Mid- ... er, Third- life Crisis

I'm at a point in my life and my career where I'm looking for more. I think this may be what people refer to as a mid-life crisis, although I'm not old enough for that yet (I'm not, dammit!). The problem is that I'm torn in several directions: I want to step back from corporate enslavement and focus on my writing and other artistic pursuits; I also want to kick some more ass professionally, because I'm pretty darn good at my day job; there isn't enough time in a day to do both, and my loving wife certainly deserves a better life. It's adilemma. The career path equates to more money, which leads to the comfort of knowing that bills will be paid, and that food will be on the table. It also leads to stress, more time apart, and all that comes with the Dilbertopia of modern corporate living.
I used to throw pottery, long ago. Mostly in art classes at school, because I didn't own a wheel or a kiln, but I loved the process of it. I used to paint, and was moderately good at it. I've beensuccessfulwriting, but on a very small scale ... perhaps with some more commitment on my part, I could make enough of a living with words that I could let everything else go.
With an increasingly decreasing economy, it's hard to turn your back on a decent day job (and I should point out that I really like the company I work for, and the people I work with). But when that life takes away from your passions, and still only barely pays the massively-inflating bills, what does one do? Asking for more money is one option, although it is a slippery slope further intocorporatelockdown.