Girl half in love with artist (4)
I believe the answer is:
vera
'girl' is the definition.
'half in love with artist' is the wordplay.
'half in love' becomes 've' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
've'+'ra'='VERA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for vera that I've seen before include "__ Lynn, the forces' sweetheart" , "Dame -- Lynn, singer" , "senior songstress?" , ".. Lynn, aloe ..." , "Woman's name" .)