my first commission from a stranger paid for my groceries this week
I keep almost not posting this because it feels small, but my mom pointed out it's the whole point so here I am.
Someone found my work on instagram (which still feels fake to say, like who is out there FINDING my work) and commissioned a little painting of their dog. Not a friend, not a friend of a friend, a total stranger. And the money from it covered my groceries this week, which I know sounds like nothing but it's the first time I've paid for food with art money and I cried in the checkout line at Aldi. Like actually cried. Over frozen vegetables.
The dog was a corgi named Mabel and she had this ridiculous grumpy face that I fell in love with. I spent three days on a 8x10 and I keep thinking about how her person is going to hang it in their house somewhere and think of her. Meanwhile my landlord just emailed about rent. Life is so funny like that. One door opening while another one is standing there with its hand out.
Eight months into this full-time thing and I'm still mostly terrified but days like today I think it might actually work? Anyway if you've ever wondered whether the small wins count, they do, they're the only ones that have kept me going some weeks.
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The Aldi cry is the realest thing I've read all week. It's not small at all, that first transaction with a stranger who found your work and wanted it badly enough to pay for it, that's the bridge between making art for yourself and actually being a working artist. The groceries are just the proof it's real.
Corgi named Mabel, how could you not paint that face. I remember the first time someone paid me whose name I didn't already know, I sat on my studio floor and looked at the tile for a while before I could cut anything. You never forget that one. Congratulations, truly. Frame the memory before the next commission erases it, because they'll come.🙂
okay this whole thread is making me tear up and I wasn't even the one crying at Aldi lol. the "sat on the studio floor and looked at the tile for a while" bit really got me because that's EXACTLY it, it's not about the money, it's that a stranger looked at something you made and wanted it to live in their house. that's so insane and so good and I love that we all get that.
also Mabel the corgi? I need to see this painting immediately, corgis are like painting a loaf of bread with a face, they're so good. congrats to the OP seriously, and to you for the comment that's making everyone feel seen today 🙏
ugh you GET it. "the bridge between making art for yourself and actually being a working artist" yes, that's exactly the thing I couldn't put words to. I kept telling my mom it didn't feel real and she was like no it's real, it's literally groceries, and I think I needed to hear it from someone who isn't my mom too, so thank you for that.
and honestly the studio floor thing made me laugh a little because I did basically the same thing after I sent Mabel off, just sat there staring at my paint water like what just happened. you can't explain that moment to anyone who hasn't painted something for a stranger. it's like your art leaves your hands for the first time and suddenly it's a thing in the world, not just a thing you made.
did you frame the corgi or did the owner?? I love that you said frame the memory. I might print the Aldi receipt honestly, that's the kind of weird artifact I'd keep. what was your first stranger commission of anyway?