Thanks For Being A Friend
Thanks so much for being curious enough to take a few moments to visit my support page! It means so much to me that you’re interested in helping me as an artist and a fellow human being. There are so many different ways to be part of someone’s support network – showing up for someone can be financial or emotional or a little from column A and a little from column B.
Being supportive means many things – not just financial support. Sometimes being there means being a cheerleader for my work, spreading the word to others that are in your circles who might not find me otherwise. And there are so many ways you show this support. You might share my latest posts on social media. Perhaps you will tell a friend about my art over a cup of coffee. Or maybe you’ll simply offer words of encouragement. All of these gestures are deeply meaningful to me and others in my position for that matter. They help my work reach new audiences and they unfailingly remind me why I continue to create even on days that I might not feel as motivated as I would like.
Our Story
Soon after the death of my father eight years ago it became clear that my Mom was having a very hard time adjusting. At first her doctor and I thought it was severe depression. She has suffered from depression and anxiety since her childhood so her confusion being fueled by depression seemed likely. In time it would become clear that it was dementia that was made far worse by outside factors. I lived an experience familiar to far too many caregivers as I became more and more responsible for her daily care. At the time she understood what was happening and didn’t want anyone to know. As the only child, I kept her secret and cared for her at home including through the frightening days of the pandemic when I feared not just for my life but what would happen if I got sick and couldn’t look out for her.
Since then her care finally became more than I could handle by myself but I was fortunate that there’s a nursing home I can see from the front door of our family home. I’m able to monitor her care personally each day. And as the last living person she still recognizes, on bad days I’m able to reassure her that she’s not alone in the world. And I continue to care for her last five cats who range from three to fourteen years old. The costs of their care each month always exceeds what I spend on my own food bills but they are truly as much family to me as they were to my Mom.
And Family Matters
Mom was born when her parents were almost 50 and 42 so regrettably she didn’t have a big family long. In my childhood, her world centered on me and I seemed to realize very early that her emotional state was fragile. I felt an early responsibility to not add to the strain. At the same time, she shared so many anecdotes about her family that even the ones who were strangers to me felt like people I knew. She seemed to think I had some innate skill as the keeper of the family history but it was simply a result of her being a storyteller. Hearing about her childhood as well as the stories my grandparents told her was the family inheritance as far as I’m concerned.
And these days, it’s me telling her those same stories. She rarely remembers them anymore but the people in those stories are still familiar and important to her. There’s a bitter-sweetness to it, but it matters.
Asking Is The Hard Part
I’ve spent a lot of my life being very private and generally have always found it stressful to even dream of asking for help. I would choose practically anything over being that publicly vulnerable. But the truth is that things have been very uncertain financially this past year. Being an artist full time has always been a feast or famine experience, even more so lately. Combining this with having only my income to keep the household afloat has just amped up the stress those months when things fall short. I know from chatting with other artists I know that it’s not just me at the moment. My situation is playing out in other households. So even if you’re not moved to help with my bottom line check in with your favorite creative people and see if they could use your support.
Any help is greatly appreciated. Whether you’re being a cheerleader and asking your friends to check out my work, you’re buying a little print or a cute tote bag for yourself, or you’re making a small one-time or ongoing contribution, it’s all makes a difference. And if you’re a cat lover like me, you can think of it as buying a bag of cat food, a pail of kitty litter, or helping with their meds.
Things You Can Do
If you’d like to explore my art and support me by purchasing prints or products, you can find everything here: Explore My Art and Products.
If you want to explore products with my art and support me by purchasing prints or other merchandise, you can find out more here:
Or use one of these options to contribute what you can spare.
Use Ko-fi to Leave a Tip
You may also use Paypal
Or Venmo if you’d prefer.
If you choose to be an ongoing donor, I’d like to periodically offer you the digital download of your choice while you continue. You can see the current digital downloads available here. These are great for use as mobile wallpaper on the devices of your choice. Send me a message with your selection and I’ll get it to you. In the future I’d like to automate this somehow but right now it’s going to be a manual way to say thank you!