I Quit My Job To Be A Fulltime Artist
For many of you that have been following me through the years, you may already know that I quit my job. Today I wanted to talk a little more about that and what lead up to me quitting my job.
On September 3rd of this year I became a full time artist. After many years of being employed in manufacturing, where I worked twelve hour rotating shifts, I was finally able to follow my dream of being an artist at 42 years old.
I’ve created art for as long as I can remember, but I didn’t actually get serious about it until early 2019. I sold my very first piece in my current abstract style in May of 2019 to a collector in Texas. That collector will always hold a special place in my heart for seeing value in what I create. My next sale didn’t come until October. That sale was to a collector in Paris, France. I couldn’t believe my art sold in Paris of all places.
I ended up with a total of seven sales in 2019. For me that was an extraordinary moment. I knew then that I could make my dream a reality. I of course had no idea what was in store for me.
Pictured (left) “Eternal Reflection” First artwork sold. Pictured on the (right) “Gray Silence” Sold to a private collector in France.
I continued working on my art and still maintaining a full time job, all the while my sales continued to increase. I of course was in no way close to making a sustainable living with my art. The sales increased, just not the money. I was still selling my art at a relatively cheap price. It wasn’t about the money for me. I was more focused on gaining collectors. I continued to grind away for the next two years, until one day in June of 2021 every thing changed for me.
A friend of mine that I’d known for sometime, mentioned to me that I should get involved with NFTs. To be one hundred percent honest, I had no idea what an NFT (Non Fungible Token) was and I really had no interest in selling them. It just didn’t seem like me.
That same friend began to have immense success with NFTs, so I figured what the hell, I’ll give it a shot. What could it hurt? I created several NFTs and listed them for sale on OpenSea, The worlds largest NFT marketplace, in April 2021. My first one didn’t sell until May for around $197. I was completely ecstatic. I had just sold my fist NFT and to me it was epic.
”Being Different “ First NFT I sold.
Then nothing else sold again until mid June. An NFT collector that had been following me for awhile took a gamble on me and bought my entire NFT collection in one fail swoop. That single act of kindness gave me the momentum I needed to begin my journey as a full time artist. From that moment on I sold out every new NFT release. The big game changer for me was just around the corner in August.
On August the 10th, I was a featured artist on the homepage of OpenSea. A little over two weeks after my feature I was leaving my job to pursue art as a full time career.
It’s now been a little over three months since I left my job. I’ve currently traded almost a million dollars worth of NFTs on OpenSea. I still can’t believe it. With that being said, being a full time artist is a lot different than I dreamed of my whole life. It’s also a heck of a lot more work than I imagined, but I feel extremely blessed to wake up everyday and create art for a living.
Until next week my friends,
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