Tracyland is Back

Landscape Study #281, 5"x3" Oil on Cradled Panel, 2010

And so all of a sudden I am feeling a renewed energy and enthusiasm about everything; painting, marketing my work, reading, knitting, cleaning the house and even weeding and clearing out the dumb stupid messy gardens for the winter (which I have been very UNinterested in, lately). This enthusiasm is also extending to wanting to be a better blogger. Still not sure that I have as much to say as I used to, but I am going to keep trying. Just don't expect too much depth here for awhile, k??

It's no secret here that I have been struggling a bit with various things in the last year or two; a normal part of growing up, I think. Heh. Some of that has had to do with the crappy economy and the closing of several galleries that had been representing my work. However, I am not entirely blaming the economy for the slow down in sales, which has been even worse for me during this last year, because I have also neglected opportunities to be getting my work out there too. And part of THAT has been due to my being somewhat burned out on painting landscapes (which is what sells) and pursuing other subject matter such as the 'People You Know' series (which DON'T sell) and well, just being in flux as far as which directions to take, in life as well as in painting.

However, reality has helped to shake me out of this flux. We need more income what with looming college tuition (x3), various camps and programs that Doug and I really feel that our kids need right now in order to balance out living in this very small and sheltered environment, not to mention just keeping up with the money pit (our house and the barn is becoming very needy too). Doug's company is doing ok, but since they sell stuff, it is also vulnerable to the whims of the economy. Mostly though, I seem to be the weak link around here lately. With some additional effort I can earn more as an artist than I can in either of the two available jobs that I am not even qualified for in our little town, so more painting and much more marketing it is!

I am currently in the process of sorting through all my available inventory and have begun posting those works on my website. I have made a proposal to a local company (which I will not talk about again in order to NOT jinx it). I have been compiling a list of galleries and museums to stalk pursue and am in the midst of putting together my info to send out to them. I have also made a rather reluctant decision to publicize my sales blog, just a little bit. In normal times I probably wouldn't do that because I have preferred keeping that low key so as not to interfere with my gallery work. However, the sales of the small format paintings have been paying the bills lately so for the time being, I am going to be a painting pusher. heh.

I am starting to feel the same excitement that I did seven years ago when I began painting again and was trying to get something going. I am thankful that have so much more experience (and collectors!) this time though and I hope that will help balance out the whole crappy economy thing, just a little bit at least. However, even though I have pursued some things recently that I have declined to do before, such as selling my work myself and having a booth at a local Harvest Festival, I am still being very careful about my decisions and am continuing to stay firm on my long range goals.

So that means no Tracyland reality art show, folks. Although, now that I think about it, that would be a good name for one. hmmmm........

The One Where I Try To Avoid the TV Cameras

Well, I had quite a weekend! The Harvest Festival was wonderful and VERY well attended. The Beekman Boys estimated that there were at least 5000 visitors to their little town in the last few days. I don't think they ALL came by my booth but I sure did have a lot of people stopping by.

So last week was totally crazy getting ready for the festival, but I managed to get almost everything finished. Julien (my son and assistant):
and I got up at the ungodly hour of 5am on a Saturday morning to get ready, finish loading up the car and get over to Sharon Springs by 7am. Set up actually went quite smoothly; he carried everything and I told him what to do. It was perfect. Heh.

I went with VERY simple for the booth. I had tried to figure out a way to build some sort of easel on the table so that I could hang all the small paintings on that, but it seemed too complicated and then time was running short so I put that idea aside. Anyway, I kept thinking that they always look so appealing in my flat file drawer:
so I thought that just laying all the paintings down flat on a table would be the best way to display them.
I had also planned to hang a few larger panels on the walls, but after we Julien put up the back wall, the organizers told us that no one was allowed to have walls up on their booths because they wanted the whole area to feel very open, which made perfect sense. So I just settled on putting one large painting on an easel at the front corner of the booth and a medium sized piece on a tabletop easel. I had an area where I put out a sign up sheet for my mailing list, a pile of postcards that I had printed up (image on one side, my contact and gallery representation info on the other) and my book that contains info about me such as my resume, statement, bio and a few articles that have been written about some of my shows.


Things were kind of quiet for the first few hours so we had time to settle in and go over writing up sales receipts and things like that. Soon though, things picked up and by early afternoon it was fairly hectic. It got even busier when The Beekman Boys (Josh and Brent) came through surrounded by cameras and a crowd of people who were watching the taping.

They stopped at several booths and talked to the vendors and while they were doing that I was totally panicking. Even though I certainly wanted my work to (possibly) be seen on their show, ultimately my natural self-conscious-ness won out and although I had spruced up my make up and hair just in case, I started to wish for them to NOT come to my booth. I even had an escape route all planned out! I was both relieved and disappointed (but mostly relieved) when they didn't come by my booth.....

But. At the end of the day, Julien and I had started to pack up the paintings (didn't want to leave them there overnight) and I looked up and there was Rosie O'Donnell standing in front of my table. I squeaked out her name in surprise, even though I had heard rumors that she was up for the event, I was still completely shocked to actually see her. And suddenly there was a camera on my face. Sigh. She and her girlfriend asked me about my process (they both paint and I could tell that based on their questions) and luckily I hadn't had enough time to get nervous so I managed to do ok, no stumbling over my words and I managed to stop myself from babbling. Unfortunately though, the camera eventually got me flustered and they left before I could remember to give them a card (I had given a card to every single other person who stopped by my booth). I had no idea how I did during the exchange, but Julien said I was fine and that as they walked away, Rosie said "they are beautiful". I didn't hear her say that because I was internally flipping out by that time!

Sunday was much quieter, it was overcast, but no rain at least. There were not as many visitors so I had more time to walk around and meet some of the other vendors. The people across from us were selling logs that grow mushrooms and I heard them explaining it so many times that I am now an expert at growing mushrooms too, heh. I learned more about growing garlic from my next door neighbors and I also discussed buying my next batch of meat chicks from them as well, as they have a small chicken hatchery. I met Austin who makes the absolute best chocolate that I have ever had in my entire life and I talked to him for quite awhile. I bought some beautiful yarn from a couple who raise sheep and I made some excellent trades with Suellen a glass artist

and a and Sierra, a fiber artist who makes boiled wool accessories like hats and purses.

And a few of my real life friends came by too so there was much chatting. It was also really nice to spent both days with my son, we had fun playing pool and some strange game involving archery on his iPod. And a big thank you to Karen who loaned me her tent, it was SO nice not to have to buy one.

Oh! I also met Doug and Garth, the owners of The American Hotel who were actually very happy to meet ME! They had 'won' one of my paintings in a fundraiser in Cooperstown about a year ago and someone had stopped by my booth on Saturday and told me that they were that couple, which I had not known. Doug and Garth logged a lot of time in front of the cameras on Saturday as they play a strong supporting role in the Beekman's tv show but I was happy to be able to chat with them while the cameras were NOT around and plus I can still recall our conversations quite clearly. Heh.

I sold eleven paintings in all (certain people bought THREE, thanks Brian!) and I am very pleased with that, it definitely covered my expenses. But more than that, it was a really fun and social weekend and I was able to be involved in an event that supports local farms and craftspeople and that also brought a lot of attention, enthusiasm and revenue to a charming upstate town. Josh and Brent have done a really wonderful thing for the area and I am very happy to have been a small part of it.

PS. I think I may have lost Rosie to the alpacas. It is tough to compete with alpacas who snuggle with each other, heh.

A Few More Additions

Barn Near Patterson Road Road, 2009, Oil on Cradled Panel, 4x6

Well, today I got nine unsold, small format paintings back from a local gig, so I just added them to my sales blog. Last ones!

The half off sale was more successful that I ever imagined, in fact I was pretty much totally ill prepared for it! First I messed up the paypal code on all the entries, then I didn't add the inventory section on all of the posts so that some of the paintings sold twice before I caught it. I would like to thank those (and you know who you are) who graciously agreed to buy a different painting than the one they initially chose. But once I got that all straightened out, I think I managed to get the shipments out pretty quickly and safely and hopefully to the right buyer. Heh. Still have a few more in the pipeline and plan to get those out next week. Anyway, thanks so much to all of my lovely readers/buyers/friends, I really appreciate that so many of you want to live with my little paintings.

So it turns out that I also greatly miscalculated just how busy I would be at Christmas, while also finishing up work for a solo show (to be delivered on December 29) AND preparing for the month long residency in Vermont (leaving January 3). Good grief, someone remind me of all this next time I overbook my life, k? I might finish the last of the paintings for the show this weekend, and today Doug is in the city picking up an order of panels for me, which will all need to be prepped before I leave for Vermont. I am also planning to do some work on paper, so I need to gesso those as well. But I am trying my best to at least take a two days off from the studio; tomorrow and Friday (well, unless none of the kids want me around then I might sneak upstairs and apply a coat of gesso or two). Tomorrow is cookie day, we are going bake a zillion cookies and even if it kills me, I am going to sit on the sofa in our living all day on Friday, reading and relaxing!

And I actually do plan on posting again soon (well probably) as I have a bunch of links I want to share. In the meantime though, I hope you all have a great holiday!!!

It's a Big Sale!

Ok, here's the thing. I don't have much storage. We live in an old house with NO CLOSETS and my studio is in the attic which has knee wall storage, suitable for packing materials, mouse poop and bins of my kid's artwork, yarn, and photographs. I have one flat file drawer, maybe two tops, to keep the small paintings in that are on my sales blog. Both drawers are now full, and I would really like to clear them out so that I have somewhere to keep the new small format paintings I plan to paint as soon as I get back from my artist's residency in Vermont.

So it's a good time to move these little ones along. And to smooth the way, I have decided to offer all the paintings on the sales blog at half price until January 1. A big discount, it's true, but I really want them to find good homes and I also really want to paint more, so it's a win-win for me.

And if you hurry and buy something, there is a very good chance you will have it before the holidays. Everything is just sitting here, all ready to pack up and ship out. The mouse poop costs extra though. Heh.

More Snow

The Road, 4x6, Oil on Cradled Panel, 2008

Well, it's a snow day today, so I figured I'd better get a post up before either the satellite goes down or we lose our power. I managed to get out to the hen house this morning and I also filled all the bird feeders (normally my son's job, but I decided to let everyone sleep in this morning). I also got out to the barn to look for more of my old work. We have had a lot of snow this winter already, and even more last night and today and I am pretty sure I pulled more than a few muscles while climbing over the snowbanks and trying to carry a bucket of hot water, a bucket of scratch, a bucket of bird seed and a portfolio and a suitcase while walking in three feet of snow. Not all at once of course, several trips were involved here.

So today I am going to do some painting and then I will be going through the old work later on. I did take a quick peek though and there will be an added bonus for all you super lucky folks-I found some things that I did in high school! Most of it revolves around images of Jim Morrison and The Doors, and I probably should be too embarrassed to post them, but what the heck.

Oh and by the way, this morning I added about eight new paintings to my sales blog, including the one above.

Fine Art is a Good Gift This Year

Tracks in the Snow, 2008, Oil on Panel, 8x10

In 1995, Doug and I lived in northern Utah. Our nephew (we later adopted him) was living with us and our other son was just a baby. We had moved out there in 1993 so that Doug could work full time with a holography company that he had invested in years earlier. We had just moved into our second crappy rental house, we had been asked to move out of the first one because we were late with the rent a few times, um because Doug's company was doing badly and his pay was erratic. Soon after we moved into the second house, the company actually filed for bankruptcy and obviously we were in trouble. I was a stay at home mom and Doug's partner literally told Doug that he should make me get a job. You know, to help out. Never mind that that would require all kinds of extra expenses, like day care, transportation, clothing which would probably just about equal any kind of low paying job that was even available in the area we lived in. Plus, there was no chance that I would be handing my child over to day care, that was something we both felt very strongly about.

Doug applied for unemployment and my unpaid job was to make sure that we were living as frugally as possible. I cooked everything from scratch (cheaper than buying packaged foods, even with coupons), there were NO extras allowed, no movies, no eating out, no shopping, no extra driving, nothing. We managed to get the rent paid on time each month, and kept up as well as we could with the other bills. Even though this was a very stressful time, it was also a very happy time for us. Our baby was unbearably cute and fun and mostly we just looked at him all day which didn't cost anything! The financial difficulties brought Doug and I even closer. We kept our heads, assigned no blame, put together a plan and stuck to it. We worked as a team to handle our finances.

So in the spirit of team work, I have put up yet another blog. It's called The Fine Art Department and I'd like to post an image, a short description and link to artists who are selling their own work. The economy is tough and those of us who (try to) make a living selling our work have been greatly affected. Obviously, I hope that if one has limited funds, they will pay for food, insurance, mortgage, etc. first, however perhaps there are still a few folks who can squeeze out a couple of bucks to buy a piece of art to enjoy or to give as a gift. If artists aren't selling anything, they are also not buying anything either or paying their bills or the mortgage and the dominoes will keep falling. I realize that not every art buyer wants to buy my art (what?) so I'd like to offer some alternatives and hopefully somebody will make a few sales, even if it's not me.

So. If you have a website, an Etsy page, an Ebay store etc, where you directly sell your work, and would like to have your link included on The Fine Art Department, please email me. No sales will go through the The Fine Art Department, all sales must go through the individual artists sites. Please include a jpeg (72dpi), a short description and price info, and the link and I will load it onto the site. Then please post a link to the The Fine Art Department on your sidebar, preferably in a prominent position rather than in a blogroll. I was hoping to make it blink or something (at least through the holidays) on my sidebar but I need help with setting that up; I know that Chris knows how to do that, maybe he will give a tutorial. heh. Anyway, I get about 300-500 hits here each day, and I will also send this link out to all of my real life, art buying friends, and if all of you do the same, maybe we can get some good traffic. I am just a simple girl and confess to having little to no understanding of search engines and all of that so any other ideas would be great.

Let's try and work together to get through this lousy, stupid ass economy, 'k?

PS. Things eventually worked out for us back in 1995. Within a few days of the bankruptcy, Doug started getting job offers and other opportunities within the holography industry, so that was very encouraging. And within a few more months, one of their old clients decided to buy the company out of bankruptcy. Doug became a partner, was put in charge of the plant, got a signing bonus and we were soon able to get out of debt and buy our first house. Doug and I learned that we were a great team, and also that talking about money while in bed was a bad idea, two lessons that we still truly appreciate and which are coming in handy right now.

EDIT: I have been flooded with submissions for The Fine Art Department! I have decided to keep it relatively small (25-30 artists) and I already have 26. You can send me your info, but unfortunately I probably won't add it. Sorry.

More on Underpaintings

I did another underpainting on Friday (see close ups below). Even though I am excited about doing these I find myself procrastinating terribly when it comes time to actually sit down and get started. To the extent that I waste almost the entire day and then have to work quickly in the last part of the day before my mom thing starts up again. At first I wasn't sure why I kept doing this, I love doing the underpaintings no matter what the subject is and usually I love how they turn out. But doing them is intense and while it is exhilarating it also requires much energy and I am always drained after. It's all good of course, but I think the intensity of all that scares me a little.

Doug and I have spent a lot of time talking about leaving the underpaintings as is or pursuing the color. As I said before he thinks I should let them be, but I am feeling this intense need to apply color. I love doing the underpaintings more than anything, but I really need the challenge of painting in color too. Making the underpaintings would be fun, but too easy, I think, and while that is tempting I know that ultimately it wouldn't be very good for me or my work. So I am pressing on and will try to not mess these up.

Anyway, we did come to one conclusion. Hello! I can still do more underpaintings anytime, even of the same images, over and over if I want (I am the artist, I get to do what I want) in which case I would do some things differently. More darks, more lines, more randomness. So things are good, either way.

And I just wanted to thank everyone who commented on my last post about dwindling sales. It is comforting to know that it isn't just me being affected and inspiring to hear how we are all trying to find ways to get by, whether it's by painting larger or smaller or selling in different venues, or using the downtime to develop new directions or to build up inventory.

Despite the difficulties now in selling art, I am still trying my best to not take a wrong turn here out of desperation and to (hopefully) keep my dignity. Well whatever dignity I still possess, of course. Heh. That's all relative, I suppose.


I am really proud of this polka dotted dress:

and it is a good example of how I would handle it if I weren't going to go back in with color. This area will be tough to handle and I have no idea how to do that right now. I know that to add color later, the underpainting should be more refined, but I just couldn't help myself here and I left it the way I liked it.

I am Choosing to Look at the Bright Side

Storm Clouds, 2008, Oil on Gessobord, 4x4

My sales have slowed down considerably since June when my NYC gallery closed. In fact, September was the worst month I have had since I began exhibiting in 2004, with only one small painting selling from a gallery. Since June, two more galleries that represent me have closed and sales of my work are way down at all of the others. As I have said before, I do not take this personally, I know it's the economy. I am not established enough for my work to be viewed as an investment, and my prices are too high to be considered an impulse purchase.

I have mixed feeling about all of this. I can't say that I don't miss selling my work, I love the feeling that people like a painting of mine well enough to pay money for it and then live with it in their home or office. I really love that and it is a big part of the satisfaction I get from painting; that other people like what I do. Maybe that is politically incorrect to say if one is an artist, but I don't care.

So now, though, paintings aren't selling and I have some options (luckily I do have options because while my income is useful, our family is not completely dependent on it, thankfully:), most of which are a lot of fun. So despite feelings of unease about my "career" and where it's headed, I am also very thankful to have this time to reassess things. I am trying to develop new work, taking a much needed break from painting landscapes (I was edging close to burn out on those after painting so many, so fast, for years), yet I am able to go back to painting on a small format just for fun, and with a new vision of painting landscapes, all of which is very exciting. Although I haven't yet, I can do other things that interest me and that have been on the back burner for so long, such as drawing, collage, and working with encaustics. I am also taking my time in considering which galleries to stalk pursue and am holding out for one or two that will advance my career, not simply move it sideways.

There are some drawbacks to this silver lining though, the main one being that I don't really have any deadlines. I don't handle self-imposed deadlines well, and without constraints, I have a tendency to flounder a bit, and I certainly have been doing that. But for now I am relatively disciplined and am managing to be fairly productive.

This is a worrisome time for all of us. I can easily get myself so freaked out about what may happen in the future that I become immobilized. However, I just try to do what I can today, and remind myself that things are ok today. And today I have things to do. There are always things to do, right?

PS. But don't think for a minute that we haven't hashed over a few alternative plans. After all, Doug's company does sell expensive and ultimately unnecessary items (fossils) and while they are still doing fine, there are no guarantees. We have had more than a few conversations about how we could farm our 22 acres full time, pay the mortgage and feed ourselves; all of which will certainly include less art making and way more shoveling shit. Heh.

Sellout

Dusky Field, 2008, Oil on Panel, 5x7

On Sunday I was very happy to see that there was a new post on SELLOUT. It had had a good run earlier this year then sadly went into remission. I left it on my bloglines (I am lazy) and so when a new post came up I saw it right away and I zipped right on over.

The posts have so far revolved around the current economy and how the credit issues are affecting artists and especially emerging artists. Hope you go check it out, there hasn't been too much discussion out there yet about this topic on the artblogs yet (at least not that I have come across).

New Venture

Horizon Lines (Seventeen), 2008, Oil on Panel, 5x5

Last summer, I set up a blog to show work that was either in a show or in the inventory of the galleries that represent me, as well as to post a bunch of small pieces that were in a local gallery that doesn't keep up with a website. It was suggested to me more than a few times that I should sell the small pieces myself and while I didn't say I never would, I was too burned out at the time to decide how to go about it. But time passed, stuff happened, galleries closed, sales sputtered and I recently decided to go for it.

A big part of this decision was made because I realized that I still love to do the small format paintings. I began painting again by working small (less pressure) five years ago and I guess that it is still in me. It's also a great non-pressured way to keep painting during this slow stretch that I have going. Um, so I don't go cuckoo again. heh. They aren't usually the pieces that gallery want to exhibit, too small, too low of a profit margin, whatever, yet I think some of them are my most successful paintings even if (or maybe because?) they are so small.

And I won't lie, a bit of income would come in handy right now to at least cover my supplies. Not my main motive here, but there you go. It is an element.

So I revamped the other blog and I have posted the pieces that I did a few months ago, which did not sell at the show. I have many more new ones on hand that I will start putting up each day or so after they are finished and photographed. I am also continuing with the Horizon Lines series and #Seventeen is shown above, which has been posted and is available.

The blog is now called "Tracy Helgeson" which is extremely witty, I know. The link will be on the sidebar of this blog, which gets a pretty good amount of traffic and I am just going to start with that for now. I may send out an email with the link, but I am not a pushy salesgirl and that will probably be about it for marketing. Oh, and I might casually suggest at some point in the next few months that these small pieces make really good gifts, but that's it, I promise....

Slow Down

Lovely Sky, 2008, Oil on Panel, 6x12

I am feeling that both my work and career are at a crossroads. Partly because I haven't painted for over a month and surely when I get back to it, things will look very different to me. And partly because yet another one of my galleries is closing its commercial space and will be focusing on consulting and special events, which are unfortunately the type of situations that don't really flatter my work.

My sales have really slowed down this summer. I am not taking this personally, the paintings that I have out there are just as good as the ones that sold before. It's more the economy I think; the buyers in the art world I am in (which is definitely NOT the big one!) are tightening their belts just like most of the rest of us and so purchases of art are the first thing to go. And understandably so.

But I have gotten used to the ebb and flow of selling art over the last few years, so I will manage. And in fact this time will be well spent working on other things. I can take some time before school starts to get used to handling my daughter's diabetes. And before that came up I was working on a series of portraits that I am excited about. When the kids go back to school I will get back to work on those and cross my fingers that I didn't totally lose my momentum on them.

I do plan to start sending out my info to find some new opportunities though. I tentatively have a show scheduled for next spring, showing figurative work (yayy!) so that is encouraging, but I would like ongoing representation by another gallery, hopefully one in a larger city like Boston or New York.

But business and sales aside, I look forward to seeing and painting the landscape from a new angle and to having the time to develop a new body of work as well. I am lucky enough to be able to do whatever I want again, which is a nice reminder of how I felt when I began painting five years ago. A lovely sense of freedom.

So it's all good, even if I do have to stick to a stupid budget for awhile. Heh.

The Economy of Art

Dark Pond Day, 2008, Oil on Panel, 18x24

A few months ago I began to hear from a few artists that their sales had slowed down a bit. Mine were still ok at that point but with so many bad things going on in the current economy I had a bit of worry at the back of my mind. April and May were a bit slow, but after I looked at my records I saw that historically those are the two slowest months of the year for me. Now it's June and with the exception of modest sales from the show I have up in Hudson, things are REALLY slow.

And while last year all of my work sold at the Affordable Art Fair, this year I didn't do quite so well. Only three small pieces sold. Sales seemed erratic at the fair-some say they didn't sell much at all and others sold out their booths. Hmmm.

I guess this could be economy related. Certainly when things look unsure, people stop buying the extras (that's our plan), which art is considered to be. Or maybe it's just the ebb side of my recent flow.

Whatever it is, I am going to keep painting. And then I really have to get my info together and get a new gallery and push the business side of things here.

Ack! I am sure feeling the loss of the NYC gallery!

Any thoughts out there about art sales and the economy?

Bummer

Center Punch, 2008, Oil on Panel, 11x14

A few months ago I learned in an email from Betty, the owner of Multiple Impressions (my NYC gallery) that she had decided to close the gallery. I wasn't exactly surprised as there is a high turnover of businesses on that particularly quiet block of Wooster Street, however I WAS very sad to hear the news.

This will be a bit of a blow to me in several ways. First of all to my business. In just one year, Multiple Impressions sold almost 40 paintings. (a huge number for me, alas, not quite enough to keep them open, heh) Betty picked each piece that she wanted to show and she seems to have a really good eye-every single piece she chose sold, I have never gotten back unsold work from her. My income from her gallery sales accounted for one third of my year end total last year, a pretty significant percentage and one that I am marginally freaked out about having to replace now that I have bought a new car and paid for the attic remodel. And they have really been on a selling tear since announcing the closing, I was getting near weekly checks, it was almost like having a regular paycheck there for awhile. Betty included my work in my first art fair last June and she is also responsible for urging me to work at a larger scale which has been a really interesting and challenging path for me to travel. A path that I am not sure I would have taken had there not been a bit of gentle pressure.

But what I will really miss is my relationship with Betty, Julie (Julie invited me to be her friend of Facebook!!) and Stephanie. We have all gotten to be friends, they read my blog (and probably know WAY too much about me:)), and both Doug and I spend significant amounts of time just chatting with them when in the city (Doug more often, since his store is just a few doors down the block). I can't even imagine that I will be able to wade through the gallery scene in NYC and find another gallery who will have me AND where I will finds friends to work with.

As I have learned in the gallery world though, life goes on. Betty will start a new adventure, Julie and Stephanie will probably go and work in another gallery and I will have to dust off my presentation packets, gather together all my nerve and self confidence and start getting out there again.

It will be fine. Sigh.

Well...

Contrasts, 2008, Oil on Panel, 11x14

........it turns out that my "career" went on without me last month. Doug told me I was still receiving checks while I was was gone, including a record breaking (for me) payment from the January show, but I really had no idea how many pieces had been sold in my various galleries until I sat down and went through my records today. This is usually a pretty slow time of the year, but sales were considerably more than last year. Good thing too, since I now have a new car to pay for.

And THANK GOD I had the sense to do a number of paintings before I left and even though I am still feeling a bit raw about getting back to work, I have spent all day preparing jpegs of those and updating galleries with the new images, new prices and my newly updated exhibition resume. I guess office work is a good way to ease back into the studio. I am tentatively planning to do some underpaintings tomorrow, because I am feeling that now is the time. I am liable to get some sort of blockage if I wait too long!

I have also finally gotten all of the figurative work that I did in Vermont photographed. I plan to get those ready and spend some time gathering my thoughts on all of that and will get a post up in the next few days. And after that I still have a few more posts planned about my time there, which will include more images of parties and the other resident's studio work, studios and with links to their websites.

Man, I sure can go on and on about a topic, can't I? You have no idea, unless you know me in person. Heh.

Opening Reception

The opening reception at The Harrison Gallery on Saturday night was awesome! There wasn't a huge crowd, but nearly everyone who came was there to meet me. And they all seemingly bought a painting or already owned one or more. One couple bought four! By the end of the evening the sales count was at eleven. Several pieces, including Red Gambrel (above), were sold before the opening. Doug and I were a bit giddy on the way home!

This is all very exciting, of course, but it is also the kind of stuff that messes with my head. Everyone was very complimentary about my work and while such feedback is great, if I start thinking how fab I am, my work really suffers. I will think every mark I make is the best, when in reality they aren't always, and I need to be able to see that.

So I indulged myself a bit last night with a satisfied feeling of pride and accomplishment, plus a little grandiosity thrown in, but today I have to shovel out the chicken crap from the hen house while it is relatively warm and then get right back to painting tomorrow. The Harrison Gallery wants larger scale paintings for their inventory before I leave for Vermont next month!

Woo-hoo!!! (Sorry, just a bit more self-indulgence, couldn't help myself:))

Good News is Always Good

Farmland, 2007, Oil on Panel, 9x18

I received some good news while sitting here at my desk all day, patiently waiting for my energy to return. Heh.

Turns out the client who wanted a same size piece to go along with a painting she had bought, decided that she liked all of the three options that I gave her and will be buying all of them. Holy cow! I was worried that she wouldn't like any of them and that I'd have to go back and do a few more!

Luckily, I got them all finished up and put together before I got sick and all I have to do today is do the paperwork, pack them up and ship them out.

The piece below is the first one that the client bought, the one above is one of the new ones. I am really liking working with this long rectangular 9x18. It has nice proportions and still qualifies as small and affordable.


Long Field with Tree, 2007, Oil on Panel, 9x18

Connections

Deep Blue Barn, 2007, Oil on Panel, 12x16

I have been trying to catch up on my paperwork. I have a great system for tracking my work (I wrote about it here) but it doesn't really work unless I actually, you know, write the info down. At least once. Somewhere. I am about a year behind on updating the individual inventory sheets and it is really starting to bug me. So I have been spending a little bit of time almost every day trying to catch up.

I have been able to put together some numbers though regarding sales and it's been interesting to see those.

2005

I painted about 225 paintings or so, and they were mostly VERY small, 8x10 and under, although I did begin to work a bit larger throughout the year. I was still developing my process, plus lining up shows and gallery representation that year. I sold 94 paintings, however most of those sales were from an open studio sale that I had in order to clear out my work space. My total income was crap, less than zero after deductions.

2006

In 2006, I painted approximately 230 pieces. I know this sounds like a lot and I guess it is. But a number of those weren't quite up to gallery standards (and I have stacks of returned paintings sitting in my studio to prove it), and of course I do tend to work on a small scale so the pieces really add up. I sold 114 paintings in 2006, or to be more precise, my galleries did. And my income doubled from the previous year, although after deductions for materials and travel, my net income was still well below poverty level for a family of six. All in all though, 2006 was a huge step forward for me, I was crazy busy the whole year and was happy about the sales.

2007

Even though I was pleased with 2006, I found myself feeling embarrassed about how low my prices were in comparison to other similarly accomplished artists and also since my paintings were selling so quickly, which is often a sign that prices are too low, I raised my prices in 2007. Sales actually rose even more when I did that and so my income this year is lovely, and my gross is double what it was last year at this same time. I have sold about 80 paintings so far in 2007 and have painted about 110 paintings. That lower number is important to me because it reflects higher quality (I have added many fewer panels to the sand down pile this year, and very few unsold paintings have come back from the galleries) and also that I am painting at a larger scale and with more skill (hopefully), which were some of my goals.

I don't go crazy tracking these numbers and trends, but I do keep an eye on things, even if I am so behind in tracking each piece. Of course I am very pleased that the trajectory of all these numbers is upwards, but even better is that I am still painting what I want to paint. Maybe a little bit more than I would otherwise (actually, the hard work has been good for my focus and development). I am still feeling as if I have much more to say with what I am doing now. So it's all good.

And I can't deny that the sales don't give me a thrill too. Not so much because of the income, although that is certainly nice, but because I really appreciate the fact that there are people out there that feel a connection to my work, enough to let me know by contacting me, and enough to put down money for a painting. That connection feels as good as being able to do whatever I want.

Moving Along, Finally

Sky Blue Barn, 2007, Oil on Panel, 12x16

After a run of great sales about a week ago, I hit the ground with a good thud. First by the news of slow sales, um I mean no sales, at an event in a different market (I am being deliberately vague here with the details) and then by a more serious problem-painter's block!

The galleries that sold all of those paintings want more, of course and I felt paralyzed when I went into the studio to start new ones. I was really feeling the pressure to make more paintings that would be just as nice and appealing as the ones that had sold. And once you start thinking like that you really get crazy.

I should have taken a few days off, but since I really had to get some new work out there I didn't. I thought everything would come back any minute. I was distracted last week by my busy chauffeuring schedule, but then I also neglected to take advantage of the time I did have available to get some work done. I wasted time each day, half-heartedly putting some paint down, kinda cleaning up, but not really and sort of doing some other things, like gardening and but mostly I wandered around the house trying to get my groove back.

Yesterday I was finally so irritated with myself that I just jumped in. I had some large panels prepared and I decided to put my hands into the paint and have faith that the images would come to me. And they did. I completed three 24x36 underpaintings and one 30x40. Along with the others that I have in progress (waiting patiently to be finished) this should tide everyone over for the time being.

After going through this any number of times in the last few years, you'd think I'd know by now how to handle these situations, but instead it's like a clean slate every time a block shows up. I find myself feeling convinced that this is it-I won't be able to paint ever again.

Maybe I should get a personal painting coach. Heh.

Leaving Another Gallery

Rooftop, 2007, Oil on Panel, 8x10

Now that I have gotten my work back, I can talk a bit about another gallery that I also just left. That makes three this last year.

This was a good example of a gallery that I probably should have left some time ago, based on sales, but didn't because they were so great to work with in every other way. I was invited to participate in several themed shows which were a welcome challenge, they paid on time, and they were extremely supportive of their artists. They sold a few pieces of mine here and there, but really never more than that. They had a good reputation however, so I felt that having them on my resume outweighed any sales issues. When a new contract came last spring, I signed it, deciding it was worthwhile to stay on with them at least for another year.

Then a few weeks ago I received a letter from the owner. The retail gallery space would be closing and the owner was planning to work as an art consultant, placing art in public spaces, offices, cafes, etc. I felt pretty sure that my sales would not improve in those venues and the logistics of dealing with delivery and pick up would be very difficult for me to handle (they are located nearly a day's drive away and they don't ship work back). I reluctantly told the owner that I had decided not continue on with her and she was absolutely lovely about it (probably relieved-another non selling artist leaves!) and went out of her way to get my work back to me on a very inconvenient day.

I feel good about all of this and even kind of relieved that it's turned out this way. I am extremely relieved I was able to get my work back without incident, as I sure have heard some horror stories about that! But I am disappointed that my work didn't go over very well in their community even though I don't really take that personally. Sometimes my work really clicks somewhere and sometimes it just doesn't.

More Sales

On the Way to Provincetown, 2007, Oil on Panel, 18x24

Thanks everyone, for all of the lovely words of encouragement regarding my recent cluster of sales in NYC. At an art fair no less! I am still a bit loopy about it all. Of course I am aware of the recent trend in art fairs but none of the galleries I have shown with until now, participate in them, so this seems like a good step up for me. And after thinking about it a bit, I am glad I didn't know ahead of time that my work would be there. I would have gotten all stressed about it. Also I would have secretly hoped for much success there which surely would have jinxed it. This way I didn't have a chance to mess it up. Of course the director did say she would include me next year, so I do have a full year now to work myself into a frenzy. Heh.

Anyway, when it rains it pours. I picked up my work from the show at Enderlin Gallery yesterday and also received a check for three of the five pieces that sold. And today's mail bought me a check from the Harrison Gallery for three more sold pieces. I must add here that there should be a place in heaven for gallery directors who pay their artists within days of the sale, as nearly all of mine regularly do.

So this has been a very good month income wise, but believe you me, I have learned from experience to hang on to whatever I can, as next month could just as easily bring me exactly zero dollars.