How did I transition to art from architecture?
Hello,
I am here today to answer more questions from Amy G.
This week I’m going to answer some questions about financially supporting myself after I transitioned to art.
When my husband and I decided to pursue this goal, we knew it would require a lot of sacrifices in order to achieve it. We created a five-year plan, where we began saving and working to transition to a single income to support the necessities of life. In my eyes, my husband is the best man in the world and I am forever grateful that he was willing to take a long view on my art career. He supported me when I began to establish my art career. Because I wanted to make sure I established myself as an artist with the caliber of skill that allowed me to really explore the ideas of expression in fine art with the goal of eventually making it financially solvent.
Going into my art career, initially I did not prioritize selling paintings instead I focused on skill growth. I still sold paintings and always made sure that I covered my expenses as an artist, however I always put exploration and skill growth as my priority.
Early on I had a pact with myself that I could commit 50% of my time at the easel as being exploration and scrape downs.
This mentally freed my mind to not worry about the end result being a sellable product, but instead that my art practice was a process of exploration and discovery.
When I began establishing my art career I knew it would takes years to really maximize my ability to express myself to the level that I wanted. I did not rush this process, but instead allowed myself to grow. Each year my work has improved and the perceived worth of my art has increased as well. I am honored to know that my work is valued and loved by those that see it and live with it.
And like usual, I read a few books that helped me develop a committed mindset and methodology to implement into my art practice. These books were crucial in getting me to a point in my art career where I was making money and doing more than just covering my art expenses. I used the ideas deliberate practice I read about to achieve mastery in my art skills. The books I have found to be the most helpful are:
When working on this blog post I came upon my 2009 New Years post with my art goals for the year. Check out goal no. 3 where I wrote about my hoped for goal to leave architecture and shift into art full-time. On March 17, 2009 I did transition to art full-time. But in January it was still something up in the air, more of a wish than an eventuality.
It has been the best and most challenging experience of my life and I am so honored to get to do this every day.
If you have any other questions, please let me know and send me an email.