Podcast #27 – Mark Shawver: Finding Beauty in the Mundane
Doug Dvorak (00:01.429)
Good day Mission Podcast community. I’m your host and podcast navigator, Doug Dvorak. Welcome to Mission Possible, the podcast where we explore the mindset, strategies, and stories behind turning big visions into real victories. I’m really honored to welcome Mark Schauver Shawver, a really interesting entrepreneur and artist.
I just moved into a new house about a year ago and my neighbor Scott, Mark’s son, and I were talking and he invited me in to see his new home and I saw all this incredible artwork and I said, who’s that artist? He said, my dad. I said, give me his number. And I commissioned Mark to do an oil painting of my wife and I and our four great nieces and nephews. So I’m just highly honored to meet with a creative here, somebody who spent
Mark Shawver (00:43.918)
Bye.
Doug Dvorak (00:58.475)
30 plus years running and grinding his own business and now has sort of morphed into the creative, which is Mark Schauver Shawver. So Mark, thanks a lot. I’m really honored to have you. You’re one of Boise’s most captivating visual artists known for your bold use of color, texture and emotion. You capture the rugged beauty and quiet poetry of the Idaho landscape, but not limited to Idaho, Northern California.
and places beyond with deep connections between your art, nature, and the human spirit. You started, my understanding, your early days sketching mountains and rivers of the Pacific Northwest, growing up, living, running a business in Northern California. You’ve had a number of different gallery exhibitions, very successful, and you continue to push the boundaries with a fearless sense of experimentation and authenticity. Welcome, Mark.
Mark Shawver (02:01.826)
Thank you, Doug. I’m really happy to be here. It’s an honor.
Doug Dvorak (02:05.023)
Same here. So Mark, let’s talk about your beginnings and inspirations for our listeners who may not yet know your work. How would you describe your art in one sentence?
Mark Shawver (02:19.79)
I think probably finding beauty in the mundane and everyday objects that we tend to just pass over. By the way Doug, one correction. I don’t want to mislead your viewers. I’m an acrylic artist, never painted with oils. So I don’t know if that makes a big difference, but even your painting…
Doug Dvorak (02:46.109)
It’s still beautiful. Walk me through what tell us. Tell me and tell our listeners what acrylic is relative to watercolor or oil.
Mark Shawver (02:47.724)
Your paint is going to be acrylic too.
Mark Shawver (02:55.47)
Okay, Good question. Yeah, so I started really painting, you as you mentioned in the, in your intro, I started painting in 20 or 2000 and I had been running for about 30 plus years already my graphic design firm that I had for.
nearly 40 years, started painting at the site. And I painted exclusively with watercolor. you know, water media, I knew about oil painting and I admire a lot of, even the most famous painters in the world in history are mostly oil painters. anyway, was just.
I didn’t want to get into the chemicals and it’s a lot of cleanup. The advantage to oils is they don’t dry fast, so you can blend. can go back even a couple days later, you can go back to a painting. You can continue to blend and go over and paint things and change it. With watercolor, it’s probably the most, if you ask any artist, it’s probably the most difficult. I didn’t realize that when I started. But a medium, because it’s very unforgiving. Once you start, you have to start very light.
and then build up darker and darker. And if you make a mistake or something, it’s really hard to edit out or clean up or take the paint off without damaging the paper. You’re always painting on paper. But I got used to it I got good at it and I really enjoyed it loved it. So what happened, I painted probably for 10 years or…
Something like that in only watercolor then I I entered a contest and it was actually a it was in my in the Bay Area where I lived but it was it was
Mark Shawver (04:50.926)
an opportunity to paint a mural in our area, but the call to artists went out all over the world. I came to find out and there were several, many hundred or thousands, I don’t know, entries. Anyway, I won, so that was a big deal for me. I won the opportunity to do the mural. And murals are always painted with acrylic paint outside, you know, murals. Even inside ones are, I think, because they’re super durable, okay? The light, they’re,
light resistant so they won’t fade over time especially if you varnish them and
As far as the ease of painting, my gosh, it’s so much easier, faster to paint. So I did this mural, and I’m really proud of it. It came out great, and the big deal is huge, like 16 feet by eight feet, and all with acrylic. Well, I ended up at the end of the job with a whole bunch of acrylic paint. So I decided to…
Doug Dvorak (05:52.33)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Shawver (05:55.136)
give that a try on canvas and I started thinking about it and I thought well you know these watercolors every time I finish one you have to frame it and you have to put it behind glass because it’s very fragile the sun will fade it if you put it in the sun if it gets wet at all it’ll ruin it completely put it behind glass frame it I’m gonna say on average it’s three to four hundred dollars to frame a good size you know watercolor
So here I am with a house full of three to four hundred dollar. I still don’t sell a ton of work. I sell some, you know, a lot more than I used to. So another advantage, great advantage to acrylic is you paint on canvas. You don’t have to put any glass on it. You never should put glass on it. And I make my own frames.
So it’s a whole different animal as far as the economics of it. And I love it. It’s just easy. I’ve gotten used to it. if you screw anything up or you want to change anything, it’s so opaque. You can just go right over it and change and add things or whatever you want. Keep painting on it forever if you want it to. So that’s sort of a long-winded answer to that. Sorry.
Doug Dvorak (06:42.258)
Wow.
Doug Dvorak (07:02.923)
So no, that’s fascinating. I just learned something. So I understand watercolor. I’ve been up at a variety of different Idaho beautiful parks and seen plein air and watercolor artists painting. I know what oil is, but does acrylic, so ease of use, dries a little quicker. But if I had a oil painting here,
Mark Shawver (07:10.38)
Yeah. Yeah.
Mark Shawver (07:26.232)
Super fast, super fast, almost as fast as butter.
Doug Dvorak (07:32.073)
and an acrylic here, would there be any significant or subtle differences from the paintings themselves, how they look, the vibrancy, the colors, et cetera?
Mark Shawver (07:33.474)
Yeah.
Mark Shawver (07:42.668)
That’s a good question. Well, oil is typically a little thicker. It’s creamier. I think a lot of people do what they call impasto type of a painting where they put the paint on real thick.
You can do that with acrylics too, but the tendency I think, it’s a water-based paint, it’s plastic. I mean, that’s why it’s so tough and so strong and you it’s hard to, you can’t really hurt it. But it, you know, it just depends upon the technique really and the artist. I mean, I’ve had people look at my paintings and say, these are beautiful oil paintings. And I’ll say, well, they’re not really. And they say, well, how do you blend?
Blending is the big issue. Because the oil painting, you can get a very soft, subtle sky. can go from dark to light. You’d never even see the gradation. With acrylics, you can do it, but I gotta keep the paint. The paint has to be kinda kept wet, and I have to work pretty fast with my blending and using the right kind of brushes and stuff. But I can make, just to smooth the gradation or color blending with acrylic if you compared it to the oil. But I think, I don’t know,
I don’t know if the average person can really. It’s super easy clean up, water clean up, and that’s the lazy part of me. Plus the chemicals are pretty toxic. I’ve read a lot about it. You get in a closed space and some people can have issues with the smell and breathing in the oils. They use turpentine and stuff to blend and to clean up.
Doug Dvorak (09:01.438)
I couldn’t.
Doug Dvorak (09:22.261)
So really your start was, hey, you’re winding down your business 25 years ago, explored painting, called artists for a mural. It’s outside. You try acrylic. You had been painting in watercolor. But this is your go-to medium now, sort of happenstance because of it. tell us, what’s the story behind the moment you knew art wasn’t just a hobby. It was your calling.
Mark Shawver (09:40.96)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Mark Shawver (09:52.289)
Well, when I was a little kid, my dad was a draftsman. He worked at PG &E, the big utility in California, or the West Coast.
He could sketch real good. was a draftsman, so he was more of technical drawer, you know. But he was a good, you know, he could draw real good. And he used to draw the Disney figures for my brother and I, you know, just like on a whim. Do Mickey Mouse, do Donald Duck, you know, and he’d just sit there and boom, and it came out perfect. And I think that, I’m not kidding, when I look back, really, and I was probably a little kid, you five, six, seven, you know, I don’t know.
And it just, thought it was just magical and I was so amazed at his ability to do that. So I think that just kind of sparked something and I just kind of, you know, I used to look at a lot of magazine, you know, cartoon magazines for kids and stuff and I’d copy characters and draw just for fun. never really looked at it, was a kid so I never really looked at it seriously.
But went to high school, or grammar school, high school. I was in sports, never really thought about art. But when I graduated high school, I decided to go to college. And when I got in there, they started sort of, your counselor, what are you interested in? I wasn’t gonna play sports, I wasn’t good enough, so.
I said, you know, I kind of like art. mean, what do you do with that? And so he suggested some classes and I just really got hooked. And then after I went to junior college for years, and then when I left, they advised me to go to San Jose State, which had a really good commercial art program, which is what I got into. And that’s how I started my business. And I just loved it. Doug, was so lucky. We were talking a little earlier before we started. My whole career.
Mark Shawver (11:52.655)
in business was doing something I love to do. mean, there’s challenges. I had a lot of employees. I had a pretty good-sized company at one time. Business challenges, but the work we did and I got to be involved in was so rewarding and so fun that I, you know, I mean, you can’t help but be successful when you’re loving what you’re doing every day you just want to do more of it you want to, you know, and I was a pretty good business guy too, you know, so.
But yeah, like you said, I stopped the business in 2006. So in 2000, I started doing it on the side. I’d come home from work and just started painting, and I really got into that. So I was actually coming home from a long day at work and then painting at night, because it was so fun and I was so into it. And then after I stopped the business, was like, yeah, the gloves were off, man. was…
Doug Dvorak (12:41.739)
You had some time. You had some time.
Mark Shawver (12:41.774)
You know painting painting all the time, you know, yeah, that was what I did all the time, you know within
Doug Dvorak (12:47.381)
So do you remember the first piece you ever created that made you think, might actually be good at this? Was that the mural or what was it?
Mark Shawver (12:56.046)
That’s a good, that’s a really good question. Yeah. Yeah.
Doug Dvorak (12:59.527)
Outside of your business when you came home you’re still running the business But you created a piece and you said or your wife said or your family said wow, I might actually be good at this
Mark Shawver (13:07.414)
Yeah. Yeah. You know, it had to be a watercolor for sure. you know, I have all of them. I’ve kept all of them. I sold a few, but I’ve never, you know, but I have several of them that I do see the date is around 2000. So it had to be some, you know,
That’s a great question. It’s making me think way back. My paintings are all based on photographs, by the way. I’ve never painted outside. They call it plein air painting. I’ve never done that. That’s another thing that the great, great artists all do, but I’ve never done.
For one thing, watercolor’s tough to do. People do do plein air painting with watercolor. You gotta be really good at it, and you gotta be fast, and you gotta have a certain technique. So my technique is super high detail. And when I was doing watercolors, they’re even way more detailed than my acrylics are now. And it took me long, I mean, they would take me 20, 30, 40 hours to paint a watercolor. And they’re all based on pictures, things that I just see. I always have my phone with me, right?
You know, that’s a great advantage to the iPhone is I can take pictures any time, all the time. And I remember there was a tractor in a field and I passed it every day going to work by my house, from my house to work. And it took me a long time to paint it. It was just a really beautiful old rusty, you know, out of use for God knows how many years, next to a little barn and…
I painted like every single little piece of grass. It took me forever and all the details on the old tractor, the rust, I loved all that. So that might have been one of the first ones. And yeah, when I started showing people that, building a website and things, I did get a lot of positive feedback. So that’s nice, that’s good to do, but I was lucky I never had to paint to make a living. So that’s a huge advantage.
Mark Shawver (15:07.682)
that I have. retired and we did pretty good in business so I was able to have, you know, just paint what I want to paint. And so, man, no kidding, no kidding. sometimes, you know, the stuff my wife kind of, you know, wonders about the things I paint. Some things are pretty strange and, you know, just little crazy little things that I see that I just think the way the light hit that bucket or, you know, something very ordinary just looks beautiful to me and I’ll take a picture and then I’ll paint it. So.
Doug Dvorak (15:14.304)
What a great, great hobby and luxury. you shared with me.
Mark Shawver (15:37.358)
So that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 20 years.
Doug Dvorak (15:37.419)
That’s a cool.
Doug Dvorak (15:42.572)
That’s cool. So you shared with me the Schaubert clan, three generations. You grew up in Northern Cal. You shared with us your dad was a draftsman, but also liked to draw. Did your grandparents, any other parts of the Schaubert family tree have a propensity to art, drawing, painting?
Mark Shawver (15:48.013)
Yeah
Mark Shawver (15:54.348)
Yeah.
Mark Shawver (16:01.632)
You know, I don’t, not that I know of, and you know what, you’re reminding me now. I may have to take that back about my first picture, because you’re reminding me. I had a very, very wonderful upbringing, and a huge part of it was my grandparents. And I just, was so lucky to have, our whole family was lucky to have them. I did, and I think I was only in, I might have still been in college. So this was way back.
I was in college in the early 80s.
or no, late 70s. I did a drawing, colored pencil drawing portrait of my grandparents for their, I think it was their 60th wedding anniversary. And it blew them away. It was from a little old picture of them when they were younger. They were older by now. But then it kind of shocked the family when I brought it and gave it to them. We had a pretty big family. My dad had five brothers and sisters, we had a lot of cousins.
And so when I brought this thing in, were all going, holy cow, you’re pretty good at that. So I think that was some, could have been some early, early motivation for me too. Now that was colored pencils, which I did do colored pencil for a while too. In fact, college.
Doug Dvorak (17:19.517)
Is that, I was curious, sorry to interrupt you, is that painting still around of your grandparents that you draw on colored pencils?
Mark Shawver (17:26.414)
You know, I think it’s somewhere I might have it in. I probably have it. Yeah, I’ll bet you I do have it in my, you know, I’ve got a storage here place and I’ve got portfolios full of all my old work, a of my graphic design work too. And I think I do have it in there, you know, I mean, I look back and it’s kind of, I did capture them though. I mean, the likeness was good. So hopefully your painting will come out that good too. Portraits are tough. That’s the hardest thing for me.
Doug Dvorak (17:52.715)
I’m sure.
I understand. So Mark, if somebody walked into your studio today, they could see it behind you. What would they see? Chaos, calm or controlled creativity?
Mark Shawver (17:56.237)
Like by far, mean, ooh.
Mark Shawver (18:06.146)
Well, that’s it, you’re right, you’re looking at my studio. It’s a room in my house. And so it’s, you know, I keep it pretty, it’s pretty small so I can’t really afford to have too much mayhem going on. you know, if you could see closer on the walls back there.
They’re pretty messed up. There’s paint all over them and stuff from splashing and things. And I have a big carpet down here on the ground that is full of paint to protect the real carpet underneath it. But I think it’s pretty, it’s not really chaos, I don’t think. I do have to admit that I put those paintings up behind me so it kind of showcased some of my stuff.
I don’t normally have those. I’ll have a few paintings up. I do have a few, in fact, in front of me and around here. have a few that I keep up. Sometimes a current painting, I’ll hang it up so I can look at it and stuff. if I left those up there, they’d be splattered with little things of paint. You can see my palette and stuff right there. And it gets pretty splashy when I’m, especially on a big painting. You can see there’s the palette. I mean the easel.
Doug Dvorak (18:49.163)
That’s very-
Mark Shawver (19:17.802)
see that you can see the easel over there and so yeah
Doug Dvorak (19:19.711)
Yeah.
Interesting. So I was watching a podcast with Neil Young and they asked the host said, how do you write this great music? When do you get inspired? He said, I can’t tell you, but when the inspiration comes, it could be six in the morning or three, three in the afternoon. And when it comes, I go with that vibe. So who has been the biggest creative influence or mentor on you in your artistic journey?
Mark Shawver (19:47.49)
You mean like a person that I’ve studied or just like a real?
Doug Dvorak (19:52.318)
An artist that inspired you either by their work or the guidance count. Who said, Mark, you should, it sounds like you’re, but from an artistic perspective, what artists past, present inspire you?
Mark Shawver (20:00.951)
Yeah.
Mark Shawver (20:10.102)
Well, you know, I do remember actually a point where a professor of mine, I was in the graphic art graphic design program at San Jose State and, you know, taking illustration classes, typography classes.
layout classes, art history, stuff like that. And there was a professor that I really admired. He was an old, older guy, and I really respected him and his work and his opinion. And I had done another painting. This is a, man, now here we go. Listen to this, Doug. So I have painted one painting in oil. And I painted a picture.
in college, I think it was kind of for a class or something, but it was a really pretty big painting. And I painted it in oil. was all black. Black with a little white mix in, so it was a monochromatic picture. And it was from a newspaper picture that I saw, a photograph I saw and was impressed with.
and I painted the whole thing with oil, it was a dry brush technique is what it’s called. So you take the paint, and I never used any turpentine or thinner or anything. It was always just the paint rubbed really deeply onto it. It was on illustration board. It wasn’t on canvas.
Anyway, so that’s a long story there and that’s sort of, but that’s the only oil painting I’ve ever, anyway, I brought this painting after I finished it into the, and I was very nervous about it because it was like one of my first attempts to make a fine art piece. And I brought it to this professor and I wanted to get his opinion on it.
Mark Shawver (21:57.679)
And you know, he encouraged me. He said, you know, there’s something here. You know, you’ve got a talent. You’ve got, you know, I can tell you’ve got something going. And he goes, you should stick with this and try, you know, try to make something out of it. And that, that just, I’ll never forget that. I mean, it just one of those moments when somebody said something to you that just kind of launched you. Now, I did go in a different direction. I went into the commercial side because I really honestly didn’t, I had no idea, and I probably,
It was probably the right thing. I had no idea how you can make a living as a fine artist I mean, you know, I see a lot of podcasts. I read a lot of articles, of course read books and it’s a tough deal I mean, you know, there’s you know, we hear about the famous people and of course, they’re rich rich rich and they all made great livings mean a lot of them had to struggle a long time but let me tell you there’s millions of people out there that are trying to do it and holding down another job and coming home at night and trying to paint trying to get in galleries and
So it kind of goes back to my luxury of not having that pressure and just doing it for the sheer joy of it. But yeah, and then I have several artists that I just love their work and they’re always a continuing inspiration for me. Andrew Wyeth is probably the first one that I latched on to. And he paints it very interesting. He does watercolor, but his medium was egg tempura. Or egg tempura, I think they could say it.
Doug Dvorak (23:09.633)
Who are some of those artists that…
Mark Shawver (23:26.41)
Anyway, I actually tried that. It’s probably the hardest way to paint. You actually paint using the white or the yolk of an egg, and you mix it with a dry powder pigment, and you mix the colors that way.
and it’s dry super fast and it’s used when you’re painting really fine, fine detail. So it’s like using thousands or millions of little tiny cross hatching marks, but everything, the people that painted that are good at that, their work is unbelievably realistic and beautiful.
Doug Dvorak (24:08.427)
That’s interesting.
Mark Shawver (24:08.492)
I actually tried one. I got like a quarter of the way through it trying to mix this stuff up and I go, I can’t even imagine how you paint like this. So I gave it up, but I’m just, his subject matter and what he, know, he passed away, I’m gonna say seven, eight years ago. He was almost 100 years old, but he was one of America’s most, have you ever heard of him?
Doug Dvorak (24:32.277)
Sure, I’ve seen some of his work. Great artist.
Mark Shawver (24:32.982)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I mean, you know, and then course, Edward Hopper always is a hero, you know, he’s like.
Doug Dvorak (24:37.713)
I had a print of Hopper, the one of the diner with the guy. Remember that one? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Obviously not an original. Stop, stop, three, two, one. I need you to go center. You’re off a little more. Yeah, there we go. Okay, so let’s start again. Three, two, one. Mark, let’s talk about your process and philosophy. Your work captures the extraordinary.
Mark Shawver (24:42.188)
The Nighthawks? The Nighthawks? Yeah, the Nighthawks, yeah, the most famous. I probably…
Mark Shawver (24:53.484)
Like this? Okay.
Doug Dvorak (25:06.173)
in the everyday. How do you train your eye to see the beauty in the mundane?
Mark Shawver (25:11.84)
You know, it’s, don’t know if I, I’ve never really had to train my eye. It’s just a, maybe back to the Neil Young thing, it’s just kind of, I have a natural inclination or a natural sensitivity to, know, really what it comes down to is light. The way the sun hits something. When you hear artists talk about, painting the light, you know, it’s always about the way the light hits something and casts a shadow or,
So those are the kind of things that I think I just kind of naturally see, you know, and it’s all it’s everywhere. I mean, every day, every minute there’s something going on. We’re looking great. Yeah. On a person on. Go ahead.
Doug Dvorak (25:49.493)
bright sun or cloudy or gray and that’s real.
and it’s really difficult, I would imagine, to have those different light pieces. But when you’re in the zone and you’re painting, how do you know when a painting is done? Or do you ever struggle to stop refining?
Mark Shawver (26:14.754)
no, I don’t have, I’ve heard that before, know, some artists struggle with them, I just gotta keep going. I don’t seem to have that. Maybe it’s because of the way I paint, know, so I paint from photographs, you know, it takes me quite a while to get that ready. I use a computer a lot.
I’ll bring the photos into Photoshop and then manipulate them, change them and make them. I do a lot of my editing and everything. I usually get it pretty close to what I want to paint. And then I print it out and then that’s what I pick. So once I’m kind of done with creating that, using my working over my reference, I’m done.
Doug Dvorak (27:01.365)
So your process is you’re out and about in life, you see something that inspires you, you take a picture on your iPhone, you go to your computer, you Photoshop it, then you get it to where you want, then you print it out and you set that beside your canvas and easel and then paint using a crystal. Do you start with a pencil first?
Mark Shawver (27:08.44)
Yep. Yep.
Mark Shawver (27:18.35)
So I use a grid system to transfer my… I have a really nice big Epson printer, so I print out… The prints all come out on an 11 by 17 piece of paper, so it’s as big as it can be so I can see the details and stuff. I take that printout and then I draw a grid on that printout.
Okay? And the grid proportions are exactly the same. I use the same proportions on the grid, you know, they’re squares. And I put that grid up on my canvas. So…
What that enables me to do is all you’re doing is really reproducing and redrawing each little square on the paper onto the bigger grid on the canvas. So yeah, I do very detailed drawings. I’m not just kind of looking at it loosely. My painting is pretty tight. I’m not super loose, impressionistic or…
Doug Dvorak (28:24.523)
but it’s a free hand with acrylic from a…
Mark Shawver (28:28.512)
I draw with a charcoal pencil.
Doug Dvorak (28:31.285)
So you draw it from the picture to the canvas and then you paint over the… That’s interesting. So what emotions do you hope people feel when they experience your work in person?
Mark Shawver (28:36.202)
Exactly.
Mark Shawver (28:45.982)
Well, I hope they get a makes them feel happy and joyful, you know, to see something beautiful and maybe something they wouldn’t expect to be beautiful. You know.
Doug Dvorak (28:55.947)
And I think that as we evolve with more technology, a busy workspace, life, personal and AI, that people still want to go to a live concert, see a live comedian and see a human produced work of art, not a technical piece.
Mark Shawver (29:19.029)
I agree with you a thousand percent, but that is an issue. mean people are already doing it. They’re already creating unbelievably beautiful things. Maybe they’re too beautiful. I don’t know without ever painting anything, you know, I mean
Yeah, I don’t know that that’s here. The future is gonna be very interesting with all that stuff I’ve actually tried to use AI a little bit for to create some reference or something else I’ll need you know because I use I do use search engines to like say
For instance, I see a cool scene or something, I think it’s beautiful, said, boy, it would be so great if there was an old truck in there, but the truck wasn’t there, so I’ll search, do a search, find a truck, and then can Photoshop it in there. So I’m kinda using technology a little bit too to add and build and expand on some of the pictures that I take already, but.
Yeah, I don’t know. think maybe that’s right. the handmade stuff, know, where people really put their heart and soul into something becomes even more valuable as technology kind of cheapens things. I don’t know. I don’t know where that’s going to go, to tell you the truth. I’ve read about it and I’m interested in it, but I don’t think any of us really know the power of AI, not just in the entertainment industry, but in our lives.
Doug Dvorak (30:42.143)
Yeah, it’s gonna be interesting and scary. So you’re five years to Boise. I’m new to Boise a year. Boise’s art scene is growing. I like the vibe and feel. What’s it like being part of that creative environment?
Mark Shawver (30:56.31)
Well, I’m trying to, I haven’t really jumped in with both, I’ve had exhibits, I’ve shown work, I’ve been involved in Eagle art. I’m actually on the arts committee for the city of Eagle. So I wanna get more involved and be involved in things. But yeah, you’re right, I think the Boise art scene.
It’s funny, one of my goals, mean, this is just out of the blue, but is to have some of my work or have a show in the Boise Art Museum. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that’s a big, one of those big, giant goals. I’d love to be in, I should be in some galleries first and that’s a big step there even.
Doug Dvorak (31:32.755)
or whatever it’s called.
Doug Dvorak (31:46.188)
But when we were talking a couple of weekends ago, you were at an art fair. Do you prefer art fairs, galleries? What’s your passion when you show your art in public?
Mark Shawver (31:53.934)
What?
Mark Shawver (31:58.731)
You know, I’m just, believe it or not, Doug, I’m just getting started with actually really marketing and learning about all that.
Last year I did the show, the Outside Exhibit, it’s Art by the River, I’m on that board too, it’s the River of Hope is the board, the foundation that sponsors that event. And I had never done an Outside Exhibit, and boy was that a learning experience. I did it again this year, I did it better, and it was good, I didn’t sell, I sold one piece, so I didn’t have a, if you were gonna rate the success of the show from that point, but it’s a lot of fun to be,
there, you know, you meet other people. My work was well received. I don’t know if my prices were too high or again my work is not, you know, people you don’t know who what the general public really likes. Do they just want mountains and rivers? Well, you know, I had I had a painting of a wheelbarrow. I mean, you know, I mean
Doug Dvorak (31:46.188)
But when we were talking a couple of weekends ago, you were at an art fair. Do you prefer art fairs, galleries? What’s your passion when you show your art in public?
Mark Shawver (31:53.934)
What?
Mark Shawver (31:58.731)
You know, I’m just, believe it or not, Doug, I’m just getting started with actually really marketing and learning about all that.
Last year I did the show, the Outside Exhibit, it’s Art by the River, I’m on that board too, it’s the River of Hope is the board, the foundation that sponsors that event. And I had never done an Outside Exhibit, and boy was that a learning experience. I did it again this year, I did it better, and it was good, I didn’t sell, I sold one piece, so I didn’t have a, if you were gonna rate the success of the show from that point, but it’s a lot of fun to be,
there, you know, you meet other people. My work was well received. I don’t know if my prices were too high or again my work is not, you know, people you don’t know who what the general public really likes. Do they just want mountains and rivers? Well, you know, I had I had a painting of a wheelbarrow. I mean, you know, I mean
Doug Dvorak (32:55.851)
And that’s the one that’s old?
Mark Shawver (32:57.684)
No, you know what though? The one that did sell was one of my off beat ones for sure. It was the back of a camper.
that was parked, was a parking stall where the camper was parked next to the guy’s truck, but it was the back of both of them. The light was shining from the camper onto the truck. It was a night scene. There was a big hairy antenna coming off the, you know, off the camper. And, you know, it just, it just, you could tell there was somebody in there, you know? So was just, my paintings hopefully are kind of narrative, you know, right? Maybe they tell a little story and people would see it and say, oh, I wonder who.
what’s going on there, you know, because that’s what I think, you know, that’s what I kind of enjoy and wonder. I’ll paint an old house or an old barn that’s deserted and…
Every time I think, boy, some family lived in there. I they had Christmas in there. mean, they had maybe people die in there, get married in there, babies. I mean, there’s just a story behind these places. And it’s almost like an honor to paint and capture some of the history of a place or something like that.
Doug Dvorak (34:05.632)
Let’s talk about your growth and guidance as an artist. What’s one lesson you wish you’d learned earlier in your artistic career?
Mark Shawver (34:14.318)
Well, you know the one of the greatest things about this journey for me is that I I’m nowhere near I’ll do this. Hopefully I can do this till I’m
And I learn stuff all the time, mean, I’m just, haven’t, you know, I, there’s so much to learn and so much room for improvement. and that’s what’s fascinating. And that’s what I enjoy and really love about it. The challenge trying to get better. One of the, what are they, they call it the curse artists curse is that
You know, and this happens to a lot of people, believe me, a lot of artists, you’re just never really satisfied with your work, even the finished pieces. There’s some that I’m happy with and pretty happy with and think, well, they came out good, but I’ll tell you, a lot more of them are not as good or didn’t turn out the way I thought they would than do. And it’s just because I’m always…
learning and you know that’s one another great thing about youtube or just the internet is boy i can go take take classes online and learn from even the people that i really admire and respect and you know so i’m always learning and watching and you know reading books and so you know
Doug Dvorak (35:25.291)
So your journey as an artist is not a destination, it’s a journey and continuous improvement, lifelong learning. So what advice would you give to emerging artists trying to find their visual voice?
Mark Shawver (35:28.928)
No, exactly, exactly.
Absolutely.
Mark Shawver (35:39.759)
Well, I don’t know if I’m really the qualified guy to do that, what my philosophy or my, and again, going back to I’m pretty fortunate is, I think you can, if you’re painting, who are you painting for? Are painting for yourself? Are you using your own unique talent and your own unique vision and your history and your life experiences to create art or are you?
kind of painting to sell paintings and make a living so you’re kind painting for the market. don’t know if either way is right or wrong, tell you the truth. And another thing I learned that I probably don’t do enough of, but they all say, don’t get discouraged and keep painting. Don’t give up. A lot of people give up too soon. It’s difficult. if you have the calling, the passion,
You try to fight through the tough times and stick with it. I mean, it’s worth it. mean, if you have this in you, I mean, it’s such a wonderful gift to be able to, you know, it’s so therapeutic and wonderful. I just love every minute of painting, even if it doesn’t go good, you know, it’s still a good, know, still the time I spent doing it is wonderful. So.
Doug Dvorak (36:58.559)
Yeah, and I think the, getting into a political discussion, the cut in the arts now, I think the world needs more doctors and scientists. I don’t think we need more politicians, but we need more artists. And I see the impact that art has had in a variety of different geographies and socioeconomic strata, that art and how it’s impacted me and how it brings joy.
and a sense of purpose to a lot of people is really important now as we’re getting more screen time and more digital, I think, you know, going back and just look at, you know, legislation now in public schools that a lot of these districts are saying, park your cell phones at the door. You’ll pick them up when you leave. That getting back to reading, writing, outside, drawing, art,
It’s really important for us as a species and for enjoying life and what you’re doing is just amazing. So now we morph into my favorite part of the podcast, Mr. Mark Schauvert, rapid fire questions. I’m gonna ask you a series of about eight questions and I want a one word or two or three word response. Are you ready?
Mark Shawver (37:58.413)
Okay.
Mark Shawver (38:22.39)
Ready.
Doug Dvorak (38:23.657)
Favorite art supply you can’t live without.
Mark Shawver (38:28.706)
computer.
Doug Dvorak (38:30.133)
computer, oil or acrylic and why?
Mark Shawver (38:34.262)
acrylic ease of cleanup.
Doug Dvorak (38:37.255)
Studio soundtracks, silence music or podcasts. Excellent. First painting you ever sold, you’ll remember who bought it.
Mark Shawver (38:40.76)
Classical.
Mark Shawver (38:49.112)
You know, could be a friend of mine who I’m a musician too, so could have been one of my band mates. He actually bought three of my paintings and it was like unbelievably, made me unbelievably happy.
Doug Dvorak (38:59.195)
Excellent, excellent. Dream location to paint or exhibit your work.
Mark Shawver (39:04.14)
Well, there it is. The Boise Museum Art Museum.
Doug Dvorak (39:07.719)
Excellent. Most underrated artist living or dead.
Mark Shawver (39:13.55)
I love this artist John Register. He’s passed away, I just love his work and I don’t think hardly anybody’s heard of him.
Doug Dvorak (39:22.899)
haven’t heard of. If you weren’t an artist what would you be doing instead?
Mark Shawver (39:27.744)
Maybe music. Probably music.
Doug Dvorak (39:30.384)
in in one or two words what does art mean to you?
Mark Shawver (39:37.268)
It means joy and celebrating the beauty that we’ve been blessed with by God on this earth.
Doug Dvorak (39:48.716)
Mark, this 40 minutes has flown. My guest today is Boise artist Mark Schauver Shawver. Mark, if our listeners want to get a hold of you, can you give us your contact information and your website?
Mark Shawver (40:02.348)
Yeah, my website is www.shaver.com. That’s my name, S-H-A-W, like Shaw, and then V-E-R, dot com, shaver.com. And then I’m on Instagram, it’s at shaverart, is my Instagram, and I’m also on Facebook.
Doug Dvorak (40:25.387)
cool. My guest today has been Boise artist Mark Schauver Shawver. He’s a great guy, a talented artist, I’ve commissioned him to do a family portrait. I’ve learned a ton Mark and I know our listeners will too. Thank you Mission Possible podcast community. Check us out on YouTube or mission possible dot biz and Carpe Diem.
Mark Shawver (40:47.586)
Thanks Doc Doug, been a lot of fun.
Doug Dvorak (40:49.354)
My pleasure. All right, let’s stop and stay on for a while.