Mark E Shellshear.

Third phase, post opening night. Now after the opening night, be at the Gallery every day you possibly can, even paint in the Gallery and video it, and put it up on Facebook because people love to watch the Artist work. Most important that you be there every weekend from opening to close. Now why do this? You have invested a serious amount of money into this show, so why not give it your best for the full length of the show? This is your money, do not just leave it to others who do not care as much about your work as you do. Tell people through social media that you will be there at the gallery every weekend of your show and to come and meet you. Do videos from the Gallery talking about your paintings and put them up on Facebook with an invite to come and meet you at the gallery. Email all your friends and contacts and invite them to come to the Gallery and tell them you will personally show them around and discuss your paintings. All the new email addresses you ...

Second phase, the opening night. So we are at the opening night. Now I am presuming that you and the Gallery or group have promoted you well and have competent staff to help you and now people are coming into your opening. First, Artist things to consider, please appreciate that the people who are coming to your show have given up their precious time to come and look at your paintings and to meet you. Show your appreciation by going up and speaking to every guest, yes every guest, who has complemented you by coming to your opening. Be very friendly, smiling and chatty Ignore your friends unless they are buying. Talk to strangers about your work and try to say more than “yes” and “no.” Let them ask you questions and tell the story behind each painting, tell them stories. Appreciate that people are coming to see your Art work and that you are the center of attention, no place for the brooding, misunderstood Artist here. If the Gallery introduces you to someone, t...

First, pre-exhibition. “ The miracle is in the doing.” What do I think an Artist should do to avoid a failed Art exhibition?  Now if you knew that doing all that work would produce a failed exhibition, surely you would do it very differently from the beginning? So instead waiting to lick your wounds after the exhibition why not start out with a plan to try and make sure that does not happen and the show is a success. Lets start from the pain part first, no sales and a lot of money and time invested into a failed show, plus dealing with the emotional aspect of failure. You are the key to your success. So do not rely on the Gallery or someone else to promote your work, you do it, you have so much invested here, so you make sure it is done. Artist you need to push yourself so hard on the Internet through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, emails, because you have only one shot at an opening night so give it your best. Blog about your opening weeks before, talk about the paintings that...

Lets consider the failed opening, no sales and a failed show, what we should have done to keep that from happening and to stay with my theme, “ The miracle is in the doing.” What do I think an Artist should do about a failed Art exhibition?  Lets start from the pain part first, no sales and a lot of money and time invested into a failed show. A failed exhibition is not good, it hurts, believe me I have been there, ouch! Now if you knew that doing all that work would produce a failed exhibition, surely you would do it very differently from the beginning? So instead of waiting to lick your wounds after the exhibition why not start out with a plan to try and make sure that does not happen and the show is a great success. This is what I think each Artist should consider doing before, during and after the show. You have finished all the painting and the show opens in a few weeks, what should you do now? Artists say to me that's a lot of work painting a whole show? Yes and you have ...

The doing is the hard part, that's where the miracle is. Do what you can. Do the best you can. Do all you can. Remember what the hard times are like. Be sensitive to others. Be touched by the theater of life. Be moved by the plight of others. Use these emotions to motivate yourself to always be the best Artist that you can be and do the best work that you can do.

. How do I break with Artistic traditions and challenge the current Art establishment? It will take great ideas and determined action. Ideas are easy to come by, everyone has them. Excuses are easy to come by, everyone uses them. Ideas are useless, unless you formulate an action plan and do it. It is in the doing where the miracle happens not in the ideas. Some Artists have great ideas and then talk themselves out of them and use excuses for why it could not happen. Not all ideas will work but you have to action them to see if they do, if they don't, no problem, ideas are in abundance so get more, but the problem is the people to action the ideas are so very few. What sets Artists like Picasso and Pollock apart from other Artists is that they had good ideas and did them, actioned them and made them happen against what the Art establishment thought was good Art. To be a true Artist it will take great ideas, the ability to do them and make them into reality ...

Our goal is not to get everyone to buy our paintings but to get someone to buy our painting. To inspire one person. To bring happiness to one person. To touch one person. Just one person who buys our work. Then make them a friend through after sales service. Interact with them through e-mail and other social media building a connection and friendship. Then we need to reach one more person to buy our painting. To inspire them. To bring happiness to them. To touch them. This person who buys our Art. Then make them a friend through after sales service. Interact with them through e-mail and other social media building a connection and friendship. And repeat…. Then you will reach five. Then you reach ten. Stop worrying about everyone, everyone doesn't matter. It is so much easier to sell to one.                                                       ...

The difference between the successful Artist and the failed Artist is seldom talent. Knowing how to do it is not enough - you must be able to apply it. Wishing is not enough - you must do it. Expecting a miracle is naive - if you do not put legs on your request. It does not matter as an Artist how talented and gifted you are or how intelligent you may be, you are not guaranteed fame and fortune. If you do not work hard, you are wasteful of your gift and the untalented Artist who works hard will always win. Working every day at your craft is what separates the remarkable from the rest. Artist you must apply your knowledge. You must do it, not wish it done. Your requests with legs (work) produces the miracle. " Yes he was quite brilliant, very talented young man but he didn't paint a lot. I have forgotten, what was his name?" We have had plenty of failed forgotten talented Artists.                             ...

A question I was asked about a blog I wrote, the subject was about always doing your own work and it being original work. The writer asked me what should they do as they paint realism and portraits not original work? What I would like to do is correct a misunderstanding that might have come across in what I am saying, original work is not just abstract work. I believe any painting that you do, be it realism or abstract is original Art work if it has comes from you and is not a copy of someone else’s painting. The impressionists did original work and they painted real places. Picasso's Blue Period was as original as his cubism and his later portraits and women, it was all original Art work done by him. I have no problem with portraits being original Art work if they are your work and not copies of someone else's work. My issue is not the way you paint or whatever discipline you paint in, abstraction, realism, landscapes, still life, portraits, the issue is tha...

Quality, value and honesty are the new social truths, if these values are found in you and your work and you persist for a period of time, people will trust you and talk about you and buy your Art from you, but it will take time and patience. People need to be talking about you, so put your Art out there so that they can talk about it, story tell your Art, there is a story behind every painting and you need to tell it. Saying my painting speaks for itself is just  an excuse for not facing the fear, “What if people don't like what I say?” “What if they laugh at what I say?” “What if I am criticized for what I say?” Face the fear, confront it and story tell your Art. Most buyers want to know the Big Story behind a painting because then they can tell themselves a story as to why they want to buy the painting. Everybody is telling themselves a story. Write a studio blog once a week at least. Every Artist should have a blog talking about their Art, their Art practice, their drea...

I think one of the most important lessons that I learned from reading Ted Turners autobiography was what his father said to him near the end of his life, that his goals were just not big enough. I believe in big outrageous goals that will take a life time or more to achieve. I also know most Artists do not have goals and if they do, they are not written down. Why don't most Artists have written goals? Because it is easier not have goals just in case you cannot achieve them, because you do not want to fail, it's the fear of the fear of failure. But without failure you cannot have success. You must have one of two outcomes, success or failure. So most play in the average or mediocre, or the normal, that way they cannot fail and cannot be a success. As much as most Artists say they want success their actions often say different, because if we were to be a really successful Artist our lives would dramatically change and that is scary. So it is easier to play sa...

It has to make money otherwise why do it? I think this is a question every Artist trying to live by the brush needs to ask themselves. Especially the ones who have no financial support at all from a spouse or partner. So then the question becomes paramount. No money, no Art, no life. It a simple down hill slide and it does not matter if you use emotional labels on this statement or not. I know that Art is from the heart and the inner creative self and that money is not the reason to make Art, I agree totally, but if your Art practice is how you pay your bills then the money side of it matters a lot. If you paint purely for the love of painting and you give your Art away, then this is not for you, but if you put a price tag on your your Art then this is a major question that you must address. Being in the Art business is more than just painting paintings in your studio, its also about running a business, so this needs to be considered before you enter into the Art business. In the ...

I wish for a gentler time, where we are all not polarized by labels and slogans. Where we could get back to a place where we could listen to each other and hear what is really being said, not what we think is being said. We judge so quickly and apply a label to someone because that way we can put them in a box. People are too complex and complicated to be put in a box. I wish for a day when we speak to each other and we listen, yes listen to what is being said and comprehending what the other person is saying, rather than thinking of the next question you will ask or story you will tell as soon as they stop speaking. Lets listen and hear what the person talking to us is saying. I wish for a day where its ok to only be interested in those around me who I touch and their lives and my opinion on whales and faking and million other red buttons issues that people righteously push are not as important as the hurting person that I am talking to. We need to get over ...

I have read today on so many Artists post their opinions about the American election and I have been asked for mine. So I thought I would give my opinion. My opinion is, I have no opinion. I cannot influence the outcome or the candidate in any way, so why would I try? I am not an American so really it is nothing to do with me, he won the election, so the people have had their say whether we like it or not, that is what democracy is all about and sometimes we may not like the outcome. I personally think he will have little interest in the Art world and so for us it will be business as usual. I have heard all that has been said about him, good and bad, but he has won the election, so congratulations to those who voted for him and commiserations those who voted against him. Really it is just life and life will go on. Our job as Artists is to concentrate on what we can do in our world to make it better. The world is not changed by Kings and Presidents, it is changed by us...

I think one of the things that saddens me the most about the Art business is the attitude of some Artists have that they deserve to earn a living from their Art. Now if you take the word Art away from Art business you have business and that is what you are in and your competitors are all the other Artists and hobby Artists all out there in a very crowded market place selling Art at very conceivable price point. Now if you went along to your local chamber of commerce they would be able to tell you about how long most new businesses last in your area and this will apply to you as well. If this business is your means of earning a living then you better learn about how to run a small business really quickly. It is not enough to be a talented Artist, it takes more, because the bottom line is you need to sell your Art. Having hundreds of beautiful paintings is one thing but if you cannot sell them it means very little. You are in a real business, you buy raw materials, you produc...

I have learned what not to do, because as an Artist I never did this but after years in Galleries I wish I had, it was a weak skill that determined the height of my success. Question, “From your last exhibition or showing, what was the worst part?” Now you cannot criticize anyone or anything, this is all about you. I don't want to hear about the terrible Gallery, terrible economy or the terrible public who just didn't appreciate your work. No, no blame on anything, just talking about you. What could you have done better? As a gallery person I now sit on the other side of the table that I sat on for many, many years and it is very clear to me now what I didn't do and what I really should have done, which may have had a different outcome to my art career. For example. Many Artists have a one person show or are part of group shows. They spend a lot of money on materials, frames and they put in so much time doing the work, their most precious commodity. They pay fo...

You can greatly alter the course of your life in one day, it just takes a decision to change something. Especially within your Art practice when you know you should be experimenting more but that little voice in your head says don't do it, what if it fails? It if works, you will be happy. If it fails, you will be wiser and you can try again. Failure is not a stop sign, it is an opportunity to do something different and to do it better.

Our goal as an Artist, is not to sell to everyone. Our goal is to sell to someone. So stop worrying about everyone, because everyone will not buy. Connect with one person and sell them a painting and make the experience so good and special for them that they tell another about you and then they will come and buy from you also. And so you build your followers. The key is to make the buying experience something special and memorable, then they will want to talk about you to their friends.

It's ok with me if you are the one to change painting as we know it, it needs changing. Change the way we paint. Change how we see paintings. Change how we think about paintings. Change the story we tell ourselves about painting. Just because this is how its always been done, does not mean it cannot be improved. Painting is broken. So fix it. Galleries are broken. So think outside the box as to how you will sell your Art. Be the one to do it differently, video, blog, busk your art, art parties, ebay or the many other art sales sites. You can do whatever you want, its up to you, there are no set rules. Just give yourself permission and do it.