Mark E Shellshear.

As Artists the thing that is hard to do, is getting people to understand that you have something worth buying. We need others to want to talk about our Art. We need others to want to buy our Art. By using social media, Facebook we can build relationships with our potential customers and through that conversation we can connect and build trust and eventually permission to sell to them. Everything you paint is for someone, not everyone, so everyone will not like your Art. Don’t be offended by that, it’s just life. When you find that person who loves your Art, you can say, “ I made this, it’s for you.”

Today as never before Artists are faced with so many wonderful opportunities that did not exist years ago. Artists today can do what ever they want, but you have to do it. No one will invite you to take the initiative, you just need to take it. No one will invite you to lead, you just need to do it. As I have said in the past, you can now promote your art like never before and you can do it for free. Let’s just talk about using Facebook to your advantage. Approach Facebook like it is the front window of your gallery, so think about what you want people to see in your Gallery. Facebook is a connection machine which allows us to reach out and touch others for free, so we need to use as such to our advantage. Your Gallery can show videos of you working and creating Art, today so many are doing the time lapse videos and they look great, my only caution is they need sound, because people want to know what you are doing and why, this builds relationships. You can sh...

Galleries will not just disappear or totally disappear, what I am saying is those that do not change, will disappear and those that embrace the new technology will go on and prosper, but it will be a different Art business. For those who run Gallery it would not be wise to consider what has been a perfect industry for so long cannot just disappear quickly, look at the music industry, we can easily go the same way. The biggest problem with any industry and especially the Art industry is the collective thinking that this is how it has always been done, so it will go on forever, it will not. Galleries will change. Art schools will change. Artists will change. The Art business will change. We must change and embrace the new technology and go forward. This change will continue to come as the 20 to 30 year olds enter into the art market and use technology to do their buying and recording of their Art collections, we must all employ as much social media as we can as ou...

Be open to change, because everything is changing. In this new internet world we must always be looking for new ways to market and sell our paintings. We cannot rely solely on the old Gallery way because that cannot last, as I keep saying the Gallery system is broken and the online Galleries all have infinite hanging space and infinite number of paintings, Galleries need to change or they will find that they just cannot in the long term compete. Those Artists who rely solely on the Gallery system to sell their paintings will need to consider other options or be left behind, we are in the middle of a revolution. Online selling is growing and many Artists who could never get Gallery exposure are now selling online, it is a new day. Social media allows the Artist to tell their customers where they will be showing their paintings, which Gallery, which weekend market they will be at, which Art Fair they are showing at, which street market they are showing at, where they are ...

Recognise that only very few Artists get paid the big dollars for their Art and for the majority of Artists it is often a constant battle for attention. I have talked often about getting attention on social media and working on different social platforms. I was asked the question about getting the attention of people by doing stuff for free and getting great exposure. Now I need say very clearly first of all, that if a company wants you to paint a painting or paintings for them to hang in their office for free, because it will give you great exposure, say no. I do not believe that you should have to give away work to get exposure and dress up some office building. Business is business, if they want them, they should pay because you cannot pay your rent with great exposure. In saying that, I do believe it is good to donate a painting to charity auctions as long as your name is clearly shown, as many collectors support these auctions and it may open some doors for you. I ...

I talk to many Artists who 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 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 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...

Learn the lessons of endurance in the storms of life. When storms are hitting just endure them, do not try to change anything, the storms will pass, endure them and see them off. The great lesson of hard times is survival, being there after the storm has passed. Yes there will be difficult times in your Art practice and during that time you will learn so much about yourself. Will you endure and survive, or will you give up and walk away? I often asked myself that question when times were very difficult, but I hated the idea of being a failure and being a survivor of difficult times appealed more, so I just selfishly determined to just hang in there and not give up. Now I believe this is a learned skill because in hard and difficult times the “thief ” is screaming at us to run away, get to a safe comfortable place, give up, it is the easiest thing to do and if the “thief ” wants that, then it is the wrong thing to do. Endure the hard times, survive, because I hone...