An Artist's Guide to Living by Your Brush Alone PDF
Preview An Artist's Guide to Living by Your Brush Alone
"'^Livl^g^if Alone Astep-by-step approach to making painting a successful full-time career Edna Wagner Piersol An ArtisVs Guide to Living byYour Brush Alone byEdna Wagner Piersoi Chapter Illustrations by Howard Munce North Light Publishers Published by North Light, an imprint of Writer's Digest Books, 9933 AJIiance Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242. Copyright 1983 by Edna Wagner PiersoJ, oIJ rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means-graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photo- copying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems-without written permission of the publisher. Manu/octured in U.S.A. First Printing 1983 Second Printing 1984 Third Printing 1985 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Piersol, Edna Wagner. Living by your brush alone. 1. Art-Vocational guidance. 1. Title. N8350.P53 1983 706'.8 83-15123 ISBN 0-89134-063-7 Book designed by Noel Martin. Dedicated to Ila Davis, Who Left My Life Too Soon and to All My Dear Friends, in Whose Hearts Is My Only Real Home Contents Introduction 11 Chapter One Courage to Live by Your Brusli Alone 17 Chapter Two Building Your Credentials 29 Chapter Three Strategy and Discipline 49 Chapter Four Creating a Successful Image 63 Chapter Five Outdoor Exhibitions and Sales 71 Chapter Six Juried Art Exhibitions 79 Chapter Seven Exhibiting in Galleries 97 Chapter Eight Choosing a Life-Style 127 Chapter Nine Business Sense 139 Chapter Ten Can Marriage Survive an Artist? 150 Conclusion 151 Index Introduction It is easy to become a starving artist. It comes naturally -no special skills required. But learning how to survive supported only by your paint brush, while remaining true to your own ideals of art -that is another thing. Don't think it will ruin you as an artist to make money by working at it. More likely, the process will improve your approach to life and, in turn, will make you a better artist. Take a look at the Old Masters. What did they have to do to survive as artists? Was Michelangelo allowed to be himself? Not really. He was trained in Ghirlandaio's workshop and Bertoldo's school in the Medi- ci gardens. No doubt, he had to abandon work he wanted to do in or- der to meet the demands of the day. Yet he was so independent in his assigned tasks that his talent came through as strongly as if he had been allowed to follow his own dictates. There are many books these days telling us how to paint, but what about how to live as artists? How do we survive in the real world and remain free to paint and create? One way is to realize that we can do it. We can find ways to make a living as artists in a freer way than was open even to artists like Michelangelo. Usually we can live exactly as we want without sacri- ficing our standards. So don't throw up your hands sighing, My God, she wants me to worry about selling my work. I don't care if you ever sell. But don't complain if you then have to trudge through life, work- ing at a job you don't like when you could be living, happily, by your brush alone . . . creating pictures every day of your joyous life. Chapter One
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