The value of patience.



It seems riding in taxi cabs is becoming a place where I am learning lots of life lessons that can be easily translated into our Art life and practice.
Today coming to the Gallery the traffic was terrible as usual and I like the taxi to stay on the main road as I know that we will get through the traffic eventually, it is when the taxi driver decides to take side roads and short cuts that I know I am in trouble because past experience has taught me that short cuts don't work, unless it is in a helicopter. So my the driver telling me he knew what he was doing despite my protests took the short cut which of coarse proved to be a big failure and added another 2o minutes to my ride and more money. I did not care about the extra cost but that my precious time was wasted for no good reason, that I cared about.
What is the life lesson here?
In the Art Business you must pay your dues and there are no shortcuts. Yes we have all heard of that one person who has made the big time with seemingly little effort but that is not the normal. The normal is that it takes years of hard work and dedication to become an overnight success. You must pay your dues, you must do the group shows and the competitions and the Art Fairs and anything else you can do to get your Art in front of strangers and mostly it is up to you and you alone to do that.
When you are in the first few years of the Art Business you will learn that there is only one person you can count on and that's you. There are no short cuts and if you think you have found one then most probably it will cost you time you cannot afford to waste.
Honestly Galleries and dealers are not the answer, you are the answer to your success. Galleries and dealers will handle you if you can sell well and return them a profit as that is the market that they play in, but so many Artists put paintings into Galleries and think that they have made the big time only to find in the six months time the Gallery rings them to come and get their work, because it has not sold..
The only answer to your Artistic success is you, you are the key to your success and there are no short cuts, stay on the path, work hard on your craft, learn all you can about social media, selling, public speaking and marketing and be patient, it takes time.
To be an overnight success may take you twenty years of hard work.


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