Think that living your dream and becoming an artist is about how talented you are?  It’s not about the talent, it’s about sticking with it! So what a great story about determination and perseverance! And hey, throw in a little revenge…..:-) Read this excerpt from the article about Barbara Corcoran (SHARK TANK!) and see if it does not inspire you to read the rest of the story!

………But you want to know, when I had the courage to end that partnership, he gave me the best gift of my life. He said to me, ‘You’ll never succeed without me.’ And I knew, right then and there that moment, I thought, ‘Oh yeah? I’d rather die than let you see me not succeed.’ And you know what? That was an insurance policy for success. Every time I was thinking of failing or giving up, I would think of one more thing, just because I didn’t want them laughing at me! Maybe not the best motivation but whatever, it worked for me.
http://smallbusiness.aol.com/2011/06/02/my-first-million-barbara-corcoran-the-corcoran-group/

Watching the video on my early education experience at the hands of my educators I remember them all.  Of course they are frozen in time, and those who later came into the world of the Internet turned out to create the same art that they told US not to create!   I am not quite sure why they were so adamantly pro “cutting edge” art at the expense of all other forms and styles of art. But as I  look back with a bit more wisdom, my earlier annoyance at their closed minds softens a bit. I realize that  they too were products and victims of the times.

And maybe they did me a favor.  Convinced that portraiture was indeed” prostituting my art” , maybe the years that I spent not creating art and running small businesses was the catalyst for what I also do now! Maybe that’s why I have been successful where others have not. Maybe, just maybe, those years as a single mom raising four children also added to my experience by forcing me to rethink everything I had been taught or was implied in the art world.

As a visual person it is real easy to see my art marketing education in a visual manner. Let’s visit this visual and see where it applies to your life!

I can see the ship on the ocean’s horizon that I need to reach.  The  waves keep me in or near shore where I can only splash around in one place safely.   Besides, I am reminded that there are dangers out there! Sharks, jellyfish…all sorts of things designed to keep me in safe waters. There are even some weights around my ankles that keep me from really swimming. But one day an undertow catches me off guard and I am pulled into deeper waters. After a brief struggle I let the rip current take me out into deeper water and then, rather than returning to safe waters, I start swimming for that ship. I might have to pause and tread water. I might have to avoid the jellyfish and hope the sharks circle someone else or maybe swim right through them. But I am heading for that ship!

And that has been my art marketing journey. Funny, that’s kind of how life goes too isn’t it!  SOmetimes you have to stop treading water and swim for your ship!