The Best Blend of Skills and Interests

What are the best blend of skills and interests in art? How do you find the best blend of skills and interests for your art?

Most artists probably don’t spend much time thinking about something like this. But I’ll be honest. Finding the work that best blends my particular combination of “skills, abilities, personality traits, values, dreams and passions” is something I question periodically. It comes down to the following question:

Am I creating the right things in the right ways?

There is no earthly end to this particular search. It’s like reading a great book or looking at a great painting. There’s always something new to find with each new visit.

Whether you’re talking about life in general, a career, hobbies or anything else, there is absolutely nothing wrong with knowing about lots of things. Without good, basic knowledge in a variety of areas, it’s nearly impossible to do more than just exist.

The same holds true for art. You can spend a lifetime doing a variety of art that satisfies the desire to create. But is that all there is to it?

The Best Blend of Skills and Interests

I’m an artist who is very interested in horses, trains, planes, the Flint Hills, theology, and weather. In addition, I have lesser interests in countless other things. Most of those things don’t have a direct impact on my primary work (artwork). But every bit of information I gather contributes to artwork and writing in some way.

What I’ve learned from a variety of sources ranging from financial training through Financial Peace University to art webinars is that it is better to know as much as possible about the things that really interest me than it is to know a little about a lot of things. Why? Because focusing on the main things enables me to excel in those areas.

Personal Experience

Take my studio efforts, for example. For over forty years, I painted portraits of horses in oils because that was what I enjoyed. People were also willing to give me money for my horse portraits in oil.

Over the years, I heard artists talking about the need to be ‘well-rounded’, to explore all media, all the styles, and every subject. They needed to be able to work in all areas. In short, the advice seemed to be:

“Keep your options open and don’t get tied to any particular subject or style or media.”

That is wonderful at the beginning. The only way to know what you are meant to do, what fits with your unique set of talents and passions, is to try things if you don’t already know what you want to do and how you want to do it.

What if You Already Know What You Want to Do?

But I already knew what I wanted to do. I didn’t go to college right out of high school, because I knew what I wanted to do. When I did go to college, I was 22 and went to an excellent college (Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas) with a great art department.

But that was in 1982 and the big push was anything but representational work. I had no interest in abstract or non-representational work. It did not advance my personal art goal, so I stayed only one term. Good experience, but not very helpful in the long run.

Mom was always good about telling us kids we should be the absolute best at whatever we do. When I was a maid at a local Best Western, I tried to be the best maid I could be. When I was a receptionist at a chiropractor’s office, I tried to be the best receptionist I could be.

Was I the best maid or receptionist any of those businesses ever had? Nope. But that wasn’t my purpose, it was just a job.

But I have a desire to be the best artist and teacher I can be. Those things are what I enjoy most. It’s the best reason I know to get up early in the morning or stay up late at night. It’s a great way to spend days off and holidays, too.

If you sometimes wonder if you’re doing the right art for the right reasons, let me make a few suggestions.

Questions to Ask Yourself

Ask yourself the following questions and be completely honest with yourself in answering them.

1. What do you most love to do?

Is there something you would do even though no one paid you for it?

What you pay someone else for the privilege of doing?

My husband is a railfan. So am I, but I’m just interested. He’s avid. He worked his way through college by working as a brakeman for the Missouri Pacific. He got great pay for that work, but he would have paid the railroad for the privilege of working on the railroad because he loved it so much.

What activity can you say that about?

2. Do you have a particularly strong interest in certain things? What are those things?

This question is closely related to the previous question. For most of us, the answer to both may be the same.

But it doesn’t have to be.

3. What are your skills and talents?

What are you good at, and what do people compliment you on? Stop and think about this one a moment, because the answer may not be as obvious as you think it is.

For example, if you like to draw dogs and florals, does one subject get more compliments than the other? If you sometimes draw with a looser style and sometimes with a tighter style, does one style seem to be more appreciated?

That’s the sort of thing you’re looking for in answering this question.

Before I Go Any Further

I am NOT saying that the answers to these questions are the end of the discussion. They are not.

They are guideposts.

Also, there’s no reason for you to stop doing one type of art (or other activity) just because it’s not the most popular. It could be a necessary part of your artistic skill set—the activity that helps you relax and put your best effort into the type of art or activity that gets you the most kudos.

And who knows? That secondary creative avenue may someday become primary, or it may because as important as the primary creative avenue.

But the way you answer these questions will point you in the right direction. That’s because they set you apart from the crowd. Remember my college experience? I didn’t stop doing realistic drawings and paintings just because the art department was doing non-representational art. I wasn’t following the crowd.

That’s the thing (or things) you should be doing.

The Bottom Line on the Best Blend of Skills and Interests

Career coach Dan Miller has said that no amount of money is ever enough compensation for doing “any old job”. There has to be purpose and passion, as well, to make a job more than just a job; to make it worthwhile.

The people who do well at their work would do that work whether they were paid for it or not. That sort of love of the activity shows in the resulting work. It is ultimately what connects with other people who will exchange their money for that product or service.

You may not struggle with finding your best blend of skills and interests. If that’s the case, good for you!

But if you do, then take time to ponder the three questions above. I hope that if nothing else comes of that exercise, you’ll at least be able to rule out some things you don’t want to do.

And isn’t that a step forward?

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