what do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?

i've had an amazing couple of years. artistically, it's zooming (more on that later), being back in melbourne is ace, last year's sabbatical in UK/EU was phenomenal, i love love love my friends and only whinge about being single sometimes (ahem).

but there's one area of my life which, over the last 2 years, has been like something out of a bad midday tv soap opera. yes kids, my work life.

i'm on the hunt for work again at the moment (great timing and all that) and as well as the super-tedious bouts of crippling self-doubt, i mostly have a sense that it will click into place soon, but i'm having to do some figuring out first. which i'm clearly not very good at - preferring to bang my head against the proverbial brick wall, it seems.

but what this period of jobsearching/soul-searching has done has made me incredibly curious about how artists earn their money. up until recently, i used to manage full-time arts admin work and then squeeze art in around the side. now i'm trying to squeeze a job in around the side (which i wrongly assumed would be easier), which is a little, well, interesting. and unfortunately, as much of a coffee fascist as i am. i don't know how to make a cup to save my financial arse. so it has been back to the centrelink merry-go-round for a bit.

funnily enough, i read the "arts minister" peter garrett's interview in art world the other day, dredging up the old art start thing again (pigs, flying i. that's when). which kind of reminded me to post something about this issue. again.

so boys and girls, what do you do to earn your crust in order to make art, while you're hatching plans for world domination?
teaching? cafe/bar work? admin? do you earn enough from your art practice? design work? the dole?

actually, now would be a good time for one of those silly polls:

[it's over in the side bar there -->. for those who are reading this through their RSS reader - you'll have to click through, sorry.]

poll is open until mid-feb, so go on, fill it in. i'd be interested to see how australian artists get by. and you can click more than one (which i'm sure loads of you will).