I Oughta Be in Pictures!

Right Against the Trees, 2009, Oil on Birch Panel, 30x40

I have been pretty busy with a variety of things for the last few weeks, mostly involving shuttling kids around, touching up the paint on our house's interior, rearranging and sorting through closets and drawers, and lastly, when I have some free time (ha!), working in the studio. I am hoping to get things, house things especially, squared away before school starts so when I get my days back I can really get some time in my studio. Ever the optimist!

There is a little bit of business going on now though. My work has been included in an interesting project in Boston. Several months ago, at the suggestion of one of my galleries, I sent Lanou Fine Art in Boston my info and while they seemed to like my work ultimately it was decided that there wasn't a spot for me in the gallery at that time. But then a few weeks ago I received an invitation from the gallery owner to participate in a new project related to the gallery. You can read more about it here and visit my page here. It will be interesting to see what happens here, film and tv placement for art is certainly an appealing direction for me right now.

Well, off to go buy school supplies with the kids now, maybe I will be able to get some time in the studio tomorrow......

Anonymous

Three On The Side, 2009, Oil on Birch Panel, 8x10

Last week, in response to my question asking what viewers here were seeing in a portrait that I painted (see the post here) I received this response from anonymous:

I see paintings lacking in subject matter. They are all about technique, and that is not interesting enough. They don't tell a story. I can't imagine a gallery being able to sell this work. Just being honest. Look at Eric Fischl. Look at what he is doing with tension, a stories being a told. These are just a painting of a photo of a grandma. If the viewer does not know this person, it boring. It's just lacking so much. Stick with it, but grow.

Normally, I don't pay much attention to anonymous comments; I tend to believe that if one can't stand up and put their name to their own words then they probably shouldn't be saying them. But obviously the internet just breeds anonymous comments and so I don't think my opinion on that matters much.

But, anonymous brought up some points that have been on my mind with this series of paintings so I have decided to address this comment.

I see paintings lacking in subject matter. Yes, that concerns me. That also has been an issue for me with my landscapes. I would like to have more content, be more narrative in my work, knock viewers over the head with my opinions about politics, religion, the environment, etc. But I am not that kind of an artist. I express my feelings about what I see. That's what I do. It might be successful, it might not be, but that is how and why I make art. Period.

Over the years though, I have noticed that plenty of people see a lot of stories in my landscapes and now in the People You Know series. My conclusion on that is that the viewer has some responsibility concerning what they bring to a piece of art. Some viewers will understand what I am trying to express, some will find their own meaning, and others, like anonymous, will see nothing. I am ok with that. In fact, knowing that my work can affect people in so many different ways is very gratifying to me.

I can't imagine a gallery being able to sell this work. My response to this one is very clear: I don't really care if a gallery can sell this work. Friends and even my own husband have been telling me all along that these won't sell. But that is totally not my intent here at all. Now that's not to say that I wouldn't like to sell these paintings at some point and yes, I do plan on submitting them to galleries and juried shows just to see what will happen. Either way though, I will keep going. As an artist, I need this challenge and I am incredibly drawn to telling the stories that I see in these old photographs. I am pursuing this series because I want to. Figurative work can be a tough sell, and I'd be crazy to be worrying about all that. Sheesh!

Stick with it, but grow. Well, duh. Isn't that always the hope and the inevitable result of continually creating art? My landscapes have changed a lot over the last five years. Sometimes after I have had some personal issues, a professional setback OR a success (actually, not so much after that, a success often messes me up:)). But mostly the growth has occurred gradually because I have kept painting, painting painting. I do not doubt that that will happen with the People You Know series as well. But if it doesn't, well so what? I really get to do what I want here.

I appreciate the fact that someone has a negative opinion about these portraits, like I said previously, that fact makes this all the more intriguing to me. And after receiving this comment I felt I needed to more completely formulate my thoughts and intent concerning this work, and that is always good.

My Road Map for 2009

Plaid Dress, Oil on Birch Panel, 12x16

Ahhhhh. The last day of 2008. But more importantly to me at this moment, it's the last day of the month, which means I am done with posting here every. single. day. Not that I have hated it, mind you. In fact it was fun, a good challenge and it also came at a good time. I was feeling a bit like I needed a break from the blog and now after posting so much, I feel energized about it all again, even if it has taken quite a bit of time each day. However, I feel great about the last month here-I had a birthday present contest, wrote a few sob stories a bit about my background, struggled with a decision about going to a residency and even participated in 100 Things, a meme going around in blogland which is the sort of thing I don't usually do. I do wish I had been painting more though, so I could have posted more new work.

The last half of 2008 was a slow time for me, I didn't have much, well anything really, going on show wise and even though I was trying to develop some new work I was pretty lackadaisical about it. I wanted to be busier but just couldn't be. I guess I just needed a break and it came at a good time, because looking back I see that I was getting pretty close to being burned out about art completely. As it is I am only close to being burned on painting landscapes, and I think I have even backed away from the edge of that by taking such a good long break from it all. On a more personal note, the slower time was really important for me to adjust to Ginger's diabetes as well. I have had time to research it, and get used to it all and I needed that. So I have no regrets about my less than productive second half of 2008, except that I wish I had spent more time enjoying it rather than feeling guilty about my productivity.

But now I HAVE to get moving! I have an exhibit schedule this year, as well as some goals to move my career along. I had a plan for all this which included spending a month at the Vermont Studio Center, however that was scrapped because of our personal finances. So I have rearranged things and in some ways it is much more practical for me to stay home and work in my own (new!) studio.

I am not making new year's resolutions exactly, and I don't usually like to talk about what I will do (I worry about jinxes) but I am feeling pretty excited about all this so what the heck. I have most of the coming year mapped out which will just so happen to start on January 1st, actually more like Jan. 5 which is when the kids go back to school, but whatever. This is what I have planned for the next three months:

1. I am taking the whole month of January to work on the figurative paintings. I have decided not to pursue new gallery representation based on my landscape work, with the possible exception of finding a new seasonal gallery, perhaps in Cape Cod again. I already have two galleries showing the landscapes/barns and I don't want to go back to doing quite so many paintings for so many different places and events (I still love painting the landscape and want to save myself from burning out on them).

To that end, I will finish 20 figurative paintings on panel in January and hopefully at least 15 of them will be good enough to send out in order to pursue new representation.

2. In conjunction with the figurative work I will do at least five monochromatic underpaintings on gessoed paper each week, of the figure, with the intent of leaving them as is, meaning no color glazes.

3. I will continue to paint 5-10 small paintings per week to sell on my other blog.

4. And even if it kills me to do it so early, I will put together all my tax info from 2008 by the end of January. It actually doesn't take that long, it's just one of the things I really tend to put off doing each year until the very last minute.

5. I will also spend an afternoon each week or so, working on some collage ideas I have which combine my painting with the photographs I have been collecting for the figurative work. I did some of this in college and it was something I never really pursued after. So naturally, that's all I can think about doing now. heh. Anyway, this is just a fun thing to do, something I didn't do enough of in the past when I had so much going on.

In February, I will have to shift gears a bit as I have a solo show in April to prepare for. So continuing on:

6. I will paint at least four landscape/barn paintings each week in February and March, with several being large scale (for me), 40x60 or so.

7. I will continue on with the figurative pieces, painting at least three per week (or possibly every other week since I don't have unlimited storage). These are most successful when I work in batches so I should have at least three going at a time.

8. I will continue with the monochromatic paintings, and will probably still try to do five per week. Once the paper is prepared and everything is set up, it is just as east to do five as it is to do one or two, so I may as well do as many as I can.

9. And this year, I plan to keep up with recording my expenses each month, instead of going back and digging out the receipts at the end of the year. It should be easier this year to keep up, since I am pretty well stocked for supplies, have no money to spend and don't plan to go anywhere or do anything. Might take me all of 2 minutes to do a bit of bookkeeping each month....

10. And also in February I will begin sending out my info to the list of galleries that I have been putting together that I think may be receptive to my figurative paintings.

I will suspend everything though in the last few weeks of March so I can finish everything up for the show that opens at the beginning of April. I have another show in August and will have to prepare for that in June and July, mostly June actually because the kids are out of school in July and I figured out a long time ago not to expect to be able to get much done when they are home on summer vacation.

Unless more exhibition opportunities come up, for the rest of the year I will work on finding a way to balance working on both figurative and landscapes. Both subjects need different things from me, but I am sure that if I keep working consistently I will be able to get better at doing both at the same time.

And because no list of resolutions goals is ever complete for me without including losing a few pounds and exercising more I will add that as well. I have let my exercise go in the last few years and even more in the last few months, so that along with a recent issue involving Lindt dark chocolate truffles means I need to get out for a walk each day at the very least. So a daily morning walk (and no chocolate)is number 11.

12. Ok, let's make it an even dozen while we here. I will have to post here just a bit less in 2009. When I started the blog I was pretty faithful about posting each weekday, but in the last 6 months or so I got a bit spotty with that. Not because I didn't have time, but because I didn't have so much going on, at least as far as making art goes. I was also feeling like I had told all my good stories and I wasn't too sure that I had much more to share. Like I said though, this last month helped me feel more enthusiastic about the blog again. BUT once I sit down at the computer to write a post, I tend to go on to other things and before I know it the day is almost gone and the school bus is coming up the road. So I will need to have at least a few days where I don't sit down at my desk first thing each morning. I have decided to post Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, posts where I talk a lot (but don't worry, few will be as long as THIS post, thankfully:)). And if it turns out that the work I am doing is presentable, I will put up an image or two in between.

Well, this is my plan. Now that I have put it out in public, I will stick to it right? Um, right. Actually I feel pretty confident about this, I am excited about what I will paint and anyway I have a few tangible deadlines to keep me on track.

A quick comment about the piece shown above: I think it is one of the best portraits I've done so far. It has many of the elements that I want my portraits to have; a sense of reality, a few abstract qualities, somewhat disturbing emotions and good color. It also happens to be on my favorite support-birch panel. Coincidence? You decide...

Thanks for reading my little old blog here, and for sticking with me through this crazy post-every-day-for-a-month-thing. I am going to take a few days off now, but will be back on Monday, all ready to prattle on, and to paint too.

Happy new year, everyone!

Ch-ch-changes

My head is spinning a bit today, as there is so much going on in my world, as well as the big one, outside my doors. I won't pretend to understand the implications of the bailout that the government has proposed, but I will say that unless there is an independent, bipartisan committee (preferably NOT politicians) overseeing the bailout money, I would be completely against it. Not that my opinion matters of course (although I have made my opinions known to our senator and congressmen), because if anyone at all had paid any attention whatsoever to what I think, we would have a different president, we would certainly not be at war, all of our most needy and vulnerable citizens would get assistance and respect and that everyone would have the right to marry whomever they'd like. The health care system would be more efficient and would cover alternative health care as well and don't get me started about how ticked off I am about government mismanagement of our tax money.

So anyway. I like what Michelle has to say on this subject and will send you over there and leave it at that, before I really freak out.

And on a not unrelated topic, there have been more changes this week in my little world of business. I have been considering leaving two of my galleries for awhile now, as neither of them have been selling my work for quite some time. I do not blame them at all, in fact both of them have been with me nearly from the start, have been extremely supportive of my work and wonderful to work with in every way. But the prices on my work have risen over the last few years and I guess the last hike really put a wrench in the works. I knew that raising my prices would probably cause me to be priced out of certain markets and that is exactly what happened. Even though I feel badly about leaving (I tend to feel guilty about things that I probably shouldn't feel badly about, one of my cute little quirks) I know it's the right thing to do. They should be utilizing their space for work that does sell in their market and I need to streamline my efforts a bit.

So yesterday, a few days after my communications with those galleries, I received a letter from another gallery, informing me that because of issues regarding their space (losing their lease) they would be closing as of November 1. They were great to work with too (I have been so blessed to work with so many good people), and even wanted my prices to be higher, but the sales never really materialized there for me. I had considered leaving them too, but decided against it because I thought they might have been receptive to my figurative work. Um, provided I get it going of course.

I am now down to two galleries (from nine at one point) plus one local gallery that is only open in the summer. Even though this worries me a bit, I have decided to sit tight for now, keep working and just see what happens. Maybe I'll send out the occasional info packet, as I do have a list of galleries that I'd like to approach, but for now I just want to think about things and digest what has happened to me in the last five years regarding this business. I have learned a lot and want to make sure that I stay on the course that is right for me and my work.

In the meantime, though, I do have a little project going and I will describe that next week. Oh and I'll be watching the news and the debate, even if it does all leave me with rather hopeless feelings about what the future may bring. Ack!

And in keeping with today's title, I thought I'd put up a painting that I did in 2000, back when we lived in Utah and I could only paint during Ginger's nap time (maybe), or when the girl down the street would come to play with the girls. I'd say my work has gone through a few changes since then, eh?

How Long Do You Stay?

Backyards, 2007, Oil on Panel, 12x16
I thought I'd write a few posts this week concerning gallery relationships. Generally I don't discuss the specifics of this topic publicly, but there have been a few developments on this matter for me recently and since most artists will deal with these things at one time or another, I thought I'd finally go through some of it. Without naming names of course. Heh.

If one were to look at the list of galleries that represent my work on my sidebar or on my website, it might look as if I am very successful based on having seven (it was nine at one point) galleries showing my work. While I am doing pretty good all things considered, the list IS a bit misleading. One gallery is only open during the summer. And several galleries actually sell very little of my work, for various reasons, that I don't really think are related to me.

However, I have left two galleries in the last year. One was a co-op gallery in a very small town, requiring a small fee to be paid each month. This was one of the first galleries that asked me to join them and they actually sold a number of my pieces at first. After awhile though, sales dropped off and after looking at my records, I found that I was only making a very small profit there. I might have stuck with it except for the other work that they showed declined in quality which was frustrating as I wanted to be included in a better group of artists, not worse. And the real clincher was a very poorly organized group show that I found myself embarrassed to be included in.

The other gallery was in a large city and I really wanted to stay with them. The director had come across my work on the internet and contacted me. How great is that? They sold a few things, then it just dropped off. We tried different things, imagery, colors, scale, but my work just never really took off there and I don't know if it was the gallery or the city. I stayed for a long time (two years) because I liked the director and they were so good to work with. They paid in a timely manner and very carefully packed paintings that were shipped back to me. But finally after a year without one single sale or being included in any events in the gallery (such as group shows), I finally decided I should leave. It was all amicable; after all, what gallery wants a non selling artist around anyway?

To be honest, I still have a few galleries that represent me, who don't really sell too much of my work on a regular basis. But a sale here and a sale there and things add up to a half decent income. And so far, each of them offers me a good reason to stay, whether it's an opportunity to participate in a group or solo show, or to be included in a particularly challenging event such as a themed show. I also feel some loyalty to them because they all gave me a shot when I was trying to get started. And the local, seasonal gallery really doesn't sell much at all, but I like to support them by participating. Plus they have given me a listing in the annual Art in America gallery guide for two years now. Heck, I'd probably sleep with someone for that!

Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing some of your experiences regarding how long and why an artist should stay with a gallery if sales are lackluster.