Wednesday, November 5

Formula for Success - Part 3 "Crossing Over from Amateur to Professional"

Make sure you’ve read Part 1, “Don’t be Scared to Subscribe” and Part 2 “It Pays to Post” 

Back to the story…
After about four months I was comfortable blogging and posting, but still wanted more help with my professionalism. I received an Art Talk email about a class the Williamson County Cultural Arts Commission was hosting titled, “Professional Artist Development.” That would be perfect for me! I signed up and sat in the front row. I learned not to sign work in magic marker, how to write artist statements, approaching galleries, and all kinds of stuff. From the lecture I felt as if I had another challenge ahead of me, but I was on my way.

From that experience I entered the Williamson County Fair artist exhibit. This would be my first juried competition! I was shocked when I received Honorable Mention for Star Spangled Blues in the “Professional Painting Category.” Was I a professional painter? I guess so, since I saw it in writing.

So now that I am trying to become more professional, how have things changed? I’m only painting on gallery size canvas, I’m using better, longer lasting materials, I’m going to Art Crawls every 1st Saturday to see what other professionals are doing, and I built a website! I built my site using Google Sites, it’s free and very user friendly. I know a little HTML and Java, but not nearly enough to make a site on my own. My main goals were to be easy to navigate, clean, and just a tad different than the rest. Check it out at http://www.binglishart.com/

Another free website I recommend especially for artist is: http://www.fineartstudioonline.com/

What's next?
Join an active artist group!! Here are a couple:


Both of these groups are great and actively participate in the arts community. If you have the time, join!

Just a note:
Over the last few days, I received many emails thanking me for these posts. THANK YOU! Without your feedback it would be really hard to keep posting. I appreciate all of your emails and if you ever have questions please don't hesitate to ask!

It seems like the biggest issue holding us back is the fear of failure. The only way you can fail is to not try at all. Hell, I moved to a tropical island all by myself, you don't think I was scared? But it was something I wanted so I fought for it. Now I'm fighting for this. Do I want to work for someone else the rest of my life? NO. Do I want to enjoy how I make a living and live on my own schedule? YES. I ask myself how can I make that happen, then I make a list, and take it one step at a time. You can do this too and if have questions or need advice along the way, I'm there!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say thank you for doing this on your blog and I'll be an avid follower as I have been in the past! I've already joined up with a few of the suggested groups you listed and I already feel more inspired. I think I'll be volunteering with Untitled Nashville soon!
Thanks again!