Cafepress...so where does one go from here?

I just had a sale at Cafepress. One of my greeting cards sold. But not through my shop - the sale came from the marketplace. Today - that's not a big deal. Today I earned $2.00. A little over a month from now, however, on the sale of that same card with my art, I will have only earned 29 cents. And I have no control over that.

So where does one go from here? $2.00 would buy a loaf of bread or maybe a 1/2 gallon of milk for my children. It might even buy a small bag of cat food should it be on sale. And it could almost buy a gallon of gas. Yeah, that $2.00 could actually sustain my family or animals for a day or so. But 29 cents? Welcome to Walmart. I could stop in at the entrance and buy a gumball. Or are gumballs 50 cents now? Nah...better just skip the gumball...it's bad for the teeth and after too many of them, I'd be in the dentist's office. I can see it now - "Can you fix my cavity for 29 cents?" as I dig in my pocket for a quarter and four pennies.

Obviously it's time to look for a new job. Or rather not a new "job", but new ways to market and sell my artwork in order that I can buy bread or milk instead of gumballs.

This is where the big D word comes in. No, not d-i-v-o-r-c-e. DIVERSIFY.

Diversify in placing my work in other locations, but also diversify in creating a line of artistic expression which I feel comfortable at licensing for 10%. Which means, this puts a dent in my original painting plans while I prepare more commercial work that is lower-end, to suit the lower-end price point Cafepress wants to pay. The commercial is good...it's cute...it's funny...and it doesn't take near as much time as my original art --> it's the kind of work I'll be happy to license for only 10% due to the "less time" factor.

So that's what I'm off to do. I've got a lot of work to do now to make up this difference, as I'm going to have to create a ton of designs in this new line in order to earn anything near the pittance I was making before.

Today's goal: begin work on a bulldog painting. I already have it titled. Exhausted. Because that's what I am after this week. I'm sure many of my artist friends on Cafepress can relate.

Tomorrow's goal: work on a commercial (digital) art line of humorous, quirky, quickie 10% designs I've been putting off while I worked on more unique and detailed paintings.

Monday's goal: spend at least 5 hours in the morning on the new line of commercial art, and spend however many hours it takes after that to finish my bulldog painting.

P.S. Thanks to those of you who inquired about my health - I am getting better and better everyday! Still nothing done on the house, though some folks *finally* gave an estimate. I'm telling ya - there are jobs in roofing and repairs out there...if you'll just SHOW UP and DO WHAT YOU SAY. If I were 10 years younger, I'd be considering it as a job for myself right about now!