So, What is This Blog About?

Hi, I'm Siobhan.

I'm a recent graduate of Tyler School of Art (Temple University) with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts, with my focus in Printmaking. Obviously, it's a bad time to find a job and I'm working in a restaurant, glad to have steady employment, enough money for what I need, and health insurance. However, I still live at home, paying a small amount of "rent" that isn't comparable to any real world housing prices.

I've been making small rooster paintings for a while, and I've been putting some effort into trying to sell them, but certainly not enough effort.


Meanwhile, I have about $5000 worth of debt from credit cards and my car loan. I'm obsessed with this debt and feel like I would have a lot more freedom if I eliminated it. I've been making significant payments each month but I've figured out that I need to be putting another $350 a month toward the debt in order to meet of deadline of paying it all off by the end of the year. My restaurant income is steady but not great, and it's variable. I've been tracking my expenses and making the most of the money I have, and I know I'm not going to find an extra $350 every month.

I've thought of getting a different or second job, but what I have is a good fit for me right now. I'm in a long-distance relationship and it's important that I'm able to have a flexible schedule. Plus, I want to eliminate the long-distance part of my long-distance relationship as soon as possible, and it seems dumb to try to find a more serious job in this area when I probably won't be here long term.


So! I figure now is the time to make things happen with my art. My roosters are small and affordable, I enjoy making them, and I would only have to sell about 15 of them a month to meet my debt payment goal. That certainly seems possible. I guess, for me, the dream is to eventually be able to support myself with my art, and I feel like this is a good time to start pursuing it. I don't want to get a second job, I don't want to work (at non-art jobs) any more than I have to. I know that making any money in art is hard, and I know it will be a while before I will be able to do it full-time, but focusing on paying off a debt with the talent I've worked for is a good step.


To answer my title, this blog is about art. It's about money. It's a way for me to document experiments in getting people to care about my work. It's about figuring out what works and what doesn't, and how to be successful in art. Well, at least, I HOPE it's about how to be successful in art.

Anyway, if this first entry has been terrible, you'll have to bear with me...it's 3 a.m. and I am trying to get this thing started before I go to Columbus and attempt to sell these paintings at a venue that may be inappropriate. Well, we'll discuss it next time.

To see more of my paintings or to PURCHASE one, please see my etsy shop.