THE INSPIRATION PLACE PODCAST
Marianne Nielsen:
I was so hesitant at the beginning when you said once a week. I went, oh my gosh. But I do once a week or once every two weeks, but I’m consistent from your course. I’m very consistent, and I actually like doing them now.
Miriam Schulman:
And you do get sales there, right? That way?
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah, I do.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah.
Marianne Nielsen:
But more importantly, I feel like I’m building that connection with those people, and I get lots of replies to my emails. So I’m getting to know people and they’re getting to know me better. Yeah. So I actually like doing it a lot.
Speaker 3:
It’s The Inspiration Place Podcast with artist Miriam Schulman. Welcome to The Inspiration Place Podcast, an art world inside a podcast for artists by an artist where each week we go behind the scenes to uncover the perspiration and inspiration behind the art. And now, your host, Miriam Schulman.
Miriam Schulman:
Well, hello, passion maker. This is Miriam Schulman, your curator of inspiration, and you’re listening to episode #232 of The Inspiration Place Podcast. Today, we’re talking to an artist who proves that you don’t have to sell in person to make a sustainable living with your art. I can’t wait for you to meet her.
But before we get there, I just wanted everyone to know, because I’ve been getting a lot of emails lately. So not everyone, I want everyone who’s international to know. I’ve been getting a lot of emails lately, people who want to order my book, but they don’t want to pay shipping on whatever site you’re on. And my publisher let me know that there is this site called the Book Depository and Artpreneur is available there so you can get free worldwide shipping. So we have added a link to that on the pre-order page for Artpreneur, so that if you can get all your bonuses, no, it doesn’t matter where you order your book. We don’t care if you’re Amazon, anti-Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository, indie bookstore, it doesn’t matter. Go order the book wherever you want, then take your name, email and order number, enter it on artpreneurbook.com, and we will set you up with the bonuses. I can’t wait for you to read this book. All right, now on with the show.
Today’s guest turned to painting many years ago as a way to relieve the stresses of daily life and finding an outlet for expression. Painting in many layers, each one adds to her story. While seemingly nonrepresentational, her work explores the patterns, colors, and movement found in nature, the elements and the galaxy. Cloud, rain stars, and more make an appearance carrying with them the emotions associated with each. Music plays a large role in her daily practice influencing the fluidity and movement of her art. She paints from her home studio overlooking a forest outside of Ottawa, Ontario. Her artwork can be found in private collections across Canada, North America, Europe, Australia, and South Africa. Please welcome to The Inspiration Place, Marianne Nielsen. Hey Marianne, welcome to the show.
Marianne Nielsen:
Hi, Miriam. Thank you for having me. I’m super excited.
Miriam Schulman:
So tell me about your studio where you’re painting.
Marianne Nielsen:
So my studio is in my home, and it’s intended to be a dining room. And I paint there, and it’s got a huge window looking out into a forested area. So it’s very inspiring for me.
Miriam Schulman:
Beautiful. I’ve been threatening to take over our dining room in the country as well, because that one has the most windows. It’s like we’re not really going to host any family meals in here, right? You don’t mind if I move in my art supplies?
Marianne Nielsen:
Well, that was my thought too.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. So now, I guess… You have Canadian Thanksgiving, right? Is that similar to American Thanksgiving?
Marianne Nielsen:
That was in October.
Miriam Schulman:
So you don’t have to host it? You’re off the hook?
Marianne Nielsen:
I’m off the hook.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
All right. So the reason I invited you is because I’m always getting asked questions that go something like this. There’s different variations. Well, do I have to do social media to sell my art? Well, no, you don’t. Do I have to sell in person to sell my art? Well, no, you don’t. Do I have to be in a gallery to sell my art? Well, no, you don’t. But you got to do something. So usually what I tell me is like, well, you have to pick something to do. So why don’t we start there? I know that was something that you felt very strongly about that you wanted to give up selling in person, and you sold in person for a while. You did that art fair thing, art festival thing.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah. I tried a couple and just, I didn’t like it at all.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. Well-
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
What’s to like about schlepping your artwork? I mean-
Marianne Nielsen:
Well, and-
Miriam Schulman:
I mean, I like once you’re there and you’re talking to people, but yeah.
Marianne Nielsen:
It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. I mean I always like it once I’m set up, but the magic fairies got to come and set it up for me.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
I don’t know where those magic fairies are. I always spot my husband with duties like, no, I’m out.
Marianne Nielsen:
I don’t have a magic fairy. So I’m the magic fairy.
Miriam Schulman:
I know, I know. I had one guest on who loved doing art fairs, but she’s six feet tall, so she was able to set everything up herself. But you do sell your art now. Tell us how, if you’re not doing it in person, how you’re doing it.
Marianne Nielsen:
Mostly it’s either off my website or through galleries. And I’ve only been in galleries… Well, I guess it’s been a couple of years, but I got into a few of them this year, this past year, from your course. So I do that and then off of my website.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah, that’s great.
Marianne Nielsen:
And I market basically on Instagram.
Miriam Schulman:
And?
Marianne Nielsen:
And now I’m getting into Pinterest more.
Miriam Schulman:
And?
Marianne Nielsen:
And? Oh, Miriam.
Miriam Schulman:
How do you get people to go to your website?
Marianne Nielsen:
I get people to go to my website through my email list.
Miriam Schulman:
Thank you.
Marianne Nielsen:
Which you taught me how to do. And I was so hesitant at the beginning when you said once a week. I went, oh my gosh. But I do once a week or once every two weeks, but I’m consistent from your course. I’m very consistent, and I actually like doing them now.
Miriam Schulman:
And you do get sales there, right? That way?
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah, I do.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah.
Marianne Nielsen:
But more importantly, I feel like I’m building that connection with those people and I get lots of replies to my emails. So I’m getting to know people and they’re getting to know me better. So I actually like doing it a lot.
Miriam Schulman:
Good. Yeah, you do a good job with that because I still read your emails.
Marianne Nielsen:
Oh, okay.
Miriam Schulman:
I think.
Marianne Nielsen:
You’re not supposed to say I think.
Miriam Schulman:
No, I definitely do. I mean, you and Cindy, I was like, Oh, it’s Canadian Thanksgiving now. How large is your email list? Because people want to know to have success, how large does it have to be?
Marianne Nielsen:
It’s not that large. It’s under 400.
Miriam Schulman:
But when it’s really in people who belong on the list, it does make a difference.
Marianne Nielsen:
And I get a really great open rate too. I get close to 60%.
Miriam Schulman:
Wow.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah. I get a really good open rate.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh my gosh. That is really, really good.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
So you’re 60%, so that’s 240 people. So that would be the same as somebody who maybe has a thousand people on their list but only has a 24% open rate. So you really are leveraging your email list. It’s fantastic.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah. So that’s one of my main focuses now still. And I’m less on Instagram than I was, and I’m focusing also on Pinterest now.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. So you told me that before we hit record. I want to hear what you’re doing there because this is not part of our work together. Are you advertising there? What are you doing on Pinterest?
Marianne Nielsen:
I’m not advertising yet. I cleaned up my boards and did a bunch of clean up in there, and I’m posting daily Pins. And then they have their version of stories, which are called Idea Pins.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh.
Marianne Nielsen:
So I’m doing that pretty much daily right now. And I’m noticing an uptick because I had a bit of a downtick for a while because I wasn’t paying attention to Pinterest. And now it’s starting to come back up again.
Miriam Schulman:
Now, have you gotten collectors from it or email subscribers?
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah, I’ve gotten email subscribers from it.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, that’s great because we know email subscribers-
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah, because I can see they follow me on Pinterest and then I see that they come into my email list. So, yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
Excellent, excellent. What are you offering on Pinterest to get them onto your email list?
Marianne Nielsen:
At this stage, I haven’t really done a lead magnet other than basically come and join my email list and get first dibs and a small discount for you to purchase my art. I’m working on that right now.
Miriam Schulman:
I love hearing that because a lot of artists overthink it because they listen to marketers who say, you need a cheat sheet, you need this, you need that. And really, if they like your art, if they’re someone who’s going to be a buyer, getting first dibs is important to them. I mean, part of what collecting original art is getting something before anybody else, getting exclusivity, and that’s what they’re willing to pay big bucks for. So I love to hear that that’s actually working for you.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah. Yeah. It has been.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. And then the other thing I wanted to ask you, and then I still want to talk to you about colors.
Marianne Nielsen:
Okay.
Miriam Schulman:
When I told Marianne I wanted to talk to her about this, she wasn’t too excited, but I’m obsessed right now, so we have to have this conversation anyway. So one of the things that I know I told you, so what I said at the beginning of this conversation was people say, “Do I have to do this? Do I have to do that? Do I have to whatever?” And I was like, no, but you have to do something, and then what you’re doing, you have to lean into it really hard. So one of the things I said to you is if you want to have most of your sales be from your email list and your gallery, you need more galleries. So how many galleries are you in now?
Marianne Nielsen:
I think there’s three brick and mortar ones and a new Canadian online one that, I think, will be quite successful once they get the ball rolling. Yeah. So four basically.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. All right. And then I wrote a few down that I’m going to share with you after this conversation’s over.
Marianne Nielsen:
Okay.
Miriam Schulman:
I don’t want to… Sorry, listener. You’re not part of the incubator program. When you join, I will tell you also if… Okay.
Marianne Nielsen:
Join her incubator program.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s it for that commercial. Okay. So I’m obsessed with all these various paint companies’ color of the year, and Pantone has it. I think last year, it’s purple. I think this year, it’s a different shade of purple. I wasn’t thrilled with either of those colors. But what’s also interesting, and I think it’s important for us artists to… Not that you have to paint based on trends, but you should be aware of what these are because it does affect our art sales, what is trending in the market. It’s something like a gestalt that’s happening. And each of the different paint companies, they also come up with what their recommendation is for the color of the year. Last year, well, this year, 2022, most of the paint companies had different shades of green. I don’t know if you’re aware. Like Benjamin Moore, they had a beautiful shade of sage green. Sherwin-Williams did as well. They all had these very beautiful shades of green.
This year, the colors are all over the place. I think Sherwin-Williams… I forget whether it’s Sharon Williams or Behr, where it’s blank canvas, which is basically white is their color of the year, and I was like, okay, that’s interesting. And then what I wanted to talk to you about, Marianne, and she’s like, “Why are we even talking about this?” Okay, so Benjamin Moore, I had said before I found out what the color of the year choices were, I thought, oh, I have a new apartment. We painted it all Swiss coffee, which is basically an off-white color. And I thought when they come out with the color of the year, I’ll paint my foyer, whatever it is. Well, I am not painting it this color.
So I’m going to share it with you and we’re going to talk about it. I’m going to share my screen. And those of you who are listening, because you’re not watching, we will put in the show notes a link to Benjamin Moore 2023 Color of the Year. Let’s see if I can get this up here. Benjamin Moore Color of the Year. Okay. This is the color of the year.
Marianne Nielsen:
Wow.
Miriam Schulman:
I know. Okay. So for those of you who are listening, they call it raspberry blush, and it’s basically coral, and it’s not subtle. I don’t know what they’re going to sell a lot of these paint colors. And they have what they call a palette of colors, and what they were saying is that this is inspired by modern art. And I was thinking, huh, I wonder what Marianne thinks about this. Hold on, let me see if I can get to… Okay, here we are, 2023 color trends. What do you think? We’ve got the coral we told you about. We’ve got this, a teal green. We got blue that they’re calling starry something, and it’s basically like a-
Marianne Nielsen:
Looks like a muted ultramarine blue.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. I don’t think there’s anything muted about this color palette. And then the last one is lime green, which is a very ’60s color. And there’s a pink here.
Marianne Nielsen:
So interestingly enough, lately on some of my paintings, I’ve been using more green.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah.
Marianne Nielsen:
It’s not that I don’t like green. I just lose my color generally. But I’m really liking green, and I’m using a much, much lighter… I guess you’d call it coral. It’s sort of a peachy color.
Miriam Schulman:
I know you have because I’ve seen it. That’s why I said I wanted to show this to you.
Marianne Nielsen:
But I find those colors a little bit too in your face when they’re all together on that image you showed me.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. I don’t understand their marketing around this at all because I can see these colors in artwork, I can see these colors in fabrics, but I can’t see anybody wanting to paint their walls any of these colors.
Marianne Nielsen:
No, especially the coral.
Miriam Schulman:
I know, right?
Marianne Nielsen:
Any of them. You’re right.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. But why are we talking about this? I’m like-
Marianne Nielsen:
Because I use some of those colors.
Miriam Schulman:
Because I see these in your artwork and I also see them in… There’s this one called conch shell. Conch? Do you say conch? Conch shell. So it’s kind of a pink color, and this is the color I would see in a Kandinsky, don’t you think? Or Willem de Kooning.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
Right? And the Savannah Green and the pink color?
Marianne Nielsen:
I’m a fan of teal, but I don’t like that teal.
Miriam Schulman:
No, I don’t like that teal either. So starry night blue, it’s kind of like Van Gogh’s Starry Night, but paint your walls with that? Are you kidding me?
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah, I know.
Miriam Schulman:
However, I think this is good news for us artists. So I think these colors, not these exact colors, but I think take a look at the Benjamin Moore colors and tag me on Instagram and let me know what you think of these. You either tag me under Benjamin Moore. What’s Benjamin Moore on Instagram? Hold on, I’m going to find out, so you can see this when you’re listening. Oh my gosh. These are all… One is worse than the other, don’t you think?
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
They have one called cinnamon, which is basically burnt orange. And then the Savannah green, it’s kind of like poopy diaper green, like infant breastfed poopy diaper. You know what I mean?
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah, yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
But they say it’s inspired by modern art.
Marianne Nielsen:
Well, the art pieces, they are lovely.
Miriam Schulman:
They are. But I think they should have painted the walls white and then put the art on it. All right. So I want to know what you guys think. What do you think of these colors? Would you use them in your home? Would you use them in your artwork? Let us know. Comment below. Either if you’re listening to this on my website, so you can comment there, or you can DM me. I’m @schulmanart on Instagram. Or I don’t know how else can you get in touch with me. You can send me an email. So that’s what I wanted to show you.
Marianne Nielsen:
Thank you for showing me that, Miriam.
Miriam Schulman:
I know Marianne is still like, “WTF Miriam, what are you talking about?” No, but I’ve seen these vibrant colors in your artwork. So let’s talk about that because I know that music is very important in your art. What kind of music do you listen to when you paint?
Marianne Nielsen:
Anything from the ’60s to now.
Miriam Schulman:
There you go.
Marianne Nielsen:
Most of it I would say is probably the ’70s music, ’70s and ’80s and a lot of current stuff, whatever. I just listen because it takes me out of my head when I have music on. I tried listening to podcasts. Can’t do that. I stop painting because I have to listen, whereas music just takes me right out of my head.
Miriam Schulman:
Beautiful. And then in terms of when you approach a painting, what intentions do you set at the beginning of your paintings?
Marianne Nielsen:
I don’t really set any intention other than to have fun doing it. I never have a plan. I just choose my colors. And it doesn’t even necessarily going to end up in the colors that I choose on those first few layers. I just go for it. My painting is much more about, I guess, my mindset and my emotional being in those moments. Or the music often brings up memories and then I find it’s those emotions that show up on the artwork.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s nice. I like that. So it’s a very intuitive process for you.
Marianne Nielsen:
Very much so, and I love it.
Miriam Schulman:
And then how often do you paint? Every day? Three days a week?
Marianne Nielsen:
Not anymore. When I was learning, because I started about seven years ago. So for the first five years, five, six, probably every day. Now, maybe four times a week, five times a week.
Miriam Schulman:
Do you feel you need that a day off, like you need a break, a mental break?
Marianne Nielsen:
Well, and the admin gets more, right? As you grow, you’ve got to spend way more time on your administration, and I don’t mind doing it. I don’t mind.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. I mean, you can hire it out. I mean, mostly the admin became an issue for me when I added on things like online art classes and coaching another and the podcast and things like that, but when I was only selling art and not doing everything else, I found it was a good balance for my left and right brain to be able to do both and have a break. Does that make sense to you?
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah, because I’m previously an accountant, so I was very left-brained.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah.
Marianne Nielsen:
So that’s why I don’t mind the computer stuff. I do find it a good break, and it just takes you into a different head space.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. Like there’s something relaxing because there’s a lot of decisions to be made when you are doing things that are creative. And a lot of admin, there’s not a lot of decisions.
Marianne Nielsen:
No. Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
All right. So Marianne, I want to ask you, if you could go back seven years ago and ask that T minus seven, whatever your age is, T-minus-seven-year-old self, if you could tell them, no, not ask them, tell them, give them advice, what would that be?
Marianne Nielsen:
It would be to trust the process of painting. It would be to not be so hard on yourself, because I sure was in the beginning, and just enjoy the flow of it all. Painting for me has been a huge emotional healing process for me, and it still is, but it’s just in the beginning, it taught me so much about myself.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. Painting is self-development.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
And building a business is self-development, don’t you think?
Marianne Nielsen:
Yep.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. It’s the best self-development you can do.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah. It is, because you have to do things that scare you, that you don’t like. You got to take chances and take risks, and so you learn to do that. Otherwise, you’re just going to become stagnant.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. You have to get uncomfortable.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah. Just like when I came onto this podcast.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s right. I had a conversation with an artist recently and she says, “Well, I do uncomfortable things.” But then I told her something 10 minutes ago, she said, “Oh, that makes me so uncomfortable. I couldn’t do that.” I just like, “Oh, but you do uncomfortable things, but not that thing I just told you.” I think people, they think they’re being uncomfortable, but they’re not always pushing themselves. That’s what’s so important when you came into my program, when other people come into my program, is that you get pushed.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah, you do. And that’s what you did with the email thing, right? Because I was so hesitant, like once a month seemed like enough for me, thank you very much. And even that was not easy. And your biggest piece of advice for me on that email thing was I was kind of struggling to speak to the person on the other side, and you said to me, because I had a really close relationship with my father, to imagine myself writing to my dad, and that’s what I do. It’s not that I’m writing to him, so to speak, but it’s almost like he’s on my shoulder and I just go with the flow of it. Right?
Miriam Schulman:
And I don’t know if this was clear to everyone who’s listening, but it’s your late father that you’re talking about.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
So you’re still in conversation with… And that’s something that my family does. We talk to dead people. It sounds really like woo, but that’s not even what it is. It’s kind of just happens in your head.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah. And it’s kind of like I’m sharing with him what I’m doing, right?
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah.
Marianne Nielsen:
Because I wasn’t painting when he passed away.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. So everyone knows I’m a Harry Potter nerd. There’s the ending of Harry Potter when… So in case people don’t know, I’ll have to explain. So after Harry Potter, he dies, but he comes back. So he’s in this place and he says to Dumbledore, “Is this real or is it happening in my head?” And now I’m going to screw it up. But basically what his reply to is, “Well, what difference does it make?”
Marianne Nielsen:
And that’s true.
Miriam Schulman:
It doesn’t. Right.
Marianne Nielsen:
It doesn’t, yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s what I mean when we have conversations with people who we’ve lost. The relationship you have continues.
Marianne Nielsen:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
All right. This has been a beautiful conversation. Marianne, what is your Pinterest handle? And we’ll make sure to include that in the show notes so people can come find you.
Marianne Nielsen:
I believe it’s Maria H. Nielsen Abstract Art.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, that’s a long one. Okay.
Marianne Nielsen:
I know.
Miriam Schulman:
So this is episode, I think we said 232. So we will make sure to link to that in the show notes. So schulmanart.com/232, we will have all things Marianne in there so that you can see her colorful art.
Marianne Nielsen:
Thank you.
Miriam Schulman:
Very beautiful art. And also see what she’s doing on interest. And don’t forget, pre-orders for Artpreneur is available, so you can go over to artpreneur.com. We’ve linked all the places where you can order it, including Book Depository, which is perfect for my friends in Europe and Australia who don’t want to have to pay international shipping. I believe the shipping is free everywhere in the world. So we’re linked up there. And then if you buy on that page, you can take advantage of all the book bonuses. So again, artpreneurbook.com. Marianne, do you have any last words for my listeners before we call this podcast complete?
Marianne Nielsen:
Two things. I would like to say that as artists, it’s imperative that you keep going through the whole process, whether it’s the painting part of it or the business part of it. And a little plug from Miriam, I took her inspirational place course.
Miriam Schulman:
Artist Incubator.
Marianne Nielsen:
Incubator. Okay. Sorry.
Miriam Schulman:
It’s okay.
Marianne Nielsen:
And it’s well worth it. You’ll learn an awful lot in there.
Miriam Schulman:
All right, thank you. And thank you so much for being with here today. You were such an inspiration, and I know that my listeners are going to love it. All right. So that’s it for today. I’ll see you same time, same place next week. Stay inspired.
Speaker 3:
Thank you for listening to The Inspiration Place Podcast. Connect with us on Facebook, facebook.com/schulmanart, on Instagram, @schulmanart, and of course on schulmanart.com.
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