Meet Maq Martin

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

Hi Maq, thank you so much for making time for us today. Let’s jump right into a question so many in our community are looking for answers to – how to overcome creativity blocks, writer’s block, etc. We’d love to hear your thoughts or any advice you might have.

I am fortunate to be a person with a lot of different hobbies and interests and to make art that is often inspired by my other hobbies. If I’m feeling stuck in my art, I have options on how else to spend my time. Oftentimes, that looks like moving my body, whether that’s going on a walk with my dog, running, rock climbing, yoga, or hiking. During these times of movement I try to focus in on what my body is feeling or needing as well as the environment around me, noticing colors, shapes, patterns, and different visual cues in the world to recenter myself and find inspiration in the mundane moments and things we get used to seeing.

Another tactic I will take for getting through creative blocks is making bad art, or thoughtless art. I’ll use supplies that I don’t typically go for and just make anything and everything that comes to mind on small pieces of paper. No one else will ever see the tiny bad art, but it helps to get my brain shaken up and out of the rut a little bit.

Both of these approaches are really centered on getting myself out of the headspace of what I “need to do” and allowing my creativity to take a deep breath and remember that I should be enjoying my art and creativity more than I should be forcing it. I think having rhythms of rest, especially after finishing a big body of work is really critical to avoiding burnout and staying inspired in my creative practice.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am an artist! Primarily, I paint landscapes both on canvas and in mural form, but I am always interested in learning new creative skills as well. I have been making art my entire life, but in 2020, I found myself unemployed and making art to cope with the existential dread and anxiety. A friend saw a set of paintings I was working on and asked if he could buy them (before they were even done) and it set me on a path towards having a small business and selling my paintings. At the same time my friend/mentor started doing more mural work and asked me to be his assistant which gave me a massive learning opportunity and pushed me down the path of creating murals for some private clients that I wouldn’t have had the confidence to approach otherwise. My hope is that soon I’ll also be able to have more public clients so that more people can see my mural work out in the world!

Currently, my newest big celebration is that I just had my first gallery show here in Seattle, at Gallery Axis in Pioneer Square. The body of work I created was inspired by my younger sister sending me photos while she was at field camp, and is entitled “These Views Made Me Think of You.” The whole series is done based on photos that my friends and I have sent back and forth to each other when we are in separate locations but thinking of one another on our own adventures. I want my art to be connected to my values and one of my core values is community connection and care, so this series is dedicated to all the people who have helped me reach this point and inspired me along the way. The show is up until the first week of June and then who knows what’ll be next!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Color theory knowledge
Willingness to try and fail and try again
Consistency in practice

When I was in college, I was able to take a color theory class and noticed that it almost instantly shifted the way I approached my paintings. It changed my understanding of light and shadows and pushed my use of color to a new place that I hadn’t explored before which set a strong foundation for the vibrancy I have in my representational art today.

Throughout the 5 years that I’ve been running my micro business, I have tried so many different tactics to drive client interest, to expand my skill set, and to grow as a business and I have failed more times than I can count. I allow myself the space to be sad or upset about it, and then I learn to pivot and try something else and keep track of what works and what doesn’t.

Consistency is probably the most impactful thing in the realm of creating anything and trying to get it out in the world, and even knowing that and seeing the fruits of it, I’m still not always on it with all aspects of my art business. I’ve grown a ton in my consistency with painting and creating art. I have developed the discipline to wake up early and get art time in before I go to my 9-5 job almost every day for months so that I could finish my gallery paintings. But at the same time, I struggle with being consistent on social media and showing up in that way. It’s both a skill I’ve grown a lot in and a skill I’ll need to continue working on.

For folks just starting out, I think it’s so hard to know what will work and what won’t and everyone around you will have a different perspective on that too. I think being open to the input and advice of others is incredible, but you have to be willing to try and fail a few (or a hundred) times in order to see what your personal best fit is and that can be really discouraging. So surround yourself with people who believe in you and what you’re doing and make sure you have the support for the hard days.

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

My biggest area of growth has definitely been in my consistency with painting and in my overall confidence as an artist. I had about 9 months to put together my gallery show, and that required a lot of dedication and commitment to my work. I also work a full time job outside of being an artist, so I was waking up at 5:30am to paint for an hour before work 4-5 days a week for months and squeezing in painting time on the weekends or evenings when I could. I had to be super consistent in making time to paint as I was working on the physically largest canvas pieces I’ve ever done and had to do a lot of them. Through my consistency of painting, I also saw my skills grow and develop rapidly which was incredible to experience and is something I’m so proud of.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://maqmakesart.com
• Instagram: @maqmakesart

Image Credits

Nathan Lowe