The initial idea was to write about portraiture. But I realised that the only subject I can talk about with any degree of competence is myself. So, it is all about me. I hope that amidst my confused struggle you may find a particle of sense applicable to your own circumstances.
One way or another we are all in Arts, and I am sure each of us faces this question of “What is Art?” at least once in a life time.I gave it some big thinking lately, and here is my story.
The way I found myself in this profession is by following not my passion, but a number of accidents. And so, I spent my first couple of years in art college wondering what I was doing there and why. Even then the suspicion crept in, that the skill, the abilities, the status and the paraphernalia of being an artist are all secondary attributes. The primary one is the message.
	The message was missing. I had nothing to say, no opinion of my own. My life was happening outside of the college walls, and it was more real, more fun, more current than anything under the abstract and ambiguous concept of Art.
I quit Art and the college and got busy with life. In a few years time there came a yearning to know more about Art. Or maybe it was a wish to appear more knowledgeable about Art. Which one of these was more true – I cannot tell. I came back to the college and started anew with renewed vigour.	Soon I realised that in order to be serious about Art one has to make one’s living out of it. So, I started an art gallery, with a next-to- nothing knowledge about Art and no idea about Business.

I wasn’t alone in my innocence – the whole country knew nothing about business! But we were learning fast. It was fun, at times nerve-wracking, thrilling and rewarding.
	The best thing about the art gallery was having the opportunity to learn about the world outside the impenetrable borders of Uzbekistan, as the community of foreigners in Tashkent constituted all of my clientele.
One thing led to another, soon I had a chance to travel abroad, and in 2000 I took myself and my Art to London with the hope to find somebody interested. Then I met Tim and stayed in England.
Life became fulfilled in an unexpected for me way with the arrival of children. Art never had a priority with me, and now it had to be content with even less of my attention. It became a means to earn the living for my family. Or perhaps having the family added an incentive to make Art. Which one is more true I again cannot tell. Also, by never really ceasing to make Art, I never had to give myself up entirely to the intensity of the mother and baby relationship. And it did a lot of good to my sanity!

Meanwhile I was trying to figure out what Art is. I believe there is no better place for this kind of search than Britain. There is so much of what falls under the description of Art one way or another, so that one gets the big picture. And besides, one doesn’t feel alone in one’s bewilderment about it all.
Art. Visual, literature, music, performing, applied. Design. It is everywhere. Big art and minor art. Mainstream and outside art. £Million Art and worthless art. Value of Art. Where am I in all of this, where is my Art in this picture? What does it mean for me – Art? What is success in Art for me? Success is Fame? Success is Money? How important is it? In order to achieve Fame and Money, what am I prepared to give?
This big recessional scare we all had lately got me rushing from one thing to another, trying to prevent disaster. The exercise was productive, but in unforeseen ways.The world’s amplified worries about money brought to my attention that I managed to get this far in my life without giving money much thought. I decided to establish a closer relationship with money.
	The idea being that by studying money, I’ll understand and love it more, and it will reciprocate.
Like a good girl, I got myself piles and piles of books on business, art management, marketing, money, attracting money, selling etc, etc.I talked to everyone, especially the more fortunate ones, about their relationship with money and how they got there. It is said that to attract money, you have to concentrate on what money can give you. I surrounded myself with cut-outs of mansions and cars, expensive accessories and top-of-the-market gadgets.

	I truly gave it my best shot. And here is my conclusion: Money is a game. And this game does not excite me.
My intention to make money a stimulus for my productivity failed miserably. I don’t care for the riches of the world, however hard I try to convince myself otherwise. And being content with what I have, I care only for preserving the freedom of doing what I like doing, when I like doing it.
Which is many different things. Stylistic diversity is a reflection of my inability to limit myself to one area, or style, or theme. I can see a few topical threads forming throughout the years, but at any given moment I tend to have some seemingly unconnected things going on. Which common sense in pursuit of success condemns as a bad thing.
But by trying to limit myself to one or two themes or media, I realised that I limit my output, instead of improving. Besides, I tire myself by the mere effort of keeping in the rut. How about the excitement of new ideas? What about the enjoyment of the creative process?
My friend Brigitte and I went to a talk by Dave McKean. He is an incredibly productive artist. But also versatile. The style is immediately recognisable, while the media are many. There were some points in the talk which I found particularly important. They came about as an answer to a question: What would be his advice to a budding illustrator?
He said that it is important to go and do it. So many people think and talk of doing this and that, but never get down to the business of realising their ideas for fear of failure, or being simply lazy or disorganised.“Just do it. In time, that work will accumulate, and if it is any good, it‘ll find it‘s place. By which time you‘ll be surprised yourself, how much you‘ve progressed.”
Another piece of advice for illustrators – learn to write too. Although Dave has a very long and productive partnership with the author Neil Gaiman he finds it important for an illustrator to become a writer.
The underlying idea is to be as versatile as possible. These days technologies take over some highly specialized technical jobs in the industry, allowing the artist herself to be in control of the whole process from the concept to the end product.What he said again confirmed to me that diversity is not a bad thing, and my secret folder with the short stories has the right to exist, as well as odd collages, and ink drawings and all the rest. I’ve got to allow myself to take every obscure route I am compelled to take, instead of sticking to one safe certainty.
The reason why diversity is never welcomed on the art market is the need to sell the output.
I recommend reading a book “The $12 Million Stuffed Shark” by Don Thompson, which is the greatest eye-opener on the business of art. This is a quotation from that book: “Never underestimate how insecure buyers are about contemporary art, and how much they always need reassurance.”
The reassurance the buyers need lies in quantity and recognisability.
I am sure, the secret of the sell-out of the latest show by Anita Klein is to be found right there. Jack Vettriano’s unique creative career is proof of just the same – quantity and recognisability. There are other ingredients too, but one thing is definite – sales have nothing to do with skill or aesthetics.
So, I came to the conclusion that I had better forget about the big art market, because I will never be a good product, ie:
	highly productive in one area,
motivated by money,
	and as a bonus – shocking.
What’s my way to success then?
Well, first of all, owning a shop is the biggest advantage. Took me 8 years to stop being shy about it and to appreciate it fully! My shop = my independence.
Another cornerstone of artistic freedom is the Internet, and it becomes more vital every day. There are great examples of how to reach out to the audience, and build up the following. Dave McKean’s advice about learning to write becomes very hot in this context. The whole world is a stage open to those, who can captivatingly express what they have to say. Individuality was never in a better position.
Being an artist is a solitary business, and the opportunity to bounce ideas off others seldom presents itself without extra-effort. That’s why we came together in the form of this club, and I hope it’ll grow organically into something fruitful.
	Meanwhile, and in between, I find a lot of inspiration through the Internet. For instance, getting ready for our meeting, I found the website of a doctor of psychology Ellen Rudolph, and her words which brilliantly express what I was trying to say:
“Such is the artist who is so unified as a whole that his or her properties cannot be derived from a simple summation of their parts. They are more than the mere sum of their parts. Like that of the bow and the lyre, the artist’s harmony consists of blatantly opposing tensions.
	The greatest achievements of humankind have happened because someone, somewhere, made the effort to think outside of the box in the face of pressure to explore more conventional spaces.
Think of that the next time you strive to overly control your life.The universeflows, as you and I also should. Art is NOT a fixed idea that you have before you start making it. It happens when we let go of our self-induced constraints and finally let ourselves feel.” The essays by Dr Ellen K. Rudolph.http://www.drellenrudolph.com/psyessay1.html
Today, answering my question “What is success in Art for me?“ I say, to learn not to constrain my creativity by my feelings of duty, limitations or fears, or by somebody‘s ideas of what Art is supposed to be. To create freely and fruitfully, and then put all the pieces together and make up a story of one life.