Career Development Grant

1. Meet up to 3 prominent portrait artists, whose work I admire, and whom I can study from. 2. Attend classes that address skills I wish to improve upon. 3. Experience viewing paintings by some of the best living artists in the portraiture genre. 4. Receive constructive criticism from established portraiture artists that will improve my portfolio/website, which is how the public frequently first views my work. 5. Discover and meet other portrait artists working in Minnesota. 6. Discover other painters who use pastel for portraits. The success of attending the conference will become clearer as I continue in my work. There are some things that I will begin to use right away. Based on my goals, I will: 1. Identifying an artist whose work will benefit my career by advancing my painting skills, my marketing skills, and my presentation skills. I will set up a system to continue that learning. 2. Identify skills that I learned. As my work progresses, I will incorporate those skills. 3. Seeing a live painting is much different than seeing a photo of it. By seeing the actual painting, and sometimes watching its creation, I can better discover what makes it successful and compare that with what I am currently doing. 4. Make immediate changes to my portfolio/website. In the long run, I expect an increase in sales and commissions, acceptance into more regional and national portrait competitions, and improved recognition of my work.