Mark E Shellshear.

Yes of course nobody gets successful alone. We need others to help us. Need people to buy our work. We need people to introduce us to others. We need people to open doors for us. We need people to talk about us and our Art. So for that to happen, people must like us and so we must be likeable. We must be friendly. We must be open. We must develop a friendly personality. We must become like your collectors, because people like us like people like us. Nobody can achieve success alone.

I have listed out eight reasons to work. I am sure you can come up with more reasons to do your Art. 1. For the money. 2. To be challenged. 3. For the pleasure or the calling of doing your Art. 4. For the impact it makes on the world. 5. For the reputation we build in our community. 6. To solve interesting problems. 7. To be part of a collective, Artists and to experience our mission. 8. To be appreciated. Why do most people focus on number 1? Don’t make what do a job, a place to earn a salary. Make it a platform to bring change and make difference in this world. Points 2 to 8 are far more important than number 1. Fulfil numbers 2 to 8 and number 1 is assured.

  Dear Artists and friends. I just wanted to take a few moments to thank you all for the great support that you have given me this past year, allowing me into your lives and studios, hopefully some have been helped and encouraged as you navigate this Art Business we are in. 2021 is upon us and it is time for us all to write out our goals for next and begin to plan the life we want. Over early breakfast this morning with a dear friend he asked me to say one word for next year and what I wanted to bring to that year, to my own life and to those Artists and friends who read what I write and hear what I say. My word for next year is " value". I want to add value to my own life and to all those who read my posts and to all those I come into contact with in the Gallery and my talks. Value, because when we bring value to the market place the market place responds to that, that is what you get paid for, the value you bring into play. We can bring value into the life ...

Pessimism, the deadly disease of always seeing what's wrong and finding faults. This disease causes people not to look for virtue and good, but to find faults. Our lives are mostly affected by the way we think things are, not the way they really are. Poor thinking habits, keeps most people poor. As you think, so you become. Beware of pessimism in 2016 [ and 2021], the way to defeat this disease is to look for the good in others, give praise where it is deserved and don't find fault, but train, educate and build lasting value into the people around you and you will become valuable to them. Finding fault is easy to do, no value in that. Building lives is harder to do but it produces great value. Lets make 2016 [and 2021] a year of value. [  Blog from 30 th  December 2015. ]

If you are trying to build an Art career, then sales to strangers are as important as it gets, no sales no Art career. You cannot build an Art career without sales because collectors want to know you sell. I have seen Artists try to build an Art career by doing as many solo shows as possible. I had one Artist do a show and no sales and he came back to me a year later and asked for another solo show and I asked why, he had no sales and he said it looked good on his resume and I said no, because you had no sales. Sales get collectors talking, so we need sales. The more sales you generate the more attention you will get. I have always said price is not so important at the beginning of your career or when restarting a career, the most important thing is getting your paintings on the walls of strangers. Strangers are the bridge to your success.

What must I do to be deserving? If you need to grow food to live and you have seeds, but you never plant them, then you have a need for food, but you do not deserve a crop. To deserve a crop you must plant the seeds. The planters deserve s the crop. Don’t say I need. Say, how can I learn and earn? What new skills do I need to learn so I can earn? We must take our seed to our soil, the Art business. Our seed is our willingness to create original Art work. Our willingness to work hard at our craft. Our willingness to be friendly to strangers. Our seed is our self discipline and our positive attitude. These make us deserving of a harvest.

Success is not an accident it is small daily habits that bring lasting change, progress. To be a very successful Artist you will need to take on more and more responsibility, put pressure on yourself to grow and beware of excuses. Average Artists make excuses, successful Artists take responsibility. Success really is a mind game, you prepare for it in your mind and then you see the reality of it. Some mind musts. You must visualize your success. You must verbalize your success to yourself. You must love what you do and you must tell yourself that you love it even if it’s hard to do. Make your brain work for you not against you. Your brain wants to give you what you want, not whats best for you. If you say to yourself I would love to have a rest, then your brain will give you enough reasons why it would be good for you to do it. Don’t ever take a rest, earn it by completing all your must do’s each day. Repetition will bring change because your brain wants to gi...