Mark E Shellshear.

The problem Artists face in the Art market is that once the market discovers their great Art and it sells well, they will try and turn it into factory Art because it offers the Artist what they do not have fame and fortune, to produce similar paintings. The market is selling paintings that may start off as original and organic, but the process of commerce turns these paintings into good sellers and then the Art market wants to mass produce them so they get more sales, which is what they do, sell paintings. Now there are some painters who are happy to do this and if that is what they want fine, but for others this is not a suitable career move, to become a factory painter. So what do we do to counter this problem from happening to us. We need to be our brand not just our Art. We need to always be selling ourselves as well as a painting. I hope you can understand subtlety here. The old way of selling Art was to put the painting in the Gallery and the Gallery sold it and...

The problem with the Art market is that once it discovers great Art it turns it into factory Art because it offers the Artist what they do not have fame and fortune, to produce similar works. This is a very difficult time for many Artists, they can produce similar paintings but the same and earn a good living, ever doing the same painting, variations of a theme and the fear of changing, now that I am well known and earning a good living, stops  them from moving forward and doing new creative original work. The problem really compounds if they decide to do new work and it does not sell, immediately they will go back to the tried and true sellers, never to go forward again. So they become a factory, with a production line and the works continue, small differences but the same. Perfecting the perfect, small changes and beautiful work but factory work and slowly becomes paint by numbers. It slowly looses it originality and becomes their trade mark paintings and they all look the sa...

There is no good or bad Art. There is Art produced by Artists that is original and organically theirs, that no one else created, it is theirs. Then there are painters who produce factory paintings. These paintings are not original or organically produced by the painter, they are copies and reproductions of original Art, but these are not Art any more, they are paint by numbers. The same piece painted over and over again with minor variations. They may be extremely well crafted, perfect draughtsmanship, perfectly balanced, they are just paintings, they are not Art. There may be many Artists that start out painting original and organic paintings but the pressure of fame and fortune and of course the Art Market Place pushes them to become factory workers, producing the same paintings in variations over and over again, because that is what the Art market wants, that same popular painting. Being original and staying original under the pressure of fame and fortune is difficult...

The Art market does not say what is good or bad Art. The Art market ascribes value to a paining, monetary value only, what someone is prepared to pay for that particular painting. It does not decide if it is good or bad Art it just says how much someone will pay for that painting. Only history will decide what is good or bad Art. Everyone in the Art market place, just has an opinion. The problem with the At market is that when it discovers wonderful, original, organic Art, it does all it can to turn it into factory Art. Beware the Art market, it is only interested in the sale of a painting and then repeating the sale of that painting as many times as it can, before it moves on. To be continued..

As we face the challenges of a new year on the horizon and we think about our Art practice, it is a good thing to reflect on this passing year, on both the positive outcomes and the negative.   It is good to write out all the positive things that happened as this is great encouragement for us as we move forward into the New Year. We also need to consider what we can do better in the New Year. First of all we need to identify the problems that we uncounted this year. Then we will need to give our power and energy to the choices we make that will bring about solutions to these problems. How do we do this? List off the problems you see, then ask yourself, what can I do differently each day that would fix this problem, remember small steps. What book should I read? What workshop should I do? Most times the areas of our Art practice that needs the most attention is not our actual painting or drawing or whatever other Art practice we do, it is usually in the sales, m...

I talk with so many Artists and others who are so unhappy with their lives and that it is always a struggle to earn money and support their families and build their futures. They say it is hard to amass money? Yes it is. They say, it is not hard to earn money if you are prepared to work, but the hard part is saving your money and avoiding debt. Debt grows fast and savings grow slow. If you are someone seeking and needing to make changes in your life, then you really need to change you and your habits. If you don’t like how things are, then change it! Decide what you want to do, write it down and work out what it will take to accomplish the goal, read yesterdays blog. Something you should do if you want to change your life, it will help in the decision process. Keep a record of all the money you spend, and write it down in a book, I do, I put the date, the item and the cost in the side column and each day I can account for all money spent. Same with time, keep a record of time spen...

Artists, the circumstance we live in today are the results of all our yesterday and the decisions we made, days, weeks, months, years ago.   We are living the outcome of those decisions today. We created our present circumstances, good and bad, by our past choices. We are responsible for them and we can not fix the blame onto others, we need to fix the problem, because of the choices we made or didn't make. Artists, we have both the ability and the personal responsibility to make better choices for our futures, starting today. We cannot allow our past errors in judgement, that were repeated every day, to lead us down the wrong path again. We must begin by deciding what kind of future we would like, and then work hard to make that happen. Working hard on my Art practice and then also working harder on changing me. Read the necessary books. Do the necessary seminars. Make the personal changes that need to be made, less television, less rest, less spending, earl...

Choices are something that we make every day, it is big part of life. As Artists we make choices about our art career everyday that can prosper us and sometimes that can hinder us, but choices we make. The question I often think about is, if I make a choice not to paint, what will be the consequences of that decision be in the future? In the now I am just being lazy, but in my future I produced one less piece and what effect will that have on my future? If we consider the future before we start each day we would certainly approach it differently. If we really believed that not painting today, because we feel lazy, or not reading that book you know you should because your tv show is on, or not choosing to save money but to waste on stuff you don't need, would have a negative impact on our future, then you would think that we would change. But we don't, we seem to think that it will be ok, that it will all work out and that the neglect of the now is ok? Neglect ...

Criticism can really sting and hurt and if someone is standing in front of you and saying hard things about your paintings, there is little you can do other than smile and thank them for the interest they have shown in your work and hope they leave quickly. How do you personally cope with that? It is not easy I know, but it gets easier when you take the attitude that your work is not for them and you need to say it out loud to yourself,  “ I did not paint it for them, I painted it for my followers, the people who appreciate me.” Very import that you reinforce that positive affirmation every time and after a while criticism will have less bite. The sting of criticism will never totally go away but you can minimize  the hurt and respond positively to yourself, “ I did not paint it for them.”

Don't let chance control your today, your Art business or your future. Let choice be your teacher of what you must do. Let personal change prepare you for success. With chance you have no control. With choice you will make the decisions that will teach you to be in control. With personal change, you change your world. You must make the choice to change for the better, if you want your life to get better. you can do it You have the ability to totally transform every area in your life and it all begins with your very own power of choice. Change is a choice.

When  a person buys y our Art work, t hen you need to befriend them and turn them into a friend and collector. Interact with them direct ly by e-mail and other social media platforms, building a connection and friendship through after sales service. This is so important for you to do this, because this collector will now follow your career, be at your openings. They will be your best word of mouth advertiser. They want you to succeed, it is now in their best interest. Every stranger you see, pass or meet is a potential customer, get yourself in front of strangers, make friends.

To finish this series I wanted to talk about the statement, “go to the ant, consider her ways and be wise.” To consider and be wise. To consider, to think carefully about. To think carefully about all that the ant does and how she acts in such single mindedness of purpose, always for her best possible outcome. I think if I could say what I learned out of this series was that the ant was relentless in purpose, saw no obstacle as a barrier but something to over come and she always considered the future. The ant was always thinking future and working hard in the now to assure that future. It did not waste or use up all its resources in the now, but saved up resources so that it knew it would always survive, so important for Artists to do the same, be wise. As Artists, because of the volatility of our industry we must be like the ant and work very hard in the now always aware that hard times could hit and we must be prepared for that. Work hard in the now and take every opportunity th...

“Go to the ant”, to learn valuable lessons. Ants teach us how to be self-motivated and self reliant. No one carries a whip behind the ant to ensure the work gets done. There are no time cards in the anthill. These creatures are self-motivated, and need no boss to ensure they get their work done. The greatest resource that you have is you and you have the ability to make whatever changes in your life you need to make to improve your Art career and make your life better. The amazing thing about the ant is that it is relentless in its endeavors and it will not pass by anything that can improve its life, if the ant can use it, no matter how big it is, the ant can reduce it to a size where it can be moved. The ant is not overwhelmed by the size of its challenge, it just reduces it to a size that it can manage. I remember as a child putting road kill on ant hills and coming back days later and seeing it totally gone, amazed at how theses tiny ants could reduce an animal to just...

“Go to the ant”, to learn valuable lessons. Ants use all the resources that they have at hand and do all they can to utilize them to the maximum. As Artists are we using all the resources at hand to make our Art business successful or we are ignoring available resources because they seem hard to get or use. Now I am not talking about Art equipment or Art supplies, most Artists always have enough of that, its the other resources that we often do not think about especially regarding the business side of our craft. Book keeping, that is recording of all accounts and purchases for your Art business, this is often neglected and usually for one of two reasons. Just lazy and don't want to do it, or because you don't know how to do it as it was not taught in Art school and no one told you, you would need it. Learn about bookkeeping, this is all available for you to learn free on the Internet, go to the University of Youtube and learn all you n...

“ Go to the ant”, to learn valuable lessons.  The Ant gathers her food in the harvest. In the harvest, food is plentiful. W hen you have that solo show that you have worked so hard for and now the sales are coming in, its harvest time, g o to the ant and learn. She refuses to take her ease—instead working harder, storing up against the coming time of winter gathering in her food, the ant knows that rest is also something earned and she knows that in the harvest, it is not the time to rest, rest will come during winter. Regrettably there are some Artists who are lazy, who love there ease, live in idleness, minds are not on their business, stick to nothing, bring nothing to pass, no paintings, careless in the business of Art and life. Laziness is a sure way to lack and want. If you have not taken advantage of every opportunity that has come along and worked hard through the exciting times of spring (opportunity) and the diligent days of summer ( doing the wo...

“ Go to the ant”, to learn valuable lessons. Ants teach us how to be self-motivated and self reliant. No one carries a whip behind the ant to ensure the work gets done. There are no starting or finishing times in the anthill. The ants are self-motivated, and need no boss to ensure they get their work done. The ant use all the resources that they have at hand and do all they can to utilise them to the maximum. . Ants teach us to prepare for the unexpected. Ants think storms during dry times. Storms are the times of sudden downpours, crisis, floods, landslides, leaks and destruction and the ants need to be preparing for them during the times of clear skies and beautiful days. Sudden unexpected events both good and bad can come upon us all, if it's good then we see it as an opportunity and if it is bad it is crisis. It would be foolish of me to say that life's events will not happen and that you should just have a positive attitude and they will stay...

“Go to the ant”, to learn valuable lessons. Ants teach us how to be self-motivated and self reliant. No one carries a whip behind the ant to ensure the work gets done. There are no starting or finishing times in the anthill. The ants are self-motivated, and need no boss to ensure they get their work done. The ant use all the resources that they have at hand and do all they can to utilise them to the maximum. 2.Ants teach us to look ahead The Ant is thinking winter all summer. In the summer everything is growing, food is plentiful. Yet the ant refuses to take her rest, instead working harder, storing up against the coming time of scarcity. One of our great failings in our society is that it is only concerned with the present, not preparing for the future or considering the consequences of our action or inaction. The ant always considers the future, it looks ahead. Thinking winter:- save money, always be putting money away in preparation for winter time, those hard times...

“ Go to the ant”, to learn valuable lessons. Ants teach us how to be self-motivated and self reliant. No one carries a whip behind the ant to ensure the work gets done. There are no starting or finishing time in the anthill. The ants are self-motivated, and need no boss to ensure they get their work done. The ant use all the resources that they have at hand and do all they can to utilise them to the maximum. 1.Ants are resolute. (they never quit.) “ Consider her ways and be wise”. Imagine that, “and be wise,” just like the ants are wise. Have you noticed that t he ant always find s a way. T he success of the ant depends on it its determination to succeed and it is relentless in it's activity, it is as if the ant never considers it will not succeed, failure is not an option . No matter what the difficulty the Ant never gives up, it will always overcome. When your survival depends on your success, then failure cannot be considered, so when an an...