5 Reasons Why You Should Always Have Your Customer's Back

Much has been written on the subject of backs. There is back-stabbing, backward thinking folks and back-by-demand shows. Backs can be strong or weak, slouching, upright, and sometimes stiff. The phrase, “I’ve got your back” is new to this decade and refers to standing by someone through thick and thin. They will be there for you no matter what. “Hey bro, I’ve got your back” means you can count on me.
Well, customers need to know that too. We all have customers, of course, even if you don’t work. The appliance store treats me as a customer. The machinist must treat his boss as a customer. Just about everyone is a customer or serves customers. It means customizing yourself to make sure someone else’s needs are going to be met. Why bother to adjust yourself? Why should you make any effort at all to adapt to someone else? Here are five reasons why you should consider this approach in dealing with all the customers and people in your life;

1. Adjusting yourself to someone else means you’re watching and listening to them carefully. That’s the way to really begin to hear their needs. Everyone talks and so few listen. Be the person who listens better. Be the person who leaves a gap in the conversation and lets someone else fill it in.

2. When you’re in a good listening and hearing mode, that’s when you let your compassion come forward. Usually it likes to hide a few layers back. Let your compassion come forward and be the first part of you that your customers and friends meet.

3. Adjusting yourself to fit to someone else means you’re the one who is more flexible now. You’ve in adjust-mode already. You’re able to shape yourself to fit your customer thus catch their nuances better than the next guy who wants to also sell them something.

4. When your compassion is the first part of you someone meets, when you’ve truly heard the other person’s needs, when you’ve softened yourself into a shape that fits theirs, then it’s time to follow through on their needs.

5. Write everything down so both parties have a copy. Then do more than is expected of you.

Customers and friends will then say, “That painter/realtor/friend/teacher/whatever you are—that guy really has my back”!

“Karen’s Back”, oil painting on panel by Joanne Shellan, by commission, copyright 2010
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Jessica's portrait

I’ve been having terrible insomnia lately and complain bitterly to all who will listen but there is an upside; you get time to think that is unplugged, focused, and reflective. Last night I tried to decide what I would put in a letter to my own kids, nephews, nieces and all those who are of an age where they’re trying to decide what to do with their lives. My big epiphany was that self-knowledge is primary. The more you know yourself, the more you can decipher what you really like to do more than anything else (I love skateboarding, I love drumming, I love math). The more you know yourself, the more you understand your temperament (I hate being told what to do, I love managing others, I want to include being creative in my career). And lastly, I would tell those kids to know that if you have a passionate interest, what you don’t know, you can learn. You love movies now and may not have a clue how the film industry works but you can learn it.


When I came out of college, my minor in art taught me nothing about the industry I wanted to go into nor did it teach me many drawing skills. I felt I couldn’t be a graphic artist because I couldn’t draw very well. Now I know different. You can learn it.

Jessica’s Portrait was painted Sunday on the last day of a four day portrait workshop. I know it’s not great but I also know that with lots of practice, I’ll get much better. Be aggressive about learning and you will be amazed at where you’ll go.

See my paintings now on Face Book at Face Book Joanne Shellan Fine Art and on my website Joanne Shellan Fine Art

Kirkland Arts Center

There are times in life we are given something so important that we need to continually pay homage to the source of that knowledge. I believe in honoring those origins. Although I've done art all my life, I first learned to paint at the Kirkland Arts Center. My first class was with a terrific teacher, Carol Stretcher Jones, who taught watercolor in a way that made you feel you could probably do it. What a feeling! Falling in love with painting was as easy as falling off a log. Painting is now the core and passion of my life. So now the Kirkland Arts Center is a place that I like to support. I give with money and I give with art. This painting will be auctioned off at their auction called Redux which takes place in October. The theme this year is architecture so it made sense to me to honor the cool old building that now houses our own local arts center. Stay connected to what powers your life.

http://www.joanneshellan.com/
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The Road Less Taken

We were sitting on top of the world--at least that's what it felt like. When Dave lent us his house in Winthrop, Washington for a painting weekend, we had no idea what an incredible house we would be staying at and what a view we would be spend all our waking hours savoring. We just got home last night so today as I stood before my easel, I still carried with me the wonderful feelings of unhurried solitude, dry, warm air, and the vastness of uncluttered spaces. This painting, still wet as I write, is going to be auctioned off a local art store (www.bellevueartandframe.com) and the proceeds will benefit local schools. Feelings that artists carry inside them come out in their work and if they’re lucky and produce good work, those feelings translate to the viewer. That is always my intent.



Find me on Face Book now too at Joanne Shellan Fine Ar
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joanne-Shellan-Fine-Art/138562789499178?ref=ts

or my website http://www.joanneshellan.com/

Making Tracks at the Train Yard

These handsome fellows were found loafing around at the Snoqualmie Train Depot. It's a historic spot so I suppose they've earned their retirement. I do appreciate a model that holds still. I tried very hard to keep my colors brighter than normal since I lean towards paintings that are a tad too grayed out. Here is a trick for keeping paintings bright; don't use very much white. White cools down anything it's added to and drains your painting of vibrancy. Making sure the perspective was correct was another challenge. Here's a trick that can help though; using your brush as a straight edge, hold it up "next to" the angle you're trying to get. I say "next to" because you could be standing twenty feet away. Keep holding that angle and bring your arm slowly down to your painting and put the straight edge on the canvas. That's the same angle you need to paint now! Make tracks to share the tricks of your trade. Everyone benefits.

Find my work at http://www.joanneshellan.com/ and now on Face Book http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joanne-Shellan-Fine-Art/138562789499178?ref=ts

Beaver Lake and the Story of Light

Outside, sunshine, birds chirping...for some painters, there is nothing better than being outdoors with brush and canvas. Or is there? What about the ever changing light? Artists are always fussing about light- which direction it’s from, is it warm or cool, what kind of shadows come from this kind of light? Herein lays many potential problems; if you haven't analyzed the light, your picture can look pretty weird! You should know where the sun is and where it's heading, shadows are darkest and clearest nearest its source, and that morning sun is cooler than late afternoon sun. But it gets way more interesting than that. Honestly, there are whole, detailed books written on the subject of light and how to paint it! Fortunately most people don’t need to know any of this but you do need to know it if you're a representational painter. Enjoy the summer, get outside and paint knowing the light.


To the new galleries I have added to my blog, please know that you were added because I adore your gallery and would like to introduce you to my art. If you prefer not to get my blog, just send me an email.

Website; http://www.joanneshellan.com/
Facebook; http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joanne-Shellan-Fine-Art/138562789499178?ref=ts

Art in the Garden

Art in the Garden; many gardeners describe laying out plants in a garden like an artist placing colors on a palette.

To others, Art in the Garden means finding interesting outdoor art like ceramic garden flowers, sculptures or tinkling wind chimes that add another layer of interest to the foliage and color.

My version of Art in the Garden means going to a fabulous place like Bassetti's Crooked Arbor Gardens in Woodinville Washington, setting up my paintbox and spending the day with other artists trying to capture the cacophony of colors into a cohesive composition. I hardly know a daisy from a Daphne but that doesn’t stop me creating my own garden out of creamy oil paints and brushes- a garden to last the ages. Summer may fly by at an unbearable speed but painters aim to stop time for a moment, to imprint their impressions onto canvas and to place that impression in your midst through all the seasons.