Discuss: Overheard -- I can't afford to be an artist!

bsherwin: During a recent gallery hop I overheard someone say "I can't afford to be an artist!". The statement was directed at the cost of oil paints. That public declaration -- along with a recent debate on FineArtViews -- made me think about how the average American uses money. I did some digging online... and discovered the following:

According to TIME - Moneyland...

The average costs related to using an iPhone in the US can easily top $1,900 per year. (Think of how many people use an iPhone today)

The average US household spends approx. $850 per year on soft drinks. (That does not include soft drinks purchased while on the road)

The average US worker spends more than $1000 per year on coffee. (That data did not include coffee made at home)

The average woman in the US will own over 469 pairs of shoes in the course of her lifetime. TIME, based on info from Glamour, estimates that the average women spends $25,000 on shoes over a lifetime. The average male sports fan spends nearly as much on pay-per-view events... boxing, wrestling, you name it.

With the above in mind... I would suggest that the average American CAN afford to explore art if he or she is willing to make a few sacrifices. One could easily afford art supplies -- and perhaps an art workshop or two (not to suggest that you need to take art workshops in order to be an artist) -- with a few deductions from the above. Sacrificing a few trivial pleasures in order to pursue something that will likely bring you more joy is a good investment.

If you happen to be an active artists... my guess is that you could go further with your work if you cut back on trivial spending -- make coffee at home instead of buying a daily cup at a fast-food joint... try a generic brand of soda instead of buying Pepsi... chip in with a few other people if you must watch a pay-per-view event. Food for thought.

	Cliff Kearns via faso.com	11 months ago
	It would be interesting to know what the average North American spends a year on the purchase of Art!!

	virginia bryant via faso.com	11 months ago
	i can never say this enough! shoes are NOT trivial, especially if you are standing for hours at a time making art, and you actually WALK places rather than driving! seriously though, those carbonated drinks are poison, and no one caring for their health should drink them anyway. o was considering an iphone till i read this........

	Brian Sherwin via faso.com	11 months ago
	Cliff -- That information would most likely be extremely depressing. I wonder how much is spent on those cheap 'art posters' at Walmart, Target, and so on per year throughout the US..... blah.

	Cliff Kearns via faso.com	11 months ago
	Guess I wasn't thinking of the poster market. That would be significant because most people have something on their walls and I guess it has to start somewhere. There is a difference between affording to be an artist and affording to make art. Imagination doesn't cost a lot and passion can generally afford most things.

	Phil Kendall via faso.com	11 months ago
	All things are affordable. it's just the political will and resolve to make the decision and then to make those necessary sacrifices. It is just the same with the home budget. There is always real original art to suit any budget. Art is no longer a done deal. Why buy art to hang on the wall when you can get a series of interesting images direct from the internet to any high resolution TV either in the home, the work-place of the smartphone?

	Tj via faso.com	11 months ago
	I don't get out much, No Iphone, and the cash in my pocket seldom leaves unless I'm buying something for the studio. I even cut my own hair. But I am doing large sculpture! It is a lifestyle that has to be developed. Saying no to all expenses that One doesn't need is an acquired discipline that your mate needs to participate in. Good luck artists, and Goodwill! Tj

	Jackie via faso.com	11 months ago
	Great article Brian and great statistics. I'm like Tj, I have two pairs of flip flops and one pair of boots and that's my entire footwear collection :)

	Sari Grove via faso.com	11 months ago
	Yep oil paints are expensive...I had to take a break (eyes telescoping from painting too much), so I've been doing sculpture again... Gotta say, Ferrocement sculpture is way cheaper material-wise than oil painting...Cultured marble too...I find making the armatures and then sculpting over that in a homemade stone is so labour intensive, research intensive, that I spend less on materials and much more on time and energy...It took me like a year to figure out a good concrete mix...Another to make an armature form that I didn't have to weld but that could be strong... If oil painting is getting you down on costs I say try another medium...Sculpture is so much fun! TJ has some books on his website, and ArtConcrete is a good Google group (Andrew Goss has a book too...) I also cut and colour my own hair...Huge big savings for women on hair care and I actually like how my hair looks now...(Plus it has refined my art skills a bit too)... I got a used older model iPhone on ebay.ca and it works fine for just checking emails when I am on the road... My car is a 1995 Pontiac Firefly that I keep well maintained... Married almost 16 years but no children- (probably why we are not broke...)

	Charlotte Herczfeld via faso.com	11 months ago
	That oil-painter should check out the cost of soft pastels of the highest quality... We can normally afford what we truly want. We may need to give something up, and it is usually something we do not truly want. I may crave chips, but I can't say I really need them ;-)

	Tj via faso.com	11 months ago
	Thanks Sari for the plug. Making large art with little money required me to innovate. Documentation became cheap with the digital camera and making studio notes in power point eventually lead to the books on how to do a life size piece for less than $200. If we want it bad enough we can figure out how. And if we develop discipline around our love and passion for art it will come. I am currently blessed with a public commission.

	Sari via faso.com	11 months ago
	It's an honour to meet you TJ...

	Carolyn Edlund via faso.com	11 months ago
	Brian, your article reminds me of the quote, â��When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.â�� When there is a passion for something in one's life, there will be money found for it. I wouldn't be surprised to meet an artists who couldn't stop purchasing wonderful materials for their art - even if it meant going barefoot.

	Woodward Simons via faso.com	11 months ago
	Oil paint is only expensive when someone doesn't know how to use it effectively. My studio mate paints in oil and sells her work quite inexpensively. At first, she sold small, unframed oil paintings for around $18 - she was just starting out and wasn't as good of a painter as she is now. She sold a lot of paintings, which more than paid for her art supplies. In essence, she was getting paid while becoming a better painter. Now she sells her small works between $65 and $125 per painting on the "Fresh Paint" sight through her blog. In my opinion, she's an accomplished artist now. I think she could get much more for her work... but in the meantime, she's selling very well from her website and never needs to worry about the cost of oil paint. It really doesn't take many sales (even if they are "dirt cheap") to make back the cost of supplies. I'm not suggesting that artists offer originals for $18, but unframed smaller works for $75 each can actually be enough to pay the bills. I know of several artists who make a full time living on selling small, inexpensive unframed oils. Sure, they need to be good enough to catch attention, but it can, and is being done. The person who said they could not afford the paint, may in fact, use that as an excuse to avoid painting.. or the fear of painting and not being able to do it well without investing a good amount of time. Or, it's possible that the person who said that is truly broke - and doesn't spend money on any of the other things mentioned in the stats. I grew up with a single mom (three kids). We lived under the poverty level, but that never stopped me from drawing. I drew on loose-leaf paper with a number two pencil. I still have some of those drawings, and the original copy of my Walter Foster Book, "How to draw Dogs"... it has a price of $2 on it, and it was the only I requested for Christmas in 1966. If you have a desire and the courage to take on art, put in the time to learn it - you will make a way to do it. It's not that hard to sell enough to make the cost of your supplies back if you're willing to sell for reasonable prices while you improve. A tube of oil paint costs less than a meal out - and lasts quite a bit longer!

	Brian Sherwin via faso.com	11 months ago
	Cliff -- I was thinking more along the lines of the fact that people don't mind dropping thousands (throughout a lifetime) on cheap posters because they don't think of how that money ads up. BUT if you show them a wonderful original priced at a mere $500 -- they look at you as if you are off your rock. I'd choose a $500 original painting over $1000 worth of Walmart posters any day. Hell, original artwork can become an heirloom... I don't think anyone offers Walmart posters in their will. LOL

	Brian Sherwin via faso.com	11 months ago
	Lori -- You nailed it with "A tube of oil paint costs less than a meal out - and lasts quite a bit longer!". I can remember my college years... and fellow students complaining about the expense of art supplies. I remember thinking, "You just spent $10 at McDonalds, $20 at the music store and $50 for a new video game all within the last month... but no money for new paints???". Yeah...

	Sari via faso.com	11 months ago
	I should mention that the KamaPigments.com website has excellent instructionals on how to make your own paint from pigments...Just click English at the top to translate...Even if you don't make your own, it is good to know...

	Judy Ferguson via faso.com	11 months ago
	Priorities, priorities, priorities. Most times people can fine the money to do what is important to them(exception being abject poverty!

	Lori Woodward via faso.com	11 months ago
	Brian, All the other things you listed are "entertainment". They serve the person who buys them. I have a friend who enjoys shopping for clothes and shoes (I don't enjoy that). But as I read your comment, it occurred to me that buying paint implies effort, not entertainment. There's a lot of fear that comes with painting - especially for those who are perfectionists. They find multiple excuses to not apply themselves to art... one is the expense of art materials. I just can't imagine any of my professional artist friends having ever said, "I can't afford the paint". These artists were not painting at a professional level when they began. It takes miles of canvas (or paper) to achieve well-composed and captivating artwork. Art is worth much because it's not easy or inexpensive to achieve. It takes considerable sacrifice on the artist's part. Artists who have the passion to pursue art and grow with and at it, do not use phrases like, "I can't afford it". I can't think of one artist who is passionate about making their work that ever limited themselves to not starting because of the expense of supplies. Yes, supplies are a consideration, but one thing I can say with assurance... superior paints, tools and substrates will make one a better painter faster. I cannot produce beautiful watercolor glazes on anything less than 100 percent cotton/rag watercolor paper, and my best oil paintings are oil primed linen (which doesn't suck up the oil and kill the color like cotton acrylic primed does). I'm the very same painter, but when I teach a workshop. I do the same demo on cheap substrates and professional substrates to show how student grade will not produce a professional result, even with the same artist. I advocate spending the extra money on professional grade supplies for that reason. Linen has a beautiful surface - and is my choice because I paint thinly and viewers do see the surface. Cotton manufactured canvas is regular and looks machine made... boring. Thanks for reading this far - if you got to it! Lori

	Cliff Kearns via faso.com	11 months ago
	You and I would be in the minority Brian. I have collected other artists originals for a long time and continue to. So much so that I have to start carefully wrapping and archiving them away. (run out of wall space) It's a different mentality that buys the poster... and different again the person who buys the painting repro at Walmart. It would be interesting to know if in fact serious collectors aren't outnumbered by the artists themselves. That seems like a zero sum game. Maybe better to be in it for the love. My last tube of Red Cadmium Hue cost $42.00. (It wasn't big) I don't feel I can afford that and yet I manage to buy it and make a bit of a living at this art game.

	Lori Woodward via faso.com	11 months ago
	Guess I'm not finished yet.. One of the things I've done to save money.. buy cotton canvas panels, use cotton canvas on a roll, or unprimed cotton or linen - AND THEN add my own oil primer on that canvas. Windsor Newton oil primer (in a can) gives a lovely painting surface for oil. My friend, Kathy Anderson used to use oil primed linen at $75/yard, but lately, she's been adding Windsor Newton oil primer over less expensive linen and the results give a similar painting surface. I make my own panels and prime them myself - saving considerable money and ending up with a great surface. As far as oil paint goes, I use Windsor Newton Water Soluble Oils and their thinner and mediums. They are less expensive than other oil and clean up with water and soap.. no fire hazard or fumes. Charlie Hunter uses these too. These are oil paints. As soon as the water evaporates, they dry by oxidation and just leave the oil. Another less expensive choice is Alkyd paints. Similar to oils but instead of having linseed oil as the binder, they have a resin - which allows them to dry in 24 hours. The application feels the same as oil, and they look the same. The medium for these is Liquin. Paint thinners are needed for cleanup. Rembrandt paints and Richeson Brands make a less expensive professional grade oil paint that can't be beat. Even their cadmium colors are half the price of other brands - and just as remarkable. If you glaze a lot with oil paints, you can get away with using student grade because the pigment to binder ratio is different... less pigment, more oil. When artists glaze, they add oil or medium to thin the pigment anyway to make it less opaque - so student grade oil paints already do this. HA! I'm on vacation, but it's raining today, so I decided to stay inside and do some writing. Hope this has been helpful for someone out there.

	Brian Sherwin via faso.com	11 months ago
	Sari -- For health reasons I'd be wary of learning to make my own paints from online instruction. I agree that it would be fascinating to learn how to do... but I'm not exactly a chemist. :)

	Brian Sherwin via faso.com	11 months ago
	Lori -- I'm still following. Actually going to write about this debate. Expect to be quoted. :P

	Ronald C. Gillis via faso.com	11 months ago
	My friends,I work strictly in traditional materials.Even when I was a boy I loved to walk the art supply aisles and smell the turps and the linseed oil paints(yup,that far back,you wise acre,you)and I can tell ya that the it works like this..,if it is your passion and painting tops all your lists,then you will rarely find yourself in need of art supplies of any sort.I make sure that my work is archival and the best that I can do and sometimes my paints are Dutch and sometimes they are closeouts from local dealers.My canvas is usually cotton but once in awhile linen. We sit in our spaces,poised over our supports,paint(upscale or no)poised like a spear and aren't we the luckiest damn people in the world?Do I hear an amen?