Artist's Essentials For Survival

Survival is the art of staying alive and true as an artist. Mental attitide is as important as skill and knowledge. You must know how to take everything possible from your talent and use it to the full, how to attract attention to yourself so that the right kind of gallerist comes along, how to make your way through the social minefield that surrounds a show and make it back to your work not too impaired by either success or failure, still navigating successfully without facts or figures. You must know how to keep healthy, or if unhealthy how to make yourself better.

CRITIC ATTACK
Slashing your way through the thickets of unsung industry to get a show does not mean that once you get one you will not be disturbed by venomous critics. Any bare emotion is vulnerable to attack. Say nothing! Don't get angry - you won't want to ridicule yourself having just watched them ridicule themselves. Calm will protect the nerves. Contemporary critics, sometimes desperate for something they know they cannot do themselves but wish they could, will make for and mock the honesty of the artist. Protect all parts of your talent from their painful stings.

You must be able to maintain your morale as an artist and that of others who share your situation. Any studio space you have must be considered a bonus. Lack of studio space should not mean you cannot work, for you are an artist always and those skills and talents must not get rusty and you must extend your knowledge at all times.

WHITE PAINT
Too much white paint can cause blindness. Protect the eyes with goggles or a strip of cloth or bark with narrow slits cut for eyes. Blacken underneath the eye with charcoal, or Daler Rowney black soft pastel, to reduce glare further.