We were lucky to catch up with Ash Darq recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ash, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

I didn’t realise I wanted to be an artist till I was 28. Subconsciously I probably knew, but I only dabbled, but always put it on the back burner. Once I acknowledged it, it was like I was on fire trying to make up for lost time.

At first I thought I could just quit my job and be an artist full time straight off the bat. Many artists make this mistake, and I became just another statistic. However this only lasted as long as my savings held out, and then I realised I needed a job to SUPPORT my journey as an artist, so I could set everything in place, build up a fan base and a community. Actually take a lesson or two in my vocation.

So, like many before me, I got a weekend job and began again on the marathon with full-time artist at the finish line.

I invested all the money I made into my mission. Taking art courses online and in person, business courses, sometimes art business courses. All with a one-track mind: How do I get myself to the point of making art full time?

Well in all honesty, I WAS making art full time time, but I meant living off it financially. That’s the trick.

Most advice people give you list off a handful of ways to make regular income as an artist. The one that I felt made the most sense for me was teaching. So I started to run online courses.

By the way, this was after at least 5+ years of making art and putting it out there virtually every single day. At the expense of my social life, and my physical and mental health; I was possessed.

Incredibly, it worked. I started to be making enough money to live off. It was minimum wage, but still!

I had done it, I was elated, I quit my job and felt like nothing could ever bring me down from achieving my dream.

I was a full time, professional artist.

But what I didn’t know was, that being an artist full time *can* have an adverse effect on your art.

Now the pressure was on. At the time I was happy with the art I was making, but I still felt very much like I was still learning. I felt like I wasn’t even sure that the art I was making was the art I WANTED to be making.

Now I found myself caught in a hamster wheel of making money: If you stop, everything falls apart.

Rent comes every month without fail. What if you’re sick? What if you are injured? What if someone dies? There’s no time for healing, no time for grief. There’s no time to be making art for the fun of it, for the experimentation of it, because everything you make HAS to sell. Every artwork HAS to turn into a print run that requires hours per week of promoting and selling. Every course takes hours of preparation, promotion and execution. Rinse, repeat.

I found myself stuck, and my art stagnant. more stagnant than it’d ever been.

Even more pressure fell onto my business when I upended my entire life and moved interstate, about 17 hours away from where I was living. And then had no studio for 3 months.

It was this happening that made me realise, and everyone will be different, but for me, having some income from a weekend job gives me the space to relax into my art practice. I don’t have to hustle, there’s zero pressure on what I make to be ‘likeable’, I can also take a break from social media whenever I want.

I still envision myself making enough money to live on just my art again some day, but I’m giving myself the time and space to grow into that slowly. Move with the ebbs and flows of life, cultivate more balance in my life.

We all have to take into account what our success looks like, and for me, it’s not just about money. It’s about making the best art I can make, about having a well rounded life. Being happy and healthy. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Ash, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve always had the creative impulse. Growing up in a relatively emotionally repressed and avoidant household, I think it conditioned me to be constantly finding other ways to express myself. However it still took me until I was 28 to realised that being an artist was what I wanted to do.

I was traveling in the USA at the time (I’m from Australia) and I think it was the distance from my life that helped me to recognise a few things. Many ways I had been holding myself back, ignoring my life path, and stuck in negative behaviour patterns. This is what travel is best for, giving you room to grow.

My art is heavily reliant on my emotional landscape, my subconscious and dreamscape, as well as my intuition. The surreal elements to my work come through me and I stay very open to allow that to happen. The trick is then to not force things just because I think it’s cool – being open to what the painting wants and needs as well.

My inspiration comes from a deep fascination with the human psyche and the nature of existence. Life’s beauty and pain. Death and birth, the cyclical nature of all things.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I wish there was a universal basic income for artists. I’m not sure how they could measure each person’s artistic merit in order to earn it, but it would be the game changer for most artists I know. art sales tend to be up and down, but subscriptions, rent and bills are like clock work.

Until that happens, I think everyone should own at least one pieces of original art. The majesty it brings to a wall is unparalleled. If everyone bought one thing at least, something that brings life to a home, the world would be better off.

People don’t realise how much your space affects you. A white bland wall feels like a hospital. These things matter.

Obviously I understand not everyone can afford an original, so then get a big beautiful high quality print. Share it on your social media, always always always tag the artist.

Sharing art on your Instagram stories is free.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Anything creative is an infinite game, there are no rules, no winners and losers. No game end. You keep playing, you keep progressing, there is only where you’d been and where you’re going. It’s amazing. No matter how far you go, there’s always a little further.

This kind of game leads to a life well lived.

Don’t ruin an infinite game with things like comparison. You are special, your infinite game only applies to YOU, and your unique perspective on this one wild ride. We only get one go, make it count.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ashdarq.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashdarqart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashdarq
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ashdarq

Image Credits
Photo of me with the snake is by: Electrum Photography