Setting Goals

[Michele Rushworth]

Jeff wrote:

My short term goal is to be producing sellable art by the end of this year. That's deliberately vague. I'm not deluded into thinking I'll hang in a gallery by the end of the year. If Ebay accepts it I'll be lucky.

My personal definition of sellable is a painting that I'm willing to put my signature and a price on, even if nobody buys it. I've never signed a painting. When I feel my work is worth putting my name on, I'll call it sellable. I'm a tough self-critic, so that's not as mushy a goal as it sounds.

I have someone bugging me for a portrait now. I keep putting her off, saying I'm not ready, because I know she'll want me to sign it. I don't want to lose sleep five years from now, knowing there's a really bad painting with my name on it.

Judging by the WIP you've posted, you're there. Sign it, frame it, make twenty more like it (that's the time consuming part!) and show your body of work to any gallery you want to. (And yes, you're ready to take on commissions, in my opinon.)

I used to spend far too much of my time doing this: "Ready, aim, aim, aim, aim......" Once I woke up and realized I'm not in my twenties any more (far from it!) I saw that I didn't have time to spare. Now it's "Ready, aim, fire!"

[Julie Deane]

Short-term goal: survive the end of the school year and its accompanying meetings and paperwork. Very little art can be done during this time.

Medium-range goal: work like a dog over the summer on portrait samples and other ideas. Also enter more competitions (I have my list on my desk, with all the deadlines). Work out a routine for daily drawing practice.

Long term: that's a quandary. I would love to be able to cut back on my school hours but am afraid to, since commissions are just beginning and I need every dollar with my son entering a college dorm next year. Continue drawing and painting, looking for commissions and entering competitions. Really long-term is retirement and full-time painting, which, unfortunately, is a long way away.

Michelle, I admire your business acumen. Just thought I would give a contrasting, low-end sample of goal-setting.

[Mary Sparrow]

Michele, I so wish I could spend a week following you around. Maybe some of your drive and business smarts could rub off on me. Somewhere along the line I missed out on that thing called organization. I paint every day and have 3 kids and don't even keep a calendar reminding me what has to be done for everyone. I don't know how anyone is functioning over here. Much less how I manage to actually get things done on time.