Mark E Shellshear.

Self belief is turning up everyday and doing what needs to be done, out of this discipline will come your miracle. When you turn up to work, work, put an hours work into every hour, don’t let excuses and procrastination rob you of your time. The miracle comes when you turn up every day, be patient and be determined to always work hard while you are in the studio. Perspiration precedes inspiration. Working precedes the miracle. The miracle is in the work.

Being unique attracts attention, being similar to everyone else makes you invisible. Isn’t this the great truth for Artists, because Artists need to attract attention, not be invisible. Do not to be like all other Artists, but be the unique original you. Copying makes you invisible, time and years will ignore you, just for short sighted sales. Being average, safe and mediocre will make you lost in the ocean of similar paintings and similar Artists, you will be invisible. You must attract attention. Be unique, be original, be you, make videos and get known. Being the best Artist that you can possible be, this will attract attention and you will be noticed and seen. Being the unique you that only you can be, make your videos promoting you and your Art will make you visible. Because unique attracts attention.

Do not look at others and be jealous and envious of what they have because you can never be them, look in the mirror and appreciate you. Others do not hold the key to your success and happiness, the person in the mirror does. Next time you look in the mirror, smile at that person and tell them you love them for they are the only person who can help you be who you want to be and fulfil all your dreams and desires. Build you success on these three foundations, positive self image, self love and self belief, do so by daily affirmations and written out goals which you can then check off as you achieve them, do both and you will continually strengthen your foundations. Positive self image, self love and self belief are the foundation on which you will build your Art career, without them you will struggle to appreciate the person in the mirror. .

So many young Artists and older, new Artists want to achieve great things but leave it all up to chance and in 30 years time will wonder why it didn't work for them. How many Artist I know personally who started off with great promise and today they do not paint, because they thought that it would just happen. Do not leave your Art career to chance, have goals for your Art future, write them down, set down your plans and what you will do to achieve them, work hard and never give up. Become a media personality and make videos and get face and name recognition, it’s all part of the hard work. Being a talented Artist is not enough, you need to know where you want to go or how will you know when you have arrived? Don't leave it to chance. .

What about influence and inspiration? We are all influenced by the Art we love and it can inspire us to go and do our own brilliant work and that is good, the problem arises when we are inspired and then we go and copy the work that inspires us, that’s not good. You may love a certain landscape painter and you can’t get enough of her work. So you see her work and then you go and paint your landscapes, which is great, but don’t sit down with a book and copy her paintings, that is wrong and it’s not original and it is not Art, it’s a copy. If you are inspired by her landscapes go into your landscape and you capture it in your way, in your original style, that is how influence by another Artist should work. I am inspired by seeing this landscape painting and now I go into my landscape and discover my painting hidden in it, that’s the creative process and it’s called original Art. This could be with any genre of Art, abstract, portraits, still life etc. You see it, get inspi...

Often like this morning I did not know what to write, a few words and a sentence and then two pages later I am amazed at what I have written. It always begins slowly and the key to hearing the Muse, the inner genius, is you starting working, you must start writing before she will come. You must start drawing before she will come. You must start painting before she will come. She is enticed, attracted to your energy, to your gift and then she speaks and begins to work with you. She does not lead you, she comes when attracted to you gift at work. If you want the Muse to come before you start, most likely she will not come. " Inspiration exists ,  but  it must  find you working ." - Pablo Picasso. .

For an Artist to have a long and celebrated career they will have grow and evolve and this will be very evident in the body of their work. Always remembering that it is not about doing one great masterpiece, but your whole lifetime of work being your masterpiece. Improving at your craft is not an option, it is a necessity and this will involve hard work, determination and patience, because it will be very easy for you to rest on your laurels when you get success and forget that you have to continue to create new and original work and not repeat your past. Many go from being a good Artist to just another painter, it’s easy to do, just bath in your success and repeat and repeat and repeat your successful paintings. Not everything new that you do will work, but because you are innovating you will discover new things that will work, so be courageous always be a trailblazer, don’t be side tracked by those following you and flattering you. Owning your own original work is what...

In Art and life the doing is always the hard part, that's where the miracle is hidden, in the hard work. Without daily work nothing is produced, it’s what you are doing when nobody is watching that counts. All the days and nights working away at your craft alone. Do what you can every day. Do the best you can every day. Do all you can every day. And earn your rest by completing all your daily tasks, but don’t rest to long. The game does not stop because you are resting.

It is always comforting to remember that all the great Artists were once unknown. They too faced all the same road blocks, hardships and difficulties that you face and many also extreme poverty. Those who believed Art was their calling, their destiny did not let discouragement, hardship and the years wear them down they persevered ever confident in the coming recognition of their work. They did not let lack of sales and no recognition stop them from doing their Art, they found other ways to earn a living so they could pursue their calling. In the difficult times you must remember that you are an important person, many love you and care for you even when you are walking through the Artistic wilderness and you feel so desperately alone, but never give up, no matter how dark the night is, the sunrise will come and with it the success you have worked so hard for. Night always turn into day, always. Push forward my friends and make the necessary changes both Artistically and p...

So many people live unfulfilled lives, going through the motions every day, doing a job they do not like and the only thing to look forward to is going home to watch television or the coming weekend. Most people go through life never doing what there hearts desire is and wonder why they get sick. We know that hope postponed makes the heart sick. So many people want to do things that their heart desires but are stopped by fear, what if it does not work out, what if it all goes wrong, excuses. The thief/fear will do all it can to stop you from achieving the desires of your heart, your inner genius. For the one who wants to paint the “thief” will say, wait you need more time, your not ready yet, you need to be better, fear wants safe, but often safe is the most unsafe place you can be in. Safe people hiding from what they truly want to do, are not safe at all and are often consumed with problems both real and imagined because they are not realising their dreams. Go and paint, if...

I lost my wallet and later I found it in the safe place I put it. I lost today’s work, because Artist friends came around and wanted to chat, I never found that day again. I felt lazy and idle so I watched tv all day, I lost a days painting time, I can’t find it now either. Time wasted is time lost forever and we don’t have that much time to waste it, it is running out. Be wise like the ant and work while you can, when you can, you only have so much time to get it all done. Treat your time like your health as the most precious things you own, treasure it and use it wisely, you only have a certain amount of time and you cannot find more time or make up the time, you cannot refill time, you cannot save it up, there is only so much and no more. Time goes so quickly, it does not stand still or take a day off, it just keeps ticking away. Be very wise and use your time productively, creating your Art, and it will serve you well.

Some people call it the Universe and some their spirit guide, I often refer to it as, that still small voice within. It is knowing that you know or maybe being in the zone, it is allowing the genius within to do the work. It is that time when the hours fly by like minutes and you see that you have produced a wonderful piece of Art. How often have you looked at your finished painting and wondered to yourself, did I do that? It’s like looking at a painting for the first time and knowing that you did it, but you wonder how? That is when you know the Muse has been at work, releasing the genius within you, your genius and it works with you and through you. But in the hustle bustle of our lives this is not so easy and it will take practise and preparation to allow the Muse to flow through us. It takes quiet, it takes calming down, it takes shutting out the world, it’s waiting for the butterfly to land on your hand, it takes patience and being calm and an attitude of humili...

There is no problem you asking your collector friend for the sale occasionally, because if they buys or does not buy the friendship goes on, it is not based on the sale it is based on their appreciation of your Artistic work and the relationship that you both have. Warning, never go to this person you have built the relationship with begging for a sale, you may get it but you have instantly changed the relationship and used up your emotional currency. Before you sold because of your relationship, permission and friendship now you are selling because you are needy. You may get away with it once, but seldom twice, because you will have used up all your good will. The customer is not looking for a charity to give to, they are looking for an Artist to admire, follow, support and occasionally buy from, take care of that relationship because it has emotional currency, use it up and the relationship will change. If you build this relationship with your collector and you will ha...

Whenever you get negative or critical about your paintings or yourself, stop yourself and change your self talk. It is hard work but you can do it. Listen to what you say about your self and stop all negative self talk, this is so important. If you defeat yourself, no one can change that, you must change if you want to change your words. Most discouragement starts in your own self talk not by others, they just confirm what you are already saying to yourself, so you have to fix it. Because lack of self belief and negative self talk are two big reasons why people fail in this Art Business, they defeat themselves. This Art practice can be hard enough without self defeat, strengthen your self belief with positive self talk. Be gentle on yourself and say positive things to yourself that you want to hear from others, encourage yourself and congratulate yourself for every victory, big or small. Praise yourself to yourself.

To sell your paintings on line you will need to build a following just like any brick and mortar business, make contacts, establish relationships and out of that will hopefully come sales. You need to get known, as well as our Art, not just in art groups but by strangers who may then buy your art. As I always say, if you are unknown, then you are unknown. Work hard at getting known, make those videos, write great stories, talk to those strangers. If you want to be a successful Artist, then you are going to have to get known.

As Artists we are responsible for our futures and all that we do with the gifts and talents that we have been given. Now you can argue with me and say that circumstances are against you, the Art Market does not recognize you and if I knew the problems that you had, I would understand why you are not doing so well. Firstly, we all face the same circumstances, it rains on the rich and the poor, its called life and we are all living it. The unforeseen can happen to us all. We all have to live with the vagaries of the Art Market, we cannot change it, so we better find a way to work with it. There must be a way because there are many successful Artists out there, how did they do it, what makes them successful? The answer will seem so simple, they promoted themselves and got face and name recognition and they went to work on themselves to be better and learned as much about the Art Market as they could, and then they put into action all that they learned. Once we take respon...

  If the thief is trying to stop you from doing something and you are making up a lot of excuses not to and procrastinating, better get in and do it because most likely it is the thing that you must do. When we know we must do something and we don’t do it, we are robbing ourselves of today, we are saying today I can waste and I will do it tomorrow. How many days have been wasted making excuses not to do something. You can’t waste any days, a day wasted is a day lost. Every day is vitally important and we must put as much effort into each day as possible and achieve all we can out of each day. Every evening we should ask ourselves, what did I accomplish today, and what did I learn today? As Artists we want to make a change in our world, we cannot do that if we are wasting our days, we all have only so many allotted days for our life every one is precious. Get the most out of each day by doing the things that scare you, and you will be amazed at what you will accomp...

Most of us have good ideas, most of us know what we want to accomplish, but so often we don’t know where to start, because the goal, dream seems so big, so grand that we wonder how can we accomplish that. We have no problem dreaming about making the big time and enjoying the day dream, but how do we turn that into reality? The truth is that it will take hard work and time, you do not want the quick and easy way because you will most likely be unprepared and squander the opportunity, because you were not prepared to handle fame and fortune. The long road of growing, learning and personal improvement is the right road to success. As I have said before success comes and resides with the prepared life, but only briefly visits the unprepared life and leaves The Artists miracle comes through daily working towards our goal s with a set daily plan , because s uccess is looking for a prepared home, not a vacation house.

When we become so determined to persist and work hard for as long as it takes, that’s preparation for success. Yes it does seem hard and unfair at the time of hardship but as you change and become the person that you are destined to be, the best Artist that you can be, you are preparing yourself for that success to reside with you and this will cause you to understand what a prize you have and be able to keep your success. Success is wasted on the unprepared, as it will not stay long. Do not disdain the hard times and difficult days because they have built a strength in you that money cannot buy and Art schools cannot teach. I am not saying rejoice because of the hard times, I am saying understand the process that you have been through and the lessons you have learned, some I know are very hard, allow these experiences to enhance your determination never to have that happen to you again. I will not go back. There is no stopping a persistent and determined Artist who has...

We all want people to love and appreciate our Art, so tell them about it, why you love the painting, what the painting is about and how you created it. Teach people about your Art in your story telling, stimulate their imagination. More novels are sold than serious writing. People pay to go to the movie, but expect to watch the news for free. People watch soap operas and talent shows, rather than educational documentaries. So many books have been written about paintings, explaining why some Artist centuries ago did what they did. People love to hear stories and have their imagination aroused. Don’t leave it to some academic to explain your Art in the years to come, you tell your story of why you painted and what you painted. Be enthusiastic about your Art, passionately tell your story and the story of your paintings and in doing so, awaken the imagination of the listeners, taking them into you magical world of creating.

They have the right to like you work or not like it. They have the right to buy your paintings or not buy them. They have the right to ignore them or love them. They do not have the right to say it is bad Art and criticise it. No one has that right. When we see an Artists work being criticised step in and ask why? Ask, who gave you the right to criticise this work, if you don’t like it then walk away, don’t destroy the Artist with your words, they will have to live with those words long after you have forgotten you even said them. Abilities and passion wither under criticism. Abilities and passion blossom under encouragement. If you criticise someone’s best effort it will not be repeated. But if you praise and reward their best effort it will be repeated and improved on. Use sincere praise and encouragement and you will inspire within the Artist, the realisation of their latent potential and their career possibilities. Praise the slightest improvement, prais...

  There are many view points out there, but this is Art and it changes, you as a person change over the years. I know there are many Artists who don’t agree with me and that’s fine, I do not believe in locking yourself as an Artist into a signature style, that would be like being in a straight jacket, y our signature style is you, you are your brand not a style that you paint in. I always put my photo on everything I do, as I am the brand not one painting, I want people to recognize me and know my name. As I have said I have walked against what others thought, when I painted I refused to paint one style of painting, I just painted how I felt led by the Muse and never considered a distinct style or what a gallery wanted, it was my career and sink or swim I was doing it my way. I might not have much control over the Art market, but I could have all the control over how and what I wanted to paint. What is amazing now is that all the work I did is now accepted as mine, ...

  We can all be influenced and inspired by great Art and admire great Artists, but that does not mean we should be their clones, our desire must be to seek out the new and challenging and create our own new original work and push the boundaries of Art. Create beautiful original paintings, that's got to better than being a copy of someone else. A copy, no matter how well it is painted and it can be painted even better than the original, but it can never be an original painting ever, it is destined to always be a factory copy and no more. Now just because these copies sell does not make them legitimate Art, no it just means that someone bought them. They can call it Art if they want but it is not Art it is a copy and fake. You can cut a cow in half and call it Art but that does not make it Art, it’s just a cow cut in half. You can spread old rags around the gallery and call it Art, but it is not Art it’s old rags spread around a room. Art is something that comes from with...

  Art is a very jealous Mistress, she wants your attention always and requires everything from you and often gives little in return, but she demands your work be done for her with the strictest obedience, this a calling not a hobby. If you are struggling with your Art, rejoice she requires that, she knows this struggle builds endurance, if you always feel you are just inches away from a breakthrough, rejoice that is how she stretches you. If you are nagged with self doubt and fear, rejoice she wants you to overcome those feelings and learn to go where there are no sign posts. She is always there but just out of reach, that is how she gets you out of your comfort zone and forces you to go into new and dangerous places with your Art, she want you to be scared, then she knows you are in an unsafe place, the place of miracles and magic, where original Art is created. Rejoice the Mistress will is calling it is time for you to paint, there is a calling to follow, a career to b...

Many Artists are hurt and bitter about the past. The things that have been done to them by others and silly mistakes that they made themselves. Unfortunately sometimes these hurts are very deep and can cause problems later in life. Now to say just get over it is really not the answer, but to look at our past regrets and deal with them so we can move on. Wishing that it never happened is not a good use of your time either, because it will not change the past. Hoping it will never happen again is not enough, we must change our life and make sure it does not happen again. The great key to dealing with the past hurts is to forgive yourself and others and move on. Forgiveness is an ongoing daily ritual until the hurt is gone. Many people say just forgive and move on, but sometimes it is just not that easy, so starting a daily forgiveness ritual, a small discipline, where you say out loud that you forgive yourself and others and you love yourself, is a wonderful way to de...

  Many Artists want to believe that there is an easy way to build a good Art practice, there is no easy way, it takes time. It is the same with weight loss and fitness, get rich quick ideas, there are no easy ways, it takes time and hard work. Many people ignore this truth because the story they are telling themselves is better. So many believe that they are different and they can easily do it. This just leads to disappointment and frustration. The key to success in the Art business is consistency. Doing it today, and then doing it again tomorrow a little better. If your desire is always to do it a little better every day, you will improve. If you only improve 1% each day every day you will change your life dramatically in one year. It is never the big gains that count it’s the small incremental gains. It’s like saving money, it grows so slow, but it grows and one day there is a lot of money there, it’s slow but the gain is great, it takes time, consistency and ...

Once the sale is over then you start the after sales service, especially in these times of covid and lock-downs.. You have the email address of your buyers and contacts, now you must email them a short friendly note thanking them for buying your work or going to your show and ask permission to send them your monthly newsletter or monthly studio video. Getting permission is important because that gives you their consent to contact them and build a relationship and this is what we want, relationships with our buyers and potential buyers. Once this is established you can now send them your monthly newsletter or video telling them of future shows, painting specials from your studio for your newsletter friends only, if you do videos of your studio and tell them all the studio gossip etc that you can think of, if you have cats and dogs in the studio include them it all builds connection. No hard sell just a chatty newsletter about you and your Art. Do this every month and occasionall...