Modern Day Artists' Struggle

My apologies for falling off the earth yesterday. Work left me mind-numb and for the worse. Like all other artists out there I have a day job. Currently I have 2, a full time and part time one, and both are office gigs, which can really drain you and stall your creativity. So how do you deal with that? I'm still trying to figure that out. I come home and force myself to dabble in little things (sketch) or prepare for a bigger projects (research images, plan compositions, prep canvas, etc.) which I execute on the weekend.

One of the things that help with an artist's success is a large quantity of work, on top of it being good work. In order to do that, you need time to make a lot of works, or money to make a lot of reproductions (prints). How can those that are trying to be artists even enter into a level of success while trying to pay debts (car, student loans, rent, etc.) and spend the money (materials, studio, gallery rent, website) to do the whole art thing. You also have an under/uneducated audience that may enjoy art but are way too intimidated to talk about it much less buy it. So living the artists life means falling downhill. Why bother?

This is what people just don't understand. There is no other option. I can't just not do art. You want to see a person becoming a non-functional member of society? If you take away an artist's brushes you will watch them turn into a depressed, unmotivated, can't move, can't eat, suicidal heap. This may sound like an exageration -but it's exactly how I feel. The artist's struggle that people refer to is not the old fashioned (and cliche) struggles of completing a work and the anxiety of showing it to the world. Today the struggle is surviving, living this double life and attempting to fight this mindset of the public. It's something that I have to deal with because not creating is not an answer.

Consider this a bit of ranting and a sympathetic shout out to any of you out there trying to live the creative life. Happier posts to come. Promise. ;)