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We live in a society that glorifies instant gratification, but it's a false promise.  A siren song.   Anything worthwhile still takes work...a lot of work...even in 2019. People seem to have forgotten that.  And becoming a great artist takes more work than most things.  Selling art has always been a difficult prospect, and it takes more time, more effort, and more finesse than selling most things.  That hasn't changed.

Artists sometimes try FASO for a few months and then write us to say "no sales, didn't work."  After a few months.

As I wrote in Branding is the Only Power Artists Have,  "Helmer claims that these three conditions (necessary for artist to build a powerful brand) can only be created by providing a consistent and extremely high-quality product over a long period of time. Typically a period of time spanning years or, more likely, decades."

That's right, building a powerful, selling, brand as an artist can take years to decades.

I read the following in Brain Pickings:

"Expect anything worthwhile to take a long time."  - This is borrowed from the wise and wonderful Debbie Millman, for it’s hard to better capture something so fundamental yet so impatiently overlooked in our culture of immediacy. The myth of the overnight success is just that — a myth — as well as a reminder that our present definition of success needs serious retuning.  As I’ve reflected elsewhere, the flower doesn’t go from bud to blossom in one spritely burst and yet, as a culture, we’re disinterested in the tedium of the blossoming. But that’s where all the real magic unfolds in the making of one’s character and destiny. 

What applies to flowers, applies to artists. 

I'll repeat the relevant point:  As a culture, we’ve become disinterested in the "tedium of the blossoming." But that’s where all the real magic unfolds in the making of one’s character and destiny.

True artists, I think, embrace the blossoming. 

You must enjoy the process and the journey and not give up due to some external end goal. 

You're not going to become a master artist overnight, and you're not going to become a known, selling "brand" overnight.

It's a marathon, not a sprint.  And that's OK.

Until next time please remember that Fortune Favors the Bold Brush.

Sincerely,

Clint Watson

BoldBrush/FASO Founder & Art Fanatic