How Many Hours a Day Do You Paint?

An old friend asked me this last week. We only see each other once a year or so, so we aren’t close. I think he thinks that art is my hobby that I sort of fit in around my life. When I told him what all I do, he was very surprised. This means a couple of things: we really don’t know each other very well, and I’m not getting the word out very effectively that I am a full time professional artist.

Marketing, you say? Nope. I’m too busy working right now.

Check out this list from the other day:

1. I posted to my blog. While in the house on the puter, the phone rang. My neighbor/friend works at a local motel. She was calling to say some people from New York were stopping by the studio in 10 minutes.
2. Raced to the studio (after brushing my hair – sort of forgot to do that or figured it didn’t matter). The New Yorkers were a no-show.
3. While in the studio I put together a bank deposit and read the mail.
4. The mail included a Call For Entries form for an Ag Art Show. It has been 4 years since I last entered, and the rules have changed. It seems worth considering again.
5. Went through my photos and compared them to the categories of the Ag Art Show. Calculated the cost. (entry fees, mailing or driving 200 miles round trip to deliver the pieces, returning to Madera to see the show, returning again to retrieve any unsold pieces) Got some good ideas, decided to do the show.
6. Painted three 4×4″ oil paintings.
7. Remembered I was supposed to go to the Sierra Lodge to get another bear to paint. This one had to be delivered to my studio and I was supposed to show them the way, so I walked/jogged over.
8. Upon returning with the bear delivery guy, I painted a fourth 4×4″ oil painting.
9. Chose the sizes for each of the paintings to enter into Madera, added them to my inventory list, put the wires on the back.
10. Remembered the bank deposit, trotted to the house for my keys, remembered the keys were hanging in the studio door, trotted back to the studio to lock up and then back to the house to lock it, and then drove to the bank. Figured I might as well hit the Post Office and the grocery store while I was out. Tried not to run in the aisles. Tried not to make eye contact with anyone who might want to have a lengthy conversation.
11. Returned home to photograph some completed work and some works in progress.
12. Began working on the (in)famous Paint-My-Parents oil painting commission.
13. Wrote 3 more blog posts in my head while painting.
14. Suddenly it was almost dark, so I had to photograph Paint-My-Parents, close up the workshop, and go home.
15. Wrote those blog posts on the computer before I forgot them while something that could sort of pass for dinner was burning on the stove.

Apparently, I’m too busy to paint or do marketing. (the kind that gets the word out about business, not the kind that puts groceries in the frig so I can burn them for dinner while I work on the puter.)