We were lucky to catch up with Rick Sharp recently and have shared our conversation below.
Rick, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
I have been a working artist all my life. I have made a decent living from my art both in California and Hawaii. My work is distributed widely by my publisher which allows me to concentrate on creating art instead, marketing, producing and distributing it to the public. I’ve been lucky to have this arrangement for the past 15 years.
Rick, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Having the President of the United States sign my original painting, working with Donovan and other musical icons early in my career, and seeing my work in every store in the Hawaiian Islands: those are the highlights of my career. I am known for my vintage poster art in California and Hawaii.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Using creativity as my vehicle to move through life, I feel driven to continue to beautify the world with my gifts.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
After an early successful career as a poster artist in California, I discovered that art – like music, dance, and writing – has a certain popular space in time. Not knowing this when I was younger, I was shocked to find people weren’t buying or using my art after its heyday. Starting out again, it took about ten years to build it back up again into popularity. Now I know, what is popular today, may not be popular tomorrow. So enjoy the ride when it happens!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ricksharp.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RickSharpVintageArt/