For every successful artist there are dozens, if not hundreds, of hopefuls who never quite made it and had to fall back on more mundane work.

Sorry you’re going through that. I can relate, my undergraduate degree has only been used as probono work for no profits and self study; I had to retrain after and took 4 more years of study while working a different profession to get a job where I wasn’t “underemployed” (at least financially). I found joy outside of work and also in the polymath lifestyle but to each their own. I hope you enjoy your life, however it turns out

Four years getting the money to go to “any” college/university, almost four years to not complete a bachelors degree (and use all the financial resources from the previous four years), spend 10 years working at a grocery store rarely using anything I learned in business college/information systems classes (and actually kinda liking the work at the grocery store… I know, I’m a fucking weirdo) and now I have a “barely” there job with no security for a few hours a day/six days a week selling stamps and sticking people’s mail in their post office boxes…

Life is a super weird road we travel, it never seems to lead us where we were expecting it to…

The arts has one of the highest unemployment rates of any degree…and the price you give per painting is actually less than I would expect a person making a living off of their art would charge. A love of artists I know…are in IT. So though I understand your rant and how you perceive things to be…the grass is not always greener on the other side. That said…what is stopping you from pursuing art? It does not require a degree to be successful if you have the skills.

Also…mid 20’s sucks. That was the worst time in my life so far. Stick it out and figure out what works for you.