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Richard, please pardon me for leaving the guys out of it! Your post was most amusing. You are, of course, right in that male artists with families who are conscientious about their responsibilities are also limited in their ability to devote themselves without distraction to their work.
Remaining single is a great benefit for either sex when it comes to the singleminded pursuit of reaching your potential in painting. Mary Cassatt and Cecilia Beaux spring immediately to mind as examples of women who consciously chose to remain single. Being wealthy, having a supportive spouse and household help never hurts either, which was true for the French Impressionist, Berthe Morisot.
Maybe being a bit of a "paint slob" is not such a bad thing in the long run. Maybe we should be ignoring the mess to focus on more important tasks, no matter what our circumstances. Trying to keep our surroundings in order is a thankless task somewhat akin to shovelling snow in a never ending storm and perhaps the less time devoted to it, the better for our productivity!
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