Push Past Ordinary with Ardith Goodwin

[00:00:00] When I first knew or made a decision that I wanted to give being a full-time working artist to go, uh, I'm totally self-taught, so I didn't go to art school and I did not have a mentor, and I had no business experience. Um, because I was a teacher, but I knew I would have to learn the business side as much as the creative side because you cannot be a successful business person without knowledge of how business works.

[00:00:29] And then two, I totally understood at that time what was required was you had to have. A consistent style, you know? I mean, that's what the industry called for, so I had to figure out how to do both.

[00:00:51] You're listening to Unfold with Kellee Wynne. This is an unpolished, imperfect, and totally honest podcast, and I'm talking to all the artist. Visionaries and change makers who wanna live a life by design and not by default. If you're ready to have thought-provoking, eye-opening, and heart-centered conversations that explore the stories that made us who we are and break through the boundaries of expectations, then you are in the right place.

[00:01:24] Well, hello everyone. Welcome to unfold with Kellee Wynne. You can tell I'm excited today. And you know why? Because I have my very first guest interview to share with you. I'm gonna tell you, you're gonna love this interview with Art of Goodwin. I had a little quick chat with her one day about how she found her voice and how she helps her, her students, and Artis.

[00:01:49] Find their style and really tap into that juicy part. And I realized, I think she's the queen of this. She knows her stuff. And so I invited her on to chat with me about all of the things that got her to where she's at right now. And I think you're gonna be amazed at how deep she goes with her own personal exploration and.

[00:02:13] I'm pretty sure you're gonna walk away with your mind blown about how you can go deeper in finding your voice. Listen, Artis is a self-taught artist. She has been working at her craft now for over 18 years, and it shows in the work that she does, that she has a very clear and distinct voice. and it's really exciting to see the way she fractures her paintings, meaning bringing in all these different angles and the way she uses color.

[00:02:45] And you're gonna hear how she got to that point through her own personal exploration. Her curiosity brought her there. I wanna read something to you right from her website that will give you a little bit of a insight to who she is. Moving the line is my way of breathing. Pair that with a wickedly odd sense of creativity and you get the perfect storm of being a maker in the land of our Dian.

[00:03:12] I create. But teaching others how to move through the world, tapped into creativity and their unique version of beautiful, that is everything. As you can see everybody, you're gonna love this interview with Artis Goodwin. And without further ado, here we go. So let's start from the beginning. How are you doing?

[00:03:36] I'm doing well, thank you. It is a little chilly here. Um, but it's, it's good. It's a crisp, beautiful day, and I've been in the studio painting this morning, so I'm good to. So that means you're not just a business person, you're a real artist cuz you actually still make art . Oh my gosh. Well you kind of have to, if you're gonna sell art, you need something to sell.

[00:03:57] Yeah. Uh, no art. So my business is twofold. The creativity. and the painting part is the foundation and the business part is just finding the, um, the markets and pathways to, to be seen. Yeah. And, and the thing that's why I wanted to ask you on is because, , you're one of the people that like came first in my mind, of who puts the art first while still building a beautiful business.

[00:04:28] But I, when we talked last time when we were just chatting and you're like talking about, you know, that whole foundation you've built and your process and how you found your voice, I was like, I definitely need to bring art on to have this discussion. Cause you get it, you get it so well. Well, So when I, when I first knew or made a decision that I wanted to give being a full-time working artist to go, uh, I'm totally self-taught, so I didn't go to art school and I did not have a mentor and I had no business experience.

[00:05:02] Um, because I was a teacher, but I knew I would have to learn the business side as much as the creative side because you cannot be a successful business person without knowledge of how business works. And then two, I I totally understood at that time what was required was you had to have a, a consistent style.

[00:05:24] You know, I mean, that's what the industry called for. So I had to figure out how to do both and it. Um, let's just say it was, it's been a learning curve. I mean, I've been doing this for 18 years and I. Become really, really successful at what I do. But oh my gosh, the hours that I've spent studying how to do this spend nights.

[00:05:47] But that's the important part, and that's what I've been talking about. Like you can't just show up once a month and say, I'm gonna make a career out of this. It's gotta be like your, your creativity is your lifeblood to the career. Yeah. Stay the course. Yep. Sure he is. and it took me years to find my voice, and I think we're always still evolving on that voice, but it was those first few years where I just, you just stumble and fall over everything and make mistakes.

[00:06:11] And that's, I mean, that's just par for the course, right? ? It really is, because you only know what you know. and you really don't know what you don't know. So in the moment that you've got, you've got to just use the skillset that you're given. And when you identify, at least I had to figure out, when I identified areas in my business life where I didn't know the answer and I needed, I had to, I had to make the effort, and I didn't have a budget to hire a business team or even a team.

[00:06:43] I had to learn it. So there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth of getting online and finding forums and and groups and asking questions and paying attention and reading comments. Oh my gosh. But that equipped me for learning how to make the best next right step, and that's the best that I could do.

[00:07:05] But that's the secret to success. If everyone thinks that there's some magic that we're holding, those of us who have like maybe taken that step towards being professional artists, we have no secrets except for that we just do the next best thing. . Yes. Yes. And you know, it, it's, it's a conundrum too with show social networking because we are now seen, we have this ability to be seen.

[00:07:30] Like no other time in history and have access to a market. But at the same time, we watch people who paint work that make them happy and it looks like they sell everything they paint. And in some artist's minds it's like, oh my gosh, it's mediocre. And I'm like, you really can't judge that, but you can paint anything you want.

[00:07:50] This is what I've learned. You can paint anything you want in any way you want. If you have the ability and. How to market that product and sell it, put a spin on it and make it the perceived value obvious. It doesn't matter if the work is mediocre. Now I am passionate about mastery of craft. Right, like seriously.

[00:08:12] Holy cow. The technical part of of painting is very important to me and sacred to me, but I'm totally aware that it's actually not technically a requirement to be successful in business because you can really sell the paint off the wall if you know how to sell . So there's these two worlds. Uh, the ability to paint mastery of craft, a commitment and devotion to learning your craft, and then learning the market of how to sell and how to.

[00:08:45] Reach an audience and how to be interesting because your art right you, you can be interesting as a human being, which is super important when you start to articulate why you paint what you paint. And then your art can be really interesting as well. And if you find the sweet spot between the two, yeah, you are golden.

[00:09:07] This is the, this is kinda like the aha that I'm coming upon this year, even though I've been doing this for well over a decade of being a professional. I've been an artist my whole life, but being a professional artist is like, . So you, you are saying it doesn't matter if your work is mediocre as long as you know how to sell.

[00:09:26] But I think the secret in that is that you have to know yourself and love your work, even if your work's mediocre, cuz otherwise you can't express it. And that's the thing. And that's the thing, if you can't articulate to your audience what you love about what you do, right, then you're at, then you're at a disadvantage.

[00:09:46] You might have this work. To be a good salesperson. You need to be able to tell stories. Yeah. You need to be able to tell stories about why you paint, how you paint, what you paint, but also what's it like living a life of an artist, a working artist? So the storytelling part is so, so, so important. Um, but for me, I'll say this, when I was first figuring out how to find a style,

[00:10:16] I didn't have anybody to tell me how to do that. I, I painted a lot of things and I loved what I painted, and I sold a lot of things. Mm-hmm. . But that style, when you looked at a painting and said, that's an art a good one. I didn't have that at the time and I didn't have a business person. I wasn't in that network to sit down and say, this is what creates style.

[00:10:38] So I had to go teach. How long do you think it took you to get to that point where it started saying, this is an art if good one? Because as long as I've been following you, I know your work. The moment that I see it, and I've been on Instagram about. Since 2014, and I think I've been following you that long wait was a unique experience when I literally, when I made a decision because I was actually on disability at the time, that's a whole nother story.

[00:11:05] But I, I knew I wanted to attempt giving this a go. And when I re, when I made that decision, I started researching what other artists were doing that gave them a. So I got on Pinterest and I created boards, and I just started pinning, um, artwork and from artists that to me looked like they had a style.

[00:11:30] And what I quickly learned was two things. There was a technical way that they constructed their artwork, so the physical way that they used the brushstroke, that the physical way they manipulated color. and then the idea that they had behind their art was a trifecta of technical skill. And when they did that over time, over a body of work, it created a visual language and a style that was.

[00:12:00] Representative of what they were doing at the time, and you could look at it, Picasso, all of that. But then I got to understanding too, it couldn't be just about technical work because if it was, then there would be so much more mimicking and copying because it would all be the technical, you could break it down technically and figure out how somebody paints and then go and paint like that to get that style, which some people do that.

[00:12:27] I started digging in these artists history and story and about pages and communicated with them, and I'm like, can you tell me what gave gave you your style? And I learned that there was a personal layer to this, a personal framework as much as a technical. and what the personal was, was they had a passion for it with a point of view.

[00:12:52] There was something about the way they moved through the world. They had an opinion, an idea, a concept that they wanted to convey, a connection to the subject matter that they were painting that was deeply personal and important to them. So as I understood that, I started asking myself and I was like 40 at the time.

[00:13:12] I'm like, what's important to me as a human being? Like, what would I say my must lists are? And that was extraordinary because I had never asked that question and I was already 40 and I'm like, holy cow, why has it taken me this many years to say what's important to me? So when I started asking the question, I gave myself a year to explore the technical framework and the personal.

[00:13:37] I started understanding that there were some core beliefs that I had as a human. And those core beliefs. One of 'em was we are imperfect, but we're beautiful. We're fractured in some ways, but we're valued. Energy flows through us and around us, and from within us. Dynamic movement, absolutely love dynamic movement in people, places and things.

[00:14:02] Um, and then complex systems. I loved the complexity of life. Life is unpredictable. So all of these awarenesses that I had as a human being, I then said, okay, if I know what my sh my points of view are about life, what does that look like visually? And that was the aha moment because when I understood the imperfection could be conveyed through the fracturing of line.

[00:14:31] and the color plane and that complex systems could be conveyed in the small juicy tidbits and details and the transparent layers. It all gave me the technical way of working that fused my personal, and that was like score . That must have been like the most. Oh my God. Awakening in your art. Like how, I love the point that you made, that you took deliberately, took the time to research this, research it within yourself, discover it, practice it, refine it.

[00:15:06] Like just playing with all those elements. And I would agree with you, like when I look at how I view my style, I look at all those elements, not just what do I like to make. Yeah. But like, who am I? A person, what do I value? What's interesting to me? Where are the overlaps? Like, you know, why is dining al fresco so important to me?

[00:15:28] Like, it's so weird. Like these these little weird things that you do can just start seeing evolve in your work. I wanna know how you learn the fracturing though, like that's been one of the most fascinating things about your work to me, that I don't see. Look, I see artists as they're developing their voice, they copy a lot of what they see.

[00:15:48] And I think that that's a normal phase Yeah. That we go through. But at some point when you really want your own voice, you have to start practicing for just yourself and you do exploring. So I don't see your work very often out there in the world, anything like it, except for maybe if we were to refer to like Picasso's.

[00:16:07] You know, abstraction, but even then, it's nothing like that. How, how do you feel like, obviously you just took your soul and put it in it, but I really spent time on the question, what does that look like visually? I know my students currently, gosh, it's like I'm beating a, a . It's like I'm beating a drum here because it is in the conceptual way.

[00:16:28] I'm approaching the manipulation of paint and pigment that I want it to. Say imperfectly fractured, but beautiful. So I had to be willing to spend time in my art journals and pages asking myself, what does that look like in my own process? And what I began to understand, and Pinterest was a huge part of this because I went at one point and just started pinning about a hundred pins, just very in, um, intuitively.

[00:16:59] I didn't even look at who it was, if it called to. I pinned it and what happened was after I pinned that, those boards, I looked and I'm like, there were things that pieces had in common that I was drawn to, and then I started understanding the raw, energetic, organic line was something that I absolutely loved.

[00:17:19] But I also loved tight geometric. Not perfection, but more control in the structure. Uh, there was a lot of pins that had to do that because I actually started out as a painter painting, watercolor and painting, geometric and painting glass of all things. So I began the world with. Um, the realism connection, and it was, it was just this perfect storm of figuring out, okay, I need to paint in a way that's fractured and has transparent layers because I love transparency.

[00:17:59] Um, but I also wanna be able to control and manipulate that I'm not one. To leave the canvas to be in control because I know a lot of intuitive painters, they paint and layer and then when something shows up, they, they bring it to fruition. I'm kind of an idea hog. I want to bring my own ideas to the canvas, but I also want to.

[00:18:26] Leave the door open for my intuition to show up and surprise me. So as I developed fracturing, it was more about just the imperfection of process, giving myself permission to make lines and paint and be expressive and it not be exact because I'm not really going for exactness. I'm going for the expression and the energy.

[00:18:51] And then I also spent golly months studying. Different types of energy and it's sketching energy in its forms, you know, magnetic and solar and radiation. And, because what I realized was, if you think about it, there's energy that flows everywhere. We're made up of energy. When you put a, a plug in a wall, you cannot see what's flowing, but the light bulb comes on.

[00:19:18] So I got to thinking about that and I'm like, That flow, that that substance, that whatever that is, that's invisible to the human eye, is there and it impacts us. So why am I not painting that? Because it's a huge part of what moves me as a human being, the wind that hits my skin. I'm a person of faith, so the Holy Spirit that moves through things, just the sunlight of warmth.

[00:19:46] So I love pushing the boundaries. Painting a character or something, but also painting what's existing around it and how it impacts it physically, even though it's invisible. So it's a little bit of a conundrum, but it keeps me really curious that, um, exploration is fascinating to me because I, you know, we all have our own way that we develop in our art style, and you're giving me a million ideas for one sketching.

[00:20:17] Uh, just sketching almost the intangible. Yes. I'm sure that that broke open so many blocks, but I also noticed that you talked a lot about, or you mentioned once, that you wrote a lot mm-hmm. , so like doing morning pages or something like that. So I didn't, I didn't do morning pages, but in my art journals I always combine the words with the image.

[00:20:42] Because I'm pretty notorious for when I start, when I start morning pages, I would get about, uh, a third of the week finish and get distracted, and then I would come back a week later, and then there's my half finish page. So I just gave myself permission. Let me just paint while I write, and I was more successful about that.

[00:21:00] But I was a creative writer before I ever picked up a paintbrush. So the writing part and painting with. Is kind of what helped me start seeing the importance of narrative in paint and pigment. What am I saying to my audience through how I paint and what I paint? What do I want the viewers to experience?

[00:21:26] You know, we are creating these paintings that typically go on walls. I call them wall experiences. People live with these products for the rest of their lives, most of them, and they walk past them every day. So what am I doing as someone who's a creator? Giving them an experience to enjoy and to make them ponder and to impact their human heart on a daily basis.

[00:21:53] I knew for me it had to be so much more than just random line in color. So that's right. More than just the, um, painting that matches the couch. . Yeah. And there's nothing, you know, there's nothing all with decorative art. But for personally, what I teach is you've got to make a decision on your own. You've got to know.

[00:22:16] What inspires you so that you can then create whatever it is you're designed to create so that then you can articulate that with passion to the audience that you connect with, so they understand you as an artist. Now, there is a a camp that says Art should speak for itself, more power to 'em. I respect that point of view, but I'm one of those artists and human being.

[00:22:44] where narrative matters to me. I really want to push the edge on that and offer little objects of delight in my artwork as opposed to just a real, literal image. But that's just me and my preferences. Right. Well, that's part of that exploration that you went through in discovering what was important to you.

[00:23:04] Like you said, everyone's gonna be a little bit different. I agree with you that there's this camp that. . You know, I, I'm not gonna tell you even the title of this work, cuz I want it to be what you imagine it to be. Yeah. I think some of those people are in like big New York gallery selling for hundreds of thousands.

[00:23:22] But that's beside the point. Like, I feel like everybody we have to connect through social media. Our story and our message is probably gonna be a lot more important. I think. So, at least for me, what I learned was it mattered that I understood. My process when I went to start sharing it with a market and an audience, because Facebook kind of was part of the impetus.

[00:23:50] You know, we worked so hard years ago on building pa our page on Facebook. had a great following, great engagement, and then all of a sudden, what'd they do? They changed the algorithm and it cut the legs out from under so many small businesses who helped build that platform. And it was infuriating. So what I ended up do deciding was, okay, I'm gonna, on my personal profile, I'm just gonna share my journey as a human being, as an artist.

[00:24:18] Not to put something up and say, this is for sell, but I, I'm gonna use Facebook as a way to connect with other creatives and to share what this journey looks like. In all of its mess and beautifulness, and that started, um, opening windows and doors for me to connect with other people online and build my network.

[00:24:40] And it's changed my life, but it's in the s. The daily telling of stories of why things matter to me, the roadblocks, the challenges that I, that I hit, um, why I get so excited about painting a sexy gesture like I just did , you know, those types of things give us the ability to just speak and connect with people.

[00:25:05] and it's when we connect with people that we start building that, you know, market and audience and followers and friends, and what a delicious way to live. I. Yeah, I mean like a thousand percent. Yes, because I am just going through, like, I'm going through this marketing course that's not for artists.

[00:25:23] Mm-hmm. . And the whole premise of this marketing course is show up and be yourself. Show up and share your story. Show up and be authentic. And I know the word authentic. Thrown around too much, but literally just stop trying to put up this perfectionism wall between you and the people that you're talking to, and that the fact that you were doing that way back in Facebook time, just showing up and telling your story and showing up, and showing up and showing up and just being artis.

[00:25:51] Yep. Like that. That probably like tho I know I see the artists who are like, here's my artwork and they're quiet. But those that wanna connect, that show up and just tell their story and are generous that way, they tend to grow in a much, much, maybe even more fulfilling way. It's a challenge too, for a lot of artists because there this thing called imposter syndrome, and I teach about this in my, in my courses.

[00:26:17] It, it's, there is an epidemic. , uh, self-doubt when it comes to most creative. Ventures because you start putting it out there and because a typical group of humans will look at art and if it's not realistic, then they think, oh, what is it? So everything's engaged on between realism. If you can't draw, you're not an artist, and yada, yada yada.

[00:26:46] So this this interior dialogue of, I'm not good enough, my artwork's not good enough. Um, you know, they're not gonna like me. They beat themselves up, so they're timid, right? Mm-hmm. , they're timid. And I simply decided, I'm gonna teach that whatever version, your version of beautifully different matters, but to understand where you are in your journey, everybody begins at their beginning.

[00:27:14] So every painter who picked up a paintbrush began. You know, at their beginning when, when the first face I drew looked like he had mumps , we all do that and then just start understanding. We have this short, incredibly short time span on this planet. I don't wanna lose another minute of my life. With doubt that I'm not good enough.

[00:27:42] I would rather just authentically own who I am, where I am, what I'm doing, no matter how quirky or weird it is, so that I don't look back and realize I've spent last week and I can't get it back. And I, you know, I wasted that time. But the imposter syndrome part is a battle. because so many artists, they just think putting out there, I'm gonna get made fun of.

[00:28:09] And there were teachers that taught them, if you don't color in the lines, you're doing it wrong. There were significant other others and family members that criticized and told 'em they weren't good enough. And it's all part of just showing up and who am I to, what express an idea that matters? Who are you not?

[00:28:29] Right? Right. I mean that energy is there and you're ignoring it. Don't take it, harness it, let it be part of you. I mean, yeah. Cause my whole podcast is about that idea of living a life by design and not by default. And stop letting other people dictate how you're gonna live. Right. But so do you coach the, the artists that take your courses or in your, any of your mentor mentorship?

[00:28:56] I'm assuming this mindset and getting past the, um, imposter syndrome barriers is probably, yeah. Just as big or important to the actual how you paint. The membership, my push Past Ordinary Society membership, actually one of the, the four core tenants is creative confidence. So it actually teaches and speaks to that, uh, because you can, you can learn all the technical skills that you want.

[00:29:23] If you don't have the confidence to put it out and say, I'm proud of this, or this is where I'm at, then. You're, you're at a disadvantage. So I'm working so hard also. Two, this is what I learned. Um, I had this epiphany this past year. There's almost 8 billion people in the world, and there's only one of us, like one with my life experiences and designs.

[00:29:53] My belief is that we are all extraordinarily unique even though we have so much in common. But our, as we move through the world, we've experienced things and we've had opinions formulate and we've become fascinated and at at the way certain things work, or we've been impacted emotionally in huge ways.

[00:30:17] And when we can acknowledge. That our life journey is valuable and important, and if we can use that as our well of inspiration, um, I call it fringe work. What you tend to create based on your ideas are so much more interesting then just a common VAs of flowers, you know, or an apple or a face, because technically we can learn how to paint those things.

[00:30:50] but personally, what if I paint them all shattered and fractured, but in a beautiful way with light and shadow? Cause that's been my experience. So it's all about, for me, just figuring out the fringe work of what do I find really super interesting about the. And a lot of times my interests are weird, like weird, but it's okay.

[00:31:21] because I also know out of almost those 8 billion people, statistically, if I end up getting 20 people who want to invest and get me and support me financially, then I can be successful as a working artist. 20. Isn't that amazing? I have to remind this, that, you know, and I'm coaching and mentoring artists as well, and they're like, but aren't there already too many art courses?

[00:31:46] Aren't there too many artists? I'm like, how many people do you need? There's 8 billion people in the world. You only need a couple hundred people in your circle to become ridiculously successful. Yep. You really do. Um, you just need to be able to show up. And that's part of the problem is, is, is if you have made that decision that you wanna.

[00:32:06] A professional artist or a selling artist, you have to make that conscientious choice, like you said, to, to have the confidence and get past, you have to believe this past ordinary . The first step is to believe that you're worth it. The first step. The worthiness. Yeah, so the, the, the imposter syndrome and the creative confidence comes first.

[00:32:27] It just does. Yeah. Um, because you can be this freaking amazing painter, like rendering technical skill, but if you are insecure about that, then you're, you know, you're just going to struggle, struggle, struggle a lot. I think this comes back to your first point, which is people with mediocre work can sell the hell out of their work.

[00:32:51] It's because they believe in it and they can talk about it. And that, even that word mediocre, what they're putting out. if, if they're tapped in to, let's say the word tender, fresh, um, and layered. Okay. If we took those three words, tender, fresh, and layered, and they spent time understanding what those words mean to them and how they connect to their personal way of life, and they figured out a very simplistic approach to applying paint in a tender way.

[00:33:27] In a layered way, and it would read as something simplistic to one person, but it may be their magnum opus in what they're trying to convey. But the key is in knowing that because randomly anybody, literally, even animals, elephants, and dogs and cats, can put marks on a page. Um, if you are tapped in and understand why your subject matter matters to you, why your point of view matters, it just equips you to be able to share with passion the simplicity of what you're creating.

[00:34:10] Can be profoundly important to you, and that's all that matters. I feel like that's when the success is inevitable. When you tap into that, when you finally get your why and you show up with your why, I mean, and you convey with confidence, right? So when you can talk about it, like you and I are talking about it, I don't bet, and I.

[00:34:30] in the sense of, I know this stuff in my bones. This has been my experience, this is what it's taught me, this is what I've learned. So being able to just talk with confidence about your process, huge. Uh, but that's a challenge for a lot of artists because. It's, it's being seen and being heard. Would you say that maybe in some ways social media, I mean, it's a blessing and a curse, but it's a little bit of a disadvantage because we see these artists that seem like they have it all together and they're beautiful photos and they're fancy lifestyles, and then, I see artists all the time wanting to replicate what they see rather than taking the time to do the research for themselves of what art means to them and how they're gonna make their own art.

[00:35:21] Because it's easier. Because it's easier. It's easier, it's instant gratification. If they, that person can do it, I can do it. And. It is one way to build confidence, but at some point in the journey when you've exhausted or saturated your market of friends, parents, family members, , and your instance, you know, your close circle, you're standing there almost naked because.

[00:35:49] You've gotta figure out how to be seen and acknowledged and how your value shows up with strangers. Yeah, that is a much bigger learning curve. Um, I wanna tell you my first couple of art shows that I had, I sold out, I was on cloud nine, and of course it's in looking back that you're. Well, I know why five years later I was having dead shows and nobody was coming because all my friends and family and circle had already come and bought all my work and made me feel great and thank you so much, right?

[00:36:26] But now I had to stand on my own two feet and say, why am I making this work? And of course that's when the evolution happened and that's when you realize you better start learning about business . You really better. Business, you know, business insight is what's gonna save you and, and some people get business instincts pretty well and then others are totally lost.

[00:36:51] So, well that's how it comes back to confidence as well, because I think that as soon as you unders ha, if you learn to get past the imposter syndrome and know that you are worth. Mm-hmm. , once that's in your gut, like you know that you're valuable no matter what the work is you're making, you're passionate about it and you can show up and talk about it.

[00:37:10] That breaks through the, the whole business and marketing barrier right there that'll make a huge difference. I see it all the time. I, I, I actually, I just like that aha moment where I was like, okay, I've been teaching art courses for quite a while now, and I teach a lot of foundation skills, and now I'm like, wait a minute.

[00:37:29] Where is the passion? Like do you know your why? And so my next course that's coming out is a lot more about why and a lot less like repeat after me . It's tough too. Cause you know, painters that are just beginning, they need to spend time investing in the technical part of how to paint things without the fundamentals.

[00:37:57] You, you are just at the mercy of what shows up on canvas. So conveying mastery of craft or strong technical craftsmanship is virtually impossible because you don't, you haven't built consistency yet, right? So it's in that practice of learning. But then at the same time, what happens when you know how to paint?

[00:38:20] You've taken the courses. Well, what now, you know? You need some assistance here if, if you're finding that what you're doing strategy wise is not, Converting to sales or, or, or venues or bookings or success of whatever that looks like for you. Right. An evolution of knowing your style. You know, even that to be able to find your voice as an artist, it's like I, I've had a philosophy for a long time.

[00:38:51] It's that balance between intention and intuition, and I just use intention as. , you know, the skills, the things that you need to know, like, you know, are you past the point of which brush should I use? ? And I'm glad that I've been working with artists long enough that they finally are like, it doesn't matter what the teacher's using, I use what I use.

[00:39:09] Yeah. And I, I've started to learn my techniques, but there does come a point where artists get so stuck because they don't want to give up anything that they do in order to have a narrower focus. They don't. Floor deeper of their why and, and they're still all over the place. And so I'm like, okay, well I understand why you're only selling one or two paintings here or there.

[00:39:30] You know, for those who are hobbyists, this is irrelevant If you're just painting from the front of it, you know, if, if painting and exploring is just your creative outlet, awesome. I don't know if you ever even need a voice. You know, and you don't, you don't, it, it's all based on what our intentions are. If our intentions are to be a creative human and move through the world, tapped in, oh, it's awesome.

[00:39:53] They're in that beautiful, sweet spot. But if you need this, if, if you make a choice to become a full-time working artist and you want a career from this, or you wanna, you know, set a financial goal and reach. Then that's a totally different thing, right? Because then you've got to understand the business market will have some necessary requirements for you to become successful and it's, it's really helpful to know what those are.

[00:40:21] ha having, having mastery of craft. Mm-hmm. . Having a defined style enough that people can say they walk into a gallery and there's an Art Goodwin. I have no doubt who that is, you know? And that the next time the gallery owner wants more art, they're not gonna get a completely different style from you that there's a consistency there as well.

[00:40:42] Yeah. I think it, it has to do with just understanding and building continuity in mm-hmm. in your process and, and trusting that whatever you decide to make, you have the confidence of why you're making it and what you're hoping to convey, because. And, and there's different ways of becoming a really successful artist.

[00:41:02] I can, I'm just speaking from my experience and how it's worked for me. I know some people who just get art agents, they just are in, they're hold up and they're working and creating and they've got an art agent, and the art agent markets and does the business for them. And that's awesome. I didn't have, that's really awesome.

[00:41:19] Um, that is, um, and then some gallery owners, you know, they, they totally represent you and you're just in your studio working on your. But then there's, that sounds like the old fashioned days back in the back up until about maybe the ec economic crash in 2008 because my father was a professional artist and that's what he would do.

[00:41:39] He'd just make the paintings, send 'em to the gallery, and the gallery did all the work for him. Yeah. And my two galleries that do that there are, cuz my experience with galleries is, is I show up with all my artwork, they take 50% and I still have to market it. And I'm like, Think I will do this on my own.

[00:41:54] Thank you very much. Yeah, and it really, it just turned a page for us in the sense of social networking and what it gave us the ability to do, um, as to direct sell. Is to market our market ourselves. Yeah. And sell for ourselves. Um, you know, I love my gallery that I work with. We're great business partners, but we're totally business partners, right?

[00:42:16] So it's, it's just a matter of what you decide is important to you and what your intention is and your creativity. And then when you make that decision, Hey, I wanna put a price tag and sell this, and I want to approach this from a business point of view. Learn the business. Yeah. And also don't just learn the business and forget about making your art , which I know what a balance.

[00:42:41] It's like we, it's hard. Oh fuck. Right. And, you know, uh, be in your, your relationships and, and, and have children. And, uh, it's so much to balance. But I just, I approach it as, as a. , you know, working hours, family hours. I, I, and I didn't do that at first, but I've learned over the years I've gotta have more work-life balance and it's super important.

[00:43:09] But it all comes down to, uh, just trying my best to stay tapped in, in fresh ways to my own creativity and interest. Okay. How do you usually, how do you, because this is a great question probably for us to, to finish the conversation on, because this is where I've been stuck. I haven't stayed fresh and I haven't even been tapped in until probably in the last couple weeks where I'm like reawakening my, my heart and connection to art.

[00:43:37] But for the last two years, I've been so swamped by work that I. A total pandemic on top of that, you know, and all the other, because no matter how long you've been making art, self-doubt still creeps in and Yeah. And struggles still come along. But, you know, all of that kind of like really hindered me. My work really ended up coming before the creativity, and now I realize if I want my business to grow, then my creativity has to be fresh and grow, and I have to be tapped in and find that.

[00:44:09] You know, sensual magic with it again, you know? Yeah. It's, um, and that's so hard when you're trying to launch courses and memberships and and get your blogs on Instagram and oh my gosh, it's so hard. Um, for me, I, I did two things. I had to completely reserve specific days out of the. where I'm just painting Uhhuh,

[00:44:34] Um, and then I had to completely reserve certain days out of the week or certain hours out of the day where I'm doing business. And then I had to look at that and realize, let me look at my calendar. And when I had big projects coming up, like launching Push Past Ordinary Society, that was a huge undertaking.

[00:44:53] So I knew mentally I would have to table. the painting process for a bit to launch that. But it was important enough for me to do it. And then now that I've got that stable, I'm now coming back to huge amounts of time in the studio. And then the other thing that I, I realized was I had to give myself permission to let the ebb and flow of being creatively tapped in and creatively, um, Paused to be okay.

[00:45:24] Because at first I was a little snarky about it because I'm like, I'm tired, I'm exhausted. We're in a pandemic. I'm not inspired, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But then I thought, I'm just gonna let this percolate and let it come to the surface of what's, what's catching my attention right now. So, what happened at the end of 2021, I started thinking about this, and the words passion and perspective just kept showing up in my world.

[00:45:52] And typically when that happens, I pay attention and I'm like, okay, I got a, I got a lesson to learn here. So I use those two words as kind of a, um, the wind in my sails heading into 2022 as to what I really wanna paint and now I'm completely smitten by what does it look like, feel like to move through the world and live a life connected to passion?

[00:46:17] Ah, that could be just, it's not just like sexual passion, it's passion about anything that lights your fire. So I'm thinking about that. And then perspective, I love structure and function, so I'm like diving into perspectives and the physical perspectives, the invisible perspectives, um, structural perspectives, kind of like energy.

[00:46:43] I'll spend a year. At perspective and start. So I am lit right now with excitement because I don't have the answers, but I'm so excited about the potential of what they could be. That I'm, I'm waking myself up at night going, oh my gosh, I've, I, I didn't even think about that. So Me too, like 2022 is gonna be an amazing year, I think for creative energy.

[00:47:10] I, I hope so. I'm, we, we can claim it. We'll claim it right here. We're gonna claim it right now. Yes. Yes. Yes. So Arta, tell everyone where they can find you, what you have new coming up that um, I know you've got your push pass ordinary membership. Is that gonna be open for enrollment anytime soon? It's gonna pop open in June when our project launches.

[00:47:35] Yes. So the window for membership will open then, and then, oh my gosh. So I have a solo show in March coming up. Um, I'm not sure when the pod, this podcast will come out, but I've got a new course called Puddle Up Chair, and it literally is for the painter who wants to consider. Switching from hobbyist to pro and what it looks like to go from idea to concept all the way to a solo show.

[00:48:02] Oh, that's amazing. There's five live sessions where you get to pull up a chair with me and I'm gonna take you through that whole process. Um, that's invaluable. That's coming in March. This will be, this podcast comes out early February, so. March Th this actually, so mine kicks off February 6th, but goes through March 11th.

[00:48:23] So I'm not sure of the timing, but I'm gonna do this periodically when I have a show or a big project just to help. , uh, painters and artists have access to what is this really? What does this really look like? Because I would've killed to have this. Me too. Oh my goodness. I would've too. I would have to say, if you're gonna invest in anything besides your art supplies, if you're on that track to being a professional, invest in.

[00:48:54] Somebody who's gonna shorten that gap. Yeah. Cause they shouldn't have to take 10 years of figuring things out when we have so many more resources now. And it sounds to me like you are the person to go to for that. Especially cuz you're right in the middle of launching a solo show. Yeah, it's, it's, it's just, I keep thinking about how can I help artists?

[00:49:13] How can I serve and, and love all my people? And part of that is giving them access to information that I wished I had when I was first starting out. So that's where my head is in tweaking going forward, and it's why I'm also a leveling up mentor. Um, yeah. Cause that, that mentorship is, is super important just to have access to.

[00:49:35] Different artists point of view and their experiences, and especially artists who teach. And teachers who paint well and see, and that's where we're going with this podcast and unfold and my whole future journey is to like really open up people's minds to how to build that business in out of the box ways.

[00:49:55] You know, like just things that you might not have ever thought about how to create the business. It's not just creating a painting and showing up and selling it or finding a gallery. There's so many nuances and layers and so I'm really. I think my creative passion for business is about as much as it is as well for art.

[00:50:13] Like there's just, it's exciting to me and like you, if I can be in service to help, I love the idea of being able to help artists get there faster and yeah, me with more joy I know and excitement and believe in themselves. Yeah. And you know what? It's that, you know what? It's that connection in community because it feels so alone sometimes.

[00:50:34] And you know, you think ev because you're online. Everybody's an artist, you know, cuz we follow artists, right? But think about like everyone I know that I spend time with in my neighborhood and, and when I go to, you know, family dinner, like no one else knows what it's like to be an artist, especially one who's building their business online.

[00:50:52] So, I am very excited for what you have to offer. It's Art Goodwin on, on Instagram as well if they wanna find you. There it is. I'm on Instagram and Art Goodwin. Facebook Art Goodwin. Uh, I'm on Pinterest. And then just art goodwin.com? Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. I love connecting with creatives. Yes. Awesome. Well, I am so glad that you joined me for this conversation.

[00:51:17] I've been dying to talk to you more, so I'm really grateful that you spent your morning with me today. Everyone go find Artis and say hi, and tell her what you thought of this podcast, and I can't wait to talk more about the creative process with you. The next time we join together for Unfold with Kellee Wynne.

If you'd like to listen to or learn more about the podcast visit https://www.maderemarkable.com/blog for our show notes and links to the main players.