Budgeting for art and craft work

It is getting harder and harder to make the pennies stretch and when I have to choose between Groceries or art I will always choose the groceries. How can I still do my art in this present economic situation.

Over the next few weeks I am going to present different ways to save money in art work. I have found a few great practical and easy ideas on how to do this. For the third week of our journey I am going to look at ways to save on costs in .........


Education

• Read,  read , read.......Go to the library.  Read as much as you can.
• Buy books that teach techniques or take you through a series of workshops or lessons.
• Find an artist who would be willing to mentor you.  This could even be done long distance thanks to the Internet.
• Form a art group so you can learn from and teach each other.
• Experiment with objects and equipment you already have.  I couldn't get or afford many different surface design equipment used by many artists overseas so i used children's art equipment instead and have learned to use them through trial and error.
• Read articles on line
• Find magazines that teach contemporary techniques.  Ie the quilting arts magazines.
• Research other art form other countries online or in books.
• Go to exhibitions.  Sketch and take photos of others work and analyse their work.
• Get others artists in your field to critique your work.  Learn from their critique.
• Enter Art/quilt competitions.  For small fees good critique can be given on your work.
• Take opportunities to go to workshops/lessons/lectures.  Sometimes these can be given for free or for a nominal cost if you belong to a art association.
• Belong to an association  that supports your type of art work.
• Visit museums