Is Making Art Difficult or Easy?

Making Art: Difficult or Easy?

I left my job in 2020 to focus on making art. At the time, I’d been making art for over a decade and I knew that I had the ability to make this work for me. I’d done business building with my job, I had a background in bookkeeping - I felt like I could work at monetizing my skill. While I knew that this would be a lot of work, I knew that consistency was key. I did not anticipate finding that making art would be such a challenge. 

I felt like I was beginning the perfect career: something that I enjoyed and something I was good at. Creative endeavors can reduce depression and stress. This was exactly what I needed exiting the corporate world, and I looked forward to beginning to heal in a productive way. That was my internalized capitalism - tying my worth to my production. I didn’t realize that I was going to have to come to terms with that too in the way that I made art. 

Making Art: Difficult 

In monetizing something that I enjoyed, I began to struggle. I often got stuck in my head. The longer that I looked at a painting the more I felt that the lines weren’t right or the shading was off. I even had trouble with subject matter - I had no idea what I’d paint next. Art started to become less enjoyable for me. Everything felt like it took so much effort. I hadn’t realized that a lot of this process had become such a burden because I had tried to monetize something that had been a source of joy for me. I began to dread every commission that I accepted and even though I charged more for commissions, I even started to feel guilty about my (very reasonable) pricing. I didn’t realize how much more difficult art would be for me when I began to make it for money instead of making it for myself. ​

Making Art: Easy

In 2022 I found myself trying to make art during my pregnancy and it became even more of a challenge. I was trying to find time to be creative when I had no energy or I was in pain. I began to shift away from making art to make money and began to make art because I wanted to. As a result, this year was the least productive year (as far as making art and monetizing it) that I’d had since I started my art business. But, I also found that I was making art that I enjoyed - and I felt passionate about it again. I felt so passionate about it I took my art and put the pieces into two books! 

Shifting away from art as something that HAD to be monetized, I found myself feeling like making art was easy. I began exploring different artistic styles. I began brainstorming again. I began to feel excitement instead of dread. The pressure to produce, produce, produce was gone - and with it, I found that making art was easy again. 

In moving into 2023 I have a new plan: I’m not going to compare what I’m doing with anyone else. I have my own goals that I’m working toward. It might not even look like making ten pieces of art a year. It might look more like focusing on producing a few new books year - which I’m doing because I want to, and I enjoy it, not because I need to make money, money, money (and I can acknowledge these passion projects are privileged). I'm also going to actively seek joy. We aren't made to only work. We're also made to create. And that's what I'm going to do in the new year.