the shorter story

It was kind of weird writing that last post in the third person.  And it was a bit long... so for the shorter version, read on here.

Last year at about this time, we moved our family of six from the SF Bay Area to a little town near St. Cloud, Minnesota.  Joe had been a police officer for a number of years and also a tattoo artist on the side.  I know, not the combination you'd guess, right?  The paycheck and benefits working for a police department were nice, but the job was sucking the life and joy right out of him.  What Joe really wanted was to tattoo full time.  He had a friend who owned a tattoo shop in Minnesota and had asked him to go work for him.  There was talk of this friend retiring soon and Joe taking over the shop.  It seemed like a great opportunity, so he went for it.  

Fast forward a few months, and Joe was fired, just two weeks before Christmas.  He and the owner of the shop had too many differing opinions on how to make money in the industry and it was decided that they would need to part ways.  Since Joe had given his word that he wouldn't work in another shop in the area, that meant that he'd have to start over in a new city or move back to the Bay Area, where he already had a lot of contacts and clients, as well as family and friends.  So we're back.

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The rest of this post is taken from a post on my *mixed-media* life in progress blog:

Status update a few nights ago on Facebook and Twitter:  brainstorming, plotting, devising, conspiring, planning, collaborating.... need to be sleeping. stay tuned.

We've been back in the Bay Area for five plus months now.... but our stuff (aka most of our home furnishings and belongings) is still in Minnesota.  We are feeling SO ready to go get it and have it here.  We're still catching up financially from the two huge moves in six months and are no where near being able to afford the trip + uhaul necessary.  So as I was drifting off to sleep the other night, my mind was whirling.  Trying to figure out a way.  We're thinking the trip total will be pretty close to $4,000.  Crazy, I know! 

Whenever you're in a situation that seems impossible, you have to look around and take stock of what's available.  Like in the Bible, when Moses was afraid to confront Pharoah to let the Israelites go out of Egypt, God asked him, "What's that in your hand?".  And He used the staff Moses carried to perform miracles and accomplish His will.

We have art in our hands.  So here's what I came up with.  If we do 100 paintings between us, and sell them for $40 each, we'd could make what we need.  So we're percolating ideas and brainstorming and coming up with a list of titles for paintings.  We'll each do our own take on each title, and everyday we'll release two paintings (one of each) until we've done all 100.  We'll be starting a new blog and an etsy shop for the collaboration.

The theme will revolve around the move, transition, Minnesota, California, new beginnings, roots, family, etc.