MY VERY SPECIFIC GOAL: $1,500 A MONTH

I have a very specific goal: $1,500 a month in recurring subscriptions through Substack, Patreon, or directly from supporters.

That would give me enough dependable baseline income to hedge my bets on establishing a storefront-and-studio headquarters for my art operation: Sunny Days Studio — The Heart of the Dreamwoods.

The subscriptions are simple: $5 a month, $50 a year, or $150 a year at the Patron level. They support my writing, artwork, and ongoing adventures in the Dreamwoods—and, collectively, they could make a physical home for all of it possible.

THE DREAMWOODS NEEDS A HOME

It doesn’t necessarily have to be in Concord, New Hampshire, but this is where I currently walk around gazing longingly at empty storefronts, imagining a strange little Mad Hatter/Willy Wonka art gallery and production space.

I picture an artsy, slightly peculiar showroom in the front and a complicated working studio in the back: a drawing table under livestreaming cameras and DMX lights, surrounded by the happy mayhem of making art—jars, brushes, colors, varnishes, tools, palettes and whatnot.

There would be prints, posters and greeting cards stacked alongside shipping materials and boxes. There would be the occasional early-morning or late-night frenzy of loading the art booth for whatever music festival, oddities event, street fair, Comic Con, Renaissance fair or craft market is happening that weekend.

I picture easels and a whole lot of chairs that can be pulled out for classes and paint-and-sips. A couch where I can sit with my laptop and write these stories. A big screen on the wall for presentations.

At a time when more and more of our culture is generated by AI, algorithms and enormous corporations, I’ve been making a modest but deeply fulfilled living by creating art by hand. I cling to that, I love it, I want it.

WHY $1,500 A MONTH?

The rent is too damn high, and I don't have enough confidence in walk-in retail sales to gamble my future on them. These little art spaces come and go. I've tried this before, and I know the risks. I'm older now, and I can't afford to make a financial mistake that follows me around for the rest of my life.

Nobody’s getting rich here; there’s not enough money for frivolous things, I’m an anti-materialist bohemian, you don’t get to be an artist otherwise.

The festivals, online sales, wholesale orders, commissions and gallery sales can continue doing what they do—but underneath all of that would be a small, predictable foundation built by people who want the Dreamwoods to exist.

Why Help?

When I picture it I picture a lot of people in it, students, other artists, and people using the classroom area as a meeting space, so it’ll be bustling.

I hope someday you'll walk through that door and I’ll show you around the gallery, introduce you to some people, take you into the chaotic studio in back, point out whatever ridiculous thing we’re working on that day, and thank you in person for helping make the place real. I’ll put a sign up that has ‘Thank you to our wonderful sponsors” and put your name on it.

Thank you for considering! Sign up at https://substack.com/@tymeier