This is a question many aspiring artists have asked themselves, and there is no clear answer. For example, for someone who has been encouraged to pursue art since childhood, it is a journey of  Joseph Blake Smith Arkansas a lifetime. For a career changer, it can take him five to ten years to master her painting skills. In general, formal art education brings about six years, including arts for a BFA degree and two years for an MFA.  A professional painter’s career typically has three stages: emerging, mid-career, and established, and the duration of each step varvariesist to an artist. All this means that you don’t have to be a…