Ocak 14, 2026
Ben (40’lı yaÅŸlarda) bekar, tam zamanlı bir babayım ve sanatçı olarak hayalimi gerçekleÅŸtirmek istiyorum. Aptallık mı ediyorum?
Gençliğimde sanatçı olma hayallerim vardı. Bir süre denedim ama sonra aile baskısı beni durmaya zorladı. Yetişkin olduğumda hayallerimin peşinden gitmemi engelleyen başka faktörler de vardı.
Şimdi, yıllar sonra, yeniden denemek için biraz zamanım olduğunu buldum. Tek sorun şu ki ben tam zamanlı, tek ebeveynim ve yardım almıyorum. Güvenebileceğim bir ailem ya da ücretli yardımım yok ve çocuğumun okula gittiği zamanlar günlerim çok kısa. Bunun ötesinde her boş dakika, kendisine veya ev halkına bakmak için bir şeyler yaparak geçiyor.
Üstelik süresiz olarak gelirim olmadan kalamam. Muhtemelen bu yılın geri kalanını (muhtemelen biraz daha azını) birikimlerle hayatta kalmaya ayırabilirim. Bundan sonra işimiz daha da zorlu olacak.
İşte buradayım, nihayet ömür boyu hayalimin peşinden gitmek için biraz zamanım olabiliyor ama yine de faktörlerin bana karşı olduğu bir konumdayım. Zaten günlerimi çizim ve boyamaya adayarak başladım ve iyi bir portföy oluşturup oluşturamayacağımı görmeye çalışıyorum ama bu yavaş ilerliyor. Sanırım asıl sorum şu; bu hayalimden vazgeçmeli miyim, yoksa ona son kez mi şans vermeliyim? Denemekle bile aptallık mı ediyorum?
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You don’t have to be a full time artist to pursue the dream, but given that you are responsible for mouths to feed, finding another source of income in the shorter term would be prudent. If you don’t even have a portfolio to show potential clients, you’re sure not ready to jump into full time. It takes time to build a business.
Make time for art if it’s important to you. Build your portfolio, develop your style, do it because you love it. If you want to turn your passion into work, start promoting yourself once you have something to show your prospective clients.
No such thing as being foolish in chasing dreams. Juggle it right; be a kick-ass dad by day, secret Van Gogh by night. Life’s too short for ‘what ifs’.
My husband and I are both artists. He’s a printmaker and I am a basket weaver. We both make money from our art.
He’s also an operations manager at a grocery store and I’m a medical biller. We have no dependents. It just isn’t feasible with the feast and famine nature of being artists to ever let go of our day jobs. Not to mention benefits we receive from work like Healthcare, 401k, PTO, etc. (We are based in the US, not sure if OP is also American).
Just the perspective of someone who straddles the line between income earner and artist.
You have a kid to look after. Their dreams come first now.
Hi OP, good job being a Dad! That’s a good thing that I did not get to do.
If you want to chat on the phone, let me know as this is a big question.
I’m a 53 year old American guy, and a professional full time artist for 26 years. The short answer has 2 parts…
1) You need more than one year to get started on actually making a living as a professional artist. There’s a lot to learn by way of doing. A realistic bet is 3 to 6 years. And it may not work out to be steady enough even then. But one to two years is unrealistic.
2) Especially since you have a son to support, you need to arrange a source of passive income that can cover your mortgage or rent before beginning down this path, including the use of your savings to supplement the passive income. You will have many other bills, but that housing is a good target to have taken care of independent of your art income. My source of passive income is that I own a house I have done major remodeling on over the years, and I can now have a room mate who pays just over the cost of my mortgage/property tax/insurance.
This will allow you a big cushion monthly, and also will stretch your savings into two or three years when you add in the partial income you will start bringing in by the end of year 1.
Lastly, yes it is possible if you are truly self-motivated and can develop something of quality in your art.
It won’t be easy. It is fulfilling.
Best wishes!
It’s not one last go.
A lot depends on what you need for income – and how much time you’ll have when you’re working again. It’s okay for drawing and painting to be a 3rd priority – after financial and parental demands, as long as it’s not totally neglected.
As your kid gets older there should be more time to share activities and to be together in your home doing different things. And drawing and painting with a kid can be eye opening and if you can draw for your kid, it will make it easier to draw for the rest of us.
Just make it enough of a priority that you don’t have 2 days in a row without doing something creative.
Like others are saying, i would get a job or some source of income now, maybe somehow in your field, working for someone, at a store (what art related businesses are around you, small and large, do a large scale scan, look at a wide variety of things to at least have yourself in the art field), or however it could look, that allows you to build a portfolio. People do it all the time, why not you? 🙂 However, I would not spend a year not working at all.
I don’t want to be a downer, but at 40 you still have a lot of years left. Now is not the time to pursue your dream full time. Like it or not, you are a parent and you owe it to your child to be there and support him, financially and emotionally.
You will be surprised how fast the time will go and he’ll be gone. And hopefully, you will be able to retire someday (sadly a lot of us don’t ever see retirement in our futures), and have plenty of time to devote to your artistic dreams.