I will pose this question to artists, aspiring and otherwise…

Through most of the 1990s and up until the end of the last decade, I mostly made my living off of customized wall-sized paintings I do for homes and offices and such. People will send me swatches from their carpet, drapes, etc., and I create something to fit. While this isn’t the high art I was hoping to create when I was a Master of Fine Arts student in New York, it was quite lucrative — until I went through a messy divorce and the housing market where I live (Florida) totally crashed.

Thankfully, I had an adjunct teaching gig at the local junior college and was able to parlay that into a full-time faculty/adviser role and curator of the college art gallery. Recently, I was promoted to Dean. It’s a respectable job that everyone can relate to and the pay is very good. My relatives seem very proud of me to have accomplished this intellectual honor, though they never really understood the art.

However, I did keep painting and the housing market is slowly coming back around. Also, one of my paintings was recently found in a storage unit in the TV show “Storage Wars” and was appraised on the show at a decent value, driving a good deal of traffic to my web site and resulting in a lot of new orders, many from out of state.

I’m starting to get pretty stressed out with the extra art orders and the full-time dean’s position. Each one in itself is at least the equivalent of a full-time job. I’m 40 and have a decent energy level, but I think I’m maxed out creatively and intellectually, at least during the school year.

The painting is more of a craft than an art and quite a pragmatic job in arranging transportation, dimensions, etc. But it is more closely related to what I studied as a student. It also has the potential, if I did have more hours to devote to it, to pay much more than my academic job.

But it’s tough to look a gift horse in the mouth. The academic job alone puts me in the top 5 percent of earners in this region. In this horrible economy, it’s hard to let go of a sure thing.

Besides, maybe if I stick with it, I could be a college president some day. But the painting lets me make my own hours, I can dress however I want, not shave.

I can’t simply charge more for my art so I can do fewer pieces while still earning the same, as the market is what it is, and I do have competitors. Also, I would never outsource the creation of the art and put my name on it. I have more integrity than that. I do have an attention to detail I wouldn’t trust with a subordinate.

Such decisions. What would you do?