“Artists paint whether they want to or not; you just keep working and working,” says Amy Burnett, a nationally known Bremerton artist who has owned a gallery downtown since 1991.

Burnett, who has four art degrees and has been featured in many art magazines, had her work in several of the nation’s top galleries when she opened her art gallery at a time when downtown was dormant. “I didn’t depend on Bremerton for my income,” she said.

When she first started out as an artist, Burnett was a journeyman plumber working in the trades — and she advises anyone in the art industry to have something they can fall back on.

That’s exactly what Brian Mackey of Bainbridge Island-based Counterbalance Sculpture did in his early days. Working as a waiter and other jobs, he did not originally set out to make a full-time living with his art. Following someone’s advice not to expect to make any money, he instead fine tuned his style.

“It allowed me to develop my voice; without the economic pressure I could do what I wanted,” he said. The family also relied on the income of his wife, Andie, as well as her health insurance.

Mackey has been earning a living through art for about a decade now, and has had commissioned displays for several Saks’ stores, locally for the city of Bremerton, and many designers and architects. Still, if he doesn’t have orders three months out, he gets concerned.

“I can’t predict a thing. I never know where the orders will come from,” he said. But Mackey has four children to provide for, so he uses a business line of credit to help with gaps during the weeks he’s not paid or when he needs to make an upfront investment into equipment.

Mackey, who has been throwing pots for 22 years, runs ads in national magazines like Garden Design and Metropolitan Magazine. He does acknowledge that some of his work has crossed the line into production art (making multiple copies), but that is part of the growth.

“Many artists do production work of refined designs. It’s creative but you choose to limit yourself and put your energy into a finite number of designs,” said Victoria Josslyn, director of education and information for the nonprofit Bainbridge Island Arts and Crafts, which owns a gallery that sells work in a wide range of mediums, from jewelry and wood to paintings and photography.

Josslyn said some artists do not want to compromise, and have to find other ways to supplement their income — one artist, for example, teaches at five different community colleges.

“It’s very hard to support yourself as an artist. We do have artists who are self-supporting, but many of them have jobs,” she said.

Running the nonprofit gallery itself is very much like running a business. Expenses include insurance, part-time staff, utilities and publicity. Staff — including volunteers — work on tasks ranging from paying sales taxes to keeping records, helping customers and arranging layaways.

One of the reasons it’s difficult to make this a profession is the public’s misconception about art. Josslyn notes that when artists do demonstrations at the gallery, visitors often remark they had no idea how much work it takes to create something.

“I think people have expectations of not paying much for artwork,” she said.

Christopher Mathie, a Port Orchard artist known for his pottery, agrees that most people don’t like to spend their money on art. “Any time there is a problem with the economy… art gets cut out of people’s budgets,” he said. “Most people love the arts except they don’t want to pay for it.”

Mathie, who grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, has learned to diversify. He sells small sculptures for as little as $15 while some of his more expensive work is in the $7,000 range.

Mathie, who started selling his work at age 18, had a following by the time he graduated college. “I never went through the ‘starving artist’ thing,” he said. “I have a lot of artist friends, and I’m the only one who makes a living (at it) full time… I worked as hard as I had to every phase to make sure I didn’t have to get a job.”

Mathie focused on name recognition from the start. He took on any opportunity that came his way — street fairs, farmer’s markets, speaking engagements — even if it wasn’t a money maker. His work currently is displayed at nine galleries. “I learned over time if I’m in lots of galleries in different markets around the country, chance are something is selling somewhere,” he said.

Mathie owned a gallery in Gig Harbor and just like Burnett, did not depend on it for income: He taught to pay bills. Recently, Burnett too decided to downsize. She moved to a smaller space, and refocused on being an artist vs. art gallery owner. “I hadn’t been able to send my paintings to art galleries and lost big galleries (as clients) because of the time it took to run a big gallery,” she said. “It was time to downsize.”

Despite the challenges and rough times, those artists who find a way to devote their entire time to their passion wouldn’t have it any other way. It may not be an 8-to-5 job, nor a very lucrative one in many cases, and may not be like the fantasy some people have about it — but it’s a passion nonetheless. As Mackie puts it, “I wouldn’t want any other job.”.