I’m a Failure as an Artist – and how I’m going to turn that around.

I hit a financial crisis today. It wasn’t anything major like we couldn’t afford the house repayments or anything. I was more angry with myself that I’ve not sold any art this year. Which has not only dented my confidence but has also meant I’ve struggled to find the cash to pursue various interests due to a lack of funds. I totally feel like a failure as an artist.

And It’s All My Own Fault

Last year I gave up my job in order to spend more time with my kids, and to really focus on creating and selling work I was proud of. But now our income has dropped. While I have all the time in the world to really devote to creating and selling my art. I’m really annoyed with myself because in reality I’m only doing that a bit and very inconsistently. Mostly I’ve been hanging with my husband when we get the chance, or browsing social media, or watching reality TV.

And it hit me like a bullet today that my half-hearted attempt at an art life is just not good enough. I’m going to fail spectacularly unless I get a move on. I’ll never be able to contribute to my family financially unless I put in a lot more effort.

Starting Afresh

It’s time to start afresh and put more effort into building my career so I can get more out of it. More joy, more success, more financial rewards. I don’t want to be a failure as an artist. Art making is fun but I really want it to be more than just a hobby. I’ve decided to focus on four main areas that I think will give me the best results and are pretty much non negotiable areas for any artist serious about their career.

1. New website, better SEO, including all the things an artists needs on their website.
2. Gaining more Instagram followers.
3. Blogging more about my art, focusing on my art, motivation and my art business.
4. Spending more time physically creating art and marketing it.

These things are pretty basic in my opinion but I fear I’ve been failing pretty badly in each area so far this year. I’ve been working on my motivation this year already, see this post and it’s been working well but I’d like to take it up a level.

I hope you will join me as I grow and develop (hopefully) from a beginner artist with a tiny following and art nobody sees. To a successful artist who sells art she loves to create and is able to help support her family financially.