We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jill Withrow Baker a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jill Withrow, appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

JILL BAKER

JILL BAKER
I had determined I was going to be a visual artist, drawing and painting, from the time I was a very small child. Everyone told me how well I drew and that I should be an artist. My mother made sure I received art lessons from the time I was in first grade and it was my salvation when, in a new school, other children made fun of me. I could draw better than anyone and could do their portraits, so became an asset to them. It was an occupation that seemed readymade for me. My mother also insisted that her daughters take dance lessons and learn to play the piano (a skill that I was unaware would later save my financial life.)

When I entered college, I decided I wanted to major in psychology, but everyone from my friends to my school counselor told me I should major in art. Art was an easy “A” for me, so I took art and then studied whatever else I wanted, psychology and English included. In the process I learned to type well. When my father visited me in college, he asked me worriedly how I intended to make a living. I had to think quickly and came up with “I can be an art teacher.”

I got married in college. I loved to write short stories, draw and play the piano for myself for hours when I became a wife and had two daughters. These three things were my “quiet time” activities when I needed to regain my sanity after a long day.

However, the time came when I went away from home to do graduate work and earn an M.F.A., and I was thrust out on the world to support myself. At the age of 35, with a daughter to support, I sought a “real job,” one that would earn money. Being a Creative in art, writing or playing the piano would not earn me any money in the big city of New York. Not without the degree.

I went to a Temp Agency, to see if I could get a secretarial job, as I could type. When they tested my typing ability, we found I could type over 100 words per minute! Not believing it myself, I took the test again and, sure enough, I scored over 100 correct words per minute. It was playing the piano for hours every night that had taught my fingers to move quickly and accurately! I was immediately put to work earning good money as a secretary. However, though it satisfied my need to make money, this was not what I really wanted to do in life. I really wanted to earn a living with my art. I knew I was good at it and I had to admit I was the best artist that I had ever known.

I received my M.F.A. from Pratt Institute and moved to L.A. There I continued earning more and more money, as a secretary, then a clerk, then as a legal secretary and finally as the head of the department of word processing for a large company, I became more and more frustrated and exhausted. I was, in my spare time, doing my art. I was painting at home, entering my work in competitions and showing it in exhibitions everywhere. I was becoming known in my city’s art world as a leader and a reputable artist. I was showing my art everywhere. Unfortunately, sales of art never reached the level of my other occupation as a really good administrator (thank you, Psychology), computer nerd and “typist,” so I had to remain in the corporate world as long as I needed money to help support my child.

The time came that my daughter graduated from college and got a great job and I was no longer needed to support her. It was then I decided to try to live on a lesser salary and do my art full time.

That cut in salary was probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to deal with in my financial life. Going from an executive’s salary down to one-third the income was extremely difficult. When I went in a store, I wanted to buy items I liked, as usual, but I had to stop and think, “should I buy a second or third one of these, as I already have one?” Or, “do I really NEED this?”” Or “can I afford to buy it, even if I need it?” Most of the time, the answer to all of these questions was “No.” It was quite difficult to cut my income by two-thirds. But I was forced to do it because I had moved out of a rented apartment into my own home in another town, and the mortgage had to be paid. I no longer had a well-paying job. I was working part-time in order to work more on my art. My circumstances had changed considerably. But I was much happier.

I was to proud that I now had my own home. I was supporting myself without working at a desk job for long hours every week, and I was able to spend time doing the things that I loved: writing, playing music and painting. I was able to travel to nearby towns to participate in art fairs on the weekends and showed my work more often in galleries and competitions. As a matter of fact, I rented a storefront and opened my own little gallery: Winchester Cottage, and showed my work in the back while I showcased a different artist in the front windows every month. Having a gallery was fun, but it did not earn its keep. I kept on remembering the old adage “A gallery is a rich person’s hobby.” Some months were good, but the bad months outnumbered the good ones.

Giving up the gallery, my next job utilized the third skill I had developed as a youngster, writing short stories. I began to work for a couple of companies that required me to take a topic, research it and write a paper on it. It was quite demanding, but the more I worked the more money I made and I loved the challenge of being given a topic to wrap my brain around and spit out all the information I could find on it in a way that the layman could understand. My essays went on the internet anonymously and I got paid right away, or could collect royalties. Perhaps those days of paying experts to write are over, but at the time, there were many “Q and A” sites for people to look to for answers, such as one might ask a question of Google today.

I did that job for two years, while living in my studio, with the computer on the side. I now was supporting only a pet, rather than a child, so was perfectly happy with my life.

I was forced by another divorce to move again and this time I floundered around in the job market, trying to find a happy medium of work and time to paint. I moved to New Harmony, Indiana. I became a lady’s companion to a wealthy woman, painted houses, worked as a guide and then again as a legal secretary, a job I hated, but it earned quite a bit of money. I hated it so much that I quit after a while and sought work at the local university. It so happened that they needed a teacher in the field of Humanities and my degree fit the bill. In that way, I became an art teacher, working in the Department of Art at the University of Southern Indiana. That was my final job. I worked as an Instructor, not full time, which paid me enough and left me free to paint.

When I think about having a regular job again, my heart constricts. I did work from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for many years and always dreamed, during those years, of being able to wake up one morning and start working for myself. Now I can do that! I paint commissions, portraits and landscapes, and have exhibitions of my work. I also have illustrated books and have written books, which continue to sell.

I was not happy having a regular job, but was forced by circumstances and my own standards of living for myself and my daughter to do it. I am much happier living the life of a Creative where I make my own schedule, teach students who appreciate me and, now that I am retired, come to me for consultations and classes that we decide on together. Meanwhile, I am recognized in my area of the country as an outstanding artist. Some days are hectic, but at least they are hectic because I chose for them to be, not because I am forced to work for someone else. I love being an artist.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I provide custom commissions that include oil or watercolor portraits. I also do large or small landscapes, depending on what the client wants.
Sometimes a client will contact me, not really knowing what they want, but the general theme. I work with them, making sketches and finding out what is important for them to include in the final painting. I have done full-body portraits with the images of things they person portrayed had in their life that made them unique or important painted around them.

I also paint for the public in two ways. In Art Fairs, I advertised “Ten Minute Portraits” in watercolor and did the faces of adults or children individually quickly. I developed a formula for my kind of painting. First the watercolor colors of skin, hair, eyes, mouth, clothing. Then, the watercolor having dried, I drew over it with pen and ink, creating a true-to-life image of the person that looked like them. I loved having the public crowding around, looking over my shoulder or in front of me, oohing and awing as they made remarks about how it was like magic that I could create the likeness of the person I was drawing and painting.

The second way I paint for the public is in commissioned works, where the client decides on what the image will be. Then, taking it from there, I paint with loving freedom the image I see and feel. I have never had an unhappy client for doing that. I have had them remark that the hair was longer or that the mouth wasn’t smiling, or something like that, and I have been happy to adjust the portrait.

When I paint for myself, I like to do landscapes or still lifes. I have also created many surreal paintings that appear to be realistic, using collage and oil paint. These are imaginary landscapes. Something you would see in a dream. I am like Dali, but more complex and more realistic. The landscapes are so real that sometimes people ask me where I photographed it. But they are my most successful paintings.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I believe that there are many young artists going to the city to learn and become artists. My most helpful resource was an old woman that many galleries and artists told me to go to. She took a look at my portfolio and told me what galleries to go to that might like my kind of art. She also gave me general hints about improving my presentation, my art and my approach to galleries. When I asked her how much she charged, she said “nothing.” I was extremely poor, so this was a wonderful thing for me and she helped me a lot, She is the one who gave me the name of a gallery to go to (among others) where I found acceptance and a place to exhibit my work.

I doubt this old woman is still alive, but the resource she provided should be available to all young artists. Perhaps a non-profit foundation could provide a free service to prospective artists that would assist them in this way.

I also believe that one of the hardest things I had to adjust to was the financial record-keeping and knowledge of what was possible, was money-saving, was required, and/or was important. Keeping financial records in detail is of the utmost importance for artists, and for tax purposes one needs to know what it is possible to deduct or not.

Creating a portfolio of one’s work is another skill that usually is not emphasized in art schools. But it is extremely important when one goes with one’s work to market it. Today’s portfolio is usually done on the computer by various means. Art students need to become knowledgeable and versatile in creating a portfolio.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the life that it brings to the artist. Being an artist means that you are totally aware of this world in all of its aspects. Being aware means being aware of how the world works. Studying philosophy to me brings insight to how the world functions and why people do what they do.

Being aware also means the practical side of observing color in nature, shadows and light, structure of trees, houses, mountains. It means looking at the world through the artist’s eyes — balance and symmetry in branches and leaves, trunks and earth, the blue of the sky, which is not really blue, the physics of how light comes from the sun, the reason night is black. All of these things are wondrous, even if you try to understand them in practical terms. They create the composition of one’s art, the way colors mix or don’t mix, the final resulting contrasts, whether it is effective or not as a compelling work of art.

Life as an artist also means that you interact with others differently. Your imperative awareness attracts others who are also in tune with your aspect or view of life. They want to discuss, feed off of and share their own findings about life. You comingle with other artists and their interesting lives.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.JillBaker.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jillbee7/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JillWBaker/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillwbaker/
• Twitter: https://x.com/jillwbaker
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JillBaker

Image Credits

Photo Credit: Jill Baker, Lee Pennington