What is your vision for your art?
This is a difficult question because art is an evolution of self. It’s living. My vision for my art today may not be the same in a year or 2 or 3 or… At this point my vision is to honor God with my art, and make others happy, inspired and have my art provide for the necessities & luxuries in life.
What do you see your work doing for those who buy it?
I would like my art to touch people, enhance their lives or a little corner of it, and make them happy when they look at it. I am blessed to have received many emails telling me that my art has done this for them and I will continue to strive for just that reaction. My most touching emails I have recieved have been someone telling me that one of my angels reminded them of someone they have lost or how it makes them smile.
How has your art evolved over time?
For many years it was all about realism. Pushing myself to paint like a photograph. I would drive myself crazy, sometimes abandoning a painting only to find it still unfinished years later because I couldn’t get something the way I wanted it. It was only when I began painting from my heart, painting what I wanted to & what I like, giving myself more freedom to not be perfect, not painting to please others or painting something to match the furniture, that I began to really truly enjoy it.
What are the most important lessons you have learned about being an artist and selling your work?
The most important lessons I have learned are that marketing & being true to yourself is essential. It takes an enormous amount of time and work but staying devoted will reap rewards.
What advice would you give to other artists?
Be true to yourself. Do what you love most. Don’t create art solely to make a dollar, there’s no heart in that or satisfaction. Create art from your own experiences and life, not others. Put yourself out there even though it’s not comfortable. Not everyone is going to like what you do, don’t be discouraged and lose your confidence from the few that don’t. Know your market place, market yourself, believe in yourself then others will & provide great customer service. You are your business.
Our best art that we create is when we are true to ourselves. Absolutely, artists need to paint for themselves not the money. There can always be some small changes to make it more marketable, but an artist should be able to work within those parameters and still be authentic.
The key is knowing who you are and what your voice is then finding the best way to get your vision out to the world so we can all benefit. Compromising your voice and authenticity is not the goal of selling art, instead the goal needs to be sustainably supporting the further creation of art so the artist can actually live by making art. Without that link we are all denied the benefits of art.
The choice of selling or not selling is entirely up to each artist based on everything from their own inner satisfaction to economic needs. Regardless, the act of selling art does not automatically equate to “selling out” instead it is about sharing our gifts of vision with others so they can benefit from our interpretations of life.
Our best art that we create is when we are true to ourselves. Absolutely, artists need to paint for themselves not the money. There can always be some small changes to make it more marketable, but an artist should be able to work within those parameters and still be authentic.
The key is knowing who you are and what your voice is then finding the best way to get your vision out to the world so we can all benefit. Compromising your voice and authenticity is not the goal of selling art, instead the goal needs to be sustainably supporting the further creation of art so the artist can actually live by making art. Without that link we are all denied the benefits of art.
The choice of selling or not selling is entirely up to each artist based on everything from their own inner satisfaction to economic needs. Regardless, the act of selling art does not automatically equate to “selling out” instead it is about sharing our gifts of vision with others so they can benefit from our interpretations of life.