Mark E Shellshear.

Selling Art is more than just persuading someone to buy your painting. People buy by emotions more than reasoning. Facts appeal to the brain, emotions appeal to the heart. Learn the skill of painting word pictures, be descriptive with your words so you help people visualise your painting already hanging in their house. Let them imagine seeing the painting hanging in their lounge room and people admiring it and saying how beautiful it is and enjoying what it brings into the room and how special they are owning one of your original works. Be creative, paint word pictures for others to see your Art benefiting their lives. .

I do not believe in locking myself 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. Do as you feel led by your muse and always put your photo on everything you do, so you are the brand not one painting. As I have said I walked against what others thought, when I painted I refused to paint one style of painting, I just painted how I felt led by my 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 had much control of 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, as eclectic as it is. You are the Artist, it is all about you Artist, seeing you and your gift in every painting you do, no matter how different they are.

  It’s not great talent that will get you to the top, there are a lot of talented failures in the Art world. It is not luck that will get you to the mountain top, luck can come and give you a big push but if you are not prepared for the success you will soon go back to where you were. You see adversity and setbacks as much as they can hurt and discourage us they are what prepare us for success, building within us such determination that we refuse to give in. Where we become so determined to persist and work hard for as long as it takes, that’s preparation for success.

You have no idea of what you can accomplish and what you could become. You just need to imagine it and change your inner self talk to line up with your dreams. Ignore the fear, it is there to stop you so use it as a signal, when it says stop that’s your signal to go. Become stronger, become smarter and become wiser. Be the best Artist that you can possibly be for you, that will change your world.

I am always amazed how we don’t dwell on all wonderful positive things that happen in our lives, unfortunately it’s always the negative stuff that goes round and around in our minds and keeps changing us in a negative way. We have to stop that negative story and train our minds to think positively in the now and the future. Don’t keep the story going, replace it with a positive future story in your now, a story of happiness and success. .

You cannot change the government, you can be angry and criticise it but it will make no difference. You cannot change the economy, it is the way it is. You cannot change your buyers attitudes, they are the way they are. You cannot change your family, they will still do what they want to do. The only things you can change is your Art practice and you. If you work on fixing all your own faults, you will change your world. Change starts with me changing. .

No matter what you think of your own painting, show your work, it is your original work, don't let that self defeating inner voice of the “thief” rob you of your own original creativity, the work that you produce defines you as an Artist. Your own original work is always your best work because it is you, it talks of you and who you are. If you do not think your work is good enough, ignore this self defeating inner talk, be courageous and show your work, you may be pleasantly surprised at how well it is received. Your own original work is always your best work.