The Living Artist

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston gets his episode inspiration from a Tom Petty song. Which song you might ask? Well, you will have to listen to find out... It is an episode about getting out of ruts and challenging yourself to develop new perspectives. Sometimes the one thing that is holding you back in life or your career, is an old program that no longer serves you, or a negative mi...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston sits down with Michael Facchinello , the Founder & CEO of Altamira . Altamira is an exciting new platform for artist to showcase and sell their work online, while engaging with a community of fans, artists and critics. During this conversation, Michael shares with Preston his introduction to art (and the business of art) at a very young age, workin...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston delves into a variety of different topics. Among them are a very powerful new app that focuses on healing called Curable , working with Instagram reels, quotes that are being pondered, and many more. This episode is, by design, all over the map. Listen in and hopefully a few topics or nuggets will resonate with you and spark some ideas. Catch you on th...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston sits down with San Diego based artist Manaz Raiszadeh . Manaz is an abstract artist with roots in Afghanistan, France and now California. Her work is bold, colorful, symbolic and highly energized. In this conversation Manaz shares with Preston her journey growing up in France with parents from Afghanistan, the shaping of her artistic style, juggling ar...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about living with authenticity and integrity. Figuring out how to do this entails getting in touch with your true self to navigate making better and healthier decisions for your life and art. Preston gives some examples of what this can mean from both angles. Can we figure out how to break through eons of programming in our lizard brains and lear...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston gives us an overview of the Law of Attraction. Is it for real? Does it work? Should we be using it in our art practice? Is McConaughey really into it? These are all good questions. Well, most are... Preston doesn't claim to have all of the answers, but speaks from his own personal experience using LOA from a common sense perspective. He believes that t...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston settles in with his new voice to talk about persistence. It's not always the sexiest of topics, but it is extremely important. It's one of the key ingredients to not only success, but having a fulfilling career in the arts and enjoying yourself along the way. So listen to this episode to get the "lowdown" on persistence. Now get outta here! For more in...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about dealing with "trolls" in our online art practice. Trolls are an unfortunate byproduct of showing and selling your work online and even getting more successful, but also can be dealt with in a pretty simple and straightforward manner. Preston shares some personal trolling experiences he has accumulated over the years and what he has learned...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about politics in art. Should we be striving to have a political message with our artwork? It is not an easy question to answer and ultimately comes down to the artist. However, Preston shares his thoughts on the yea or nay of the matter, as well as giving a new perspective on the topic. Politics are ubiquitous in our culture and current climate,...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston interviews Wayne Chang , the General Manager of Saatchi Art . In addition to having a successful career in product development, Wayne is also an accomplished artist. Wayne shares with Preston how landing this position with Saatchi was the perfect intersection of both of his passions. In this conversation, Wayne also speaks about his artistic origins in...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about getting "in tune" with making the right choices as an artist. Specifically with the path we decide to follow to get us to our end goal. Sometimes this isn't so clear to us and we can get bogged down with what other people and artists have told us to do. Working hard and doing all of the "right" things doesn't always equal success. Instead w...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about setting a mood with your art. This could be as a series, a body of work for a solo show, or with your general style. He talks about places to find inspiration for the mood you are setting in your work and uses one of his favorite bands, Modest Mouse to give and example of setting a mood with their album The Moon & Antarctica . Enjoy! Fo...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston sits down with Michal Szczesny , the CEO of Artfinder . Michal generously shares his time in the middle of a very successful crowdfunding round, to give us a peek behind the curtain of Artfinder. In this wide-ranging conversation, Michal shares his personal story as well as his evolution within the ranks of Artfinder, Artfinder's mission to become carb...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about the importance of taking a break from time to time. This podcast is all about finding balance in your life and art career, so what compliments hard work better than rest? Preston talks about the different ways we can all find time in our busy lives to rest and recharge. This could be on a micro or macro level, but the important thing is tha...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston challenges us to "get real" about our hang-ups with money and success as artists. Only after we have cleaned up our mindset and certain blocks that we have with money and success in the art world, can we move on to visualizing and achieving what we want in our careers. Money is not evil. Instead, it is a necessary and welcome tool to help us grow and e...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about the importance of repetition in your art marketing and career. With so much information slamming into us from all angles and at all times, people cannot be expected to remember everything you have ever done. Whether that be a piece of artwork, show, or special achievement. This is why it is important to choose some exciting moments and acco...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston shares an update on some of the things he is working on and following through with in his art practice. These range from the personal to more technical, but there are many little nuggets  that can be taken for inspiration in your own art and career. He ends with a couple of thoughts for projects he is thinking about taking on. These projects can b...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston revisits a very important theme: Consistency. It is a topic that bears repetition. In other words, Consistency needs some consistency in order to sink in... Listen to this episode and learn how to apply some to your own life and art career. Enjoy! For more information on Preston M. Smith and his artwork, visit https://www.pmsartwork.com , or follow him...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston dives into the topic of loneliness and over-isolation for artists. He is a self-proclaimed isolationist, but confesses that even he gets bit by the loneliness bug from time to time. There is nothing wrong with this and admitting to it does not make us any less of an artist. After all, balance is the key to everything in life and proves to be as well in...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston draws inspiration from the strangest of places, the new Netflix show "Inventing Anna". On the surface, the main character of this show (Anna) might seem like the most unlikely of inspirational characters. However, strip away certain criminal and unsavory traits, and you have an artist, major business player and dreamer at heart. Preston breaks her char...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about drawing inspiration from our own "limited" resources and constraints. It's a bit of a paint tube is half full perspective, but can prove to be a very effective one. Preston gives many examples from his own life and art practice of how having limited resources forced him to think outside of the box and develop exciting new ideas. Enjoy! For...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston interviews Los Angeles based artist MUKA . In this fun and in depth conversation, MUKA shares with Preston her thoughts, excitement, vision, and even struggles with her new solo show opening at ShockBoxx on April 2nd! She also talks about growing up in a Mexican American and heavily Catholic influenced household in Texas, picking up and moving to Los A...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston dives into the topic of inflation. We are all seeing the price of goods and services skyrocketing across the board and a general tightening on our wallets these days. To make matters worse for us artists, the price of shipping our work is on the rise and becoming more and more difficult. With this general inflation sweeping the nation and world, should...

In this episode of The Living Artist, inspired by the show Ray Donovan , Preston builds an episode from a seemingly ridiculous premise. He expands on his "Ray-Ray philosophy of sure", which turns out to be a mixture of surrender and productivity. To be successful in the business of art, sometimes we just need to take a deep breath, clear our head and say "sure". Artists need to hold themselves to...

In this episode of The Living Artist, Preston talks about how the art world in general is still running on "old software" when it comes to its perception of artists. This "software" is in need of an update. Inspired (and perturbed) by watching the new art documentary "The Price of Everything", Preston shares some of his thoughts on what this documentary proclaims about the art market today. It is...