THE INSPIRATION PLACE PODCAST
Lynn Samis: One of the things I have learned is just try something. The worst is you might fail at it. The second thing is you might really succeed and do great. But if you don’t even try, you’re never going to know. So, failing is better than not trying. Step out of your comfort zone and go for it.
Speaker 2: It’s the Inspiration Place podcast with artist Miriam Schulman. Welcome to the Inspiration Place Podcast, an art world insider 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, hey there. This is Miriam Schulman, your curator of inspiration, and you’re listening to episode number 317 of The Inspiration Place podcast. I am so grateful that you’re here.
Today, my guest is a full-time artist who focuses on multicultural figures and faces. Her original source of inspiration came when she uncovered her grandfather’s treasure trove of photographs that dated back to the early 20th century. Her grandfather had taken a year-long trip around the world, giving her unlimited inspiration. She and her husband of 42 years have four grown children, four grandchildren, and two golden doodles, and they split their time between Fort Worth, Texas, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Please welcome to the Inspiration Place, Lynn Samis. Hey there Lynn, welcome to the Inspiration Place. We’re so happy that you’re here.
Lynn Samis: Thanks, Miriam. I’m excited to be here.
Miriam Schulman: Okay, so I know you might be a little bit nervous, but I just want you to pretend that it’s just the two of us. In fact, I’m going to make that a little bit easier for you. So I was trying to add some special backgrounds and effects and all that stuff and—How do we do no background? See? Now even I’m like, stuck.I can’t get rid of it. I can’t get rid of the painting. So just, you know, for my listeners who don’t know what Lynn and I are laughing about, we just spent like ten minutes of me trying to explain to Lynn how to add a painting to her zoom background, which was a fail, not because of Lynn, but she’s on a mac, and I don’t know how to use a mac, and I can’t see her computer and now I have a painting on my background that I can’t get rid of. Oh, wait, there we go. I just figured it out. Okay. All right. My gosh, that was so stressful, I hate technology.
Lynn Samis: Okay. Deep breath.
Miriam Schulman: Okay, so I just want to make it easier for you to pretend that this is like a regular thing. And I knew that wasn’t going to be possible with my weird background, so.
Lynn Samis: Okay, perfect.
Miriam Schulman: In my studio, it’s just you and me and the cat. And there might be some people eavesdropping later. Don’t worry about them.
Lynn Samis: I won’t.
Miriam Schulman: I’m here now, okay? Just be here with me. All right. So Lynn joined my Inner Circle in January after reading the book, Artpreneur. And you have now risen to the top as one of my star students of, like, really all time. I might even say.
Lynn Samis: Wow.
Miriam Schulman: What you’ve done is incredible.
Lynn Samis: That’s all on you, Miriam.
Miriam Schulman: I will take credit for that. Thank you.
Lynn Samis: I did a little of the work, but you—
Miriam Schulman: No, you did the work but you listened to me and not everybody, you know, people ask me what percentage of people get results and I’m like, well, the percentage of people who listen to me, they get the results, you know. Do everything I say, you’ll get the results, I’m promising, that’s all. It’s easy as that.
Lynn Samis: Somehow we’ll work through this computer problem I have.
Miriam Schulman: There’s no computer problem, okay? Because like, what we wanted to do was silly and ridiculous anyway. Okay. Because you’re clearly selling art. So do you mind sharing numbers with the people eavesdropping who were pretending aren’t here right now?
Lynn Samis: No, not at all.
Miriam Schulman: Okay. All right. So can you share, like, how much you made as an artist in 2023?
Lynn Samis: Uh, I think to say 30,000 would be stretching it for 23.
Miriam Schulman: And was that gross or net?
Lynn Samis: That was net.
Miriam Schulman: After paying galleries.
Lynn Samis: Yes. Actually, no, it would be gross.
Miriam Schulman: Okay. It’s gross.
Lynn Samis: Okay. Yeah. Because then my galleries were not they did not sell very much for me, so it’d be gross.
Miriam Schulman: All right. So 30,000 for the whole year. Yep. And right now as we’re recording this in June. This is June 5th that we’re recording this. Do you know how much you sold this year?
Lynn Samis: I think it’s probably been 35 or 40,000 so far.
Miriam Schulman: Okay, so I just wanted to like, be very clear that in five months you sold more in five months than you did all of last year.
Lynn Samis: I know, I’m very excited about that too. That’s pretty cool.
Miriam Schulman: It’s really cool. And then and then, a lot of that has been the last two months.
Lynn Samis: Correct.
Miriam Schulman: So one of the things that and I want the people were pretending that aren’t here, but I keep bringing them up anyway.
Lynn Samis: Right. So we’ll just say hi to them.
Miriam Schulman: Just say hi to them. What I want people to understand, though, is how this happened. So we’re going to break it down for them. Like what has really made the difference. But before we get there we’re still talking about numbers. You did a challenge. I challenged all the people inside the Artist Incubator to make $5,000 in a month, and I don’t know how many people listened to me and knew about the challenge, but we did have a couple people who did the challenge, who succeeded in the $5,000. And you actually more than tripled that.
Lynn Samis: Yep.
Miriam Schulman: Tell us what you made that month.
Lynn Samis: I made just over 15,000. Just almost on the dot.
Miriam Schulman: There we go. Yeah. And then what I love is that this wasn’t just an outlier. The following month, you made…?
Lynn Samis: Almost 10,000. Exactly.
Miriam Schulman: That’s more than I thought. Like the last time we spoke, I thought it was 8000. Okay.
Lynn Samis: So you’ve made my goal each month go from 5,000 to 10,000, which I keep laughing, thinking I don’t even know how I’m going to do that, but I keep pushing it so.
Miriam Schulman: I don’t see why you shouldn’t have 10,000 every month. Now it’s like, this is like your new your new normal.
Lynn Samis: Well, which just blows me away. So I gotta work hard in June to get some checks to come in.
Miriam Schulman: How does it feel to blow your own mind?
Lynn Samis: It’s pretty exciting. It’s, uh. I’m actually very, uh, proud of myself. And it’s really blowing my family’s mind, which is fun to see. They’re super excited.
Miriam Schulman: Yeah, and I bet your daughter. So you have—I know you you have two daughters and you have four kids. Is that. Did I get that right?
Lynn Samis: Two girls and two boys. All adults and four grandchildren. So, not just starting out, but just starting out in a different way.
Miriam Schulman: So what are your children think? Your adult children, I want to add.
Lynn Samis: They’re all definitely adults.
Miriam Schulman: Are they proud of you?
Lynn Samis: They’re super proud of me. Our youngest, who’s actually 32. He even set up a zoom call, uh, before we got on to make sure my headphones were working properly. Because he said, mom, you got this, you can do this. And he wanted to make sure they were coming in, you know, loud and clear. So they’re all super excited.
Miriam Schulman: Remember how nervous you were when I asked you to come on the podcast?
Lynn Samis: I shut you down so fast. I said, there’s no way I could do that. And then I thought, you know, I’m not going to grow if I don’t start taking these risks and stretching myself. And, um, so I think I emailed you right back and said, I don’t know why I’m saying yes, but let’s go for it.
Miriam Schulman: I’m so glad you said yes, because—
Lynn Samis: Thank you.
Miriam Schulman: This isn’t even about you and me. This is about all those people we’re still pretending aren’t listening right now. Like what we’re inspiring. You know, women who don’t see what’s possible. Men who are artists, who don’t see what it’s possible. People who think they might be too old to do this. And you’re a grandmother. Like, come on, this is this is possible for all of us. No matter what our age is, no matter what our gender is, no matter what kind of art you create. I’m sure they’re very curious about what kind of art you create. So let’s talk about that now.
Lynn Samis: Okay. Sounds good. I create mainly figures. Although you wanted to show a painting of a pig and a turtle and a bird, which makes me laugh. I love that painting. I love that painting too, so maybe someone else will love it if you show it.
Miriam Schulman: Maybe I’ll buy it.
Lynn Samis: Okay, but I paint mainly figures from the early 1900s. Um, started out painting strictly from my grandparents grandfather’s trip around the world, which he took in 1923. And I have all those old photos. So that was my beginning inspiration. And then I kind of veered off into painting Native Americans from that same, um, era early 1900s and keeping with the theme of, you know, black and white kind of grainy photos. So I couldn’t get too precise on what the photo looked like. Um, because I don’t want to copy a photo, I want to just kind of get a place to start and then take it. Um. Take it where it seems to want to go. It’s like a painting starts to tell me a story, um, as I move along. And it may take five layers of paintings to find that story to make it come out. But, um, that’s just the way I work, and I just love getting lost in it and seeing what the story starts, what happens?
Miriam Schulman: And are you working in oils or acrylics?
Lynn Samis: I used to only work in oils. Now I’ve gotten—So I start, um, a lot of my most of my paintings in acrylics because I’m going a lot bigger, too. Um, I had someone I know that a lot of people in this, you know, imaginary room with us know too. That has convinced me that going bigger. All the time is better. So I’m really starting to.
Miriam Schulman: That’s me, that’s not the imaginary room.
Lynn Samis: So anyway, I I’ve always loved to go big, but I didn’t realize how to do it. And now I’m starting to use acrylics for those first layers, which is a lot of fun. I’m having a good time with it.
Miriam Schulman: I’m really glad. And that’s one thing that I found, and you can tell me if you agree with us, is that, um, creativity loves constraints. So if the constraint is you have to do this bigger now, like you have to get creative. Well, how do I do that? I always find like that’s why I love I know you actually feel the same way about commissions, right?
Lynn Samis: Oh yeah, I love commissions.
Miriam Schulman: Yeah. Tell us about that.
Lynn Samis: But I used to not like commissions because I was terrified of failing. And I didn’t do very many of them. But part of that also was people didn’t know I painted. And so therefore people didn’t ask me, you know. I was kind of this up until probably the past year. Even now people say, oh my gosh, I had no idea you painted. And um, it’s just a cute little hobby you’ve done for a while. I said, no, it’s full time. I’m, you know, I paint all the time. So I think that’s how I’m getting more commissions now is word of mouth, for one thing. And then I’m also reaching out to, um, past collectors and getting their, um, getting some more from them.
Miriam Schulman: Tell us about that. So you’ve built an email list which you never did before.
Lynn Samis: Correct and still working on that. Long way to go with that. But I think that’s just a lifelong commitment, to keep adding names to that. And I’m working on sending out those emails. I think I got one out today, which was exciting. But I think just going back and contacting people that have bought paintings before and just kind of reminding them who I am, and getting more and more brave and bold in that area to just say, “Hey, I’m doing this, I’d love for you to come see it.”
And the big month that I had, the $15,000, I actually invited people into my studio and showed them I had found 60 pieces of art on paper that I had previously done and stuck under a bed. I pulled them all out and realized they were really pretty darn good. So I had them professionally matted, and so they’re ready to go in frames. They really looked good. I started inviting people, telling them I had some small works, plus all the big ones. And so that got a lot of people into the studio. That was fun.
Miriam Schulman: That’s great. So you’re going to do that open studio again, right?
Lynn Samis: I’m definitely going to do that when we get back.
Miriam Schulman: That’s a great idea. So see what I created in Santa Fe type of fall. Welcome back I love it.
Lynn Samis: Yeah. I’ve got all kinds of ideas for when we get back into Fort Worth in the fall, so that’s fun because I never even planned ahead before I just went out and painted.
Miriam Schulman: What do you think that your biggest struggle was last year with selling art and you were in galleries. So tell tell our imaginary people that aren’t that are real people, by the way.
Lynn Samis: Tell them about my gallery experience?
Miriam Schulman: Yeah, yeah. Tell. Um, I would say you don’t have to bash anybody. Just. No, no, we’re not doing that. No. Just like because there’s a lot of artists who feel that the gallery is going to be their knight in shining armor and make all their problems go away. And the work I’ve done with you has been the opposite. You were in gallery or are in galleries, and it was more like, well, how can I Also sell on my own to supplement? Is that right?
Lynn Samis: Correct. I am still in one gallery. I pulled out of a couple. I think before I met you, I did not have the voice. I was just finding it. That’s not true. I had found it, I think, last summer and they were not promoting me. I get that they have a number of artists and they can’t put everyone up on the walls.
Like you said, it was on my bucket list. For a lot of artists, including myself, it was a dream to be in a gallery, especially one here in Santa Fe, which is such a high art community. And I’ve been there, doing it for six years, in a beautiful gallery. But they are committed to a number of artists. So I realized I’m going to have to fight for myself and stand up for myself and learn how to do this.
I ran up against the wall, telling myself that I can’t do the business side of the art world. That’s why I thought I needed the gallery to promote me. When I realized they were not doing it, I had to do it. I needed help to learn how to do that. Step in Miriam, once I read her book.
Miriam Schulman: Let’s talk about, I’m going to call this beyond the book. Okay. What have you learned being in the program or working with me? What skills and that have you, have you learned that’s really pushed you forward?
Lynn Samis: Well, I am kind of a hands-on person, so the book is what got me excited, completely got me signed up. I was ready to go, but if I would not have signed up and had you walking me through how to do an email, showing me, giving me the templates, or talking to people, I mean literally how to do it. I’d write down what you would say word for word to give me the courage on how to approach people. Those are huge because I can read all day and then forget when I go to bed exactly what I wrote or what I read.
For me, the program, not only with you but with the other people around me, I get so much out of just that. Ask Miriam anything, just the other questions like, “Oh yeah, I need help with that one too.” And then our small pods, we’re really starting to get into some of the details of things we’re all trying to figure out together. So that’s been good.
Miriam Schulman: Okay, so I don’t know what happens inside those pods. I created the pods, just for my listeners and especially somebody who maybe have been in the incubator in the past and are not in it currently, we just created this pod system. And what it is is it allows artists to meet in groups of five people with the same five people, stay together as a cohort, and they meet the same time and the same day of the week every week. And we facilitate the reminders and the zoom link and and the sign up and all that. And we do give them a guideline on what to do, but I’m not in there. So can you give me a behind the scenes peek of like, maybe some of those conversations that are happening inside your pod?
Lynn Samis: Well, we’re just—I think we’ve met five times—and, you know, always kind of getting to know each other. Then we follow the rules. We got stuck on those for one or two sessions, like, you know, seven minutes we’re supposed to discuss this, and then the next eight minutes, you know, this is what we do. We had someone really sticking to that. Now, we check in with each other. We always say, “What are your wins from last week?” And we go through our big wins, kind of how you run your little time with us, and then what didn’t go so well and why do you think—
Then we talk about it, so that takes a little while to go through everybody. And then we just kind of discuss what’s inspired us that week, like if we’ve listened to a podcast, read a book, done something, gone to a gallery. It’s been fun to hear other people’s ideas on podcasts and books and things to do. Then we go into our goals for the next week, and it holds me accountable because part of my goal last week was to get this email out. We meet tomorrow, and I thought, shoot, I’ve got to get that email out today so I can say it was a win.
I feel like we’re all getting more and more comfortable with each other and getting to know each other, so that’s good. I didn’t know how it would work going through the summer, but I’m liking it so far.
Miriam Schulman: So Lynn, a lot of people listening to you now are going to say, well, that worked for Lynn because she’s so confident. Can you just tell everyone, like how you’re a shy introvert because they’re not going to believe me?
Lynn Samis: I am extremely. I’m on the far end of the introvert, um, sign. We actually went to a party, just a quick story, for a friend’s 60th birthday party last Saturday. I get overwhelmed if there are more than 15 people, ten people, at a dinner party. And there were about 200 people there. It was lovely. It was beautiful. But at 8:30, actually 8:15, I looked at my husband—he’s more on the introvert side too—and we just said, “Let’s sneak out. We’re going to go home and get a pizza.”
Because it’s not worth the stress. I suffer for it. I don’t sleep well. It’s not worth it. I am very, very shy. I have always kind of felt I compared myself to others forever, and that was a big part of my art fear: what would others think about my art compared to someone else’s? I’m learning that if they don’t like it, that’s okay. Move on. They don’t need to be on my list.
Miriam Schulman: Okay. There’s a couple of things that I think my listeners are wondering, so and I want to make sure that they hear. So you’ve done all this success, first of all, outside the traditional gallery system. I mean, I know you’re in galleries too, so maybe that’s contributing some of it. Um, but you’re not doing in person big shows with setting up the tent?
Lynn Samis: No.
Miriam Schulman: Okay. You’re not spending endless hours creating content for social media.
Lynn Samis: No. You know, social media is another one. It’s hard. You know, if you’re a shy person, it’s hard to to to make yourself do that. So I’m trying to get better at that too. But I have seen already just that outreach that an email list has over social media. Yeah. That was one of the big things you convinced me of, and it’s proving true. Okay.
Miriam Schulman: All right. So I want to make sure that, uh, everyone listening can see your beautiful art. So you can go to Lynn Samis and Samis is S-A-M-I-S and is that LynnSamisAart.com. Is that correct? And we will link that in the show notes. And then what is your Instagram handle?
Lynn Samis: @LynnSamisArt.
Miriam Schulman: Same thing. Okay. L-Y-N-N-S-A-M-I-S-A-R-T which we will link that below here too, but pop over. Follow Lynn, check out her amazing art. Because even even if you don’t consider yourself an art collector, which, by the way, I am an art collector. And I do feel that artists should collect art. It’s like really good karma, just so you know. Yes. Um, but be inspired by what she’s doing. Her story And her art is so incredible. And every time I look at it, I’m I’m just in awe of what you’ve accomplished. Do you have any last words of advice for our listeners?
Lynn Samis: I think one of the things I have learned is Just try something. The worst is you might fail at it. Um, the second thing is you might really succeed and do great. But if you don’t even try, you’re not going to. You’re never going to know. So, Failing is better than not trying. And a yes or a no is better than a yes if you ask. So just learn. And I’m learning. Just step out of your comfort zone and go for it.
Miriam Schulman: I love that. Successful people are willing to do things that unsuccessful people aren’t.
Lynn Samis: Yes, that’s—
Miriam Schulman: Just the way it is. All right, my friend, thank you so much for being with me here today. I’ll see you the same time, same place next week. Until then, stay inspired and bye for now.
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to The Inspiration Place podcast. Connect with us on Facebook at facebook.com/schulmanart, on Instagram @schulmanart and of course, on SchulmanArt.com.
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