Case Study: Yuki

I love my family’s chaos. Really I do! I am a wife and a mother of three  beautiful grade school age children, two boys and a girl. However, it is only  after I get everyone off to work and school in the morning that I am able to  descend into the basement where I have my studio. Here I find a few hours  of solitude to work on my watercolors. Then I am running errands, picking  the kids up from school, chauffeuring them to after school activities and  then home to prepare dinner. Once my husband is home we finish the  routine of the day together. I wish I had more time to make my artwork.

My parents and I came to the United States due to my father’s job in the  auto industry. I basically grew up, was educated and met my husband  here. I just recently became a US citizen. When my father retired, my  parents returned to Japan. I still have roots in Japan and my artwork  carries strong influences of my native country. As a result, the style of my  watercolor flowers resonates with those who see them. It has been hard  selling my watercolors so I opened an Etsy shop where I sell prints of my  original artwork. There is activity but not enough to help financially. I may  not be asking for enough money for my prints. I just don’t know.

I worry as the kids grow that we will not be able to meet the expenses for  their needs and the costs of higher education. Since I love creating, I had  hoped that I could combine that love with making money so I could  contribute to the financial stability of the family. It was going to be a win  win. I really need to find other avenues to sell my work. I just don’t seem to 

find the time nor do I have the knowledge to figure out how to get my  artwork out into the world for people to see it, fall in love with it and buy it. Plus, I constantly dream about my studio no longer being in the basement.