We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Robin Arthur. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Robin below.

Alright, Robin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Yes! I’ve been able to earn a full-time living from my creativity. I am able to do this by working very, very, very hard and being skilled in all aspects of running a small business (advertising, social media, bookkeeping, etc.). In this day and age, visual artists need to do a lot more than create art and show it in a gallery. These days, artists are clamoring for attention online while competing with the entire world for viewers and sales. It’s tough to get noticed!

How could I have sped up my processes? Easy! WITH MORE MONEY. All of my successes come to me slow as molasses. I could speed up all of my processes if I weren’t funding my art business all by myself. By that, I mean that I could enter more competitions, pay more for advertising, create beautiful, professionally printed publications featuring my work, hire assistants and agents, fly to various art centers in order to network and rub shoulders with buyers, hire professional photographers and stylists to make me more “Instagrammable”, etc. etc. etc. In my wildest dreams, I am flying around the United States promoting my artwork, getting more eyes on it. I’m sleeping in, lounging, painting and watching success easily flow to me while I don’t have a care in the world . . . but for now, I’ll just tuck myself into my little Western Colorado village of Paonia, keep my head down, focus and work hard to find enthusiasts for my work.

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

I paint expressive abstracts and custom portraits of pets, farm animals, wildlife, chickens and landscapes. I entered the business 10 years ago during a period where I found myself job hunting. The job search was futile, so I began painting Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) portraits of people’s animals for extra income. The portraits were so popular that I turned the practice into a business. Customers can now commission paintings in a Day of the Dead or more realistic style at www.robinart.com/custom. I also have an Etsy store where I sell printed reproductions of my work at www.robiniart.etsy.com. I am most proud of the fact that I make people happy with my work, which isn’t something a lot of people can say about their jobs. With my animal portraits, I give people something that will bring them joy and memories for an entire lifetime and beyond. My paintings and my legacy will be on this planet for multiple generations, and I think that’s pretty darned special. I’m also very, very proud of the fact that I’ve built my business completely on my own.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

This question is so obvious! The answer is simple, “BUY ART AND PROMOTE YOUR PURCHASE”. Haha! I find it interesting that so few people understand the value of art in our society, when it is literally draped across every single aspect of their lives – from cell phone cover options to product packaging. Art is everywhere. It is in music videos, movies, magazines, billboards . . . it is used to brand corporations . . . it is in galleries, museums, thrift stores . . . Historians study art in order to learn about the beginnings of the human race and to study the histories of all cultures. The world as we know it would be a complete blank without visual arts. Even so, artists continue to struggle to find buyers and to convince people to purchase their creations. I find it quite maddening sometimes to see someone spend money on, say, a big, expensive dinner in order to try and impress a date. Yes, the dinner is nice, but how about if they had spent the same amount of money on a work of art that their special person could treasure for a lifetime and pass down to other generations?

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I haven’t had time to learn about NFTs yet. I’m too busy working! Haha. My instinct is that they are something of interest for hobby artists and people with a lot of free time and money. Or, maybe they are something of interest to wealthy people who can afford to hire someone to purchase and manage their NFTs. I don’t know any people who work with their hands who have the time to mess around with this new type of art. I have read several articles about them and always get bored about a quarter of the way into the article. My mind starts to wander, the words blur on the page . . . I try to refocus and get back into the article and then get bored again . . . Call me old, call me crazy, call me uneducated, but in my opinion the NFT market has zero to do with art and everything to do with “meh”.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.robinart.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/robiniart
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/robinarthurart
• Other: www.robiniart.etsy.com www.instagram.com/robinarthurart www.facebook.com/robiniart