I see many artists calling themselves "award winning" and "self taught". The fact is, every artist is really self taught. You have to work through all the information you glean to make sense of it; you can't learn to make art by studying it. Award winning is mostly meaningless, because it's easy to enter amateur oriented shows and stand out, if you have any skills at all. Most artists have won awards of some type, usually early in their careers.
Having said that, I believe that most artists today have little training and specialize very early on. It seems the institutions don't fuel the artists' desire to really learn their craft. When I read how Rembrandt constructed his paintings, I see that his depth of knowledge is very large, and that's only with regard to his use of materials. His drawing skills are huge and his thoughtfulness with regard to the composition, process and brushwork is impressive. He is representative of the type of art education that was in place in those times.
I believe that we never know if we have actually created any art during our lifetime. It takes a couple hundred years after we die to see if our work has lasting value. All we can do is aspire to create real art. I think, though, that there are quite a few real artists working today, but most of us will be relegated to the staus of "also rans". Sad. Art is a very personal thing and everyone has their own perception of what real art is. However, most of us see the subject matter first, the pretty-ness second and stop there, because we don't have much grounding in art appreciation.
In the end, I can say that I'm really pleased to be in the position I am, where I can sort of make a living pursuing my artist's path. Lucky me!
