Being Positive

The first being basically whatever you’re doing, it’s being done before! So don’t become so hung up thinking that your reinventing the wheel and that your work is ground breakenly original, because its not!

And the second point she made, was your not going to make a decent living from your art alone, ever.

My first reaction to the above was I guess disappointment. Every artist likes to think they’re work is original and it can be argued it is. It’s original to you. You’ve never done it before, and your work is unique to you, in that no one else can paint what you paint, the way you paint. But I think I understand the larger point she was making in that it can be safely assumed that a category already exists into which your art can easily be slotted.

The second point I’m not so sure about. Even from my own experience there seems to be plenty of artists out there that are make a living from their art alone. Or are they? How do you define a living? The lady who wrote the original article contends you’d need to sell 150k worth of art to make 75k, minus the taxes and expenses that leaves you with about 50k. Are you going to sell 150k worth of art each year she asks, and it’s from this premise she draws her conclusion, you are not going to support yourself from your art alone.

Who am I to argue with those figures your thinking? She’s right. So where does that leave us, do we just pack up the brushes and wipe the turpentine of our kitchen floors? Might be no harm if you have small children, but seriously? Lots of question marks, and I’m not sure of the answers. But there are some things I am sure about.

The reason’s outlined above are not good enough to make you stop painting, and the person who raised the points originally would agree with me. She actually trying to encourage artists and facing reality is important. There are facts, and money is a fact of life we all have to contend with. She was merely outlining what she felt needed to be told to artists, because by their very nature they have a tendency to let their minds float to the clouds, as they are meant to. So its important to be reminded, from time to time, that you have not eaten for three days, and probably won’t for another three unless you find creative ways for marketing your art. Those ways do exist, but as with most things, the answers are not tailor made. Everyone’s situation is different and each needs to discover their own way.

The underlying common denominator is however the attitude of the artist. You’re sick of being told you have to be positive but I’m going to tell you again. When you look at your work, what do you honestly feel? Do you feel proud, sad, disappointed, overjoyed? It matters to know how you feel when you look at your paintings or art, because it dictates how you approach the market. If you feel your work is lacking, your not going to get out there and sell it as only you can sell it. You need to be able to stand back and take an objective inventory of how far you’ve come in the past year and whether you have it in you to go the next few miles on the journey. To do that you need the self belief that sustains.

We all know artists who produce fabulous work that does not sell because they feel it shouldn’t sell, and they create the conditions, consciously or unconsciously, to ensure it does not sell which only feeds their original belief. At least they have the consolation of being right when they’re eating their bread and butter sandwiches. On the other extreme, you have artists who sell lots of paintings, they seem to be in every other gallery window you push your nose up against, and they manage to sell well, with work you would have been forgiven to consider mediocre if the name of the painter was not so well known.

The difference is they believe in themselves, and as a result others do to. They know all the arguments for and against, and they carry on regardless. You alone decide your attitude. Pick the positive one and from there the other answers with regard to the next steps have a way of showing up.