T oo often there is the idea that a painter, in the midst of mystical inspiration, puts himself in front of a canvas and with a magic wand made of unicorn tears is able to create a painting, without the slightest effort and maybe even in a few minutes. Well, let me tell you that’s not the case. Being a professional artist is a full-fledged job. For example, the creation of a single painting requires a lot of planning, many initial sketches, drafts, testing the colors, making various tries to have the correct composition, choosing the canvas size that suits it best, using a brand of paint of adequate quality, and much more. DO NOT stand in front of a canvas without a clear idea of what you will do! It will be up to you to use some photos or sketches to follow while you paint, that is personal, but in your head, whether you are doing realism or abstract art, make sure you have a clear idea of what the painting has to look like once finished and all the steps necessary to get it that way. If it is a commission, there is quite some work to be done with the collector. From the collector’s point of view, what he wants the painting to express is fundamental. If a collector chooses you it means that he likes your style and your way of seeing things, so now you will have to translate his vision into your style. There is no need to be afraid to do a painting on request, if the person has chosen you it is because he has already studied you enough and is now ready to entrust his idea to you, still it is very important to do a good initial step as to have a very clear idea before approaching the canvas. Then there is the whole part as an entrepreneur and business person, I will talk about it in another article.