"Paintings With Personality"
Are You a Serious Fine Artist? What is your label?
Please meet 'Blue Wildebeest.' I saw this creature at Safari Park in Southern Virginia. I took lots of photos of amazing animals when Honey and I were there. In the meantime, the animals were slobbering all over my car. First thing I did when we left was get my car washed! Back to my painting, it is on a full sheet of Arches 140lb watercolor paper, 22x30, using transparent and opaque watercolor. I was in love with the shadows falling across the animal.
One of our daughters and I went to an ‘Off Off Broadway’ play Friday night. We knew the ten year old girl who was in the play and wanted to see her performance. She was truly amazing, and we had a great time. ‘Off Off’ and ‘Off Broadway’ plays are more fun than the extravagant Broadway productions, they are easy going as well as up close and personal. The actors are experienced and many have played on Broadway at one time or other. In other words, you don’t have to go to Broadway to see a good show and enjoy an evening out.
The same is true with art. Visual artists, whatever form or art they follow, are often referred to as professional, amateur, or hobbyist. The labels have nothing to do with the quality of their art, and they won’t change the art produced. Amateurs are usually just as talented as professionals. Let’s take a look at the dictionary.com definition of what it means to be a hobbyist, an amateur or a professional.
Hobby: an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation.
These artists don’t work very often. When they do work, their art often emulates something from the last exhibition they saw, or from the latest workshop they took. They don’t work enough to have a style of their own.
Amateur: A person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reason. This definition lets the artist enjoy making art, take workshops, and work when they want because their art doesn’t have to pay the bills.
Amateurs don’t have to submit to anyone’s demands, but can make their own choices about their art. They are free to experiment and try different things, enjoying the flexibility of creating what they want, when they want. They pay for this freedom by accepting that they will be limited in the places where you can exhibit their art, and won’t get as much money for their work when they sell.
Professional: Following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain. According to this definition you aren’t a professional artist unless you are making a living with your art. To make art your profession, you have to love making art enough to be willing to work a minimum of 12 hours a day.
Your art is your product. To make a living from it, you must begin your day early by checking your email and responding to clients, updating your social media, shipping art you have sold, adding work to sell to Ebay and Etsy, updating your website and then for 6-8 hours, creating more art to sell. As much time is spent on business as in creating art. There will also be taxes to pay, and if there is any time left over, you can work on the art that you want to create.
The above labels become especially complicated when ‘professional or amateur’ are used to describe skill rather than career choice. Since there must be labels, I suggest ‘serious artist’ as an appropriate substitute for amateur. This tells galleries and clients how you work, not how you earn a living.
To be an artist takes expendable time, money and energy. You give up all free time to work on learning and practicing your art, with little hope of being reimbursed. Only by working a lot and working hard will your art improve. There is nothing wrong with being a hobby artist, it is simply a choice. If you are a ‘hobbyist,’ and want to achieve ‘serious’ status, all you have to do is work more.
What are your thoughts on the subject?
Have a great week, Judy
www.judyballance.com
The Nicest Way to View Art
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