"...my advice from having been right where you are is this:
start TODAY!
1.paint something even if its small (6x8) every single day.
2. market yourself somehow every single day. start a blog and post your one or more painting(s) there. that post counts as your one thing. if you dont post something call someone about showing your art at their place. restaurants, places of business love having art hanging that doesnt cost them anything. have tags next to the stuff for people to get up with you about buying it. you have to do something like this every single day.
3. make a goal of getting in an arts council show (or a multiple person show with other start up artists) anywhere that'll have you. exposure is the name of the game.
4. keep some kind of other sure thing job until youre making enough off your art (consistently) to quit it. nothing wrong with working part time at two things. one you love and know will be fulltime if you stay with it, and the other youre just doing for money. actors and actresses do it all the time right?
these are the very first things i'd do. its how i started three years ago and now i'm fulltime.
if you do these things first you'll be living your dream! good luck and trust God for it!! "
i cant stress the last four words in the above paragraph enough!
9 comments:
Great advice, Mike.
I just finished watching you knife-painting DVD. It was very instructive and helped me make sense of some things that had weirded me out on occasion. I found it full of small, valuable nuggets that can really help in turning out better work, and I'm sure I missed some as well, which is why I'll watch it again. Thanks!
Steve
steve- glad you liked the dvd. the more you watch it the more it'll make sense. i'm going fast on some concepts, that if you havent heard them before, bear repeating.
thanks for letting me know its been helpful to you. i have some more for sale i can send you too. let me know
This is good and practical advice. I've just discovered your blog and am enjoying it very much.
Waiting, not so patiently, to hear about your pegboard easel. I just LOVE innovative people!!!
gaye
thanks. i love to take something i'm using and improve upon it. sometimes it works better and sometimes not.
i'll post the pegboard post for you soon. taking my own advice and have to make sure i paint and market as well as blog :D
Good for you! There's nothing worse than a person who doesn't practice what they preach.
Gaye, if you go to Jerrys Artarama website, you can find a bunch of lessons with equipment tips included from Mike as well as a host of others.
I will take a look. Hopefully, it won't require a high speed connection. me and Arnold Ziffel still have to climb a pole to use the phone! It would cost me about $100 A MONTH for dsl out here.
Mike- you're a living example of the positive effects of doing and not just wishing.
Your blog is a joy to visit.
You're generous with advice, practice what you suggest, and your work shows the sum total of all that you say.
bonnie
youre too kind! thank you. i know for a fact that the only way to get ahead of the pack in this (or any business) is do what the pack doesnt want to do. thats work long hours, paint when you would rather be playing, always "give back" with advice to whoever asks. this is like repaying the folks that helped us along the way. Good kharma out, good kharma in.
its encouraging to know you like coming to my blog.thanks
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