You’re so thrilled about the possibility and decide to click on the link provided in the email. As you reach out to click on the link, you immediately stop yourself. Right away, you begin to hear the voice of your inner protector telling you this opportunity is way above your head. It means you’re not ready for a chance like this and discourages you from trying because you’re going to be disappointed again. Next, your inner critic chimes in and tells you that your art is not good enough and you’re not good enough.

Suddenly, the tingling in your belly, the excitement running all over your body, and the picture you painted in your head about the opening night abruptly disappeared. You hear loud and clear, this opportunity is not for artists like you. The morning that started so well suddenly ended up triggering your insecurities and messing up the rest of your day.

Do you relate to this story? Have you experienced something like this before? Perhaps, you wanted to introduce yourself to a gallery owner or curator but found yourself thinking of all possible excuses to avoid taking that step. Or maybe, you finished your amazing body of work and feel stuck and unsure about what to do next. You’re not into social media marketing or sales. Let alone trying to convince a gallery owner to represent you.

As artists, we are our worst critics and oftentimes our mindset gets in the way of our success. You are constantly juggling studio practice, marketing, sales, and keeping up with the demands of your personal lives. Many artists feel intimidated by today’s art world, which demands constant social media presence and often selling their art themselves. If you ask any artist, they will tell you that they only want to be in their studio. Consequently, many artists experience frustration, insecurities, and self-doubt that affect their art business and quality of life.

In Crush Self-Sabotage and Live Fully! The Artist’s Wellness Journey to Confidence and Success, husband and wife co-authors Sergio and Dr. Yanina Gomez share strategies to help you understand your inner critic so that you take on healthier risks, gain confidence, and experience success. They also share their insights and experience to empower you to boost your confidence and live your best creative life.

As a psychologist and wife of a successful artrepreneur, Dr. Yanina understands the struggles artists experience as they navigate the complex art world. As an artist and gallery owner, Sergio knows first-hand the challenges involved in building a successful art career.

In Crush Self-Sabotage and Live Fully! The Artist’s Wellness Journey to Confidence and Success, you will learn…

• Practical strategies to overcome self-sabotage that’s depleting your energy, mental space, time, and disrupting your creative flow.
• Ways to free yourself from negative thinking that leads to unnecessary stress and anxiety.
• Things you can do to improve self-trust, move forward, and live your life to the fullest.
• How you can tweak your mindset, become more confident, and maximize creativity.
• Insightful self-reflection exercises that guide you on a journey of self-discovery, self-awareness, personal growth, and ultimately, a healthier lifestyle.
• And more life-changing strategies!

Even if you don’t consider yourself a creative person but want a healthier mental state, this book is also for you! It’s time to stop the nagging voices in your head that say you or your art are not good enough. This book will tell you how.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

YANINA GOMEZ, PhD, is a psychologist, author, and speaker. She has a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Educational Psychology and has also completed the Internal Family Systems Model Training, an integrative approach to psychotherapy.

Her insight and understanding of the psycho-emotional issues many artists experience have allowed her to identify practical mindset and emotional wellness resources artists may benefit from when dealing with their art career in a healthier manner. She believes that artists who maintain an optimal wholeness balance (Mind, Body, Soul) can enjoy healthier lives while making a more significant impact in this world. She enjoys developing seminars, programs, and resources that are relevant to the thriving contemporary artist, especially brainstorming with artists about their career development and emotional well-being. Finally, she is a mother of two amazing children.

SERGIO GOMEZ, MFA, is an award-winning Chicago-based artist with international recognition. Sergio’s artwork has been the subject of more than 45 solo exhibitions in the United States, Romania, Italy, Mexico, and Vienna. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Spain, Sweden, Mexico, Austria, Italy, South Korea, England, Kairo, Belgium, and the United States. In 2018 Sergio was the subject of solo exhibitions at the Museum of the City of Queretaro, Mexico, Museum of the City of Cuernavaca, Mexico, Museum of Art of the City of Cluj, Romania, and Museo Internazionale Italia Arte of Turin, Italy. His work is in several private and public collections.

Besides his studio work, Sergio Gomez is the Curator and Director of Exhibitions at the Zhou B. Art Center in Chicago. He has curated over 100 exhibitions in the US and abroad. He is also the director and founder of 33 Contemporary Gallery, co-founder of the Art NXT Level Academy, and founder of Amplified Art Network.

His weekly Art NXT Level podcast and Breakfast with Sergio video show inspire and educate contemporary artists from around the world.

Crush Self-Sabotage and Live Fully! The Artist’s Wellness Journey to Confidence and Success is on sale now on Amazon and wherever books are sold. Learn more at www.theartistnextlevel.com/book.

The post How to Understand Our Inner Critic, Gain Confidence, and Live Fully appeared first on Art Business News.

The struggle is as real as it can get. At some point in their careers, most artists will have to deal with existential and financial issues that may hinder their true calling’s upward progression. This can even result in complete despair and loss of creative drive.

And who can blame them? A long day of making lattes or answering emails is miles away from inspiring and simulating. At the end of the day, you might be lost as to what the purpose of all your hard work and effort may be.

How can I balance a full-time job with an art career?

All is not lost. First and foremost, you have to make it clear to yourself that creating art is something that should be your motivation to get out of bed in the morning. And yes, sometimes it might be hard to have such an outlook. But as the old saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Try to think of your day job as a test of your determination and willpower, rather than an unfortunate turn of events that makes you question yourself as an artist.

No matter how mundane and tiring your full-time job may be, it’s no reason to give up on your art career! Luckily, the 8-hour shift does not mean you have to neglect your projects. We have a few ideas that can help you make use of the little time and energy you have left after returning home from work.

Find a mentor to keep you on your feet

Having a supportive and well-meaning mentor who can counsel you and keep you on your toes can be the key to staying afloat in the art community. The benefits of having someone who is an accomplished and mature artist on your side can serve as inspiration that will allow you to focus and create your art despite the 9-5 hardships you endure daily.

It is highly likely your mentor also had to struggle with finding their way and keeping their drive alive. Talking about your situation with them might make you see that this loss of drive due to exhaustion is a normal part of your art career.

Apart from this, a seasoned artists’ perspective and advice on matters such as your work, its value, and how you should price it should help you stay in touch with your artistic calling.

Devote at least a few minutes a day to your art

There are days when you feel like the only thing you can do after work is plop on the couch and drown your worries with Netflix. This is understandable, but still taking even a few minutes out of your day to devote your time to art will prove to be fruitful after some time.

First, creating art is like exercising (except is it probably more enjoyable for most people). If you neglect it for an extended period of time or work on it only sporadically, it will be harder to keep your artistic train of thought consistent.

You will also see that being creative creates a particular flow that allows you to put aside your tiredness or lack of motivation. More often than not, you will find yourself spending more time creating your art than what your initial expectations might have been.

Finally, no matter how small, fulfilling one task at a time will help your creative juices flow and keep you focused on your art career.

Prioritize your art and stick with it

Yes, going to your job may be overwhelming, but nurturing the idea that you are too busy to think about art won’t do you any good. Losing sight of your goal in the face of unfavorable circumstances in which you feel as if you do not have the time or incentive to commit to your art can happen, but it should not be something you accept as a given.

Instead of focusing on where you are right now, focus on your definite goal and work towards bringing it to life. Therefore, don’t let the thought that your art career is at a standstill keep you from losing sight of your real goals!

Use on-the-job skills and observations to improve your status in the art world

Make a mental note that you are working hard at your full-time job to create new opportunities for yourself in the art world. You might even use your job as an impetus to forward your career. For instance, you could look into email marketing as an opportunity to create clout around your next art show.

In this way, you could use your free time, your breaks, and the observations and the know-how you collect while you are doing your job as a tool to establish aims, build confidence, stimulate your creative process, and connect with people in the art world. Similarly, many artists are turning to Instagram as a platform where they can gather a following, promote their work, and see how they can improve based on comments from their followers. Essentially, maintaining your online presence could help you separate and balance a full-time job with an art career.

About the author:

Colleen Miles is a freelance web designer working full-time for Best Movers NYC as a content writer and creator. She enjoys reading insights about the art community, as she feels she belongs among their ranks. When she isn’t writing or designing logos, Colleen catches up on her favorite shows and tries to work her way through her reading list.

The post How to Balance a Full-Time Job With an Art Career appeared first on Art Business News.

Now the question arises, how can routine fetch success and how to draw inspiration from that routine? Not to worry, we think we’ve got it covered here with some concrete answers.

Where routine begins, and what a good routine looks like?

Heard the saying, “Early bird catches the worm?” This saying alone says everything about the role of routine in life. A well-planned routine begins from the moment of waking up early in the morning and ends with going to bed. Wait, it does not end here.

Certainly, these are the basics of a quality routine, but routine is something more. It is a broader concept that varies from person to person. Having a regular daily routine implies utilizing every second, every day in a productive way, and most importantly, in a proper order that synchronizes with time.

It is important to highlight that the routine must be in synchronization with time, i.e., the things that need to be done, as and when they are required to be done, not per the mood.

How routine is connected to physical and mental health?

Did you know that just like the clocks on our walls, our body has a clock too? This may sound strange, but it is true. According to Ayurveda and Vedic Science, our body has a biological clock within, which goes along with nature’s clock. It is most crucial to keep the biological clock in harmony with nature’s timing.

If we disturb the synchronization, the brain gets confused, and eventually, we receive signals from our body in the form of disease and illness. This is why it becomes more essential to set up a routine and follow it genuinely. Besides having physical benefits in the form of fitness, routine can also bring serene mental health in the form of peace, calmness, and self-satisfaction.

When one wakes up early, goes to a workout, meditates, has meals on time, spends the day working, goes to bed on time, it leads to a smooth life, both in terms of physical and mental health, compared to someone who starts the day by waking up at 10 a.m. and has sleepless nights.

This is why, from our earliest schooling, we’ve heard the good habit of “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

Role of routine in building basic qualities of life

“Well planned is half done.” A well-planned routine makes room for all the things to be done in time. The person with a routine can easily finish up all the work to be done during the day in the given time without having to compromise on any of the work.

It’s easy to see how organized life seems when we start living according to a firm routine that we’ve set for ourselves. People struggle so hard to achieve an organized life and complain about the chaos in their life. But they fail to understand that having organized life is hidden in having a regular daily routine itself. When you have your routine planned, it is like giving yourself instructions beforehand. No constant need for planning, no confusion, no mess, no obstacles, no shortage of time, can spoil your day and the work to be accomplished. You get a clear picture of your pending work, new duties, and other things to be fulfilled — and you simply start working on them with great efficiency.

And routine saves time. Time is one of the most valuable assets in life doesn’t wait for anyone, but it can be saved with the help of routine, eliminating the time that would otherwise be wasted in planning, preparing, decision making. You achieve a structured and disciplined lifestyle.

As an artist, you need to have discipline. It is not easy for an artist to draw inspiration from their routine and follow through with their daily activities. The biggest benefit of a routine is that it helps an artist develop discipline, which is crucial for an artist to become successful. With discipline, you can improve how you handle your time and focus on what you need to do. You can more easily eliminate distractions or things that are going on around us.

As a gallery owner, you need to gain experience and run your business. It can be hard to run a business without a routine. You feel like you are in a constant state of overload and may even be coming up with excuses and feel like you have no time left to even take care of yourself. When you draw inspiration from routine, it gives you structure and accountability for your daily activities. You will have less trouble focusing on your schedule, which will lead to more time for you. As you will be able to take care of yourself, it becomes easier to focus more on your gallery.

It can be hard for an art dealer to take time off from work for a day. An art dealer’s only time is when they are at home or away from their gallery, so an art dealer needs to draw inspiration from their routine. Even if they are too tired or think that they are too busy, a routine will help them gain discipline and become more effective in their business. They will also know exactly what their next steps are, which will help their business move forward.

A person becomes more proficient with a routine in their life because they cultivate the habit of regularly doing things. In this way, you become a master of skills done on a regular basis. Routine helps you classify your jobs as more important, less important, and medium-important tasks.

Eventually, you can prioritize the tasks and work on them accordingly.

Routine also reduces the struggle to maintain constant determination. We don’t need daily determination to bathe, wash our face or brush our teeth, right? That’s because it is a regular daily routine for us. Likewise, when you have a routine you escape the need to seek a source of determination and motivation. It simply goes with the flow. Along with this smooth flow comes self-confidence, which becomes the fuel to gear up and maintain the routine with stability.

We can choose to use our routine as an inspiration, but no one truly wants to copy their routine exactly, nor does one want to become like everyone else. The great thing about routines is that they allow you to do the same thing every day. But if we are to take inspiration from routine, we can work with it and change it up. Examples of how you can work with a routine to create something inspired:

• What were you dreaming about while sleeping? Take inspiration from sleeping and draw an artwork about your dreams or about sleeping — or even what you do as part of your routine before you sleep. This may include listening to a relaxing song or reading a book before falling asleep.

• There’s nothing wrong with taking inspiration from a routine as long as it is something that you would do anyway. Don’t be afraid to switch up your routines for a while and see what works best for you. You might give this a test by taking an hour or two every Monday for a month to work on any artwork that comes to your imagination, without worrying about making money or selling the piece. See which of those Mondays you are most inspired by.

Role of routine in cultivating hobbies

When we speak about following a daily routine, most people get the picture of a busy life, with no time for leisure. But routines don’t work that way. Instead, they reward us with more free time. When completing our routine on time, we have the rest of the time left to do things that we love, like our hobbies and other leisure activities. This brings a sense of joy as we are able to do more of the things we want in life. It is also possible that a routine can lead us toward a more stress-free life.

On a broader vision, a stable routine helps a person set goals, work towards them, achieve success, and keep a track of the success. By following a stable routine, a person can achieve basic qualities in life like punctuality, consistency, discipline, time management ability, health consciousness, better mental health, and so on, all of which are the foundation for success in the world.

To Conclude

Routine plays a magnificent role, from achieving physical health and mental health to basic qualities in life and achieving success in life. It is a medicine for most of the problems in life, be it health-related, career-related, or personal expectations. It’s the reason why health experts, monks, counselors, education providers, and almost everyone suggest the benefits of having a regular balanced routine. It may seem boring and rigid to beginners but as you start following it sincerely, it can become a source for happiness and self-satisfaction.

Routines differ from person to person on the basis of their requirements and goals. Each one of us should build our own routine. After knowing the enormous benefits you can reap from a routine, there is no place for second thoughts. Get your routines planned and set up so you can be on the road to finding a more contented, successful life.

About the Author:

Jack Lee is a journalism student at the University of Toronto and a freelance writer from ThesisHelpers.com. He is interested in a healthy lifestyle and engaging in outdoor activities, but most of the time it won’t be the case – you’ll probably find him on the couch, watching another episode of The Big Bang Theory.

The post How to Draw Inspiration From Routine appeared first on Art Business News.

A: Hello, hello! My name is Tom Lohner, I am addicted to painting and creating. Luckily this is more than a positive “addiction.” My passion became my job about five years ago when I sold out my first art show in Vienna. I create acrylic paintings on pre-collaged canvases or wood panels and I am known for my new art deco style. 

Q: What is your background?

A: In 2008, I finished my degree in communication and graphic design in Graz / Austria at the Ortwein College. I worked my way up through commercial and video production design agencies until I found myself as the art director for CC-Lab where I created stage designs for Lady Gaga, Smashing Pumpkins, Fatboy Slim, Eli Goulding, etc. I quickly switched to art after meeting my current manager who told me, “you can only be successful if you put everything onto one card”, which I did…and he was right. I started doing what I loved most, painting. I learned art from French superstar, Nicolas Thomas, and the American painter, Judith Jay.

Q: How do you work?

A: When I have ideas and visions I quickly sketch them into my sketchbook, capturing the idea within a short time. I schedule time for painting, prepare canvases with collage work, paint on it with acrylics, and then lacquer it.

Q: What art do you most identify with?

A: I most identify with pop surrealism, art nouveau, pop art, surrealism, and new urban art movements. 

Q: What has been your favorite experience so far as an artist?

Q: Who inspires you?

A: My three-year-old daughter, my wife, and music. Songs that push me further than I could imagine possible, great artists like Greg Craola Simkins, Lori Early, Mark Ryden, and many others of pop surrealism and the Lowbrow movement. I’m also inspired by the director and crazy mind Tim Burton.

Q: What is the best advice you have received?

A: Focus on what you are doing right now, breathe, and live in the moment. 

Q: When you are not working, where can we find you?

A: Either in my Whirlpool or with my daughter painting on her mini desk.

Q: Have you been inspired in a new way since the shelter in place orders? Anything new? A recipe, an exercise recommendation?

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