Cutting Back to a Solid Core

As I write this entry, my husband and our neighbor Mike are out cutting back some of our trees. Mike has one of those chain saws on a pole to get the really high branches we could not reach, even with a ladder. They are discussing which limbs to cut back, and I overheard a discussion about how cutting the wild, frazzled branches will make the trunk and other more established limbs stronger. Maybe this is good advice for artists, too.

I know many artists who are trying to do too much - sprouting wild branches. Originals, reprints, new media, chasing galleries and buyers, entering every show, taking classes, blogging, twittering, facebooking, my spacing, and then just spacing out. The old saying "do one thing and do it right" might be good advice for all us at one time or another. But, during a downturn in the economy it can spell success versus mayhem.

Artists need to stick to what they do well, and not appear desperate. People like to buy from and hire successful, positive, organized, professional, confident artists. While it is well and good to try something new, even advisable in a down economy, remember not to neglect your tree trunk - the art that got you here - in an attempt to do it all, be it all, and end up with just a bunch of frazzled branches.

A conversation in which you mention that you have decided to take up some work on small canvas is much more appealing to your listener than one in which you mention that you are painting small to make some sales, while social networking, trying to find a teaching gig, investigating other media because they pay better, and just bought a welder's mask to try your hand at sculpture. Don't sprout wild branches!

Every successful person I have heard of has done the best he could with the conditions as he found them, and not waited until next year to be better. ~EW Howe