Too Much of a Good Thing

I know I shouldn't complain, as this is what I wanted -- to make a living as an artist -- but this is ridiculous. My to-do list has gone from almost nothing (3-4 things) to overwhelming. It's either feast or famine, I guess.

Here's my to-do list for clients:

• 5 small pastel sketches on handmade paper
• 1 small pencil portrait
• 1 custom ACEO card
• 3 medium soft pastel portraits
• 2 medium oil pastel portraits

For an alpaca farm (which sells all my artwork with alpacas in it), I just found out I need to have done, by 17 Feb., the following:

• 3-4 pencil portraits of alpacas
• 3-4 small to medium pastels
• 8-12 small sketches on handmade paper
• 8-12 medium sketches on handmade paper
• 4 ink drawings for notecards (ASAP)

Now, as I also sell my artwork on eBay, and this is the best time of the year to sell on eBay, I would like to do some new work for that endeavor. Plus, if I want to do the Circle of Art Show in Borrego Springs, CA, towards the last of March, I will need to get working on new pieces for that. And let's not forget the request for several botanical drawings for a local conservation booklet that I agreed to do, or the demo of a pencil portrait that I want to do for my website.

When I have this much to do, I just get overwhelmed and I shut down. I'll go read a book all day (right now that's Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince), just to escape thinking about all this. It also doesn't help that some clients seem to believe that their portrait is the only one I have to do and they want it done NOW! (Then there are those clients that are very patient and are willing to wait quite a while for me to finish their portraits -- I can't thank them enough!) I know I need to focus on getting 2-3 things done over the next few days and then another 2-3 things and so on, rather than getting everything done right now. But I don't even know where to begin on my lists.

Okay, here's what I'm going to work on for the next few days:

• pastel sketch of a cat (because the client has been wonderful to me and this will be quick and easy to get done)
• pastel portrait of a horse (because I feel like doing it and I promised I would get it done in mid-Jan.)
• a set of 4 ink drawings alpacas (because that will get me back to doing alpacas, the farm needs them ASAP, and they should be easy to do quickly)

I'll try to post pictures of the artwork when I finish them, but there may be a day or two delay. (I don't like to scan one item at a time, as I figure I can only turn my scanner on so many times.) Hopefully, now that I have told the entire world what I'm going to do, I will guilt myself into getting it done!