This is the slideshow I developed for the South London Arts Forum (SAF) talk I gave earlier this year. They have made it available as I requested, and so here it is.
It's basically rundown of what I have learned in a decade o f being an artist and curator. It may be useful to some.
The gist of it is, "you can do it, if you want it badly enough."
http://www.southwarkartsforum.org/usrdata/File/SAF-mciver.pdf
above: Just to show how long this art thing has been going on - an Egyptian paint box and brushes! British Museum. Fabulous.