Artist's Business Plan

To the prepared, even a small wave can be ridden

The reason I haven't gone anywhere in the last couple of years is because I have not been following a business plan. Instead I have been chasing one rainbow after another. While driving to a family reunion at Virginia Beach, we were able to thrash out the bones of something that will need to be fleshed out in the next week or so. I have to gain artistic credibility if I am to have my work accepted into credible galleries. To do that takes time. I am planning to be a full time artist by the time I am 65. That is not much more than 7 year. In that time I need to become a master member of both the Oil Painters of America, and the American Portrait society. To do that I first need to establish a record of good entries in their annual prizes and been a finalist at least twice. I will be up against thousands of hopefuls, so need to only enter master pieces that have to potential of being a finalist every year. I also need to produce enough to have at least one solo exhibition every year with mostly new material. For the first couple of years this will seem as though it is going nowhere, but I have to stick with it. I have a new style that I also have to consistently stick to so that I can get the recognition I need. Even with the portraits I need to be fresh an different. I think that the new style does it. The picture is of an idea I am formulating for a painting based on material I collected during the beach visit.