What do you think?

Here is an expresso and a lovely Mocha for you on this February 1! Enjoy!

Let's go into the weekend with something to ponder. Is that new for me?

Yesterday, Nicole Hyde (http://www.nicolehyde.com/dataviewer.asp?keyvalue=5481&page=Blog) posted a link to a Variety article (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117979842.html?categoryid=1071&cs=1) about Sarah Jessica Parker's intentions to produce a reality show based on the art world. According to the article, it would be a competition between 12 artists in a reality show setting.

Now, I am not much of a television person, but my intuition doesn't lead me to have a lot of positive feelings about this. I am not opposed to television, but competitive art making in tight time constrictions and under a ton of pressure while television cameras are rolling doesn't sound like a recipe for good art to me. What do you think?

When we lived in England the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ ) ran an interesting series called Art School (http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/08_august/10/art.shtml) where well known personalities took an intensive two week art course at Chelsea College of Art and Design (www.chelsea.arts.ac.uk/ ). These were people used to the camera and the pressures associated with it attending art courses. They were not visual artists, but it did show the challenges of this work as well as the rewards and they were not in competition with each other. I have to admit, I did enjoy watching this series. I think it ran for something like 4 weeks or so. I can't remember exactly.

My impression is these are two different types of shows, both reality, but the focus is different. I may be completely wrong about that, however. I will be interested in hearing your impressions. Here is my question to you:

Do you think a competitive reality show based on art will have an impact on the arts? What and/or How? Of course, we never really know until it airs, right?

I look forward to hearing from you. It is interesting to ponder.

Have a Beautiful and Creative Weekend!

A Little Studio Time

I thought I would share what I have been working on in the studio. I have made no decisions about it yet, even if it is done or not. It will probably go into the Contemplation Series, though. This is a standard 24 x24 canvas. I used gel medium with a bit of blue spread rather thickly on the canvas with a cake frosting spreader. I allowed that to dry for about a week or so. Then I painted over that with more darker blue, some red, of course purple and a bit of black. Once that dried, I used gold inference to highlight a few of the more interesting lines made by the origional gel.

Lately, I have been doing a bit of exploring with some of the more unusual paints like the inference, some metals and pearl. They are interesting, but do not photograph very well...most likely it is the photographer, though.

What is happening in your studio? I know there are some really interesting blog posts going on.

I am not sure what tomorrow will bring. Are you planning a fun weekend?

The First of the Week

So I have been telling you I have been painting this week! Above you see a corner of one of the rooms I painted with my son, my father and my sister. These rooms were white before we began. We painted everything except the ceiling of the smaller of the two rooms. This is a corner of my parents living room (lounge). We also painted the dining room. They have a large farm house here in Virginia. I was the trim girl. On Monday, I painted out all the edge areas and it took me 13 painting hours. On Tuesday morning we finished it all up and had all furniture back in place including dishes in the hutch, by 2:30 pm (14:30). Last night, I slept very well. So that was my project for the first of the week.



Painting a room or rooms gives me time to contemplate what I might consider next. Those 13 hours gave me lots of time to do that. Sometimes you just have to step aside and do something different. It felt so good to do this for my Mom and Dad. They were so happy to see the change and it was good for me to see them feel so good about it. I was so very proud of them making the choice to use such a bold color. They are now ready to do it again since they have been able to see the difference this makes.



Do you like to paint interiors? Do you paint them plainly to show off your art work or do you make the walls your canvas and paint special things?

Tomorrow, we are back to talking about studio painting.

Crazy Times...

It has been warm here the last few days, so I thought I would greet you with thoughts of spring. This photo was taken from a hotel room in Brecon, Wales, United Kingdom. The flower boxes were incredible and the flowers were not only flowing down the front of the building on the outside, but they were growing into the room. I still look forward to a bit of winter, though.

Tomorrow I will show you what I have been up to for the last two days, but tonight I wanted to speak a bit about the tiny thing I do to encourage participation of viewers/clients. One of the things which is important to me is to encourage those who purchase any of my paintings to participate a little beyond viewing. No, I am not talking about handing them a canvas to make their own paint mark on top of mine or anything as drastic as that. It is far easier to take, at least for me.

As you have probably gathered, once my paintings have been painted, I have less of an attachment to them than I do while I am working on them. I suppose there are probably others who do this as well, but I thought it was a good way to encourage what is also important to me. I sign my canvases on the edge rather than the front. In doing that, they can be hung in the way the client wants to view them. Several of the people who own my work have commented on how they appreciate that. One client moves quite a bit and has said that in some of their homes it looks good one way and in other homes it looks good hanging another way. She really appreciated not being dictated by the signature. I am sure this is probably not the greatest thing to do if I want people to recognize my signature, but what I really want is for owners to enjoy what they have of mine.

Do you do anything to encourage participation in your art?

It is good to be back talking with you again.

Until tomorrow....

Odd Monday

Today I am going to have to put off my origional post until tomorrow. I am painting...although not in my studio, but something different. At any rate, I do need to get going with it. I will talk about that and about client interaction tomorrow!

I send you all to your studios to have a beautifully, creative day!

Commissions

I thought I would share this painting with you today. It is Contemplation 6, 12" x 12" acrylic on deep, gallery wrapped canvas.

So today I am going to move off in a different direction. Babs ( http://www.wilsonart-babs.blogspot.com/ ) suggested possibility talking about commissions. My friend, Julianna ( http://www.colorspeaker.com/ ) has recently talked with me about a commission she is working on. And Andrea's postings ( http://cestandrea.blogspot.com/ ) started me thinking about how to approach commissions once they are procured. So I think I am supposed to talk about commissions today.

Now I am not going to talk about how to locate commissions. I wouldn't know where to begin with that one. I am not a person who would take on a commission lightly as it would have to be the right proposal at the right time. What I would like to talk about is how to work with your client to produce the best work you can for them. The one thing you want to do is make the experience of working with you a positive memory. So you first need to realize why a client might have chosen you. First of all, it is obvious, they like the work you do. But I also think it is very appealing to many people to know someone has put effort in creating something original just for them. This is why you want to make the experience a positive memory for them. But you also want to have a positive experience.

First of all, say yes when you feel as though you can work well with the client. That is really important. Say NO if you just don't feel right about it! Lean on your intuition for this one. The next thing I think is important in creating this positive memory is to find out as much as you can about the client. Oh, we will ask what of the work we have done do you like? What colors do you like? Where will the painting be placed, etc. These are issues which can change quickly. So I think it is important for everyone to go a bit beyond that. For example, as an artist, evaluate the type of person they are: introvert, extrovert, laid back, type A, who and what do they surround themselves with, what are their major interests, how do they dress (gives great information), what kind of focus will the work have in their living/working space and of course the specific location they have in mind for the work...although that can change drastically. And use this information to create...

Considering a few of these you may need to think about the opposite of the answers to these questions. For example, a laid-back introvert may very well enjoy an exciting, colorful, over powering work...and they may not. Maybe the classic dresser really loves the idea of rustic...and they may not. The international banker might just love the idea of terra firma...and maybe not. You see, it is your job to really explore all of the possibilities and get a sense of what is going to excite this client in the type of work you do. And by-the-way, no space in a home or office is to be considered not worthy of your work. Sure, who would not like to be commissioned a huge canvas for the foyer of the penthouse? But the bathroom is a place where the viewer is captured alone to contemplate what is on the wall. And the more intimate the space, the more your work will be appreciated.

So here is the question, how do you effectively work with the client in a few meetings? That is where Andrea's (see link above and to the right...CestAndrea) project comes in. If you go to her blog site, go ahead, it is really wonderful, and scroll down to where she is talking about her "trend boards". Do you see these creative boards she is using to help broaden the colors for her work? If a client had these kinds of references to view, so you could get an idea of what they like and what they think they do not like, I think it would make the world of difference in the commission experience for everyone. If boards like this were created for the elements of art and you could use the principles to pull together the perfect piece for the client, don't you think it would be a positive experience? Yes, yes of course you would have to create the boards, but that would also be a positive experience for you (I have found that revisiting the elements and principles from time to time is very refreshing) as well. And over time, you could have a lovely series to use not only for your own reference, but to use with possible commission clients, too.

This brings me to my final point, for me it is important to connect with lots and lots of different artists. As you know, I love painting, but I also love other art forms a lot. I also love textiles a great deal and that is what drew me to Andrea's blog (and the fact she lives in Paris and speaks excellent English :) ). I additionally adore glass and have my favorite glass artists, too. Then there is the pottery...oh, I could go on and on here. But the point is by working together and understanding most all creative people are confronted with the same issues, we can learn so much with so much less pain. Sometimes it is another creative person who comes to your for a commission, and that makes working with them a bit easier...there is the common language. But often it is not someone who speaks the language of creativity who wants to commission you, so you have to help them learn a little bit of creative speak and you will need to learn a little bit of "whatever" speak. The experience I have in interior design has allowed me to understand whenever you allow the client into your world a little bit and give them the chance to "participate", then they are almost always happy with the result!

So what do you think? I am sure there are some wonderful comments wanting to get at me on this one.

On Monday... I will tell you what I do to make it easier for viewers/purchasers to participate in how they see my paintings.

Until then, have a Beautiful and Creative Weekend. And let me know your thoughts...

Needed for Creativity....

As promised, I am sharing a few of the paintings I photographed yesterday. It is good I did that, too, since today we are very cloudy and that isn't so good for the way I have to do this.




So this one is called Contemplation 3 and is an 8" x 8" in Acrylic on Deep, Gallery Wrapped Canvas.

I will show you another one in a little bit, but I said I would talk about what I need when I create. Like Babs and JafaBrit (see comments on yesterday's posting), I do not work well under pressure. The thing is I have learned to contend with that in a way I don't hear about too often, I clear my schedule and get the work done when I first get the project going. Yes, I am one of those people who has to get things done early, so I don't feel the pressure. I think this is a hold over from my interior design work (one doesn't spend 30+ years in a field without it having an impact), along with other strange practices.

For me, also having supplies at my fingertips eliminates a lot of irritation, thus helping the creativity flow. I am not a person who needs a pin neat space always, but I do need to be able to see my materials. That, I know, is part of being a visual person...I just have to see it. The flip side of that, I know, is for some visual people their line of vision can't be cluttered. Like most creative types, I need lots of light and a comfortable temperature in my studio (this second one just might have to do with being right at 50 years old). I also like quiet surroundings or peaceful music. I am quite sure I cannot work with the television on, although maybe I should try sketching that way to see what happens. Of course, as mentioned before, it is important for me to be happy. Most of the time, I am quite happy, but when that spurt of anger or negative emotion comes, I can get nothing done. And I need my inspirations! Oh yes, I suppose positive feed back and quality discussions are also important to me. While I don't do that while I work, I do need it in my life to move my work forward. Is that the reason I am doing this blog? There are lots of reasons for that...I just adore all the wonderful people I have met over the last months!

But one thing I know is important is to have opportunities to be influenced by other art. I mean all of the work you each share, but also writings, theatre, excellent film, dance, music, etc. And I am going to include cultures in this one. While a mobile studio is a must for me with our moving around, I do feel the need to experience a variety of cultures...within this country and outside of it!

Okay, so now here is another photo I took yesterday...

This is Contemplation 4 and is a 10" x 10" Mixed Media on Gallery Wrapped Canvas. With this one I did a lot of texture on the canvas with odd bits and pieces...like paper, gauze and bits of metal...then I covered it with a heavier rice paper and painted over that with acrylics.

So here is my question for you...what kinds of things do you need to be creative?

Tomorrow...well, as Babs suggested...maybe we should talk about commissions. It has come up a couple of times. I know there are lots of you there with insights to that one!