This is the next installment of my answers to the questions in Margaret Peot’s book, “The Successful Artist’s Career Guide – Finding Your Way in the Business of Art.”

1. Are you able to take an idea and run with it?

Yeah, if it is my idea. Well, it is easier if it is my idea. I wouldn’t want to presume what another artist is trying to accomplish. But once I get an idea for a drawing or a painting, I do run with it pretty easily.

2. Are you good at organizing your time? Give an example.

I wish! I have never been good at time management since I chose to stop working outside the home. But when I am working on a drawing or painting, I usually work until it is finished. I hardly do anything else. In fact, my family has to come and get me for dinner. It’s a great thing that my husband loves to cook! But I have never been strong in the area of self-scheduling.

3. Are you good at collaborating on a job, or do you prefer to work alone? Why?

I think it would depend on the job. I work well with people generally. But I have a hard time dealing with the type of person who can’t listen to suggestions for changes in how something could be done. Now if I was getting paid on a job and someone said, “Do it this way,” I’d do it that way. But for things I’m volunteering for that I see a more proficient way of doing the task, I’m going to speak up and state my opinion. But if someone doesn’t want to change to what I suggest, I don’t have a problem with that. I just don’t want to be talked down to like I am a child.

4. Do you need lots of direction, or are you good at intuiting the next step? Explain.

Usually, if I feel unsure of anything, I’ll ask lots of questions. If it is a project of someone else’s, I would be a little hesitant to intuitively go to the next step. Sometimes, though, because of my A.D.D., I do need directions repeated if they are not written down or if I haven’t seen someone do an example.
When I worked full-time at a newspaper as an advertising executive, I was allowed to run with my own ideas and ways of doing things, and it was usually fine with my boss. I had a lot of freedom in that job.

5. Are you good at giving direction? Guiding others? Give an example.
I am good at giving directions if I know how I want someone to do something for me. I can guide others if I know how I want something to come out. But I am also open to others’ ideas when it comes to whether something in a project can be changed or improved.

HOW WOULD YOU ANSWER SOME OF THESE QUESTIONS?