A key to navigating this balance is being flexible because your needs for greater focus for either studio time or business change over time, depending on your current situation with your work and your financial needs. Besides time management, also consider where you find that your focus and emotional energy are best spent. Not everyone wants to invest a lot of themselves in marketing their work, teaching workshops, or other forms of art business. Motivation for becoming involved in art business needs to be an inner drive. Art business can be stressful and there is no shame in deciding not to go in that direction.

Deciding to begin or develop your art business requires artwork that is consistent and of good quality, and confidence in yourself. It is common for people to either be too eager to enter the art business world or too reticent, so seeking honest, objective feedback is valuable to understand if you are at a good point to go forward. If you do become involved in art business, finding systems that work for you is crucial. You need ways to track expenses and income, and to manage other aspects of your art career like maintaining your website. What you hear from various art business in terms of advice may or may not suit you personally, so you may need to be creative in finding ways that do.

As you go forward, prioritizing your studio time and setting aside enough time to feel creative flow is always critical. Without the focus on your art, there is no reason to be involved in marketing or art business. As your work improves and becomes more widely displayed and collected, the challenges of balancing studio and business focus can shift. Exhibits, for example, require great effort on both fronts. But experience with art business does ease the way, as you learn what works for you.

Thanks to everyone who has been sharing the show and donating! If you would like to donate to the Messy Studio Podcast donate here.
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When you buy art supplies at Blick remember to use our affiliate link to support the podcast! Bookmark this link and then you don't even have to think about it again. This is one of the best ways to support the show. It takes a few seconds and costs you nothing! The Blick website works exactly the same way, but we earn 10% every time you buy art supplies.

www.messystudiopodcast.com/blick

What's new At Cold Wax Academy?
Rebecca and Jerry have wrapped up their winter quarter of online sessions at Cold Wax Academy, where as always members have access to in-depth and varied content for learning, growth, and support. Their Winter quarter included presentations by guest authors Eric Maisel (may-ZEL) and Shaun McNiff, a painting clinic for works in progress, and live sessions on procrastination, tips on photographing your artwork, and source ideas for your paintings. All of these sessions and many more are available as video recordings in the member library. As a member, you can also access the private Facebook page and the community there of informed and supportive artists who post paintings, ask questions and initiate discussions.

It's never too late to join Cold Wax Academy! Stay tuned for a list of topics to be covered in the upcoming Spring Quarter and please visit http://www.coldwaxacademy.com for more information as well as basic information about using cold wax medium.

Please visit http://www.coldwaxacademy.com for more information.
Here is what a member named Sandy has to say about her own experience with Cold Wax Academy:
"Rebecca and Jerry have presented the most professional, authentic and structured approach to a creative activity I have ever come across. Their selfless sharing of all their knowledge and encouragement is a gift in my life unsurpassed."

Also-- please visit https://www.espacioart.org to learn about Rebecca and Jerry's newest project, Espacio, dedicated to providing beautiful living and working spaces for artists and writers. Espacio's first offering is Casa Clavel, a modern, fully equipped house opening this September in the beautiful cultural city of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. A few booking openings are still available in 2023, so please incquire if you are interested.

Have an art related product, service, or event you would like to advertise on the Messy Studio Podcast?
Email Ross at rticknor.core@gmail.com for current mid-roll advertising rates.
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For more from The Messy Studio:
www.messystudiopodcast.com
www.facebook.com/messystudiopodcast
​
For more from Rebecca Crowell:
www.rebeccacrowell.com
www.coldwaxacademy.com
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The Messy Studio Podcast is a Tick Digital Media Production.

As self-employed people, we can easily feel that we need to work all the time. Having high goals and aspirations, the drive for income, and knowing our responsibilities to other people all can lead us to ignore the need for down time. And of course, we also love what we do so that turning to our work rather than to something more relaxing is natural.

But the feelings of pressure can overwhelm us. A helpful approach is to distinguish between demands that come at you from the outside, and which demands we place on ourselves. Recognizing the difference can help you sort out how to deal with finding a better balance to work and down time. Pressures that come from outside us in the form of requests and commitments from others need to be carefully considered along with a realistic evaluation of your time. Pressure that we place on ourselves from within can challenge us to think about perfectionism, fear of failure, land ack of confidence.

Given the many aspects of managing an art career, how can you find ways to open up your time to include more leisure? Consider what can you delegate, what can you let go of instead of demanding perfection? Can you be more realistic about managing your time? What about taking days off just as you would at paid employment? Or scheduling a day a week just for your art, so that you get your studio time in and can perhaps then relax about fitting it in every day?

Taking down time may not come naturally to you at all. Some of us have to sternly demand of ourselves that we to take time off. We’re so good at all the other demands but the one that asks us to just “be” seems almost impossible. We may resist it and call it a waste of time. But it’s actually very important to live a balanced life, enjoy some down time, and trust that we will retain our ambition and sense of purpose even as we step away sometimes from the demands of our lives.

Thanks to everyone who has been sharing the show and donating! If you would like to donate to the Messy Studio Podcast donate here.
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Thank you also to everyone who has written testimonials for Ross's website! Have you enjoyed the audio production quality and hearing Ross's voice? Submit a testimonial by email at rticknor.core@gmail.com or by submitting the contact form at www.messystudiopodcast.com!
​
When you buy art supplies at Blick remember to use our affiliate link to support the podcast! Bookmark this link and then you don't even have to think about it again. This is one of the best ways to support the show. It takes a few seconds and costs you nothing! The Blick website works exactly the same way, but we earn 10% every time you buy art supplies.

www.messystudiopodcast.com/blick
​
It's time for an update on the latest news from Cold Wax Academy! Rebecca and her partner Jerry Mclaughlin are now well into their second quarter of weekly Live sessions for their members, in which they explore 3 main topics in deep, interrelated, and engaging ways. This quarter, those topics are Texture, Layering, and Writing and Talking about your Work. Weekly sessions include discussion, slide presentations, videos, critiques, special guests, and the opportunty to ask questions during the session. Cold Wax Academy Members have access to all past sessions, which are recorded each week--so if you're hesitating to join mid-quarter, no worries about missing out. There is plenty for you to explore, and you can watch previous sessions on your own schedule. Jerry and Rebecca offer for a trial month at the Core level for only $29.99. Visit www.coldwaxacademy.com and
and click on the Memberships button.
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Have an art related product, service, or event you would like to advertise on the Messy Studio Podcast?
Email Ross at rticknor.core@gmail.com for current mid-roll advertising rates.
​
For more from The Messy Studio:
www.messystudiopodcast.com
www.facebook.com/messystudiopodcast
​
For more from Rebecca Crowell:
www.rebeccacrowell.com
www.coldwaxacademy.com
​
The Messy Studio Podcast is a CORE Publication MGMT production.