I have recently gone through the experience of having a painting go missing; it is a long story that I don't need to go in to and happily my oil painting will soon be art couriered back to my studio, which is a great relief. My biggest surprise however, during this recent debacle is hearing how many other artists have lost their artwork. This realization has brought home to me, once again, how important it is to develop the business side of life as an artist so that we can fall back on our knowledge of best business practice to help us in such situations. At the beginning of my artistic career all I wanted to focus on was being creative, which in itself was (and still is) both a struggle and a joy. At that point I just did not think I had time to take on anything else. What I soon realized was that unless I was going to be very, very lucky and magically become successful and not need to think about business (other imaginary people could do that) I would have to sort everything out myself. There seemed so much to learn. Happily, some years later, I would say that I have gained more experience of business but recent events have reminded me that I can still be tripped up; like many artist friends and colleagues it turns out. Perhaps it is the nature of artists to enthuse at perceived opportunities to exhibit and sell artwork.....and perhaps to be too trusting. After all, it is quite a challenge to be good at all aspects of running a business and to be creative. That is what we must be however. Nobody said it was going to be easy and it is not. My artistic journey has been challenging, exciting and a never ending learning experience; and as I have said many times before, I would not have it any other way! I will be at 'Making Pictures Manchester' on Friday 8th November, talking about PR, Marketing and best business practice. Do come along if you want to network and learn more about the world of fine art: http://www.fineart.co.uk/making-pictures-manchester-13.aspx