We recently connected with Gregory Mayse and have shared our conversation below.

Gregory, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

My first photography dollar was in 1981. Taking formal college senior portraits and I was paid $40. The first wedding I photographed in 1982 brought me $250. Compared to the last wedding I photographed in 2001 that paid me $5200. The first oil painting I sold was a 5×7 in 2011. It sold for $75.The latest painting I sold this year was a 24×36 and was bought by a collector for $5525 at a national show held at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum.
I do not tell you these things to try to impress you. I only want to impress upon you when focused and persistent creative energy is combined with essential business skills you will find the right audience for your art or often they will find you. You have to do the work, it is not easy.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hang on, this has been a creative life so far! An artist is what I really wanted to be beginning in the 5th grade. In high school my creative passion was playing guitar and oil painting. After college I worked for a newspaper as a photographer, feature writer, illustrator and creative advertising design. For 10 years I worked as operations manager a photography lab. Among all my duties was marketing and creating ads for print, writing scripts for radio ads and in-house graphic design.
I have owned my own businesses for most of my creative life. I started out going to college to study commercial art, and soon fell in love with photography. My first paying job as a photographer was when I was asked to take a college graduation portraits, soon I photographed my first wedding. Fast forward to 1994 and I opened my own full service photography studio that specialized in weddings, portraits and commercial photography. There were even graphic design jobs that I would take on at the studio.
In 2001 I closed up my studio and moved to Colorado where I decided to “focus” on wildlife & nature photography. My work was sold in juried fine art shows, galleries and shops in Colorado. My photographs are in corporate collections as well as have been featured on the covers of several publications, calendars and greeting cards.
Fast forward again to 2008 when I started working at a professional imaging lab. I worked as an artist liaison between the artist and the lab. I spent time with fellow artists to get fine art reproductions of their artwork. This motivated me to start painting again and see what the brushes would do once again. Since I had a collection of wildlife and landscape photographs to use as references, those were my subjects for the first few years. After 1 year I had been juried into my first national art show and was represented by a couple galleries.
In 2019 I attended an art show and admired the work of a few of the western artists there. I had always been fascinated with the Old West since childhood. I thought that the paintings of cowboys, Native Americans and mountain men were the direction I should go. To gather high quality reference photographs I attend a couple western themed photography events each year that are specifically designed for artists. This allows my to put my photography skills to work. My travels for these photos have taken me to Montana, Kansas, South Dakota and Wyoming. Often I put together ideas of what I would like the models to be wearing or doing in a specific scene. Sometimes it’s just whatever happens when the wranglers are driving a herd of longhorns or mustangs across the river at sunrise.
I feel my paintings are story-telling, done in a realistic painting style that shows many details in the faces, clothing, regalia and gear from that period. My work has received awards in national juried art shows and I am now accepting commissions for western themed paintings. I am inspired by the masters of western art as well as the books, movies and documentaries about the late 1700’s through the early 1900’s. I want the viewer to feel that the characters in my paintings are ready to walk off the page and speak to them.
It is history, it is story-telling. Some are real and some are just my imagination at work.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I believe the most rewarding aspect for me is knowing that I can take an idea, start with a simple sketch, add elements to build a story around the subject or subjects, then put it on canvas. All the way I am making adjustments to colors, values, backgrounds and details. Recently, I finished a commission for a client of Billy the Kid. The client wanted something with action so I drew up a couple simple sketches and sent them to him in a text. He selected the one he liked and I took off with it from there. It involved creating a background scene, researching his history, what he was wearing (based on the famous tintype of Billy), his expression and the various details I choose to help tell the story. It was a challenge, but I knew I could do it well. This led to the client wanting another painting that I will create.
There are the rewards when a collector will purchase a piece at a show or gallery and tell you how much they appreciate your talents so much that they want to hang your painting in their home or office. Often I will post a painting on social media and people will share stories of how it reminds them of a family member or a story from their past. I’ve even had people send me old photos of their great-great grandparents and the story of how they traveled West.
To know that you created a painting from your mind and no other person can create it exactly the same.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I had always wished I had gone to a fine art school and studied painting. It would have helped me along my journey. To have learned from a master painter would have been amazing. There were 35 years between the times I choose to start painting again. Now 10 years later the solutions come faster to me. My journey as an small business owner was helped by my marketing and management experience. However, in college there wasn’t much taught about the business of art. There weren’t classes on setting up the business structure, a business plan, best ways to market, how to approach galleries and sell your work. There wasn’t even advice offered on what creative opportunities are best for a solid income. While I was a lab manager I was taking small business courses to improve my skills. I am a believer in constantly working to improve your skills. When I had my photography studio, I would buy videos, books and attend seminars sponsored by the Professional Photographers of America. Today, my education continues with books, videos and workshops on painting.
When I worked for an professional imaging lab 12 years ago, I spoke several times to the graduating seniors in the fine art photography department of Colorado State University. Each year I asked the 20 or so students if they knew what they wanted to do after graduation. Only a few raised their hands. You need to have a plan. I also asked if the college offered courses on operating an art business or how to succeed as an artist. At that time there weren’t such classes offered. I feel that artists need not only the creative skills, but the sales, management and marketing tools to be successful.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gregorymayse.com
• Instagram: gregory mayse fine art
• Facebook: Gregory Mayse Fine Art
• Other: Gallery Representation: Spirits in the Wind Gallery . Golden, CO Deselms Fine Art . Cheyenne, WY Western Stars Gallery . Lyons, CO Affiliations: American Plains Artists

Image Credits
The photo of me photographing the cowboy on the horse was taken by Julie Denesha.