Dear Jeremiah,
Here is a bit of my experience. I tried to make it clear, but that was hard, so sorry everybody for the loong post.
I have quit from a good job because it was no longer what I wanted to do. I had always wanted to be an artist, but it took me several years to realize that it was possible if that was what I really wanted to do.
I then occupied part time jobs, much less interesting - financially speaking - than the previous ones, in order to get time for painting.
Unfortunately, I was always too tired to paint often - that is the problem you are faced with when you want to do your job honestly and when you are the kind of person who put its heart to its work (sorry, don't know if it's understandable in English...), sometimes way too much!
I then tried to find jobs related to the arts world, to stay in the same field of activities. I thought this would encourage me to paint more because I would work with artists.
Well, as far as I am concerned, I definitely understood that the real problem was that I could not work for long for a boss.
I needed to be my own boss, to be independent in my choices and the way I was working.
So I stopped trying to get part-time jobs, and decided I would only paint.
It took me quite a big amount of time to paint regularly, because when you work for yourself, you definitely need to "grow up", to settle limits, to motivate yourself to do all that an independent worker needs to do... which is... everything, everyday (or almost)!!!!
I have started to get more famous in my area, and people wanted to study with me. That gave me the opportunity to give several classes, and to get regular amounts of money each month, doing something I really enjoyed.
I nevertheless had to get conscious that too much classes given meant less and less time painting, and got almost frustrated to see my students painting while I wasn't.
To conclude, I would add that you are not always conscious of your limits. You can think of them forever, or just plunge and see what you are ready to do. If you DO love painting, and if you feel that you can do that for years, I can assure you that choosing to do so will be of great help to you. Why? Because you will give yourself the possibility to make your dream come true.
The worst thing would be to finally discover that it is not made for you. So what? You will know better yourself, and you will be ready to do something else, instead of hesitating all life long.
If, on the contrary, you get more time to paint, to meet fellow artists or art lovers, and feel complete when you are in your studio, then you will be grateful to yourself for having had the courage to plunge.
Either way, you will know better yourself and what you are made for.
I totally agree that you have to take many factors into account.
But I, for myself, realized that, hesitating, you can loose a BIG amount of time and energy, which you would rather spend on painting if only you had just decided to actually paint!
I have seen your works on your website. They are strong, and I am sure a lot of people like them. You have fantastic painting skills, and it would be great for you to develop them (as Chris Saper advises in her article cited earlier in the thread). That will only be possible if you give yourself more time to do so, either if you work in another business or not. Quitting your job will not solve all your problems or questions actually. What you first need to do is to decide one time for all if you are a painter and if you want to continue being one!
(There is some advice in Joe Innis' book "How to become famous and still paint pictures" that might help concerning the decisions you have to make to evaluate your motivation. He also talks about some mistakes he made when he started his business, which might be helpul to read. You only get his personal opinion in this book, but that can be another testimonial from a fellow artist.)
Thank you for reading. Hope this helps a tiny bit...
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