With a staple gun in one hand, John Phillip Davis fastens a strip of canvas tightly around an 8-foot tall rectangular wooden structure. Once the structure is completely covered in woven cloth, he’ll coat it in a layer of rubber cement and with a torch gun, burn the edges of every piece, he explained, while looking at a finished example. After a few more steps, he’ll end up with a glossy sculpture that he hopes evokes an emotion in the viewer based on color or shape rather than on its resemblance to something in the real world.

Concetta Morales’ studio is lined with sketches and boldly colored paintings of fur trappers and Southern landscapes. Tiles are stacked on a makeshift painting easel, partially painted with a coat of light brown and green. The result will be a series of visual stories about the region’s history to be placed in a residential community center in northern Florida.

As these artists pursue the work they love, the day-to-day details of running a business nag at them – more so than usual with a slowing economy.

“It’s real tough right now,” said Gene Brown, who’s been a printmaker for 25 years, “It’s part of the cycle that people haven’t been buying art. It just stopped fairly dramatically about a year ago.…Usually artists are the last people to get into the economy and the first people to get out of it.”

“Perhaps people are more careful and their minds are on something else,” said Morales. “But that’s not to say art absorbs their fears with a creation that’s uplifting for a business or environment.”

Many artists have adopted a similar attitude as they ride the ebb and flow of the art business. Davis, who became a full-time artist nine years ago, especially tries to separate business from the pure enjoyment of creating.

“There are instances where people undermine success for the quick dollar. It’s human nature,” he said. “You have to redefine what success is. Doing something you love and making a living off of it – that’s the highest success.

“Whatever your goal or passion is, do a little bit every day. I see this as a 30- to 40-year career. I want slow, steady movements.”

Davis is one of the lucky few who had some background in business as a graphic designer, animator and creative director when he decided to become an independent artist. As a result, he said, he understood how to run an ethical business, which includes treating clients well, networking and being honest. His main focus is on “making sure the product is deserving.”

As teachers, Morales and Brown transitioned into the art field without the same kind of knowledge.

“Anybody in this building will say,” said Morales, who owns a studio in the Fitch Art Building on 15th Street, “You wear a lot of hats. You do accounting, advertising, ordering materials, possibly getting jobs. A lot goes into getting one piece out… It would be nice to have a full-time worker to do that.”

Davis hired an assistant who searches for new “hot-pocket” venues and handles details such as cutting canvas into strips for the sculptures. Yet as a beginning artist, he also feels the pressures to make enough to pay the bills.

“I consider myself just getting started,” he said. “I’ve seen progress more each year from when I decided I wanted to be an artist. In the last three to four years, I’ve finally seen the fiscal possibility.”

Morales still teaches an occasional class to help provide a steady, guaranteed income.

Being flexible with the type of work an artist does is one of the best ways to find work in a lagging market. Brown is transitioning into mixed media, Davis has evolved from paintings to 3-dimensional works, and Morales shifts between painting and mosaics. The result is the ability to handle pieces a potential client is looking for.

But experimenting with different kinds of art is the fun part. Getting the work to sell is much more challenging, the one obstacle being finding a venue that suits the work.

Davis works through Moberg Gallery and keeps his studio set up like a gallery or artist’s portfolio, he said, which fits his larger pieces better than art shows.

“In all my studios, the environment is important,” said Davis. “Presentation is key. You have to make your product look as good as it can be.”

Although he has been in his current building for five years, this is his second year in the 3,000-square-foot space on the top floor, which can hold his increasingly large artworks. Davis finds that shifting his setting allows for new inspiration.

Commissioned work is also a big part of his income. He often goes into potential clients’ homes, creates a digital image of a piece he thinks will harmonize in the space on his computer, then experiments in crafting the final piece.

Brown used to attend several art shows, doing about two shows a month across the country for nine months of the year, using the other three months to work on his craft. But while these venues have been good for his sales, he finds they are a dying breed.

“It looks like this is something that may not be here someday,” said Brown. “If you go to the Des Moines Arts Festival, you don’t find a lot of artists under 50. I think it’s a lifestyle. It’s a tough way to make a living. You’ve got be aggressive.”

Artists pay fees of around $700 to enter some venues, said Brown, and when you add that to the cost of food, transportation and lodging, most artists start behind about $2,000. If it rains, most artists barely break even at best.

His new focus is to advertise with magazine illustrations. He also does some commission work.

“My work is rather specific,” he said. “Not everyone likes your work, so you have to get a big crowd, a greater chance of having more people see it.”

Morales wants to focus on more art shows and smaller, individual works, but has been involved with creating larger public projects for so long, and with two kids, ages 10 and 12, she doesn’t have the time to invest in prepping for shows.

But she finds, like most artists, that the best strategy is to continually try to reach new audiences. Morales hopes that when she finishes her Florida project late this summer, the initial attention it receives will help her get more work, especially in the Southeast, an area she has not worked in before.

“Your advertisement is your art,” she said, while looking at paintings hanging on her studio walls. “These are my billboards.”

But many artists have had to become creative in marketing their art. Web sites, said Brown, are becoming a profitable tool for the first time, inspiring him to look at starting one. In addition, there is “sophisticated research,” he said, that rates different art shows throughout the country and looks at what kind of art the crowd prefers.

But above all, the artists utilize their networks. Brown said today he gets a lot of people who come to art shows to consider different artists and then will call him later – even five years later – and ask for a work they saw at the show. Morales will send a postcard to past clients when she completes a work, stressing that it’s important for her network of people to stay current on her work. Davis has pamphlets and business cards, which he hands out often.

Despite the need to continually look for new ways to market their work and the day-to-day details of running a business, many artists recognize that Des Moines has a lot of potential right now.

“The first year there weren’t as many opportunities for artists as there are today,” said Morales. “Now people are more open to incorporating arts into programs, schools, buildings. There’s definitely an opportunity out there that didn’t exist before.”

“You’ve got to have a lot of guts,” said Brown. “Some supportive people behind you and have a passion for what you do.”