New Week! Let’s Get It.

​I woke up this morning and painted a few commission pieces. I’m sharing the cowboy boots, which turned out super cute, but I also finished another commission and still have one more I’m working on that I can’t really share online yet. One is a wedding gift, and I’m pretty sure the other is a birthday gift, although I never actually asked. Either way, they’re both really sweet pieces, and I’m excited for the people receiving them to finally see them.

I haven’t really advertised that I’m open for commissions, but technically, I am if the right thing comes along.

I just don’t want to bombard myself with them.

Commission work brings an entirely different layer of pressure because now you have a client. That’s very different from creating something simply because you wanted to create it, putting it out into the world, and letting someone decide whether they love it enough to buy it. With a commission, you already have someone waiting on the other end, and you want them to be happy.

A little pressure is good. I actually think we all need to work under pressure sometimes. It challenges you. It makes you stretch yourself and reminds you that you can handle things that make you a little nervous.

But I personally would not want to live in that state all the time.

Doing commissions constantly would probably take some of the joy out of art for me because it also takes away a little of the freedom. Instead of completely following your own imagination, you’re trying to fulfill somebody else’s vision. That can still be creative and rewarding, but it feels different.

If someone brings me an idea that interests me, whether it seems fairly easy to pull off or challenging enough that it excites me, I’m definitely willing to try it when I can. I just think commissions will always be something I do selectively instead of something I build my entire art life around.

Gary has also been working incredibly long hours right now. He has about three more weeks of training for his new position, and it’s more technical than anything he’s done before. There’s a lot of responsibility involved, and what he does affects a whole lot of other people’s jobs, so he really has to concentrate, study, and take it seriously.

Because of that, we haven’t been texting and talking throughout his workday the way we normally do, and I’ve missed him a lot. He’s been coming home really late at night, and our normal routine feels a little off right now.

But it’s worth it.

Once he learns the job and gets comfortable in the position, he should actually have quite a bit of downtime, which means we may end up getting to talk more during his workdays than we ever have before.

For now, this is just one of those little seasons where everybody is working hard and adjusting. He’s learning something new, I’m painting and figuring things out as I go, and life is moving right along.

I’m very grateful for all of it.

xoxo- Jenny