ART IS SPIRIT
Creating art is never a simple, compartmental type of work.
You can’t schedule it.
You can’t confine it.
You can’t force it.
It’s a free flowing energy. A liberal spark that comes and goes as it pleases, swayed by emotion, moments or inspiration. And when we yield to that force, grand works come to life.
MONEY MAKER
So when we start to make money off of it, it becomes dangerous toy.
The idea of success.
The idea of making a LIVING.
We are inspired by artists who have made a career of this but cannot grasp the capacity of what they sacrifice for that to happen. For THIS to work.
MY BLUNDEROUS BEGINNINGS
When I began to start selling my work online, I had a typical, but loose schedule of what I would do each day. About 7 days a week, I’d paint for a few hours in the day and a few hours at night. In between, I researched and networked on the web, did my normal home chores and tried to have a normal live in whatever free area there was. It was really at my own discretion how I organized my work and life and I was erradic, mostly working nonstop. Some days I didn’t bother to eat and most of the time I never slept. I fell into bed around 4 and got up at 7 raring to paint. Money and responsibility motivated me, or so in only one aspect. And depending on how much I listed art would determine whether I’d get enough exposure of the piece to sell it and for how much. I fought the typical issues of web business to sell work. Sometimes art didn’t sell for much or at all.
The concept that there was ‘no time to lose’ was the new force.
The force and requirements I put on myself weighed me down. I worked nonstop, talking about it nonstop and never taking a break to connect with my family and friends. ….and I ended up in the ER. Not only was I affecting my own health, but I began to disconnect from the real world and from those I loved the most. Those I truly did this for.
I forgot to keep focus, and to remind myself that this wasn’t the point of why I did this. Why I made art a business, instead of a hobby. I lost the plot.
Sometimes making a living from our talents becomes a heavy weight that tears us down physically, emotionally and spiritually.
How do we determine how to use our talents for monetary use?
DANGEROUS CREATION METHODS MUST STOP
If we want art to be our business and career, if we want to bring order to something erradic like art for business use, we have to do these things:
- Indentify why we must be in business with our art. Why are you pursuing an art career rather than doing it as a hobby? Do you NEED to sell your art? Do you have to change careers for sanity? Are you looking for something you think is going to be fun? You have to identify the pros and cons to this decision and research how this will work and if the sacrifices you make will be worth this. You have to remember that creating art and running a business are two of the most difficult things. You’re taking on two very difficult works. You have to keep all of your financial and legal issues organized.
- Indentify our quirks and bad habits and eradicate them before they become a part of our working methods. If we do this, we can learn how to avoid them and create a more positive experience around creating work. You don’t want to get stressed out, physically ill or hurt the people around you that matter. This isn’t what life is about. This is now your job.
- Develop some schedule for everything like social networking, emailing, newsletters, blogging or working on art shows. Don’t let it bleed into your everyday life or into your family time. It’s not fair to those around you, whom you live your life with.
- Give yourself a break and disconnect. In order to keep from going insane from the heavy amount of work required to be successful at what we do, we need to totally disconnect from our work, from the web and technology. Spend time alone with your loved ones, with a book or doing menial things. Grounding yourself in reality reminds you where you want to be and keeps you from going too far. Sometimes this work disconnects us from reality and what we really want. DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN.
We’re not all going to be Andy Warhol.
Filed under: Art News | Tagged: art business, life, natasha wescoat, work
I respectfully disagree!
A working and professional artist easily enters the “Art Zone” when working on commissioned or deadline art. A thorough and unbiased study of art history will reveal that even Michaelangelo was an “artists for hire.”
That’s a really biased statement you just posed. Not EVERY artist can just go into a “zone” when creating work. We’re not all the same. My point is when you start using your art as a business, the possibilities of how it can overwhelm everything else and how to avoid those factors.
I both agree and disagree!
I am an artist, with a minor in psychology and have studied personality and temperament all of my life. What I have learned is that we are all different. As artists we are all just as different in personality, work habit, way of producing our art, etc… as are art is from another artist’s work.
As a professional, I find in my own life, once I force myself to start painting immediately I am “in the Zone”. I often have to make myself start a new painting but once started, I can’t stop.
I have also found that when someone commissions a work, the fact that they love my work and want a painting of mine is enough to spur on my creative juices and often results in some of my greatest works!
We are all different.
by the way, great blog!
I agree Natasha.
The problem comes when an artist shifts her focus from the art and creativity to the money. I’m going through that struggle right now. I’m so worried about making money and not failing that my creativity is shot. Being creative is about working within the journey and being in the moment. It’s very hard to do that when your livelihood depends on getting paid for what you love to do.
For that matter, it’s not only artists that go through this. I think this happens with anyone trying to make a living out of what they love to do. I’m not saying it can’t be done but I agree with Natasha that if you are going to go down this road you must do so with caution.
I think if you want to pursue a career in art or turn what you love to do into a career you must have extreme confidence and trust in yourself. Only then can you set aside your focus on the future and money and live in the moment where creativity thrives.
Working full-time like I do and then doing freelance on nights and weekends is tough.
I do fall into these patterns where all I want to do is work. I am getting better though at scheduling work time and family time.
I realize that when a great idea pops into my head, scribble it down and get to it when the kids are in bed or when the next opportunity arises. =0)
Great Post Natasha!
[...] Dangerous Creation Methods: losing the plot in art business [...]
Thank you for posting that Natasha! It was really great advice for someone like me, who is a total spaz when it comes to creating art.
It’s been my own personal experience that money doesn’t seem to motivate me, even when it was supposed to. Ironically, the exact opposite happened!! But boy-oh-boy do I have creative juice for volunteer work or things I actually have to PAY for… weird eh? I tried, unsuccessfully, for a year to run my own graphic design business and failed miserably. As soon as I got that down payment, I’d just sit there at the computer or sketch pad for hours and hours with a blank-slate, wanting to shoot myself while asking “Why did I take this job?! UGH this sucks!!!”.. It’s the worst feeling in the *world* when you know you have a deadline -that you made even- and your internal muse has decided to take a vacation around the same time! All my business friends would go, “It’s only $$$ Kristina, just give them something worth $$$. If they wanted something better, they would have paid more.” But I just couldn’t do it. I HAD to give my best, and more often than not, my best just wouldn’t show itself and that drove me nuts!
m Theresa Brown, you are one of the few (and SUPER LUCKY!) souls that claim to not have a problem with this, and I totally envy you! You are blessed with something I don’t have. That’s probably one of the reasons why you’re so successful.
Natasha, I had the same issues: I would work everyday with minimal or no sleep, and often no food. I’ve got kids as well, just like you. Daily chores seriously got in the way – cleaning, cooking, laundry, hauling to and from schools, as well as social life seem to take precidence, and the art got put.. well, on the backburner. And when it wasn’t, I became uber-mega-b*tch-woman when anyone tried to distract me. I knew if I got distracted, it would be hell trying to get back into the coveted “zone” again. I then decided I did not want to create based on other people’s marketing ideas for a living. I hated every second of it, even though it was still art. It got to the point where I couldn’t even attempt to do it for pleasure. So I closed my business and got a “real job” that I hated equally as much, but at least it was a steady paycheck.
I’ve recently picked up the proverbial paintbrush again (I am really on a chalk pastel kick right now) and have been slowly rekindling my love of fine art. I’ve decided that if I venture into the art-for-money world again, it will be on my terms: MY art, MY ideas, MY timelines, and just sell the prints. I get too attached to my originals to outright sell.
Our house is on the market right now, and we’re looking into moving onto a sailboat (yes, a sailboat) and circumnavigate the globe. I would LOVE in the to sell my art all over the world while I travel as my form of means, but I know there are some things I need to come to terms with. And some resources I need to check out. You have been a HUGE inspiration over the past few months in regards to delving deeper and doing the research if I want to become serious about my art, so thank you.
There is much truth in the saying “follow your passion” in life, but it’s also a bit misleading. Simply following a passion won’t help you build income unless you develop it as a business. You need to actively look for opportunities to create value with your passions.
The financial payoff of following your passion. Is that you deliberately take steps to do the work you love instead of the work you hate, and hopefully make money doing it.
That is what I have done for the past 20 years. Working in the art arena as commercial artist, as well as an art consultant to the trade. I live, eat, breath art. I can only tell you that the driving force behind my success is not just the monetary aspect, but the satisfaction that comes with knowing my peers like my work, and are willing to spend their hard earned money to obtain it. Do I get burnt out, yes? It is worth it, yes. Most importantly, I have learned to “Thrive on rejection”.