Another School Year has Started

Me, happily painting in my studio.

The 2010-2011 school year has started and I am happy to say that I am not there. Today I would have had to report back to work had I not quit my job in pursuit of an art career. Today I would have had to get up at 6am and drag myself out of bed, wishing I could sleep for another hour. Today I would have received my class lists, figured out which kids were in the wrong math class placement, lesson planned for the first couple of weeks of school, and done numerous other things to get ready for my 14th year of teaching. Today all of this would have happened, but it didn't.

This summer I did not have to watch "back to school" commercials and have the anxiety of summer ending too quickly creep into me. I did not have to cram in as much painting as possible before I started work again.  I didn't have to wish that I could quit my job and just paint for a living.

Even though my teaching job ended in June, today is really the first day of my new career since it is the first day that I did not have to go to work outside of my studio. I am finally living my dream of being a full-time artist and it feels great.