Do You Want to Make Worthwhile Fine Art and Thrive?
What choices help a person to become a professional career artist or remain a professional 'art student'?
1. Professional artists today who have gallery
representation, win awards, have clients, contract for commissions and private sales, seem to have one thing in common:
They approach their life work as a job they love having!
Their attitude is ''The Best or Nothing'' (Thanks, Mercedes Benz!): They strive to be the best they can be and make necessary practices to gain mastery of the mind, heart, and hands. For instance in China
and Russia, many art academies require attendance 6 days a week, 14 hrs a day, for 6 years! There are no magic sales seminars or tricks to become an overnight success without a consistent body of work.
A professional artist visualizes paying rent or mortgage, and expenses through
selling art. If self-employed, one has to be mindful to set up their own health insurance, retirement, and savings plans, often in addition to sustaining a family, as there is
no corporate golden parachute waiting!
2. A 'professional student' is often found in the stratosphere of hopes and dreams, without a clear assessment of their skill level. (see #1). A lack of disciplined training may still show. Their productivity and
voice may not be loud enough to make their art identifiable in less
than 5 seconds to viewers online. Even a great love for making art may still need a viewpoint, or direction to show a well-defined oeuvre. Making conscious decisions about harmony in subject, series, themes, are good choices.
What if one has missed out on a solid foundation or apprenticeship? What might propel us forward to make a quantum leap at any point in our life:
*Give up all self-sabotage talk like, 'not enough time', 'too old', 'not good enough', or 'I haven't got the talent'.
*Zero in on what you would love to express.
*Focus on your best
skills, then put in more hours than you thought.
*Prepare by studying from the best schools and teachers you can find, then practice exactly what you want to perform, like a karate master or concert violinist.
*Be positive that the hours of preparation, discipline, and goal-setting will surely be noticed and rewarded.
