State of the Artist, and Happy 46th Birthday To Me!

And Happy 74th to my Daddy as well. We share the same birthday! 

(this is not my art, but I did alter the text to reflect the current times. This is for everyone who has a birthday during all of this. Make the best of it that you can!)

If you recall, I made a plea a few weeks ago because things for us took a turn. Like many artists, all of our shows, attending and mail-in, have been cancelled into summertime, so our only means of income right now are our sales via our shops, and of course Patreon. Also, our landlord informed us just after Valentine's Day that after nine years of us living here, he wants to sell the house. Lastly it was found that Sandra was having health issues and might require surgery. We found out all of this in like a week, after Pantheacon.

So here is an update on all of that.

Thankfully we have had some good sales in our shops and that is helping to keep us afloat for now. However Sandra since then has been diagnosed with stage 2 Uteran cancer and will require a hysterectomy by the end of April. That will eat all of our meager savings right now, leaving us at square one. But the good news is that last week our landlord told us he is going to hold off on selling until next spring, which is a HUGE weight off our shoulders.

Otherwise Sandra and I and our furkids are doing okay. The cancer thing with Sandra is stressful, but we are having faith that she will only need surgery and not chemo at this time. We will find out after the surgery. The weight of all the stress in the world right now is making creating hard, but I am fighting through it and doing the best I can. The silver lining to having no shows, and mandatory social isolation (YAY!) is that there is now time to get caught up on EVERYTHING that has been put on the back burner for years. Home projects, to-so lists, and of course commissions. I will have to make some sell art soon to try and help bring in more money, but for now I am very happy getting at least some ACEOs off my plate. I am hoping by the end of this I will be mostly caught up!

Anyway, that's where things are at with me on my 46th birthday. Since there is nothing to do and nowhere to go, I am going to be relaxing and poking a stick at my writing. No work for me today!

And if you are wondering what you can do for me on my birthday, I am just asking you to hang in there with me here on Patreon. I -totally- understand if some of you need to lessen or even cancel your pledges due to current events, but your support here now means more to me than ever. <3 Thank you so much for being here.

I hope you all are doing well during the chaos that is our world right now. May you all be healthy, safe, and in good spirits <3

Christy/Goldie