“Giving up is the ultimate tragedy.”  — Robert Donovan

This is a statement that I know to be true.  Why? Because for over seven years I did not paint or draw one thing.  I completely gave up on pursuing my art.

What followed was indeed tragedy.  After I abandoned my creative self she became increasingly deeply depressed, anxious, and sleepless.

Without an outlet my creative energy balled up inside me and stagnated.  The real tragedy was that this suffering was my choice.

I thought that I should surrender my hopes of pursuing art full time because the economic odds where so very dismal.

I believed that I needed to develop marketable skills within a corporate cubicle. I most often felt like a caged animal resenting the corporate structure and culture.

But the grim economic reality of being an artist is one that my art school did not prepare me for.

I believe that this lack of preparation after demanding such high tuition was and is irresponsible and unethical.

In fact, the U.S. Department of Education is beginning to crack down hard on educational institutions graduating fine art majors with student loan debt that they have no practical means of paying back.

What I have come to realize is that art schools and programs do not know how to overcome the economic reality of the super competitive art market.  If art professors did, for the most part, they would not be teaching but pursuing their art full time.

Alas, I was able to create a viable art business in my first year trying full time.  My success and business approach was such an anomaly that it earned me significant media attention, including a feature in Fortune magazine.

Because of this success and insight I feel a passionate responsibility to share what I’ve learned.  I just can’t abide the notion that artists must struggle.  I think that the starving artist myth is fundamentally destructive and disrespectful.

So don’t give up.  I know from personal experience that where there is a will there is a way.

“If you curse the rich, you’ll never be one of them.” -Rev. Ike

I recently posted this quip from Revered Ike on the Artists Who THRIVE Face Book page and it received a bit of backlash.

That bitter backlash, typically born of feelings of failure, didn’t really surprise me. That backlash just reminded me of another one of my favorite quotes.  This quote from Oscar Wild is one that artists who curse the rich should keep in mind, “When bankers get together for dinner, they talk about art.  When artists get together for dinner, they talk about money.”

Obviously the artist and the patron have a symbiotic relationship as patrons of the arts are generally wealthy and artists, not so much.

I know that there are exceptions to every rule so please just hold your commentary.

If you curse the relationship between the artist and the patron, I can guarantee you that you’ll jack up your prospects of being an artist who successfully sells their work.

If you embrace wealthy patrons, like I have, I know that you’ll be pleasantly surprised.  Why?

Because the fact is that over 95% of the wealth earned in this country was produced by self-made folk who come from middle class upbringings.

Luxury Marketing surveys and my experience confirms:

• that these wealthy folks are generally rooted in their middle class values
• they’re pretty grounded and down to earth so they have a finely tuned BS meter
• and they are charitable not only with their money but also with their time

Revered Ike and Oscar Wild speak the truth.  Don’t be a hater.  Let the truth set you free.

“One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. “Which road do I take?” she asked. “Where do you want to go?” was his response. “I don’t know,” Alice answered. “Then,” said the cat, “it doesn’t matter.”” — Lewis Carroll

Coming across this quote was very timely.  I had just received a message from a young artist that I coached.  I met her at an Artists Who THRIVE seminar in Berkeley sponsored by the Small Business Development Center.

She was struggling.  She had artistic talent and drive but she had no direction.  My counsel to her was that she must know what she wants so that she could decide what direction to take her life.

We had to start with where she was.  She knew she wanted to celebrate her culture and that she wanted to express and refine her artistic talent.  But that knowing was too vague to provide her with direction.  She had to commit to a SMART goal and take action.  She did.  And here was her message to me.  But it may be a message to you.

Dear Ann,

I’d like to thank you for helping me create one of the best years of my adult life.

If you recall, you coached me for six months at the beginning of this year in which I went through ups and downs, I learned to create a dream map, a SMART goal, and an action plan….

Well the action plan didn’t fully happen as planned, and my SMART goal changed, but I stayed true to myself and did what I could to realize my ambitions.

I just returned from a five-month journey through Eastern Europe, (mostly Ukraine) and brought back a new set of skills, amazing experiences, new relationships, inspiration, and my best work yet!

I can honestly say that I had the best time on my life!

Not only because I got to travel and paint for 9 to 16 hrs a day, but also because some of the images on my dream map actually came to life.

Yet perhaps the biggest reward is the feeling of freedom and empowerment after I learned to pursue art projects that were true to me and yet at the same time they were beyond myself, projects that would bring value not only to me, but to my potential clients, my community, and my cultures.

Thank you for teaching me to dream big and for warning me that failure is inevitable.

I failed many times toward and during this journey, but now as I reflect back, lessons from failures and disappointment led to new opportunities and pathways.

I am excited to be back, to continue to clarify my dreams and goals, to fail and to continue creating my own path of creative freedom while inspiring others to live fully and pursue their own dreams.

Below are a few photos from my journey. Thank you again and I look forward to staying in touch with you in the upcoming years.

All the very best!

Nataliya Tyaglo
Independent Artist

I rarely tip toe into discussions about the quality of an artist’s work.  There are plenty of talented art teachers whose full time job it is to do just that.

I never offer to critique an artist’s work. Even though I’m asked allllll the damn time.

Why do striving artists ask me?  Because they want me to assure them that there is a market for their work and I can’t tell them that.

Because even if there is a market for their work, there is no way of knowing that they’ll be willing and able to develop it.

I’d really need to critique the artist’s business and marketing plans.  And typically they don’t have those.

The only way to know if there is a market for an artist’s work is to know that they can produce it AND that they are willing to pursue that market like a rabid crazed entrepreneur.

If I were to critique an artist’s work I would look at three elements.

1. Do they have serious talent?
2. Is their work original or just a copy of someone else’s style?
3. Is their art clearly identifiable and consistent and easy to differentiate from other art?

Think of the music you dig.  Doesn’t a successful musician’s music possess these three elements?

Here’s the part where I set you free.  Come on now.  You can dig deep and answer these questions.  You know if you have serious talent. You can see it.  You can feel it.
We’ve all been influenced by other artists but are you making original work not just making copies?

• Have you found your voice?
• Do you have a message you are clearly communicating and therefore your style stands out?
• Are you consistent?
• Can you produce or do you have just a handful of work?

Well then.  If the answer is yes to 1-3 and the bullets above, then establish or pursue your market.

If the answer to the above is no, then don’t quit your day job. It’s cool to, and completely respectable to, make art for art’s sake.

We all know of the artist who is the wife of a rich man or the kept creative of someone or another.

There’s a common myth that if you are going to be a successful artist you’ll need a sugar daddy or mama to keep you going financially as your build your list of collectors.

Well, my sugar daddy never showed up. Not that I was ever looking for him or that I would have even wanted him if he did arrive.  I wanted to create art and create a profitable business.  They are both vital expressions of my creative self.

My good friend Tamar Gellar, famed dog trainer to the celebrities, and NYT best-selling author, often quotes her mentor Tony Robins who says, “You don’t have to be rich, you just have to be resourceful.”  This is soooo very true.

This January will mark the start of my sixth year in business. Six years ago this month, I moved to San Francisco to start painting full time.  This place is one of the most, if not the most, expensive cities in the nation.  A zany move. I know.

Tamar’s reminder about resourcefulness made me recall some of the ways I intially secured resources.

First, this artist took care of her body.

I ran on the beach in front of my live/work studio every day.  I was stressed with the effort required to shape a profitable business painting.  So I knew that I could either let that build up in my body or channel the energy in a healthy way while breathing in clean ocean air.

Then she took care of her mind.

I audited a class for free in biofeedback at San Francisco State University and later practiced neuro-feedback.  Why?  Because I learned that star athletes and performing artists used this to gain states of optimal performance.  I knew that to succeed I needed to be on my A game and be prolific in order to be profitable.

So that I could take care of business.

I tapped all of the resources that I could at the Small Business Development Center.  They offer free or low cost support to small businesses.  Although I created my Blue Ocean Strategy, with the help of a good friend, the SBDC helped me learn more about operating a profitable business.

Note, none of the above cost anything.  I wasn’t rich.  I was just resourceful.  And I was very clear on my SMART goal.

As I go about my daily life in business as an artist, I encounter a number of myths.  These common mis-perceptions about artists are so pervasive that I thought they deserved their own series of posts.

I thought it would be particularly instructive to share these myths on Artists Who THRIVE because a lot of these false legends come from artists themselves.

So let’s address the first myth,“artists must suffer for their art.”

Are you kidding?  Really?  Suffering is optional.

Now, I get it.  If you are struggling financially and or creatively, you will suffer.  I know.  I’ve been there.  I didn’t paint or draw a single thing for over seven long years.  During this time I developed severe anxiety and chronic clinical depression.  Notice.  I wasn’t an artist then.  I wasn’t expressing myself and that was one of the main reasons why I was suffering.

The depths of those feelings certainly inform my painting today.  And that is the silver lining in the very dark cloud I lived in for years.  But had I not focused my full attention and energy on improving emotional health and finding my artistic voice, I would certainly have continued to suffer.

Just ask yourself.  How would suffering support you in any way to be a thriving artist and entrepreneur?  Really.

Art is no doubt about feeling.  It is emotive, not literal.  Suffering transformed can inspire.  But there are healthy boundaries between your creative focus and your business enterprise.

The successful artists that I know are certainly not suffering nor are they horribly dysfunctional. I meet a lot of successful entrepreneurs.  Most of my collectors are self-made.  The successful artists that I know are just as, if not more, enterprising.

These successful artists are marketing savvy. These artists are also keen on maintaining a healthy life work balance and I find them to be generous and highly intelligent.  Is that a profile of the mythical suffering artist?  I think not.

I just returned from traveling for a press event at Scarpetta’s in New York City to promote the new Montage Deer Valley Residences.

Before this event met up with my friend Jonathan Fields for lunch at Soho House, a hip kind of country club for creatives.

Jonathan has just authored his second insightful book “Uncertainty, Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance.”

If you are involved in any type of entrepreneurial endeavor or if you are a creative who makes their living by way of your creative output. Get the book!

Jonathan has outlined clear and useful insights that should be part of every MFA and MBA program.

I met Jonathan a few years back when he was writing “Career Renegade, How to Make a Great Living Doing What you Love.”

I’ll admit it.  I am biased because my company was profiled in Career Renegade, but I can tell you that each story was inspiring, as was my discussion with Jonathan last week.

As we talked about our creative process as it relates to our uncertainties and fears we also explored the antidote, which seems to be both acceptance and ritual.

My ritual takes this form.

• Before I start a painting I put my studio in order. It has to be clean and free of distractions.
• Then I will light one stick of sandalwood incense.
• I’ll meditate in silence for about 15 minutes.
• I pause in gratitude for the privilege and opportunity to make my living painting.
• Then I set my intention to do my best work that will inspire and move others.
• Before I pick up the paintbrush I’ll put on some soulful music that might include Amy Winehouse.

This creative ritual drops me down into a familiar mode.  I know, and I accept, that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.  I remain loosely attached to the outcome.

I do know that each time I preform this ritual and I get into a familiar headspace, I’m increasing my chances of creative satisfaction.

“No more effort or energy is required in order to aim high in life, to demand abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty.

The difference between the two lies in your level of awareness.” – Bob Proctor

I snagged this quote by my collector Bob Proctor, author and host of the movie The Secret, because I think as artists it has so much to teach us.

Answer honestly, what are you choosing?  Is it success?

You’ll know what you are really choosing by simply noticing most of the thoughts that you entertain each day.

You know, the noise in your head, the passing remarks you make.  “As you think, so shall you become.”

If we agree with Bob’s proposition then what is the next step?

I’m not sure what Bob would say but I think that the next step is to define what success looks and feels like for yourself, very clearly.

Map it out like a drawing or a painting. Then assume full responsibility for your current circumstances and then take actions that move towards your specific goal.

Remember the common investment disclaimer, “Current results are not a guarantee of future results.”

Where you are now is not necessarily or even likely to reflect your future.

I can hear some resistance now.  “Growing up my parents did not encourage me, life as an artist is hard, and no one is buying art.”

Ya. I’ve heard it. Talk to the hand.  I used to utter the same lies until I chose success as my preferred mode of operation.

Trust me.  I was miserable so I do know that the shift can be made.

Success is a game we play between our ears.  You know that as an artist.

It’s the discipline and focus of your mind that produces creative excellence.  So it is the same for the business of art.

What I generally say to artist clients is, “No one is going to discover you.  No one is coming to save you.  So if you’re secretly hoping that your artistic talent will be discovered, forget it now. Define your notion of success then plan and build it.”

I recently read this except from an article on Psych Central.

Writer Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) italicize, relates about a friend of hers, an Italian filmmaker of great artistic sensibility, struggling to get his films made, sent “an anguished letter to his hero, the brilliant (and perhaps half-insane) German filmmaker Werner Herzog.

Herzog replied to her friend, saying something along the lines of, ‘Quit your complaining. It’s not the world’s fault that you wanted to be an artist. It’s not the world’s job to enjoy the films you make, and it’s certainly not the world’s obligation to pay for your dreams. Nobody wants to hear it. Steal a camera if you have to, but stop whining and get back to work.’

We know that being an artist is generally a tough gig. But is it smart to waste your valuable and limited energy and time complaining about it?  Accept it.

Push aside non-productive thoughts and conversations and figure out specifically what you need to accomplish next to meet your definition of success.

Maybe that’s where you need to start.  What is your definition of success? Is it crystal clear?  Like a physical fitness goal, do you want to drop 10 pounds?  Be able to bench press 50 lbs 15 times?

We are not owed anything by anyone just because we are creative.  There are many amazingly talented creative people on this planet.  What makes you special?

Be clear and confident about how your talent is different, “Do You.”

Then start laying out what success would look like as if you had a magic wand with an on/off switch.

Once you have a clearer picture of success you can break this down into bite sized pieces, milestones.

You can do this. It’s simply another creative process.