I don’t know what I’m doing.
I didn’t grow up thinking I wanted to be an artist or a writer. Making a living off of either seemed like a longshot at best, if not impossible. I never imagined it was possible, feasible, or even smart to pursue it. All the stories about being a starving artist kept me from considering it; and I never thought I was even remotely good enough to have a shot at success (particularly financial success) at it. I’m no Frida Kahlo.
Art was just a hobby, something fun to do in between the pursuit of a “real job.” Being around art and artists in my museum job kept me close to that world and helped me learn more about the industry. But I still didn’t consider myself an artist — it was just a hobby (an expensive one, so I tended to create art that I could make cheaply with things easily available, like collages).
I went on to a corporate job, still loving art, but not an “artist” I though. A few years after I attended a friend’s art show and talked to another artist there who encouraged me to submit my art to contests and shows. That seemed pretty crazy to me, but I started submitting my work around, not expecting anything but crickets and rejection (something I got accustomed to during job searches).
To my surprise though, I got positive responses. My first exhibition was October, 2021 and I couldn’t believe my work was in a museum and not leaning on the walls of my apartment.
I kept submitting my work around, getting selected for an exhibition was validating, even though I wasn’t a top winner or earning cash prizes.
A gallery reached out me, offering to represent me. So I became one of the artists given a solo exhibition on their site. It was wild to see my art presented like that, I couldn’t believe that I could really be an artist. And then when they offered to have my work on Artsy.net, the online art auction site, it felt even more real. I started believing that it was possible.
Fast-forward a few months I had left my job; not necessarily to pursue my art dreams but for other reasons. It seemed like the perfect time though to keep pushing with my art.
So I’ve been working at it for the past month and a half since I left. Trying to become the artist that could actually survive working as an artist. I don’t know what I’m doing — I’m worried that I’m doing it all wrong. The marketing stuff is a real hurdle for me, especially the social media marketing. It’s how you get your work seen and your art sold though (for the most part at least) so I have to keep pushing. It’s hard though to know what’s working and not working though. I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing, or if I’ll have to return to a “real” job to survive. I don’t want that to happen though. I want this to work.
Shop my designs at Etsy, Pixels.com, Artsy.net, Redbubble, and with Art Show International where I have a solo exhibition.
