The Living Artist

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about the top three things he is currently doing to improve his art game and life. If you are not doing any of these, you might want to consider getting at least one them into your life. What are these three things you might ask? Well... Take a listen to find out.  For more information on Preston M. Smith and his artwork, visit https://www.p...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about the importance of finding your market, or niche when showing and selling your work. He gives some examples of how to and how not to do this. He urges that it is not about following trends, but defining your "voice" as an artist first, then finding the people who that voice best resonates with. This could be a specific region of the world (o...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about his approach to making a living and thriving in the art world. He cautions artists against subscribing to a "one size fits all" approach to their career. Preston goes on to speak to his practice of casting what he calls a "specialized" wide net and diversifying his approach to getting exposure and selling his work. He encourages artists to...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston interviews Los Angeles based artist Glenn Waggner . In this fun conversation with Glenn, the two artists cover a wide range of topics spanning from caffeine to creation. Glenn shares with Preston his upbringing in the surf and skateboard community, working with and breaking away from his day job, comics, developing his unique artistic style, working du...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about the importance of consistency in life and especially in your art career. He strongly believes that two of the most important traits you can have as an artist and person are consistency and follow through. He goes on to give examples of this in his own life and artistic career and explains the benefits of cultivating this in your own practic...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston comes to you live from the cold hard ground. He shares his very recent experience with hurting his back so badly that he could not get off the ground or function in his daily life and art. Is this a metaphor for setbacks that occur in our artistic careers? You can decide... If not, stay for the 80's pop culture references. Preston shifts gears to talk...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston puts on his self-help cap and channels his best T-Rob to talk about breaking the patterns that we fall into as artists. This episode is meant to bring awareness to the patterns that we fall into that may cut us off from making progress or finding different avenues to showcase our art. These patterns can be downright negative, or even deceivingly positi...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston and Mike Collins sit down to interview New Jersey and "Beast Coast" artist Karey Maurice , aka KaMo. This episode is dropping right before two of Karey's exhibitions with ShockBoxx Gallery this and next month; one being a solo show entitled Cones To Bones and the other in the now infamous group exhibition Intergalactic Open 2 . Mike joins us to talk ab...

In this first episode from Season 2 of The Living Artist, Preston starts off the year with a reset. Forget about a New Year's resolution, he urges the importance of taking a brief pause to start the year off with some self-care, before launching into any goals or resolutions you might have. Preston shares a few of the things he is doing in his own life to hit the reset button and take care of hims...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston says an emphatic goodbye to 2020. This is the final episode of Season 1, as well as 2020 and there is a lot to reflect on from this year. While it was maybe the most challenging year in our collective lifetime, Preston looks back with fondness on what he personally created and achieved this year, including this very podcast! He urges artists to take st...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston speaks with Hermosa Beach artist Drica Lobo . Drica was born and raised in Brazil, before making the jump to the United States in her early twenties. In this conversation, Drica shares with Preston her background in both art and journalism, working in Brazil and around the USA, finding her voice as an artist, saying "yes" to opportunities, meditation a...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston speaks with New York City based artist Michelle Sakhai . In this wide-ranging conversation, Michelle shares with Preston her extensive background and traditional training as an artist both in the States and abroad. She discusses her evolution from having a formal background in plein air painting to becoming an abstract artist, influences from her Japan...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston discusses depression. He shares how he has been feeling recently and how it reminds him of a time where he was all alone in Los Angeles, trying to find his way and battle inner demons. During this period, he experienced a strange sickness that heightened the struggles he was going through at the time. At his lowest point, he began writing his first nov...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston discusses the importance of eradicating judgment and resentment in you art career and life. With the weight of what is going on in the world now and over this past year, it is easier than ever to fall victim to the judgment, or perceived judgment of others. Preston talks about the "story" that we all make up in our own minds to explain another person o...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston speaks with Texas based artist Alejandro Castañón . Alejandro shares with Preston his origins of moving from Mexico to Florida as a child, before heading to Europe where he lived through high school, joining the military upon graduating, and eventually moving back to the United States to settle in San Angelo Texas. Alejandro talks about his 180 degree...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston discusses the importance of replenishing your creativity in our current state of the world. He offers a few art films, both biopics and documentaries, that can help you do just that. With the ongoing pandemic crisis and isolation fatigue, it is important to not only escape from time to time, but to find entertainment that "feeds" our creativity and rep...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston discusses the age old question of style as an artist. Should you develop one strong, highly recognizable style and then stick to that for the rest of your career? I am sure you might think you can guess what his answer might be. However, the topic is nuanced and worth delving into. There are extremes on both ends. Listen to this latest episode and deci...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about the importance of trusting your instincts. Intuition, the voice inside your head, your gut, your instincts, whatever you want to call it, developing the skill of listening to this is essential to making the right choices in your art career. Preston provides a few examples from his own life of when he was able to listen to his own gut, as we...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston interviews Colorado based abstract artist Heather Prall . In this wide-ranging conversation, Heather shares her highly unique origin story ranging from early adoption and foster care, to over a decade working in the HR world, before making a clean break to transition into the art world. She also shares her experiences traveling around the country in an...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston interviews North Carolina based abstract artist Hilary Winfield . In this wide-ranging conversation, Hilary shares her experience of launching into the art world on her own terms, being a self-taught artist, her beginnings in the corporate world, energy balancing, moving back to North Carolina after a stint on the West Coast, her favorite online art ma...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston shares a recent experience with a returned painting from a collector. Although this can be extremely rare in an artist's career, it is something worth preparing for mentally and in your artistic practice so that when it happens, it does not derail your confidence and progress. Most times these situations are out of your control, but here are some thing...

In this episode of The Living Artist, the topic is gallery readiness. Are you ready to be represented by a gallery, or showcase your work through an established gallery? Preston talks about the importance of trying and failing when approaching galleries and how it can help develop the drive to get better in your own work and approach. He also discusses other aspects such as balancing out doing the...

Huge thank you to Feedspot for choosing The Living Artist for their list of the Top 25 Art Podcasts You Must Follow in 2020 . It is a huge honor to have made this amazing list (coming in at #11) with so many other wonderful podcasts. Big thank you to Feedspot! You can check out this list and more of Feedspot at https://blog.feedspot.com/art_podcasts . In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston covers how to (or how not to) behave at an art opening. He talks about three common artist archetypes to avoid being during an opening and then provides a trick to help generate some confidence in these settings.  For more information on Preston M. Smith and his artwork, visit https://www.pmsartwork.com , or follow him on social media @pmsartwork...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about the importance of presence and stillness in your life and art practice. He illustrates his belief that solid decision making and powerful art come from this place and how getting better at developing presence equals getting better at life. For more information on Preston M. Smith and his artwork, visit https://www.pmsartwork.com , or follow...