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For today's episode, we sat down with Scott Ruthven, a landscape painter from Colorado who transitioned from a high-tech business career to becoming a full-time artist after rediscovering his passion for painting. He emphasizes the importance of painting from life, particularly through plein air work, which helped him develop his observational skills and capture the nuances of light and landscape. Scott's journey involved building his art business gradually, selling directly to collectors, and maintaining a professional approach that includes goal-setting, consistent communication, and nurturing relationships with art enthusiasts. He advises aspiring artists to paint frequently, start small, avoid overwhelming themselves, and focus on creating authentic work that resonates with their personal vision. He also tells us about the power of the "one thing" that artists can be doing daily to get closer to meeting their goals. Finally, Scott tells us about his upcoming workshops and exhibitions, including a plein air event in Redstone, Colorado, and the Colorado Governor's Show at the Loveland Museum.
Scott's FASO site:
https://www.scottruthven.com/
Scott's YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@ScottRuthvenFineArt
Scott's Social Media:
https://www.instagram.com/scottruthvenfineart/
https://www.facebook.com/ScottRuthvenFineArt/
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Transcript:
Scott Ruthven: 0:00
You set a goal for yourself, and the goal might be lofty, right? You want to be a self supporting professional artist. Then every day, when you get up, if you think about your goal and you think, Well, what's one one thing I could do today, the smallest little thing, it doesn't matter what's that one thing I could do today to move me in that direction, and that should be one of your top priorities, and you should do that before you get sucked into the rest of your day.
Laura Arango Baier: 0:27
Welcome to the BoldBrush show where we believe that fortune favors bold rush. 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. For today's episode, we sat down with Scott Ruth, been a landscape painter from Colorado who transitioned from a high tech business career to becoming a full time artist after rediscovering his passions of painting. He emphasizes the importance of painting from life, particularly through plein air work, which helped him develop his observational skills and capture the nuances of light and landscape. Scott's journey involved building his art business, gradually selling directly to collectors, and maintaining a professional approach that includes goal setting, consistent communication and nurturing relationships with art enthusiasts. He advises aspiring artists to paint frequently, start small, avoid overwhelming themselves, and focus on creating authentic work that resonates with their personal vision. He also tells us about the power of the one thing that artists can be doing daily to get closer to meeting their goals. Finally, Scott tells us about his upcoming workshops and exhibitions, including a plein air event in Redstone, Colorado and the Colorado Governor show at the Loveland Museum. Welcome Scott to the BoldBrush show. How are you today?
Scott Ruthven: 1:52
Hi, Laura. Thanks for having me. I'm doing great. Thank you. Yeah.
Laura Arango Baier: 1:56
I'm so happy to have you because, of course, I'm very interested first of all in your absolutely gorgeous work. I really love how you capture, especially in your plein air paintings, and also in your studio paintings, you really capture that freshness of the day. There's just something so beautifully fresh in your work that I can just stare at all day long. So really, I'm excited about that, and I'm also excited about hearing about your background, because you have some amazing tips. I'm really excited to hear about so, yeah, so I'm, I'm honored.
Scott Ruthven: 2:27
Ah, well, thank you so much. That's a nice compliment. Truly what I strive for in the work.
Laura Arango Baier: 2:32
Yes, and it shows, it truly shows. But of course, before we dive into all of the delicious fun stuff, do you mind telling us a bit about who you are and what you did,
Scott Ruthven: 2:43
sure. Well, my name is Scott Ruth then, and I'm a landscape painter. I'm I live here in Fort Collins, Colorado with my wife. I've got four adult kids, and I'm really a student of Mother Nature. I paint outdoors year round here in Colorado, and that's the beginning of my work. I love to paint plein air and study Mother Nature.
Laura Arango Baier: 3:07
Awesome, yeah, and it shows and, of course, you know, like you said, you're a student of mother nature, and I find that that should be the case for every artist, because, you know, there's, there's little that we can do without the visual evidence that the world around us gives us about how the world works, and that's how we can translate it onto our images. So makes great sense. Yeah, Mother
Scott Ruthven: 3:31
Nature has all the answers for me. I don't have to make it up exactly,
Laura Arango Baier: 3:35
yeah, yeah. All the clues are there, which, of course, is, you know, it's important for that reason to paint from life. I know some people maybe can't, but painting from life is such a treasure. And of course, you do the hardcore version, which is Plein Air, which I'm perpetually saying on this podcast, how terrified I am of it and how I'll try it one day, but I'm still procrastinating on
Scott Ruthven: 3:58
that. You just got to get out there. Baby steps. Baby
Laura Arango Baier: 4:01
steps, yes, absolutely. And actually, I wanted to dive more into your past, because, of course, your work now absolutely gorgeous, and it started somewhere. So do you mind also telling us about how you began your path of the artist?
Scott Ruthven: 4:16
Sure I you know, I started, I've always felt that I was an artist, right? And went through high school, I was, you know, in the art room all the time, and doing the independent study stuff. And I started college for Art here at Colorado State University, and I enjoyed it, but I got to a point where I realized I'm going to have to pay the bills, and there wasn't a clear path that I could, you know, could see there for earning a living afterward. So I started to get business take some business classes, knowing that I would, you know, in the arts, I'd have to promote myself anyway. And that really turned into a full blown business degree. So I switched my major halfway through, you know, worked my butt off to catch up and. Still graduate on time, but I ended with a business degree. And you know, the benefit of that was that I did get a job right out of college, working for Hewlett Packard at the time in high tech. And that was great, but it didn't leave any time for art. And so for the next 20 plus years, 20 something, I focused on on that pretty much. Well, somewhere in that, you know, toward the end of that 20 years I had, I went to a gallery show in Denver and had an epiphany that I needed to paint, because I had this, this desire in me to to try that. And I hadn't painted in oils before, but I just saw the work, and I thought, you know, I really think if I put my mind to it, I could maybe paint toward this level that I'm seeing here. And, you know, that was naive, too. I was at the bottom of that learning curve, but the desire was there, you know, you know, in your cells, all of your cells, that you're an artist, and that's what you're supposed to do. We all need to pay our rent to put food on the table too. So, you know, I made that trade off and but at that point in my life, I really missed the creativity side of it, and I what I realized, too, is that I was using creativity in a lot of other ways in my life. You know, building things, gardening, a lot of different ways to that, that creativity manifested, that wasn't art as we, you know, know, it maybe. So I started, that was about 14 years ago. I picked up the brushes and started oil painting. Of course, had painted in acrylics and watercolors and that before, but so pick that up, and for just started to really build my skills as an artist and focus on that first and foremost, I didn't think that I would maybe transition in being a full time artist and but you know that first four or five years of skill building and then focusing on The business then came after that all while working. But I think that's important, you know, you can do when you're passionate about something, you can work all day, full time at your job and then still put in, you know, another four or five hours a night and not really think of it, because it's, you know, it's a hobby at the same time. It's something I would do, whether I'm paid for it or not. But over time, I built my business. I started going into shows and competing in plein air events, which we'll talk about that maybe a little bit later here, and building my collector base. And so sales started to come in and grow and become more and more steady and predictable, and at some point there I decided, you know, I built that business up on my art business, and then I've transitioned to be full time as a painter, which can be scary, and I took much longer path than a lot of people. I really admire, some of these young people that just commit to it right from the start. But you know, it's my path, and I think you know what, however you get there, if it's part of you and you get to it at some point in your life, then good for you. It's leaving it on the table, and never picking that up would be a big shame in life. And here I am, here you
Laura Arango Baier: 8:22
are, and you're getting interviewed about your career. Yeah, yeah, no, I totally, I totally, I can relate to that and how, you know, of course, listening to you and listening to other artists on podcasts, every path is so particular, you know, and everyone has different needs. You know, some people might be lucky and they get, you know, familial support in terms of, oh, I want to become an artist, so I can actually, like, you know, do my stuff and have, like, a refuge where I can work. And then other people are, like, I paint in my car during work breaks or, you know, like, it's, that's how it is. And then, if you really, really want it, then nothing's gonna stop you, and you gotta, like you said, you gotta pay the bills, especially if you have a wife and kids, a house like to pay for. There's a lot of stuff that you know. It's when you're an artist. It's not just you. If you have, like, a partner, obviously, you have to take care of that as well. You have to take care of that relationship and make sure that your needs are being met. Their needs are being met. Both your needs are being met. There's a lot that comes into play. Yeah, yeah. So I find it admirable that you know you had that moment where you're like, I can't live like this anymore. I miss painting. I gotta paint, which actually it makes me curious to know, because in those first five years, did you just immediately go out doing plein air. Or how did that work for you? Because, again, I think your plein air skills are absolutely amazing, so I'm very curious to hear how you developed that.
Scott Ruthven: 9:52
Yeah, that's a great question. Thanks for asking that, because I didn't I started in the studio. Mm. And I struggled with finding things to paint, looking for photographs or inspiration. And then when I would get something, I was trying to paint, maybe I was trying to copy, and, you know, replicate the photograph. And if I tried to take it more to a creative place, the work. Than just copying a photograph, I would get stuck in analysis paralysis, mixing colors, like just to the perfect tone and shade and value and that kind of thing. And it was really analysis paralysis, and I think that my work wasn't progressing, and I was getting frustrated. It was too detailed. It just wasn't where I wanted to go. You know when I don't remember how plein air came about, although plein air artists of Colorado or PAC is a group we have in Colorado, and they get out in paint, so early on, I found them somehow and joined them and started going out to they had a weekly paint out, and as my work schedule allowed that, I would join them and start to paint, you know. And some of the artists that I liked at the time were, you know, like Matt Smith, for example, painting plein air a lot. And I think that's what introduced me to it. And some of my friends are definitely into it. A lot of my friends are into it. Most of my friends are into it. But I found that going out and painting on location, you're trying to beat the light right, and so I didn't have time to do all of the mixing and the analysis paralysis. You just have to go and as uncomfortable as that can be. You know, it's the thing that got me off the dime and changed my painting, really, in the studio. Now, I've got that muscle memory. I know how to mix colors. I don't really think so much about that anymore. It's more relational, you know, on the painting, how things are working, tone to tone, color to color. But the plein air painting definitely one. You just go out, you find things that are inspire you, whether it's a little bit of light, and I think it's all coming down to painting light, really, but you find that thing and you jump in on it. And, you know, he rarely get it all right, especially early on, but you start to build that library in your mind of, you know, different things that you've seen affects about, you know, once you start to see reflected light for the first time in an object, and it's Wow, that was there the whole time. I didn't notice that. So though, that observational skill, plein air, really, you know, gives it a workout. And build, built that for me, and, yeah, so that's how I got into plein air, and it really is the genesis of my work. Most of my work starts as a plein air sketch or ideas, or maybe a couple of paintings I've done plein air, and I take the colors from one and, you know, the composition from another, and I'll put those together for a larger studio piece I do paint in the studio now, I don't, you know, always paint outside, but I paint outside most of the year, and even when, even when the weather is absolutely terrible, I spent a week up in Rocky Mountain National Park in January, or, yeah, January ish this year, which is just an hour away from me, but I rented a cabin up there so I could just go out all day focus on that. I love doing that kind of thing. And I went out, and it was like 12 degrees below zero, and the wind was blowing. The backpack was waiting down my, you know, my tripod and the, you know, the wind's just blowing at me. But I thought, you know, while I did think, Okay, this is a little extreme. What am I doing out here? What it really comes down to is I was able to study and capture just another phase of Mother Nature, right? How many paintings Do you see on the wall in the gallery of a snow squall coming in? Right? So while it was kind of miserable. It's fun too. It's a challenge. I think I pushed myself that way. But I've also got that experience actually witnessing and trying to capture some of those effects that are just amazing I wouldn't be able to dream up in the studio. And now I have two small eight by 10 plein airs that are, you know, just a great jumping off point, because I look at them, and it takes me back to the sensing and the feeling and the observing in that moment, even the wind burn and the chapped lips and all of that, right? But when I paint the larger studio piece, that's what I'm after, is I want to get back to that feeling that I had. I rarely will use a photograph as my reference when I get back, it's oftentimes just the plein air work. The exception is if I'm painting a mountain peak, for example, that somebody other collectors will know, like we have Long's peak here in Colorado, if I don't paint Long's peak, correct, there's a whole bunch of people that will call me on that. So. Um, I'll make sure I got the outline and that kind of thing. But within that, I'm really painting, you know, I'll start with my plein air piece, and I'll get it to a point where, you know, I've got the the bigger piece going. And oftentimes I'll just abandon any reference and start to see where that painting is going. And, you know, develop the mood. And once I once I have that feeling when I look at the piece, I get that feeling that I had when I was before the scene, then I know I'm, you know, it's not a slam dunk at that point, but I know I'm in the right track, and I have a high probability of getting the painting that I envision out of it.
Laura Arango Baier: 15:40
Yes, yeah, oh my gosh, you mentioned a bunch of really wonderful things. Because, you know, first of all, of course, the importance of joining other artists, right being around other artists, one for learning, two, for motivation. Because, of course, there's nothing more contagious than being around other people who really love to paint, and that makes it so much easier to just be like, Oh, they're doing something, and they're enjoying it. And I want to enjoy it too, so I want to try it. So I think that's important, you know, for for anyone out there who maybe is struggling with that, it's, you know, join, join artists. Find Local artists. And then I really, love the image of you going out into the snow with your bag and, like, just fighting the wind, because it really highlights how you know every day is beautiful, and it doesn't matter how quote, unquote terrible the weather is, there's always some beauty that you can find in every Day. Like, for me, like there's, there's a beauty in an overcast day that you know, a sunny day might not have. And there's a beauty in an overcast, snowy day that you know a rainy day might not have, you know, like there's, there's so many different days to wander at, you know,
Scott Ruthven: 16:58
Oh, absolutely. And you can paint the exact same scene and get a different painting every day because of the light, silver light of a nice overcast day, or those hard, crisp shadows on a sun, you know, a sunny day, blue sky day, or, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 17:13
yeah, even though humidity is totally different, so that'll totally change. You know, the way you might perceive a shadow on something. If it's a particularly humid day, you might have like, a more, more of like, I don't, I don't know if you've ever, like, felt that where, like, you're out and you feel the moisture in the air, like in your face or in and then suddenly the painting itself, like there's a way to capture that, versus, like, a very dry day, it feels like the colors are more pale. Maybe is there's less, I don't know. There's something in that feel it,
Scott Ruthven: 17:44
yeah, and if you can feel it in the art, the artist did something great, right? They were there. I don't think you can do that so good, so well with a photograph, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 17:53
yeah. Like you have this beautiful painting of like, the these trees and a snow bank and a river and the light streaming in. And it just feels like such a crisp, cold morning to me when I look at it, yeah, I feel like that's exactly what you were feeling that day, absolutely, yeah, yeah. And I gotta look for for your paintings of the that storm, because I think that's, that's something I really want to see, the snowy, cold day that, you know, we don't see, like you said, I think it is very true that we don't. We usually, uh, see paintings of, like, beautiful days and, like, beautiful nights, which I love Nocturne, so I'm a sucker for a good Nocturne, which you have some and I'm like, Yes, all right, yeah, um, but yeah, there's, there's something more to capture. It isn't just like the beautiful day or the beautiful evening, it's like, there's, there's a whole breadth of personality within every single day on Earth. You know, it's absolutely, yeah, yeah. So I love that you mentioned that, and of course, your process, I like the idea that, you know, you do still use your references, but then maybe that'll evolve into an imagined painting, instead of, like, perfectly capturing something that's there, because that's like, to me as an artist, that's like the follow up step after, you know, those first few years of investigation and learning, then it becomes okay. Now I can capture the thing, and then it becomes okay. Now I can do whatever I want, which is, you know, that complete cycle that a lot of artists really want, want to reach. You know
Scott Ruthven: 19:24
how to make an artistic statement rather than a copy? Right? Yeah, exactly No. That's like one of my favorite sayings that, you know I like to say. I mean, I don't take credit for it. I think I never heard anybody else say it. But, you know, I like to be a poet rather than a reporter. When I'm out there, it's too easy to try to be a reporter, and you just get stuck in the details, mired down in that and you don't end up with a painting. So it's okay to move a tree and to change a color temperature and set a mood. You know, what's the poetry of the moment?
Laura Arango Baier: 19:56
Yeah. And again, that's all based on that previous observation. Right, that repertoire of past paintings that you've already built up, you know, in the past that inform that intuition to be able to then choose to do whatever you want. Which amazing, amazing. Gosh, I keep saying it every time, but I gotta try plein air, but again, oh yeah, it's scary. Well actually, what advice would you give to someone who wants to improve at the skill of painting?
Scott Ruthven: 20:28
Well, yeah, I think paint from life, no matter where you're at, if it's in your studio, you know you need to start there, because a camera, unless you're a really great photographer, which I'm not, the nuances of light on the form. You know, you really need to observe from life. And one thing that I learned that I really didn't a lot of my the art that I loved and growing up, you know, were portraits and figure figurative work, and Shishkin, for example, who you have as your background there. I love the work, but I was never really drawn to it. I'm amazed by how it's done, right? Like, how did he do that? But it's not what I want to paint. So my advice, I guess, back to the question, is to paint from life and really study. And where I was going with the figurative and portraiture versus landscape is that, you know, the trees in the bat your background there, for example, they're formed just like a face or a human. Right? The concepts and how you model light on form are the exact same. Your color mixtures might be a little different, but it's about, you know, relative mixtures, and studying how light falls off of a form, or, you know, informs what the form actually is doing. And you know, once you are out there and you observe from life, you start to see these things, you realize that. And so I think getting out there and painting from life is very important, and also not putting so much pressure on yourself to make finished work. It's, it's, you know, it can just be a heavy burden on your shoulder, like you never get out there. You never do it, because you think I've got all of this other stuff to do. And there was a period of time where I would spend, I would, you know, just waste time procrastinating because I would plan to paint. I'd plan to do this. I'd work to set things up. I'd just go all through all the motions to get to painting, but then I would wear myself out. I wouldn't have any energy to actually do the painting. So on that thread, I would say it's a great idea, no matter where or how small of a spot, have a space where your materials are set up and ready to go. If you have them all in drawers, you don't have any place to paint. Just the activity of getting all that together can drain your creative energy. So if you have a place, and you know you don't have to paint, you know, outdoors, necessarily, but let's say you've got a little spot in your garage or a basement or something, just set up a panel, get a palette there, have your paints ready, some brushes, all of that kind of thing. And then when the inspiration strikes, you can go out there. Now, if you're trying to be a professional, you can't wait for the inspiration. You just need to pick up the brushes and go every day. But I find that when I have a creative block, I'll just go out and mix paint on my palette. I'll take a couple of colors and I'll add white to it. I'll just say, Where could this go? A combination maybe that I haven't it's not a go to combination for me, and just getting that little bit of activity going and color mixing. Then all of a sudden, I'm into it. I find myself pulling out a panel, messing around, and then three or four hours are gone, so paint more often, and that's how I do it. And paint from life for those would be the two things to, you know, and painting from life will speed up your decision making process, as I mentioned earlier. That would be my advice. Yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 23:55
yeah, trial by fire, in my opinion, with plein air, especially. But also I would, you know, I would also think that, you know, just, you know, because you mentioned the I would set up everything, and then I wouldn't do it. How much of that do you think is also fear?
Scott Ruthven: 24:11
Oh, all of it probably, you know, I mean, the procrastination is, is probably because of fear, right? And so I would do all this other stuff as a way to procrastinate actually putting brush to canvas. Yeah, and it's fear that, you know, I put so much pressure on myself to make a great painting right away, right? I want to paint like Rembrandt or whatever. I'm not thinking, right? I mean, but we strive for greatness. We're not going to just say I want to really get out there and do some mediocre work today.
Laura Arango Baier: 24:43
Oh, exactly, yeah, yeah. But if we take the pressure off
Scott Ruthven: 24:45
ourself a little bit, that's when you can get out of your head and really get into, you know, creating from what's in you totally, totally,
Laura Arango Baier: 24:56
yeah. It just, I really also resonate with the, you know, the. Right? Ah, we all aim so, so high, which is fine, you know, it's totally cool to aim high, because, you know, that's how you can set your goals. And you can, you know, like, you know, figure out what direction you want to go in is by having, you know, your site set somewhere. But oftentimes, if that site is a little too high, I mean, like you said, Rembrandt, it's like, oh, painful, you know, that's like, oh, the higher the sites are set, the harder it'll be to get there. So I think sometimes it is also good to have give yourself some grace, because you're learning you're still figuring stuff out. You can still aim to meet Rembrandt, of course, or, you know, any other painter that you admire, but, but I think being gentle with yourself, you know, it's like, you can't it's like, if you're like, a seven year old kid and you're just doodling in your notebook and telling that little kid, like, how dare you even try to draw, you'll never be Rembrandt, right? That's like, kind of like the same feeling. And I think in part, that's where that fear also stems from. It's that adult voice that's like trying to be realistic, but it's just hyper critical, and it doesn't really
Scott Ruthven: 26:06
help. I find that if I I'm not so I don't put so much pressure on myself to create a great painting in the moment, especially early on. I mean, I do put pressure on myself to create a great painting every time, but on the front end of it, just say, you know, this may or may not work out, and either way is okay. And then paint. And then on the back end, when you're done with that painting, then you say, all right, objectively, how can I make this better? What could I do incrementally on my next painting? You know, because that pulls you forward too. That gives you that forward momentum to say there's always the next one, and I hope I never lose that, because that's what fuels and drives me. You know, I love to find the beauty in the world, and I'm also looking to take each painting a little bit further than the last, so it's a stepping stone,
Laura Arango Baier: 27:02
yeah, yeah, totally. And then also, you know, with oil paint, it's very forgiving, right? You wait for it to dry and or you, if you don't wait for it to dry, you just wipe everything off with a palette knife. You just rip it all off and you start over. I mean, there's really no reason to think, Oh, this is a failed painting. I'm the worst person ever. It's like, no, just try again. Like, there's no reason for you to give up on something unless you know it's really something that you weren't passionate about, right? Like, maybe the specific view that you were trying to paint just wasn't really hitting the spot, and that's totally fine. Just rip it off, clean it off, wipe it off, do what you got to do and start over, because it's forgiving, you
Scott Ruthven: 27:41
know, amazingly so. And I didn't realize it when I started out, I really thought, oh my gosh, I've got to have solvents and mediums and all this stuff. And now, you know, of course, you just becomes part of your workflow. You don't think about it. But I think a lot of my students, they don't realize that either they're very intimidated well, just, you know, wipe it back or, you know, toss that one aside and, you know, just scrape it down with your palette knife and let it dry and paint something else on top of it later. It's easy, yes,
Laura Arango Baier: 28:09
yeah. And it's really funny, because I would actually think that watercolors are less forgiving, but in actuality, you just spray that down with some water and you let it and you just wipe off or let it dry, and you have, you know, you've have basically wiped off the quote, unquote incorrect parts. Sure, you might not be able to completely salvage the white, but there is a little bit of wiggle room there. But I think oil paint is infinitely much more forgiving than watercolor. You know, in that sense,
Scott Ruthven: 28:38
in my experience, yes, yeah, I feel like I'm
Laura Arango Baier: 28:41
between oil painting and watercolor. I think watercolor is very, very challenging. Because, you know, since you mentioned you also used watercolor, it's, it's one of those mediums where there's a lot of exactitude, but at the same time a lot of allowing for chaos, which is such a fine balance. Yeah,
Scott Ruthven: 29:02
some of the greats are so good at that planned chaos. Yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 29:07
it's insane. That's the whole other can of worms, compared to oil painting, which, I mean, I think oil paintings probably, in my opinion, even easier than acrylic, for example, because acrylic dries immediately. And for an oil painter, who's, you know, Oh well, I gotta mix these colors. And then, oh, okay, I gotta grab some more. It's dry. It's gone, right, right. You're all done, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think oil painting is surprisingly easier than people would expect. But, yeah, yeah, insane, insane. And then now, actually, I really want to ask you a bit more about, you know, when you decided to go into just full time painting, you know, that transition, right? Did you You did mention that you were working a bit while you were transitioning. But, like, what was it like for you, because you had such a, you know, a time. Intensive daily job, right? Day job? How was it for you to start, you know, tapering that off and to make time for painting?
Scott Ruthven: 30:09
Yeah. So I was a supply chain manager in high tech, and I worked in a global position, so I supported people around the world, and it was pretty time intensive, and I learned so many great skills in that, though, and my transition from it was really just based on the passion. I got to a point where, you know the phrase of, are you working to live or living to work? And that trade off that I was giving up my art to do, you know, for money, basically, was appropriate for a time, but over time, then you realize your mortality a bit, and that that trade off, and the balance the money, the aspect of it, becomes A little less important. And I think I think I just realized that, well, of course, I was building my collector base, and so I was seeing more and more sales. And I realized that, you know, while I'm working full time, I'm also selling enough work. I'm selling enough work to earn the income of a, you know, a minimum wage over a year on the part, you know, on a part time basis. So if I really put the time and energy into it, then, you know, I should be able to make a living at it. Now, maybe not the living I'm making in the high tech sphere, right? But, you know, over that period of time, while I was working both, I tried to put away into my retirement, save up money so that I've got a cushion I do like the life that I that that bought me. And just to decide, I think it's important to decide, do you want, do you really want to make art your business, or do you want to keep it as a hobby? You may think I want to be a professional artist, but, you know, maybe you're more comfortable with it as your hobby, and hobby can have kind of a negative connotation to it in this space, and I don't think that it should. I don't know what another word would be for it, but maybe you don't have to be relying on sales of your art to make your mortgage and to put food on the table. But for me, I just realized that I was giving up too much. I was having to say no to opportunities in the art space. Basically, for example, working full time. I couldn't have multiple galleries because I just can't generate enough work to keep them stocked, and I don't have the time to be delivering art and shipping art to galleries and then going and picking up unsold paintings. That would be the worst case scenario is that I'm going back and forth, using all my time in that space. So I have one Gallery, and they've done great for me. And actually, this year, I'm going to branch out and do some more, because I've got that bandwidth now. But for me, in that time, when I was working full time as well, I was focusing on improving my skills, making sellable work. But that's not the that's not the reason I would paint, but I want the quality that people are willing to buy. As a businessman, that's a metric for me. If people are buying and putting their hard earned money into my art, I think, you know, that's a measure of how well I'm doing in what I'm creating. Is my, is my work authentic? Is it connecting with people, and do I have the systems in place as a business then to to, you know, collect those collectors, and manage those relationships. So a lot of my sales began direct. So I would enter shows, of course, go to competitions, and I would sell work in those events, but I wasn't committed to maybe that gallery that the event was showing in, or whatever, but I, you know, I might sell a piece there, but I've also found that people find my work there and then contact me directly wanting to buy something else. And because I was selling direct, then I would capture that, all that information, and that has become really, you know, my gold mine to go back to, because they my collectors are buying our. Collectors are buying the artist, they're buying us as well as the art. A lot of times. Now, sometimes you sell a painting and it's a one off, and they don't really know or care about who you are, but a lot of my collectors, they are. They love the work and they connect with it. That's first, right? And it's just a sidebar on this. I would just say that I when you go to events and you have somebody, see a patron, see your work, and when you see them connect with it, it's such a magical experience. It's a full circle for an artist. And what I realized over the years is that people connect with a painting because. Is for me, when I'm outdoors, painting, I find something that resonates with me. It's it's touching me, like I don't know what it is, but I'm drawn to that light effect or that landscape or whatever it is, and so if I authentically try to capture that and put my own response into that, the end, painting then connects with somebody on a deep, deep level, and I think it's because we it's a shared memory, so I'm capturing an experience and that resonates with a memory that they've had in their life. I've heard so many stories, and it's just really amazing, because you find people that you told strangers. So I do paint on location a lot, right? And I'm not shy to paint in front of a bunch of people. Well, a lot of times in let's say I'm painting in the mountains and I'm on a trail, 10 people will go by. Eight of them will just keep going and not even notice you're there, or think you're you know, wonder about you. But two of them might stop, and those two people are your people. So don't worry about pleasing the eight that went by. Wish them a good, you know, hike for the day or whatever, metaphorically, and focus on the two that are your people, your tribe, because they may not be artists, but they're connecting. They're interested in what you're doing, they're interested in your work. And so often people just have a real emotional connection and response to my art. And I just I was blown away by that to begin with. So capturing that and developing that is really important. And so back to the transition of this I started selling the work directly. And people might buy a small painting to begin with, but these people that connect with me and the art have been repeat buyers. So I've got multiple people that buy paintings over time. And sometimes it might be two or three years in between, and then this person pops up again. But I always try to keep that contact list, you know, fresh and green and active. I do that through my newsletter, and, you know, my website, my FASO website, has been that was the whole vehicle for me to make these sales right. It was something to showcase the work, to put it out there. But I'll come back to that in a little bit. But keeping these contacts with the people that bought the work direct, and being able to sell directly was really how I built the business while I was working full time. And you know, they're a great source of encouragement, and I try not to just use them for sales. I try to add value. I try to understand them. You know, so many of them have become good friends, and it's just, it really amazes me how quickly you can bond with somebody over a piece of art,
Laura Arango Baier: 38:01
for sure. Yeah, if you've been enjoying the podcast and also want to be able to ask our guests live questions, then you might want to join our monthly BoldBrush live webinars, where our guests artists discuss marketing tips, share inspiring stories and answer your burning questions in real time. Whether you're a seasoned painter or just starting your creative journey, this is your chance to connect, learn and spark new ideas. And whether you're stuck on a canvas or building your creative business, this is where breakthroughs happen. Don't miss out. Ignite your passion and transform your art practice by joining us. Our next BoldBrush Live Webinar is coming up on May 22 with our special guest, Sarah Sedgwick. You can find the sign up link in the show notes 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 BOLD BRUSH, 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, yeah, and it's really interesting because, you know, I mentioned a couple things there that are worth noting, right? First of which, of course, is, you know, if someone's choosing between, you know, doing this as a full time career versus a hobby, right? I feel like the big you know thing is, how fulfilled do you feel with your day job? Right? Is your day job fulfilling enough? And maybe you also feel some what fulfilled with painting, sure, but if you like you right, with your day job, you felt, you probably felt very unfulfilled. Like, yeah, the money is nice, but there's a payoff. Of, I don't feel fulfilled in life. I don't feel fully sparkly in life, you know, I don't feel like I'm enjoying it, and I don't want to have to wait until, you know, maybe 2030, years from now, when I feel like I have time to do it, I don't want to wait, right? And I think that's one of the biggest factors, is fulfillment, yeah, and then I think that it's really interesting because you mentioned the awe inspiring quality of the places that you go to, and that really reminds me of this term called the sublime, right where we're seeking out the sublime, which is anything that's like awe inspiring and it makes you feel this amazing, like, ah oh my gosh, you know, like, there's something more. There's something that makes me feel like this tiny speck, and I just feel like I'm part of this bigger thing. And I find that I can, I can definitely relate to that, you know, finding the sublime. Yeah, it's a beautiful word. I love that word so much. And I think, you know, it's, it's, it's something to aim for, because you can find a sublime, you know, just as you can find it in the landscape, right? You can find it in figurative work. You can find it in other aspects, right? So, for, for listeners who might be like, Hmm, it's not just a landscape, of course, but yeah, and I love the metaphor you gave of, like, you know, the eight hikers who just passed by. Because sometimes, I think especially at the beginning of our careers, we might feel a little bit upset or sad because, oh, those eight people walk past, like, yeah, I got these two, but those eight people didn't care. It's like, it doesn't matter. It's okay. You can't sell to everyone, and that's fine, which, of course, you you're very well versed in that, as you know someone who studied business that you can't, can't sell to everyone, right?
Scott Ruthven: 42:52
Yeah, find your niche. Be authentic. I think that's the most important thing. Is for artists, we just be authentic. Paint the things you love, and you'll find your right people, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 43:02
exactly, yeah. And that's You just reminded me too. Because, of course, the business side is really important, right? We want to pay the bills. We want to make a living from it, right? But then, of course, the primary thing is to paint what you love like you said that authentic. This is what I want to capture. This is what I want to share with the world. This is how we want to add value to the world. Add value to the world. And then the secondary part is, okay, how like? What is something that people would like, like, for example, I think last time I asked you, which is, I think now a good moment to bring it up, right? What about the size of paintings? Right? There's because there's also that aspect. Not everyone has a wall space for a giant painting, and that really also affects sales. So like you know, in in your work, do you find that there's, like, a size of paintings also that is more common to sell, or
Scott Ruthven: 43:53
it's interesting, I paint a lot of smaller pieces, 810s, 912, 1216, type of sizes when I paint on location, plein air, just because that's what I'm not a fast, fast painter. Fax. Some of my friends, you know who you are, would chide me for being a really slow painter. But anyway, I paint on the smaller side, plein air and galleries. A lot of galleries were asked for really big works, because they, you know, they do sell big works, but they don't always sell big work. So I, I think to answer your question, because I sell direct for a lot of my work, and sometimes people don't see their first piece that they buy in person before they buy it. They're on my website, right? So I try to get the best representation in my photograph of the work and all of that, but somebody will lay out a few 100 bucks for a small original, and then when they get it, and then they like it, they'll buy more. Maybe that's their price point, and they're always buying the smaller pieces, and that's fine too. But the more they become familiar with you know who I am, the product. That I'm giving the quality. You know what? I my ethos all of that they will buy bigger pieces, and they feel more comfortable spending more money sight unseen or commissioning me for something. So I would say that's like 18 by 24 and smaller is very easy. Well, I shouldn't say easy still work, but easier for me to sell direct. Beyond that, I think typically it's better for a gallery to handle for a number of reasons. People want to get up close with those larger paintings, and they're paying 1000s of dollars for it, rightfully so. You generally have a little more frame presentation and weight and size, and so shipping and handling all of those things directly is more than I want to do, and the gallery is set up to do that. A lot of times they're selling to a local market, and the person's buying that and carrying it away anyway. But I There are high end large commissions for big homes. There's no shortage of those in some of our mountain towns here. But I think that the bread and butter is in paintings that are affordable to maybe more of the masses, not the art loving masses, right? Because they don't have the wall space. A lot of collectors have just run out of wall space. And one of the neat things is knowing these collectors, I get invited into their homes to see their art. They love to talk about their art, you know? So if you're if you get to do that, kind of take mental notes like, how are they hanging art? Do you know? What kind of framing Do they like? What are they concerned about? When they get a piece from an artist? You can glean a lot from going into a collector's home, but there are a lot of solid collectors, artists included. You know, I've got my arts primarily on these walls back here because I do these, you know, kind of videos and stuff. But I've got works from other artists as well. I love to collect. And so there's a lot more people that can afford a 500 to $1,000 painting, and then, you know, there are shows, and there's galleries that can sell, you know, more of the work in the 2000 to $5,000 range. And then I think there's kind of a limited market, maybe I shouldn't say, but for me, at least limited market or limited house, houses and collections that can handle these 48 by 48 and larger type of paintings, so, but I can't paint a lot of those either. So the mix, you know, works out. I think what's important is to have a little bit in each of those categories. And from volume to answer your question, the volume, you know, is higher at the lower size, or the smaller size, lower price point, and, you know, and it tapers off the higher you go. You're the larger size and higher price.
Laura Arango Baier: 47:50
Wow, wow. A lot of food for thought there. Because a lot, sorry, no, I love it because, you know, it really also sparks that idea of, like, Okay, where is there, like, a really nice sweet spot in terms of the types of paintings that maybe I want to do, right? Not not just me personally, but any listener who's considering, like, Okay, this is the type of work I like. How can I best, you know, make it so that it's a little, maybe a little easier for me to sell a couple, you know, less expensive, smaller pieces, but still, have, you know, sold some instead of just making one big, really, uh, long term painting, right? Because that's the other aspect of your soul painter. It isn't very convenient for you to spend a year on a painting, because you need to eat that whole year and you need to pay your rent for that whole year, unless, of course, you have a day job, which is the other option. So, you know, finding that balance of the income and production right, like not, not every artist has the same pacing, right? Some artists are really lightning fast painters, and some artists, you know, like you or me, actually, I'm quite a slow painter, like to take their time, and that pressure just doesn't work, one for the creative aspect and two for the practical aspect, right? So that's a really interesting trade off to also be considering, as an artist, you know, the production speed versus, you know, the size of work and then the income side. So it's very interesting. Yeah, yeah.
Scott Ruthven: 49:21
Well, and one other point I'd make here is that as a plein air painter, it is maybe I found myself getting too comfortable with small paintings, and it's important to try and when you scale up from a nine by 12, you know, to a 30 by 40, or something like that, or an eight by 10 to a 30 by 40, you make a lot of different decisions, and so you need, you need that practice. You need that ability to scale up, because your small work might, you know, reel somebody in, but they want a bigger piece. And then some, some plein air painters have a difficulty scaling up and painting a large studio piece. Piece from it. And then the other point I'd make on that is, I think it's for me, it's been important. I found that by having larger, well developed pieces that people say that's really beautiful, but it's a very high price point. Maybe out of their price point, they have a little more faith in me as an artist and comfort maybe spending $600 on an eight by 10, even though $600 they wouldn't even imagine spending that on a little eight by 10, right? That's a lot of money to some people. But when they say, when they start to think, well, you know, I could have a little piece of this, artists work for this, versus the 15,000 for the big piece that I can never have, I can still have this painter on my wall. And so I would recommend that for anybody is do have some showcase work at the higher price point, still within a range of how you would price your paintings, right. Don't go crazy on the on how you you know, price your larger work, but have those as examples of what you really can do. Galleries want that as well. They want to know that you're not just stuck in, you know, postcard size paintings,
Laura Arango Baier: 51:12
yeah, yeah. And that's another excellent point, you know, having that breadth of, you know, size, and, you know, trying to test stuff out. And it's fine to have one larger piece, and, you know, one larger piece, and maybe some medium sized pieces and maybe some smaller pieces. And, you know, branch out a little bit, because then you have a range of options as well. You know, product sizes, quote, unquote, product size. I hate
Scott Ruthven: 51:33
to say product, but, you know, if you think about that, then you do think about the presentation overall, because people are laying out their hard earned money for this. You do have a product. It's not it's a one of a kind, and it should be beautiful and authentic. But if you're going to sell your work, it's still a product. It needs to look great, have great presentation, and not be something that somebody you know regrets buying when they get home. Yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 51:57
exactly, exactly. And, you know, I mentioned this the last time I spoke, but I want to mention again, which is that it kind of made it kind of makes it seem like, you know, what we do is much more akin to, like, luxury brands. Because everything we make is bespoke. It is one of a kind. It is a whole experience. Because, you know, a lot of people, wealthy people, specifically, who buy a very luxury brand things, they're not just buying the object they're buying, like you said, the brand, right? And the brand, in this case, would be ourselves, us as an artist, which I think is even more, I think, much more authentic and much more beautiful, than just like, oh yeah. It's like, we've got to hunt or Prada or something. It's more like, oh wow. This is by this one human being who put their heart and soul into learning this craft for many years, and now I am purchasing a little piece of that experience that they have, which is, it goes beyond, of course, just some random purse. But yeah, it's, it's a whole thing. And actually, I wanted to ask you also, do you find that there are other skills that you got from your previous job that you were able to carry over into painting? Yeah,
Scott Ruthven: 53:04
for sure, I was thinking about this last night. So I'll start off with just bookkeeping and accounting, which seems kind of left field here, right? But it is one of those things. If you're going to be selling your work, then you need to have those skills. It doesn't have to be hard, but what's really hard is, if you wait all year and you try to remember what you happen, that's crazy, but you know, there's a lot of tax advantages everything. As an artist, you know, if you're going to paint all your materials, all your time, your travel expenses are all tax deductible, so if you're going to claim the income and pay taxes on that, you should look for and record and keep track of your deductions as well. But it can be a lot so, but I do think about that as a business. This is my business here, and I try to keep up with that. I do keep up with it on a daily basis. It's part of my workflow. So bookkeeping is, you know what I would say accounting scares people away, but it's bookkeeping, recording your mileage, recording your sales, that kind of thing. So that came really natural to me. But so beyond that kind of, you know, mired down in the weeds, bookkeeping stuff, you know, I became comfortable speaking to large audiences, being accountable to goals and my communication clarity and communication promptness. You know, having a product like we said, that looks good. It looks good from the back. It's got certificate of authenticity. It's got the little things that people care about as a product, right? The frame is clean. It doesn't have little smudges of fingerprints. I can't tell you how many times I go into galleries and you see a frame full of fingerprints and dust and, you know, the artist has just reused that thing over and over again, or somebody has, you know, my my business career taught me. That you know those details matter. And you know another example is, if you're you're you're in a show, or you're not even going to a gallery, but you're in a show, and you've got to ship work, follow the instructions, be prompt, replying to emails. The coordinator, whoever's putting that work in to mount that show, really appreciates that. And when you're somebody, you want them to say, Gosh, you were a pleasure to work with. When you can do that, who, I have so many examples where my name was top of mind with somebody because of a good experience, right? And then when an opportunity came up, my name was in the top of their top of their mind, and so I got another opportunity, because they thought of me, you know. So it's those details we got to produce good work, but that's kind of the given. It's all the other things, which can be a mountain of work. Honestly, it is running a business. You got to think about it as a business. Try to be profitable, try to build on whatever you're building. So you've got a network, you've got collector base, you've got social media following all of these things. You're saying yes to opportunities. A lot of times we don't. I want to say no to an opportunity. I don't really. There was a movie a few years ago, probably too long ago, but I think it was called Yes man, and he couldn't say no to something, and it changed his life. That's kind of, you know, the nutshell. I couldn't remember all the details, but, um, to a point you shouldn't just say yes to everything, and you're chasing your tail and wasting all your time. But there are a lot of great opportunities that come up, and they might be scary because they push you out of your comfort zone, but you have to say yes, because you never know where they're going to lead who you're going to meet. I meet fascinating people when I travel to these shows or I plein air paint, sometimes I pinch myself. I think, how do I some of the people I know and have met and the experiences that I've gotten to do I never would have if I weren't, like a TV personality or a rock star or something, I think, Wow, this is amazing life. So it can be a great life as an artist. Get out there, be uncomfortable, be professional, and, you know, set. And then let's talk about goals for a minute. Goal setting is another thing I learned from business, and I think can be a struggle for artists. There's a great book that I recommend by Gary Keller, and it's called The One Thing. And this book the essence of it. I read it two or three times, when, basically every year for a few years when I first found it, because I thought it was a great reminder. And it's about, you know, how you you set a goal for yourself, and the goal might be lofty, right? You want to be a self supporting professional artist. Well, that's hard to undertake at one thing, and it seems daunting, and maybe you procrastinate because you don't know where to start. And so the whole concept of the one thing which you should read, because there's probably a lot more to it than I remember. But my key takeaway that changed my life in business, this was years before, doing art full time. But you know, you take that thing, you have your goal. You got to know where you're going first of all. But then every day, when you get up, if you think about your goal, and you think, Well, what's one one thing I could do today, the smallest little thing. It doesn't matter, what's that one thing I could do today to move me in that direction? And that should be one of your top priorities. And you should do that before you get sucked into the rest of your day. You have alignment where you want to go, and then you've got just one little thing. And you think I could do that one thing today? Maybe it's like, I haven't sent a newsletter. I've never sent a newsletter. It intimidates me. Well, what's thing? One thing I could do today? I go into my Faso website and look at that newsletter link in there and see what it takes, and just open that today. Maybe that's your one thing. So now that you got past that scary thing, well, tomorrow is alright, you know what? Maybe I'll just write down an outline of what a monthly email or newsletter would be. And what you you know what happens is Success builds on success. You say, I already moved forward a little bit. I can do this, and pretty soon, you know, we way underestimate what we overestimate what we can do in the short term, and then we wait, underestimate what we can achieve in a long period of time, or in a long distance of time. And you know, it's just, I see that over and over in myself, if I move forward a little bit at a time on a regular basis, toward a goal that I'm really sure of, and this is really trying to review your goals every day. Do they align with where you are, who you want to be, where you want to be, and then thinking about that one thing, and some days, that one. Thing turns into five things. But you look back over a year and, you know, you're amazed, I do a YouTube video or a YouTube channel, and I was looking at that, I pulled it up here. I have 78 videos on there. Now, if I at the beginning of that thought, Okay, I need to start a YouTube and film 78 videos. I would be completely overwhelmed and never start. I can't even really believe that I've done 78 videos, which, you know, isn't a whole lot. There's people with hundreds and hundreds, right? But for me, I look at that and I can barely even remember doing all of that work. It just seems like, how did it grow? But it was just doing one at a time, a little bit at a time, whatever I had the energy for. And, you know, then back over time, that's something that's built on itself. People have subscribed. It gets more views. I'm reaching more people. I sell more art. I sell art from that kind of thing. So that's a great book, and definitely one of the skills that I got from business is goal setting and holding myself accountable to achieving results over a period of time. So setting the time frame for yourself and going after it as small in chunks as you need to for your your work and life situation.
Laura Arango Baier: 1:01:20
Wow, Yes, that sounds like an amazing book, and it's so true. I think what's really interesting, too, is the way that you mentioned this also kind of reminds me of how, you know, we were talking about, when you're starting a painting, you have this lofty goal, right? And that can be really overwhelming, and that fear, again, kicks in of like, oh, I want to do this, but it seems so hard, right? So I think that that definitely, you know, is type of mentality you can have within even the act of creation, right? It's like, Well, I do want to paint like Rembrandt, but what can I start with that is more manageable or reachable and just breaking things down? And I totally agree. I mean, actually, was thinking on how, you know, been painting for 14 years. You know, as a full time artist, that's actually quite a short amount of time,
Scott Ruthven: 1:02:06
yeah, and it's I feel so much like a student still,
Laura Arango Baier: 1:02:09
yeah. And honestly, that feeling, I think, stays forever. But what I find fascinating is, because I had an instructor at the Academy, and he would say it takes at least 10 years, at least. And, you know, and for some people might be a little faster, for some people might take longer. But with you mentioning, you know, like daily steps, just like one tiny thing, one thing a day that I think is also, you know, that contributes to those 14 years being so short. But at the same time, you're selling and you're making a living, and you're enjoying it, and you're still expanding and growing, because you've focused on, okay, what's the one thing? What's that little thing I can do today to, like, move forward? And it builds up, and before you know it, you've done a gajillion things in a year, and now you have more opportunities for the next year that just come up thanks to you know how you said Success builds on success, and that's, it's a message of hope, yeah, yeah.
Scott Ruthven: 1:03:10
And it asked, it only needs to be a little success. It doesn't need to be huge success, right? So exactly small wins, the little win, it's a win for you. Nobody else knows it, but it was a win today. So celebrate that and be proud of yourself. And then tomorrow, go after it again.
Laura Arango Baier: 1:03:24
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And then, of course, you know, that's awesome too, that you have your YouTube channel, because that's, you know, as you, as you're, you know, making your paintings, right? You're making a painting, you're finishing a piece, but then also you're sharing that process with the world. And then also, you, might gain students, you might gain collectors, and then eventually, you know, I haven't checked, but I don't know if your YouTube is monetized, eventually the YouTube gets monetized, and now you have this tiny little passive income that's coming in while you're also selling your work and also doing all these other things, right? So it truly does. You know, that little piece of work every day just builds up. And I think humans are really bad at exponentials. For that reason, we're really bad at realizing how things can exponentially grow, because it just doesn't fit in our brain. But it truly is just one little thing, you
Scott Ruthven: 1:04:16
know. And I always like to ask people, How did you find me? Whether it's a collector. I asked you this when you reached out to me, right? And it's, it fascinates me. The and I an example I just give is a recent I just picked up some commission for multiple paintings, right? And it's a people that just live an hour away from me, but they found my work when they were visiting their son in California at a gallery in a show that I'm in. So, you know, I'm just a local guy for them, really, and but they saw my painting in person, and they like it. And they said, Hey, this is a Colorado guy. They looked me up, they signed up for my email, and now I've got some business from them, so I. You never know. It's just such a great and the YouTube channel I started because I was getting more requests to teach workshops. I do teach plein air workshops, but they take a lot of time, and I'm teaching eight or 10 people because I don't like to have a huge crowd. I think I really want to have that individual attention that I give to my students. But there's only one of me, and the time is just, you know, I can't the trade off in time is too much. So I started the YouTube channel as a way to just kind of do some live streams and that type of thing and and try to share how I paint. And then that became a community of people that tune in for those and the followership grew, I did monetize eventually, although I'm not gonna, you know, it's like, it'd be my full time job, because it's, yeah, it's not what I want to do. But I like to teach. I like to share and and so that's a community of its own. I've sold work to that community. But, you know, really, I try to, I try to give more than you know, a trick I would pass along is to nurture your community. Your collectors don't always look to just sell. Can I make a buck from this person? What can you give? How can you, you know, and giving might just be taking an interest in their life, sending them a nice note, remembering a birthday. He's texting them. I mean, I'm on with I text with my collectors. I'm sure a lot of the you know artists do as well, but that's a great thing to do, because it doesn't really take anything. Everybody texts today. It's an easy thing. If you know somebody's birthday, text them a happy birthday. And so, you know, seek to give some value, rather than always just pulling value out of your audience, whether it's YouTube or your email list, your your galleries, that kind of thing. Because this emotional bank concept, if you've heard of it, you know, you can't, you can't keep making withdrawals out of your bank account without putting deposits in. So, you know, I seek to make more deposits than withdrawals.
Laura Arango Baier: 1:07:02
Wow, beautifully said. Beautifully said. Because, again, you know that there's we're a person. Our collectors are people, and it's good to remember that, because, yeah, we need money to live and we need money to have, you know, food on the table, or mortgage and everything pay our rent. But in the at the end, you know, it's a human being who purchased your work and who loves your work, and who's a fan of you and and more than likely, it could be easy to become friends with them, because if they like your work and you made your work, you have something in common, right? There's always something in there, yeah, and I have a very similar kind of friendship with one of my collectors, where we text, will send memes, or, you know, call them on his birthday. And it's not just like, it's like, Oh, it's great that he bought my piece, but also, like, I appreciate this person as as a person, too. So that's a great point. I mean, one, yes, okay, as a business person, useful because client. But also there's that gray area of like, well, they're also, they could be a friend as well, or, you know, they're supporting you in a nice, monetary way, but also in that emotional side, right?
Scott Ruthven: 1:08:14
Because it can be solitary being an artist. And, you know, maybe we're more introverted. I'm a balance. I am an introvert. I feel very comfortable being introverted and alone in my studio and all of that. But, you know, my business career kind of took me out of that and a forced extrovert. But now, you know, I'm comfortable in both. So, you know, I'd prefer it being introverted, but when you when you connect with people that love your work, it's a really easy friendship. You don't feel like you have to go out there. Sometimes that can be a energy drain, having to be around people. But you know, when it's the right people, it's a real boost. So you know, artists and like minded collectors and and just doing great things in this world are a big source of energy for me.
Laura Arango Baier: 1:09:00
Yes, totally. And the source of inspiration as well, because it's, it's nice to be around other people who are just as excited and happy and and, you know, want to talk about all these beautiful things that we all see in the world as artists, and they appreciate it, and that, you know, great point.
Scott Ruthven: 1:09:17
It's how we all see the world. I think that brings us together. Yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 1:09:21
yes, definitely. And you mentioned actually that you teach workshops. Do you have any workshops coming up or any exhibitions that you'd like to promote? I
Scott Ruthven: 1:09:30
Yeah, I do have a few things this year, as far as a workshop. I've got one coming up in at the end of July or August. My website has all of this. Scott ruthven.com, but I don't teach a lot of in person workshops, maybe one a year, just because of the time commitment. So I did. I was invited to teach a workshop at the beginning of the redstone plenary event here in Colorado. It's just up the road, you know? I mean, it's. In the state for me, so not a big deal. And so I was invited to participate in that, and I'll do a workshop on the front end. You can find details on my website about that. I do, you know, sign up for shows. I'm so fortunate. I was juried into the Colorado Governor show for my eighth year, and it is such a wonderful show. It's at the Loveland Museum, and it opens here on May 2 runs for a month. But you know, my gosh, the likes of Guang HO and Dan sprig, and I'm just so blessed and overwhelmed to have my work hanging that kind of exhibit, and to be able to get juried into that, because it's tough. I fully expect not to get juried in every year. Makes the let down easier if you don't. But you know, you got to be realistic. So that one's coming up. Let's see. I've got redstone plein air just looking at my computer. Oh, and then I'm going to go up to the Hamilton, Montana at the end of July, I have a piece in the American impressionist society's national show up there. So thankful for that, too. And when I go to these shows, you know, I try to go to them as much as possible. I mean, it is my job. But I'll also paint and do the, you know, try to extend the trip out and do plein air pieces and painting. So I'm planning to go up to Yellowstone and into Montana, and, of course, through Wyoming on the way, and paint a bunch of plein air and get a lot of inspiration for studio pieces when I get home. So that's at the end of July. Oh, and then I get invited to this thing called Snow mass plein air. And snow mass is a little town right next to Aspen here in Colorado, which most people know, and their arts council puts together. This is the third or fourth year where they just invite Colorado artists. They invite about 20 of us, and we come up there for the week. They totally take care of us, put us up, and we're just allowed to paint. And then we have a show at the that following weekend at the end where we sell our work, and they introduce us to, you know, just a bunch of great collectors. I stay at a home with some collectors that are very prominent people, a huge collection of art. And I just, you know, it's one of those things where I pinch myself, like, how did I get to do this? Right? You know, stay a week in Aspen for free, and then you get to sell work. So not to brag, but that's just one of those things. It's a lot of work. You go out there every day, you're up at sunrise or before, and you're you're coming in after dark, and you're trying to make your best work, but it's the opportunity and in the environment and and so anyway, that'll be coming up in in August as well. Yeah, those are the top of mind things I've got coming up.
Laura Arango Baier: 1:12:53
Awesome. Yeah. And that sounds amazing. I don't even know about that. I think you know, if there are listeners out there who are, you know, in Colorado or near Aspen, you know, they can also look into that and see how that works, because, you know, it's a great opportunity. And again, like you said, you know, it's one of those things that, like, you pinch yourself when it happens. And you know, someone had told you, maybe 10 years ago, that that's an opportunity that would have crossed your path like you would have been like, No way, what? So it's, I think for me, it's really wonderful to hear, you know, you mentioned how you've had these wonderful opportunities, opportunities come up, and it's obviously been a lot of work to even get to that point, to even get those opportunities. So I think it's a huge win. It's a huge win. Yeah, I
Scott Ruthven: 1:13:33
never want to take it for granted. Yes, you know always, I always appreciate it like it might be the last time, and keep pushing my work forward,
Laura Arango Baier: 1:13:41
exactly, yeah, yeah, totally. Oh, and then where can people see more of your work? I know you mentioned your website, but what's your YouTube channel? Yeah,
Scott Ruthven: 1:13:50
my YouTube channel. So everything on social. I kind of brand the same way Scott Ruth fun fine art. And you know, my website is Scott ruthven.com but I've got a YouTube channel with a lot of instructional videos out there, and a few about business, a little bit about my story. But really the things that people resonate with and we really want to watch, I think, are the How to videos and the plein air type of stuff. So I'm on Instagram and Facebook. Facebook a little less these days. I really like Instagram. I don't market through those at all, other than, you know, just posting. I don't buy ads or anything like that. But if you want to keep up with my work on a daily basis, you know, it's Instagram for sure, especially when I'm traveling. But I do keep my website up to date, you know, and that's why I chose the Faso website. I've been probably a Faso member for at least 10 years. I would guess. I don't even know it's been a long time, but I chose it because it's so easy to update. I don't need to know code or anything like that. So, because it's easy to update and put links to sell my work, and I sell a lot of work directly, I really do keep my my website up to date too. Helps me track my inventory also, if I just put it in there. When I have that at a gallery or something, I put a painting at a gallery, then I can say that it's at this gallery or at this show, and easier for me to keep track of all the work, too. So yeah, my website, Instagram, YouTube, perfect.
Laura Arango Baier: 1:15:15
Yes. And I will be including all of your links in the show notes as well, for anyone who wants to go right into it. Yeah, of course. And thank you so much, Scott, this has been food for thoughts. I really, really enjoyed this conversation. I think it's awesome that I could pick your brain about not just you beautiful work, but also business, because that's such an important thing.
Scott Ruthven: 1:15:35
Terrific. Thanks, Laura. I hope, I hope this is a value to you know, a lot of artists out there,
Laura Arango Baier: 1:15:41
oh yes, I truly think so. So yeah, so thank you so much. Likewise.
Scott Ruthven: 1:15:48
I appreciate it. Take care.
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