Mark E Shellshear.

Fear is something that every person has to deal with it is normal, fear was built into us to save us long ago from the ever present danger of being eaten by wild animals, but we no longer have these problems, yet we still face fear today and it is one major road block that stops people from being successful. The difference between a successful Artist and the Artist lost in the Art crowd is that the successful one has learned to use fear to motivate her and not allow it to hold her back. Fear is very good and healthy when you are standing on the top of a ten story building but when fear is holding us back and we cannot give a talk about our Art or make those videos that we know we should make or not be able to go up and talk to strangers at Art exhibitions then fear is in control, not us. If we allow the fear to motivate us, “ Yes you are here, so this must be the right thing to do,” and we get up and give that talk and make those videos and go up and talk to strangers then we a...

  The great value for you as an Artist is what you are becoming and changes you bring and the people you inspire, not what you are getting but what you are becoming. So many focus on the getting. I have no sales? People are not commenting on my Art? It’ s hard to market my Art. No body will help me. Yet we really need to focus on becoming. The question we need to ask ourselves is, what am I becoming? A better Artist learning about sales and marketing? A better Artist incorporating new disciplines to become a better person? A better Artist not afraid to talk to strangers and tell the story of my Art? A better Artist who cares about others and how our Art impacts on others for good? What I am becoming is far more important than what I am getting. As I become the best Artist and the best person that I can be, the getting will look after it’s self.

Most people don’t understand that nobody will pick you until you are already famous. Nobody will give you permission so do not ask, just give yourself permission. Don’t look for others to introduce you, be your own promoter introduce yourself. The idea we are all sold is that if we wait in the wings we will be called to the table, but if we go to the table we will be asked to leave. I do not believe that what I have found is if you look like you belong and act like you belong and are confident in yourself, you will not be asked to leave and you will be accepted. Because most everyone else is not that confident even the rich and famous, so be self-assured it will show in your body language. The first time may be a bit unsettling but over time the fear will calm down and your confidence will grow. Most Artists are held back by fear so it is always easier to take the low seat, but that is where the crowd is and we want to stand out from the crowd and get attention, so we n...

I watched a movie on the American artist Julian Schnable. I loved his work, big, brave and stunning. He rose to fame in the 1980’s in New York and he is still a commanding figure in the Art world. He made a statement in the movie and I want to quote it to you. He said, “ I want to paint things that surprise me, that I haven’t seen yet.” What an amazing way to approach Art, always searching for the new. “ Wanting to be surprised.” “ Things I haven’t seen yet.” For me this is the true creative, always walking close to the edge, standing out from the crowd, charting their own course and prepared to do new things. Some of it may fail. Some of it maybe ok. Some of it will be magic. Make magic by making things you h aven’t seen yet.

As I have said in past blogs the most asked question I get is “ Please help me price my paintings.’ I don’t want to answer this question because most times I offend Artists because a family member or a friend or another Artists has said that it is worth a lot and truth is if you are unknown it’s not worth a lot. Many Artists have this emotional attachment to their paintings and I do understand that, but you have to sell them, they are your product. If you can somehow see yourself as the value proposition and your Art as your product, you begin to look at your Art differently and you will sell it differently. You then realize that you have to get known, face and name recognition as well as your paintings. The problem with being so concerned about pricing is that it distracts the Artist from the issue of selling.

First y ou must get a presence on line where people know you, know your name and recognize you, its all about getting peoples attention. Many Artists wonder why they are not selling and people aren’t searching them out, big dreams not properly thought out and not enough work put in before you have a show to get your work before the Art public. You must promote yourself, do not leave it to others, wonderful if they promote you hard as well, but do not leave this important job to others who will not put in the same effort as you do to promote yourself. Failure to do so leads to disappointment and that horrible thought, a failed show, no sales. I do not want to see this happen to any Artist, the Art business is hard enough without this kind of failure. Do not trust others to do what you can do better, promote yourself constantly and if others do so as well, that’s a bonus, but to get attention you have to promote yourself. Always remember, if you are unknown, then you are unknown....

It’s your mindset, don’t think from the place of scarcity, think from a place of abundance. You will need to begin to imagine what it is like selling your art, how it feels, what you think about your sold art. See it sold first in your minds eye, this mindset will help it sell in reality because you are coming from a place of confidence. When you think about how you need sales, it worries you and you feel powerless and this puts emotion into the thought and that what makes it hard to go forward confidently. So change your mindset to abundance thinking. Use positive affirmations like, I love selling my paintings and get your emotions involved and you will change the result. Change your thinking to abundance thinking and you will change your outcomes.

Artists use their imagination and creativity constantly to do what they do. The imagination drives their practice and helps them to produce the work that defines them as Artists. They take what does not exist, except in their imagination and dreams and then turn it into a beautiful, original Art work. Artists go to work on an idea and over time turn it into reality. Artists breath life into ideas and produce exceptional Art. They imagine it and over time, it is. They dream it and it becomes reality.

If we want people to talk about us then we will have to be worth talking about. If we do what every other Artist does, will that make us worth talking about. Understand that when people talk about us they do it because of how it makes them feel, not about how it makes you feel. To get people to talk about us means we will have to get known and be recognized for people to remark about us. I know we are told that it is all about creating great Art and people will recognize it for what it is but most of the time that is not so. Yes paint and create great Art and remember that is the easy part, now you have to sell it and to do that you will need to get known. You will need to work very hard getting known, face and name recognition and if are unknown then will must become your priority. Get known, people must recognize you and know your name, then people will want to talk about you.

If you want to sell your Art to strangers then they will have to know who you are. We buy from people we know. Are you getting known? Do more people know you now than the number of people who knew you this time last year? Are you still afraid of what people will say about you or think about you? Safe is a nice place to be, because it is safe. Obscurity is safe. My paintings speak for themselves, is safe. My paintings sell themselves, is safe. Not making videos is safe. Safe is out of sight, invisible. Obscurity is worse than no talent because having no talent and lots of drive will accomplish more than being safe. People need to know your name and recognize your face and know you are the Artist. If people don’t know you, how can they buy from you?

Success is not one particular day when all the stars aligned and you became an overnight success. Most overnight successes take years and years. Success is persistently doing your Art day after day and being able to look back over the years and see what you have accomplished. Yet for those Artists that do stop painting, it’s not from lack of great ideas, but from not putting action into those great ideas. They procrastinate, they make excuses, they never really commit to the Art journey and what is behind this, fear, fear of what other people will say or think. We must give great ideas legs and put action behind them. The way to action ideas is to write them down in your journal and plan out the steps you will take to make it happen, it is the plan backed by deliberate action that makes it happen and you will be able to look back and see the advancement that you have made in your Art career. To become an overnight success takes years of putting action behind great idea...

Do you find reasons to praise yourself and think future, or do you keep going over old hurts that don’t encourage you and think past? If we keep going over old hurts from the past we will bring them into our coming future. It is not easy to stop from doing this, but with a little effort and discipline we can train our mind to think in the now and future. We can do this through positive self talk and reaffirming what we want in the future and not indulge in past think. Positive self talk in now time about the future we desire because the future is not set, so think now what you want and make it your coming reality.

Our goal i s to get everyone to buy our paintings and we do that b y get ting someone to buy o ne painting We need to inspire one person. We need to bring happiness to one person. We need to touch one person, just one person who buys our work. Then we make them a friend through our after sales service. We interact with them through e-mail and other social media building a relationship and friendship, now we can confidently show them new work and build towards another sale. Once we have established that relationship we need to reach out to one more person to buy our painting. And repeat and repeat. Then you will reach five. Then you reach ten. Stop worrying about everyone, you can’t sell to everyone at the same time. Concentrate on the person who is talking to you, it is so much e...

  It is very hard to convince someone who loves a certain brand that any other brand is better, they are just not listening. The same with Art, there are the people who love it and buy it and the ones who just couldn’t care less. You are far more likely to sell to the one ones who love it and buy it than the ones who don’t like Art. But we often chase after the ones who couldn’t care less trying to convert them and we try hard to reach them. We work hard tying to get their attention to make an impact but they are just not listening. Get the attention of the Art lovers who don’t know you yet, they want to hear from you and will welcome all you have to share with them. Target the people who are already believers, don’t try and convert the nonbelievers.

Something many people find hard to do is consistently sell and often the reason is the story we tell ourselves. It would make sense that the more we post our paintings on social media, the more people would see them and that would translate into more sales, but we don’t, we let ourselves off the hook by saying things like, I don’t want to annoy people? Where did that come? Childhood, our parents or teachers telling us not to annoy people by our consistent talking. Now that maybe ok when we are a child but it’s not ok when we are an adult and need to sell our Art. I believe you must post a painting every day and if you don’t have any new work then show old work you haven't sold yet, but many people don’t, and if that’s you, what is the story you are telling yourself to let you off the hook? These stories stop so many from getting success because success requires change and our stories stop us by letting us off the hook. Change the story and you will change your outcom...

  For me these are the most obvious things but many Artists find hard to do. First, you must create good original Art. I know this is obvious but you would be surprised how little work many Artists produce. Second, you must become well known, name and face recognition. If no one knows you how can they find you to buy your Art? Third, you must learn how to sell and market your Art. This is the hardest for most Artists to embrace and they look for any reason they can find not to do this. Nothing else matters and if I had to add another it would be learn to manage people. If you create wonderful work and you are working hard at becoming well known, then you will begin to sell your Art. The most important one in my opinion is becoming well known, name and face recognition and this will require making videos.

  We all need to manage our time well because we can never catch up time, make time up, or save time, use it or loose it. Time is finite and we only have so much in our lifetime, if you waste it, it is gone forever and you can not replace it, you cannot buy, borrow or steal more time, what you have, is what you have. Use your time wisely, be the Artist that works harder and smarter than the rest, always strive to make good use of your time. The wise way to use your spare time is to read and learn new skills that will benefit your Art career, learning something new is a good use of your precious time. Have a daily list and work through it every day, do not procrastinate if something has to be done, do it, don't put it off until tomorrow because tomorrow will never come, we only live in the now, so you must do it now and tick it off that list. Time and health are your most priceless possessions and you only have so much time, use it wisely. ...

Talent is always an interesting subject, what is talent? Is it the ability to draw photo like portraits? Is it just being wonderfully creative? So many artists talk themselves out of an art career because they say they have no talent. I always ask what do they mean and most say that they cannot draw perfect photo like portraits like other artists do and I always reply that’s not talent that’s a learned skill and you can learn to do that. Talent is somethin g we begin to recognize as we see an artist have a very average start but over time develop into an accomplished, creative Artist doing good work. Talent is overrated and I know if you take responsibility for your career and put a lot of effort into your career you will go a lot further than just relying on talent, because a lot of talented Artists do not work hard. Most Artist fail to nurture their dreams, they fail to visualize what they want, to see it, to feel it and to experience it, before they work very hard to...

  Selling is a bad word to most and we don’t want to be seen like the used car salesman, yet most of them are not good salespeople because of their pushy tactics. We don’t like to be sold to, but we like to buy. Don’t talk to yourself about selling, talk about meeting people and making new friends. How can I do that, make new friends? People respond in kind, you need to smile a lot, smiles attract people and they will mostly smile back. You need to be friendly, people like friendly people and they will mostly respond in kind and be friendly towards you. You need to tell them your Art story. And you need to tell yourself a new story, that you like meeting new people and making new friends.

  The soil in the garden does not care what you plant in it, because it’s job is to cause it to grow and bring a harvest, not judge it good or bad. The human mind is like the garden it will return to you what you plant in it and it doesn’t judge good or bad, what you plant in it, it will grow it and bring a harvest. What you plant, you get a harvest of. Plant one apple seed, harvest many apples. Plant negativity, harvest negativity. Plant fears, harvest fears. Plant want, harvest need. Plant abundance, harvest abundance. Plant love, harvest love. The bible says, “As a person sows, so shall they reap.” My question is always the same, what if that statement is right? Then we need to be wise in what we plant, because we will get back, not the one seed we planted, but a harvest of the seed we planted, positive or negative.

  All of us in all we do the key is getting people to know us and like us because if they know you and like you then they will listen to you and most likely buy from you. Now not everyone will like us or our Art, but we must do all we can to endear ourselves to others and get known, name and face recognition. Create wonderful original Art and work on the better you, a better smile, on your pleasing personality and always be as friendly as you can, get rid of bad habits like arguing and criticism and learn to see the best in every situation, it may not work out exactly as you want all the time but as long as you have given it your best effort, that’s so important. The first sale is the difficult one so if people know you and like you most likely they will like your Art and buy from you. It’s not guaranteed but you have a much better chance than if they don’t know you. Work hard on the better you, be friendly with everyone and get known because everyone you meet is a p...

Excuses undermine desire, ambition and creativity. Excuses lead ultimately to blaming others for our failure and disappointments. Don’t be an Artist who is known for making excuses. Be the Artist who takes responsibility for your actions or no action. Be responsible for the great successes and for the disappointments. Responsibility is maturity. Whether it is a wonderful success or it comes to nothing be responsible for the outcome and don’t make lame excuses and expose your shortcomings. No good blaming anyone or anything, it didn’t work, so best to learn the lessons and move on and get a better idea as we all have to deal with life, it happens to us all. We all need to be responsible for our words, our actions and our time, see these as investments, some investments pay off others don’t.

There are no shortcuts to success y ou simply do the work until you reach th at point where things begin happening and then work harder to amplify what is happening. It’s like losing weight, you do it until you see changes and then you work harder to make it happen quicker. A s you learn more about your craft and the Art business and yourself you may find better ways to do things that get you there faster. Improve your skills and you get better so your success comes quicker , it is hard work . Learn as much as you can and shorten the time, do not look for shortcuts they will delay you, just work hard on your Art, your Art business and especially on yourself. Y ou are your secret sauce , you are your magic, you make it happen for you.