Question 12: "What do you do when you have a mental block?"

“In the Heart of the Woods”

This question definitely falls into the category of “Last but not Least”: “What do you do when you have a mental block?”. This is such a difficult question to answer, and THAT may baffle non artists. I’ve never heard of a doctor or a car mechanic or an attorney or an insurance salesperson say “I just have no idea where to start. My head isn’t in this at all.” Maybe they say that. Maybe I’m making a huge assumption based on ignorance. I just know that when it comes to creating…creating something out of nothing, it requires inspiration. It really does. Whether that’s writing a song that has never been sung, or writing a poem that’s never been spoken or painting a painting that’s never been seen…creating from nothing requires an almost “spiritual” energy.

If that is an accurate way of looking at it, then because I am not God (the source of unlimited spiritual energy), I have only a bit here and there. I am a rechargeable “AA” battery, and not a cold fusion reactor. And so, a creative person absolutely needs to recharge their AA battery or nothing will happen creatively at all.

So my answer to the question of what to do when I have a “mental block” is a very person answer. I have my own answer, but if YOU were asking me this question, rather than telling you my own answer, I would first have to ask you a question. My question would be “What is ‘life-giving’ to you? What recharges you?” Maybe it’s cooking. Maybe it’s hanging out with friends, or hiking, or traveling, or reading, or singing in the shower, or finger-painting or taking a long drive. Do that. Do whatever recharges your own AA battery. My answer is MY answer and I'm fine sharing MY answer when specifically asked, but I don’t think this is the place to do that. See, your answer to a truly “spiritual question” is also a very deeply “personal answer”. Your answer is as custom fit to you as mine is to me. So I make it a rule of thumb not to give my own answer unless I’m actually asked for it.

The point though is, if you are creative and you have a mental block, you need to figure out how you’re put together so to speak. What is akin to “inhaling”? If you exhale (create), you HAVE to inhale to keep the whole process going. This is very, very difficult in our modern western society, because time does not allow for “luxuries” like taking a walk or savoring a slow, quiet afternoon, or turning the lights out and listening to a Brahms Symphony. The way we look at these “luxuries” is all wrong though. We are humans, not robots. We require real, spiritual input to create beauty. That input is not a luxury. That is real. That is life. And that is deeply, deeply human.

New Goals + Winter Months = "Outside the Box" Creativity

During the winter months, Asheville's River Arts District turns into a ghost town, but I've found the winter months to be an awesome time to think, dream, imagine and plan new work. When it's slow and I have time to catch my breath a bit, that's when I start thinking outside the box. Boredom is something I dreaded as a kid, but now as a full time artist, I’ve recognized boredom is kind of a gift to creativity. Down time is when my creative brain really starts firing and I begin thinking things like “I wonder how I can do THAT” or “What would happen if I tried THIS?” There’s only one way to find out (and then boredom ends, having done it’s job).

Over the years, I've primarily focused on landscapes, but I've had time to develop some really interesting directions as far as abstract pieces go. Ideally, I would like to have a better balance between the two styles (landscapes / abstracts) because they require such a different creative approach, and that keeps life interesting!

And, in addition to working on paintings for my studio in Asheville, I'm also creating several new landscape pieces for Mountain Nest Gallery in Black Mountain, NC and several new abstracts for Revealed Gallery in Charleston, SC. I’m so grateful for how these galleries have exposed more people to my work than otherwise possible with my studio in Asheville.

Oh, also (on a more business note)…I’ve begun to offer payment plans for people who want to purchase my work. Here’s how it works…If you purchase a completed piece or commission a custom piece from me, you can take up to nine months to pay for it at no interest. When the last payment is made, I ship the painting to you (and...shipping costs are on me).  

So, 2024 is shaping out to be a really fun (and hopefully) challenging year, as I continue to develop this technique of mine and see where it goes and what it becomes, and that is incredibly exciting for me. 

Question 11: Where do you get inspiration for your work?

This question, “Where do you get your inspiration?” is one of the most asked questions I get. And it’s funny. It’s actually one of the most difficult questions to answer. It’s like someone asking you, “how do you breath?” Simple question, but how do you answer it? “I…uh…just do?” I don’t know how other artists might answer this question, but since this is my blog, I’ll answer it for myself.

For me personally, I need peace inside my head to create. I need quiet. This may just be because I’m an introvert rather than because peace is intricately connected to creativity. I don’t know. Maybe an extroverted artist would feel different, but that’s not me. And for me, quiet and peace happen best when I’m walking or (preferably) hiking in nature. It can take me a while to walk a few miles because I like to stop and just breathe, listen, take in the essence of the place. Hah! That sounds so “spiritual” but honestly, for me, I guess it really is. I can’t think outside the box and create when life is rushed, loud and crazy. I love rushed, loud and crazy (in bite sized pieces), don’t get me wrong. I just can’t create in that environment.

“…I feel the intense desire to communicate to someone else what I’m feeling at that moment in such a way that they feel it too.”

And usually, walking in that quiet place, taking it all in, I’m with my wife Joy. So it may be quiet around me, but I sometimes talk a lot in that context, expressing myself and processing the emotions the place excites inside my head. Does anyone else do this??? I’m probably really annoying to hike with.

Joy: “Why are we stopping?”

Me: “Listen to that!”

Joy: “What? I don’t hear anything”

Me: “I know. Isn’t it beautiful? Just the wind…that’s all I hear. That’s so beautiful!”

Joy is very patient and is really great at entering with me into that “sacred space”. It’s there I get ideas, and at that point, it’s not just “Oh, I can paint that mountain over there!” It’s more like I feel the intense desire to communicate to someone else what I’m feeling at that moment in such a way that they feel it too. When you look at it that way, it’s actually a very intimate thing — creating a piece of art.

So in a nutshell, I get my inspiration from walking, prayer, breathing and listening in the context of nature. It can take hours, so I can’t rush it at all. But given the time (and the quiet), inspiration comes and at that point, in that quiet moment, it can ironically break in like a hurricane. I love that.

Question 8: "Do you advertise?"

In my blog list of twelve questions I would suggest an aspiring full time artist ask an already full time artist, we have come to the question of advertising…”Do you advertise? If so, what seems to have worked well for you and what hasn't? What percent of your budget goes to advertising?”

The issue of an artist advertising is so tricky. Here is why…The only way you’ll sell your work is for people to see it, right? How will “Joe Public” see your work and then (maybe) buy your painting? Maybe he’ll scroll through Popular Mechanics magazine and see your ad, and voila! A big sale. Well that was easy.

Except it doesn’t work that way. How many people looking through Popular Mechanics are interested in the latest mechanical gizmos AND maybe fine art. I’m not saying those people aren’t out there, I’m just suggesting that you have to determine who your clients are out there (your demographic) and figure out how to reach them.

“Who is your demographic?”

When I was brand new to the professional artist career, I advertised in local art magazines. It cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars and here’s the thing…No one EVER came into my studio and said, “Oh, I saw your ad in ______ magazine and I just HAD to come and see your artwork for myself.” That literally never happened and SO, I never ever had any clue at all whether or not my career was positively affected by advertising. All I can say is that I’m selling more artwork now (I basically don’t advertise now) than I was back in the day when I felt like my career might crumble if I didn’t advertise.

Ahhhh, so the sage advice is this: DON’T ADVERTISE, right? Wrong. See, because I am part of a collective of hundreds of artists in Asheville, we (as a group) advertise in local magazines around the country in locations where a lot of Asheville tourists are coming from. My dues to the River Arts District Artists goes to help fund that advertising. So the advertising I’m doing doesn’t just affect me, it affects the district. But if people who visit Asheville want to make sure they check out the River Arts District, then I stand to benefit. I do have a listing on an Asheville tourism website (RomanticAsheville.com) but that’s it.

So it’s not that I’m such an awesome artist that I don’t have to advertise. I happen to be a part of an awesome group of artists in an awesome tourist oriented town and WE do the advertising together. That’s one of the very biggest perks of being an artist here, but I would think that same model could be adopted anywhere artists are. If you live in Cincinnati, find the other artists around you and advertise together. It works for us here in Asheville, and although we like to think we are so unique, I doubt that’s the case. We’re just running with a good idea and that same idea could work anywhere I’d think.

The other thing I would totally stay away from is the seemingly kind offers you get from people to display your work in their office space or restaurant. Here’s how that usually goes: “Hey, I have a great opportunity for you Steve! I’m opening a brand new upscale Italian restaurant in town and we would LOVE to display your work there on our walls, free of cost to you, and you can put price tags on all your work so you can sell your work from the restaurant. Think of the exposure!”

Don’t do it.

My experience with this is that if your artwork is simply decor on the wall of a restaurant, coffee shop, dentists office or office space, people don’t notice it at all. Look, when you go out to eat, have you ever asked the waiter, “Hey, I really love this potted ficus you have over here. How much is it??” You have never asked that question, have you? Be honest. No, of course not. You probably didn’t even notice the ficus in the corner because…you were there to eat food. Plain and simple. This way to “get your work out there” is a really nice way to give the restaurant owner free decor for their walls. Suggest he BUY the artwork from you and see what he says. Or tell the owner that you have a cousin who is getting married next month and you would like to suggest that he (the restaurant owner) cater it for free. “I mean, we can put your cards around on all the tables so everyone will know where that amazing food came from! Think of the exposure you’d get!”

That doesn’t work for any other profession, don’t let it happen to you.

Concluding this post, it might be good to remind you that I’d encourage any questions relating to whether to advertise and how/where to do it. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll help you find someone who does.

Question 7: "How do you price your work?"

I am currently in a blog series proposing questions an aspiring full time professional artist ask a current full time professional artist so that they have a better idea of getting from where they are to where they want to be professionally. It’s a really tricky and sometimes difficult thing to make it as an artist. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there are people out there somehow actually doing it, so…don’t reinvent the wheel — TALK to them. Every artist I know personally would be very happy answering questions. So find the artist you’d like to grill, make and appointment and get some advice.

Among the questions I’m proposing is this one I’ve been asked a lot: “How do you price your work?” If you’ve read my blog here, you know I’ve talked about this a lot, so I won’t wax on too long here but some points need to be repeated.

Just last week, I was approached by a gentleman that offered me just over 20% less than my posted price on one of my paintings. This doesn’t bother me at all when people do that. I know a lot of artists set a price for a piece of their work and hope they can get as close to that price as possible. This has trained people to view an art purchase the same way they’d buy a car or a house (i.e. you make a low ball offer, then negotiate). But that means the posted price means nothing and is just there to start the conversation. That is not the way I price my artwork because it feels really arbitrary.

The way I was taught to price my work way back in the day is to let sales themselves dictate the pricing. I price according to the size. So I take the square inches of the work, multiply it by my going rate (and that rate is solely dictated by my sales).

My goal is to sell my work as quickly as I paint it. If I get a big backlog, I know my prices are too high. If my work sells too quickly (I can't have empty studio walls), then my prices are too low. This year, I needed to slow down sales (just slightly) in early spring so I bumped up the price per square inch just slightly. That slowed sales down a bit, but I've actually had to raise prices again in June because they were still selling too quickly.

So that's how I price my work. I don't really take offers because I have a very good idea of what the paintings will sell for. Again, different artists handle pricing different ways, so it’s definitely worth asking around and seeing what works best for you. This works best for me because it’s really easy to defend the prices I have posted when that price is actually based on something concrete like sales rather than something arbitrary like “this is what I’d like to get for this piece”. As a client, I can disagree with what you’d like to get for that piece, but…I can’t disagree with sales.

Question 6: "What are the positive points and negative points about having an 'open studio'?"

For someone looking make a living by selling the artwork they create, this is really a very important question to explore. It’s important to note that not all artists are cool with the idea of an “open studio”. I happen to absolutely love the idea because I absolutely love selling my paintings and if I my studio door isn’t open, no one will see them and if no one sees them, no one will buy them. Let me give some background information that might be helpful to anyone considering having art sales as their full time career.

For years, I created paintings. I couldn’t help myself. I have been an artist since I was a kid and I love painting. The thing is, you can’t just graduate art school and then send out your resume to someone that’s posted an ad on craigslist: “Wanted: Artist to create paintings. Salary commensurate to their experience. Benefits included.” That is uh…NOT how it’s done. The question of HOW to get your paintings in front of potential buyers is the question every artist out there is asking. I have found that the best answer to that question is to adopt an “open studio” model and to definitely find other artists willing to do the same thing in the same part of town you’re in.

Years ago, a metal sculptor opened a studio in a run down part of Asheville (i.e. the low rent district). Over time, more artists opened studios nearby. Once a year, they’d all open their studios to the public and they soon discovered that there was a huge public interest in not only seeing the artwork, but in meeting the artist and watching them work. Somewhere along the line, as more and more artists also opened studios nearby, they began to adopt a full-time “open studio” model. In other words, if you were visiting Asheville, you could run down to the low rent district practically any day of the year and wander into a studio, watch the artist weld, blow glass, paint, etc. and buy direct from the creator. Then they renamed the area of town “River Arts District” (because it sounded so much better than “low rent district”). Eventually, over 220 artists created studios in the district and they’ve pooled their funds for national advertising to promote the district as a tourist destination.

It worked.

Because I have a studio in Asheville, I don’t have to do the art show circuit. I don’t have time to. People from literally all over the country (and the world) explore the River Arts District in Asheville. Because of that, I have paintings hanging in homes and businesses in most of the states of the US and in England, Ireland, China and India. It’s kind of crazy.

“Because I have a studio in Asheville, I don’t have to do the art show circuit.”

So that’s the upside. The downside is that you have to be there with your door open. But to me, that’s a small price to pay for being able so easily to actually make a living doing what I’d do for free anyway! I mean, nearly everyone else I know has a job that requires them to be in an office or store or factory or whatever. Even if you telecommute and work from home, you have to actually be committed to the task your profession requires of you, so it’s really no big deal to adopt an “open studio” model and commit to being there. And especially now, I have three other artists in my studio space and they cover days I’m not in. That makes it a whole lot easier when it comes to days off or time to travel.

But the other downside (not for me, but for some) might be that if an artist has an open studio, people will watch you create what you’re doing and will be asking you questions through the whole process. If that sounds like hell to you as an artist, this is NOT the business model you should adopt. I happen to love it because I actually get to know the people who purchase my work.

So bottom line is, it depends on your personality — whether you’re okay being around people or whether you need solitude. Personally, I’ve found it’s much more “balancing” to be around people (and this is coming from an introvert), but…that’s just me. Everyone is different. But if you’re okay with people, and you can find other artists who would consider opening studios with or very nearby you…I think an open studio is absolutely the best way to actually sell your work.

I have so much more to say on this but this posting is probably long enough. If you’re interested in more information though, just post it below, and/or email me at stclaireart@gmail.com. If you’re an artist trying to make a living selling your art, I am happy to help any way I can.

Question 5: "Would you mind critiquing my work at some point?"

Of all the questions I would suggest an aspiring artist ask a professional artist, this is probably the most important and the most risky. Don’t get me wrong, a professional artist probably wouldn’t mind at all offering advice, but unless you are really humbly asking for honest advice, all you’ll most likely get is “Oh, now that’s really nice. Very nice”.

Nice.

“Nice” does not help. You need someone to really critique it. Okay, it’s nice but…how can it be improved? This kind of advice is difficult to give someone if they don’t really seem like they’re open to suggestions and when that’s the case, it makes me really sad. I’m sad, not because my opinion isn’t valued but because they are not going to improve as an artist unless they listen to critique. I’ve been doing art all my life but still, nearly every painting goes through the gauntlet of my wife Joys’ critique. Often, I’ll really like something I’m working on and when I ask her what she thinks, (what I’m really asking is “how much do you absolutely love this?”) and she looks at it and says, “it doesn’t grab me”.

Instant deflation. And that’s a very good thing.

Then, as she tells me what she sees, and IF I’m listening, I begin to comprehend how what I perceive as perfection can even be made better, and THAT is a very good thing. When I listen to criticism, my work is much more likely to sell faster, and since this is my job, I want to sell me artwork as quickly as possible.

“how much do you absolutely love this?”

The unfortunate thing I’ve found is that many artists never think of asking for critique. I always interpret that not as “they’re too good for critique” or “they don’t care what people think of their work”, but clearly as “I’m too fragile to be criticized”, and this means that they care way TOO much about what other people think of their work. So my advice is to ask for criticism and to listen humbly. Your personhood, your right to breath this air is not what is in question. Nothing is at stake except this painting, and you want to make is as close to perfection as possible, right? So get help. Because no one individual has the corner on perfection, it can already be assumed an artist will make mistakes and will need advice. We’re just like everyone else. I hope I’m making this clear. If we use our talents and abilities to prop up our self image, then we’re USING those abilities as a means to an end, rather than simply enjoying those abilities as an end in and of themselves.

So risk it all. Take a deep breath and just ask. “What do you honestly think of this?”

Question 4: "Would you recommend art school, and if so, how would you find the right one?"

Question 4 is obviously connected to question 3. I would suggest following up on question three (“Did you go to art school?”) with this one because it may well be an artist would or would not recommend art school. That statement may sound bizarre to some people. I mean, if you want to become a lawyer, you go to law school; if you want to become a doctor, you go to medical school. So…if you want to become an artist, you go to art school. Yes?

Maybe.

The creation of artwork is a craft. A good art school can be really helpful. I went to art school and had a blast. But upon graduation, while I could paint, I had absolutely no idea how to get a job as an artist. Art school, as I explained in my answer to Question 3, taught me the rules of art, however, I had already learned many of those rules in the private art classes I took. Look, back in the day, if you wanted to be an artist, you found an artist and asked to be apprenticed by him (or her). That’s how it worked. That would probably still be the very best way of learning the craft, but at least here in America in the 21st century, we value our own individuality and privacy too much for this to work I think. But however impractical and improbable to find, this (asking to be apprenticed by an artist) would be exactly what I would recommend as the very best way to learn to paint (or sculpt, or whatever).

Short of apprenticing, a good art school is a great option. But if I were looking for the right art school, I would get a really good portfolio of work together and apply for as many scholarships as possible. Honestly, I want to spit expletives and pull every last hair out of my head when I hear some art student graduated with a painting major and is now 100K in debt and six months later is waiting tables at TGI Fridays. That…happens…often. I also know people that got full scholarships. Yes, that also happens. Go that route.

The other option though would be to get another degree that might be helpful propelling you as an artist (like a degree in marketing, business, computer illustration, etc.) that would give you skills for an actual job upon graduation. At the same time, either minor in art, or enroll in private art classes. This route gives you two things: 1) a marketable career that can support you while you inch your way into the art career you actually want (being a professional artist) and 2) continued art training. Do NOT just relegate art to a hobby. Keep it always as the goal. It took me decades to be able to reach the goal of being a full time artist, and I WENT to an art school and graduated with honors. But like I said, what I was NOT taught was HOW TO START an art career.

So learning new techniques, getting used to having your work critiqued (very important), being challenged and stretched as an artist…a good art school can do that. But there are a few other options that can do exactly the same thing. Be open to options.

Question 3: "Did you go to art school? If so, where?"

“La Mer”

It has honestly surprised me how many people have asked me over the years if I’ve gone to art school or if I’m self taught. That question kind of makes me laugh because even artists that go to art school are self taught. If they’re any artist at all, they will spend the rest of their lives teaching themselves as they try new techniques and tackle new challenges. Just this last week, I ripped the canvases off of two good size pieces of mine and started all over. I know some folks will think that’s sad but it’s not at all sad: it’s growth. It may have been an experiment gone wrong, nevertheless you can’t help but learn from any experiment you work on, so although it was a frustrating thing to have to do (and humbling!), it was nevertheless successful. The pieces I’m working on as “round 2” are turning out SO much better than the previous “round 1”. That is a good thing.

But I digress. I would suggest that if someone were considering art as a career, I would absolutely suggest they ask an established artist whether or not they went to art school, and if so, which one and did they feel the experience prepared them for their future career as an artist.

I have strong feelings about art schools, because they can be really great or really a complete waste of money and time. A visit to the school and their student gallery will usually tell you all you need to know. If all the artwork is off the scale bizarre that will tell you something. If an artist wants to sell their work to the general public, then they need to consider what the general public would purchase. For instance, I once saw an “art piece” in a museum that was a clothes drier with lint balls coming out of it. That was it. I heard a guy behind me whisper to his wife, “that’s art??”. Really good question. I think sometimes that if art can sell, it ends up in a gallery. If it can’t sell, it ends up in a museum. I know that’s a horrible exaggeration but that’s how it feels sometimes.

My point in bringing that up is that if an art school doesn’t train the students in the “rules of art” (yes, there are rules), and if they’re just encouraged to express themselves with no guidance, the students will not be equipped to actually produce sellable art. They basically enrolled in an art therapy program, but I would recommend a would be professional artist hunts out a good school that will teach them technique and hammer the rules into them. Rules can be broken, but you have to be really skilled at how and when to break them. That requires learning.

Question 2: "How long have you been selling your work professionally?"

When you're training to be an artist, whether that's informal training (on your own or as part of a group) or more formal training (i.e. art school), there are things you need to find out in order to best plan your route from Point A (art as a hobby) to Point B (art as a career). I've come up with twelve questions to start with. There are probably many more questions but these are a few I thought of that are meant to at least get you going in the right direction. 

If you've been reading these posts, you know I've answered the first of twelve questions in my last post. Here, we tackle question 2: "How long have you been selling your work professionally?"

The answer to this question can be stuck in the same mental box as the answer to the first question. The answer to the first question I proposed will give you an idea of how long this person has been doing art. The answer to this second question will tell you how long they've been SELLING art. Both questions are background questions. They are meant to orient you as the interviewer to the artist you're speaking to so you know how to weigh what they will share as they answer the rest of the questions. I don't mean this as a rude or "judgemental" exercise. I just mean that if someone has been marketing and selling their work for years, they will probably know more about how to market and sell artwork than someone doing it for eight months. Again, this is just to give you a way to know which answers (when you get conflicting answers from different artists) should be given more weight. That's all. 

“…if I was depending entirely on the income from selling my paintings in galleries, I’d be a starving artist”

Personally, I've been selling my artwork for about 25 years now. I started selling in a gallery in Orlando, Florida (where I was living at the time) and it was a heady thing realizing people would actually part with their money in order to purchase one of my paintings. It was awesome. In the beginning, my questions were all about how to get into another gallery. I'll talk more about that later, but I've learned that if I was depending entirely on the income I get from selling my paintings in galleries, I'd be a starving artist. Galleries are helpful because they give you "vacation money" (extra funds you can just look at as fun money) but there are other outlets to tap into for more of a steady income stream. Again, more on that in answer to a later question. For now, just know that getting into a gallery was where I started, and the day I was told they wanted to represent me at the gallery was truly an amazing and exciting day. That's a good start but...it was not the end. More on that to come.