Self Employment in the Arts (SEA) Conference

This weekend I was lucky enough to attend the SEA (Self Employment in the Arts) conference in Napervile Il.  It was pretty cool and full of stories of success (and failures) and tips on how not to be a starving artist (but still be an artist).  The thing that was the most valuable to me was realizing that as long as you are able to support yourself (either through your art or not), your level of "success" is yours and yours alone.  Not the NY artist across the way.  Not what your friend/brother/aunt things it should be.

Now, I don't plan on being able to use my art for my full time career, at least not at this point in my life.  But I'd be lying if I said making a living off of my skills and the things I love doing wasn't very, very appealing.  So I'll be honing my talents and building my portfolio and keeping my little dream lit.  And maybe someday, maybe someday soon, I can take that step.

In the mean time: art!

(They gave away fine tip blue sharpies from Blick Art. Score!)

A doodle during one of the conference sessions.  It was a lecture on copyright law and very informative!