5 Reasons A 2nd Job Could Prevent Your Success

At art exhibits I often hear, “what else do you do?” The implication is that an artist cannot make a living without working a second job to support their artaholicism. I know this is true for many of my fellow artists. Some of them are quite good, but they are not full-time artists. In the modern era it is often necessary for everyone in a family to work. Having a second job brings in income and allows many people to practice art in their spare time. At times when it is difficult to find work, you are fortunate to have either job. Many people have art as a hobby and this is a great arrangement. The benefits of having the income from a second job are obvious. However, for the artist wanting a successful fine art career, having the second job could reduce their chances of success.a

1. You cannot devote the time needed for your art career

If you are to improve as an artist, you must put in as many hours as possible. This means painting late into the night, waking early when the light is best, travelling to competitions and events, exhibitions, framing paintings, preparing surfaces, meeting with collectors, studying art, attending workshops, experimenting, sketching, attending life drawing sessions, and marketing yourself. I know many people who did not study art until their retirement and wish they had started earlier.

2. You are not as motivated because you have a safety cushion

Many of the most famous artists in history had to sell their paintings to pay off debts and died penniless. They poured all their passion and energy into their art. They were driven to push their art and constantly improve. Hunger is a great motivator. When you have the security of a second income you will not be as motivated to succeed. In the back of your head you will always know that you have a plan B to fall back on.

3. Your reputation as an artist suffers


To pay for part of my art education, I delivered pizza. Now imagine if I did the same to supplement my art career. If you were a collector and you recognized the artist as your waiter or pizza delivery guy, would you be as inclined to pay the money that the art is worth? It makes it hard to establish your identity as an artist when you have a conflicting career. Part of this is the problem of role reversal. The artist/collector role is much different than vendor/buyer or servant/client roles. Would you respect your governor or mayor as much if they were doing your dishes? Can you picture Rembrandt waiting on your table?

[caption id="attachment_159" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
Artist Christopher Reid accepting award for his painting "Southport"[/caption]

4. You cannot get the time off to participate in events

I travel all over to compete in plein air competitions and juried exhibitions. I have to choose which events don't conflict with each other and which ones I can reasonably travel between. I don't have to get time off from another job. If I did, I would only be able to compete in a few events a year. I know several artists who can't attend events they would really like to because they cannot get time off.

5. You make less income from each job than you would if you focused on just one

If you paint full time, you earn X ammount of dollars. If you work a job as a doctor, you earn Y. If you work X and Y, you are less successful in both and you will find that X+Y does not equal Z. It is like reverse gestalt theory. Say you earn $50,000 as an artist if you do it full time. If you do it only half of the time, you will make much less than half of that – more like $15,000. If you are not already skilled at art and marketing your art you might not earn anything. When schedules conflict and you have to take a day off from one job or the other, most people will work the job with the dependable income.

Assessing your career

If you are working a job to pay for your art career, you should do an assessment. Where do you hope to be as an artist in 5 years? Are you willing to make sacrifices to get there? Where are your skills weak? What do you need to do to improve? How can you reach more collectors? What would you do differently if you had more time for your art? Is art really what you are passionate about, or is it just a hobby?

Choosing a side job

If you still must work a second job, try to make it art-related. Working at a frame shop, gallery, or art supply store at least exposes you to art during your work. A second job at the beginning of an art career can help you build confidence and help you afford art supplies.

Making the decision

Eventually you need to choose whether you want to be a full-time artist or a hobbyist. Being a full-time artist is not for everyone. I think it is awesome to see people creating art for fun in their spare time. If you decide to do it full-time though, you must give it all your effort. Many of the past master artists may not have been wealthy, but perhaps they were happier because they were doing what they love? Isn't that more important than having a bigger number in your bank account? What would your art become if you gave it your full concentration? You will never know until you do.

Confessions Of An Artaholic

Confessions Of An Artaholic

My name is Chris, and I’m an artaholic. No matter how much art I do, I always want more. When I am not painting, I am thinking about it. I find myself looking at everything with an artist’s eye. Whatever I see, becomes a work of art to me. Even the books I read are about art. In my spare time, I write about art and do life drawing studies. I have have been clean for a few hours, but soon I will…

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Why Buy Better Paint?

I recently attended a meeting where a fellow artist gave a talk and demonstration. He is popular among some of the local artists, seems to be a nice guy, and I was interested to hear what he had to say. I think it is good for all artists to be exposed to different ideas often. Examining alternate theories and opinions can help us grow and strengthen our understanding of our own thought processes.

However, when someone teaches others something that is completely incorrect, I feel it is necessary to correct them. The artist (let's call him Artist B) said that it does not matter what art supplies you use and that he buys the cheapest paints and brushes he can find at hobby stores. That is okay for brushes, but not for paints. The reason for the distinction is that the brushes are not part of the final artwork. They are a tool that can be used and discarded. The paint is a different matter altogether.

1. Alizarin Crimson and other mistakes


When artist B listed his palette colors, he had Alizarin Crimson on his palette. Maybe he is not aware that alizarin is one of the lowest quality pigments available? It fades and turns brown after a short period. The pigment is so inferior to modern pigments that most art supply companies have been replacing it with Alizarin Crimson Hue to preserve their reputation. The replacement pigment, quinacridone, is far superior in every single way. There is no advantage to using alizarin. Unfortunately, it is a relatively cheap pigment and manufacturers are unloading it on uninformed buyers.

Perhaps artist B is using quinacridone and just doesn't know it? That would be fine... if he were not encouraging other painters to use it. Bad advice is much worse than no advice.

Cheaper paints do not list the pigment information on their tubes. This in itself is suspicious. There is no excuse for an artist to be ignorant about their pigments when the information is so readily available online. A major art supply distributor recently removed the pigment information for their own line of paints because the lightfastness ratings were so low. Don't be fooled.

[caption id="attachment_72" align="aligncenter" width="800"] bottom half = paints after UV exposure (alizarin here is actually quinacridone)[/caption]

2. Lightfastness

Lightfastness is the rating of how long a pigment will retain its original qualities when exposed to ultraviolet rays for an extended period of time. UV rays can break down the molecules in a pigment and cause it to turn brown, yellow, and fade. Do you want your colors to change over the next few years? If not, be familiar with your pigments and buy quality brands.

3. Fillers

Because pigment is the most expensive element of any medium, many manufacturers add fillers to their paints as a cheap alternative. Your cheap Titanium White may have a lot of chalk added to it. The presence of fillers alters the working properties of the paint and tends to weaken its tinting strength. You may end up having to use more tubes of cheap paint to get the color you want.

4. Cracking

Artist B works in oils. Perhaps the worst disadvantage of using oil paint is its tendency to crack. I once read an article by museum curators complaining that oil paintings less than 10 years old were having to be taken down from their museums because the paint was cracking so badly. Cheaper brands may not have a consistent ratio of binder to pigment in each of their tubes. This means your red underpainting may have more binder in it than the upper layer of white and your surface will crack when the upper layer is already dry and the unerpainting is continuing to dry. The consistency can also vary between tubes of the same color. This creates a nightmare when mixing paints.



5. Buyers deserve quality

You may not care about the quality of your paints or how the art will look in 5 years, but your buyers will. It is not worth it to save a few dollars on a painting that you are selling for hundreds or thousands. Skimping on your pigments is unethical. Quality paints perform better, last longer, and look better.

6. You get what you pay for

If you are an art buyer, always demand that the art you buy for your collection is made using quality supplies. Artwork in your collection should last for future generations to enjoy. Art created with markers on newsprint might look okay for a few months, but it is not worth the investment.

If you are an artist, be sure to use high quality art supplies. I do not work for the art supply companies and am not advertising any here, though I certainly have my preferences. If you save money by using cheap paints, the damage to the painting will be nothing compared to the damage to your reputation.

Stop Getting Mad At Your Art!!!

No Nudes Allowed!

"Josie's Back" pastel painting by Christopher Reid[/caption]

I participate in many art competitions and exhibitions and am always curious about their selection process. Last fall I was preparing to enter an exhibition when I realized I wouldn't be able to get the paintings to the venue in time for the jury selection. I called the event coordinator to ask if I could send photos by email instead. She said that would be no problem. As an aside, she added that the jury's main purpose was "to make sure that nothing offensive, such as nudes, is admitted into the show." I bit my tongue and submitted the paintings I had already planned on entering. But I have remained troubled by that comment.

What is wrong with nudes?

Seriously. I have heard the no nudes sentiment expressed in online competitions too, so it can't just be a local bias. My mom gets a kick out of showing her friends my landscape paintings and adding, "he paints naked people too", with a smirk. It's as if she were pointing out a flaw. We all have bodies. Why is the human body still taboo in modern society? Are we still that primitive? Has our society gone back to the mores of the Puritans?

Nude vs. Naked

In art, "nude" is used as a noun describing a painting of the human body. It is neither vulgar nor pornographic. "Naked" refers to something uncovered. I think it is important to note the emphasis in nude is on the beauty of the figure and the emphasis in naked is on the lack of clothes. This may seem a trivial difference, but it is huge to artists.

John Singer Sargeant's "Madame X" and Edouard Manet's "Luncheon On The Grass" both caused huge scandals at the Salon De Prix in Paris when they were unveiled. What caused the uproar was that they were not nudes, but had enough clothes in the scenes to make them naked. Madame X only had one strap of her dress hanging down! There were scenes depicting the rape of the Sabine women and bachinalian orgies hanging in the same exhibitions. Apparently it was the context of the figures that mattered most.


Luncheon on the Grass ("Dejeuner sur l'Herbe," 1863) Edouard Manet[/caption]

History of the nude in art.

The nude has been part of art throughout history. Early Greek mosaics, sculptures, and vases depict scenes that would appear shocking even to modern eyes. In many paintings, nudity is used as a metaphor for freedom from oppression. During the Renaissance nudity was used to show a purer life from a better era. I challenge you to name a famous painter before 1900 that did not paint nudes. The human figure is a part of fine art. For most of history more nudes were painted than portraits and landscapes were not even considered acceptable subjects for art until relatively recently.



Visual art is a mirror...

We bring our own biases to our experience of art. How we react to art works in much the same way as a rorschach test reveals something about our psyche. You may see something vulgar in the ink blots above, but that does not make it vulgar. It could mean that you have a tendency to find the vulgar in random shapes.

I once painted an infant on a respirator. A viewer got furious and demanded it be taken down. He had lost a child and my heart sympathizes with him deeply. However, my intention had been to show hope. The title was "Premature Hope" and the baby in the painting had survived against the odds and is now doing quite well. I found the story inspiring and wanted to capture that. Was the painting offensive or inspirational? I guess it is up to the viewer.

If you see a nude as being vulgar, perhaps you should examine why you feel that way. The human body features variations of subtle curves and lines that have fascinated artists for centuries. It is nothing that will harm our eyes.

Carpet-lined shoes

A Buddhist proverb tells of a princess that asked her vizier to go out and carpet the whole land so that everywhere she walked she would feel soft carpet. He replied that he would make her a pair of carpet lined shoes instead. Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder and if you don't like what you see, look away. There are going to be things in life that you don't like. It is easier to change how you react than to attempt to change the whole world. Don't force your views and opinions on everyone else.


"Kyle's Back" pastel painting by Christopher Reid[/caption]

You Can't Do It!

When I was a small child there were 2 people who changed the course of my life without meaning to. My mother always told me I could be whatever I wanted in life. My grandfather taught me to be a gentleman by example. My Father taught me that we can love someone much more than ourselves. My little brother showed me how someone can turn their life around. But this is not about any of them. This is not about people who love us and nurture us. This is a blog about all the cruel people and how we can turn negativity into something that drives us to excel.

Most of us have people in our lives who love us and want to see us succeed. They encourage us with positive reinforcement. Then someone comes along and shatters our rose-colored glasses with a single comment. We latch onto a negative. We begin to think all the people who compliment us are just being polite or being nice because they are family. Why do we do that? As children we are more malleable, but we do it even as adults.

Doubter #1 “You are just booksmart.”
I remember that in 2nd or 3rd grade another little boy told me, “You are just booksmart.” He said it as if it was a terrible insult. I realize now that he was jealous and insecure about his own abilities, but I was just a kid then and sought the approval of other kids. I replied, “What do you mean? I am also good at sports and can’t you learn almost anything from books?” He laughed and said, “You can only learn from books. You can’t do anything else.” “Like what?”, I asked. “You could never be an artist or a musician”, he said.

I had no answer for that and it troubled me. It was true. I had no artistic abilities. My mom had exposed my brother and I to art by covering the dinner table with newspaper and letting us paint as often as we wanted. I knew I couldn’t draw. The closest I had come to being musical was humming along with my first record, Rossini’s William Tell Overture. I had hit keys on my grandmother’s piano and knew it didn’t sound musical. Perhaps this little boy was right?

Me in South Africa with my Ouma and my “little hands”

Doubter #2 “Your hands are too small.”
Little kids are often shockingly cruel and inconsiderate, but the 2nd person who doubted me was a teacher. While I was still ruminating on doubter #1, we took a test in school to determine what careers we might excel in. I scored very high in all subjects, especially math and science. The teacher told me that I would make a great scientist. She could have stopped there, but she had to add “you could never be an artist though.” I asked why not and she held up my hands and said “your hands are too small. Artists have long lean fingers.”

It is undeniable that long fingers are an advantage if you play piano or guitar. But couldn’t someone with short fingers overcome that and find joy in music? And how do short fingers hinder a visual artist? Because I was young, and impressionable I suddenly hated my hands. It would take over 20 years for me to realize my hands are actually average size and that my hands are pretty amazing.

There is an assumption in our culture that the logical left-brain and visual right-brain must be in conflict. Someone who is good at math obviously can’t be good at art. But aren’t kids at a crossroads where they can go any direction based on what they enjoy most? I just found math easy, it wasn’t that I loved it. Shouldn’t kids explore all subjects so they find what resonates within them? Isn’t it cruel to limit a child’s potential because of our own assumptions?

My oldest remaining artwork – a bookmark I drew in marker when I was 5

Was I artistically handicapped?
I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind that there was something I would never be able to do. When my mom had told me I could be anything in life, I had taken her seriously. Now someone was telling me I couldn’t. I had some serious doubts. Was there really something wrong with me?

A vast majority of people believe that art is a gift and cannot be taught. I believe that art is something we all have inside ourselves and we just need a means to share it. We aren’t born with the ability to communicate through drawing or painting, nor are we born with the ability to read. We can learn. Having the ability to communicate does not mean that we have something worth saying, but that is a topic for another blog. When I was a kid I also believed that art might really be some sort of gift.

How do we deal with the doubters in life?
Many of us accept what we are told and take the path of least resistance. We feed off encouragement and work harder at what we are already good at. But I was a rebellious kid. I decided that I would prove them all wrong! I began drawing in class when I should be studying. If I was “book smart”, then why not just read the book on my own? I began looking at paintings from the Renaissance and copying comic book art. I sketched all the time. I had little hands to overcome. Soon I was drawing charicatures of my teachers and other students. I didn’t take art classes because they all tried to get me to work non-representationally and that wasn’t the kind of art that spoke to me.

Within a few years I was winning school art contests and even won a “Best Artist” award for the entire school. I had proven them wrong! Now I could get back to my math, right? Well, not exactly. I discovered that I loved drawing once I got good at it. Success is a great motivator. I ended up studying fine art at SCAD and UNCW , winning international acclaim, and the rest is history that you can view on my bio or LinkedIn profile.

If it were not for these 2 people, I might have become a scientist or engineer. If you know how much I love art or are familiar with my artwork, you may believe that I was born with a brush in my hand. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I became an artist simply because I was told I couldn’t do it.

 

dune jumping at the beach with my little brother

The lesson learned
The lesson I hope you will take from my life is in how I dealt with negative comments. I chose not to believe them and to turn perceived weaknesses into strengths. I chose to believe in myself instead of the doubters. We should be the ones who determine our path in life. Do we let our weaknesses determine what our strengths will be? Do some people become artists or not only because of their math scores? Do you hate your job because you don’t think you can succeed at doing something you love?

If you work hard at something and put in the time, you can overcome almost any obstacle. People like Ghandi and Helen Keller overcame odds that would crush most of us and changed the world. Are we to ignore their example and accept that anything is beyond our reach?

Unleashing my inner superhero

A message to all those who doubted me
There have been many people in my life who doubted me. Most of these people have been small-minded and miserable themselves. They have insulted me and put their foot on my head whenever possible. They want to see their negative expectations fulfilled. To all of you who doubted me, I only have one thing to say. Thank you! Seriously. I bear you no ill will. In all honesty I probably would have never fallen in love with art if it were not for you.

There are enough negative people in the world to crush a small boy’s dreams. We should all strive to be people who encourage even our competitors. The people in our lives who love and support us give us the strength to doubt the doubters. They have my love and gratitude. We need to give their compliments more weight than the doubters. Those close to us actually know us and probably like us for a reason.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you what you cannot do!

Artificate

[ahr-ti-fuh-kayt] to talk about art in a manner that can be understood. (word origin: reidsart.com)

I welcome feedback from artists, art lovers, and anyone else wanting to artificate. Any questions, suggestions, critque or opinions are welcome. I love talking about art and I look forward to sharing with you.

Christopher Reid is an award-winning artist working in pastel, watercolor, acrylic,and charcoal. He paints all different subjects from coastal landscapes to wildlife to portraits. View his work at reidsart.com or email reidsart@yahoo.com

What Can Rembrandt Teach Us About Art Today?

Artificate

[ahr-ti-fuh-kayt] to talk about art in a manner that can be understood. (word origin: reidsart.com)

"What can we learn from Rembrandt?"
406 years ago today Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born. We are in the middle of a new renaissance for realist art and this continued popularity of this Dutch master is a sign that his work is still relevant. "#Rembrandt" was trending on Twitter today. (Does anyone else find that ironic?) Whenever I teach art students who are interested in illustration or tattoos, I have them study Rembrandt's prints. Rembrandt remains rooted in the public consciousness as one of the greatest artists of all time.

Great art transcends "movements"
During the 20th century it seemed there was a new art movement every week. Warhol predicted that everyone would have 15 minutes of fame and realist art was called "boring and irrellevant" by the abstract non-representational artists. Despite this nadir for fine art, exhibits of Rembrandt's works continued to draw huge crowds. Rembrandt's paintings from the mid 1600s were certainly not part of whatever movements were in fashion during the 20th century. Why are his paintings still so popular? Why is he still so widely acclaimed?

It is very hard to deny the skill of someone like Rembrandt. His brushwork, tenebrist lighting, subdued color, and mood has stood the test of time. Rembrandt did not pander to the latest trends or the critics. He painted with consumate skill and created amazing works of art. He was not trying to be different or establish brand identity. He was too busy creating masterpieces and constantly examining himself through the lens of his art. His introspective self-portraits are legendary. He painted subjects in a way that was honest rather than flattering. He continued where Caravaggio left off. He painted in a manner that was not yet popular. By not waiting for tastes in art to change, he helped alter the course of art history.

Artistic work ethic
I have a book of every known Rembrandt print, with most of them actual size. It is an impressive body of work that any artist would be proud to claim. But wait! That book doesn't even include his paintings or sketches! It is humbling to realize how much art Rembrandt was creating each year. Nobody could call him a lazy artist. Because Rembrandt loved art so much, he also collected it, even when he couldn't afford it. He lost most of his collection to bankruptcy. He did not earn even a fraction of what his art was worth and was buried in a pauper's grave. If he wasn't making much money, why did he paint so prolifically until the day he died? He was the artist that we should strive to be. He painted because he loved it.

Never stop improving your art
If you look at Rembrandt's paintings from his youth, you might be surprised to see how good he already was. He chose to keep challenging himself and experimenting with chiaroscuro and brushwork. Imagine if you were Rembrandt and still felt you needed improvement! Art does not have an end goal. We do not reach a point where there is no way to improve. It is a lifelong journey. Rembrandt's self portraits chronicle his life and also his progress as an artist. They always remind me that as artists we should be challenging ourselves every day.


Realism doesn't mean photo-realism
All the painters that we refer to with the title "master", such as Rembrandt, Michaelangelo Buonarotti, Bouguereau, and Rubens, painted realistically. All of them. Every single one. Let that sink in. Their artwork never really went out of style. What caused the masters from art history to stand out among their peers was that they were not merely copying an image, they were creating compositions that communicated experiences to their audiences. They used light and color to create drama. Rembrandt reminds us that realism is so much more than copying a photo.



Why am I an artist?
When I look at Rembrandt's artwork I am reminded of everything I love about art and why I am an artist in the first place. I am inspired to paint more and push my own boundaries. I am humbled by his skill and dynamic compositions. I am reassured that beautiful art will never go out of style. I am reminded to focus not on what others think of my art but on my own artistic vision. Not too shabby for a 406 year old Dutch painter who died penniless, huh?
Happy birthday and thank you Rembrandt! :)


I welcome feedback from artists, art lovers, and anyone else wanting to artificate. Any questions, suggestions, critque or opinions are welcome. I love talking about art and I look forward to sharing with you.

Christopher Reid is an award-winning artist working in pastel, watercolor, acrylic,and charcoal. He paints all different subjects from coastal landscapes to wildlife to portraits. View his work at reidsart.com or email reidsart@yahoo.com