Hands down, the number one question that I get asked when someone looks at my artwork is "Do You Do People ?". A bunch of different feelings always come to mind. The first one is the "smutty" adult answer as it seems to always be phrased this way but I don't. The second is that fact that they must find my artwork competent and professional to ask me so I'm flattered. Third is having to tell them "no, not at this time" and today I will share with you the irony of why that is such.
As you know I don't paint full time yet as I work a day job but go about my art in a professional manner because that is my goal. This creates a very difficult situation with your time. First you take 40 hours off the table right off the bat due to your job. This leaves you with your personal life, painting, and running the "painting" business. Now, having said that, lets look at "painting time" I now have my budgeted available painting time planned out so what do I paint? I know I can paint my own landscapes, seascapes, and florals no problem. I know from the past that a can do a pet portrait from a photo or just about anything else a collector would ask me to paint from a photo. Here is were the problem comes about. When doing a portrait you must capture the "exact" likeness of the person, a "nice" painting won't cut it here. I know that I can do great pet portraits from photo beacause I've done them but would it work for people? I take pride in my work and I would have to spend time trying it out in the studio and that comes at the expense of getting current commissions done as soon as possible for my collectors as well as my own body of work.
Now the irony of it all. If I painted full time I would be able to budget time out to working with new things including my way of going about doing portraits but, I wouldn't as of now have the consistent income to do it. You need the consistent income of your job to meet your financial obligations but realize that you could "move mountains" if you didn't have it, but it would be to big a risk. Please don't get me wrong , I'm not complaining, it is a blessing to be supported by my "fans" and I'm doing just fine. I'm just sharing some of the frustrations that go along with working a day job, doing your personal live, and "producing" yourself as an artist.
That's it for today, do you go through something similar? Leave a comment and let me know. Take care, have a great weekend, and I'll see you on Monday.
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