“I would rather be a starving artist than a rich banker.”

Yes, but as we have learned recently, rich bankers are in the business of doing “God’s Work”

How many artists can make that claim?

As everyone knows, God does not “represent” world’s — as artists do–, but instead creates them — as bankers do (or at least claim to do).

I have sold some of the Przewalski horse paintings and am thinking that at least part of my market will be in the “horsey” world since I got into the AAEA juried show with a domestic Mongol horse this year.

No. 2, I think, is really important. It’s one thing to do some good paintings, but creating a consistent body of work is more challenging.

I also like No. 3 because when I started out, I looked at what the best artists like Bob Kuhn did. Some of the common threads were: drawing from live animals, getting out into the field to see the animals in their native habitat and shooting one’s own reference. None of this is a secret, but it’s amazing how many artists think they can pull it off without doing those things.

No. 4 is so important. The lack of that passion is usually evident and is one reason why it’s fatal to paint for the market. A related comment, from when I was in art school, was that you had to develop your own point of view and opinion about your subject, which would, by definition, be unique to you. It was often an answer to the common student question about how to development a “style”.

Suzanne- love the muskrat story! I have an artist friend who did a painting of a porcupine. It sold pretty quickly to a couple who had seen one on a backpacking trip and just had to have the painting. It was an useful lesson to me about why people buy what they do sometimes. You just never know.