I am happy to announce that I made my first sale on Etsy today!

Have you struggled with trying to legitimize your “art,” or calling yourself an “artist”? If you’re like me, you probably have. When I inquired about the possibility of having a little show at the restaurant where we’re having our wedding reception, I felt jittery and weird calling myself an artist. And I know this isn’t necessarily the case, but it feels sort validating to have sold work to a total stranger.

Anyway, I hope to update the shop in early March with some new work, including the mixed media mini-canvas pictured above, Let it Go, 4 x 6. Until then, I’m heading back to New York for my first visit post-Arizona-move. Though I bought the tickets on a spur-of-the-moment whim, I’m making plans now with a hefty dose of trepidation mixed in. Will I get all misty-eyed when I brunch at Li’l Frankie’s with my old friends? Will I remember which subway goes where? Will I gawk open-mouthed at streetcorners, struggling to remember where I’m headed? Will the guy in the deli on First Ave. remember me?

Or worse: Will I find the city changed, inhospitable to the new me? Will I decide I never want to come back?

Let it go, indeed.