The BoldBrush Show

21. Attention to Detail ~ Luis Colan

October 14, 2022 BoldBrush Season 2 Episode 21
The BoldBrush Show
21. Attention to Detail ~ Luis Colan
Show Notes Transcript


For this episode, Boldbrush interviewed Luis Colan, an oil painter, plein air artist, monotypist and avid sketchbook user.  Originally from Peru, Luis settled in New York City to follow his dream of becoming an artist. We talked about his masterfully curated instagram, his job as a graphic designer, and his sketchbook process which began as an attempt to work whenever he could and then later became one of the integral parts of his monotyping planning process. We also discuss his monotypes, pricing artwork, and his upcoming workshop!
Follow Luis on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/luiscolanart/

Check out Luis’ websites:
https://luiscolanart.com/
https://luiscolandesign.com/about/

Sign up for Luis’ Drawn to the Masters Workshop:
https://bit.ly/3Tj4ErM
--
Sign up for FASO and get over 50% off your first year using our special link!
https://www.FASO.com/podcast/ 

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Luis Colan:

I always thought art schools had a specific program or class where they also taught you the business side of art. They don't undergrads, they don't really have that. And I wish that they did because it is a huge part of being an artist in the contemporary world and why they don't provide this knowledge as guidance. I never could understand it. Yes, it's great to talk about painting. It's great to teach someone the process of stretching a canvas and the process of building a paint surface and all of that, but we also need business guidance.

Laura Arango Baier:

Welcome to the BoldBrush podcast where we believe that fortune favors the bold brush. My name is Laura Arango Baier, and I'm your host. For those of you who are new to the podcast. We are a podcast that covers art marketing techniques, and all kinds of business tips specifically to help artists learn to better sell their work. We interview artists at all stages of their careers, as well as others who are in careers tied to the art world in order to hear their advice and insights. For this episode, I interviewed Luis Cola, an oil painter plein air artist. monotype is an avid sketchbook user who is originally from Peru and settled in New York City to follow his dream of becoming an artist. We talked about his masterfully curated Instagram, his job as a graphic designer, and his sketchbook process which began as an attempt to work whenever he could, and then later became one of the integral parts of his monetizing planning process. We also discuss his monotypes pricing artwork and his upcoming workshop. Hello, Luis and welcome to the BoldBrush podcast. How are you today?

Luis Colan:

I'm doing well. Thank you for having me. This is pretty pretty cool.

Laura Arango Baier:

Of course. Yeah. Yeah. It's great to have you because you have a very beautiful Instagram like your work. Your work is like I look at your Instagram like this is I could just keep scrolling. This is amazing cover.

Luis Colan:

Yes, I did my job.

Laura Arango Baier:

Yes, you did. You definitely did your job. Yeah. So before we jump into your very beautiful, meticulous work, tell us a bit about your background and what you do.

Luis Colan:

I was actually born and raised in Lima, Peru, I was there until the age of 10. And then my family moved us to Hartford, Connecticut, which is kind of like where I grew up. And that's where I went to school. I went to the Hartford art school, which is part of the University of Hartford now. And that's where I got my undergrad. And as soon as I graduated from there, I came to New York 18 years ago chasing the dream of you know, being an artist. Since then I've been here, I still keep up with my studies in art. I keep enrolling in different workshops, I go back and forth between the Art Students League and other places. I studied with Rob Zeller, for a little while back in 2009 for a couple of years. And then you know, he taught me basically plein air painting. And then from there, we moved on to the figure and then just kind of refining my craft that way. In New York. While pursuing my art career, I had been working as a buyer for Soho art materials, which is now the last independently owned art supply store in Manhattan proper. And if not, maybe New York City, I'm not so sure. But basically all the independent art supply shops where people used to get their materials from they're pretty much all gone now. It's now just Blick. That's all that's left pretty much, which is a little sad, because when I moved here, I still enjoyed some of those little shops that were still around. So I was working for so hard for about 14 years. And I got to a point where I just didn't see any more growth or the future just seemed a little uncertain with that. And then COVID came around and kind of shook things up. It made me think about the future. If this job is no longer there, what else do I have my art at the moment hasn't taken off, and it still really hasn't taken off, regardless of the Instagram numbers. It really made me think about life and my future, and basically my retirement and what's going to happen to me in old age. And so I had to make a decision. And I had been toying with the idea of becoming a graphic designer back in 2019. And then, of course, COVID hit and then I decided, okay, maybe this is the right time for me to make the switch. And so I enrolled at the end of 2020. And I started my graphic design training in the beginning of 2021. And so I was in school part time for that whole year graduated graphic design in December of 2021. And in May of this year, I moved into my new role as a full time graphic designer for a men's clothing company a fashion line called ons and so yeah, it's been a fast crazy five months now. There's just stuff happening constantly. There's Yeah, I'm just trying to just try to keep afloat.

Laura Arango Baier:

That's kicking up. Yeah, no, but you know, in hindsight, you know, maybe like, another five months? Yeah, holy crap, I've come so far things have moved in the direction that I always wanted. And that's what it seems like from my end, yes,

Luis Colan:

so far things are starting to happen. And, and you know, there are little things here, a little things there. But those add up to, you know, bigger things and, and I'm just looking forward to it. And like I said, I just put my head down, keep working and keep grinding and just keep at it, you know. So that's, that's the whole thing, which is what I've been doing since I was in my 20s. When I moved here, it's just keep, just keep working, keep going, keep going, keep going.

Laura Arango Baier:

And it's a very good habit to have to just keep going. Because like you said, those little things they add up. And before you know, you've got the ball rolling, you know, it takes a little effort to push that boulder at first, but then it kicks up and then you don't feel it anymore. You know?

Luis Colan:

Yeah, you just have to make it a part of your life, I guess. Yeah, I mean, there are times when you know, having a full time job like it does drain you especially back in my old job when I dealt with the public more more face to face customer service. And customer service is not really the best sort of thing, because people can treat you badly, and it becomes emotionally draining. And when you just come home, you just want to sit on the couch and veg out and there's an you just don't do anything. And it affects your work that way. Yeah. And that you have to find the strength and the energy to just throw a few lines on the paper or on the canvas. And let's just see what happens tonight. And if it doesn't happen, if nothing great comes of it, then there's always the next day that you can make it better. And that's just the only way to approach it. I guess.

Laura Arango Baier:

Yeah, you just have to pick yourself back up. He can't petite and procrastinate even though we all want to.

Luis Colan:

Or Yeah. Yeah, cuz if you do, then, you know, that's the end of it. There are millions of other talented artists now around the world. And we're all competing for that same spot are all competing for the attention are all competing for the sales are competing for that. And technology has made it even more difficult because now you do see people from all over the world and you're like, Oh, my God, I just was competing first with people locally in my own city. Now I have to compete with people on the other side of the world.

Laura Arango Baier:

Yeah. Yeah.

Luis Colan:

It's overwhelming.

Laura Arango Baier:

It is overwhelming. But the the other bright side is it also pushes you to higher levels that maybe you hadn't thought about if if you still just been competing with your local people. Yeah. So it has its pros and cons.

Luis Colan:

Yeah. And you learn from people to learn from, you know, when you're exposed to what other people are doing, then they're like, Oh, I think of that, or maybe Oh, that's something that I should take with me and then modify in my own way. Or maybe I should stay away from that. You know, it does help. Yes, it

Laura Arango Baier:

opens. Yeah, it does. Yeah, so who are some of your biggest influences when it comes to your work?

Luis Colan:

Since I don't have, um, well, I kind of do. But I like to say I don't have I mean, I'm, I'm pretty open. I'm constantly looking at art. And I enjoy all forms of it. I mean, for a while, people are actually shocked to find out that I had a period in the last few years of college that I was actually doing abstract paintings. And they were large scale abstract paintings, and they were non objective, it was all about color, and just the physicality of oil paint, which I love. That's the joy of painting is the actual smell the feel of oil paint as it just glides on, you know, your canvas and, and just that whole process, and that's what I was doing back then. So I look at a lot of different things. As a kid I started looking at renaissance and 17th century art. That's what got me into drawing and painting to begin with. And till this day, I still look at those periods. But what I've been looking at more over the last few years since I started working with landscape imagery is the Barbizon school and the many different artists that it has. And I just love that period. And my biggest influence I say if you can, which is actually kind of obvious when people hear and they go, Oh, that makes sense. It's cool. Row karo has been one I've always loved his work. But I'm gonna say that in the last five years, it's become even more important to me. I just can't get enough of him when coming across his paintings at the Met or any other museum that I go to when I do my travels. Like it hits me in a certain way that no other painter hits and it's way beyond the whole landscape you know that he's painting trees or a landscape it's beyond that it's just his energy his field his the way that he handled pain there is it's just more than just a landscape in a tree. There's a there's a poetry to his painting that hits the right spot and and I'm just mesmerized so curl is yeah, definitely one of my biggest inspirations but and someone who I've looked at specially when I was painting at the moment I hadn't been painting as much as I used to while I was painting. I was looking a lot of art li Monet and also Pizarro, Camille Pizarro and Cecily as well. So the impression especially the early years of impressionists, when they were trying to bridge that gap of going from their influences, which were Barbizon painters and then trying to push it into the modern age a little bit more, they were in a little moment where they had this point that I really liked looking at. And so those are my influences for the work that I do.

Laura Arango Baier:

I could definitely see the Karo because he's also one of my absolute favorites. Yeah, I've never painted landscape, but I adore that.

Luis Colan:

Yeah, I mean, there's this like, wispy Enos that happens, where he just barely touches the surface, and this kind of is blurry. And then he hits you with these, like, very strong flicks of paint, and everything just starts to like, glisten, in a way and shimmer. And then also his colors, especially like the colors of the of his later period, which are these like silvery blue, gray, green strange colors that I would have never thought about using especially in a landscape. And then somehow he's made it work. And he does a beautiful job with it.

Laura Arango Baier:

She does. Yeah, he's, ah, there's just there's a dreaminess to it. Yeah, I also I love it. It's like you could just stare at it for hours and you're in the painting. And I love that as well. And also what you said that they're almost like a reside but with those little Tom down greens, type of looks to it. It's amazing.

Luis Colan:

Yeah, he's, he's incredible. And I just can't get enough of him. I mean, I love also his earlier, plein air studies. And those are beautiful little Jules too. But his Yeah, basically his whole the whole everything about him. I'm into it.

Laura Arango Baier:

It's mad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the other thing that I noticed about your work when I was looking at it is that you seem to really love working in your sketchbook. Yeah, yeah. So can you tell us a little bit about your sketchbook process.

Luis Colan:

So the sketchbook it was never meant to be what it has become. It began as note taking, and just thumbnail studies for paintings. And this used to happen during my work commutes and the train, it's a half hour and a half hour out, that's an hour of my day. And I used to read in a train. It's funny, when you move to New York, and you're in a train, you see people doing all sorts of things to make use of their time, because this is a very crazy busy city. It's also a very social city, which means that if after work, sometimes you end up going somewhere, it's somebody's birthday, it's somebody's dinner for something, it's somebody's something for something, and your circle starts to expand a lot. That means that there are more activities. And so you're constantly on the move. And you have to make use of your time wisely. So you'll find people always doing all sorts of things in the trains. You see people knitting, I've seen many people sketch, you see people writing people actually doing work in their laptops, reading newspapers, back when newspapers were at thing or reading books. And so I was like, ah, yeah, maybe I should make use of my time as well. And so I started carrying this sketchbook with me everywhere. And then I would just figure out, you know, little compositions, or still lives that I was painting back then. And then I just kept carrying this sketchbook with me, everywhere, no matter where I went, it was always with me. And then it became a very important part of my work. When I started attending the salmagundi monthly monotype parties. I had been exposed to monotype in college, but it was a very different process of monotype. And I had become a member of salmagundi, back in 2010. And I think a couple of years went by, or maybe more, and I was not active in the club. And so I was not meeting people like I had intended to. And so I heard about this monotype party and I said, maybe I'll go to this one party and meet people. And after that night, I was hooked. It was a different experience than what I had in college. And I said, Why haven't I done this before, or having done it that way. And I basically was hooked. And I was back every month at the monotype party. And so since it became very important to me, and I only had three hours of the night to get work done. I use it as studio time, it was no longer a social thing for me. I said, I'm basically paying for press rental, that's what the fee is. And I need to show up with a plan. And my goal is always to make three images in those three hours or three and a half hours because then I don't have access to a press after that. So I started doing thumbnail sketches of all my little landscapes, and I started setting them up in the sketchbook that way in this little grid and I started enough sketching the Something else catches so that I would have something to look at and work from for for my monotypes. And then little by little, those boxes started becoming bigger boxes. And I thought maybe this would be an 812 by 18 plate instead of a six by eight, because all those little boxes that are in the in the Scottsburg, are actually proportional to the sizes that I worked with. And then I thought, well, maybe they could be paintings in the future as well, why just monotypes. So then they became more elaborate. And then they just kind of took off and became a thing of themselves. And I continued working on these drawings, basically, in the train during my commute to work, because my life started getting a little more hectic with personal life, family, friends work, I also in 2017, I started the process of training for the New York Marathon, which I ran in 2019. And that was, that was also a very intense process, which took a lot of my time at nights after work. And I don't really have much time then to devote myself to my art or the studio. And so the sketchbook became the most important thing that I had. And it is now still because it's not what people like seeing. And I still continue to draw on a train and use that time. So that's, that's the main reason for why I a lot of my work happens in it now. But I mean, I still do other pieces outside of it, I still do monotypes, I've been drawing on top of the ghost prints of the monotypes and making different pieces out of that. So it's it just kind of goes back full circle, they start as thumbnail sketches as a drawing, they become a print, and then they go back to being a drawing somehow. So yeah, it's there's a lot going on. And

Laura Arango Baier:

yeah, but it's a really cool process to watch, like I was browsing through your videos and just watching like how you scraped into the copper plate, and then how you put the ink on it and then remove the parts you don't want and just watching the whole process is so mesmerizing, I can totally understand what you got how it's working.

Luis Colan:

Yeah, working in the negative, that's also tricky, because, you know, it's, it's, I guess what they call the dark field, which is recovering completely with NK and then you're removing, and then I just figured out ways of making it work for me. And it's, it's interesting. And it's also what I love about it is it was a bridge between painting and drawing. And that's what I enjoyed about it. And also, I love the look and feel of paper as well. And once you get into printmaking, you can start your obsession with with paper, it goes in a different direction, like the choices out there. Pretty awesome. And when you're a person that loves materials like I do, I you know, it's it opens the door to that and like it makes me go in that direction is like Okay, now this is what we're obsessing about now. And so yeah, but I love the process. I love the immediacy of it to have monotype, it forces me to just make decisions, and then just go with that, right? I can't fuss over it because I don't have time I can't paint over it. And the same goes with the pen drawings, the sketchbooks, and all of that, because I don't outline anything in pencil. I don't plan anything ahead of time I just free flowing away because a lot of these things are imaginary or they're done from memory. And once I put that marked down, because it's pen, I can't take it back, I have to make something on that. And that's the fun of it all. That's the challenge. And I think that's also in my mind is what helps me grow as an artist,

Laura Arango Baier:

yet forces you to be exact and precise as possible. Building your artists website can be a hassle. But with FASO, they make it easy to get online, sell more of your work and promote your art. Right now for our BoldBrush podcast listeners. You can get over 50% off your first year on FASO with our special link, simply visit faso.com forward slash podcast. FASO is a leading provider of phone art websites, they have online marketing tips that you get every week, as well as online workshops and other tips and tricks to help you sell your work. So remember, use our link faster.com forward slash podcast to get over 50% off right now. That's f a s o.com forward slash podcast BoldBrush but also like to give a huge thank you and shout out to Chelsea classical studio for their continued support in this podcast. If you're interested in archival painting supplies handmade with a lot of patients go check out their Instagram at CCS fine art materials. Do you ever have any happy accidents

Luis Colan:

all the time? All the time. And this is why actually I enjoy sometimes the challenge of drawing and trains because I also do it. You know, like if I'm traveling to see my parents in Connecticut, I'm in the train and in that motion of the train going back and forth and the vibration sometimes my pen starts to go in crazy directions. And I'm like actually that's a pretty cool line. And I'm going to use that to my advantage and I'm just going to keep layering in and I'm just going to use that as part of the drawings. So I guess Is there are happy accidents sometimes I do hope that those accidents do do happen so that I can, you know, step out of my box from it.

Laura Arango Baier:

Yeah. Oh, that's great too, because then it's it's you're rolling with the punches. It's kind of like what we were saying earlier how you just keep, just keep going. You just keep going. Yeah, and it's really admirable. Yeah. Yeah. So if you could only pick one to do the rest of your life, printmaking, sketching on your sketchbook, or painting, which one would you pick?

Luis Colan:

Oh, Jesus put me on this. Oh, God, I can't Oh. I'm gonna say painting. I'm gonna say painting. I, again, I miss it. I haven't done much of it recently. And it was my first love. Painting was my first love. And I want to go back to it. And, and I actually when I think of myself, later in life, I do think of myself painting more than anything else. So yeah, yeah.

Laura Arango Baier:

That's interesting, because I do see you doing a lot of printmaking, a lot of the sketching more than anything else is it because of time,

Luis Colan:

it is because of time. And it's also I guess, there's something about painting that that requires a different headspace, I think the process of painting sometimes when going back into the studio, especially view been away even for for a day. So you go back to it two days later, sometimes the the paint may dry a little bit on the surface of your palate, and you have to, you know, scrape some things, reset your colors, there's a whole ritual to it. Before you actually apply color into a canvas. There's also the idea that, wow, this is going to be a final work of art. And so it not that it makes you nervous, but you start to maybe question yourself a little bit more, at least I know I do about my choices, and then that's when paintings then start to take months, because then you're constantly questioning yourself and repainting or changing and to be in the process of painting, you really have to be really committed to it, I think. And like I said, because of different things that have been going on with the last few years in my life. I just needed something to just jump right into without having to make too many choices or having to get prepared for it too much. So that's why drawing and also the printmaking is like I said very immediate monotype actually, to clarify, because there are some printmakers who don't see on the types as a real printmaking. That's a different realization. Yeah, I've been I've been openly shamed about as not being printmaking. So yeah, it's interesting, once you get into these little different groups is like yeah, you're not really a printmaker. monotype is not really printmaking. Sweet.

Laura Arango Baier:

Do you mind if I ask why?

Luis Colan:

I don't know. I have not been giving an answer. But people who work in monotype sometimes they're not taking serious and I'm not the first person to actually say this. I am going to give you an example. I I started taking an etching class at the Art Students League, and I'm not going to mention who the instructor was or is and so he had asked him like, are you have you had any experience with printmaking? And I say, Well, yeah, I do. monotypes i He's like, and he legit just turned around away from me looked into space, and then he just kind of said almost in a whispering voice. Yeah, no, yeah, that's not printmaking. No, and I just went okay, and then I turned out a really kick ass first etching and he was shocked

Laura Arango Baier:

well, maybe because you are actually printmaking but I mean, I don't know enough to have an opinion of proper opinion. It does seem like printmaking though. Yeah, I

Luis Colan:

never understood why but I never understood why and I know I know someone else who had the same experience as well as they used to kind of not make fun of her but she was kind of shunned for just doing monotypes print making shop. I don't know what the deal is, but I enjoy what I do and I enjoy the process of monotype

Laura Arango Baier:

it's beautiful. I mean, I don't I don't see why it would be looked down upon when you have such a gorgeous images like the recent one you did have like the moon you love it. How is that not printmaking? It maybe just has to do with the process but it's still a print on a paper so

Luis Colan:

yeah, it's slow print on paper. Yeah, and you still have to technically it is

Laura Arango Baier:

semantics um, so I guess that would lead really well into my next question, which is would you say printmaking is a tough niche to be in, you know, as because of this drama for one and then also to sell your work

Luis Colan:

to be honest I because of all of this right that some may consider me not a printmaker, or you As a printmaker, I'm not really in the printmaking world, to be honest, my monotypes actually when I started making them, and there was that switch between painting to monetize, they were very well received by people who see my work online. And I did start selling a few. And I guess it's appealing to people because it is a work on paper and it is a print then the price does go down a little bit more than, you know, an oil painting. So it's a little more attainable for people. There's also for my work, there was a change of bright colors to moodiness and these dark tones so that kind of attracted a new a new crowd or other printmakers I think that if they're working in multiples, like etching, it is more attractive to collectors, because then since there, there are multiples, and the price does definitely have to be a little bit lower, because they're not paying for a singular piece of artwork. But to be honest, I don't know enough yet to speak on it, I guess.

Laura Arango Baier:

So the printmaking is very recent than

Luis Colan:

brickmaking. Well, mana typing, amount of typing. Well, I guess, reason compared to how long I've been painting and drawing. I started in 2014 with monotype I think it was mid 2014. And it didn't really become a thing until maybe a year or two later. And it's now become a very big part of my my output. Yeah, I guess it is recent ish. It feels recent to me, but yours.

Laura Arango Baier:

Yeah. And I guess, nowadays five years feels like one year.

Luis Colan:

Yeah, exactly. Totally.

Laura Arango Baier:

So that's it's really interesting, though, because like you said, it really took took over on your page, and it took over on your work. That's mostly what I see. I mean, I do see some of your your landscape paintings, but it's mostly your prints and your sketches. And

Luis Colan:

yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Laura Arango Baier:

It feels like you've been doing it forever.

Luis Colan:

Yeah, it feels like it. No, yeah. I mean, I, I had a period right before that. I was only exclusively doing plein air painting. I was just going out to Central Park, Prospect Park and just painting and I couldn't really work on studio paintings. It wasn't giving me that satisfaction that I was getting from plein air painting. And again, I guess is that pressure of you making a mark and going with it and and fussing over things. But But yeah, the printmaking is definitely recent

Laura Arango Baier:

ish. Yeah. So now let's talk a little bit of marketing and sales. So what has been the best tactic you've used to sell your work?

Luis Colan:

Actually, it's Instagram, Instagram has been somewhat of a blessing. I used to have a website. And and then also, prior to Instagram many years ago, blogging was a thing. And so I used to, you know, I got on that right away when when that became something that people were getting their voices, you know, heard out there. And, you know, their art was being seen that way. So I didn't have much I mean, I had some luck through blogging, but not much. And then someone, a friend of mine said, You need to get on Instagram. That's where That's where is that that's where things are happening. And I said, Oh God, another thing for me to keep up with, and I was like, Oh, I don't know. And so I got on Instagram. Um, I think it was 2013 12. And it was it was all new, it actually it's taken a while for me, it took a while for me to figure out what it needed to be. Because a lot of times I would be posting personal things or things that were happening in the studio, things that were not studio related. And again, we didn't know it was Instagram and supposed to be what's happening in your life at that very moment. But then came a business tool, which I don't think a lot of people expected it to be, but it just developed into that. And so you have to refine your page. And so that's why my page is now constantly the sketchbooks in the prints and showing you the process of what it is and romanticizing it a little bit, visually, in a way so that it becomes more appealing. So it's those are things that you learn as you as you go. And like I said, I get a lot of messages from from different people around the world. And as they're gonna, like, how do I get these, you know, followers and how do I and it's like, do you pay for them? I'm like, Well, number one, I've been at it since 2013. It is now 2022. And it took quite a number of years for my account to reach 5000. And then from there, it just kind of started to you know, Snowball a little bit. So just like any anything else, it's time and patience. Just like my work. A lot of people was like, Oh, how do you do that? I'm like, It's time patience, devotion. It's, it's all of those things. So Instagram has become a tool for me, and that's why and I have gotten, you know, sales through it. Thank God luckily, and so I Keep using I keep exploiting it until the next thing comes because Instagram I think might be coming to an end and soon I think I'm gonna give it maybe another two years but I think something else is coming up. There's a lot of stuff going on on Tik Tok. Apparently, a lot of artists are selling a lot of work through Tik Tok. I am not on Tik Tok. I don't know how that works, but I do know that that there is a younger generation of artists who are now making bank on Tik Tok

Laura Arango Baier:

Damn, yeah, maybe we should all get on Tik Tok?

Luis Colan:

Probably, I don't know what that would be.

Laura Arango Baier:

I guess we can talk in two years.

Luis Colan:

But yeah, well, I'm hoping that Instagram still sticks around for a while because it is my main tool right now aside from you know, my own website, but that's, that's where I have the biggest reach. And it's a tool. Now it's very important for

Laura Arango Baier:

me. Oh, yeah, for sure. And, you know, even if, if Instagram does continue, you know, past those two years zero, predicting, it's still worth spreading out, you know, where people could could see your work anyway? Because that means more eyes. Exactly. Just like you said, with your blog and your website, like you did have some success with those. But then with Instagram, you get so many more eyes on it, you know,

Luis Colan:

yeah, I started using Twitter recently. That's not going so well. It's a it's a very different platform. And also, what I hate is that they limit the amount of like characters that you can type. So you really can't type too much information. And it's very fragmented information. And I hate that. And so I'm finding a challenge with that right now. And I'm trying to figure out where else can I can I venture to get more eyes on my work aside from Instagram, so I'm still keeping an eye out for the next thing. Tik Tok is something that I don't think I want to get into videos in a loving, they actually do require more time than the still images, even though sometimes I do touch up the colors here and there the brightness or the contrast in some of my photos, but video, even if it's something immediate, like tick tock or they take time, and I rather use the time, the little bit that I have on my work.

Laura Arango Baier:

Exactly. Yeah, I guess everyone has their, I guess their way of wanting to work with things. Your videos, though on your Instagram are gorgeous. And you can tell that they've you've worked hard on making them look spectacular. Thank you. So you're welcome. I mean, for our listeners, I think they should check out your your Instagram, because I think it's the best example of beautifully curated. It's

Luis Colan:

that years of of figuring out what works for people and what doesn't work for people. And you know, yeah, like, I figured out that people don't want to see my face. So I won't put my face or people don't want to see me and friends having dinner. So that stopped. Yeah, so I had to devote, you know, my Instagram to that and make it look appealing and make it look like something you want to reach for and grab it and own it. Basically, that's the whole appeal of it. So yeah.

Laura Arango Baier:

Of course, and you could tell your aesthetic is all over it too, which is like, beautiful. It's, it's just like your drawings, which is so lovely.

Luis Colan:

Thank you appreciate.

Laura Arango Baier:

You're welcome. So now that we talked about the best tactic, I also like to ask my interviewees what the greatest challenge has been when trying to sell your work.

Luis Colan:

Um, the greatest challenge? Well, though, I think the greatest challenge is always finding that client, that collector who has, you know, money to spend and to collect. But I think one of the hardest things that I'm still trying to deal with and how to respond to it basically, is, you get a lot of people who are constantly asking for some sort of a discount, or they're trying to lowball you a lot. And people are so used to these days with different businesses, especially like on Facebook and Instagram, you are constantly getting targeted ads with here's a code get 25% off, if you click here, here's a sale for this period of time, you know, get it now before and then we are all trained that we can get something at a discounted price that that there will always be that and it may work for mass produced items and things but it doesn't really apply to to art especially when it's something that you labor over for many hours and it's also a sum of years of work to get you to a specific spot in in your process your work. And I think people forget that. And in doing so, and trying to lowball you also they're they don't realize But they're also being a little disrespectful in a way, I think it is in a way. And, and so it becomes this dance. And then you know, there are people who you give them, you know, X amount of dollars off or percent off. And then they say, great, you know, I'll take it, they just want that satisfaction and knowing that they got it for less than they bartered for it. But then you have some people who just don't accept it, and they just want more discount, and more, and they become, I'm gonna say, a little aggressive or passive aggressive. And then it becomes this thing that well, you are the quote unquote, starving artist, you need this sale, which I have encountered that, and that's even more disrespectful. And that's when, as an artist, you have to make the decision. You're like, Okay, where do I stand on this? Do I want the money? Which, regardless, it'll be a little extra cash for me for the month or whatever the week? How much do I value my work? And myself? And do I really want to deal with this person? And do I really want this person to own a piece of me, basically. And so those are questions you have to you have to ask yourself, and it's tricky. And I've had that before. And like I said, I just said, you know, hey, this is my final price, you know where to reach me? And if you don't, you know, if you change your mind with future, then then hey, I'm open to talking to you again. But for the moment, this is, this is not working for me. And that's a big challenge. I don't know how many people have experienced it, but I have experienced it. And it's a constant thing.

Laura Arango Baier:

That's really messed up. I had never heard that before of, I mean, I have heard, and it has also happened to me or someone just doesn't want to pay the full price. And it's like, Well, too bad. You're not getting it, you know? Yeah, that being so rude. You know, to have that output. You're You're the one who needs it. It's like, I don't need enough to say yes to you, though.

Luis Colan:

Yeah, it's like it's basically yeah, it's saying like, you know, we're starving artists. And I'm like, Well, to begin with, I'm not really starving. I have a full time job that pays my rent that pays my food. I'm not starving. I'm actually doing great. And the art is, you know, something that I want to do full time. Unfortunately, I'm not doing it full time. But I'm still pursuing it. And I'm still selling my work on the side. But I don't know what makes you think that I'm a starving.

Laura Arango Baier:

Yeah, I really hate that.

Luis Colan:

It's that idea that people think that we all are, if we are there's a reason why we're quote unquote, starving, and that we may be incompetent. I don't know. There's, there's a stigma about artists.

Laura Arango Baier:

And that's also why we have this podcast too, because we want to remove the stigma of the starving artists. Especially with the substack. The BoldBrush started called the sovereign artists. It's all about basically that it's like trying to, like sure, maybe starving artists was a thing before the internet became a tool. Yeah. Yeah. How are you using it? And I'm sure like, yeah, you have one collector low balling you can maybe you have another one over there. I was like, Oh, I will buy 10 Of those, you know? Yeah. So like, it's no longer the world of just like these people low balling you. It's also like, Well,

Luis Colan:

exactly, exactly. Yeah. I mean, technology has actually, I think it's become artists, great brand technology, because now you can sell work directly through your website sometimes. And there are artists who can actually do that, and don't have galleries representing them. And therefore, there's no commission taken from their sales. They're keeping it all. And that's amazing that that now we have that power. Because we never did. So that's, that's pretty amazing.

Laura Arango Baier:

It's a wonderful step forward for painters, and also to remove that stigma because I know way too many artists and way too many people who are on the internet, who perfectly live from their work. And sure, maybe they have a day job, but they are not starving. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.

Luis Colan:

We're not there anymore.

Laura Arango Baier:

Not anymore. So what marketing advice would you have wanted to hear when you were just starting out

Luis Colan:

a specific one I don't have but I what I do wish. And this is something that I've talked to with different artists over the many years of you know, working here in New York and being in contact with so many of them is I always thought art schools had a specific program or class where they also taught you the business side of art. They don't undergrads, they don't really have that. And I wish that they did, because it is a huge part of being an artist in the contemporary world, and why they don't provide this knowledge as guidance. I never could understand that. Yes, it's great to talk about painting. It's great to teach someone the process of stretching a canvas and the process of building a paint surface and all of that, but we also need business guidance. And that's something that I wish I had in school when I was going through my training and it's something that you now have to learn on your own As you go through the world, and you have to just learn from mistakes,

Laura Arango Baier:

yeah. That's true. And I also when I went to even the Atelier is where I studied, I was hoping and expecting to hear about the how do you price your art? How do you sell it? How do you?

Luis Colan:

Yeah, exactly. That's a question that I get constantly from from people, too, is like, how do you how can I price my work? What when it's like, that's a hard question, because I'm trying to answer that question for myself too, over the years, and, and there's this constant conversation is like, Okay, if I sold this for this price, back then, and it's, it's similar in size, there's a little bit bigger in size, but also, I've been working longer, no, my, my technique is better than this should be a little bit higher. But then if it is higher than someone walked by it, and is this big discussion that happens for every single piece, and and I wish there was an easy way of calculating it, but I mean, it, my way of seeing it is the amount of experience that you have, be honest with yourself about where you are technically speaking with your work and look at what other people are selling their work for that are in the similar circle or aesthetic as you and and take it from there. I say, it's hard, though. It's a hard one is a

Laura Arango Baier:

very tough one. Yeah, I've heard so many ways to go about it, too. It's like, oh, what's your your price per square inch?

Luis Colan:

Actually, I started doing that. Oh, cool. And I started doing because I do enough per square inch, but per square foot. And I got that idea from working at the art supply store, because we had to figure out because we did a lot of custom work custom made canvases and panels, and then you figure out the labor costs, aside from the materials. So the labor costs was this formula that that allowed you to, you know, figure out per square foot, how much that was going to cost. And so one day, I was like, okay, you know, I've sold a 12 inch or a 10 inch by 10 inch painting, I want to say this 10 inch by 10 inches a square foot, it's going to be similar to a 12 inch, all those little paintings are going to be at the starting point, let's say, let's say 500. And that's going to be my starting point for a nine by 12, an eight by 1010 by 10. And then, and then we'll we'll take that starting point, and then I'll figure out oh, then this bigger painting, I'm going to do this formula, and then multiplied or divided whatever I need to do by this 500. And then that gives me a price. Sometimes the price ends up being a little higher than I expected it would be and then that's when I have to ask myself, will someone pay that much for this or no. And then I can knock it down a little bit if I have to, or even increase it if you want to buy 100 or $2 if you want but yeah, I do the square foot when dealing with paintings, especially larger paintings, a square foot formula.

Laura Arango Baier:

Well, you heard that folks square foot. I'm guessing it's very different for the prints though, for the amount of

Luis Colan:

time Oh, the presidency, I have to keep them at a lower price. And they're all the same size too. So they will always remain the same. Yes.

Laura Arango Baier:

Well, there there it is. We've got a tiny less than in pricing your paintings on because anytime you want anything goes, yeah, the art market is so not regulated in terms of price. Yeah. Yeah, it's Yeah. As he said, it's also why we have this podcast is so people can can hear all of these different opinions and see, try to figure out hey, maybe I should go this way. Or maybe I should go that way. Yeah. So we appreciate when when we get really good advice, like you just gave us

Luis Colan:

because I'm just kind of a figure sometimes I'm like, I'm kind of lost them.

Laura Arango Baier:

Yeah, it's like we're all in a dark room and like, trying to grab each other. Yeah,

Luis Colan:

exactly. It's like you hope that you find someone that will like I'm just gonna hold on to you and you're gonna get me through. I'm gonna follow everything that you do.

Laura Arango Baier:

And I think it's been like that for so long that now it has has a direction that kind of doesn't make sense. So it works out. And then I also heard that you have an upcoming workshop.

Luis Colan:

I do have a workshop coming up and it's through the teaching studios, of our which Rob Zeller is a director. And it's funny, you know, I started as a student, and now I'm teaching workshops with so which was really nice. And we've been doing that since last year. We did three workshops last year. We did one I believe in August this year, and now we're doing one November, which is November Sunday, November 13. And 20 was a two day workshop. But it's broken down into two days, one week apart. We don't want to take people's weekend away. So you know, we'll give you a Sunday here and another Sunday. So it's a two day workshop with the teaching studios of art and it's called drawn to the masters. It's a spin off of my previous workshop which was drawn to nature which is about Drawing Saskatchewan derived mainly and with pen and ink, so ballpoint pen and roller balls. And I went through the process of how I use these tools to get the effects that I got. And this is basically a spin off and it's called drawn to the masters. And it's basically taking a look at master of your choice. And then using that as a guide to start a new composition. So taking elements from that painting or that print, whatever it may be, and then picking a little section of it. And using that as the main part of your, your new piece that you may be working on, which is something that sometimes I do too, I go to the mat and just pick a little thing. And then I from there on I work from memory, and then it becomes something different. So that's what this new workshop is about.

Laura Arango Baier:

It's really awesome. And it actually follows the the tradition that even the old masters when they were looking to make new pieces they were looking back to exactly, exactly, yeah, very beautiful passing on the torch. Yeah,

Luis Colan:

yeah. And it's, you know, a new way of doing it too, because it's not an actual copy class. It's not, it's not painting or using ballpoint pens, which is something that has become really big in the world in the last few years.

Laura Arango Baier:

Yeah. And you know, that's also the really good thing about the world today with the internet's like, you see how the very simple ballpoint pen has become another amazing tool. Yeah, that I'm sure the Old Masters would freaking loved. Yeah,

Luis Colan:

yeah. Yeah, it's, it's, it's great. I love it. And the great thing about it is that everybody has access to it. A lot of people feel like they can't be painters, because there's this thing of oil paints are expensive, or I'm not an artist. So they're not going to spend the time on, you know, on these materials and the whole process, but paper and pen, people all over the world, have them just laying around and I'm just gonna doodle or I'm just gonna sketch and then it becomes something bigger than just that, you

Laura Arango Baier:

know? Yeah, exactly.

Luis Colan:

That's the attraction.

Laura Arango Baier:

Absolutely. So if someone wants to sign up for your workshop, where can they go?

Luis Colan:

Teaching studios.com And then just go to their workshops area, there's a little tab where you click and it there's online workshops. Also, on my Instagram, on my bio, there's a link where you can sign up for it. It should be at the top of the list of the many links.

Laura Arango Baier:

Awesome. Thank you so much, Louise. This was so wonderful. Yeah, of course. Thank

Luis Colan:

you so much for having me. Yeah, this

Laura Arango Baier:

is great. I will include all of your links as well so people can check out your gorgeous Instagram. They're all they're all included in the show notes. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much.

Luis Colan:

Thank you so much.