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.

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,