Roadmap

Posted on on April 18, 2025

Lay the foundation. Get clarity on your voice, audience, and goals.

✅ Define your artistic niche
- Clarify your visual focus: e.g., cultural portraiture, Taos heritage, mixed-race identity, visibility and beauty.
- Refine your visual signature: What colors, textures, themes repeat across your work?
- Set 1-2 major themes or series you’d like to develop this year (e.g., “Faces of the North,” “Saints of the Southwest”).
✅ Assess your income needs
- What do you need to earn monthly to feel secure?
- How much could be generated from part-time communications/consulting while building art income?
✅ Inventory your resources
- What do you already have? (Studio space, tools, connections, audience, collector base)
- Who already supports your work? (Friends, buyers, mentors, collaborators)
✅ Set transition goals
- Example: Paint 3 works per month.
- Build income from art to at least 25% of your current job by Month 6.
- Launch your first solo or group show by Month 9.

Produce, document, and prepare your work for showing and selling.

🎨 Create consistently
- Create a 3–6 painting series with a clear theme, all 12×12 or 16×20 for ease.
- Stick to a regular painting schedule (e.g., 3 days/week minimum).
📸 Document your work like a pro
- Photograph all paintings in good light.
- Write titles, sizes, medium, price, and a short story/blurb for each.
🧰 Develop physical & digital presence
- Build a simple, clear website or landing page with galleries, contact info, and an artist statement.
- Create a digital catalog or PDF portfolio for galleries, collectors, and press.
💼 Test the market
- Price your originals (e.g., $500–$700 for 12x12s, scale accordingly).
- Offer prints, cards, or merch only after original sales gain traction.
- Do a soft launch: sell to friends, community members, Instagram followers.

Put your work into the world. Build collectors. Engage your audience.

🖼️ Show your work
- Submit to local/regional shows in Taos, Santa Fe, Denver, Dallas, PHX.
- Partner with coffee shops, boutiques, or local museums for display.
- Participate in open studios, festivals, or art markets.
- Build relationships with gallery owners — aim for non-exclusive agreements.
📨 Build your collector base
- Start a mailing list — even just 20 people to begin with.
- Email updates every 4–6 weeks with new paintings, stories, and availability.
- Offer collector perks — e.g., early access to new pieces, studio visits, behind-the-scenes videos.
📱 Tell your story
- Post regularly (1–3x/week) on Instagram or your preferred platform:
  - In-progress shots
  - Studio reflections
  - Cultural insight behind the pieces
- Your voice matters as much as your art — your reflections on place, heritage, and beauty will deepen connection.

Build a sustainable rhythm of making, showing, and earning.

🎯 Refine your income mix
- Original paintings
- Select commissions (if desired)
- Occasional prints/cards/books
- Teaching or workshops (only if joyful!)
- Speaking engagements or artist talks
🧩 Explore grant/fellowship opportunities
- Local arts councils
- NEA, NM Arts, Southwest Contemporary
- Indigenous, Hispanic, and BIPOC artist grants
- Project-based funding for interactive or installation work
🌍 Reach further
- Apply for regional/national residencies
- Begin developing a book, exhibition, or cultural series that aligns with your core themes
- Get featured in press/media (we can draft press releases together when you’re ready!)

🛠️ Tools to Create Along the Way

A Notion board or paper planner to track your paintings, deadlines, ideas, and shows.
A shared Dropbox or Google Drive folder for documentation, bios, press materials.
A simple monthly check-in ritual to reflect on progress, finances, art production, and goals.