How to Be an Artist

Posted By Teresa Haag  |  Posted On July 9, 2021

I watched a Reel on IG this week that said, "You know how you can tell if you are an artist? You make art." Simple, straightforward, to the point.

 

But...my question to you is this...how can you tell if you are being an artist?

 

You are being an artist when you make art...again and again.

 

Knowing you are an artist and actually being an artist are different.

 

Choosing to sustain a state of creating art is being an artist.

 

And, for most of us who choose to consistently create art, we must also find a way to support ourselves so we can keep creating.

 

Some of us choose to work full or part-time jobs to support ourselves and our art making.

 

Some of us wait until retirement.

 

And, some of us choose to sell our artwork to support our art making, and become professional artists.

 

This is where I see so many artists struggle.

 

They think that the decision to become a full-time artist and sell their art is what creates the revenue needed to support their art making.

 

This is wrong.

 

Revenue is created when collectors experience the value created by the art and choose to exchange money for that value.

 

Which means, when you become a professional artist, you'll have to set aside time to spend creating collectors.

 

No one tells you it's going to be like this.

 

We spend so much time believing that when we finish school, or quit the job, or send the kids to daycare and go all in on our art that collectors will just find us and buy our art.

 

And when collectors aren't lining up to buy from us, and of course they aren't because they don't know we exist yet, we make that mean all sorts of things about us and our art...I'm not good enough, It's not working, I made a big mistake, I shouldn't have thought this was possible, No one likes me, and on and on and on.

 

And then we start resenting our business, and blame it for taking us away from our art, or we decide the answer is to find someone else to run the business and we abdicate responsibility, or we simply ignore the business, until we run out of room on our credit cards and can no longer ignore it.

 

But all that's really happening here, is that you haven't spent enough time creating collectors.

 

That's it.

 

When I create a painting, I like to imagine an open circle around it. When I finish the piece and sign it, the circle is half closed...it isn't until the piece is hung on a collectors' wall that the circle closes all the way.

 

It's my job, as the artist, to create that collector and close that circle.

 

No one else's...not IG, not Facebook ads, not the gallery owner, not the outdoor art show promoter.  

 

It's always my job.

 

Which is the best, because once you learn how...your life fills up with all sorts of amazing people who really get you and understand you and your art..and your business makes money because of all the value you are creating...and you learn new things and grow and become a version of yourself that you never knew was possible.

 

You've got this!

Teresa

 

This is what I teach in Prep School. We have a new group program starting in September that teaches you, step by step, how to create collectors, find your message, and love your business *almost* as much as you love making your art.  Learn more here


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Teresa Haag

Urban landscape painter, business maven, life and business coach for artists.

I'm Teresa Haag.  I am a Professional Artist, a Certified Life Coach, a wife and mom to two boys, and a woman doing her best to create a life and business that I am in love with. I know what it's like to spend my day thinking about the art I've always wanted to make instead of making it.  I help artists just like you create a life and business that gives them the space to make their art and become the person they have been dreaming about for so long.


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