Meet Scott Mackenzie | Designer and fine artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Scott Mackenzie and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Scott, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
For me starting my own business just sorta happened. I have owned a couple of small businesses in my career. I grew up with my parents owning their own business for over 30 years. So I learned about hard work and the challenges that go along with small business ownership.

All of my businesses have been within the creative field. For the last 15 years, I have been working as a designer and strategist for all different sized companies and small businesses, providing branding, web design, digital design for applications, User Experience, and even project management.

Ever since high school, I have been a hobby fine artist with the dream of painting for a living. In 2021 I took the leap to pursue that dream full-time. That is how Scottmackenziestudio.com started. I still do many other disciplines as part of my overall career but I focus most of my effort on my fine art.

Fine art is not one of those build it and they will come industries. There is a lot of self-promotion and outside
work, an artist needs to do other than be a good artist. I am learning a lot in this endeavor.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I have been painting and drawing since I was a kid. I have had no formal training, I am self-taught. There are many people with various degrees of talent and skill but I think what sets me apart is that I have been blessed with a talent that I have used over the years in various ways. From tattooing for 27 years to painting signs and doing murals, to airbrushing and graphic design and what brings me the most pleasure is painting fine art. I think I have a natural ability to look at what others have done and see ways to do it differently or better. I also have a photographic mind and I can see images of the final result in my head many times before I start a creative project. I can draw from my mind and I think this skill has helped me in my career when talking with clients about what are looking for. thru conversation with them and asking the right questions I can get pretty close to what they imagined.

What I can say I am most proud of is collective. I have done and accomplished so much in the creative space that not one thing stands out. I enjoy doing all types of projects that involve creative thinking.

How did I get where I am at professionally: Of course, it hasn’t been easy, nothing really is. I think talent has gotten me to where I am coupled with hard work, trial and error, and the drive to teach myself new skills.
I think that I am a problem solver fundamentally and an artist or creative person who solves problems in unique ways. Using materials, techniques, and how to fix or change something if you didn’t get the desired results. For me, I think what has helped my career is that I don’t feel limited. Or tell myself I can’t do that. I have always welcomed the challenge and have had limited failures if any.

Lessons I learned along the way: I think that failure is a part of learning,
I have always been humble with my talent and abilities, reason is that I may be gifted in some areas but not others and no one likes someone who goes around beating on their chest with the look at me attitude.
I like to teach and share what I know with others. I also think its important to listen more than you talk. and I do a lot of observing. I think that is the creative side. I observe the world around me all the time especially if I am trying to capture a moment or trying to memorize a subject matter to paint or draw it later.

What do I want the world to know about my brand or story:
I think I have a natural ability to deliver what my clients are looking for.
I take pride in doing a great job and over-delivering in whatever I am doing. Whether it is working on a large mural, doing graphic design,
doing brand strategy, doing a commissioned painting, or anything else I have been hired to do. Satisfied customers are your biggest ally and they speak volumes when sharing what you did for them.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
great places to eat that I like are the Henry, the collins, the montuk and maple and ash. I also like to take people thru the arts district down town Phoenix. I also like to drive people out to the superstisions.

Im an avid hiker and I like to take people to my favorite hikes. which are piestwa peak, camelback, Sedona and the superstisions to mention a few.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Like many other successful people in this world, it starts with parents that encourage you and push you to pursue your talents and interest. I really want to thank my parents for doing just that. without their support, I may not have pursued my talent and followed a career path in a creative field.

I also met a very creative person named Dwight Knowlton many years ago and he moved my design career path forward by introducing me to graphic design in ways I wasn’t doing. He helped kick off my design career
on a trajectory to where it is now.

Website: www.scottmackenziestudio.com

Instagram: scottmackenziestudios

Other: www.mackvisual.com