Passion and Pay: Living Life as an Artist with a Job
Balancing creativity with reality—without losing your artistic centre.
Being an artist with a day job often feels like living two lives at once. Some mornings I skip my run just to squeeze in an hour of painting before breakfast. Other times, my attention at work is split because there’s a grant deadline looming or a residency application waiting to be finalised. I’ll postpone a call with a friend so I can update my website or manage the quiet but relentless admin that comes with being an artist. It's not just one job—it’s more like three or four. The art, the art admin, the job that pays the bills, and the side hustles that keep everything else afloat.
This kind of juggling act isn’t unusual—it’s the reality for many of us. The passion to create is constant: that urge to reach for a brush, to chase an idea, to stay present with your own imagination. But the pull of stability is equally powerful. Rent, groceries, studio costs—those don’t pause for inspiration. Even for artists who are commercially successful, the income can be inconsistent and precarious. The myth of “making it” rarely reflects the complicated economics of a creative life.
When I graduated, I didn’t expect to need a ‘real’ job. I knew I’d have to support myself somehow, but I imagined it would be through temporary side gigs—something to hold me over until the painting could sustain itself. But five years on, and after one too many late-night bar shifts, you need to move on to something different. Following a second Masters Degree in London in 2022-23, I now work as an Executive Assistant for a prominent gallery director. And while it surprised me at first, I’ve come to appreciate the structure a regular 9-5 offers. Having a steady income helped me buy a car, secure a mortgage—and, unexpectedly, establish an incredibly consistent art practice around all of these extra hours of work. Somehow having a smaller time window to work with for creative work helped me hone in on it more intently and make better use of my time.
Of course, there are compromises. Some evenings I’m too mentally spent to paint. The time I might have once dedicated to the studio goes instead to writing applications, catching up on emails, or simply trying to rest. And while it can feel like a roadblock, I remind myself that these rhythms are part of the process too. I try to remind myself that these other responsibilities do not define me and as long as I can maintain steady persistence in my work despite holding down other responsibilities, it needn’t deter me from my forever goals. Even the small acts of creativity—an hour before work, a few brushstrokes on a Sunday—are still steps forward in the bigger picture.
Being an artist isn’t only about how many hours you spend in the studio. It’s about how you remain true to your creative self, even when life is pulling you in other directions. Your art doesn’t have to be at the centre of your day to remain at the centre of what you do.
Passion and practicality are an ongoing balancing act, but with intentionality, curiosity, and persistence, they can coexist—even if the balance is imperfect. And often, it’s in those quiet, unglamorous spaces between the two I do find gratitude for one and the other.
