To what extent for your art

[Marina Dieul]

We moved from France to Canada 6 years ago. Everything was fine in France, but we decided we needed some change in our lives. It took us about 2 years between the decision and the move because of the visas, many papers to fill, many fees to pay. The first year we were a little stressed because we made too many things at the same time , but very excited too. The second year we felt homesickness, so we organised a trip to France, and family came to see us. We don't regret it. Our life is very different from what we knew in France, maybe no better job opportunity, but better standart of living ( as a cabinet maker, for sure, as an artist, I think but I will have a better idea in few years) I'm feeling that we built something, we create our chance ... The big difference maybe, is that we feel that we are actors of our lives, not only spectators.
Next step: we don't know yet. I would like to go back to France but just for one year or two . We are speaking of going somewhere else too, where? we don't know yet, maybe far, Australia ...
The first move can be frightening, the second is only exciting !

PS: nice little nose of a little baby.

[Sharon Knettell]

It is really hard to say.

It really depends on how strong a family and support network you have, how important that is to you, the local economy and of course your age.

Atlanta, I don't think is going to be any cheaper than Cleveland, it may be more expensive.

It will be hard to make a dent in a very saturated market unless your portfolio is really up to snuff and ready to present to a critical clientele.
Have you done all your homework vis-a-vis your skills, life drawing, design and color studies etc.

Just changing locales, even to what may seem a more sympathetic one, will not always ensure that you will be a better or more successful artist. That is always up to the artist.

If you really hate your city because it is economically depressed, dull and uninteresting and the people, all boors, that is another thing. But usually there is culture and cultured people in every major city in this country.

Michele is a stellar example of what hard work and determination can do in another city, that has never smiled kindly on the portrait arts.

Also, today, if you have a wonderful portfolio, there are really good portrait agencies that will promote you, whether or not you live in an igloo in Alaska, if you have the right stuff. Also there is our friend the internet, and wonderful venues like our own "Strokes 0f Genius" website.

But go, if you feel in your heart that it is the right thing to do.

[Sharon Knettell]

PS.

About 25 years ago, I was pondering just such a move, not to Atlanta, but from Providence, Rhode Island to Boston or New York.

I felt I was stuck in an insufferable backwater, all the cognoscenti and opportunity was elsewhere and I only had to move to achieve my goals.

My dreams have immeasurably changed from those desperate and uncertain days.

I have stayed, and I wince at the thought of having left. However that is my story. Your situation and dreams are yours, so listen carefully to your heart.

[Cindy Procious]

Above all, Patty, I think you should feel confident that your colleagues are here for your moral support, and that you should never feel alone.

Best of luck to you.

[Debra Norton]

My husband and I left our grown children and extended family in Washington state to live in Minnesota so I can go to school. I'm almost finished with the third of four years. Has it been good? Yes! Has it been lonely? Yes, especially at the first, but now I can see it would be easy to live the rest of our lives here if we didn't have such strong commitments to draw us back home. We've made friends through school, my husband's work, church, and neighbors.

About failure, you won't know if you don't try.

Financially, I think we may end up in better shape because selling our house allowed us to invest in property we can subdivide and sell when we return. Plus we have a house here we'll sell.

This has been an adventure for us, and it will still be one when we get back home, I will be trying to start a business as a painter and my husband will be working on his second career - he's still contemplating what he'll do. One drawback is that we'll be in a rural area but I'm not too worried about it because of the internet. That's it up to this point, you'll have to wait with me for "the rest of the story."

[Steven Sweeney]

I was hoping you'd post in this thread, Debra, since I know what a leap of faith you took to change longitudes for a few years in order to get the art training you wanted.

Preliminarily, references to

[Michele Rushworth]

...just to see if you can live off conch stew and sea slugs in an abandoned boathouse in some coastal village, without any health benefits. Unless you really, really want to find out, say, what it would be like to paint maritime scenes in that venue for two years.

That actually sounds like a LOT of fun to me, but then that's maybe just my own crazy approach to the idea of change and trying new things.

As Steven says, it depends on how you feel about new situations.