Maybe I need a quilting mentor
At the beginning of the year I was asked if one of my recent works was for sale. I offered to make a similar piece, and the commission was accepted. I was very excited to be doing this.
But it has got me thinking about where this whole crazy art train is headed. I keep thinking of when my DH painted Games Workshop figures as a side job. We made good money doing it, but eventually he felt he took his beloved “hobby” and made it like “work”, a chore. After one last big commission he chose to stop taking them, and has been happily painting his figures for himself ever since.
I certainly don’t want to get to that point.
But I have been thinking about the directions I want to take this in, even if it’s for a short time. The LED quilt was (and still is) very popular. I was recently asked if I would teach a class on making mini art quilts. I also recently took some time to explain about what mini quilts are, how working weekly helps me grow, and was told this would be a great lecture to shop around to local guilds. And now there’s commissions. Etsy allows you to post samples and make items to order, which is what this was in essence. So many directions…
I have a ton of quilt artists I admire, but the fact is that they are all full time quilt artists. I am not. I doubt that quilting could ever make the same financially as my full time job. So maybe I need a mentor to help me get my feet wet part-time? Hmmm.