Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael Provenza. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I believe now more than ever, being successful is all about perseverance, dedication, and continuing to master your passion! There are many obstacles and rejections, especially in the Art field. Regardless of the situation, it is key to move forward and continue to put time into your craft and get better each project at a time.

Success is not about how much you make but the love and passion put in to your craft. It will show!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started out loving Art, drawing and painting at the age of nine. Through school and into college I developed a liking to pointillism. It is one of my favorite styles to date and used to characterize my work today. In my early 20’s in the 1980’s, I packed up a van and did art and wine festivals up and down the Bay Area. At one art festival, SiliCon in Sunnyvale, CA., I was recruited to work and be trained on the computer to do art for a video game company. That turned into a 20 year career at some of the top companies in the industry.! I still painted every weekend and did art shows on the side.

After a family decision, I moved to Ohio to be close to my young son at the time. This was a time for me to concentrate on just my fine art. I developed a style that reflects what I do today and I just love doing it! It has developed over the years and has taken on a liking and following worldwide!

Some notable achievements is having my art on an episode of Hawaii 5-0 October 2013! Received an honorable mention for an international art contest with Circle Foundation of the Arts in 2019. I got to work with Kirk Cameron on a video game in 1993.

I’m in multiple galleries in Hawaii, California, Florida, and New York to name a few. In 2018 I was accepted into Disney Fine Art and now create art with Disney characters within my style environments!

Needless to say, I am painting full time and all is moving along well!

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

There are many stories of rejection in art as far as submitting, job search, etc. When I started thinking about trying to make a living working as an artist, I thought it would be so wonderful to create backgrounds for animation! I remember sending out a portfolio to a number of animation studios and all came back with “thank you but no thank you” rejection letters. Of course they were all nice but I felt like a failure… It was advice from my mom and art mentors to never give up especially if it’s your passion! I quickly decided I would work on what makes me happy to create in art and pour my self into it. It was a definite jumping off point to my career now!

I did have other obstacles and rejections along the way but they bounced off of me as I didn’t allow those to define me! My gift/passion and hard work define me.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I believe the biggest lesson I had to unlearn was not allowing others to define my work but use it as constructive criticism and listen to it as a possible guide instead of a negative critique. When trying to come up with something new and different, it is a wide open target for acceptance. My attitude towards any constructive criticism is of gratitude to date!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://michaelprovenza.com/ https://provenzadisney.com/
• Instagram: @mjprovenza @provenzadisney
• Facebook: Michael Provenza