Staying on the path

Here's a thought that is attached to the last post about staying on the right path. It's hard to do in these economic times. Though I've had some successes and am selling here and there, getting a couple commissions, but it still aint exactly the salad days. I'm not complaining but money is nevertheless growing tighter. I took on an illustration job because they waggled what seemed like decent money at the time and, like everyone else, I need it now but once the rep gets his cut and I start looking at the hours taken away from the art I should be making for galleries, it doesn't feel as good. Plus with the way these things pay, it could be months before that money shows up. I have several galleries that are really wanting new work and if I don't get them some soon, they could drop me. Work gets "stale" to the buyer base of any gallery, once they see the same painting again and again they start to feel that there may be something wrong with it. So it's time to do the old swithceroo. And put in the extra hours in making new stuff on top of the work that I'm already committed to. Getting too caught up in making the short buck can hurt in the long run.