Making art your full time career
I didn’t set out to interview two artists who had quite a planned approach to moving into art full time, but I like that that’s how it turned out. Both Johnny K & Madeleine Simson have approached their careers with care and thought. My hope is that it is useful to hear from someone who has been doing it for a while, and someone who is in their first year! I’m so glad they shared some of their story with us.
It was lovely to chat to Johnny about the realities of transitioning from a secure corporate job to becoming a full-time artist. He has a rare mix of realistic and yet positive mindset that I wouldn’t doubt that he brings to everything he does. I love that he discussed how the period of time that spent developing his skills, refining his style but not necessarily making a lot of money as being beneficial to his career, because that struggle allowed him to appreciate the good times and continues to keep him striving forward and motivates him to keep creating work that he loves.
“I think when you paint from the heart and paint with passion that's probably when you produce your best work”
Johnny K
I really appreciate Madeleine coming on the show to talk to me after only making the move to practice art full time less then 12 months ago. It can be a really tough phase to go through where even the most planned people are going to learn as much from experience and trial and error as anything else. I loved that Maddy discussed what initially gave her confidence to make the move to go full time, but also the changes that she’s still going through such as looking for someone to help her with her website to free her up to focus on her art. These can be really big, scary moves and they’re also quite important as they do allow you to play to your strengths.
I was so glad to hear that Madeleine was making sure to balance making her current style of work and commissions with finding time to experiment and move forward in her style. I think that space for experimentation and pressure free creating can help you to stay in love with your work when you’re making art your business.
The way that both Johnny & Maddy’s friends and family encouraged them and also their appreciation for that support in this move came across in our chats. I think it’s hard to put words around how a support system can help you find the confidence to make a transition like this - but they both did it well and with such humility.
As always, thanks for tuning in, and please share your thoughts if you’ve got any questions or comments!
x JB
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