Wrong Direction

I got a message a couple of days ago from North Carolina, telling me someone might want to have me do a drawing of the band One Direction.  That didn't sound interesting, but the money was good.  Since I'm currently homeless, that would mean getting a cheap motel room for a night, a nice hot shower, a few art supplies, and food and bus fare for a few days.  But I've had issues getting paid from the person who contacted me at times, and not getting paid from them when I really needed the money is a big part of why and when I left North Carolina when I did. 

After thinking it over, I decided I wasn't going to do the One Direction piece.  The person who contacted me is, right now, sitting on $1900 worth of my artwork (at their prices), of which $1005 would be my cut if it all sold.  Some of it may already be sold, I don't know.  Selling THAT artwork would seriously help my current situation.  If I actually got paid.  I haven't seen a dime from them since June, I think.  So I wrote back and said, "I'd rather die on the streets than waste a week of my life drawing a picture of One Direction."  OK, I don't plan to die on the streets.  But it is a possibility that I go to sleep knowing could happen every single night.  I left North Carolina, I'm not expecting to make another dime from there, and I'm building new strategies to make money with my artwork and writing.  Also, I get really into the music of the singers and bands I draw, and it takes 35-45 hours over a week to do one drawing.  I don't want to spend that much of my time drawing a pop boy band.  If one of my drawings took three hours to do and sold for $40, doing a drawing of One Direction wouldn't be a big deal.  But I'm not in to spending a week on them. 

A rather long and heated message came back, saying that the person who brought up this offer, among other things, will stop promoting me and will burn all the work they have of mine.  Good.  But I doubt it will be burned.  But if you're in Winston-Salem, and you like my stuff, it might be for sale at a discount right now.  Art is a weird world.  OK, on to my next drawing here in Richmond...