Pondering 30 Years and What's Next

Thirty years is a long time to do anything, but I’ve been selling my artwork for 30 years. Sometimes it seems amazing. Many ask how long I’ve been painting and I have always gone straight to the years I’ve been selling my paintings, not just painting.

I’ve also produced income doing so many creative things outside of painting, which includes writing, photography, scale model building, automotive custom painting, and customization, that I guess you could say I’ve been paid to be creative for over 40 years.

Painting, or being an artist though, has been the kind of career that has given me both a lucrative income (relatively speaking) and a bit of notoriety. It’s has exposed me to wonderful things, been so much fun, and opened the door to cherished relationships. I’ve worked hard, been blessed and have been lucky in the process.

So with four months left this year and twenty-eight months left of the decade, I’m in the mode of pondering the past thirty years and thinking about what is next. I think we all need to stop and take stock in lives and careers. It’s good to take the time to ask yourself if you are still on target and not simply floundering around unless of course flittering around is your life’s wish.

I remember watching a YouTube interview with a then much younger Adam Levine of Maroon 5, who surprisingly said he sees a day when he’ll stop doing this. Doing this I took as being a frontman and star of a pop band. The interviewer was surprised, but I think his point was simply that there are other things he wants to do with his life. Maybe it’s music or film related, who knows, maybe it would be playing golf, I don’t know. But he was sure he didn’t want his life to be completely defined by a set career of any kind, even if it was a pretty cool one at that. In my pondering, I certainly give credit to that mindset. I like having the option to explore all that the world has to offer.

Read more of Tom's blog HERE.