advice for young artists

Sometimes I have parents or people ask me for advice about art. Not that I am world famous or anything (my hot sauce is, though--woohoo) I have managed, through insane persistence to carve my name onto the oak tree of artists who almost or do have a name. I get my share of press and sell paintings and spend most of my time "in the work" without slaving "for the man" or selling my soul to some corporate Satan where the soul sucking vacuum of conformity will suck the life out of man's art faster than Bernie Madoff will lose your retirement fund. I have walked a very strange path in art, a brutal and rocky, individualistic one. I never followed any leaders and I had very little help along the way. I had stones thrown from enemies and friends alike but I kept on my path and held my eyes on the light at the end of a long dark forest. One must have a personal vision, if you only wish to ape another artist or "a system" you are a lost soul. Copy, copy, copy, others then become yourself. Stubbornness above all is the saving grace of an artist, it will overshadow even talent in the long run. If you have both stubbornness and talent you have a better chance of coming out alive and maybe even with a shiny coin in your pocket-- a gift from the angels of persistence. I was born stubborn, Texas stubborn. Walls will break from my forehead and I will chew stones if I have to follow my vision. Some artists are fine in the commercial realm and that is all fine. If you seek a higher, truer vision of art then you will suffer wolves and plagues and biblical tests of the will that are beyond words for most people. Not to dramatise the life of an artist but the price you pay for a vision is high and it can be smoothed a bit a trust fund or parental money but everything comes with a price. If an artist doesn't get his ass handed too him at least a few times in life, his art will be soft, like a Camembert cheese. Suffering builds character and character is an important ingredient in an artists tool chest. I have known artists with the personality of a chair and I am never surprised when I see that they paint "furniture."--- paintings are not made to match your couch! The rich have their own hell, no worse, no better, just different. I have learned not to judge people anymore, if you are born poor or born rich I only care what is inside you. Many poor people are noble and many rich people are miserable fools, in the end it is the soul that matters. As for advice, if your skin is not thick then you should commercialize yourself above all and make enough coins to have creature comforts. If you have a soul and a pocketful of courage then you can opt for following your own vision of art and all else be damned, plus you will never have a midlife crises nor will you have trouble sleeping or need medicine for your head.