Slinging Art and Slaying with that Horn

Normally when I think about people making resolutions, I think about people getting gym memberships to start the New Year. Something else that is common, people vowing to quit smoking or drinking as a new years resolution. I resolve to further pursue a career as an artist. 2021 is about me taking a fresh look at what it means for me to create art.

I’m a self-taught artist and have been making creative works since the age of 3. I’m 37 now. My desire is for my art to inspire kids and also have my art support me by providing me with an income. As a child I would roam my childhood home and touch all the bumps and ridges on the artwork my parents had. I didn’t know this could damage the work, but as a child nonetheless I was drawn to the texture. Therefore, I incorporate many of the same things I was drawn to and am attracted to in what I create. Texture and wildlife have a prominent role in my art. Intermittently I created while balancing my home and work life.

In 2021 I’m going to approach being an artist differently. I’m of the mindset that my success as an artist will happen in stages similar to how my advancement in different secular roles of the past occurred. Therefore, there are tiers to my plan. The more time I spent doing something in the workplace the better at it I became. In life the more time you spend at doing something the better you become at it. I dedicated 11 years to the restaurant industry and 4 years to the telecommunication industry. I imagine if I would have spent 15 years solely creating, marketing, networking, and selling my art, that I would be more established as an artist. Thus, in order to have success making money with my art, I have to spend time mastering the business of art. I want to see what 15 years of just art yields.

Typical of working in restaurants, before one is able to manage and instruct others on their job duties, one has to first learn how to make the fries and burgers themself. In the restaurants I’ve managed, responsibilities and promotions were layered on as mastery was gained. Similarly, before I can expect financial security from an art career, there are different steps I must first take and master.

In 2020 I experienced moderate success generating money by creating portraits for people. My strategy was simply to post some past portrait work on my social media and inquire as rather anyone was interested in some “custom portrait work”. Also I decreased my hours at work from 40 hours to 16 in order to create more. I did not starve, my rent was paid, my car insurance was paid, and my cellphone bill. This was great for my mentality because I was able to survive though I wasn’t following the traditional employment model. Also I received a huge boost of self-confidence as great feedback came in from my clients and littered my social media. Lastly it helped me identify what people wanted. So 2020 was the year of countless babies and dogs for me. I don’t know why out of all the creative things I do, that babies and dogs generate the most cash flow, but it does. So for 2021 I’m taking greater steps towards painting babies and dogs.

So far in 2021 I’ve gotten an e-commerce website built dedicated to my artwork. I have an entire section dedicated to portraiture. My clients are able to see my past creations as well as commission me to do future work. Having my own personal website for the first time helps me represent myself as artist better than only promoting my art on social media. Also I’m of the opinion that it helps legitimize me as an artist as I try to secure artist residences, fellowships, and grants.

Additionally as I try to make being an artist a viable career, I’m spending more time painting. I’ve decreased from working 2 days a week at the local casino to one day. My goal is to quit working at the local casino all together though. Eliminating time I spend in the casino environment has helped me keep a positive attitude and be more productive. The casino has sometimes been a toxic environment as I have observed people with addictive habits and problems suffer great losses and lash out at me the dealer, fellow patrons, and spouses.

I’m pursuing art in another big way in 2021 also. I have also taken up playing my saxophones again after 18 years. I play both alto and tenor saxophone. In 2020, COVID-19 disrupted so much of what I took for granted. I was furloughed from work, my art shows were canceled, and the music festivals I thought I was going to sell art at never took place. With the extra time away from my secular employer, I practiced on my saxophones. I’ve always thought about being able to play jazz on my saxophones at my art shows. Instead of playing jazz on an album in the background, I wanted to be the one playing the jazz. Well while I was furloughed from work I made up an original song. Though I had never busked before, on New Years I grabbed a vase from the dining room table, drove to the park downtown and played it. Amazingly I made $600 in about 4 hours.

The park was lit up with all kinds of holiday decorations. There were many people visiting the park to experience the winter wonderland. As they took a timeout to snap pictures of the holiday decorations, they would also thank and tip me. I only know the one song I made up. This made for an interesting dynamic engaging with the visitors at the park. Fortunately for me it was freezing cold. After I played my song 2 times through, I would go warm up in my Jeep and empty my vase. By the time I was warm again, the group of people who were at the park who had just given me tips had left and there was a new group of people. I went back to the same spot I was at previously, setup my sax and played the same song again. After that experience, what it means to further pursue a career as an artist to me had evolved. Just as my new website helps me represent myself as an artist and hopefully drives revenue my way, I think layering playing my saxophones at my personal art shows, local events, parks, and other high foot traffic areas will do so as well.

Another thing I’m doing to pursue art as a career in 2021, is leveraging merchandising websites to sell my art. So far I’ve made 63 sales. There have been numerous occasions where someone really loved a painting I had created, but didn’t have the finances to purchase it. These merchandising sites allow me to offer individuals canvas prints, shirts, masks, pins and other items with my artwork on them. I like that I don’t have to personally have tons of products in my possession to make sales. I also like that I can order items with my artwork on them to display at my art shows and events. Now one painting has the opportunity to provide me with multiple revenue streams.

I’ve conjured still other imaginative ways to express myself and pursue a career as an artist. I’ve started writing again. Even this piece of writing I’m sharing with you now will have some financial value to me. It will generate me revenue with every reader. I feel like I’m trying to franchise my art. Some locations my art is displayed may generate more revenue than others, but the goal is to have my art displayed everywhere. If my art was a McDonald’s, I’d want it on every corner and in every major city. So far in my experience there seems a copious variety of ways to potentially make money being creative, but a dearth of time to try them all. I’m not discouraged though, it took 15 years in corporate America to drive me to pursue what I love. After many headaches and disappointments, I’m content in trying to make a living from the fruit of my own hands. With god’s blessings no doubt I will find a measure of success.

Another huge component to my new art career in 2021 is video. If a picture is worth 1000 words, I would say a video is worth a million words. Now instead of simply posting progression photos of my art, I share time lapse videos of me working on a painting. These videos provide me with content for all my social media platforms and valuable feedback. It's easy to see what people like versus what they do not as evident in the views, likes, and sales resulting after sharing these videos.

Lastly the most important piece to me furthering my art career, God. I pray that I have successes with my art. With all the craziness going on in the world it’s been easier for me to pray and ponder my spirituality. I think about the pandemics and riots and police shootings etc. I contemplate the Lord’s Prayer at Matt 6:9,10 and I look forward to god’s kingdom fixing all the problems mankind faces. I also meditate on Matt 6:33. I believe that by putting spiritual things first in my life all my other goals will be reached. I’m praying more than I ever have. Formerly I was too ashamed to pray. I just felt so sinful and reasoned why would he listen to me. Now however, I’m trying to get gods thinking on matters by reading and/or listening to his word the Bible daily and trying to apply the counsel and principles in my everyday life. I have seen and acknowledged blessings I received since making my spirituality more a priority. I’m sure there are many more blessings to come.

I love making people smile. My art has a reciprocal way of making that happen for me and others. Writing, music, and painting are my favorite creative outlets. They help me personally keep a positive attitude and brighten the day of others. Reaching for my goals in 2021 has truly provided a fresh start for me.