The Art of Being an Artist

I’m telling you right here and now, it isn’t easy…being an artist. It used to be that one could get away with just painting good pictures but that has changed dramatically over the years. Painting the picture is the easy part. It’s everything else that goes with it that is becoming a real challenge.


I see two factors that are causing the most grief. The first is the competition. There are a lot of really good artists out there, creating some really good art, not to mention all of the marginal artists, creating marginal art. I’ll let you draw your own distinction between the two. I’m not going there.

The second factor contributing to this angst is technology, specifically computers and the internet. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for it. The problem, as I see it, is that those who have grown up with it, and have embraced it as a way of life, expect us all to think and operate on the same level in order to be successful. I don’t know. Maybe they are right but I’ll tell you it is exhausting trying to keep up.

Those who think they are “in the know”…and who knows…maybe they are right, tell you that to compete in today’s marketplace, you need to expose what you do in all the right places and in the right way. Here’s what I’m talking about.

I do a painting and hang it in my gallery. All of the career coaches and experts say you need to keep a regular and interesting presence on Facebook too. You also need to keep a regular and interesting presence on your “blog”. Keep your website current. Post pictures of your art. Every time you do a new piece, get it on the ‘net. Tell the story. Keep up your presence.

Now they are telling us that we need to create videos of the creative process. People want to see what we are doing and how we do it. People want to know. Get it on Youtube. It’s the next big trend…and it’s true. I spend way too much time watching videos on Youtube of “what and how” others in my trade are doing. I suppose that it beats watching what’s on TV, which is time waster, but that’s a topic for another time.

The problem is that by the time I try to do all of what it takes to just keep up, I haven’t much time left for what I do…paint pictures, make frames and lay a little gold. They say “there’s no rest for the wicked and the righteous don’t need any” so I guess I better quit whining and get busy. Thanks for stopping by. See you downtown.