Steve Atkinson & Ann Atkinson were our latest guests on our BoldBrush Live! program. As a paid subscriber, we are happy to provide not only the video replay but the full transcript of the insightful session with Steve & Ann below. Please keep in mind the transcripts are generated by AI so there may be some typos.
Creatively,
Clint Watson
BoldBrush Founder & Creativity Fanatic
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Transcript:
Olya Konell 00:00
Welcome to the BoldBrush live with Steve and Ann Atkinson today. They are our signature artists, and they are a power couple, and I can’t wait to introduce them and let them dive into your questions. I also have Angela Agosto with me, who is our Artist Relations Director. You guys, I’m sure all know us, me as well. I’m Olia, and I like to do a quick intro for any attendees today that are unfamiliar with who we are and what we do. So BoldBrush and FASO offer tools and resources for artists now. We’re one company. We just have FASO, our art, our art website builder, and we have a bunch of other tools. We have an artful Squarespace builder, we have a free newsletter, we have the podcast, we have these webinars. Our goal is to inspire artists, to inspire the world. You can learn more about what we do@boldbrush.com and for more information about FASO and some of the promotions that we have going on, go to FASO.com and again, like I mentioned, where we have our very special guest guests, Steve and Anne Atkinson, welcome. We’re so thrilled to have you, and I would love for you guys to just do a quick little intro about who you are and kind of what you do.
Steve Atkinson 01:25
Sure we’re just thrilled to be here. My name is Steve Atkinson. This is my wife, Anne Atkinson, and I am the fine artist of the family, and Anne does everything else in the studio, so I specialize in western fine art and Western landscapes and telling stories. You can’t be a Western artist and not be into telling stories. I like to do a lot of commissions if people have a special place or an idea that they want to to put down and paint, they’ll come to me, and I’ll work with them, and I’ll do photo shoots if I need to, in order to get my reference and put it all together and and then go to the easel after that. So we live here in Prescott, Arizona, and and her dad lives with us, Alan and our cat, boo, the wonder cat. So yeah, thanks.
Ann Atkinson 02:30
And I’m Anne Atkinson. Steve is the love of my life, and we get to work practically side by side. My office is in the art gallery here at our home studio, and there’s just one doorway between Steve and me, and so I get to do everything but paint for Steve and the studio. And as Steve mentioned, my dad lives with us, and my desk is positioned, I feel like Captain Kirk sometimes, because Steve is to my left and the rest of the house is straight ahead so
Steve Atkinson 03:07
and since Anne is only one door away from me, she gets to listen to good music, whether she wants to or not, I know
Ann Atkinson 03:13
good thing. I like his taste. I love that, yeah. But after many years in the business world. About 10 years ago, I, or we, decided that I would join Steve in the studio to again, handle everything but paint. We’ll talk more about that today. And also, I took some of my information technology background, and now I help a lot of visual artists with their websites and a little bit of their marketing and social media plans. So it’s great fun because I get to share my kind of big business experience. But bring it down to a really local community,
Steve Atkinson 03:57
she’s way over qualified for what she does not
Olya Konell 04:02
perfectly qualified for where we are now, yeah, well, and it’s, it’s wonderful to be doing, working with people that you in an industry that you obviously love. You know, the art space, I think, really is wonderful. And artists, we do, you know, artists need help because there’s, there’s so much noise out there, and it’s nice to have what I’m the biggest thing. I’m excited about you guys, for everybody listening. It’s nice to have real life people that are doing it answering your questions. So if you have questions about websites, about how to get people to your website, tips on, how do people learn about your art, like all of that stuff, bring those questions in today. I have a couple that were submitted already, but put them into, preferably the Q A box here, in zoom, if you can’t find it, maybe you’re on your phone, or maybe it’s easier to put it in the chat. Go ahead and drop it into the chat. And so we’re. And also, you know, obviously art questions and art marketing, all of that you want to really dive in. So this is, this will be fun.
Ann Atkinson 05:08
That’s great. Hey, I want to shout out to Cynthia. I’m glad you were born in Prescott. We didn’t get here until later, but I am an Arizona native, so it doesn’t count for native Prescottian, but I’m a wannabe. Russell asks, do you also do Cowboy Poetry?
Steve Atkinson 05:30
I know one cowboy poem, but I don’t write anything. I’ll let that up to the professionals. Yeah, but
Ann Atkinson 05:37
he does. He does lend his artwork for promoting Cowboy Poetry gatherings. So we have a symbiotic friendship, beautiful Cowboy Poetry community,
Olya Konell 05:50
because of the stories and and just the beauty of all of that. Yeah, before we dive too deep, too deep in, because you guys already touched on what you do. I just kind of want to, you know, isolate your offerings a little bit, just in case somebody wants to connect with either one of you afterwards, and or they have to leave early. You know, what’s the best way to get in touch with you? Anne, and what do you offer specifically? And then, Steve, you have a lot of workshops, and I’m going to, we’re going to share the links to all of that right now.
Ann Atkinson 06:20
That’s great. Thanks so much. So you can kind of launch into both of our worlds. At Atkinson studios, az.com, that’s a plural studio, and there’s a contact form where you can reach out directly to me, or you can reach me at Anne, at Atkinson studios, az.com and love to touch base. So my offerings are helping with website design, a little bit of maintenance, a little bit of mentoring, but primarily when updating or creating your website is just too daunting, or you don’t have time, it’s not it’s not where your heart is. You’re not. You hate tech, but you know you have to have it, then I’m a great partner for you, because living and breathing the art world every day, I understand you and well, at least your business, I should say I don’t understand you until I get to meet with you and talk with you. But I just love helping shine the light on artists and their creations and their careers, and so I’m able to help all over the board with that, from helping you set up your custom email such as Steve at Steve Atkinson studio.com to organizing your website so that it shines the light on your work in the very best way possible, and also collaborating with you. So we’ll talk about opportunities and options that are available. You’ll tell me what’s on your mind about how you want to connect with your audience, or we’ll brainstorm other ways to do that, and then I’m my creativity comes in with helping you implement or I’ll implement with you the very best vision for your work,
Angela Agosto 08:22
beautiful.
Angela Agosto 08:24
I love that. That’s and I did share the link
Olya Konell 08:26
and and you, well, I don’t know if you guys caught that, or if you mentioned that, and you used to work with FASO. You used to do a lot of that, so you, so if you, especially if you’re looking to get a FASO website and has the experience to be able to work with you on that as well, because and other things. But she has a lot of experience, and she’s done a lot of our FASO sites, like you have a I was looking at your repertoire. You know, of the different samples, they’re gorgeous. You did a great job.
Ann Atkinson 08:57
Oh, thank you so much, and such great fun because every artist is unique and there’s no cookie cutter involved. FASO templates are so powerful to provide the visuals and the services that artists need to really run their business and their communications, and that is just essential. It’s, it’s uniquely positioned from any other website builder that you don’t have to be real techie to get things done and you still get a beautiful website. Yeah.
Steve Atkinson 09:38
And Russell is asking, uh, how about helping with marketing plein air workshops?
Ann Atkinson 09:45
Marketing plein air workshops, I’d be happy to talk. We’ve got some experience with with Steve and some of the organizations, local organizations, well, actually, and and regional too. That we collaborate with, or that Steve collaborates with. So that’s been a really big part, because we’ll have studio tours once a year. There’s a big county wide studio tour, and people will come through and ask Steve, Hey, are you going to have a workshop? And so Steve collaborates with both a local artist guild as well as a local museum, and so they help with the marketing to their memberships. We keep the workshops page on Steve’s website current, and we listen to people when people are asking for workshops, you know, we want to hear what they want to learn about, right? So that’s the super high level. And please reach out to Anne at Atkinson studios, az.com if you would like to talk in more detail. Yeah.
Olya Konell 11:00
And I want to definitely dive into more of how, how you do, what you do, because we had some really good questions. But Steve, you have, we have to highlight some of your workshops. We’ve shared the link, but you have two coming up this month, and you’re very active, so I’m sure you have more on the calendar.
Steve Atkinson 11:19
Yeah, we’ve got some that we’re setting up for next year. We’re not ready to put them up yet. I just finished doing an I love doing this outdoor sketching workshop, because I think a lot of people, what they’ll do is they go painting outdoors right away, and your drawing is so important. I sit down and I draw every night, and so what this outdoor sketching workshop does is it helps you to by getting the color out of the way and distilling a scene down so that you get great composition, great values you you learn to work on where your focal point is and and let everything else kind of fade away from there. But yeah, I just did one in Clifton, Texas with the Bosque used to be a Bosque conservatory. Now it’s Bosque Art Center, and I have another one coming up with the FIP and museum on November the 14th and 15th, and I get a day off. And then the 17th and 18th. I’m teaching through the oh, let me make sure I get this right. The mountain artists guild here in Prescott, and we usually start. I’ll take everybody to where we’re going. I’ll do a demo each day. I’ll do two demos if people want that, but I want to make sure everyone gets all the chance that they can to sit and draw and get a lot of feedback, and then at the end of the day, we all get together and we share what we’ve done and what we’ve learned and what we struggled with and that that really brings us all along together. And then the other thing that I like to do is encourage everybody, after I get done, to stay in contact with each other. And then you’ve got a sketching buddy to go out and you’ve got somebody to answer to you don’t, you know, you can’t just blow it off. It’s like, well, I got to go because John’s calling me, and I know he’s going to give me grief if I don’t go.
Olya Konell 13:25
I love that. You do that. I love that. And I wanted to highlight something too, that I thought was really cool, that you ought that’s just, I love when, when, when off. Artists are so generous. And I know you talk a lot about that, but like on your workshops page, you have a thriving YouTube, so you actually link to a video making your everyday drawing pack for anybody that maybe can’t travel to Arizona, but you just want to learn. Steve has some awesome videos just how to do this and how to do that. You know, a drawing with water resistant ink. Or, you know, you have all sorts of information and tutorials that you can, you know, support Steven directly, just by subscribing and giving him a like, and I know he’s going to be posting more. He they’ve had a very busy season. Yeah, parents and so, yeah, you have some beautiful videos. And yeah, check some of them out. I love YouTube. I learned everything on YouTube.
Steve Atkinson 14:19
I like being able to get a little bit silly on the channel. So, you know, if you’re looking for dry instruction, I’m probably not your thing. But yeah, we have a good time.
Olya Konell 14:33
That’s one. I love that. So yeah, we’ll we. We’ve shared all the links so you guys can definitely check those out. But I want to dive into one of the first questions that we had from Dylan and I know he’s here today, what is the best way to attract art buyers?
Steve Atkinson 14:53
Well, I have a sign up over my easel that says a quality product creates its own demand. And and you know, the best way is to do the best work that you possibly can. But one of the things that we learned early on was, if you’re just starting out, you get get yourself known locally, and then once you’ve established yourself locally, then you kind of spread out to to statewide, and then from there, nationwide and and if you’re doing good work, people will find you. But you know, there are things like advertising and magazines, and unless you’re willing to do, you know, many ads throughout the year. It’s not, it’s not something that’s going to probably sell your work with just one ad. It’s really a continuation thing. So, you know, you need to have a monetary investment that way. One of the other things that we do is, you know, we don’t have a lot of extra money coming in, but we can donate our time and talents to our community. And when we do that, the people who are active in the community, the art lovers, they find you. And so I do, I do a lot of posters. I think I’ve done six posters for the rodeo now, and I think five for the Arizona cowboy poet gathering. And I love doing it. I used to joke that I was known as the cowboy or the Prescott poster boy, but I love doing it. And it’s just one of those things that it helps me to help the rodeo and people. People can find you that way. I can’t tell you the number of people that come through our studio tour every fall because they’ve seen our posters, or they want to collect more of the posters. So I would just say, get out there and be a part of the community. This is the kind of business that is very relationship driven, and so you have to be involved with that. It’s not something where you can just sit back and expect them to find you. You have to be front and center and present and the more giving you are there. I’ve heard there are two kinds of collectors. There’s the collectors who buy art as an investment, and then there are the kind of investor. They’re the kind of collectors who like to buy art from artists that they know that they like. And you know, it’s the old adage, people like to do business with people they like and and that’s so true, especially in the art business, and you have to do work that that speaks to them as well. I mean, it’s always an honor. Whenever we do something and someone decides that they’re they’re going to open up their wallets and buy one of one of our works, and so that’s just something and make them feel special, obviously, because they are special, and you want to keep nurturing that. So it’s get bringing new collectors into the fold, and it’s also taking care of the collectors who’ve already shown interest in your work. And you know, you can see if they’re interested in something else.
Ann Atkinson 18:27
We are always afraid. Don’t be afraid. We encourage everyone to ask for the sale. When someone’s interested in a piece, open a conversation with them about, oh, it looks like you’re connecting with this piece. Can you tell me what’s on your mind about it? And oftentimes, they will share that the scene reminds them of a time from their youth or with their grandchildren or their kids or their parents, or a place they used to love to vacation, or a favorite moment Steve did one commission for a couple who met as teenagers and years went by. You know, they just are, they split up after high school, and decades went by, and they reconnected in their senior years. And, yeah, they got married, and they asked Steve to create a painting of the first moment they saw each other at the local grocery store.
Steve Atkinson 19:29
So this was back in 1964 so we had to do a lot of research as to you know, had to find out what they looked like, what they were wearing at the time. The boy was a stock boy, so he was stocking magazines, and I had to find out what magazines would have been on the racks in 1964 and her mom was the checkout lady, so we had to know what she looked like. And it was the whole process, but it was great being able to bring. That memory of life for them. And he, the man, presented it to her as a Christmas gift.
Angela Agosto 20:07
So I bet it was just, wow, beautiful. And I put that connection you guys built, doing all that research together, you know, communicating with them. Yeah, that’s just wonderful. Well, and I’d
Ann Atkinson 20:17
like to add a little bit more to the how do we connect, or how does Steve connect with collectors? And you touched on being generous with the community. And so if you’re involved or aware of organizations in or near your community that you care about, find out from them when their fundraisers are, do they have a gift shop and you’re either donating or consigning your original or prints can serve both of you. So for the larger fundraisers here in the Prescott area, we tend to support all things Western related. And so what we have learned is in say, a live auction or silent auction situation, that original paintings don’t necessarily bring the value that the painting would sell in any other venue. And so we really try to protect Steve’s collectors in that someone who’s going to buy a painting of a certain size or a certain complexity, they’re going to pay the same price, whether it’s directly from us through a consignment at a gallery or a store. So what we often do instead is Steve’s drawings are very popular, and those always or historically have gone for a solid price, and that really helps the organization we’re trying to support, and it helps bring a lot of visibility. So what’s on the screen right now is a drawing that Steve did. He’s one of 26 artists invited to the Grand Canyon celebration of art this year, and that was a special event with 22 artists from across the country coming to the Grand Canyon to celebrate and to capture the beauty that is at that is the canyon. And fortunately, the fires, the terrible fires on the North Rim, have not affected the South Rim, and so it’s just a wonderful way to help support the Grand Canyon Conservancy, as well as share in that success. And so thank you for touching base on some of Steve’s work there. The show is up through April 26 and Steve started with 15 original paintings and drawings, and they’re selling at a nice regular clip. So thank you for all the collectors out there.
Steve Atkinson 23:05
And the other thing is, I would really suggest either do prints of your work or glaze or we do note cards. We have a collection back here of my note card, of my paintings on greeting cards. You know, I come from illustration, design, background advertising. So I try and take advantage of, we call that evergreen money, because you can just sell those year after year after year, but get in touch with the local store. We have a collaboration with FIP and the Art Museum, and in their gift shop, they sell my glaze and prints and greeting cards and whatever we can get in there. That’s a great way of having people learn that you’re out there, and then we have had people get in touch with us and do some commissions and buy some paintings. So it’s really just a matter of showing up and being present and finding out what it is that interests your collectors, and then kind of keep working on that.
Olya Konell 24:21
Yeah, you know, it’s love that you guys share these things, because so many of today’s artists, they just kind of, they want to know, what do I do on social media, what and where. And you guys both use social media. You share about events, you have stuff, but I think the biggest way to move the needle is exactly what you just described, and we had other artists share the same kind of a recommendation is, start with your local community. Start small, and don’t underestimate the power of those in person connections that start locally and then, like you described, branching out. Right? And then I love the analogy of the two groups, or the explanation of the two groups of collectors, the one that collects for investments and the ones that want relationships. And in my opinion, you’re going to more likely get more of the ones that want to buy your art because they like you as a person and they like your work. Yeah, 100% you’re going to get more of those. So do not Yeah. And I feel like artists today, you know, there’s all these gurus out there that aren’t, you know, that aren’t telling artists to really focus on, Hi, how are you, you know, those in person connections, yeah.
Steve Atkinson 25:35
And Anne, you know, Anne said something that was really important, and that is, ask for the sale. Our sales went way up once we figured out, hey, you know, we can wrap this up, or we can come hang this for you. We’ll, we’ll, we’ll offer to come out to the house and hang the painting for them. And I tell you the number of times people said, Yeah, okay, that sounds great.
Angela Agosto 26:00
Because, yeah, I love that you’re sharing these details. I mentioned, we have had other artists say, oh, you know, get involved with the community, do this. But you guys are getting detailed. Because a lot of people are like, Well, can you elaborate? And you guys have actually elaborated. I especially love what you said, “get involved with the community”, because that is how you’re going to get yourself out there. People are always asking, artists are always asking, How do I get out there? How do I get known? And like Olya was saying, it’s not just social media. This is a great way to start your community. A lot of people visit. Like, I know when I visit, whether it’s DC or Santa Fe or all these places I love going to the gift shops. Especially in Santa Fe, I’ve been somewhere you go, and they do have the note cards. And I’m like, Okay, well, they have a big piece hanging up there, really out of my budget, but I love that I can at least take a piece of it home, right? And then, you know, most people will be like, Oh, let me go back and, you know, let me invest in this, this artist, and that’s how you build collectors,
Steve Atkinson 27:00
yeah, 100% and we do one tent show a year here just in Prescott. And one of the things that we make sure to do is have something at a price point for everyone. And so I sit down and I sketch every night, and I usually do it on a five by seven, eight by 10 or a six by eight card bristol board. And I’ll, I’ll collect those throughout the year, and then during our 10th show with the FIP, and we’ll sell them for $25 a piece, something like that. And so, you know, we’re, we’re bringing money in and having somebody pay us for me sitting down and practicing. Basically, I love that, you know. And I can sketch whatever I want. Usually, I try to make it a little more whimsical so it catches people’s eyes, you know, like pronghorn with wings that are flying by, things like that. That will, that will get somebody to remember, to remember you, and they come back year after year. And then, you know, once they get a little more established, they have a little more money, then they’ll buy bigger drawings, or they’ll buy small paintings. And, you know, just kind of slide in and, and, you know, just play the long game,
Olya Konell 28:17
yeah, and, and, and what you said about asking for the sale, and what you both kind of emphasized, I wanted just to, and I’m going to bring my screen up too. So this is like echoing from we have a guidebook for all of our FASO website members. It’s called the six plus one steps to closing a sale. And you know, there’s a very important step, and that is, literally ask for the sale and how you described it, connect to the person’s story, ask those qualifying questions, you know, and all of that. And so for artists that don’t art hate sales, this is, I recommend going in and checking out this ebook. So that’s one of the benefits you get with FASO, is you get all these resources. But I just wanted to highlight that because I was like, Oh, that’s so beautiful.
Angela Agosto 29:05
They literally echoed it out of the playbook.
Ann Atkinson 29:07
Yeah. Well, you know, the art marketing playbook and the circles of marketing are really an essential part of how we market Steve’s work, and so I have just have a little print out that I keep right by my desk. And periodically, Steve will talk about what we’re doing to touch on each one of the circles. And so I’ll try to kind of loop us back to some of that a little more often through these conversations. But I did want to add two other things, and that is asking for the sale. So when we’re at a show, especially one that is direct, like the studio tour or the tent show that helps support. The Phippen museum, we will offer to bring a painting to a person’s home and let them see it in their home before they have to buy it.
Steve Atkinson 30:11
Almost always results in a sale. But even if it doesn’t, you establish a relationship with the person and maybe they won’t buy that painting, but there’s, there’s other paintings that you have, and you find out what they like and what color their couch is.
Olya Konell 30:29
No, don’t do that. No, no, actually, actually, you, you are right in the sense, like when you get to know a person and you get to see their home, or you see the picture of their living room. Even on social media, you can say, okay, they have wall space. They like my art because they have similar type of art. They love Western art that’s already there’s two, you know, like you’re putting those clues together, of qualifying them. And in a sense, is this something that they would be interested in? And then, you know, you like you said, Hey, you can offer a specific painting, because you see their couch and their decor, and it would be beautiful, you know? So you could use all those clues to your advantage. And I bet you, even if they don’t buy a painting, they will never forget the experience of coming to your heart, of you coming to their home, right? Share that, and they will tell their friends and all their friends, you know, like,
Angela Agosto 31:27
I had an artist come in, we brought his work, in worst case that you walk away with their contact information, and then you can on your newsletter and send, oh, I’ve got this new piece, you know, they kind of, that’s how you build your, your future collector list, your subscription. So, yeah,
Steve Atkinson 31:39
and that’s a really good point. Keep an email list of people who are interested in knowing your newsletter and contact them. Don’t go crazy with it, but every so often, when you get a new painting, send a blast out to the people that are most likely to be interested in your work, at least have been in the past, and give them the first right of refusal, of refusal. You know, let them buy it first if they want to. And people love feeling special because they are special to you. You need to understand that like I said, this is such a relationship driven business, and if you embrace that, you’re going to do better.
Olya Konell 32:25
Yeah, I mean, and as artists, sometimes we’re tempted to we’re working on something we want to share on social media first, or we want to do, you know, as tempting as it may be, send a text to a collector first, or send an email with that picture first, you know, give them a chance to see what you’re working on first, because then they’ll know that they got to see it before anyone else did. And so that’s how you kind of nurture that. And yeah, very
Ann Atkinson 32:53
FASO has a wonderful tool that you can either reach out to support or, I think you can find it in your settings, but you can have FASO send a new art alert anytime you upload new artwork, and it will automatically go to all of your newsletter subscribers. And so honestly, that is how Steve’s newsletter subscribers hear first about any new artwork, because we always put it on the website first. We know that artful alerts are going to pick it up the next day, and then I’ll post on social media that way Steve’s collectors and fans HEAR from Him first, before it goes to the less personal social media. So we want to thank BoldBrush for that right
Steve Atkinson 33:44
take advantage of FASO marketing plans. They’re, they’re, they’re deep, and there’s, there’s quite a bit to them, but they work. I mean, it’s what has helped us to expand our business quite a bit.
Ann Atkinson 34:01
Yeah, and also I’d like to talk, Oh, yeah. Do you mind going back to Steve’s Instagram page?
Olya Konell 34:07
Please? Yes, let me go ahead and bring it up.
Ann Atkinson 34:13
So the open studio is a big deal for us, and so I’ve learned this great tool. I’m sure a bunch of you out there already know about it, but it’s a it’s an application, a free web app called Canva, that’s C, A, N, V, a.com, and they offer templates that are already formatted for for Instagram, for reels, for Facebook. And so all I did was a combination of pulling in an example of Steve’s artwork with the same message and then ran that regularly for almost two weeks. And so it was just the facts you know, prioritize. Open studio, and then Steve Atkinson, then the dates, and then what was going to be included at that open studio. And so the text and the messaging was the same, but the visuals were different. And what was interesting is we had the most shares on those posts, or because they were also on Facebook for the map, and then a couple of the paintings as the background. Wow. So that’s the first time I had tried that. And then Steve also another 100 people decided to start following him on Instagram. So, and
Angela Agosto 35:45
I love how you played around with it, what worked, what didn’t? You know, with the solid the map was a nice touch. I think that was very unique and genius of you to do that. And then with the painting, I know that I people love to get, whether it’s a business card or something with a painting on it. It just adds that, just to it.
Olya Konell 36:02
And just a point I want to make. So there’s a lot of artists that are like, Oh, you need 100,000 followers. You need. We actually know artists that have like, 500,000 like tons, and they’re not selling. So you don’t need, no, a ton. You just need the handfuls of the right people.
Steve Atkinson 36:25
We had a collector one time, a really good collector who helped me to kind of launch my career. And very early on, she told me, you don’t need a lot of collectors. You just need some really, a few really good ones. And you know, you get those in your stable, and then you can kind of build out from that. But it doesn’t take many collectors to to get you going and keep you keep you busy.
Angela Agosto 36:52
Yeah, I think Clint wrote an article about that when he was when he owned the gallery that he used to be at. He said that sometimes I think it was 20 versus 200 and he said, we are going to get most of our sales out of those 20. We have the most sales out of the other big numbers. And so he just kind of said, I think it was quality versus quantity. But he said it just took a small amount of people, and those are your repeat collectors, and you get to nurture and build that one on one relationship with,
Olya Konell 37:25
Oh yeah, absolutely. We actually have a gallery question, and I want to highlight that as well. We have a couple more in the Q and A box that came in just real quick.
Steve Atkinson 37:37
I just wanted to say, Cynthia, thank you so much for that. I appreciate it. I love painting the Grand Canyon. I was bummed that I wasn’t able to go and paint on the rim because of my dad’s health issue. But, man, if anybody, if any of you, get a chance to go and paint on the rim of the Grand Canyon, do it. It’s, it’s a master class in plein air, painting
Olya Konell 38:03
so many colors.
Steve Atkinson 38:05
Oh, and the shapes are all different, and the colors are muted, and so you have to nail or otherwise it looks wrong. Yeah.
Olya Konell 38:18
So something I’ve realized, and I’m just now experimenting with plein air, is I’m having to remove my contacts because I’m a little nearsighted. I get overwhelmed with the details. So I’m like, yeah, oh, and I’m so glad I didn’t do LASIK for that reason. Now I can just take off my glasses or my contacts. Like, okay, okay, there’s a little less detail. Oh, you don’t
Steve Atkinson 38:36
have to quince squint quite.
Olya Konell 38:38
Don’t have to squint at all. But no, yeah, you’re right. It really, I’m sure it’s amazing so
Ann Atkinson 38:47
well. And whether it’s painting at the canyon or any other national park or local beautiful scene, every artist has a different interpretation of looking at the same thing. And so Steve sees that all the time and his workshops. And when you go to paint outs or things like the Grand Canyon celebration of art, it just astonishes and excites me to see four people can be looking at the very same scene, and they interpret it in four completely different ways, and that, to me, is part of the priceless aspect of art, and the artists voice through their brushes and pencils and pastels, wow,
Steve Atkinson 39:33
yeah, I was good.
Steve Atkinson 39:38
I gotta write that down.
Angela Agosto 39:39
There’ll be a recording. Steve, oh, good, thanks.
Olya Konell 39:44
Oh, yeah, by the way, if anybody has to head out, and if we go over by a few minutes, you know, and you can’t stay for the full thing, we will send out the recording, usually a week later, but, you know, we’ve been occasionally, we’ll schedule it, you know, two weeks later, but it will go out. I do want to ask. Lori is asking, when working with galleries, do they accept more than one subject from you, or prefer you stick to one. What’s been your experience?
Steve Atkinson 40:08
Who wrote that question?
Olya Konell 40:11
Lori Woodward would.
Steve Atkinson 40:12
Laurie, that is such a great question. I got to tell you one thing that I was told early on, when I was just getting into galleries, my teacher was Joe Paquette, and he told me, Steve, don’t be in too big of a hurry to get into a gallery, because once you’re in a gallery, you don’t have nearly the time that you did have to experiment with different styles or different genres or subject matter you’re expected to produce at a very high level, and you’ve got shows and, you know, commissions and things like that. So that’s something that I’ve kind of struggled with my whole career, in that I come from an illustration background. I worked in an illustration house with seven other illustrators, and when the salesman would go out and get the job, he’d bring it back, and whoever happened to be up at that time or open they would have to do pen and ink or airbrush or watercolor or acrylics. And so I developed this love of all these different genres and mediums, and so my galleries would love me to work in just one specific narrow field, and I try and do that, especially for My My galleries here in the West. But you will find that galleries, yes, and people want to pigeonhole you into just what it is that you do. And so if you for instance, there’s that piece there with the pronghorn, and I just had a very minimal background there, as opposed to a lot of my other paintings that are just full complete stories. So I I listen to what they say, but I’ve had galleries tell me, Oh, this is a portrait of a little kid sitting on a saddle dreaming about being a bronc rider. It’s not going to sell because people don’t know who that kid is, and then a day later, it’s sold. So, you know, they know their clients, but, but they’re not always right. Yeah, just paint what it is that you love, that you’re excited about, and your collectors will find you, I promise you that.
Olya Konell 42:37
Yeah, and, and, and sometimes, you know, the advice is true when, literally, every artist that is successful that you’ve talked to is sharing the exact same, like paint what you love. So tempted to, to go with, with, with the wind, you know, to kind of go and, but I do feel like when, because, like you guys were saying, there’s so many different ways of painting the same scenery, if you do it with a passion, that passion carries through in your work. And people, you know, they can see that spark, they can feel that energy, that love that went into it so
Steve Atkinson 43:13
The other thing that I’ll say is, I know I’ve seen too many artists who, early on in their painting career, had one painting that was just It went wild, and people love it, and they spend the next 20 years painting a variation of that painting. And for me, I would go absolutely bonkers if I had to paint the same scene over and over again. So what I’ll do is I read a lot, I’ll read westerns, and a lot of times there’s descriptions in there of a scene. There’s a keep going at this, this train robbery painting up at the top there, this one. Go ahead and scroll back up.
Olya Konell 43:55
Oh, at the top. Okay, yeah.
Steve Atkinson 43:59
And that was directly from a book that I had read about the guys getting up into the coal car and leveling a shotgun at the engineer, and so he throws the brakes on, and just I built the painting from that idea.
Olya Konell 44:19
I love the level of detail and all the little things going on, the little glow on the on this leg right there, you know, just a little detail, the glow of the sparks on his pant leg, right there is stir, I don’t know, I don’t know what the horse things are called. So, yeah, yeah, yeah, I love that. No, you’re 100% and, yeah, beautiful.
Steve Atkinson 44:47
So this is the storytelling that we’re talking about. One of the reasons, one of the reasons I’ve decided to paint Western scenes. I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio. I mean, I was in the steel Valley. I almost had to go. And work in the steel mills, but thank goodness they were closing down about the time I got into college, and I just, I’ve always loved the American West. We grew up with Western movies and books in my house, and so I just developed that love. I always knew that I was going to live out in the west, and so when I got out of illustration and into fine art, there was no question about what I was going to do. I was going to paint cowboys and there was such a learning curve. I don’t paint native Native Americans, because there were 500 tribes in the United States, and each one of them has their own, their own clothing or lack of clothing, and their own. I mean, you have to learn all of the things about that. And I just felt like I would have always been an outsider looking in, whereas with the Cowboys. We moved here to Prescott. I was painting cowboys when we lived in Minnesota, but we moved out here to Prescott because we wanted to be close to the cowboys and get to know people on the ranches and to be able to paint the desert in the colors that were true, and the only way to do that is to be here and painting on location or Yeah. So that’s why, for me, it’s always been the West, but for all of you, it’s going to be something else. And as long as you get up and you’re excited, I still get butterflies every day, getting out into the studio here to paint. It’s a real blessing. It is. It’s not always easy. I think you’ll agree with that. You know, some days are easier than others, but man, don’t lose that fire. And the only way you’re not going to lose that fire is by painting what you love. You know, whether it’s ducks or whether it’s camels or, you know, just make your voice your own, and your collectors are going to find you, I promise you. Yeah. Like
Ann Atkinson 47:18
to chime in on another gallery point there, too is Steve really pays attention to the the environment that the gallery is in. So his Prescott Gallery and the museum, Steve will share his Southwestern work. So the phip Museum is Western, and so they get Western landscapes and cowboy stories and portraits. Then a black arrow gallery in downtown Prescott is a Native American fine jewelry and fine art gallery. And so Steve, just you said you don’t paint Indian Well, not that much.
Angela Agosto 48:01
I was just looking at that too.
Steve Atkinson 48:05
You have a whole collection. I paint, I paint some,
Olya Konell 48:08
yeah, but that was your experience of like, okay, I’m gonna stick to this,
Ann Atkinson 48:13
right? Yeah. So he still does love to share a story about Native America and the ancient people who have been here for in the traditions 1000s of years, and the traditions, and there are powwows that happen in our area that we will attend from time to time, and with permission, will get some photographs of the dancers or the different ceremonies try and get the stories behind people, stories and paint more in today’s presence, so as not to get caught up in inadvertent mistakes about historic regalia. When something gets turned into a piece of art. It actually becomes a part of history, in that people, for future generations, are going to look back at that and think that’s how it was, or that’s accurate, or that’s accurate, and especially with the Native American culture, Steve doesn’t ever want to fall into a trap of maybe having someone dressed in regalia from two tribes that ward with each other, right? Right? All the time, yeah, that just wouldn’t happen. And unless you know the history, you wouldn’t know that, right? But I guarantee people are out there, yeah, who will know that? Yeah?
Steve Atkinson 49:36
So just a real quick story. I did a painting of a crow warrior that was hired by the cavalry to follow the Nez Perce when they were traveling and trying to escape up into Canada. And we had a photo shoot with a bunch of cavalry men who swore up and down that they’re. And all of their attire was 100% accurate. So I got done with the painting, and I sent it over to a friend of mine just before I released it to make sure that I got it all right. And he got back to me, and he said, everything looks real good on this except for one thing, the bit in the lead horse’s mouth wasn’t produced until 1943 or something like that. So I had to, I mean, that’s you don’t know what you don’t know. And so I do have experts, people that I can talk to and make sure before I release something that there’s not some glaring error in there. Because there’s no way, there’s no quicker way to ruin your your reputation than by putting out work that isn’t correct, especially if you’re doing historical pieces,
Olya Konell 50:46
yeah, absolutely you want to depict that’s really good advice if you’re going to paint history, make sure that it’s accurate, because you are helping write history, and that’s right, responsibility.
Steve Atkinson 50:56
100 years, 50 years from now, people will look back at it and think, well, that that was accurate, and you don’t want that.
Olya Konell 51:04
Jane says, I was born back east, but had the same dreams and have been a cowgirl most of my adult life. Is inspiring for my art practice. That’s terrific. I had great Jane, I’m gonna, I’m gonna read this little thing that came into the Q, a, just for you guys later, and then I’ll connect you with Dylan. But he wanted to know if you have time sometime after, for a short call after the webinar, I told Dylan I would connect you, him, with you guys.
Steve Atkinson 51:32
So sure, sure, yeah, absolutely, we’d love that. And just real quick, talking about mentoring. I have done some mentoring in the past, and I love mentoring and helping people, helping artists who are working on a painting, and maybe need a little bit of direction. So I’m very much open to that. I have, I will say that I’ve had people that I’ve been mentoring in the past, where I’ve had them for a couple of months, and I will tell them, do this or do that on your painting, and they’ll come back the next week or two weeks later, and they haven’t done a single thing to it. And so, you know, I’m not going to waste my time or your money. So if you if you come to me and you’re serious about working on what it is that you need to in order to get better, I’d love to be able to help, but I understand business or people are busy and but you know, time is too valuable for all of us, and so I’d love to mentor, but just keep that in mind.
Olya Konell 52:45
Yeah, so, and just as a little tip for it, for everybody, something that we teach a lot, and I’m glad you touched on mentorship, it is one of the most important things in the artist’s journey. Even some of the most experienced artists will periodically go in and take, you know, a workshop from an artist they admire, to learn, to grow. And the way we teach the circles of art marketing. It’s a way of looking at, you know, being an artist in business, and the circles work, inside out and outside in, you have to start with your art and mastery. Then you figure out what you’re going to sell, and then you work on selling it, but to get people to buy, you go back to the outside. You work on building awareness, to build your audience, to turn them into true fans. And we always say, if things aren’t selling, if you’re trying to post and get into your community and do all of those things and just things aren’t working, go back to the beginning and revisit mastery, get a get some critiques, get somebody else to look at it, because sometimes it’s so easy to get tunnel vision. But to do it seriously, with the intent of, I need to identify, you know, I need to step back. I need to look at it upside down. That’s kind of what you’re doing here,
Steve Atkinson 54:00
right, right. And so I said that I normally, after I get done painting in the studio, we’ll have dinner, and then I come back out and I draw in a sketchbook or in my cards. And one of the things that I do religiously is I find out what I’m the weakest at and I studied that for a week or so. So if I’m if I need to work on my hands a little bit more, I’ll do nothing but hands. Or there’s a wonderful challenge out there called the 100 heads challenge. It’s on YouTube. Ahmed Aldori Is the person who came up with it, and the challenge is to draw 100 heads in 10 days. And so you have to do 10 heads a day. They don’t have to be real tight drawings, but you’ll find when you get to the end and you look back on what you started with, you’re going to have made some really good progress. Progress. And so I really, I encourage everybody to ask themselves, to really ask themselves what they’re weakest in, and then concentrate on doing that. So if it’s composition, if it’s color, if it’s values, what did I was it ASPA, Vig, who said color does no values do all the heavy lifting, but the colors get the glory, and which is true. So, you know, make sure that you’re solid on your values. And the best way to do that is through drawing.
Olya Konell 55:35
Yeah, that is very, very, very true. And I was going to say, you know, the the old, overly used quote, practice makes perfect, or practice makes better is true. We should never stop practicing, right?
Ann Atkinson 55:51
Somebody another, another quote that says, Don’t practice till you’re perfect. Practice till you can’t get it wrong? Yeah, there you go.
Steve Atkinson 56:01
Don’t practice till you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong.
Olya Konell 56:05
Yeah, which is forever and ever? Which you know
Steve Atkinson 56:10
you’re we’re never done learning as artists. You should always be taking workshops, if you can. I know some of the, probably one of the best working sculptors today, he’s taking painting workshops and learning that and drawing and so I, I, and I still continue to take workshops from people that I admire. There’s, it’s so great. And you know, if you can’t afford workshops, go on YouTube. It’s amazing. The demos that people do. And I’m talking really high quality artists, you know, look up someone that that you admire and see if maybe they have a channel or or someone has highlighted them
Olya Konell 56:53
Yes, or they appeared on somebody else’s and I’ve seen that a lot. We had a follow up question about a previous thing you mentioned selling prints and just laughing. Just lease, I can’t talk today. Will you please define the difference,
Steve Atkinson 57:08
difference between, yeah, okay,
Olya Konell 57:11
so it’s a type of print. It’s a type of Yeah. So I mean, I guess maybe talk about prints a little bit, what you recommend, or what you choose to to Sure.
Ann Atkinson 57:24
So a Giclee is typically an archivally printed print with archival quality substrates. And so
Steve Atkinson 57:38
usually it’s, it’s printed on Canvas,
Ann Atkinson 57:40
right depending on the medium. So for Steve’s oil paintings, we will print the glaze on canvas. They’re archival. They will outlive all of us, and as long as they’re not in direct sun, still be beautiful. And
Steve Atkinson 57:57
sometimes we do open what do they call those additions, open
Ann Atkinson 58:02
editions, limited edition, right? And so we’ll typically open a limited edition for a piece that is the same size as the original, and then we may offer open editions for pieces that are smaller than that. We periodically get asked, Can we make a print larger than the original? And we really don’t do that. I mean, technically, it’s possible, but it’s just one of our decisions that we’ve made not to do that. So versus a regular print or a poster, even those tend to be a little bit more mass produced. So we will offer paper prints at a price point of $40 and Steve puts an original signature on each of them before they leave the studio. And they just are a lot less expensive to produce, and so we can price it so that it is more attainable for more people. And that goes back to a principle that we actually borrowed from Charlie Russell, a famous Western painter from yesteryear, and that is to allow the art to be accessible to everyone. And that’s not every artist model. There are certainly artists who will only ever produce originals and not go to print, and that model works for them, and that’s terrific. But just with our nature, we like to have Steve’s work attainable. So back to the substrates.
Steve Atkinson 59:39
Well, just, just real quick. And for the G clays glaze, the price on those can range anywhere from a couple $100 up to into the 1000s, just depending on the size of the print itself.
Ann Atkinson 59:54
That makes sense. That’s right. And so back to the substrates, Steve’s water cut. Colors and his drawings often look best when they are printed on, say, 100% cotton watercolor rag. And so that’s those still qualify as G clay because of the archive quality ink, as well as the cotton watercolor rag is also an art archival substrate,
Olya Konell 1:00:23
yeah, no, this is very helpful, because it and you are right. Some people do well, and I think that, I think as an artist, you just have to ask yourself, like, what do you know whatever it is? I’m passionate about painting some types of subjects, subject matter collections do appeal to a wider audience. For prints, you know, they look great on a postcard, or, you know, a, you know, small card or a small print, or, you know, it just works. And then there’s other types of art that just doesn’t make sense to do that. It makes sense to lean in, into this. And so, you know, as everybody listening, I think the step one is identifying, you know, having an honest conversation with somebody that you trust, to give you that to give you that feedback. Because, you know, that makes sense the Grand Canyon westerns, like all of that, people want that in their home. And some they might want to send a postcard, or, you know, or buy green, you know, there’s all these different varieties of things that just make sense, kind of like, you know, you wouldn’t put, well, I guess you could put the Mona Lisa on a t shirt, but, you know, something more, if
Steve Atkinson 1:01:39
there’s money to be made, it’s been done.
Olya Konell 1:01:40
Yeah? So I guess you just have to, you have to make that decision for yourself. But I, in my opinion, I think it’s easier to have these, these diverse sources of income coming in,
Steve Atkinson 1:01:52
yeah, we call it, we call it having different buckets, yes, yeah, of income,right?
Angela Agosto 1:01:59
I do have a question in reference to that, that I’ve had people ask when you’re going to do reproductions of an original, do you own the copyright? Do you sell the original to a collector? Do you let him know this will never be replicated again? Or do you have the rights? You know? Do you keep that? I know I had some artists say that, Oh, I don’t ever sell the copyright so I can make reproductions, right?
Steve Atkinson 1:02:20
Yeah, for us, we always let the people know that you know you’re buying the painting, but we retain the copyright on it if we’re going but if we’re going to make prints of something, or even note cards, we get in touch with the people who who bought the original, and we want to make sure that they’re okay with it. I we’ve never had anyone say no. But if we were to contact somebody and they were to say no, we’d really rather have you not. We wouldn’t,
Ann Atkinson 1:02:49
absolutely not. It comes back to the relationship and integrity.
Angela Agosto 1:02:53
Yeah, that’s beautiful. I love that well. And
Ann Atkinson 1:02:58
I want to come back quickly to how do you get your work out there to collect? We’ve talked about Steve lending his art images to different organizations like the rodeo and the cowboy poets. Well, I’m sure in your community there are organizations that put up flyers for whatever their event is, posters or posters, and
Steve Atkinson 1:03:23
so find out what the submission criteria is,
Ann Atkinson 1:03:27
or suggest to them. Hey, I think my art would be a wonderful complement to your event. How about we collaborate on creating the flyers or the promotional materials, integrating with my art, and bring them something specific that you might have in mind, or if you already see them using artwork on their promotional materials, then, like Steve said, reach out to them and find out how your work can be submitted for consideration
Olya Konell 1:03:59
too. I love that, because the cool thing is, when they post that on their website, or they post on their social media, they will tag you and they will link to your website. And the best way to get traffic to your website is, well, first of all, you know, meet somebody, give them a reason to go check you out on another website. Have a website to have, but other sites linking to your site is one of the best ways, as far as you know, the whole if you’re if you’re wondering about SEO and all of that, that’s kind of dead, that’s gone, but the best way is have people having a reason to go to your site, and you have a site and other sites linking to your site. So these opportunities for collaboration are just such a beautiful way of like it’s a win win. You know you’re lending that, you’re working with them, you’re getting that exposure, and you’re getting more eyes on your work.
Steve Atkinson 1:04:50
So here’s, here’s a little, a little more of a look into when I’m doing the posters, let’s say for the rodeo. I don’t get it. Paid any money in order to do that painting, and they’ll have a theme for each year, like this next year coming up. I’m working on 2026 and it’s America’s 250th birthday anniversary. And so I will do up a sketch, or a couple of sketches, to let them pick which concept they like the best. Then I’ll go and I’ll do the painting, and then what happens is they take the painting, I give them the painting, they own it, and they auction it off, and the money that’s raised goes towards scholarships for kids who are wanting to go to college in either ranching or agriculture, and maybe don’t have the money in order to go. So this helps them to be able to do that. But what I do get from that, other than the exposure and the community goodwill, is I get 100 to 200 posters that I can then sell through my website or through eBay or what have you. And you know, we sell them for, I think, 20 to $25 a piece, and I’ll sign them before they go out. And so we were, we’re always making money a little bit every week coming in from sales of the poster. So I do it partially for the sales that we make from the poster, but a lot of it is the goodwill through the organization and the people who do have who are collecting art here, and they get to know about you through these posters, because these posters happen to be something that’s kind of historical. With the Prescott Frontier Days rodeo, it’s been going on since 1888 and so I like to think that it’s a part of history in order for us to be able to do that. But there is a little bit of money that we make from it. The more posters that you do, the more money that you make over the years. But pretty much, this is a way of us just letting people know that we’re out there and promoting ourselves. And I get to go to, you know, the rodeo and sign posters and get to me, that’s cool, yeah, it’s, it’s great. And the same thing with the Arizona cowboy poet gathering posters. You know, you I don’t create art specifically for them. I submitted and then they choose it. And then, during the cowboy poet gathering, we’ll sit at a table and and I’ll sign posters, and get to meet everybody and all the little kids that are just like,
Olya Konell 1:07:42
That’s beautiful. Yeah. No, that that? Yeah, I thank you for explaining those little details, because then it makes sense. Okay, what? What do I get out of it? And, and if you go into it with a giving heart, I just so much more comes back.
Steve Atkinson 1:07:58
It’s so true. It’s so true. And you’re building, you’re building this community. You know, you’re a part of the community and and we love that. We love that about Prescott,
Olya Konell 1:08:08
yeah, yeah, absolutely. And for artists that aren’t into westerns, let’s just say you paint birds. Look for bird organizations. Maybe you paint, maybe you paint a lot of ocean scenes or whatever find, you know, like your local chamber of commerce, if you live on a sea coast town, like get involved with the community. There’s so many creative ways. If you paint tractors, heavy machinery, get a hold of, you know, category,
Steve Atkinson 1:08:35
supply company,
Angela Agosto 1:08:38
Texas, everywhere you’re coming from, from New Mexico into Texas, or from Louisiana to Texas, you know, we have those guide centers. There’s beautiful artworks in there, especially the one coming from Louisiana into Texas. Oh, these just giant sized, beautiful things with statues and, you know, and the artist’s name is displayed. And then they have a gift center where you can buy what you mentioned earlier.
Steve Atkinson 1:09:03
If you happen to have a museum in your community or close by, within driving distance, go out there, get a relationship going with them. You know, find out if they have shows, and see if they’d be interested in putting your work in their gift shop.
Angela Agosto 1:09:19
Oh, yeah, it’s great advice,
Olya Konell 1:09:21
yes. And they will appreciate the support, because sometimes we think it’s, it’s, it’s an unattainable goal to get a museum to work with you, but they, they’re in the same boat. They would love to work with some great artists. So don’t, don’t. So true.
Angela Agosto 1:09:39
Yeah, if you’re okay with the SAM the what you sent us earlier, just about community, listen and learn like you guys have both talked about that. You touched on everything, but I just want to share your actual words, if you’re okay with that, of course, perfect. Thank you. Oh, I’m gonna, I’m gonna, oh.
Olya Konell 1:10:00
Okay, you’re gonna copy, yes, I’d
Ann Atkinson 1:10:02
like, I’d like to offer to everyone. Also, if you have questions about the nitty gritty of the circles of art, marketing and how we apply them, or, or how you can apply, how you can apply them on a personal level, but please reach out. I, I’m in contact with Olia and Angela, and we are very consistent with how we can do things, but I do bring that extra nitty gritty experience as to what’s worked for us and and very willing to share that.
Steve Atkinson 1:10:39
Finally, we love making connections with every artist. So if, if that’s something that you’re interested in, send it, shoot us an email. I mean, we we’d love to talk with you.
Olya Konell 1:10:49
And you can find them through their website. They have a simple contact button on both Steve’s website, and you can also access it from the joint website, from Anne’s and Steve’s so
Angela Agosto 1:11:02
I did include those links, and they’ll be in the recording as well,
Olya Konell 1:11:06
If I like to ask this question, kind of, as we’re landing the plane and we, I feel like we could, first of all, we could talk more and more and more. There’s so much to cover. I would love you know, it’s a deep well, it is. It’s a deep well, and there’s like little all these different tunnels you can go into, but last words of advice. If there was only one thing someone could take away from this conversation, what would that piece of wisdom be?
Ann Atkinson 1:11:33
I’d say, be true to yourself and your values and your creative spirit and that, I think, is really a foundation.
Steve Atkinson 1:11:45
Well, on a little more practical level, is ask for the sale. Yes, I was always nervous about asking for the sale at first, and then I kind of got used to saying, when someone showed a lot of interest in a painting, I’d say, Well, let me wrap it up for you. We’ll bring it out and hang it in house. That’s they’ll kind of get taken aback, and they’re like, Okay, all right,
Olya Konell 1:12:09
yeah, no, absolutely. I feel like it is weird. And as for artists, it’s a weird thing. You almost have to practice it in the mirror a little bit. Have a couple of go to phrases that you can use, like what sounds natural to you and Clint in the eBook he wrote, and don’t sell past the clothes. If they say, yes, you’re done talking, you go wrap that up. Sounds good. Let’s do it. Or works for you.
Steve Atkinson 1:12:38
If you’ve got a spouse, have them hold on to the shoulder of the person who said yes while you go wrap up the painting.
Olya Konell 1:12:49
I love that. Yeah. Oh, that’s yeah. Really good advice. Thank you. Well.
Steve Atkinson 1:12:55
Thank you very much. We love this, and thanks everybody for taking time out of your day to join us. We, we truly appreciate it.
Ann Atkinson 1:13:03
Yes, indeed.
Angela Agosto 1:13:03
Thank you for your generosity with everything.
Olya Konell 1:13:05
Yeah, and if anybody wants to pass on a little message, feel free to drop it in the chat right now, kind of in the next 30 seconds, because I want to make sure that I I’ll share all your comments with Anne and Steve afterwards. So if you have anything, and
Steve Atkinson 1:13:19
if we didn’t get to one of your questions if I didn’t happen to see it, email it to us.
Olya Konell 1:13:25
Chris, I know that Chris Mooney had a question about FASO templates and stuff, so Chris, I think go ahead and I’ll I’ll send you the link to the Contact Us on Anne side so you can reach out so she can help, help you with some way you know, she can help with, with all of that. Yes, yes, yeah. Anyway, thank you. Thank you everybody. Yes, this was very helpful, and we hope to have you back and everybody else, have a wonderful and creative. Rest of your week, the recording will go out in about a week or two, and all the links we shared will be in there. So all the links
Angela Agosto 1:14:08
and have have a wonderful holiday season. Steve, thanks. Thank
Ann Atkinson 1:14:13
you. You too. Everyone else,
Steve Atkinson 1:14:14
Happy Holidays early.
Angela Agosto 1:14:16
Hopefully everybody will join us on our last one on December 4, last for the year. Our BoldBrush Live with Kevin McPherson,
Olya Konell 1:14:25
yes, and, and I want to say Kevin. Angela, you told me, I think he’s almost blind. You were telling me, right?
Angela Agosto 1:14:32
He has it on his site that he his vision is really bad, and he says that he doesn’t get it corrected, because that’s how what it was. Yeah, hey, yes, yeah. So there’s a whole story about that. Not too sure about the blind thing, but I know.
Olya Konell 1:14:48
Oh yeah, no, no, not the line, but the vision. Because I think that’s what inspired me not to get places.
Angela Agosto 1:14:53
Oh yes, I think we talked about, he was actually in San Antonio visiting recently, but Yeah, he’ll be the last. To wrap up the year. And then, yeah, next year we kick off our 25th anniversary at FASO.
Olya Konell 1:15:06
And next year we do hope to do more group panels. So Ann and Steve, we’ll keep in touch. And yeah,
Angela Agosto 1:15:15
yeah, I think yes, Susan and Scott were here, Susan Lyon and Stcott Burdick, and they mentioned you should do a group one, to get multiple artists together in one panel, so we can have that dynamic.
Steve Atkinson 1:15:29
It’s gonna be like herding cats, you know, great
Angela Agosto 1:15:34
before, and it was a little crazy. I think we had like 50-60, signature artists, and it was a bit chaotic
Olya Konell 1:15:39
We’ll do, like maybe two groups. You know, good idea. Awesome pleasure. Thank you. Thank you again and wish. Wishing everybody a wonderful and creative rest of your day. Take care. Bye, bye, bye.
