I want to start taking commissions for pet portraits, but I'm afraid the pictures will look like generic animals. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I really only have my pets to work with, and while I can see the resemblance I'm afraid potential customers won't. Does this make sense or am I too much in my own head? I'm including a portrait and inspiration photo for reference.
I'm unfortunately getting ready to sell all my AG dolls except for one, but when my mom was going through the boxes she found this catalog that looks like it arrived in the mail yesterday! It isn't faded or creased or dog-eared or written in :)
Advice appreciated, but also I just need to vent. There might not be any advice to be given anyway.
I'm not really sure where to start. I have chronic migraines, autism, and other chronic symptoms that I haven't been able to get properly evaluated. My health is constantly in flux, so I spend a lot of my time unwillingly stuck to my couch or bed. I met my wife in high school; she is my absolute best friend, but she has severe PTSD from childhood and it led to several health issues limiting her ability to work for the past 10 years. Additionally, she had a child from a previous relationship that we raised together, and there is A LOT of stuff I'm leaving out for the sake of brevity.
Despite all of these difficulties, I worked hard, graduated college and worked my way into a career with a lot of stability. In a normal world/economy I'd be doing great, but all of those difficulties came with a financial cost I was still working to pay down. 3 years ago our apartment complex was condemned by the city, and there were probably about 150 to 200 tenants looking for new housing. We weren't quite ready to buy a house, but it ended up being the best option we had. We got a grant to cover the down payment and took on more debt to cover moving costs (which we would've had to do anyway). Still, moving into this house was the best thing to ever happen to us mentally. We've been able to get into therapy and really work on improving our health. Things were finally starting to look up for us.
Now through all of this, my mom was dealing with her own crazy situation. She has been taking care of her aging parents for years, and she lived 4 hours away from me. I would go help her when I could, but for the most part she was doing everything on her own. This wouldn't have been a huge issue, however she has a sister and brother-in-law who have made it their goal to make her life as miserable as possible. Once my grandparents had both passed they kicked it into overdrive - I'm not going to go into detail because it was honestly incredibly traumatic, but it resulted in a lot of legal issues and my mom losing her house. I went into even more debt helping my mom with this and moving her into our house. Still, it was manageable. Mom did gig work and had food stamps and we were getting by ok, but in January she fell and broke her arm and was no longer able to work. Around this same time my wife was already scheduled for a health related surgery, so I had two major medical events happening at the same time. The manageable debt became unmanageable.
Mom has just started working again, I was starting to feel positive again... then my mortgage payment rose by $340/mo. I've been applying for all the jobs I can, but I'm worried it's too little too late. I haven't worked up the courage to tell my wife.
Anyway, I'm fighting a cold, so baked beans and Dr. Pepper for dinner. Thank God for food pantries.