We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Patrick Semple a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Patrick, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

I was in college– mostly playing in bands, studying and attending classes on the side, when I met one of my best friends who told me he used to work as an assistant to artists in NYC. Learning that the occupation of modern day “artist” was real and possible ignited my passion and flipped a creative switch for me. In tandem with studying art history and obsessing over contemporary heavy-hitters like Rauschenberg, Kusama, O’Keefe and others, I got turned onto the art being made by my friends, my community, and turned on by the world of visual, aesthetic communication at large. Since that time 10 years ago, everywhere I go and look around I see paintings waiting to happen, materials, compositions being framed up in my awareness each day.

It’s abundantly clear now that art is in my life to stay, and plays a crucial role in my sense of self and well-being. Whether or not I’m actively pursuing painting as a career, it’s become my identity, purpose, my bridge to the subconscious. The career part is where it becomes a service to humanity, an opportunity to share my joy and contemplation with friends and collectors of my work.

I love fine art painting as a career because it doesn’t discriminate against age or societal status; It’s a thing I can tap in and out of when I’m called to do it, or take up other work on the side and stockpile other types of work and life experiences before returning to the studio.

Patrick, 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?

My name is Patrick Semple and I’m a painter, an explorer, a mutator of colors and materials. I grew up in the mountains of Aspen, Colorado and I’ve taken my love of music and visual art with me everywhere I’ve traveled and lived. Creating paintings is how I problem solve, how I seek out beauty and find things that fit. I like to make squares look good, and I do it to feel good, to stay involved with society and contribute in a constructive way.

I feel like my job is well done when someone is touched or “seen” by my work, when they feel safe, and their awareness has turned from defensive to offensive; seeking out the beauty in their environment and in other people rather than averting their eyes away from everything and everyone. Painting is what keeps me on the offense, seeking unlikely connections, making new friends, keeping my feet planted solidly on the earth– and that feeling is exactly what I’d like to impart on others through my work.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

With the waning effectivity (and cost effectivity) of Instagram as a business platform, my number one source of new clients is Word of Mouth. For other creatives I can’t recommend this enough: work on building relationships and making unlikely friendships everywhere you go. Online sales are effective, but in-person is just more fun and it’s the perfect antidote for antagonistic AI algorithms that make it harder on us everyday. In 2024 and 2025 my goal is to relax and have more fun with the process of selling myself. Attending shows, meeting the artists at their openings and meeting curators. Cold-calling and emailing is another favorite method of making new connections.

Above all I’m grateful for my clients who proudly display my work in their homes and recommend me to their friends and family. I regard them as family; those who’ve put food on my table and put paint on my canvases with their patronage and generosity. Amanda Palmer, author of ‘The Art of Asking’ coined the acronym DIT (do it together) which emboldens us to reach out and ask each other for help rather than soldier on alone (DIY). Our survival as artists depends on sticking together; collaborating, including each other and offering support or even a shoulder to cry on.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

As an emerging contemporary painter, my business ebbs and flows and swims upstream a lot of the time. Like many artists I’m constantly (and currently) faced with the issue of finding a place to work, so this requires some creative problem solving, relying on connections and having faith and resilience.

For a few years I worked as a live-in caregiver for my grandmother in LA, who provided me with a place to paint out of her garage. A lot of the time artists need to get by on the good graces of their friends and family in order to stay busy and executing one’s ideas. Other times I’ve had access to grandiose studio spaces. When I’m between studios and unable to work, I make a point to pop into local galleries and museums and talk shop with their curators and artists, bring them a cold soda on a hot day. I stay motivated by making connections with people, asking questions, watching the uses of visual language and brainstorming how to build upon that language in my own fun ways.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.patricklorenzosemple.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patrick_semple_/

Image Credits

Ladd Forde

Insta: @forde_photo