If you paint fine paintings, sculpt, write poetry or novels or compose music, you’ve probably already considered financing your new overseas life by selling your creative products. And the process probably isn’t very different from doing it in your home country.
As a side benefit,the move will probably stir your creative juices and give you more subject matter to draw on!
But have you considered making a living in your new country using handicraft and artisanal skills that may be just hobbies for you at home? Fine craftsmanship is often more highly respected and more saleable outside the US.
Andrea Jensen, a former Oregonian, moved to Puerto Rico and became a licensed artesan. (I know, Puerto Rico is not officially another country for a US resident, but that’s a political reality, not a cultural one. Culturally, PR is a Caribbean island nation.) She tells her story in Escape from America magazine.
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Andrea melded the traditional island higuera gourd art with tole painting techniques. She applied for her license and began attending craft shows all over the island, successfully selling her artwork.
The takeaway here isn’t specifically what Andrea did or where she did it. It is that learning something about her new home — the way local calabash gourds were used as art — inspired her to reinvent something she already knew how to do, and to generate income with it.
What skills do you have that you could reinvent in your new country to earn a living with? Share your ideas by clicking the comment link below.
That is an awesome Mexican Huichol jaguar mask! I agree with your concept. Travel and relocation have a way of opening us up to new experiences and jarring our comfort zone, so you are definitely on to something with this suggestion — Why not channel that vulnerability into art? I love Mexico. While not able myself to make art in Mexico, (at least not right now) … in my business I support and encourage the work of Mexican artisans. Incredibly sweet and satisfying. Oh, and I think I’ve got to meet Andrea Janssen: I was born in Puerto Rico, love artesanos, lived over 10 years in Oregon and have always had an affinity for the higuera as a semi-sacred natural object. Thanks for a great post!