Is self-sufficiency through art possible?

[Mary Sparrow]

Hi Carol! Welcome. I think your portraits are wonderful and fresh, I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to make a living at this!!

[Michele Rushworth]

You might want to check out this thread: http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...9&page=1&pp=10

The possibilities are certainly there for a diligent and determined artist, no doubt about it.

[Claudemir Bonfim]

Welcome to the forum Carol.
And about your question... I

[Carol Broman]

Thank you to every one offering encouragement!

There is really no other pursuit of interest to me. More exactly, there is nothing else I think I am suited to do. I think I am driven enough and excited enough and just slightly obsessive compulsive enough and self-absorbed enough to make a good go of it, but I don't network very well given my introverted nature and thus, don't do very well at making my art visible. I am NOT a business minded person, nor do I have the finances available to hire an agent. Galleries kill me with their fees!

Maybe I am rudely curious, but I would love to know your individual stories of how you got to where you are or how you are going along the way...If you would be so kind to share your philosophy or your concrete step by step plan....I would be very interested and grateful to hear.

[Michele Rushworth]

I don't network very well given my introverted nature and thus, don't do very well at making my art visible. I am NOT a business minded person...

Hate to say it but I got to where things are now by being extroverted by nature, and by working hard at making my art visible. Also, I am a business minded person.

Being a working artist is like running any other small business: make a good product, and, at least as important: let people know about it.

[Linda Brandon]

Carol, welcome to the Forum! I'm captivated by the lady with the dogs. I can't wait to see where it's going.

Most portrait painters I know have had to build up their career and have had to develop extroverted personalities in order to do it, whether they were extroverted to begin with or not. Every tiny step you take toward putting yourself "out there" will help. (Even posting here is such a step.)

I think part of the problem is that a lot of artists are somehow waiting for permission to become a professional. Nobody will give you permission! There is no license to do this, and there is nobody to tell you when you're "good enough." Assume that you are "good enough", push yourself as hard as you can to make your art as good as it can be, get some business cards and flyers out there, and see what happens.

[Mary Sparrow]

Carol,

I am an extrovert in every aspect of my life, except my art and then I shut up like a clam. It takes every ounce of courage I have to tell people I am an artist. I think it is because of precisely what Linda just said. Nobody gave me permission to become a professional. Just last night when I was posting my unveiling of Charlie, I wondered to myself if I would ever be brave enough to post in the professional unveiling section. Now that I sit here and think about it, I have been working as a commissioned portrait artist for over a decade. Would that not make me a professional? While I may not produce works of art like Marvin, I still am making DOUBLE what I made working for the newspaper full time...and I work part time now, so that should give you a little encouragement. Don't get too excited, I still couldn't support my family doing this, but I do make a very nice extra income, much more than any other part time job I could have that is for sure.

So far, every portrait I have done has led to at least one more. Michelle's comment about making a good product being more important than worrying about marketing it is very true. Portraiture has a way of selling itself. The catch is to make sure that the first few you sell to has a network of friends that like to "keep up with the Jone's" and it will spread on it's own from there.