but that's still going to help a lot. Plus I became full time instead of part time so that will also contribute to a bigger check. I just finished my training the day before yesterday and my next paycheck should show big difference. I've done gallery exhibits the past 2 months, so I will have a check from Three Flights Up at the beginning of April. I have some artwork that sold at Bliss Home (the store that carries my work) so that should be a check from them at some point in the near future. Plus the Market Square Farmer's Market will be starting in May and that was an extra $75- $150 a week last year since I set up a booth every Saturday. So maybe things are starting to smooth out financially? I still won't be able to afford handmade clothes but I will be able to hopefully afford handmade laundry detergent and lotion and soap and the occasional pretty jewelry or handbag and maybe even shop Etsy for everyone's b'day presents, etc. That 'handmade life' that was out of reach may be made possible because I have this retail job that I was so against taking in the first place. They're also really good about letting me have days off when I need them (i.e., the Saturdays I need for the Farmer's Market and the First Fridays I need for exhibit openings ).

So the last question is 'How is your dream job different than your current job?' I don't know? Is it different? Maybe this combination of jobs is my dream job. I'll have to think about that one some more. That is a revelation to me and something I'm going to have to get my head around if that's the case. It would mean not putting stock in some future time or waiting until everything falls in place before I'm really happy. It would mean that the future is here and to keep doing what I'm doing is where I want to be. Grasping this would be life changing for me.

A new month is here :)

Soooo. I didn't win the Dogwood Arts competion. Phil Savage's Woodruff's won - he had an awesome photo. I am however exhibiting this month at Three Flights Up. We had the opening last night and it was pretty awesome. I got to meet a lot of interesting people and sell a little bit of art :). I love opening night of an exhibit, it's so fun to just mingle and talk to people about what you do. Getting ready for an exhibit - well , that's a whole other story LOL. It's stressful trying to make it all come together with a deadline. But then you go to the opening and it's all worth it :). I'm doing canvas for the exhibition, well pretty much everything I sell locally is on canvas now. I'm using a company in California - I send them the photographs, they print them on artist grade canvas and then ship them to me rolled together in a tube. I then mount the canvas on stretcher strips and luann board and use transparent layers of paint to give them a distressed, nostalgic look. I really like the way they turn out. Here's what I'm exhibiting this month ( all these are 20"x20" ) :








I did these in a smaller size ( 10"x10" canvases) :

The Exhibit Opening Went Awesomely Well!

'She Knew Revenge Was Her Only Option'


So, the First Friday reception went perfectly !!!! It was so fun. I absolutely LOVED it. And if you knew me, you'd know that totally goes against my personality - I hate crowds, I don't like the city....and this involved all of those. I sold 6 of my photographs, I heard there was about 1000 people who came through the gallery - it sure seemed like it lol. The mayor of Knoxville was even there. And I got to stand there next to my work and talk about it for 4 hours to anyone who had questions. I had a really good spot, my artwork was the first thing you saw when you walked in the door, it was thrilling. Everyone loved my photography, I was completely flabbergasted by all the attention it got. I think people are used to seeing photos displayed 'as is' in galleries - not distressed or given the effects that I like to give them. That's the only thing I can figure out lol. There are so many amazing photographers on Etsy who do similar things to their photographs so I didn't realize it would be such a novelty out in the real world. The real world of Knoxville, TN that is.

'Save Me a Space'


Either way, it was very validating to me as a photographer. I loved the attention, I loved talking about what I do, I loved watching people enjoy my work. You just don't get that in your online shop . I can't wait to do it again. Totally fun =) =) =).

Just a Quickie

A quick post before I go to bed. I got all my artwork to the gallery today - yay! It wasn't nearly as intimidating in person as I thought it would be. I managed to get everything matted, framed, signed, and packed up yesterday. I finished my required 'artists statement' at like 1 in the morning this morning. But it's ok, what was it I called it -'happy stress' :) :). I have new artwork I'm going to post tomorrow. I feel bad for ignoring my blog the last couple of days. My house is a wreck right now lol. The blog isn't the only thing that's been ignored. I don't have to do anything tomorrow but enjoy my Sunday so I'll definitely do a good post :). nite nite.

Rainy Days and Wednesdays...

Rainy Day Reflection'

Rainy days and Wednesdays....are beautiful. Especially when you get to go out in the rain and play with your camera :). I took a lot of photos this morning. About half way through, the camera fogged up which created some interesting effects. I love my job :) :) :) :).

'The Nature of Pink'

I have to have my artwork at the gallery in Knoxville this Saturday - I'm nervous about it all now that it's getting down to the wire. My first gallery exhibit! It's exciting but scary at the same time. I ordered all my photos 2 weeks ago, they got here and didn't work with the mats I had ordered. Silly me ordered them with a 1/4 inch border to make sure the edges of the photo weren't covered up by the mat (or matte-I'm never sure about the best spelling on that) and not only are the edges not covered, the border isn't covered. I shed tears over that this past weekend when they got here. So we had to reorder all of the photos, they should be here today, nothing like last minute is there? So I'll be frantically matting, framing, signing things for the next 2 days lol. It's ok, it's happy stress instead of stressful stress. Did that make sense?

'Willing to Receive'

'Magical Kingdom'

'Becoming'

'Fade to Gray'

I don't have some of these in my shop yet, so they don't have links to them. I'll be putting them in this evening :). Have a happy day if it's raining at your house too :).

I skipped a day :(

Oh, naughty girl. I was doing so good too. Well, back on track now. I'm still excited about my gallery showing, I need to stay focused on my Etsy shop though. I feel like I have all these local things happening now and it's pulling me away from focusing on the day to day Etsy. I'm planning on setting up a booth at the farmer's market/craft market at Market Square this coming month, I've not heard anything back from them yet though. That will be interesting having my art exhibited at the gallery 2 streets over from the farmer's market and then selling at a booth there too. I'm planning on making a lot of money next month :) :) :). How exciting. You know, you can make anything happen in your life if you just focus and believe in yourself. Act like you already are making the money you want, have the life you want, and your life will magically rearrange itself and make sure that you start having that life for real. Just FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS. Put what you want up on a memo board in front of you and look at it everyday. Write down the things you'll have and do when you have the life you want and read them everyday. Start doing them even though you aren't there yet! You'll get there faster then. Every single person can have the life they want if they do those things. But you have to believe it, it won't happen if you don't believe it. Read "The Secret", it spells it all out for you. It's a very interesting book even if you don't fully believe it. Richard (my bf) and I watched the dvd of it together and I read the book. He was all excited about it at first and totally believed it although now he says he believes it to a certain extent instead of 100%. I believe it 100%. I think it's only because I have the book version though. I can keep reading it through and reminding myself and putting things into practice. If you just watch the movie, it doesn't stay with you as long unless you watch it over and over. This is the book :

Apparently some people are dismissive of it's message but the basic precept involves focusing on the things you want. If you focus, the law of attraction (aka the universe) will bring those things to you. Whether it's the law of attraction or an impartial universe or whether it's just focusing on them helps you figure out ways to accomplish them doesn't really matter to me. What matters is that it works.

So, I didn't start out this blog to be an endorsement of 'The Secret' lol. I just think it's at best a life changing book and at least a presentation of some new ideas you might not of thought about before. At least I posted today :). I'm proud of me lol.

Our Little Fallen Bird

"Lost"

So I said I would put photos up of our little baby robin that fell out of her nest. They're here. I'm actually selling these in my shop. I'm such an opportunist lol. I'm not making light of the baby's misfortune though, I'm immortalizing her through the magic of photography. And she (or he lol) is alive and well and being brought grubby morsels by her mom in her box on our deck.

"Fallen"

I have some really exciting news! I got a call yesterday from an art gallery in Knoxville called 3 Flights Up ~ they're going to exhibit my work next month! OMG, this is huge, totally awesome. I'm soooo excited. I had sent them an email a couple of months ago with some examples of my photographs but I hadn't heard anything back from them. I just sort of wrote it off as 'oh well', I guess that's not happening. But they just called out of the blue yesterday. There's going to be a reception with invitations sent and everything. I think it's the first Friday of next month, the 6th, possibly. That gives me a decent amount of time to get frames and art, etc. together.

3 Flights Up, where I'm going to be exhibiting next month :).