Dharma Vida Art & Craft

I originally set this site up as a blog to document my personal journey of self expression through the world of arts & crafts, but it has now evolved into something so much more.

For a long time I felt that art and business were mutually exclusive, and that money somehow made art dirty. I was young and idealistic, and somewhat naive. My reality consisted of having to work to buy food and shelter, and art was my escape to another world, an ideal world, a world that was free from the constraints of money (even though I needed plenty to fund my artist ambitions). But I soon found that to be a poor compromise.

I was living someone else’s dream. It was time to live my dream.

I was passionate for art, and passionate about being an artist, and I was beginning to realize that if I truly wanted to be happy, to truly be “me”, then I had to figure out how to make my art pay for itself, my food, rent and hopefully all my expenses.

This was truly being an artist, self funded, independent, with the freedom to express myself fully and not be constrained by the limits placed by others, freedom from money, freedom from time, freedom at last…..

But as we all know, freedom is not free.

Freedom, and all of its benefits come at a price. In my case it required an important shift in thinking, and then an equally important shift in action. I had to learn the art of business and the business of art.

I realized this through combining my passion for art and craft with my blogging and basic internet knowledge and skills. Through partnering with very selective merchants I was able to start making my art pay. As my experience grew, and I continued to work on my plan, my freedom was growing, to now, where I am fully self funded and independent.

And in all of this, the greatest benefit has been the ability to help others realize their artistic dreams and goals, and hopefully to enjoy the same freedom that art has given to me.

I encourage you to browse around, you just might be surprised at what you find.

Thanks

Dharma Vida.

Images: digitalart, m_bartosch, smokedsalmon, nattavut – FreeDigitalPhotos.net