Dating an artist brings a certain amount of challenges to the other party. While these are rarely insurmountable, it is worthwhile keeping these in mind. It would do no harm to have preconceptions, whether or not any of these will actually come to fruition. So what are five things you should know before you begin dating an artist?

Things You Should Know Before Dating an Artist

Deep thoughts

There is an old adage which says still waters run deep. This is certainly the case when it comes to artists. While many painters, sculptors, musicians or writers will be just as outgoing and extrovert as anyone else you could ever meet, many more of them are far more introspective in their outlook. This doesn’t infer they are necessarily diffident or uncommunicative. Nor does it mean they are being deliberately obtuse. It merely indicates they think deeply about their environment. So rather than being unduly concerned your prospective date sometime seems to be ignoring what you have to say much of the time, cut them some slack. Their mind may be dwelling on deeper matters, but they’ll come back to you eventually.

Reaching for the sky

Another thing about artists is they are often extremely ambitious. There is no musician in the world, who plays along in accompaniment to YouTube videos or performs in his local pub, who has never dreamt of headlining some far more prestigious event. Similarly, if your partner is a writer, they will rarely be content with publishing the odd article in their local newspaper. They’ll dream of being a bestselling author, of seeing their work adapted into film scripts, and of inviting you to accompany them on signing sessions in your local book store. There is nothing wrong with ambition: it’s a crucial part of artistic development. If you consider they’re being misguided, keep this notion to yourself!

Poor contact

You might be used to using your mobile phone as a regular tool for communication with friends and family. The same could probably be said for emails or social media platforms. But for your artist partner, long and involved texts will often seem to be out with their capability. When you do receive a message from them, you can expect a frequency of typos that would get an editor tearing their hair out. An artist is not always on the ball when it comes to prioritizing, especially if they are focusing on an important project. Dropping you a chatty text will feature much further down in their list of priorities. You will just have to accept this reality, and you can rest assured it is no reflection on how they really feel about you.

Self-obsession

When you’re explaining something to friends or family, you’ll probably be in the position where certain topics are best kept succinct. When an artist is trying to share their obsessions with you, they are likely to go overboard. This is one time when they will be uncharacteristically verbose and may well go off on tangents as they rant about the things they are passionate about. The only advice to you would be to just go with the flow, nodding at appropriate points in their conversation.

Mood swings

Artists may have an aura of self-importance and a sense of being fiercely ambitious when it comes to their art. But the fact of the matter is they are also likely to be fragile individuals. So expect your artistic partner to be prone to bouts of low esteem, even depression when things are not going so well. This is all symptomatic of someone who is deeply passionate.