Absent-minded artist foolishly following a girl (8)
I believe the answer is:
distrait
'absent-minded' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'artist foolishly following a girl' is the wordplay.
'foolishly' is an anagram indicator.
'following' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'a girl' becomes 'Di'.
'artist' with letters rearranged gives 'strait'.
'strait' after 'di' is 'DISTRAIT'.
(Other definitions for distrait that I've seen before include "Unable to concentrate for anxiety - it is trad (anag)" , "Preoccupied" , "Distraught in France" , "Inattentive or absent-minded, from French" , "Being one [SCATTY]" .)