Magazine Photo Shoot and what makes a successful Artist?

Shooooooooooot

So as many of you know, i am leaving Norway which has been my home for the past 7 years. It will be sad to say goodbye to my life here but equally I am very excited about the new life i am about to start. I am full of excitment and also a little fear of the unknown.
So before leaving I thought that i would take the opportunity to take some new pictures of my 'power of white' series out in the wilderness. It took me about 30mins to carry 4 paintings up the mountain, if you could have seen how many times i cussed and swore at every tree, stick or branch which hit my paintings, not to mention how exhausted I was on ascent. But i was determined while the weather was good to DO THIS, because the weather this time of year is so unpredictable and one moment it is sunny and the next your getting snowed on or rained on and sometimes all 3 at once. But the weather gods were with me and it stayed very calm, still and erie silent...but i can assure you i made up for it with my cussing, shouting, huffing and puffing LOL Would have made for a hilarious video...next time.

So I got to the top and proceeded to film and make a youtube video (Currently uploading) and then i ran around taking all sorts of different still pictures. I am pretty happy with how they came out considering there was just me doing the shooting, it would have been better to have someone along to help me with the artistic shots..but you can only do what you can.

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So the 'Power of white' series will be following me back to Australia. This series has been a labour of love and now that I am actually moving to a real art city (Melbourne) I now have the change and opportunity to really develop this series into something mind blowly fantastic. I have been keeping a journal of all my ideas for future 'white' paintings and I have enough inspiration and ideas to pull together some fantastic paintings....hopefully. You know how it is though, how things translate from what is in your head to actual reality is somewhat dissappointing. But i intend to fine the best gallery I can to show this series and hopefully attract new patrons and supporters of my work. The Power of white series is my strongest body of abstract work to date. I am excited to think that now i can create some seriously large abstract textured paintings now i am in a place where i can get materials and any size canvas I want. I will be bringing in rusty metal sheets into the next several artworks.

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I already have several reservations on a couple of the works which is always a good sign your onto something. But only time will tell!
Working with white has to be one of the most difficult colours to use. Several artists have launched their careers on 'white' paintings and others haven't lol.

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What makes a successful artist?
So what makes a successful artist? I have to say it isn’t necessarily about talent. There are a handful of things which I believe if you keep in the back of your thoughts, they will help you get to the level of success you so desire and deserve.

Don’t be an ASS

There is nothing worse than meeting an artist who is obnoxious, full of ego and self-importance. Being an asshole might get you attention but in the long run it will only hurt you.

Here is the thing about successful people whether they are like this in their own environments or not, when they are around people they never have a bad attitude. You know you can be critical and fierce but to be the type of person other people want to be around and what I mean by that is don’t be an ass. The way the art world is structured it has so much more to do with relationships than it has to do with true talent. If you can maintain good relationships you are going to be so much better served than being a brilliant asshole.

Successful artists know this and they look for opportunities, they are nice to people they come into contact with. If you want to get a head learn to be nice and mean it. Be genuine, sincere and kind.

Showing up everyday

Nothing magical is ever going to happen by itself, you have to show up every day and work at it. It is that simple! Be committed to your passion and you will be rewarded, maybe not straight away but eventually you will be.

Don’t worry about what everyone else around you is doing

Learn as much as you can from each other and internalise it, then put it in a bag and put it in the cupboard and forget about. Then you need to really access what it is that you are interested in . Don’t paint to please others although there is a fine line and a piece hasn’t fully reached its potential until it has been evaluated by something larger than you in a sense. It is a part of what we do. So just focus on what you are doing and develop your own visual language.

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