The Living Artist

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston dives into the increasingly blurry distinction between being an artist and being a creator . In a world of content, algorithms and the ever-expanding “creator economy,” does the language we use to describe ourselves actually matter? Preston explores what these different labels can mean for our identity, intentions, relationship to our work and...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston dives into the idea of taking a more intuitive approach to your art—and your life. In a world that constantly encourages us to analyze, strategize and overthink our next move, he explores what can happen when we quiet some of that noise, pay closer attention and begin trusting the signals coming from within. Intuition isn’t about abandoning tho...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston dives into the idea of “youmaxxing” —the ongoing practice of becoming the strongest, healthiest and most fully realized version of yourself. Taking inspiration from the ridiculousness of the many “maxxing” trends circulating today, he explores what happens when we stop optimizing for other people’s approval and begin focusing on the qualities,...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston dives into the difficult—but essential—practice of letting go. From our attachment to expectations, outcomes and old ways of seeing ourselves, he explores how holding on too tightly can keep us stuck in life and in our creative practice. Letting go doesn’t mean giving up—it means loosening our grip, trusting the process and creating space for s...

As Preston continues to battle with his health struggles and setbacks, we bring you another special mash-up episode that is meant to inspire you to the max. We hope to bring you a new episode next week! In this special Solosode Mash-Up episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston pulls together three past episodes around the theme of being the hero of your own story (all taken from season 2 of th...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston dives into the idea of being “the signal, not the noise.” Taking a concept rooted in engineering, he expands it into a powerful model for how we approach our lives—and especially our art. Listen with your antenna up and an open mind. This idea could help you tune into your life and creative practice with greater intention, clarity, and purpose,...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston uses the magic of the Ice Beanie to both power through an episode, but also as as a "hook" to get him inspired. This was the impetus for this episode in general and Preston expands on different types of hooks that we can explore in both our creative blocks and in our artistic practice in general. Enjoy! For more information on Preston...

While Preston continues to battle his illness, we bring you a fairly recent and special hidden episode of The Living Artist from "the vault". In this episode, Preston talks about one of the most important skills we can develop as artists and human beings; being a witness to our own thoughts and mind. It is also an episode about cultivating "radical awareness" about objective re...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston uses the magic of the Ice Beanie to power him through an episode about creating gallery success. More specifically, how to come up with stronger themes, or stories behind the body of work we will be showing, or planning to show or pitch to a gallery. He uses examples from his and other artist's lives and shows, to illustrate this point even...

This is a special REPOST episode from 3 years ago, while Preston is recovering from a treatment side-effect. We believe there is good value to be taken from this episode that can be applied to anyone, or any time period. Enjoy, and we hope to bring you a new episode next week! In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston shares a tool and mindset hack that can be applied to many areas of life and...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston uses some current events to talk about ways that we can be prepared for unforeseen circumstances in our art sales and studios, and how we can learn to solve issues in real-time. He gives many different examples from his own studio and current life situation to help illustrate this concept even better. This episode is brought to you by "Ice...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston shares some insights he has developed from the topic of Alien Encounters. Before you think he is "pulling a Franco" (look it up if you don't know what we are talking about), listen in to this episode to get some surprisingly insightful tips on your art career; completely based on this "out there" subject. Preston also sh...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston talks about taking risks in life and in our art careers. More importantly, taking calculated risks and risks where we can mitigate some of the potential downsides. He gives many examples of risks, both big and small, that we can use to spark some ideas of risks that we might want to take in our own lives. Is it really true that there are no rew...

In times such as these, we need drastic measures. We need creative solutions. We need... Imaginary Friends? Yep, in this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston talks about just that. But also, not that. Well, that, but, more than that. I mean... It's fine. Just listen in and it will all make sense. :) Enjoy! For more information on Preston M. Smith and his artwork, visit  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

In the midst of Preston "Surrendering" to his current medical treatments and illness, we thought what better time to have an episode about the many variations of surrender in life and in art. These variations are taken from three different episodes from seasons 2, 4, and 6 of the podcast, and cover surrendering to the present moment and flow, surrendering wanted outcomes and refocusing o...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston plays with the concept of time on many levels, and encourages us to shift our perspective through a unique thought experiment. This episode builds off of a previous episode on "Future Casting" and is highly inspired by an idea and concept presented by Bryan Johnson . Preston takes this idea and synthesizes it down into the context of...

This is a special Mash-Up episode while Preston seeks medical attention. Enjoy and we look forward to bringing you a new episode next week! In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston gets by with a little help from some friends. This is a special Mash-Up episode highlighting stories and insights from past interviews featuring different professional creator types, including ⁠ Ellen Wroe...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston talks about filtering out some of the advice and stories from influencers, celebrities and content creators, to help us get back to basics and get real with our own strategies. Sometimes what one of these creators is telling us to do might not fit our own lifestyle, career path, or developmental stage. Truth be told, it most likely won't ev...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston is back with some thoughts from his recent health struggles, on how to use AI to enhance our visualization, manifestation, and modern "vision board" strategies. This new concept helped him out of a very dark place and we believe that it can be used in a broader, as well as artistic context, to better help visualize our success as arti...

- This is a repost episode while Preston is recovering from a new health scare. The episode is from 2022, but is more relevant than ever, and is in the Top 10% of the most listened to episodes of The Living Artist. Enjoy, and we look forward to bringing you a new episode next week! - In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about "protecting yo energy". It all started with a s...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston builds an entire episode from the expression "Garbage In, Garbage Out". This turns out to be a very important concept for us artists (and anyone for that matter). Have you heard the expression "you are what you eat"? Well garbage in, garbage out turns out to be just as important, or even more so for our art and mindset. Pres...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston talks about the omnipresent "Attention Economy" and all of its many iterations. What is it, and how is it negatively affecting us and our art? Is there even a way to use it to our advantage? Preston talks about a good strategy being to always shoot for authenticity in everything that we do. These are just some of the ideas and questio...

This special episode of The Living Artist podcast is brought to you by... Just kidding. Or are we? In this episode, Preston commemorates 7 seasons of the podcast with some deep insights, lessons learned, and a healthy bit of tomfoolery. Buckle up y'all, and help us scratch this Seven Year Itch. Wait, that doesn't sound great... Enjoy! For more information on Preston M. Smith and his artwor...

In dark times such as these, we all need... A Montage! Here at The Living Artist podcast, we figured it would be a nice juxtaposition to the illness that Preston is battling, to do a fun throwback to some highlights of YouTube videos over the years. There is something in here for everyone. Whether you are looking for fun, funny, inspirational, emotional, experimental, musical, practical, or just p...

In this episode of The Living Artist podcast, Preston asks the important question, "What Is Your Why" for creating your art? We have discussed purpose many times before on the pod, but could there be something even deeper than purpose? Put a different way, what is the why for your purpose? Listen in to this episode and find out. Enjoy! For more information on Preston M. Smith and his art...