What does it take to succeed in the business of art?

 

This is exciting  because there is a monetary reward offered. It would be nice to win something, if nothing else to pay for the shipping of the painting and perhaps gain a little notoriety.

 

For artists to gain recognition, they must enter these exhibitions on a regular basis and hope for a win now and then.  It seems to be the only way to attract the art magazines to write an article about you.  Why is this so important.  Well for me, I want to give watercolor workshops on a national and international basis. If people are not acquainted with you and your style of painting they are less inclined to sign up for a workshop.  It makes perfect sense, especially when they are laying out a substantial amount of money for tuition, room and board, not to mention the transportation costs. When the bed and breakfast establishments read about you, they are more inclined to book you for a workshop to fill their rooms.

 

This is a business and I hate to admit it, but I am not a good business man.  I am still focusing on trying to improve my craft and have not devoted enough time to the business end of art.  Now if you are really ambitious, writing a book might be the next step in promoting your talent.  This is a major undertaking and I am not sure whether I am up to this.  It would cut too much into my creative time.  However, I continue to write articles on watercolor as I learn new things from experimenting, so who knows, I may just one day gather them all up and write the great American how to book. For the life of me, I can’t think of a title that hasn’t already been used.

 

It has taken all the discipline I can muster just to enter local exhibitions that do not cost a limb to ship my work.  Call me a capitalists but I am looking for those exhibitions that offer cash prizes.

 

The bottom line is there is no easy way to succeed.  I know what to do but doing it, well that is the hard part.