"What art offers is a space - a certain breathing room for the spirit"   -John Updike
This brings me to my next exciting hurdle in this new project:  finding a work space.  When it comes to living in Chicago, there is no extra room for work space.  Unless you're living in the burbs perhaps.  Especially in the new place that we call home which is a fairly small 2nd floor condo.  Therefore my next new venture is finding a work space that is affordable, safe, not located in BFE, and artist friendly. 

I have found such a place!  Maybe.  Greenleaf Art Center offers a small studio space with free parking (HUGE HERE!), A/C, heat, participation in group shows.  Sounds like a great deal but what a commitment!  I keep thinking back to my days living in Dallas where our second bedroom was used for storage and randomness... But then I think about it and I feel that if I had a studio to call my own, I would really be able to dive into my work without the distraction of Young and the Restless or reruns of the Fresh Prince at 2:00 in the afternoon.  The only problem is ventilation - do I get a huge fan?  Or is it enough to have a/c and a mask?  Decisions, decisions.  The biggest of them all is fitting a studio space into our expanding family budget.  Any ideas out there, I would love to hear them!

~A
 
I really wanted to say, no beginnings.  Because really I'm starting this new business from nothing but a pain in my heart, a longing that I've always had.  Not to be selfish or to stop working in the 'real world' but because I have never felt that I belong in that world.  My husband is SO passionate about his job.  His job is so satisfying because he does something that is both satisfying personally and professionally.  I actually get jealous that he has found this calling in life that he excels at, loves to do, and gets paid to do!  Here we are being happy at one of his "work" events: 
Me, on the other hand, I haven't been so lucky as to find what my husband has.  And don't think I haven't looked.  I have been working in the corporate world since I was 17 and have searched high and low for my calling.  I hope someone can back me up on this one - I have worked in retail, marketing, nonprofit, legal, finance.  The problem isn't the fact that these jobs were ALL horrible.  Some were, but the problem was my heart was never in it.  My heart has always been drawn elsewhere.  To some creative idea that I don't know if I will ever succeed in - starting my own business. 
Aside from a seemingly negative point of view about my new venture, I am VERY excited about the possibility that it holds!  I just want to be completely honest when blogging about my small beginnings because I don't feel that you get anywhere in life from not being truthful. 

I am going to put myself out there, put my work out there and hope that people like it!  Here goes, something...

~ A

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Subscribe in a reader