Kathleen Dunphy — Paint With Love, Sell With Ease

Kathleen Dunphy: 0:00

You know, Fortune favors the prepared. And you have to have good photographs of your work. You have to have your work out there for people to see it. You have to be ready to jump when an opportunity comes along. And you have to be the one who's more prepared than the next guy who's got great work but can't get his stuff together. And you can and that's just that's the dogfight roll in you know, I mean, that's how it goes.

Laura Arango Baier: 0:25

Welcome to BoldBrush podcast where we believe that fortune favors the bold brush. My name is Laura Arango Baier, and I'm your host. Recently, I sat down with Kathleen Dunphy, who went from being a world traveling florist to a highly successful plein air painter. She gives us some really amazing marketing tips. She also gives us some really beautiful advice about doing what you love above all else, and then the money will follow. Hello, Kathleen, how are you today?

Kathleen Dunphy: 0:54

I'm doing great. How are you doing?

Laura Arango Baier: 0:56

I'm doing pretty great. Pretty great. I'm so excited to do. Oh God on the other side of the world. But I'm really excited to do this interview with you. Because you've been with with FASO for so long. And you are so insanely successful. Like I saw all of your words on your website. And it's, it's wild. So it's exciting to be able to interview and ask you a little bit about your story. So before we begin into all the really cool tidbits, I wanted to ask you a bit about you and about what you do, what background do you have?

Kathleen Dunphy: 1:34

Okay, well, I always say it kind of took a long time for me to reach this point. I should have I was born an artist as I think most people are, I should have been painting from day one. But practical aspects of life kind of came into play. I met my husband when I was very young. And he was in the military. And we moved around. And very long story short, I ended up having floral design and special events planning business. So for the first 10 years of my real working life, that's what I did. And the first place we were stationed where I did that was at Travis Air Force Base in California. And at that time, I did all the flowers for UC Davis. And it was really exciting those. I wasn't like a florist, like, you know, come in and get a bouquet for your girlfriend kind of thing. It was, it was more. I didn't have a shop that was all freelance out of my house. And I did big special events. And I don't know, they'd have like, they had Henry Kissinger come in and talk. And I did the flowers for that. And they had, they actually did a tribute to Wayne Tebow, which I did. A bunch of, I took 40 pieces of watercolor paper, and I did watercolor paintings on them. And I use those as part of the floral design. So I was trying to squeeze art into every aspect of my life that I possibly could. And then we moved to into Germany and I did all the flowers for Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany for six years. And that was really exciting to lots of big special events with generals and you know, important people from all different NATO countries coming to the Air Force base that was there. It was really, it was wonderful. It was exciting, it was different. It was enormously challenging. But kind of at the back of my head, I knew all along that I wasn't I was trying to find a way to do art, and find an excuse to not paint if that makes any sense. I mean, I knew I needed to do art, but I didn't have the incentive to just get me over the hump to do it. And I had the you know, I needed to make money, which is one of the big factors, I think for anybody starting out in this field is you just don't start out with making anything and you have to just be able to accept that. So fortunately, I'm married to the world's most understanding and supportive spouse that's ever been the walk to face of the earth. So military being was being we moved again, from Germany to Alaska. And I realized that I just did not have it in me to start a third business from scratch. And I also, honestly, just the logistics of delivering flowers in Alaska with the extremes of temperature, I just, I was just like, you know, this could be the chance to really make a break and do something different. And so my husband asked me what I wanted to do. And I told him, I'd always wanted to be an artist, and he just died when he heard me say that. But he said, you know if that's what you want to do, and at the time I was in my early 30s. And I just felt like if I didn't start really excellent actually, when I was in my mid 30s. If I didn't really go for it, then there wouldn't be enough years in my life to really sink into it and give it a full careers worth of work. And so we cut our income in more than half and just tighten our belts and I started doing drawings of dogs and And you know, everybody says, paint what you love or draw what you love. And I love animals. So I started drawing dogs and hanging photos of those drawings at vet clinics in the area. And I would get commissions from that. And so that led to, you know, I would spend, oh my gosh, I would spend 40 or 50 hours on each one of these colored pencil drawings, super detailed, and I'd get like 200 bucks, and I was like, Man, I'm making it. I was just so excited to make any money on anything that I was doing. And I work like a dog, I just was added all the time. And then I realized again, you know, doing the color pencil wasn't exactly where I wanted to be. So I started taking some classes at the University of Anchorage, or University of Alaska Anchorage, and took a couple classes in painting, and worked on doing some still lifes from photographs, mostly from photographs, unfortunately, but at least it was a start. And I ended up having my first show at the sleepy dog coffee shop in Eagle River, Alaska, and sold my first painting there. So that little $300 still life painting. And fortunately, I'm the owner of the oldest and largest gallery in Alaska saw my work. And early on in my development, I got with a gallery that was very understanding of the fact that I didn't have any experience, and didn't know what the heck I was doing and kind of helped me, help me kind of establish myself off. And it was just an incredible opportunity that I'll forever be grateful for. And so pretty early on, I started my, my sort of real career as an artist with that. And then to continue the story, military being what it's been what it is, you know, we were only Alaska for four years, and we got stationed in California again, and I realized I really didn't have any education whatsoever. In art, nothing, nothing formal. And so my husband encouraged me to go down to San Francisco to to apply at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. So I went down there, and I applied for a scholarship, and I was awarded a Summer Study Grant. And that started just the most amazing time in my life. We lived in Davis, which is actually a four hour train ride from the city. But I would commute four days a week down to the city, four hours each way on the train, and painted. And that was where I first was introduced to plein air painting, I had never even heard the word I don't even know what it meant. And I really did not think I was going to be a landscape or a planar artist at all. I thought it was going to be a figure painter. But the minute I found plein air, I was just, I was in love because I love being outdoors. I love nature. I love being outside. And honestly, I never knew that people took their easels outside. And when I went to the academy, that's the first time that I really was introduced to that. And it I mean, as cliched as it sound, it changed my life.

Laura Arango Baier: 8:00

Oh my god.

Kathleen Dunphy: 8:03

In a nutshell, that's a whole thing.

Laura Arango Baier: 8:06

That's perfect. That's amazing. Yeah, and that's perfect. Because I was gonna ask you why plein air. But you answered, um, since I agree with you being outdoors is is one of the best things to do. And to be able to mix it with something you love to do is the best.

Kathleen Dunphy: 8:24

You know, it's a great excuse. Painting is a great excuse to be outside. And being outside is a great excuse to paint. You know, they kind of go hand in hand half the time. I think when I take my easel outside, it's just all I'm doing is just the easel is just my my paths to go wherever I want to go. You know, it's it's a beautiful day. And I want to see what it looks like up in the mountains is like, Oh, Grandma Hazel because I have to go to work. You know, and it's such a great excuse. And I can't to this day after doing it for how long? Well, I went to the academy in 2000. So 22 years ago, 22 years later, if I'm outside painting all day long, I feel guilty. There's always a part of this, like, oh, gosh, you know, I should really go get to work. Because I just can't wrap my head around the fact that doing that is truly my job. You know, I mean, I work really hard at it. That doesn't mean it's not frustrating. That doesn't mean that there's not days when I just want to you know screen because I can't get what I want out of it. But it's just it brings so much joy to me. And it always feels like I'm playing hooky when I'm out there doing that. That's the best.

Laura Arango Baier: 9:26

And I feel like a lot of artists also feel the same way. They feel, yeah, you feel guilty that you're doing something you actually enjoy. It almost feels illegal. No, it's true.

Kathleen Dunphy: 9:37

You know, and because of that it's such a great community of artists, you know, we're all crazy in the same direction. We all, you know, can't wait to go outside together and paint and we're all you know, talking about the light and you know, running to get there as fast as we can and you don't find that I don't think I mean maybe I'm biased. This is the only thing I've ever done. But yeah, I don't see other professions where people are that insanely attached to each other for these weird reasons, you know, and you find just the greatest people in this in this field, I have friends that are just amazing people that understand me in a way that nobody else does, because they do the same thing that I do.

Laura Arango Baier: 10:11

100% agree. Yes, yeah, artists are such an interesting group of people. And it's really great when you're on the same frequency as someone else in that way.

Kathleen Dunphy: 10:24

Because, you know, our frequency is really different. You know, I mean, let's just face it to the average person. And, you know, God loves them. I'm not saying they're bad. It's just that the average person doesn't think the way that we do. And so when you find other people that do, it's like this almost sense of relief, you know, it's like, caught Finally, somebody understands this weirdness that I have that, that I just, I can't help, this is just how I am. And it's when you find that community, it's just such a great thing you find those people that you can really share the passion with, it becomes like, what did they say the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, you know, it becomes this really huge thing when you find people that are like minded like them.

Laura Arango Baier: 11:04

Yeah, absolutely. And you learn so much from them, as well.

Kathleen Dunphy: 11:08

Yes, all the time, each of us brings our own different thing to the easel and our own different approach and our own different vision. And that's the thing that I just love. You know, it's like with teaching, one of the things that I do in classes, I started with, everybody has to paint a pair, you know, just one single pair. And you would think that all the paintings would look the same. I mean, it's one dumb pair, there's nothing else that's just a pair sitting on a table. And I swear, if I said, everybody, you have to paint it, and I do I give them it's a limited palette. And I say, you'd have to paint it on a small canvas, you can have an hour, you know, all these all these parameters. And every single painting is 100% different from the other one. And it just fascinates me, it absolutely fascinates me that I've never had two of them that looked that I that I would be able to say, you know, is that yours? Or is that yours? You know, they look so unique that you it's just distinctly that person's painting, and distinctly not that other person's painting. And I love that about art, we we all no matter how hard we try, we're who we are, and it comes out in our paintings.

Laura Arango Baier: 12:13

That is so true. Yeah. And even if you try to copy an existing painting, so you like copy a Rembrandt, or you copy a Titian or any of those, it still will look like it's your painting. Exactly. Yeah, it's like

Kathleen Dunphy: 12:26

you can't get away from it. You know, it's like, they always say that every painting is a self portrait. And that's so true. I mean, it's funny, you know, the times of my life, you know, the ups and downs of life, right. And times when things have been more stressful, or things have been super happy, you know, I can, I can read the clues in the painting that says that, you know, I can look back on something and go, I know when that was going on, when I painted that one or that one, you can just feel the joy, or you can feel the happiness in it. And it's funny, because I think subconsciously, people can feel that too. You know, the paintings that I've done, where I've been happiest are the ones that sell the fastest. And technically, are they better than the other ones? I sometimes I can't see the technical difference. But there's that something that's painted into the DNA of the painting, that I really think as human beings we can sense and a painting. And those are the ones that inevitably somebody goes, Oh, I love that painting, even though it's like the painting of I don't know about the other day, I sold a painting that was like the backside of a dam. I mean, the only reason I paint is because I couldn't stand it, it was just there was light hitting it, it was just so beautiful. And I I'm like I know, nobody's ever gonna buy this, but I just want to paint this and somebody came into my studio, they're like, Oh, my God, I want that painting. I'm like, go figure. It has to be because some of that Joy got painted into the canvas. So it's a really interesting job to have, isn't it? You know, when you when you when you think about it in those terms, not just did the painting work, but like the why and the what do people see? And how do people relate to what you do?

Laura Arango Baier: 13:51

Absolutely. And this is, it's funny that you mentioned that too, that I've spoken to a lot of other painters who have painted for a very long time. And they always say that the best paintings are the ones that are made with love, and joy, because yes, they will move people to purchase them, because it's almost like they want a piece of it.

Kathleen Dunphy: 14:12

Exactly. Yeah, I do think there's a part of that. I really do. I think I think that when we when we do things, because we have to, you know, like it's oh, I need one more painting for the show or you know, a barn sold last time. So let me do another barn you know, it loses that spark, it loses that Janessa quoi that people can recognize as human beings that it's that that other sense that's above and beyond our regular senses that we can feel and it's the coolest thing. I love it. I love that idea. I love it every time it happens. It just confirms how I feel about all this.

Laura Arango Baier: 14:47

Absolutely. And now that you mentioned sales, which I'm very curious about, what what do you think has been the best approach that you've taken to sell your

Kathleen Dunphy: 14:58

work? Well, I I'm not to sound too philosophical, but I would say exactly what we've been talking about, to really as hard as I can stay focused on the things that I love. And you know, it does get hard. I mean, I believe me, I have been through this career, and I'm still in this career. And there are a lot of our external forces that are going to want to push you in certain directions, for wonderful reasons, not not for negative reasons. You know, a gallery is going to say, Wow, you did great with your birds, let's say. So let's, let's do 50 bird paintings. And you go, Oh, what a great opportunity. And then you get into and you're like, Oh, my God, if I have to look in another word, I'm going to screen and your painting show that or my paintings show that I guess I shouldn't speak for everyone. Or, you know, you just get the the forces of sales are seductive. And so when something sells, you know, in our How can I say this, in our society, or maybe in the world, in human society, things of value value and putting it in the air quotes value comes from monetary gain. And so when you sell something, it has value. And so when you get that value, you want to do it again, so that you have more value. But the thing in art is that it doesn't work. It's not as linear as that the good things that come in art don't necessarily come from getting money from them. So you have to find a way to paint what you love, and then find the people who are also going to love it, as opposed to finding people who want something and trying to fill their need. And that's my philosophy. Now, I know that there are many, many successful artists who have done much better than than I have, who, who are who do commissions and who find a niche and do that I'm speaking for, for myself, you know, I don't want to generalize too much. But I do think that when you can find the thing that you really love. And you can do that with a whole lot of passion and as much skill as you can possibly attain as you go along. There. It's a big world, and there are going to be people who want that. And you have to have the faith that that's going to happen. And it can get hard, it can get demoralizing, and it can get really lonely. You can I mean, it can get you know, you kind of feel like you're shutting down and well sometimes. But if you just stick with it, and you're persistent with doing what you love, and constantly trying to improve, I do think that good things come from that. And to get to answer your question a little more directly, you know, what has worked for sales. Aside from that, I do think it's important to always consider this your profession, and to be as professional as you possibly can, as you go along. You know, Fortune favors the prepared, and you have to have good photographs of your work, you have to have your work out there for people to see it. You have to be ready to jump when an opportunity comes along. And you have to be the one who's more prepared than the next guy who's got great work but can't get his stuff together. And you can and that's just that's the dogfight we're all in. You know, I mean, that's how it goes. So I've and I'm saying this not because I'm talking to you, but FASO has been incredible for me, because it's a website that right this very second, I could get on there and change everything if I wanted to. And I'm not a computer person, I hate the computer. And I don't know anything about it. But it's it's simple enough that I can do that. And the email newsletter has just been a huge thing. For me. That's been the way that I connect directly to people who have taken the time to say yes, I like your work here, send me something. And that way, I don't feel like I'm pestering somebody who's not interested. They've already by default by signing up, told me they're interested. So if I send them something, I feel like you asked for it. You're it is you know, and I think those I think keeping in touch with email newsletters is really important and making sure that your website is up to date with prices on it, because there's nothing more frustrating than liking a painting and not knowing how much it costs and having to play the silly game of Oh, will you tell me or do I have to ask or you know, I just ran into that this morning, I saw a painting I really liked and I went to the artists website. They didn't have prices, I went to their gallery, their gallery didn't have prices, I'm like done, I'll find another one I like I it's not worth it's not worth the phone call. Because I don't also want to get the answer that it's you know, $43,000 and I can't afford it. You know, I don't want to take them down that road and then have to worry that the gallery is going to keep contacting me afterwards. So I think it's really important to have your prices on your website have things up to date and to stay in touch with your your interested collectors as much as possible.

Laura Arango Baier: 19:45

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Kathleen Dunphy: 20:50

Yeah, it's really true, you know, and it gets kind of weird because you, I'm not the kind of person who, you know, a cold call would kill me, you know, I just can't do that kind of thing. And when I send out a newsletter, I'm always thinking, Gosh, I hope I have, I hope what I'm putting in here has value. I mean, meaning it has value to the person who reads it, who's never going to buy anything, that they still go, oh, wow, it's a newsletter from Kathleen, let's see what she has to say. And they get something out of that, regardless of whether they ever buy anything from me. So I try really hard to you know, show them a picture of where I've been painting or talk about some of the process or maybe link to a blog post that I've done or something of value so that it's not just the 57th email you've gotten today from somebody trying to sell something, you know, I mean, to me the great thing and art, as I said, with relations with with other artists, but I also love the relationship with collectors. I mean it to me, it's it's just fascinating to talk to people, and why did you like my work? You know, what did you see here, to share that or to share the excitement, you know, when somebody really loves a painting, you can go oh, my gosh, let me tell you all about where I stood when I painted that. And, you know, so windy that day, and the birds flew by and whatever, and they get all excited about it. And it becomes this this really great relationship. So that relationship with collectors is really important. And I value that and I never want to abuse that by just firing off 100 email newsletters that say today's special painting that you can spend money on, you know,

Laura Arango Baier: 22:17

yeah, so to make it more about what you love, rather than here buy this. Yeah.

Kathleen Dunphy: 22:24

We're like you to think about like you're sending it to a friend, you know, and if you were gonna send your friend an email, you're not going to say, hey, buy this, you're gonna say, Hey, can you believe how exciting it was outside yesterday? Or did you see that sunset last night? Or, you know, have you ever seen a whole raft of pelicans fly by when you're at the beach? Well, I did the other day, and this is what I painted, you know, something, you have to it's the golden rule, right? Do unto others I hate getting these emails from from things that are just, you know, I can't tell you how many I just instantly unsubscribe from because I just I can't stand to get these bombardments all the time. But when it's something where I feel like there's some kind of value to it, I'll keep that business or that person in mind when I need to buy something later on. It might not be right away, it might be five years down the road, I've had people buy something 15 years down the road, who finally have the money or got the bonus or got the retirement or the wall space. And now they finally buy something. And I'm willing to wait that long. And I'm willing to keep giving them stuff that they want, and stuff that they find a value until then.

Laura Arango Baier: 23:28

Oh, yeah, absolutely. And the other very beautiful thing about her career is being an artist you, you don't do it for the money. I think anyone who anyone who becomes an artist, they I think the second theory thing is definitely the money.

Kathleen Dunphy: 23:43

You know, I couldn't agree with you more, you know, it's people, a lot of times in workshops will say to me, you know, I'm trying to sell my work. And I really want to do this as a career. And, you know, what advice do you have, and, you know, you don't want to be discouraging, I don't want to say, you know, oh, no, get a job at McDonald's while you're at it, but really get a job at McDonald's while you're at it. Because that'll free you up. If you have to sell a painting in order to make your rent payment, or in order to buy gas or in order to feed the kids, it becomes a completely different thing. And there are people who do it and have done it great. So again, you know, this is just speaking from my, my side of the spectrum here. But if you can have another source of income, then you can decide who you want to be as an artist, as opposed to what the market needs as an artist. And fortunately, when I was doing my flower design, I saved up a bunch of money. And I had that nugget that I could live off of and I live with somebody who has a job, you know, and that makes a difference. But you didn't make enough money that we could survive off of so it was or survive the way we wanted to. So to have the money saved up, gave me the liberty to take the chance to be an artist and I just can't emphasize how important that is to just have something to fall back on. because it's a hollow feeling when you go God nothing sold, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. And man, I don't sell something soon, I don't know what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna be out on the street or I'm gonna have to talk to the landlord. That's, that's not a good feeling. And so to have something in your back pocket is really, really important.

Laura Arango Baier: 25:17

Absolutely, I am so grateful for this podcast for that reason, because it's also things to this podcasts and able to talk to people like you that I get advice like this. And I realized more and more that My priority is absolutely painting. And I have to find ways to be able to keep going. Right, right.

Kathleen Dunphy: 25:37

And, you know, that's, that's a good way to put it. You know, if you want this badly enough, you're gonna find a way. I mean, I can tell you dozens of stories of some of the most successful artists I have ever met, who worked a full time job, got home at five at night paint until two in the morning, got up at five went back to their job and did it for years. And their job might have been illustration, their job might have been something entirely different. But they had to paint and they found a way to do it. And it doesn't come easy. I mean, it doesn't matter how talented you are, this is hard. And, and finding your way within this field is really difficult. And you have to have tenacity, and you have to have perseverance. And you have to just find a way to make it happen. And so that that, you know, other job in your back pocket is really important. But it's also that determination. That's that's just going to you're just going to build on this until you finally get it done. This the only way you can get this going anywhere in this in this career. I'm just convinced I don't think I've ever met anybody who's really successful that didn't work like a dog to get there. I mean, I honestly, they're probably out there. There's probably somebody who was great painter from the start and just, you know, walked into someplace, and it'll happen, but at least in the world of realism. I mean, maybe, maybe an abstraction happens, I don't know. But in the world of realism, I haven't seen that happen.

Laura Arango Baier: 27:05

It's like I said earlier, it's Fortune favors the prepared, and maybe that person who walked in and was in the right place at the right time with the right preparation. And that's it.

Kathleen Dunphy: 27:13

That's true. Yeah, that's true. That's true. And, and I think it's also recognizing what's a good opportunity. And that can be difficult to you know, there's, there's a lot of opportunities out there, and there's going to be a lot of dead ends that you that you take, you know, because you just have to try them. But when you recognize a good opportunity, just drop everything and do it, you know, to this day, that's what I that's, I mean, just a show that I just ended up I have up right now was an incredible opportunity that came about from a chance phone call. And when it came through, I just said, I'm gonna find a way to make this work. And, and it's been pedal to the floor to make it work. And it was great. But it wouldn't have happened. If I had said, Well, I don't really have time, or let's see about that. It was like, yep, let me hang up the phone quick so I can get to work, you know, that kind of thing. So you just have to you have to be passionate about this and determined

Laura Arango Baier: 28:09

salutely Oh, my gosh, speaking of advice, if you could speak to a version of yourself from years ago, a younger version of yourself, what advice would you give yourself?

Kathleen Dunphy: 28:21

Settle down? Um, I D. I would say you know, you, there's always that thing where you can't be who you are without having been who you've been, right. So in some ways, I wouldn't say anything, because I'm super happy right now. And I'm doing exactly what I want to do. And I'm to this, you know, every day I kind of go, I can't believe I get to do this. I was pretty intense. When I first started out. In fact, I just I just yesterday had lunch with a friend that I met in 1998 at a Kevin McPherson workshop, which was the first class that I had ever or second class I had ever taken before I had done anything before I'd done the dog art before I'd done or actually I had been doing the the colored pencil work, but I hadn't done anything at the Academy. And I was so frustrated in that class. And I was so intense. And she she was we were laughing about it. Personally, she laughs about it. She still talks to me all those years later. But I was just so focused and so intense. I was like, I don't want to talk to anybody. I want to figure out how to paint. And I probably could have lightened up a little bit and enjoy the ride a little bit more. But then again, I felt like I was trying to make up for all those years that I was a florist and I felt like you know, time is finite. I use those 10 years being a florist and now I have to double time it to get to where I want to be. So I think my advice would be to settle down a little bit. Although settle down but still work as hard if there was a way to do that.

Laura Arango Baier: 29:53

Yeah, yeah. And then in terms of marketing What advice would you give someone who's a painter today who's just starting out?

Kathleen Dunphy: 30:05

Well, the first advice is work on your work first and your marketing. Second, there's an awful lot of people out there who do their first painting and, you know, market the heck out of it, which is okay, because it will teach you how to market. But I do think that you always have to keep the painting first. And the selling second, because if the painting is first, the selling comes along a lot easier. But I would say, and honestly, again, I'm not saying this, just because I'm talking to you, you have to have a good website. And even though we are in the age of social media, which I haven't talked about yet, but is a huge component in marketing. Your social media has to link to your website, social media becomes a springboard for people, or what's what's a good analogy, social media is a place where people can see you and get to know your personality a little bit and see your work. But then it's sort of the unserious side. But then when they get serious, they can click on your website, and that's where they can say, Oh, this is a person who has a storefront. And this is where this is a person where I can safely click to purchase, I'm not on some weird internet, Instagram, who knows, if you're even a person kind of thing. Once you click and you go to a legitimate looking website, then I'm willing to click to purchase and type in my credit card information and buy something. And so social media is, is I don't know how you could live as an artist today, marketing your work, if you didn't have social media, it's free, it's out there. It's a huge pain in the neck sometimes. And it's kind of frightening in some ways. But I think it's undeniably something that you need. And that can make a huge difference in your, in your reach nowadays, yeah, we used to, we used to just have to get a really great gallery that was willing to promote us. And now we can work hand in hand with our galleries. And we can take our own work out in our own way and and push that on social media. But I think social media minus a website, you're missing half of the equation, I think that having that link to your website legitimizes you, and makes makes the collectors realize that this is a safe place to be. I mean, I get leery of any purchase, coming off of Instagram, I've done a couple of them. And every time I do it, I'm thinking, Well, I just blew that amount of money, or maybe they have my information, or somehow I can start getting spammed from this this particular website or particular, not website, way to call it page on Instagram. But if I go to a real website, and I can see that it's legitimate and kind of go to the contact information and feel like it's something that's that's real, then I'm much more likely to purchase from there.

Laura Arango Baier: 32:44

Yes. And then I now that we're talking about social media, I wanted to ask you, since social media is so good at helping you find your niche, how did you find your niche, even outside of social media, but within social media, and then did that niche help you access those collectors?

Kathleen Dunphy: 33:05

You know, I never really thought about a niche to be honest with you, I just thought about all the things I wanted to paint. And, you know, I paint kind of everything. I probably would have been more successful if I had said, Okay, I'm gonna paint cows, and that's all I'm gonna paint. Because it would be very specific, and I could, you know, really target my audience of ranchers or whatever. But I love everything. You know, I love painting animals and people and you know, I probably people is the least what I'd have done the least. I still enjoy it, but I don't work at it. But you know, I love animals and still life and outdoor stuff. So I never wanted to be pigeonholed. I never wanted to be in such a narrow niche that I couldn't do something without people going, Oh, that doesn't look like a Kathleen Dunphy painting, you know, I wanted to be able to just always do whatever I wanted to. But with social media, I, the way that I approached it is I want people to know about me as an artist, but I don't, I don't really want him to know a whole lot about me. You know, it is no, as I said, it's a little bit scary to certain extent. So, um, you know, I have pictures of me painting and I try to keep it on topic. You know, it's me painting, or, you know, my easel outside or my easel and my dog or something like that, to humanize it a little bit. I think that the the posts that get the most interaction are not just here's a picture of a painting, but something that tells more about the story, you know, the story behind the painting. So either, here's my easel outside, and here's the painting, good photo of the painting, or here's a video of the scene and then we're going to end up on my easel with a painting. It gives people context, it makes people realize what you go through. Not so much go through but what is involved in doing a painting. And I think anytime people can become more involved in the process, they appreciate the products better. So I try to keep that in mind as I post the algorithm to Instagram has changed. I used to get a lot more I'm interaction a lot more response when I posted just a photograph, but now they want reels. So we have to figure out, and you know, it's reels are fine, they're fun, they take so darn long for me to do because I gotta find just the right music and link everything together and you know, find the photos and it's but it's great. It's great that we even have that opportunity, I shouldn't even complain because it's free, and I get to do it and people respond to it. So it's just that it's never I think every time you think you figured out social media, they change it so that you have to learn something new with the algorithm. And it's their way of keeping their their product fresh. And I guess that's probably a good thing, because it makes us keep our product fresh.

Laura Arango Baier: 35:44

Yes. And then, of course, Instagram, makes their money from sales and having people purchase through their platform. So whatever they change, even though it's it can be a little bit hectic, and we have to relearn things. It benefits us if if you know how to use the algorithm to your advantage. So like you said, the reels, that's like the number one thing to be doing on Instagram. Great. And then, since we're reaching the end, I wanted to ask you about your recent show that you had in believe you said it was Laguna Beach.

Kathleen Dunphy: 36:19

Yes. So I had the great opportunity to have a solo show down at the Laguna plein air painters new gallery that they have. So any of you who don't know about Laguna plein air Painters Association, I'm gonna do a little plug for them. Because again, honestly, I've been with him forever. And I think they're a great organization, both for education for artists, and for opportunities. They do a lot of online shows, as well as in person shows. They have their annual Invitational plein air event, I think it's in September, October every year. And it's just an organization that really works for the artists. So whatever you pay and dues, I even forget what it is, I think I have an auto Automatic Renewal every year. So I don't even know what it is. Whatever you pay in dues is definitely worth it, you get you get your money back with them. But anyway, so they opened up this new gallery, and I was talking to one of the main players down there, one of the board members, I don't know exactly what her title is. But it was talking to her just on a conversation about something else. And it was one of those opportunities that she mentioned that they were they had this new gallery and I mentioned had mentioned this idea for a show. And those two things came together. And so I my show opened on June 2, and it's called outside insights. And it's all about both outdoor painting. And then studio work. So my feeling is as the plein air movement has become more popular, people are understanding more and more what it is that we do when we paint outside. But people you know, and people will see you when you're outside painting and come up and ask you questions. But people don't walk into your studio very often, you know, so they don't really see the process of doing any of the larger paintings. And so this was a way to educate, educate the public and engage the public in the process of making larger paintings. And so I have its three basic subject matter, I have both seascapes, Yosemite National Park and then animal paintings. And so I have larger paintings from all three of those genre. And then smaller studies that I have done on location in those within those particular types of art. So with that, I did a slideshow and a talk for the public on June the fourth, which was really fun. It was really great to have people there. But even if you didn't make it to the talk, I have a column storyboards, little posters that I put up along with the work that kind of explains the process for each one of those types of work. And that show runs through July, the fifth down in on the North Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. And it's, I'm very excited, it's 28 paintings. I feel it, I think it's the biggest body of work that I've put together. And I think it's about my 14th solo show. But this one's probably the most comprehensive. Wow.

Laura Arango Baier: 39:19

A lot of solo shows.

Kathleen Dunphy: 39:20

I know, you know, there's a lot of gray here and then press full right before the end. It's like, oh, my gosh, what am I doing, but it's a chance to show it's a chance to show your range, you know, and sometimes when collectors just see one painting, they might fall in love with one painting, but if they can see what it is that you do, then they have a better understanding of you. And so when they when they buy a painting, they that particular painting represents not just that painting, but but a piece of that person and a piece of that body of work that the person can can produce.

Laura Arango Baier: 39:54

Yes, absolutely. Um, so where can people visit your website? You and your Instagram.

Kathleen Dunphy: 40:02

So I met Kathleen dunphy.com on FASO. And then I met Kathleen Dunphy fine art on Instagram. So I'm on Facebook it. I think Kathleen dug the fine art. I think it is. All those links are on my website, of course. But But yeah, it's just Kathleen dunphy.com

Laura Arango Baier: 40:20

Great. Yeah, go check it out guys. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Kathleen Dunphy: 40:26

Well, thank you. You know, I told Clint, he wasn't allowed to save that I'm the oldest artist that he has. But I'm the artist. It's been with him the longest he told me so. I'm here not because I have to be but because I believe in what fans does and appreciate what they do. So thank you for this opportunity.