Characteristics of the eccentric artist (6)
I believe the answer is:
traits
'characteristics' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the eccentric artist' is the wordplay.
'the eccentric' indicates anagramming the letters.
'artist' is an anagram of 'TRAITS'.
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for traits that I've seen before include "Features or qualities that distinguish someone's character" , "Personality characteristics" , "Identifying features or qualities" , "Distinguishing features" , "Artist (anag.)" .)