Paint More! Challenging Myself | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 53

Hi there, Liron here!

Today I wanted to talk to you about a little challenge I have for myself, for the month of December 2018.

Paint More

My challenge is to paint more than I usually do. I would say I average at about 2 hours a day, for 4-5 days a week. I want to increase that to around 4-5 hours a day.

So far it’s been working really well! ^_^

Reasons for Painting More

There are a few really good reasons for me taking this challenge upon myself.

Accelerated improvement – I have experienced a significantly accelerated growth of skills in the past 6-12 months. I feel like I have a really strong momentum that I’d like to capitalize on.

I still learn a lot – I’m still learning so much with each and every painting I do. It keeps surprising me actually.

This is also noticeable when starting to work on a new painting. I always feel like I’m better prepared “this time”. And that’s because I am increasingly more prepared with each and every painting I do.

No Plateau – I haven’t plateaued in my skills in a while now. I honestly don’t remember the last time I felt significantly uninspired / demotivated to paint. Nor do I don’t remember the last time I feared the blank page.

I want to really maximize and capitalize on all of the above, to make the most out of this time period.

My biggest fear, always, is regret. And I don’t even want to give myself the opportunity to regret anything I’m doing now (;

Painting More – Results So Far

So far I’ve been doing decently on the challenge itself, in terms of time spent painting. I’m definitely not at 4-5 hours a day like I wanted to, but it has increased to around 3.

In terms of the process, I feel BRAVER. I’m happy to test my comfort zone and try new things, and I create in a very spontaneous yet immersed way.

I will keep at it and let you know how it goes around the end of the month (and year!!).

And with that being said, let’s move on to the artist corner!

Artist Corner

In this episode I featured Dax, an up and coming rapper.

When I started this podcast I made a decision to feature a large variety of artists, and different types of them. And this is an example of that.

You may or may not know, but I love rap. And this guy is someone I stumbled upon rather recently. I could immediately tell he is very talented, and probably also works hard to create his music.

Just about 1-2 years ago he was a night-time janitor, and now he’s starting to gain some success.

If you don’t like profanities, don’t look into his stuff (as most rap has lots of it). My apologies if that’s the case.

But if you don’t mind, I would definitely check out his songs. My favorite is a remix of a song by Tupac Shakur: Dax – Hit ’em Up

And here’s where you can find me

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

I hope you enjoyed this one. Take care, and we’ll talk again really soon,

– Liron

Does YouTube Hate Me? | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 52

Hi there, Liron here!

I recently published a YouTube video, discussing the recent decline in views. I wanted to share it here as well, in audio form, in case you’ve missed it.

Preface to “Does YouTube Hate Me?”

I would like to also preface this podcast episode by saying I’m super grateful for anyone who watches my videos. My intent is NOT to take current viewership lightly.

I want to thank you for watching, reading, listening, commenting and all the great things you do. This means a lot to me, and is the main source of my happiness (as well as income (: ).

YouTube Views

In the last while I’ve been feeling a steady decline in the YouTube views, as well as some slow down in subscribers.

In the video / this podcast episode I wanted to share this with you, as well as get some feedback as to why this may happen.

My YouTube Success Is MY Responsibility

I wanted to stress that I’m fully aware my wins and losses are 100% my own responsibility.

I produce the content. If it works – it’s my success. If it loses – it’s MY failure.

Conclusion

I want to thank you for listening. Again – I’m trying to tackle this from a positive perspective of learning and improving.

Your feedback on the video has been very helpful. And if you have any additional feedback I would appreciate it a lot.

You can do so by commenting below, or contacting me in any of the places I reside in (list below too).

And with that being said – now it’s time for our Artist Corner!

Artist Corner

Today I’m featuring Victoria Prischedko!

Victoria is a watercolor painter, working in a very loose impressionistic style. Her drawing skills are excellent, and this carries in an interesting way in her loose work.

One thing that really characterizes her work is her use of warms and cools. She paints with lots of reds and blues, creating an interesting contrast and plays of temperature.

You can check out here work here:
https://www.facebook.com/prischedko/

And you can read more about her here:
https://www.aquarellereimsevenement.com/index.php/en/viktoria-prischedko-gallery-en

And here’s where you can find me

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

I hope you enjoyed this one. Take care, and we’ll talk again really soon,

– Liron

What Makes Art Good? | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 51

What makes art good?

Hi there, Liron here – and today I wanted to share my insights after listening to Antrese Wood’s podcast episode with Alvaro Castagnet.

In the podcast (The Savvy Painter) episode, they were talking about what makes art… well – art!

Alvaro shared his perspective on what is important when creating, and what separates good art from rare / great art.

Impressed By Castagnet

First off I want to say how impressed I am with Alvaro’s dedication to ART. He seems to be an artist through and through, and not “just” a painter.

I didn’t know he had such a developed outlook and perspective on this topic.

My Main Takeaways – What Makes Art Good

Here are the points I found important here:

1. Creating with innocence. We know how to make beautiful art, but then we learn and internalize a lot of excessive baggage. Unlearning is the key. Children’s paintings are beautiful and fully authentic.

2. Being present while creating. Something I mentioned here many times in the past.

3. Sensitivity to the world. This is something I’ve been talking about, but never phrased this way. Alvaro is a GENIUS. It’s such a good way to put it. Sensitivity. The ability to see more, where others see nothing.

4. Spontaneity. This is especially true with the wild medium of watercolor. At times you have to be able to be flexible and react to what the paint does.

Vision & Techniques Work Together

The above help you develop a clear vision.

What techniques do is help you execute on that vision. This is why techniques are important, but have their place.

A spectacular vision, imagination and perception, together with mediocre technique – can actually do wonders.

Excellent technique with complete lack of vision may produce boring work that has no soul.

And this is it for today. Would love to hear your thoughts on this in a comment below!

And with that being said… Artist corner!

Artist Corner

Today, I’ve featuring Antrese Wood! I mentioned her podcast and wanted to share more information about her.

She actually has an interesting life story, and art played a very significant role within it. She’s a painter, working mainly in oils and watercolor. From what I’ve seen she focuses on the A-la-prima approach (finishing the painting in one go).

She created a body of work called “A Portrait of Argentina”, which I highly recommend you check out. As someone who visited some of these places – she did a FANTASTIC job.

Antrese’s website: http://antrese.com/

Antrese’s podcast episode with Alvaro Castagnet: https://savvypainter.com/podcast/alvaro-castagnet/

A painting by here that I absolutely LOVE: https://shop.antrese.com/original-art/original_art_products/persistence-pmb4gqkh1da

And here’s where you can find me

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

I hope you enjoyed this one. Take care, and we’ll talk again really soon,

– Liron

Why I Love Q4 – Last Push for 2018-2019 | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 50

Hi there, Liron here and today I want to talk to you about why I love Q4 of the year!

Hard Work

To make a long story short – I see Q4 as an opportunity to work even harder than I worked for the entire year.

I like to start strong, then take it a little easier around July, and then pick up the pace again and go faster.

The main word I want to use for Q4 is MORE. I like to use this opportunity to JUST DO MORE. More videos, more posts, more ads, more articles.

By doing that, I know I’m setting myself up to win at the start of next year.

Conclude 2018 & Plan 2019

This is also a good time to reflect on the successes of the year (so many wins in 2018!). It’s important to recognize these.

Then, it’s time to plan how to win next year.

My Goals: Recap

I have two main MACRO goals. These are probably things I will never fully attain, but will always feel.

1. I want to become one of the best watercolor painters and teachers in the world.

2. I want to inspire as many people as possible to create with complete passion and courage.

And that’s pretty much it for this one. Now let’s move on to the artist corner!

Artist Corner

Today I’m featuring Russ the rapper.

In the past I told you how I want to feature not only visual artists, but also musicians, actors, writers and so on. So now’s the time.

Russ’s favorite theme is of him doing it himself. No one signed him, no one put him on, and he built his own career with his two hands.

I can really relate to that. When you are just getting started – all you get is no’s. And it’s up to you to push through and hopefully stick it to the nay-sayers’ faces (;

Here’s my favorite song of his: Me You

And here’s where you can find me

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

I hope you enjoyed this one. Take care, and we’ll talk again really soon,

– Liron

Going All-in on Instagram & What I Learned (for Artists)| Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 49

Today I wanted to share this update regarding the recent changes I made in my Instagram routine / strategy / tactics, and the impact they had on my presence on the platform.

Two Main Changes on Instagram

I changed two main things in my Instagram routine:

1. Increased post frequency

This did prove to provide faster growth, and it didn’t seem my audience “got tired” of my content (:

I basically moved from 1 post a day to 2-3.

2. Tons of stories

I used to post 1-3 stories a day, and sometimes zero. Now I’m doing as much as 15-30 stories. I’m also making sure I use hashtags there as well.

One last thing I did, though that was a little while before all of that, was changing to a business account. I wanted to get the analytics (:

The Results & Impact on my Instagram Account

I’ve been feeling the acceleration in growth in terms of followers, no doubt.

But the more important thing is the amount of messages and genuine comments I’ve been getting, which really blew me away.

The engagement went crazy too.

So we’re not talking only about quantity, but also about quality.

Future Plans

My future plans are basic – keep this new baseline, and increase / go above it as much as possible. I’ve been doing the occasional 4 or 5 posts a day too.

I will keep you updated on how it goes! (;

That’s all I wanted to share today. We can now move onto the artist corner.

Artist Corner

Today I’m featuring Ilya Ibryaev, a Russian watercolor painter.

His focus seems to be light, and I don’t mean that in the usual sense. His great talent is portraying actual light shining through trees and clouds. He focuses on simpler landscapes with more complex and interesting skies, clouds and light.

What I noticed he does is play around with edges and contrast, to create a strong illusion of light. It actually FEELS like you can see the light itself.

If you want to see what I mean, I actually found a GREAT article written on him over at Seamless Expression – a website about painting and watercolor that I LOVE: Ilya Ibryaev on Seamless Expression

And here’s where you can find me

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

I hope you enjoyed this one. Take care, and we’ll talk again really soon,

– Liron