18 Tips to Be the Artist of Your Dreams

1. Choose a family that nurtures or challenges your artistic spirit and talent.
2. Read great literature every day. The works of literary masters can unlock the creative potential in your being in a way that nothing
else can.
3. Listen to classical music while you work – especially Mozart. Classical music will help you to open the creative centers of your being
in a way that other music styles cannot.
4. Exercise your body and spend time in nature every week. You are a whole person – spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical. All of
you needs to be exercised and integrated for optimum success as an artist. Be a renaissance person.
5. Don’t watch television. You can maybe watch your favorite program for an hour but nothing more than that. Television can break
down your connection to your creativity and individuality.
6. Don’t spend a lot of time on the internet. The internet can affect you in much the same way as television and it can also be a huge
time-waster.
7. Study with masters and become a great artist. A great artist has inspiration, talent, uniqueness of vision, and absolute mastery of
their medium. It’s not about pretty – its about originality and a way of seeing life.
8. Be honest with yourself. You need to assess if you really have the talent and persistence to be a commercially successful artist – big
dreams alone cannot take you there.
9. Make a deal with your spouse or partner or family to give you 5 years to focus 100% on your art.
10. Work on your art as hard as Michelangelo did. Paint or sculpt or photograph – do whatever you do for at least 4 hours every day.
11. Have a stunning online gallery of your work. This is what everyone in the universe is going to see when they get their first impression
of you and your art.
12. Attend a major art event every week, speak with at least 10 people, and give each one of them your business card with your website
address. Invite them all to your next open studio or show.
13. Hold an Open Studio every month. Advertise in local publications. Invite local arts professionals and send out email invitations to
all your email list – even if they are thousands of miles away. Nothing compares with a physical showing of your work involving real
people! A little food and some nice wine together with your art will create an environment for selling your work.
14. Every year, buy a copy of the Art In America Gallery Guide and make a list of 600 galleries that appear to show work similar in style
to yours.
15. Every month, send out 50 letters of introduction to galleries with a postcard of a very strong piece of your work and an invitation
to visit and review your website.
16. Commit to a major gallery or art-center showing of your work twice a year and make it happen no matter what. Plan 6 months in
advance for each show and make it perfect – curating, framing, catering, assistance, etc.
17. Answer every request for information, every email, every response to your mailouts, every phonecall to your artist studio – as if the
sender or caller might be wanting to spend $25 Million on your art.
18. Like Buzz Lightyear once said, “Never give up, Never surrender!”