Dealing with negativity...

I recently joined a group on Facebook that conists of "aspiring" artists like myself.  Regardless of the artform we have chosen we all seem to struggle with the negative people around us who keep saying "it's never going to work" or "why don't you get a real job?" or "Who do you think you are?".  Some people refer to the those people as "haters", others call them "losers" I like to call mine "friends and family".  Yeah, suck on that for a minute.  It's not strangers that come up to me and question what "the heck" I'm doing, it's those that are closest to me...
I'm not sure what it is about chosing an alternate route to provide for your family that seems so incredibly threatening to some people.  I do realize that for a person who has had/has dreams but never had a chance to make their dreams come true it stings a little watch someone succeed, but really, peope themselves are usually their own worst enemy. 
People are usually full of excuses.  "I could do what you do IF only I had the time/money/energy" etc etc etc. 
First of all, I DO NOT have the time for this.  I MAKE time.  I work when other people are sleeping/hanging out with family/socializing/drinking beer WHATEVER.  I have 3 kids.  I DO NOT have TIME to spend 10 hours on painting Dora on a pot. 
But I do because I WANT to, because this is what makes me happy and because this is what I like to do. 
I don't have "the money" to do this, I do it anyways, I use coupons and do it and hope I'll make a couple of bucks when I sell it. 
I definitely do not "have the enegery" for it.  Not always anyways, sometimes I just do it because, again, it makes me happy. 

It might sound like I'm bitter, and I'm really not, I do what I love and I love what I do.  But I get irritated when people have to "put me down".
Trust me I have had 32 years of being "different", I've learned to live with it. 
I do what I do.  And I will keep doing what I do because I love it.  And it makes me happy.  And because I can. 

First and foremost I'm a mother.  My family comes first.  Painting keeps me sane.  And oh, did I mention I love it??!!! 

I definitely am not looking for anyoone's approval, but what IS UP with the negativity? and the putting down??? 

And the asking of "how much money I make?".  Ma bizaniz is none of YO bizaniz :). 

I find comfort in knowing that I'm not alone in this, but it saddens me that a lot of people feel like it's ok to put other people down just because they are  different or have different or unconventional dreams.  I can see people question it if my family was suffering, if I was depending on this to put food on the table for my family, then yes, I would get a "real" job.
I would do what I had to do. 

There was a time when art literally saved my life.  More on that later.

To all of those who do wholeheartedly support me, a big thank you!! 
I do appreciate all the kind words and I know not everyone is out to "ruin the fun". 
Heck, some people have even believed in me when even I didn't believe in myself.  And some people supported me when my ideas/dreams were a bit ehum CRAZY :)
And I was dying (and I'm not being dramatic here, these a stone cold facts) and and told me "draw what you feel" and I did.  And I felt A LOT.  And I lived.  And I kept painting. 
And I will kepp doing it.  No matter what.