I think you have already been \"taking painting seriously\" if you\'ve had a result at GD.
Your post reminds me of a piece in \"On Writing\", by Stephen King. Now, the book is about writing fiction, but the part I recall is very relevant.
When talking about where and how he has done his writing over the years, he charts a full circle. He started with a tiny desk under the slanted ceiling of his childhood bedroom, where he would sit and write for the love of writing, listening to the wind howling through the eaves and enjoying the betterment of his craft.
He grew older, got a day job, had a family, and wrote Carrie on a typewriter balanced on his knees in the back of his trailer park home when he had ten minutes spare.
From here, we know the story. Success came, and one day he sat down with his wife and he said, \"You know, now I\'m a serious writer, I\'m gonna have a study! A whole room for my writing!\" So he got a room, with a giant desk right in the middle of the room that he would sit behind while he was taking his writing seriously...
To cut a fifty page narrative short, he forgot to love his craft while he was taking it so seriously, and these days, he\'s back at a little desk in the corner, under the eaves, writing for writing\'s sake.
Some more space is always useful, and you deserve it, maybe you even NEED it - but don\'t lose sight of why you got so good in the first place - you clearly love to paint, and are doing very well without all the seriousess. =)
Now teach me how to paint as well as you damn it!! =)
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\"So okay - there you are in your room with the shade down and the door shut and the plug pulled out the base of your telephone. You\'ve blown up your TV and committed yourself to an hour\'s painting a day, come hell or high water. Now comes the question: what are you going to paint? And the equally big answer: Anything you damn well like. Anything at all ... so long as you enjoy it.\"