Listeners who are struggling with pricing their work will find his comments on identifying and pricing to a target audience especially helpful. Jason offers other advice about remaining objective in marketing your work, and not allowing self-esteem issues, or other self-defeating habits and perceptions to interfere with your success.

This interview is available as both audio and video on our Facebook page.
Jason's website; https://www.jasonmatias.com/the-art-of-selling-art/home

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What's new at Cold Wax Academy? Rebecca and Jerry have an exciting Winter Quarter planned with a focus on working with cold wax medium using both abstract and realistic approaches. Members will enjoy opportunities to participate in portfolio reviews and critiques, and of course, engage with the ongoing weekly live sessions that explore featured topics in depth. Cold Wax Academy is the only online teaching platform devoted exclusively to deepening and developing your painting practice in every aspect. Lessons are centered on the range of uses for cold wax medium, but also include important insights and information about all other aspects of art practice. For information about joining this vibrant, international community of artists, and to learn more about cold wax medium, please visit http://www.coldwaxacademy.com

As always, members have access to recordings of all previous sessions including everything from the first year, so it's easy to join anytime. Winter Quarter begins January 5th. Please visit http://www.coldwaxacademy.com for details about membership levels and to sign up for a year of exciting learning experiences.

Here is what a member named Sandy has to say about her own experience:
"Rebecca and Jerry have presented the most professional, authentic and structured approach to a creative activity I have ever come across. Their selfless sharing of all their knowledge and encouragement is a gift in my life unsurpassed."

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The Messy Studio Podcast is a Tick Digital Media Production.

Special Guest: Jason Matias.

Although lots of times our work flows well, and our frustrations are fairly fleeting, other times we experience the opposite. Your work can anger and upset us and feel as though it has its own negative persona. The fact that it is actually your own creation can make it a metaphor for all the ways you think you fall short as an artist. This can lead to a downward spiral in which you beat yourself up for not being able to make the thing work. And from that state of mind, it is also harder to calm down and see your way forward.

How can you break loose from the negative grip of frustrating work? If you can avoid getting wound up emotionally I the first place, trust that the work is challenging for a reason and that you have something to learn, that is certainly the healthiest attitude. It may help to know that experiencing a high level of frustration is very common among creative people and is actually necessary to growth.

But if your frustration feels unbearable, there are a few simple strategies. One is to retreat, walk away, and give yourself some time and space to be able to come back with a fresh eye. If you can gain some distance, you may be able to go over your work with an objective attitude and see what isn’t working and why. The problem with this approach alone is that it can lead to endless small changes and tweaks, without much real progress. So, it may also be time to make a bold, major change in the work. The best move may be to wipe out the previous path you were on with the work and allow for a fresh start.

No matter how you choose to deal it riding out the cycle of frustration and resolution is part of the creative cycle. If your work never presents strong challenges, you are probably stuck in a rut of easy answers and rote solutions. The next time you’re ready to stick a palette knife through your canvas, remember that all creative people experience these feelings and that they do eventually open the way to new ideas and growth.

Thanks to everyone who has been sharing the show and donating! If you would like to donate to the Messy Studio Podcast donate here.
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When you buy art supplies at Blick remember to use our affiliate link to support the podcast! Bookmark this link and then you don't even have to think about it again. This is one of the best ways to support the show. It takes a few seconds and costs you nothing! The Blick website works exactly the same way, but we earn 10% every time you buy art supplies.

www.messystudiopodcast.com/blick
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What's new at Cold Wax Academy? Rebecca and Jerry are busy preparing new presentations for their Spring Quarter weekly live, interactive sessions. The topics for Spring are Shape, Scale and Proportion, and Self-Coaching to improve your work habits and productivity.

As always, there will be plenty of opportunities to interact with Rebecca, Jerry, and other members, along with critique sessions, feedback about your paintings, and of course a deep dive into the three selected topics of the quarter. Cold Wax Academy has been receiving lots of rave reviews from its members; they know it is the best online learning for cold wax painting available and the only membership program dedicated to this medium. Find out more at www.coldwaxacademy.com
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Have an art related product, service, or event you would like to advertise on the Messy Studio Podcast?
Email Ross at rticknor.core@gmail.com for current mid-roll advertising rates.
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www.coldwaxacademy.com
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The Messy Studio Podcast is a CORE Publication MGMT production.

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NOTES:
This topic comes up a lot in workshops—"I’m too scattered”— work is all over the place
-wanting more focus, direction, way to bring depth to their work.

But also said in a positive way-- “I have a lot of interests.” “A lot of things excite me.”

In either case, we’re talking about someone who works in a lot of different media or styles

First—it can indeed be a positive thing.
--A necessary stage of searching at the beginning of your art journey
--if you’re blocked –try new things can be good advice
--basic attitude of being open and exploratory is good
--working in various media can cross-pollinate and be very helpful
some well-developed artists work across media and subject matter:
Usually conceptually drive—an underlying continuity of ideas, emotions, or which visual elements they are drawn to. Sense of connection, Open to any form that expresses what they want to say. Interests are dealt with in a focused way.
Example: Picasso, Gerhart Richter, lots of contemporary artists who work in installation format with many components tied together conceptually

Negative aspects:
From less developed artists:
Scattered, lack of focus or consistent voice, work lacks depth, can seem derivative

Use “Is it me?” to decide what you are really connected with, that you have focused on in a sustained way. Recognize that consistency is an aspect of personal voice.

The objective judgement is whether the work is high quality, well-developed, mastery of media—this comes only through sustained focus

May not be obvious as a rut type of comfort zone (stagnation)
gives feeling of change, exploration. Can be defended as this, a deflection attitude for any criticism that the work lacks depth.

Comfortable because easier to skim surface than dig deeply.
Being in “forever a student” mode is a comfort zone that may impeded your progress

If you are in this kind of rut recognize that it involves a lot of avoidance behavior:
Avoiding frustration
Avoiding criticism
Avoiding need to explain or understand the work
Avoiding taking next steps in your career and putting yourself out there
Avoiding success and the challenges that come with that

Lack of commitment means you never have to really excel or challenge yourself
Like being unable to commit to a relationship and weather the hard parts

Can be hard to recognize in yourself—easy to justify—you have a lot of interests, so many things to try—you’re generally excited about your work and it feels good. You may not see it as a problem.

And it is not a problem if you are truly happy with things as they are. It’s your work and entirely up to you if you want to change. Is it a choice or default mode?

If you don’t feel happy with it --how to identify this a negative kind of comfort zone?
questions:
Do you have basic underlying intentions that you bring to all your work
Does personal voice show itself in an overall, connected way
Are their particular visual elements you explore consistently?
Is your work recognizable as yours?
Do you find it hard to talk about your work beyond that you like to experiment and play?
Have you ever spent time developing the various things that interest you; focused attention?
In an exhibit showing of various examples of your approaches, would viewers see a conversation between your various pieces-- or would it seem disjointed?

How to move away from this—
Central concept is INTENTIONS
Identifying what you want in your work provides consistency and focus

Re: avoiding skimming the surface, take a hard look at past work-- what felt most like you, what offers most potential

What do you think you can commit to exploring in depth?

Set a goal to work in only one medium or approach for a period of time (several months + depending on how much studio time you have) or in terms of # of pieces.

You may be easily distracted by your other projects—put them away, pack away other materials

Make yourself accountable to someone—arrange to show them what you’ve done or have n progress

Wrap-up:
Experimenting and exploring new ideas definitely has an important role in an art practice. We’ve covered ideas about change in previous podcasts. But it is also a pitfall to change so often that there is little depth or consistency in your work. If you recognize that as an issue for yourself, we hope this discussion has been helpful in moving past that particular rut.