It’s bright and early on a chilly January weekend morning and I’m sitting in front of a roaring log fire with my dogs scattered around the living room, drinking hot coffee and balancing my computer on my lap. We got back late last night after an 8 hour drive from an art show and Steve, my artist husband, is still asleep. There is no rush to be awake this morning. We don’t have to travel far to work in a city or anywhere we need to be this morning except our own art studio, which is only 15 feet from the house.
Welcome to a day in the life of a working artist!
It is not always so calm and relaxed. We have been doing this for a long time and even when we have children, school schedules, illnesses, art exhibition events, needs of elderly parents and real life, we have the ability to take time off at any time.
How do we do it?
My husband and I have been full-time artists for 30 years. Separately and together. Perhaps autonomous would be a better term. What that means is that everything we have, own, do, or want to do as a couple or individually is funded, entirely, by the proceeds from the sales of our art. There is no additional external income. Romantic urban legends of artists’ lives aside, in reality, all working artists have similar lifestyles. Creating a balance between creativity and reality is the beauty and challenge of a life as an artist. We have the ability to do nothing, or work all day on an inspiring piece of art, or drop what we’re doing for whatever real-life emergency arises. We’re not afraid of missing vacation days, angry bosses, tangled traffic, office drama, or losing our jobs. Of course, we don’t have a regular or even guaranteed paycheck either.
There are no secrets or magic formulas for this lifestyle. I can summarize with three key elements: Discipline, perseverance, lifestyle choices.
DISCIPLINE:
Even as I write this newsletter, I am making a list on the sidelines of what I need to do today to continue my lifestyle. I make a one-page, two-column “to do” list. One side has each day of the week and balance, according to priority, which must be fulfilled daily from Monday to Sunday. (weekends are rarely “free”). The other column has an urgency of “this week” versus “today.” There is a difference. One allows for the infamous human procrastination (within reason). The other one doesn’t.
There is the business side of the art which includes going to the bank, going to the post office, starting with the paperwork that the accountant will need. Organize, order, regroup, summarize the results of the art areas within the business. In other words, everything you need to run a business. I have paintings to start and complete, people to contact, a calendar to update, events to plan, entries to submit, blogs and websites to keep up to date, newsletters to send out. All of these tasks are included in a specific day to tackle and complete.
On the “this week” side, I know I need to fix a section of fence in the horse pasture. I know I need to remove the leaves from the herb garden and we both need to finish painting and put the hardwood floor over a new subfloor, the results of a leaking water heater that required us to rip out part of the kitchen. flat. Add to that the annual “after Christmas” cleanup of our art studio, and you can see where the list goes.
I enjoy the sense of accomplishment of “crossing things off the list.” We all do. And I confess that I have indeed added, then crossed out, tasks that I accomplished but did not add to the original list. Discipline is what fuels your artist lifestyle. There is no such thing as “waiting for motivation.” You are, in fact, expecting discipline.
PERSEVERANCE:
There is a direct correlation between perseverance, discipline and necessity. Discipline is seeing what needs to be done and doing it. Perseverance is sticking with it. Perseverance is solving those art problems, art shows, new ideas, experimenting, and sticking with it when the going gets tough. The life of an artist has the same daily challenges as the life of a non-artist. But it has the advantage of adding creativity to his work. Artists stop creating even when they are out of the studio. Perseverance is continually doing what it takes to create and market your art day after day after day. Money starts and ends with you and it’s up to you to achieve your own goals. Every challenge has a way out and that’s where you can find out if you have what it takes, both in your abilities and your temperament, to face the adversity, challenges and surprises that life throws at you. The “right stuff” doesn’t just apply to astronauts.
LIFESTYLE OPTIONS:
Life is about choices. If you intend to live a life as an artist, the pressures of freelancing will be greatly reduced when you make the decision that “keeping up with the Joneses” is not what life is all about.
We live in a modest, 1600 sq. ft 3 bedroom ranch style home on 3 acres in the country. My two daughters shared one bedroom, my two sons shared another bedroom. We now use one of the rooms as an office.
We do not rent studio space. We built our 800 square foot studio out of the remains of a 1910 house that we helped dismantle. We used family and friends to put up the roof, build the 10-foot roof. walls, brick the foundations and put in the old pine floor. There is ample space to work, hold classes or retreats, and store the large number of supplies we often need. We reuse what we can and buy often from Habitat for Humanity and sellers on Craigslist. There are bargains if you look.
For additional work space and storage, we added a 2-story shop behind the house and studio and several storage buildings. We fenced off the property to allow our four legged friends to loosen up. We have gardens, old roses, brick paths and lots of shade trees, fruit trees, water feature and bird growth. Our modest dwelling offers us privacy, enjoyment, and an oasis from the competitive world of making a living.
We are virtually debt free. Our 3 vehicles are paid for. We have a 2006 Ford pickup for shows that we bought used in 2007 and an old Honda CRV for racing. We made the decision in 2008 to ditch our needy, expense-laden BMWs and buy a new Honda FIT just before gas prices skyrocketed. Our 5 year calculations show that we have saved many thousands on gas and car repairs with such a move.
We paid cash for a used motorhome that we use for long-distance shows. There is very little credit card debt. We pay additional equity each month on our home and it will pay off over 3 years. (saving nearly 20 years off a 30-year mortgage!) It took us about two years to fully complete our study, paying as we went and using no store credit cards. We don’t hesitate to visit the Goodwill store regularly, we rarely eat out and we don’t “shop” on purpose. (You will always find something to buy if you walk around the mall) Our TVs are over 10 years old but work fine. Our laptops are old but useful. Our Android Galaxy ll phones came “free” (with a new subscription) just like last year’s models. We saved over $150.00 a month by getting rid of our home phone and using the wiring for a dry loop DSL Internet connection instead. We increased our health insurance deductible to lower monthly premiums (don’t even get me started on a discussion about the new health “care” bill). The list goes on and on, but you get the point.
In today’s “I want” society, parents especially need to implement all three elements: self-discipline, perseverance, and lifestyle choices to resist their children’s whims. I couldn’t offer you a better role model than giving you the confidence NOT to keep up with your peers.
Lifestyle is a big reason many artists will never be able to live off their earnings. They want many other things that they feel will make them happy. In the months that we earn more than we need, we put it in the bank for the months that it happens the other way around. As an artist, you must “make hay while the sun shines.”
There you have the three main reasons why we can live the life of an artist.. Discipline, perseverance, and lifestyle choices are what give us the freedom to have this life.
We love being able to drive through the countryside on a beautiful weekend afternoon or take the kayaks down the river on a Wednesday morning, garden, explore abandoned structures, or sit and relax in front of the fire while everyone else is at work. another place.
But focus and discipline is always present. Even as I write this article, my to-do list draws me in and I know I’ve relaxed enough this morning. My coffee is gone, the dogs are waiting to be fed, and yes, I can’t wait to start accomplishing and checking tasks off my list.
We have found that the idea of our life as full-time artists and its implied freedoms appeals to everyone we meet. The actual doing what is needed, often does not. But for those whose goals include living like us, there is simply nothing better than this life as a working artist!