Looking back, there are things I wish I had figured out sooner. Not because I have regrets—I don’t. Every choice, every hesitation, every delay led me here. I used to say that “I was good at doing things I hate for a living”. That was true for many years. Like an arranged marriage, I had to learn to love my work. Those were not wasted years, but what do you need to know so you can avoid some of my mistakes?
Here’s what I know now:
Time flies when you are doing something you love to do: Some put it another way, “do what you love, and you will never work a day in your life”. Man, is that ever true… I now work 12 to 18 hours a day now and not a minute feels like work. After an eight-hour day of real work I am done. After an eight-hour day with a client or in my studio, I am only just getting started. I try not think about how much more I could have accomplished in my 30’s and 40’s if I had followed this path. I did grow to love my work, but this is better. You should try it…
Art is a sector. It is a business. If you are treating it as something else, then success will be difficult to achieve: You need to cultivate more than just pieces of art and social media posts as an artist. Being an artist has more to do with being a supply chain and manufacturing professional than it does about “fine art”. Fine art is a real thing, and it is part of the art sector. However, art is about material, vendors, clients, shipping, inventory, and so much more.
Two River Creative is a company I started to help me handle all of this work. I need to create, and TRC helps me do that. I have learned that it takes a village to be an artist that gets to focus on painting, writing, or being a podcaster.The business of art doesn’t corrupt creativity. It protects it. You need revenue streams (multiple), you need marketing, you need accounting… Don’t worry, Two River Creative is the bridge you need to have a creative business.
People Want to Support Artists: The “starving artist” myth is exactly that—a myth. People want to own art, experience it, live with it. They want to be part of an artist’s journey. They want to see your work and celebrate with you. The sooner you stop believing that success in art is unattainable, the sooner you can create the structures to sustain it.
Your Art Is Bigger Than You: You create, others interpret, enjoy, dislike, react, feel. Find the right way to introduce your work is important. I believe that social media is where great art goes to get stolen. I share a limited amount of my work online. My art is for a small group that I connect with personally.
I know these things now. And my show Death of an Artist is about my path to be a full-time creative and Two River Creative is a business that supports me to achieve success as a professional artist.
What’s something you wish you had known earlier?
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