STAR: How have you been so successful with marketing and selling your art?
LAURA. M: Marketing myself has taken a lot of research and work over the past couple years. I participate in online chats to help branch out to other groups of people, I engage in conversations around art, inspiration, challenges and just general discussions. I try to be transparent and as active as I can be to ensure people who follow me know I’ m a real person and have real points of view. Selling my work was a bit of a challenge before I really had my websites set up to do so. I rely pretty heavily on online sales as there isn’ t a very large market for art where I live. I have held auctions, sales and other promotions with some success. I hope that with my new website and some of my new projects that I will see an increase in sales.
STAR: What style of art would you classify your work?
LAURA. M: Over the years I have grown to call my work vivid landscapes. All of my pieces are bold and brightly colored, often much brighter than the original photo I use as a reference. My painting style is evolving in each piece I do. I would describe my work as painterly as I’ ve not focused on the details so much as the brush strokes I use to create lines and values.
STAR: What’ s integral to the work of an artist?
LAURA. M: With the age of the internet there are so many people who choose not to be authentic or true to who they actually are as a person when they create their online persona. As an artist, I want to be sure that what I put out is true to who I am. I value the connections I make through my art, I want to be sure that those connections are genuine. I also think there is a bit of a stigma around artists helping artists. Since everyone’ s perspective is so varied I think it’ s important to use each other to help us all grow and create better work. The stuck up, nose in the air type artist personality won’ t get very far in a world that relies so heavily on networking.
STAR: What role does the artist have in society?
LAURA. M: They say an artist is the child who survived. The creative mind is something that tends to get pushed aside the older we get. Art is usually one of the first subjects to be cut in school funding, more often than not creatives are also told“ you can’ t make a living at being an artist.” Encouraging creativity, allowing the inner child to be who they feel they are inside is so important. It fills my heart to see so many people out there making art and keeping that dream alive. Society needs more of us out there. Art makes the world a more beautiful place and with so much hate and negativity out there, it’ s encouraging to see people still choosing to focus on what makes the world beautiful.
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