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As someone fairly new to the craft of painting, but not new at all to the arts (grew up in Rome, Italy, come from a chef/writer background, after college worked as a museum installation specialist), I have to say the most useful mantra I've heard is Peggy Baumgaertner's advice: "Fake it till you make it."
I interpret this way:
1. You have to paint miles of canvas to understand the medium and its potential as a language (means of expression).
2. You must realize any creative process comprises both the creation and the critique of the work. Without its nemesis, creation is wallpaper, and critique is a murderer.
3. If you want to make a living at art (and it seems good and bad painters do), then you must treat your art as a job, report to duty in a consistent manner, maintain focus, and embrace all aspects of the job (from marketing to cleaning brushes to client relations).
4. Titles are just labels to help humans communicate.
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