We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Greg Newbold. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Greg below.

Hi Greg, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

You’re so talented! If I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I’d have quite a nest egg. The truth is, being an artist has very little to do with what people equate with talent and everything to do with how hard one works at developing their craft.

Sure, some might have a natural inclination toward art. Maybe they possess an unusually perceptive visual sensibility or internalize something about color or storytelling that appeals to them and seems to come naturally. But for every artist that appears to be a prodigy, I would bet that there are a thousand really good artists who simply worked harder at learning their craft than everyone else.

“I can’t even draw a stick figure”.

I know this is meant as a compliment to an artist, but it also trivializes the work involved in becoming a good artist. I mean, really how hard is it to draw a stick figure and how hard have you worked at it? I believe anyone who really has a desire and determination to become good at something (art or otherwise) can do so through hard work and diligent study.

It might be an unpopular opinion, but I think anyone who truly wants to learn to draw and paint can do so. The real question is how hard are you willing to work at it? The tens of thousands of hours I have dedicated to my craft shouldn’t be discounted as mere “talent”.

Greg, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

When did I become an artist? Looking back, I realize I have always been an artist. Some of my earliest and most vivid childhood memories involve drawing, painting and art making. I was blessed with parents that recognized my interest early and kept me fueled with supplies and encouragement. awards and recognition at all levels of my educational journey reinforced in me the desire to continue on a creative path.

I chose to pursue a career in illustration and spent over twenty years exclusively working for all the major publishers, many local and national magazines and national advertising clients. I also found great satisfaction in illustrating over a dozen picture books for children.

I have always been interested in capturing the unparalleled beauty and majesty of the western landscape and today that has become my main focus. I am represented y two of the finest galleries in the west in Medicine Man Gallery in Tucson AZ and Manitou Galleries in Santa Fe, NM.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

The thing about creatives that I think many others don’t understand is that the faucet is always ON. What I mean is that there’s hardly ever a waking hour when the desire to create isn’t simmering in the background. There’s rarely something to be seen, heard or experienced where my brain isn’t trying to make sense of what’s happening and how I might use that in my creative output. The brain is always problem solving in some fashion and it never stops.

This can be a completely foreign concept to people who have a nine to five and can leave it all at work. For me, everything I see gets pushed through the “how can I turn that into a painting” filter. Once I realized this and the people in my life understood that this was the case, it became a little easier to turn the faucet down to a trickle in order to be more present in non art scenarios.

But on drive trips, look out! I’ve been known to stop and tromp around in the snow for half an hour taking pictures of tumble down haystacks when the muse hits.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Being an artist is in itself a story of resilience. Every artist who has reached any level of notable success has done so through hard work and persistence. Artists by nature are survivors. We are the ones who didn’t quit, who keep after it when it got hard or amidst failure and disappointment. We exist because we never gave up.

About fifteen years ago, I began a graduate school program as a reset to my career. I figured I’d pivot to teaching to gain some stability. I also saw the writing on the wall as the illustration industry shifted to digital means of painting and delivery. But in the back of my head, I really wanted to learn to oil paint after an entire career painting in acrylic.

I set two goals: learn to paint digitally and learn to paint in oil. Those two goals changed the trajectory or my career. Though I did teach at the university level full time for three years, That never materialized into a permanent position, but being able to paint digitally greatly sped up my process and made me more flexible. This allowed me to take projects I had previously passed on or had been skipped over for.

Painting in oils gave me the physical tactile output that I craved after I switched to illustrating primarily with pixels. It has allowed me to express my love for the western landscape which in turn has brought my work to the attention of my great galleries and the western art market in general.

Being an artist is all about adjusting to the conditions you face and not letting them squelch the creative drive that fuels you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gregnewbold.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregnewboldart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gregnewboldart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-newbold-944b9316/

Image Credits
Greg Newbold