Comments on: Deep Thought Thursday: Working 9 to 5?

By: Amy Evans

Amy Evans — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:53:09 +0000

I believe that if you treat your art seriously then you will work hard at it…the hours will happen. I schedule regular painting days and then the other stuff is fit in between them. The more you paint the better you get. I don’t feel guilty anymore about my other obligations, etc. I also have to manage my husband’s business, my business, and then our home…just keep your priorities.

By: paula

paula — Mon, 25 May 2009 09:54:12 +0000

I don’t think you can answer that. If you are a full time artist you don’t look at the clock and calculate such things. At least I don’t. I think everyone is too obsessed with schedules and keeping track of what they did and for how long. I don’t look at the clock and keep track, what is the point? To me, a full time artist works 24/7 whether or not they are ‘in the studio’ or on the internet or in the gallery. You eat, drink, breathe, sleep ART.

By: Stacey Peterson

Stacey Peterson — Sun, 24 May 2009 21:21:41 +0000

“Whenever an artist thinks about how many hours, they cease to be an artist.”

I’m sorry, but I hate statements like this because they’re deliberately insulting to anyone who has different work habits than the poster.

I know artists who are very regimented, and artists who are very free with their work schedule – it often depends on the personality type of the artist, and has little to do with the quality of art being made. I disagree that it is their manner of setting work hours that determines whether what they produce is “art” or not – to say that an artist who works 9-5 ceases to be an artist because he watches the clock is demeaning and hurtful, and a bad message to send to a lot of beginning artists who want to know what it takes to make a living in this business.

By: Cath

Cath — Sat, 23 May 2009 01:16:47 +0000

I believe a full-time artist needs to think in terms of what other (successful) business owners put in timewise, then do the same. Wishing and hoping won’t create success but hard work may. I also think the time needs to be well spent; including time for networking, research, record keeping and visiting galleries etc.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Sat, 23 May 2009 00:32:46 +0000

Ooh, AnnaMaria, I love that idea. Fiona and Jennie, I agree.
Historically mankind has expressed a need to know ‘how much’. It is a way of measuring something that has value that is hard to place. How much money is enough money? How much time is enough time?
Enough is when you are satisfied you’ve done all you can do.

By: AnnaMaria Windisch-Hunt

AnnaMaria Windisch-Hunt — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:12:10 +0000

Whenever an artist thinks about how many hours, they cease to be an artist.

By: Fiona Purdy

Fiona Purdy — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:40:56 +0000

This is what I like the best about being an artist. There is no “one size fits all”. There are no rules – only what works best for each one of us.

By: Dinayen Wirba Henry

Dinayen Wirba Henry — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:59:57 +0000

All you have said above is very encouraging to any serious artist. I thought much and moved from watercolour to acrylics and from there I am now doing oil painting and I enjoy it very much. I only wish that my paintings would be bought and that I will soon have the necessary connections. Do help me in more ways to become a great artist. I believe in myself befor believing in God and his creative powers which i share with him in arts. Bye and God bless you.

By: jennie Rosenbaum

jennie Rosenbaum — Fri, 22 May 2009 01:03:00 +0000

I admit I work in Bursts like Sari as well, I will paint frenetically for days then be out of the studio for a week. I should schedule time in the studio but it never seems to work out. I have to fit time around my disability, when I am physically up for the strain of painting.

when I am not I put in full hours marketing, posing my models and getting references, thinking up new ideas, pushing submissions, all that usual stuff. then there is the social media, the blogging, the learning. all of this would easily consume a full working day.

the joy of doing what you love is that it never truly feels like work. individual parts do, but as many people here have said, we’d be doing it all anyway. sometimes I actually feel guilty for loving what I do so much.

By: Sari Grove

Sari Grove — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:49:52 +0000

When I run 10km , & I run real slow, it can take something like an hour, (I don’t clock it), then I walk for a while just to stretch it all out…The next day, I’m ok, a little faded, & then 48 hours later, it hits me & I have to sort of nap & do a bit of not so much…When I am in the painting phase, it is like that for me…Really intense, but I need at least 3 days in between takes…I found I have too many accidents if I try to work at that intensity without rest breaks…
The thinking part, which is my prep, is all the time…Also, the being nice to strangers & giving them a business card, or the reading & internet marketing…
This is my life, but for me, working too hard is just as bad as not working enough…(also, some of my best work was the quickest?)