There have been a lot of good things happening lately, and I wanted to share a little life update.

For the last couple of years, I’ve gone back and forth about whether I even wanted to sell my artwork again. I loved having my little art booth because people could simply come in, choose what they wanted, and take it home with them. That setup worked beautifully for me. But once I no longer had the booth, selling art meant going back to printing, packaging, and mailing everything myself, and I honestly just didn’t enjoy that part of it. I don’t have a post office particularly close to me, and even though I was never sending out huge amounts of artwork, the whole process still felt like more trouble than I wanted to take on. Between that and my frustrating experience with Etsy years ago, I wasn’t sure I wanted to try selling again at all.

Today, though, something really exciting happened.

I was accepted as an artist with INPRNT, a curated print marketplace that handles the professional printing, shipping, and customer service. That means I can focus on the part I love most: painting.

I don’t have any grand expectations of turning this into a career, but having a place where people can easily purchase my work means a lot to me. More than anything, it gives me a home for my artwork and a simple answer when someone asks, “Can I buy a print?”

A friend recently wanted to purchase a couple of prints for her daughter, and I remember feeling embarrassed by how long it took me to send them out bc I had a printer issue. I finally got them to her, but I kept thinking there had to be a better way. Now there is, and that feels really good.

The second piece of exciting news is something I’ve been quietly dreaming about for a while.

I recently met with a local publishing office here in Milton to talk about creating my very first coffee table art book.

The plan is to wait until I have a collection of about 80 to 100 paintings that truly feel like the collection. I don’t want to rush it. I want the book to flow naturally, with groups of paintings that belong together: my whimsical character portraits, quieter watercolor pieces, beach paintings, and whatever other collections evolve along the way. I want it to feel intentional from beginning to end.

Hopefully that’ll happen sometime around the first of the year, but I’m not putting pressure on myself. It’ll be finished when it feels ready.

More than either of those announcements, though, I think what has me smiling the most is simply feeling like myself again.

I don’t know that I’ve ever been able to fully explain to people how much my back hurt last year, or really make people understand what that time was like. It hurt to stand. It hurt to sit. It hurt to cook. It hurt to clean. It hurt to paint. It felt like every part of my day revolved around trying to avoid making my back worse.

When your body isn’t cooperating, it affects so much more than your body. It changes your outlook. Your motivation. Your creativity. Your confidence.

For a long time, I wasn’t creating because I couldn’t. I wasn’t cooking because I couldn’t. The house wasn’t running the way I wanted it to because I couldn’t. Gary carried far more of the load than either of us ever expected, and we found ourselves relying on convenience more often than we’d have liked. I gained weight. I lost momentum. And honestly, I lost a little bit of myself.

Lately, though, it feels like life is slowly finding its rhythm again. I’m back in the kitchen making meals I enjoy. Our home feels like home again. I’m painting almost every day. Ideas are coming faster than I can keep up with them. I love it!

School is right around the corner, and if you’re a parent who loves having your kids home, you probably understand the bittersweet feeling that comes with this time of year.

I absolutely adore my kids. Every year when they head back to school, there’s a little part of my heart that aches. I know it’s part of life. One day they’ll go off to college or start careers and families of their own, and I’ll cheer them on every step of the way. But if I’m being honest, I’d keep them home with me forever if I could.

The good news is that this year, while I’ll still miss them terribly during the day, I’ll have something meaningful to pour myself into. Adding new pieces to my little print shop.

I’ve already sold 8 paintings today and I’m so stoked and thankful for my friends and family that support!! I love them all. It feels so good to have purpose again.

If you’d like to browse my artwork, I’d love for you to take a look. I still have a lot more pieces to add, so feel free to bookmark and check back later.

https://inprnt.com/gallery/jennyalcina

Y’all have a great week!!