Dreams and Plans

I mentioned in my last post that I was recently interviewed by a UO Journalism student.  I thought I would share that interview here.  Click here to read the short article.   The pictures below are pictures that were taken of me to accompany the article. 

I've recently been contacting other mural artists that I've found online - those whose work I admire and who seemed successful in their fields.  I've had this list of questions for them, mostly about marketing and pricing, but also some about their career trajectories.  It's been really interesting to learn about these different artist's lives and how they got to where they are today.  No one had a straightforward path to follow.  It's been difficult trying to figure out the best way to make my dream job(s) happen in my own life.  It's not like my sister's career choice (physical therapy) where there is a more clear path set out for you. You go to school, you do your clinicals, you get a stable job.  Not that that path is any easier, because it's just as much if not more work than mine.  But from what I can tell, I've chosen a path that's shrouded in fog, not lit up by street lamps the whole way.  I've been reaching out to others, and doing tons of research on the internet about mural-ing for home and business and even the public art world.  I'm not sure how I'm going to get there, but what I want is this: 

To make a decent enough living to support myself and children someday by having a career that is half made up of teaching art residencies in K-12 schools, and half made up of making murals for clients.  

That is what I want.  I know without a doubt that both of those parts do in fact make me extremely happy.  I know everyone says that they don't care about being rich, they just want to be happy.  That's true for me, too.  I would rather do something that makes me extremely happy for 8 hours a day and come home to a modest home and modest "things", than do something that makes me feel like a numb zombie for 8 hours and come home to a ton of nice crap in a big, dreamy house.  It just makes more logical sense to me, to spend your work life happy, rather than working hard and hating it so you can be happy in your down time.  That's the goal and I'm working hard to achieve it.  If I fail, at least I'll know that I gave it a shot, and then will have to look for something else that might make me moderately happy instead. ;) 

This post is turning super "journal entry", so I'm going to end it here.  But I will say that I believe there is something to be gained by writing down and telling others about your dreams and plans.  Do it.  Tell someone your dreams.

working away on a painting in my studio

my "studio"

Admiring the kid's work at Walterville Elementary

Newest work out of the studio