Sunday, March 30, 2008

Can You Make Money At This?

Today, a gentleman stopped by to mostly talk about himself. One thing that he asked that has been asked many times before, and it always puzzles me, "Can you make money at this?". The answer is "no". That said, we do make "sufficient for our needs", but our motivation isn't money. We do need to make it financially, but not at the expense of my soul. I may be naive, but if you're going into the arts for money, then you're in the wrong "industry". Whenever an artist derives their self esteem from how much money they make, I think they need to dig a little deeper and find meaning in making work that comes deep from within their soul.

10 comments:

Sabrosa Cycles said...

Each and every time I stop by your STUDIO, I am reminded that life should be lived slow and easy. Damn the Jones' with their maxed out credit cards and their Hummers on 24" rims. People spend the majority of their lives chasing down a dollar and not spending time with those they love. My hat is off to you and yours.

By the way, Scouting has never been mentioned in my B.O.M. As far as I know, Scouting was invented to give young boys something to do on Tuesday nights while their fathers were tied up in pointless church meetings. Get rid of the meetings, and spend time with your OWN boy riding bicycles. No tour permits required, no scouting round tables (what?? round tables??), and no cutesy fund raising car washes. Problem solved.

Nikki said...

I also really appreciated and agree with your sentiment that money doesn't nurture your soul like your art does. Bravo, and thank you for sharing. I wish more people in America would come to realize these things.
Warm Regards,

Russell Wrankle said...

I like money and things as much as the next person, it's just that we feel it's more important to spend time with our kids, my art and Lori's midwifery. Recently, Lori was asked by a neighbor if we were "trustfunders", which was kind of surprising based on the cars we drive but not surprising because we always seem to not be working. I'm ususally home and we both attend most of the kids games and other activities.
Another guy at work(I drive a bus part time in Zion National Park) said to me that "if you worked more you could drive a nicer car", I said "if I drove a nicer car, I'd have to work more".
We all have our set of priorities. We're just trying to figure ours out for us. Thanks for your comments.

Anonymous said...

When I am asked "Can you make a living at this" I answer with "That depends on how define living".

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