Show Notes:
Learn the magic of marketing with us here at BoldBrush!
https://www.boldbrush.com/
Get over 50% off your first year on your artist website with FASO:
https://www.FASO.com/podcast/
Order your exclusive da Vinci BoldBrush paintbrush set!
https://brushoffer.com/collections/boldbrush
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To celebrate our hundredth episode, we sat down with Kevin Macpherson, a fine artist with a deep dedication to his craft and a desire to pay forward the knowledge he has gained over his successful career as a professional artist. In this episode, Kevin discusses his lifelong passion for art, how physical challenges like poor eyesight influenced his impressionistic style, and his innovative "magic grid" technique that enhances his compositions. He also recounts how meeting teachers and mentors changed his perspective on his vision for his work as well as traveling extensively throughout his life. He also tells us about his new book "Reflections on a Pond" which took over 10 years to complete. The book chronicles a full year of the view of the pond in his backyard, thus turning it into a poetic journal of his work. Kevin emphasizes the importance of painting for yourself, staying curious, and to paint what inspires you, not just chase the market. He also shares his advice for aspiring artists to focus on continuous improvement rather than perfection as that is the key to having success. Finally, Kevin tells us about his upcoming workshops at his home studio!
Kevin's FASO site:
https://www.kevinmacpherson.com/
Kevin's new book "Reflections on a Pond":
https://www.kevinmacpherson.com/book/2832/reflections-on-a-pond-hard-cover-book
Kevin's upcoming workshops:
https://www.kevinmacpherson.com/workshops
Kevin's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/kevinmacphersonart
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Transcript:
Kevin Macpherson: 0:00
And painting for yourself, painting what you want to do and why you do it, and not having say, a reason that this is going to be for sale, that if you can find something like that, you're going to find an audience that's going to appreciate that, whatever that subject might be, and that subject may change over the years. You might get involved with just painting still lights flowers, and then it's going to change to portraits. Who knows where it's going to be. But if you do find that thing that is for yourself, you're going to be successful. I
Laura Arango Baier: 0:34
believe. Welcome to the boldbrush show, where we believe that fortune favors a bold brush. My name is Laura Arango Baier, and I'm your host. For those of you who are new to the podcast, we are a podcast that covers art marketing techniques and all sorts of business tips specifically to help artists learn to better sell their work. We interview artists at all stages of their careers, as well as others who are in careers tied to the art world, in order to hear their advice and insights. To celebrate our 100th episode, we sat down with Kevin McPherson, a fine artist with a deep dedication to his craft and a desire to pay forward the knowledge he has gained over a successful career as a professional artist. In this episode, Kevin discusses his lifelong passion for art, how physical challenges, like poor eyesight influence his impressionistic style and his innovative magic grid technique that enhances his compositions. He also recounts how meeting teachers and mentors changed his perspective on his vision for his work, as well as traveling extensively throughout his life. He also tells us about his new book, reflections on a pond, which took over 10 years to complete. The book chronicles a full year of the view of the pond in his backyard, thus turning it into a poetic Journal of his work, Kevin emphasizes the importance of painting for yourself, staying curious and to paint what inspires you not just choose the market. He also shares his advice for aspiring artists to focus on continuous improvement, rather than perfection, as that is the key to having success. Finally, Kevin tells us about his upcoming workshops at his own studio. Welcome Kevin to the boldbrush show. How are you today?
Kevin Macpherson: 2:05
I'm great. Hi, Laura. Nice to meet you.
Laura Arango Baier: 2:07
Nice to meet you too. It's an honor.
Kevin Macpherson: 2:11
Well, thank you. I appreciate you. Calling me all the way from Norway sounds like an except exciting place you're living and experiencing. Yes,
Laura Arango Baier: 2:22
yeah. And I'm excited to be able to talk to you, because you are a man of many deeds, many feathers in your cap, and it's exciting to be able to talk to someone who has so much experience and who has built up your career little by little and has become so successful, I think you're an excellent guest to have for our 100th episode.
Kevin Macpherson: 2:43
Oh, happy anniversary.
Laura Arango Baier: 2:44
Yeah, thank you. So before we dive in, do you mind telling us a bit about who you are and what you do?
Kevin Macpherson: 2:54
Well, obviously, I'm Kevin McPherson, and I live in Taos, New Mexico at high up elevation, about 9000 foot elevation, and I'm surrounded by a beautiful forest and beautiful blue skies, beautiful seasonal changes, and it's a perfect location for me as an artist. I've been here about 35 years, and basically, my whole life, I've been an artist. It's the only thing I ever thought about doing. And by the time I was seven years old, I knew that was going to be what I did. I didn't really know what that meant, necessarily. But ever since I could remember, even you know, at three years old, that's all I like to do, is draw and paint and sculpt and clay and and things like that. It was funny. I was cleaning my studio the other day, yes, my very first book. Oh, this is John neg. He was, he was a, he looks like a very bohemian fella, and he had a TV show in the 50s and 60s, and it was really a great educational academic drawing class. And I remember doing all these, all these different drawings when I was about six years old or so, and so that was kind of funny that I would say he's my first mentor. And it's kind of funny after 60 years remembering, you know, doing these different drawings. So so, you know, he was from back east in New Jersey. And I think a lot of artists of my age, you know, remember seeing him on TV and stuff, so that that was kind of fun way to start. So, you know, I definitely did know I didn't have any real mentor. There was one lady down the street who was a very good artist, and my aunt Eileen was a great artist. And they were two of. My say, my idols. But other than being the best artist in school, and I never really had any training, there was nobody to really give me training. And sometimes when things come natural to you, you can be lazy, perhaps too, you know, and it wasn't really until I got into university at Northern Arizona University, I had a great teacher, Chris McGee, and we're still friends today, and he was such a great artist and is such a great teacher, that he really gave me the discipline and the focus to become what I am today. I believe
Laura Arango Baier: 5:45
beautiful. Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, definitely an artist at heart.
Kevin Macpherson: 5:50
Yeah. And, you know, when I was a kid, my my eyesight was bad, you know, ever since I grew up, but I didn't know it really, you know, my parents didn't take me the eye doctor. And so, you know, I'd be playing baseball. I couldn't see a thing, you know, and, and I was one of the smallest kids in school. Also, I was the second smallest kid all the way through high school, you know, in freshman year in high school, I was 80 pounds. And then, you know, I was too small when I was a kid to play certain sport, you know, you had to be 60 pounds to play football. I was only like 45 pounds. So a lot of those things, you know, that are your say, the negative aspects of your physical and personal Stylism, you know, I couldn't see but that gave me the ability to see color, and the sensitivity to see color, I think, much more than seeing detail. So I think, and I know that's been really a factor in the way I see, in the way I paint, like an impressionist, not much unlike Monet you know, he had very poor eyesight, and I think that's what gave him the ability to see those beautiful fields of color, and then being small and maybe not physically real strong, you know, that gave me maybe another focus, you know, do something like art instead of doing something like sports. And so a lot of my friends, you know, we still ski a lot. And you a lot of those, those buddies, their knees are bad because they were all active when they were young. So mine, mine are still pretty good. So a lot of those things that we look as as being negative factors in our life actually help melt, mold us. You know, to be become the person that we become.
Laura Arango Baier: 7:36
Yes, yeah, you definitely harnessed the powers of what others might consider weakness or might consider a defect, which is really awesome. Yeah,
Kevin Macpherson: 7:47
I have a lot of defects that are helping my painting.
Laura Arango Baier: 7:51
Yeah, it's about how you use those things. You know, they're I really like the point you made about, you know, not like not being able to see well, but you were able to perceive color. Do you find that sometimes, when you're going to paint, you take off your glasses
Kevin Macpherson: 8:05
all the time. And you know, a lot of people have gotten the LASIK surgery over the years. And you know, I deliberately never chose to do something like that, because I I use it as a real benefit to the way I see. So when I'm painting on location, actually, the more difficult the painting subject, the more complex I like to take my glasses off and paint very blindly. And, you know, I actually don't know what I'm painting subject wise, you know, but I'm responding to those pieces of color. And sometimes, then I put my glasses on when I'm totally done and I add nothing to it, or maybe I can focus on something a little bit more. And so I highly recommend that to my students, and it works very well for them, because it's so easy to see detail too soon. And one of the things I teach my students is we're not painting things. And what messes up most people when we're learning how to paint is we're painting faces, hair, clouds, trees, grasses, and that gets in the way, because we have preconceived notions of what those things are, and I try to teach them, and the way I paint myself, I try to think more abstractly and never think about the thing that I'm painting
Laura Arango Baier: 9:34
fascinating. Yeah, that makes perfect sense, and that actually reminds me of I believe you have a magic sort of like structure that you overlay on your work Correct.
Kevin Macpherson: 9:46
Actually, recently, I'd say, in the last 15 years, I actually started working with what I call the magic grid. And here's, here's two videos that we just put out. Not. Long ago that are very successful, and I think really well done. It was very articulate in explaining what I call the magic grid. So it's basically a substructure underneath my painting. So before I go on a painting exhibition, I will actually draw these lines on the canvas, not knowing what my subject is going to be, and then when I get to the place that I'm going to paint, I take them out and i i try to fit my subject into this structure. So it becomes really exciting for me. It kind of reinvigorated my whole painting methods in the last 10 years. It makes me excited, because it's making me see composition in whole new, innovative ways. And many people, the first time I presented to them, they think it's a very mathematical thing. It's basically based on dynamic symmetry. And Michael Jacobs and hambridge presented this in books in last century, but they're very difficult to understand. And so if you have insomnia, they're they're great to pull out, and you know, by the time you get to page three, you're going to be sleeping. But the way I present it is very simple, and it's not mathematical, and it's very liberating, actually, when you start using it. And I never start a painting now without it, and many of my students that are really grasping it, they won't start a painting without it, either. And it goes way beyond just the structure, say, the compositional structure that helps us understand that. It helps with brushwork and drawing and color and gradations and all aspects of painting. I think it's basically one of the best teaching methods out there today, and so I'm really excited that that has been a new focus of my teaching method and my painting method too. I just went to Vienna the other day. I don't know if you can see this painting, and I will send a lot of paintings to you that you can put it into this video so you can see them more closely. But I deliberately went to Vienna the other day to see Egan. She lives work because he was one of the best draftsmen, just an amazing artist, and he uses the same system of the magic grid in his very beautiful drawings and paintings, you know. And so there's a lot of artists like Mancini and carlungus and Maynard Dixon, that have used this, and it helps with the composition, moving and directing the viewer through through the painting. So so it was kind of fun to see it and see how these other artists use that. And it's something that it's not obvious, but it holds the painting together in a way that's so much more powerful. So I'm really excited about teaching that to all my students. Now. It's fun. Yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 13:05
yeah. You know what I like about it? Because I saw images on your website of it, and kind of like how it gets put together. I saw one of your articles where you explain it, and it seems, you know, it does seem like it's very structural in a certain way, just from like first observing, but it actually becomes very intuitive from the way that you end up painting with it, right? Because it seemed like you separate areas into shape and color within that grid, and then it comes together bit by bit, which is really cool.
Kevin Macpherson: 13:36
Yeah, it makes you think more abstractly. Yes, and I think artists, representational artists, you'll always have to have a good structure underneath there, but they have to think abstract every step of the way. And once you start thinking things again, like I mentioned earlier, you know it, it destroys where we're headed in in our painting. And it is very liberating, and becomes very intuitive. And it really teaches you how to how to see those aspects as I talked about, and the color, the color that my students are getting, is just amazing. And I could transform someone, you know, I tease that it's actually illegal now in 17 states, because the universities don't want this method out there, because they want you to be paying hundreds of 1000s of dollars for four years of university study, and they barely teach you along the way, where I can, I can change your life in a week with this method. Is just amazing. It's so fun to see how quickly someone who's ever painted before in their life, how quickly they can grab on to the to how to see as an artist, that's what I'm really teaching them, teaching them how to see. And it can go from abstract to photorealism, all in the same method. So. Yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 15:00
that's awesome. Yeah, excuse me, I really like that. What you just said that the method can be used for different types of painting, because there's always a bit of that separation between types of painting and the types of grids that are used. But I think, yeah, it's, it's great to know that there's something that can be used across the board for everyone, yeah,
Kevin Macpherson: 15:22
and across the board of all mediums too. You know, it's funny teaching the students, sometimes they'll say, Well, can I do a still life with it? Oh, no, you can't do a still life, everything except a still life. You know, like, it's funny how people think, you know, subject wise. Or, as we were said, it's wonderful for abstraction all the way to photo realism, because again, we're breaking the code of how we make those marks. And you can take it as far as you want, but it's learning that method to see as an artist. And whether it's watercolor, acrylic, pastel, oil paints. It's all the same thinking, you know, and then the tools we use and the way we put it on, you know, that's the fun part. And I actually have been doing a lot of acrylic painting lately. On my travels, I go to so many different rural places that it's hard to take, sometimes the oils and get the mineral spirits in Messi and all that, and then the drying time. So you know, when I'm in I traveled to China like about 28 times, and Peru and Guatemala, and a lot of difficult places. So the acrylic has been really good, and also watercolor. And so when I'm learning for myself to paint in these different mediums, I kind of like not knowing what I'm doing. You know, I know how to see, and that's the main thing. And sometimes we have certain methods, like a watercolorist works, usually light to dark, but I approach my watercolors the same way I do my my oil painting, I start with the darkness and work towards the light. And you know, it's a opposite way of thinking and maybe a wrong way of doing it, but I'm coming up with my way of doing it. And so sometimes not knowing how to do something, we come up with a unique way to do it. And I mean, makes it exciting. And that said, sometimes that's stupid too, you know, why not study with someone who really knows what they're doing and get on the right path quickly? So there's two ways of thinking, but when you've been doing something for 50 plus years, we have to find new ways to always keep inspired. It's important as an artist that we have to remain curious and always, every day, find a way that awakens our senses. And it's amazing for me, like just opening my eyes and seeing the light coming to a room, you know. And seeing the color combinations of that morning light hitting some of the things in in your bedroom, you know, and the color combinations are warm and cools, or whatever it might be, that inspires me, you know, as soon as I get up, and I've lived up here in my neighborhood for 35 years, and I probably take 100 photos every day. As I take my walk, it just is beautiful every day. So we have to remain excited in finding ways that we can keep active, like by changing our mediums, perhaps changing our subject. And for me, travel has been a major factor. Although I've painted my little pond out in front of my house maybe 500 times, and still get inspired every time I look at it. I also travel maybe six months or eight months out of the year, various locations painting and the new subject always gets me excited. You know, you're here just one time. This is one unique experience, and tomorrow you're going to be in another place. So that feeling of being on vacation, you know, some people only get two weeks of vacation a whole year, but as an artist, that vacation kind of mode of saying, Okay, I'm in this spot. I got to take advantage of it, you know, I think that's really healthy for me. Some people wouldn't want to travel
Laura Arango Baier: 19:32
that much. I mean, yeah, travel can be really intense for a lot of people, but it's commendable that, you know, you you do it, and then also you remain so inspired by it, because I find it fascinating that you seem to always be on the lookout, right, like how you said, always. You always remain curious. You're always looking for that beauty in the everyday that I think is especially perfect for someone who paints plein air and. Because plein air is very much in the moment, and you're so limited in the moment too, that it's, I can see why, why you ended up, you know, going into plein air.
Kevin Macpherson: 20:12
Yeah, it's dangerous at times like when I'm skiing or driving or doing other things, you know, because I get distracted visually very easily. So you know, when I'm skiing and down double black diamonds and stuff, which is, you got to pay attention, you know? And then I'll start seeing, Oh, beautiful color combination. You ever look at those trees that it's not a good thing to be thinking? Or when I'm driving, I get very distracted. So, yeah, but so you know, whatever it takes, you know, as an artist, to stay inspired. You know, whether it's taking classes or, you know, reading some new books on painting different methods, something to try. Don't be afraid to fail. You know, just try different things. And when you do study with other artists, try that method. You know you went to that person for a reason, their style or their method, or whatever it might be. So you know, give yourself that week to just explore everything that person is telling you. And then afterwards, you know you can pick and choose a little bit of what you liked, or maybe you didn't like anything about it, but at least be open to those new things. You know, sometimes I, once in a while, get a student, they come and take a workshop, they just do their own thing. And, you know, maybe they're just finding an opportunity to get away from something. But, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 21:36
yeah, yeah, that makes perfect sense. Um, I think oftentimes we get a little bit too attached or controlled, you know, to to our way of doing things. And I think it's a great point to make to break out of that and attempt something new, because you never know if it might actually improve your work. Right? It's very easy to get into a sort of like a formula of how you do a thing, and then just repeat it over and over. And that's fine, because, I mean, it gives you a predictable result, right? And I think we're all very comfortable with predictability, but then, yeah, it's a good point, good point, you know, jumping out, trying something new, trying a new medium, doing things backwards. Those are all really excellent, excellent exercises.
Kevin Macpherson: 22:23
Exactly when I went to China, one of the first times I went by myself. I went a couple times prior as a guest to some museums, and then I decided to come back and just I went to Shanghai for a month. I didn't know a person. I didn't know a word of Chinese. And prior to that, I didn't paint portraits. So I went there, and so I started painting portraits, and it opened up a whole new world to me, and also learning the language there, and working with the children I would volunteer. I got involved in that, and I teach over there, and I have a publisher over there. I've done some books over there. So all these things just built up to a whole new kind of lifestyle and a whole new place of wonder. It's so different. And every place I went to China, I've been in so many places in China and some of the most interesting, rural, different places, with the minorities of different people there, and opened so many doors to me. And so that part of thing of taking something and doing something totally different, like portrait, so just a whole new world happened. And then it was an interaction. I love painting portraits from life, and getting to meet and talk to the people and get a real connection with that. And so that's been something that, you know, 20 years ago I didn't have on my radar, and you know, so that whole little shift happened. And so keeping open to trying different things, different subjects will will keep you inspired. But you mentioned earlier, when you do something different, like that, it's interesting. I was very successful with my galleries, having one man shows every year at a couple of galleries, and selling out all the time the landscapes. And when I started doing the portraits. The gallery wasn't interested in that subject, and so that's something easily you could say, oh, they're not interested. I'm not going to do it, you know. Or the gallery, you have a successful painting, and you repeat yourself over and over again, you might make a great living. And as an artist, we all know it's a struggle to make a living, and so that's okay if that's the necessity you want to do. But I think you're going to lose your enthusiasm when you know what the result is going to be every time if you're using the same methods, the same formula, the same format of composition or. Other choices, you'll get success, but will it fulfill you inside? You know, keep you inspired? That's a different thing. So some of the subjects I've done, and for instance, I've been in China over 25 times at a month or two months at a time, exploring different things that took me away from, say, my successful gallery shows, and so I lost momentum in a lot of ways, but I created a an interesting lifestyle at the same point, isn't that what we're trying to do as an artist, survive as an artist, and keep an interest in life. So all the travels, maybe, if I just stayed in my studio, I could be much more successful financially, selling in a different way. But I've created a pretty exciting life by traveling over 45 different countries and sharing my art methods and painting in all those different places. So So I think we all have to make our own choices. You know, of what keeps us alive as an artist?
Laura Arango Baier: 26:13
I completely agree, and I find that that's probably the most common issue most artists would face. You know, when they're starting their career, when they're trying to pursue a career as an artist is, how much do you bend towards the direction of a gallery, if you do work with a gallery or your collectors, whoever purchases your work, versus how much do you bend towards yourself, right, and your own views and vision and perspective? So it's a bit of a balancing act, I would say, for most artists. And actually, I wanted to ask you,
Kevin Macpherson: 26:42
because I'm so curious, to be easily swayed. Oh, yeah, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 26:46
especially when it's money and you got to eat and you can't really eat paint.
Kevin Macpherson: 26:51
Yeah, one thing, Wanda and I never had children, so that makes a big difference. You know, when you have the pressure, you know, having a family, you know, you have to make some choices that are different. Obviously, you can't travel, you know, like the way we would do, you know, she, she would often come with me most of those places. But if you have a family, you can't do that. So, you know, there's a lot of things. And then, you know, if you have to make money, where you have responsibilities, you can't take those chances sometimes. Yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 27:21
that's very true. It's very risky when you've got, you know more than one person to care for.
Kevin Macpherson: 27:26
That's exactly yes,
Laura Arango Baier: 27:28
which is why I actually wanted to ask you, because you started out as an illustrator, how was that for you? And then when did you change over into fine art?
Kevin Macpherson: 27:42
I went to school in Flagstaff, Arizona, as I said, Northern Arizona University. And as I said earlier, I didn't ever really have any any guidance, you know, my family, you know, they didn't really care if I went to college. They had no ambitions for me, you know. But I was always very determined myself. And after I graduated from school, I went to Phoenix, and I worked as a freelance illustrator for about eight years, and I just admired the great illustrators like Bernie Fuchs and Bob Peake, which I was fortunate to study with them in the early 80s and my goal was to become one of the best illustrators in the country. That was my goal. I really didn't know much about fine art, or ever really meet many fine artists. And when 1983 I was still working in Phoenix and Scottsdale artist school started. And it was a great school that really had a combination of some of the great illustrators and great fine artists of the country come come there. And it was just a brand new school in a tiny little schoolhouse. Nobody knew of it. I fortunately just came upon it. I was one of the first students there. And the first year, I took 15 classes while I was working as an illustrator. And, you know, all of a sudden it just changed my thinking. I actually never painted outside before. And one of the artists, Roy Anderson, he was an illustrator from New York. He just moved out west, people like James Reynolds, these were the top cowboy artists. They were all coming from New York, Connecticut. They moved out west, and they finally wanted to paint on their own, and so they were sharing that. And some of the great illustrators from Art Center, John Asaro, who was a big influence on me. Mr. Henninger, actually, Wilson Hurley, have a painting above me. He was one of the teachers there. There were so many great teachers there that just opened my eyes up to a new way of painting outside. And they would say, you know, paint the masses. I didn't know what that was. And so I went to church a few times. I thought, Okay, I'll paint the people in the church that didn't work. Paint what you see. You know, even though I was on top of my class in school and we had great training, this was a different way of seeing and I was a very successful illustrator, but this shifted me into painting, say more in an impressionist manner, which I incorporated into my illustration and my illustration business. Then kept on growing better and better too, but I got so much enjoying painting outside and painting from my for myself, I would take a couple months off at a time for an illustration, which was unheard of because it was such a stressful job and working day and night at high speeds and deadlines and to walk away from a lot of jobs, nobody would think you could do that and come back and keep on working. But I took a chance, and we'd go to Europe for two months and just study in the museums and paint on location and build that thing. And it just kind of started from there. And so, as I said, I was very successful illustrator, so I was making a lot of money, and I just continued to make less and less money the more I painted for myself, until the point is about 1988 I decided to quit the illustration and just become a painter. And it was physically starting all over ground zero, because none of the clients you have in the illustration transfer transforms into the fine art. So I ended up putting my work in galleries, and hardly sold anything. And we moved up to Taos, New Mexico. I bought a tiny little house here. I sold everything in Phoenix. We bought a tiny little house so we had no payments, and we started again ground zero, and little by little, you know, I'd say the first year we made maybe 5% of what I was making, you know, in illustration, second year, maybe 7% you know, like it literally was a brand new start, but it was exciting, And fortunately, my wife was willing to accept that change. So it just built that way. And about that time, I did my first book on painting, which that was like 1996 I think it was published, and is still one of the most successful painting books out there. And I've done three other books over the years since then,
Laura Arango Baier: 32:43
amazing at boldbrush, we inspire artists to inspire the world, because creating art creates magic, and the world is currently in desperate need of magic. Boldbrush provides artists with free art, marketing, creativity and business ideas and information. This show is an example. We also offer written resources, articles and a free monthly art contest open to all visual artists. We believe that fortune favors the boldbrush video, and if you believe that too, sign up completely free@boldbrushshow.com that's BOLDBRUSH show.com, the BOLDBRUSH show is sponsored by FASO. Now more than ever, it's crucial to have a website when you're an artist, especially if you want to be a professional in your career. Thankfully, with our special link, FASO.com/podcast, you can make that come true and also get over 50% off your first year on your artist website. Yes, that's basically the price of 12 lattes in one year, which I think is a really great deal, considering that you get sleek and beautiful website templates that are also mobile friendly, e commerce, print on demand in certain countries, as well as access to our marketing center that has our brand new art marketing calendar. And the art marketing calendar is something that you won't get with our competitor. The art marketing calendar gives you day by day, step by step, guides on what you should be doing today right now, in order to get your artwork out there and seen by the right eyes so that you can make more sales this year. So if you want to change your life and actually meet your sales goal this year, then start now by going to our special link, FASO.com/podcast, that's FASO.com/podcast, amazing. And of course, you would never look back. I mean, you were clearly someone who has enjoyed your career, and you continue to enjoy career, and you're so happy to share everything, which is why I'm also again, I'm very grateful to have you on for that, which is why I wanted to ask you for, I guess, a couple things, you know, what is your main advice, right for someone who wants to become an artist, who lives from their work?
Kevin Macpherson: 34:56
Well, I think Believing in yourself is i. A lot of people, illustration, especially, was a lot about style, having a certain look about your work, to be on the cover of Time magazine or whatever it might be, something that they're the clients are asking you for that style. And so early on in that career, you think that's you just find some style, but it's really learning, you know, all the fundamentals and the principles about painting, so that your style is going to become natural. So, you know, don't worry about that. You know, it's how I see. Like, you know, my core vision helps me see in a certain way. It's the subject matter I choose, you know, it's really, I have these stacks of paintings, you know, here, and again, I'll send you individual ones where you can see them more clearly. But this was in Antarctic last year. So the subjects each painting I do is really a journal of where I stop to contemplate what attracted me. So if we look back at all the paintings I've done in my life, it's really almost a journal in visual terms instead of words. And so if we all paint the same subject, and you have just a way of seeing, a way of choosing, what you pull out, what you edit. You know that becomes your style. So I would say, don't worry about the style. Just believe in yourself. Paint What attracts you, and don't try to copy someone else's. You could be influenced by other people, influenced by their color, the composition, their methods of doing it. But just try to find the subject and believe that. Hey, I want to share. I want to show Laura the beautiful pieces of color that I see today. You know, I try, I try not to make a painting. I tell my students, don't make a painting. Just gather the color, the pieces of color you see, and somebody who's not there, I want you to tell me what you saw, what what attracted you, and little by little, your own voice is going to come out there. And that's really what it is that you have something to say that's unique. Everybody has something that they can tell somebody else.
Laura Arango Baier: 37:28
Absolutely yes, I completely agree. Which leads seamlessly into my next question, which is, you mentioned you painted your pond for I believe it was 300 and it was a little more than a year. It was like 382, days,
Kevin Macpherson: 37:43
68 times. Oh, there you go. So this is my my book reflections on a pond, and all the paintings are documented in the book. The pond is right outside my house here. And if I have an opportunity to do a quick little video of my surroundings. I'll send that to you that you can put in into this it started out. One of the reasons I love this little area was this little pond. I started painting it. And then when I moved to this house 35 years ago, in 1996 is that 35 years ago, more or less, 30 or something, I started painting upon from my window, and I get a couple. I thought, I'll be fun to do a dozen. All of a sudden, I said I got to do one of every day of the year. And because of my travel schedule, it actually took me five years to get one for every day of the year, because I'd be traveling so much, I never home in October. For instance. You know, I finally said I got to stay home in October so I can get those dates. And the reason there's 368 of them, I did one at one for the last day of this entry, one for the first day of century. So there's a couple overlaps, and along with Leap Year Two and stuff. But it taught me there are only actually, this is one that's behind me. This is the actual the little box that I painted them all in, and that's one of the paintings. They're all six inch by eight inch paintings. They're all basically the same composition. They're all painted with just red, yellow, blue and white, just three colors and white. So I did a lot of things, consistent, constant, so relatively, the same composition, all the same palette. And it really showed how that the difference in atmosphere, in light and color of the same subject, and not painting the subject, but chaining painting the air between me and the subject, that's really what the whole collection is about. And so I had done that in it taught me more about painting, I think, than anything else, because every day I'm not using the same formula, just copy. Me, I'm looking for those atmospheric and lighting changes and the compositional changes that happen naturally, and the seasonal changes. It was a great subject that very few, I think, have explored to that extent. And so that, after I did that, took five years in compiling all my Journal notes and creating a book about it. That took almost another five years. So that was a 10 year project. And then since then, it traveled around the United States, various museums and venues, art centers. And then it just recently came back from China. Traveled in China for five years. So actually, it was really interesting in China. It was in a lot of museums in different places in China. And I think it was a really eye opener for them too, because it's a different way of seeing for them also. So I would say that's my, one of my biggest legacy collections. I've kept the collection together this whole time, and just now this, just this year, I'm just now making it available for sale.
Laura Arango Baier: 41:10
Wow. Yeah, I did see that your book is available now, and I was very curious to hear about how it all went about. And I think what I really love about the project, what makes it feel very precious, isn't just you know that the images are beautiful which they are. It's also the the fact that it is almost like the the journal, right? Like how you mentioned, you know, your paintings are like a journal. It's almost like a journal of a year in one one location, right? And how that location changes, and I mean, every day is technically, technically a new day, because the sun does change its position in the sky based on the season, right? So you're capturing the beauty of a place in a full year. And I think that's very unique.
Kevin Macpherson: 41:58
It's interesting to where, where I live. When I first moved up here, I think we had about 10 families that lived year round up here, it's at 8600 elevation, 8600 feet elevation. So it's difficult winters. We can get about 200 inches of snow, and it's out of town from Taos, about 15 miles now, maybe about 40 homes live up here full time. But it's interesting living in a place where we really appreciate nature and the animals here and the change of the seasons and this pond. You know, some of the people that live around the pond itself, when they would see me painting out my window, you know, I'd always be standing in front of the window there, sometimes in my robe or something. Actually, the UPS man actually asked one of my neighbors once, he says, Is that guy a little crazy? Every time I drive by, I always see him standing there in his robe, or his 90s or something, you're like, is he a wacko? But it made my neighbors take notice of the pond also, you know, which I would have thought they would anyway, you know, you do in some way. But to really look at it deeper and really see those changes that are happening and appreciate that, I think this makes us more aware. It made me aware of a lot of things, and it was one of those things because I did travel all the time, and then because I teach and because I work for, you know, having exhibitions. This was just done for myself. You know, I had no plan with a gallery to exhibit these. I just did them. It gave me an hour for myself. And it really was almost like a meditation. And so back to the question of, you know, what suggests for aspiring artists, you know, again, painting for yourself, painting what you want to do and why you do it, and not having, say, a reason that this is going to be for sale, that if you can find something like that, you're going to find an audience that's going to appreciate that whatever that subject might be, and that subject may change over the years. You might get involved with just painting still lifes, flowers, and it's going to change to portraits. Who knows where it's going to be. But if you do find that thing that is for yourself, you're going to be successful. I believe,
Laura Arango Baier: 44:41
beautiful, beautiful. I really love that, yeah, because it's so much more authentic too. It's what matters to me, and why, instead of, huh, how is the market changing, and how can I keep up with the market? But you'll still be miserable, right? Because, I mean, I. It feels like chasing something that's always changing, which doesn't really help much.
Kevin Macpherson: 45:06
No, you'll always be chasing it. Yeah, definitely, exactly, yes, exactly. And so just Yeah, find that subject that you really believe in. You know, there's great artists that just painted a empty glass, you know, water glass, you know, made some beautiful painting. The subject can be so uninspiring, but you can make it inspiring.
Laura Arango Baier: 45:31
Yes, exactly. And that brings us back to your point about, you know, showing like what you see, what what you personally see, and how you want others to see what you've captured, right? How that that sort of translation, right, of the mundane, everyday object, or, yeah, a pretty lake in the back.
Kevin Macpherson: 45:53
Think of yourself as an interpreter, a translator. As you said, you know it's we're translating the visual pieces of color or atmosphere, you know, so someone else can see that, you know, they don't necessarily see it the way we do, and and it opens their eyes then. And you know, we're lucky. We have people that do buy our paintings, you know, that they, they they feel something, you know, and they want a piece of that,
Laura Arango Baier: 46:22
yeah, yeah. And they want also that vision, right? Because you're also selling them, in a way, a vision, something which is very fascinating, yeah? So I wanted to ask you also looking back at your career, because you, like I said, You're a man who has accomplished so much. I know earlier, you had told me, before we started the interview, that it really built up little by little, and now that you can look back at everything, what would you say is the biggest challenge that you have overcome, or what's the piece of advice you wish someone had told you when you first started painting full time?
Kevin Macpherson: 47:03
Well, I guess having a vision like, as I said earlier, when I wanted to be an illustrator, I wanted to be the best, and I never had. My parents never pushed me to do anything. You know, it was, I didn't have that thing. Sometimes when people maybe their parents were a lawyer and they wanted them to be a lawyer, they, you know, kind of fight that, you know, they don't do what they want to do. So I had my own path, and I think I've always made my own choices, whether they were good or bad and not tried to necessarily follow someone else's method of success. Again, maybe that's a stupid thing, because there's great people that we can learn from it. And, you know, skip over some things. I some people. I remember a very fine artist when we were starting out. He really stressed. He wanted to get into the Southwest art magazine or something, and he finally did. He thinks, Okay, now I've made it, but every time you get into a magazine, and I've been in hundreds and written my books, and you know, they're all little stepping stones, so I don't think there's one thing that's going to make you all of a sudden, be the star. And, you know, we've all, you know, I always, I remember, like, getting articles, the up and coming artists, you know, like, you know, when we're young, all of a sudden, now, 40 years are passed, you know, now we're the old guys, you know. Like that old guy, he's still alive. They say, Oh, Kevin's still alive. It seems like it goes in a blink of an eye, in a way, and you know, so again, finding your path that you enjoy the process, I think, is important to it the struggles. I guess I've always accepted the struggles. One of the hardest things for me that I have dealt with, I was always extremely shy, you know, I didn't, you know, I couldn't go in front of people in school, you know, I I got out of even oral book reports. My teacher knew I couldn't do it without passing out, so she let me illustrate my book reports. And I think that was her name was Mrs. Penny, so I love her to this day that she helped me. You know, one more stepping stone of doing my art. And when I became a fine artist and was asked to teach, I literally had to go to a hypnotist for eight weeks just to get the courage to get in front of the people the first time, and, and I would just have sweat attacks and, and to this day, when I still do keynote speaking, you know, for the portrait society or the plein air convention, or wherever it might be. I just was in Ireland a couple weeks ago and did that at the art in the open. And I still have anxiety about that. So overcoming that for me as part of my career, as getting out in front of people and sharing teaching, which is very rewarding to me, and I really see that's one of the best things. I think the art has given me the opportunity to share that knowledge through my books and my workshops, but overcoming that fear that I had my whole life is one of the biggest struggles, but it's important that I force myself to do it so I can add that much more part to my art life.
Laura Arango Baier: 50:38
Yeah, yeah. That's amazing. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, I can imagine how it's fascinating, because, as artists, it's a very solitary career. It's very in your studio or away from people in your own little world type of career. But it's, it's amazing to think that it's actually quite a social career, especially if you want to, you know, sell your work or have some success, right? You have to put yourself out there. So it's, it's very important, like you said, to overcome that. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, yeah. So actually, now that we're on the topic of success, right? Because obviously, success has different meanings for everyone. But in terms of your career, what do you find has been the greatest key to your success?
Kevin Macpherson: 51:33
I think just continuing to do it, you know, to continue to strive to improve and and that word improving, or, you know, is tricky. It's more like an evolution. I think, you know, there's things I painted 30 years ago I couldn't do today. And maybe some of those are my finance paintings, you know, like, never know when you're going to get that great one. So, you know, moving forward every day and continuing, you might get that great one. There's, I was just in Ireland, as I mentioned, and I went back to a location that was near one of my best paintings I ever done. It was called Celtic brilliance, that painting, I did it, and the day before I painted that painting on location, I had eight weeks of painting in Ireland that I was just doing some miserable stuff, at least mentally. I got really depressed, and I never got that before. I don't know why, but I was, I had one of my worst painting days right before my best painting day. So we never really know when that's going to happen, when, when all of a sudden, something clicks, something works. And as I said, the evolution as I continue to do new subjects or try different things, I evolve. And so sometimes my evolution, you know, my collectors sometimes say, Oh, your work is changing, and I know what they mean. By that. They mean, I don't like it anymore. You know, I prefer what you were doing before, and so and that that happens. So again, you have to trust yourself that you're moving in a place that might get you somewhere. So sometimes we go down a path that you get worse for a while, right before something new happens. And so I don't know if that answered your question.
Laura Arango Baier: 53:42
Yeah, it did. And actually, and then some, because you bring up a fascinating point, which is the idea that not every painting is going to be great, and that's okay. You know, the the acceptance that part of doing what we do is also accepting that every painting is going to be different, and it's okay if some are better or worse. I think so many artists today, especially because of social media and online stuff and everything, they feel so much pressure for every painting to be perfect that I think it it causes a bit of a problem internally for that artist, where maybe they might feel like, oh, I I'm such a like, I'm so fake. Or I can't believe that I can make something so beautiful one moment and the next moment, it's the worst thing I've ever done. You know, yeah,
Kevin Macpherson: 54:32
you know, judging our work we have to, you know, do to improve. There's that judgment, but, um, the painting is not necessarily us, right? You know, so if we do a bad painting, we think we're a bad person, right? So, you know, it's, it's hard, like that experience, you know, especially like plein air painting, there's so many, many other factors going into it, you know, are we physically, um. Are good today, you know, like, do we sleep well, you know, or are you sick? Are you tired? You know? So our physical being, you know, it's actually a physical thing to be out there three hours, you know, in the sun focused, and then you have all the distractions of what's going around you, you know, so mental things. And so there's physical and mental things that are happening there that come for us or against us on that painting. So, you know, there's it's different sometimes, when we're in a studio, you know, we have the time to make some decisions without distractions. So there are a lot of different things that when we do a painting, we fail, or we succeed for different reasons. And sometimes the painting that is a miserable experience, making on the spot, making those decisions, thinking you didn't capture something, then you look back, and it's one of your better paintings, and then another painting that what was so pleasurable, well, maybe it's because I really wasn't trying too hard. I was just enjoying the day. And actually, the product is not so great. So, yeah, you know, if Yeah, don't, I'd say maybe 50% of my paintings are keepers, you know. And once in a while you get a really great one, you know, sometimes you don't get a great one for months and months, all of a sudden, something happens. And when you paint for a long time, and you are, say, a good quality painter, good artist, you know, think of it like being a golf pro. You know, they go out for the tournaments, and the best of the best are there. And sometimes they have a bad day, but their bad day is just, you know, so much better than you would ever imagine, right? But still, you know, it's how you physically and mentally are focused for that particular day.
Laura Arango Baier: 56:54
Yes, yeah, that is a very excellent point. The perception of how we do doesn't always line up with the actual result, right? The Yeah,
Kevin Macpherson: 57:08
yeah, the process and the product are two different things, exactly, but we're, you know, I'm lucky that because I travel, you know, I was in Sicily for a month, and Ireland for almost a month, and I get to bring my paint material. And, you know, I experience these places, you know, I meet the people, I eat, the food, I travel, I see the sites while I'm still working a little bit. So it's a nice combination that, you know, as opposed if you were retired and you're just seeing the sites, you know, and you have different focus in the painters. So, you know, we experience it on a different level, I think. And then fortunately, I come back and I have a dozen or 20 paintings that hopefully I sell someday, and I it refuels so I can go to another place. Yes.
Laura Arango Baier: 57:58
Yeah, amazing. Wow. Your life sounds very dreamy,
Kevin Macpherson: 58:05
but we could all find ways to complain, right?
Laura Arango Baier: 58:08
Always, yes, there's, I believe, one of my family members who loves to say that there is no complete joy. There's always a little something that we can find that's not right, but it's still worth looking at the joy Anyway, yes,
Kevin Macpherson: 58:23
yeah, no, I'm so blessed that following say, the path of art, you know, which I think was a gift to me, and I think sharing that gift with others through my books and my workshops, I think makes my life, you know, that much better. You know, it makes I feel like I have a purpose, you know, like I'm giving. Not only the paintings might be something people keep, you know for years, you know that give them joy. But I think over the years of teaching, I've opened and changed many people's lives, teaching them the language of art and opening doors for their lifestyle that have changed, you know? So I see that in a lot of my friends and students, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 59:15
and that's beautiful, because they you're getting a sense of fulfillment, and they're getting a sense of fulfillment as well. So it's very it's very beautiful to see how you pay it forward in a way like you've created this life that has brought you a lot of joy for the most part, right? Because you're doing something you enjoy, and you're traveling, and you're seeing all these things, and you're sharing what you know with others, which then further fulfills you, which is amazing,
Kevin Macpherson: 59:42
definitely. Yeah.
Laura Arango Baier: 59:44
So speaking of workshops, actually, do you have any upcoming workshops that you'd like to promote? Oh, actually,
Kevin Macpherson: 59:50
I have two coming up here in the October at my house. I usually do a couple here each year, and maybe two in a foreign place. And. Them somewhere each year, maybe three or four workshops a year, and they usually fill up in a day or two. So you know, if you do ever see me, mention one on Facebook or newsletter or something, try to get on quickly. But I like doing them up at my house here, because I can share my studio. I have studio escandido, which is like a Studio Gallery, but I have all my work there that I can pull out and show them in many ways, other than when I'm on location somewhere, so that's a nice place to do it. And then I also I collect a lot of art over the years. I have a pretty fabulous art collection of my own, which I share and talk about the paintings. A lot of the painters were my teachers or my influence, like the California impressionist. You know, I'm addicted to collecting art, and I don't need another painting, but I still get them all the time. That's nice. So up here is a really good and then we paint around the pond and around house that is filled with them, great history of art and beautiful location. And then I'm going to do a little one in Texas by the San Antonio missions at the Heinz fine art and I'm also going to exhibit 60 of the pond paintings there. I haven't put them out in a gallery before, so we're going to do that. And then next year, I do something at the portrait society in Washington, DC. And so far, I have it open, which is unusual, keeps me open wherever I can go.
Laura Arango Baier: 1:01:34
That's wonderful, amazing. That's so exciting. And then where can people find more of your work,
Kevin Macpherson: 1:01:42
mainly at my home and through my website, or, you know, contacting me, because I don't have too much work in Gowers right now, because I do travel so much and I just haven't really focused too much on putting stuff in the galleries. Yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 1:02:03
yeah. Well, of course, I'll also include all of your links in the show notes as well. So your website, your social media, everything and yeah, yes. Well, thank you so so much, Kevin, for all of your amazing advice and for your wonderful company.
Kevin Macpherson: 1:02:20
No, I enjoyed it. I appreciate it. You enjoy Norway and your studies too. That's exciting. Yes,
Laura Arango Baier: 1:02:27
thank you. Bye.
Kevin Macpherson — Paint for Yourself and Stay Curious