Changes and Ends

Got some new artwork in the Etsy shop, 2 space patrol craft box art images and a new robot named Lois.

So, in a previous post, I alluded to changes and things ending. What's changing and ending?

Well, in a little over a month, we will be moving house. 3 years ago, we simplified. By that, I mean we made our lives smaller and less expensive. We have been living in a tiny little 1920's cottage house since then. We have owned that house for about ten years, and had kept it as a rental house while we flipped another house. We moved back in 3 years ago so that we could meet the requirements for selling the house without having to pay capital gains tax. It has been a tight fit, especially as the kids have grown, but it has been a good exercise for us. Dumb luck put us in a very manageable lifestyle for the current economic climate, so we are very fortunate to be able to buy in the current home market.

Part of our reason for simplifying was so that I could attempt to make my living solely off my art. My family has accommodated this dream, as it has made me a much happier and accessible person. Not so much, "I can't do that right now because I have to work." My full-time job has been being an artist for about a year and a half now.

Moving into a smaller space meant that my studio had to be moved to a separate location. This makes it difficult to work on shipping, etc. outside of the 9-5 workday. Selling your work through the internet means that people everywhere can buy at all hours. It also means that they will have questions at all hours. I can't answer some of the questions until I get into the studio, and that means folks have to wait, and they can't buy until I have answered their question. Having a studio at home again would make answering questions immediately possible again.

Sometime in mid-May, I will have all my Etsy shops operating from our new home, and I will have the added benefit of my wife, Lee, being on site. She's amazing with organization, and somehow, when I can have her involved, it takes a few hours to do what takes me a whole day by myself. Hopefully, that means more hours in the day to correspond with customers, quicker turnaround times on orders, and more time to create new work.

Our time in the little house is ending. For for 2 of the last 3 years, we have said, "It's just 2 years, we can make it." For the last year we have said, "Okay, we have been here 2 years, we can move now." Now we only have 1 month left. The 3 years sort of went by in a flash, but this last month seems to crawl. I know when I look back in a month, it will seem like the past month flew by as well, but it's a challenge to know that what you have been working towards for three years is within your grasp. But if that's the worst of what we have to go through to complete this change, I'm happy with that.