It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

If an artist is going to put themselves out there, they will experience rejection. The trick is to think strategically and be smart and thorough. I quit my safe full time teaching job to be a full time artist over four years ago.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." (Charles Dickens quote) This describes my past six months. I have worked very hard over the last four years (and of course before that, but my art business always came after my teaching job). Yet, this summer I have experienced some fruits of those efforts.

However, I have also experienced some serious rejection this summer! SO, simultaneously, there are great things like in September (right now) I have local, regional and national art publicity! But, I also heard a "no" from several grants applications and one residency.

If I were gauging my success on my rejections, I would have never quit my safe teaching job in the first place. Business is a balance of passion (doing what you love), marketing (finding who shares your passion and will invest) and strategic planning (where do you want to be down the road and then steps to get there).

I love to paint women in water. I create other work, but I am passionate about this series and it has become my "brand". Several years ago I said I want to be in American Art Collector Magazine. I waited because strategically, I thought it best to have an ad with a gallery. Now, I am in that magazine in a RedSky Gallery ad and I am mentioned by name in an interview with the gallery owner.

Yet, at the same time, I have received numerous rejection letters... for things I really thought I had a chance at "this time"! So, artists, brace yourself for rejection. Learn from those rejections and move on. IF you want to make your art a business, you must learn what you can from the ups and the downs! Business is just like your art practice in that is a process. I would encourage you to enjoy more of it and use these experiences to get closer to your goals.

Successful artists must work on their craft.

I have been painting... and painting... and painting some more. Last week, I delivered fourteen paintings for my summer solo show at Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, NC. (waterworks.org)

Now that I am done with that commitment, I have 'reset' and begun thinking about what I want to create. Also I've been thinking about what is it, specifically, that makes a 'successful' artist? First, successful artists must work on their craft regularly. IF you are talented and paint on a semi-regular basis, you only get so many winning paintings. But if you are talented AND you treat your art making like a job with discipline and thought, it is only a matter of time before you are successful. If one has a regular, serious approach to their art, eventually they will generate a strong, cohesive body of work that folks just have to buy!

Recently, I have become a huge fan of American Art Collector Magazine (americanartcollector.com) as well as Arcadia Fine Arts. Check out this gallery's website and the artist Brad Kunkle...arcadiafinearts.com

Arcadia sold most of Kunkle's new paintings before his recent show even opened to the public! He is an amazing painter and what makes him even better is he has NUMEROUS awesome paintings, not just a handful with the rest of the show being just OK! He is consistently painting strong work.

So, I am inspired by his paintings AND his sales... and I am off to spend a lot more time with my paintbrushes, sketchbooks and models. Although I will not be posting lots this summer because of my residency at the McColl Center for Visual Art, I will try to post more often than once a month!