Mark E Shellshear.

Digging ditches is hard work. Tiling roves in the middle of summer is hard work. Labouring is hard work and backbreaking. Painting paintings is not hard work. Making Art videos and writing blogs about Art is not hard work. They are emotional work and can be draining. Making Art can be scary work because you are open to be criticised and you have to deal with the fear. Physically hard work is backbreaking and it time life ending. Emotional work making Art and having to sell it can be heart breaking but it also can change your life dramatically in a positive life changing way. Make your wonderful Art and embrace your emotional work as a marvellous opportunity to change your life and be the success who dream of being. .

As I have said on many occasions the two most important things Artists must do is create great Art and then sell it. The first for most is the easy part as selling for most people is a big hurdle because that means you will have to talk to strangers and it is scary. It is not scary to talk to nice people and most people are nice and friendly, the problem is in our minds before we ever get in front of people we have created this monster in our minds and it stops us from talking to people. Don’t settle for being controlled by fear. Tell yourself a new story, that you can overcome fear, talk to strangers and enjoying talking to strangers and making new friends. It may feel uncomfortable at first but imagine what you will accomplish.

People who are obsessed with what they are doing, that’s what makes the difference and most are not obsessed with their business, therefore they makes excuses for why they are not very successful. You must be obsessed with what you are doing and love doing it, it’s what you think about all the time. Some very wealthy men I know are obsessed with making money, it’s all they think about, read about, all they plan about and they act on those plans and we wondered how they got so successful? Yes it’s consistency, it’s perseverance, it’s determination and it’s when you close your eyes it’s what you see in your minds eye, in your imagination, it’s what you think about and dream about all the time, you live your obsession. Most peoples heads are not in their business and they wonder why good things are not happening. Be obsessed with what you do and you will be amazed at what you can achieve in your Art business and everyone will say you are lucky and in the right place. .

You may want to be the most famous Artist in the world and then what? Someone is coming who will be more famous. These are not a good game to play because they are finite games, a beginning and an end and a winner. Football and golf are finite games, a beginning and an end and also there is a winner. These games are not good games, if you want to keep playing. We need to concentrate on the infinite game where we are always playing. So we would be best to focus on the pursuit of excellence in our Art business because that is life long continual improvement, a game you can play forever.

  To often Artists quit when times get hard. It can all go wrong, we have all been there, sales can be slow or non-existent, rejection and criticism can be harsh and hurting and for some it just all gets to hard. The problem isn’t just that it gets very hard but that they mistakenly tell themselves a story that this will last for ever. That’s why people quit they can’t see that this for a season and that it will pass and that it’s not forever. The storms of life move on, night becomes day and winter is followed by spring and summer. It is much better to understand that it will change and consolidate in hard times and tell yourself a new story, this too shall pass, it won’t last forever. .

In the beginning of our Art careers it is our paintings that are valued at so much, but as your fame and reputation grows, that same painting now gets more valuable because you did it and who you are becoming as an Artist. The key to seeing your prices rise is for you the Artist to become more valuable to the market place and you will do that by getting the attention of strangers, as you get name and face recognition, because it will be strangers who will make you famous. Value for the Artist is created through them being friendly and an approachable person, marketing their paintings through videos, blogs, storytelling their paintings and building a very strong after sales service in their Art business. That is what will make you valuable to the market place. As you become more valuable to the Art market so your paintings rise in price and become more valuable. Work on your Art business, work on your Art, work hard on being the best version of you that you can be and bring...

Dreams are your promised land, your goals before the miracle of work turns them into reality and you live them. If hard work alone was the key to great success and wealth then labourers who dig holes would be the richest people in the world but they are not. It is not just hard work, it is having a vision, a big idea and the self belief to go for it when it seems crazy to others. The miracle happens not in the idea of creating wonderful Art but through self belief and determination to consistently work hard creating wonderful Art to make it come to pass. The miracle of work turns great Art ideas into reality.