“Be yourself.”

My son Neil Shellshear did a great Periscope this morning and I found it very challenging subject, “be yourself.”

What an interesting thought, everyone considers they are all very individual but we are all part of this giant push for us all to conform and be like everyone else and everyone does conform.

For most it is very hard to break out of the box and be yourself and often those who do, go overboard and create an alter ego that then pushes people away.

Being myself does not mean I have to start wearing contagious clothing or finding some way of gaining attention, because gaining attention by being outrageous is very hard to maintain in the long term. Many Artists try to be very different often for difference sake but lack the talent to back up the eccentricity. Dali was very eccentric but he had the talent and produced the work to allow his alter ego to be accepted.

As Artists I want us to be ourselves, do not follow the crowd, be different, paint what you believe in not what you think others want.

Remember if you are painting something that is very new and different and it has never been seen before, it will take time to be accepted.

I remember someone saying to me that they did not want to buy my paintings because they were so different and they had never seen anything like that before, they did not offend me I was happy because I did not want my work to be like the rest of the crowd.

I always painted things differently to others because I wanted my paintings to reflect me and be from me, I never wanted to paint like everyone else. I certainly admire a lot of painters but I have no interest in being them.

Be different, discover what makes you, you.

Build a persona into your Art that reflects you and your personality.

It is not just about your paintings its about being yourself and painting life from your perspective.