A very old friend of mine is hosting an exchange student from Russia.

Oops. My friend is younger than I am. We’ve been friends since I was in 3rd grade and she was in 1st grade. . . that’s what I mean by very old friend, not that she is ancient!

Mariya would like to be an artist. I met her during that very bad show, and she is sweet and sincere. She has to interview someone in the profession she hopes to someday join, and so she chose me. I decided to share the interview with you, Oh Fine Blog Readers!

Why did you decide to be an artist?

 I chose to be an artist because every thing else I tried just felt like a job. Drawing was the most challenging and fun way to spend time, and getting paid for it was a dream come true.

 Did you always dream of doing this work when you were young?

When I was a child, the only profession that interested me was art. I thought it was unrealistic, so I kept trying on other ideas in my head but none felt like a good fit.

 What do you like most about your work?

The variety involved with working as an artist is one of the best things. Always looking for subjects, learning photography, interacting with customers, drawing, painting, learning to paint murals, improving my skills, teaching people to draw, finding places to sell, writing a blog, meeting people at shows – there is always something different to be working on!

What do you like best, and what do you dislike about your job?

Whatever I am doing at the time is my favorite thing – if I am painting a mural, I’m just sure that I could spend my life doing only that. When I am drawing, I know it is why I was created. When I am teaching people how to draw, I wish I had 100 students! If I give a presentation to a group, it feels as if I was born to do public speaking. While I am writing, I am certain that I could write forever and never run out of words. When I am planning a new piece of work, it is great fun to take multiple photos from different angles at different times of the day, looking for the best light. I love working with my photographs, cropping, planning, designing and dreaming about how it will look in oil, pencil or as a mural.

On the other side, bookkeeping, record keeping, paying bills, collecting from people who don’t want to pay, and paying taxes are all tasks I’d rather avoid. I also find it more difficult each year to participate in shows – the physical labor of packing and unpacking and the uncertainty of sales while having to stay energetic and positive is just flat hard.

 Can you give me any advice?

Find what you love, learn it to the best of your ability, never stop practicing or learning. The hardest part of being an artist is marketing, so it might be wise to be a business or marketing major in college and an art minor. And, it seems that art schools focus too much on being different and creative and not enough on skills, marketing, and learning how to make art for real people instead of for gallery owners.