bloom

i want to acknowledge myself for a few things that i was seriously struggling with last week and feeling in a vulnerable way about. i pushed through them and now can see the flowers in the trees, or something like that.

-i filed my taxes and actually got a refund with turbo tax– thanks for your suggestions:)
-i wrote up a job description to include my finacial, admin, creative, studio, advertising and client communication.
-i read & intend to implement good ideas from these 2 books: Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach & Starting Your Career as a Freelance Illustrator by Michael Fleishman
-sent out promo postcards and continue to send out more using the list in this book.
-decided to go to school part-time and have more of a balanced schedule with work and school (and pay a bit less).

next:

– i need to finish setting up our new office space and create some organizational systems.
– finish & start some projects on my plate for existing clients.
– prepare for october open studios
– plan our wedding:) no stress there, right?
– carry through my job description!
– improve my kid’s book
– drop off portfolios at galleries, etc.
– continue sending out promo postcards
– update my website!
– clean art studio and start painting!

it is so helpful to put all this stuff that is going on in my head and move forward, and then look back to where i once was! i’m sorry to bore you with the details tho. i realized that i needed to de-clutter (oh yes, many bags of clothes and tchotkes and a futon were tossed!) and come up with some action plans if i want to survive as an artist. i spent the last 1/2 of the year trying to claim that word “artist” and now that i feel comfortable being an “artist”, i realize i still have so far i want to go! i think that’s where i started feeling down. after the illustration conference i finally had room to breathe (with tissues b/c i got a bad cold immediately after) and realized that in that room of all the 100’s of amazing illustrators, that i wanted to be one! moreover it dawned on me how much harder i needed to work, and that first of all i needed to get some systems in place and take myself seriously as a biz woman. sooo i’m moving from the creative self-help books to the business self-help books:) thank goodness for not re-creating the wheel, but how dorky are the titles? Smart Women Finish Rich?! you had me at hello.

ps- the painting above is 3 by 3 feet so much of the details are lost…