Tuesday 23 February 2016

Make or break, or the artistic prostitution

Your options are: make it work or wait for the big break

The odds are definitely unfavorable when you wait for a big break in the Art world. I don't have a number for you here, but I would certainly not bet on it. Stacking against you even more if you haven't gone the traditional education way and have to call yourself Self-thought (I have to).

You can go with the flow, I did for years, selling a couple of paintings here and there, not having the credentials to get into galleries, not getting the credentials for failing to get into galleries. I could have gone on tipping away, banging on closing doors in the hope one would open, and even then, there was no guaranty a success would happen and last.

Then someone said "why don't you paint the landscape and sell it to the tourists"

But I don't do landscapes, I thought, this would go COMPLETELY against my integrity as an artist, that would be like, like... artistic prostitution!!
Now, I wasn't all that offended really, I just had never envisaged doing Art for what the customer would be looking for and my ego may have rebelled slightly against the fact that it made perfect sense (how had I not thought of that myself!!)

And so I painted my first landscape in many years...

And another...

I was strangely surprise that my style could still translates in landscapes, I made them into limited edition prints and off I went to the shops and the rest of that part of the story is history...
But then I kind of lost myself, painting after painting, I didn't realized that I was taming more and more, becoming "generic", unrecognizable and to my eyes, well ordinary...
I put this painting up reluctantly, not because it is particularly ugly but only because despite my signature, this is not my painting, it is not me.
It is one thing to tweak art to suit the demand but if it's not you than is it worth trying to break with it?

I revisited the same subject, to make a point, I am stubborn like that... It is still in the drying room but I will show it soon, to make a point.

The lesson to be learned here is you can do the city streets (painting that it), you can do the country lane, dress it in red, dress it in blue, the only thing that matters is that skin deep it is all you!

Apologies, that's quite terrible as rhymes go, but you get the point right, cause that's all that counts, that I made my point!




Saturday 13 February 2016

Putting some money on it!

You have researched your subject and inspiration for hours, maybe days. You've been out here and there, trying to capture something special on a camera, something that would just be the starting point... Then you've pondered, and sketched, and pondered again (over several cups of tea), to finally put down on canvas. And you will spend hours, again maybe days, occasionally weeks, working to achieve a perfect masterpiece, which too often it isn't, but you start again anyway. 

And somewhere along this repeated, long process you accumulate and choose some worthy pieces, the ones you would be proud to show and hopeful to sell!

But how do you put a price on that?

It certainly not an hourly rate. And if you go too cheap, you're out of a really good potential market, one that is difficult to enter but could mean making a living out of your art. If you go too high and don't get your big break, you've priced yourself out of a wider, certainly less active but excessively more accessible market! Talk about Catch 22.

I've adopted the slow pace small steps approach personally. I was not in a position financially to wait for the big break, it had to sell and it had to sell NOW!! So I started with small paintings, smaller prices. Some other artists commented at my very first show that my paintings were too cheap but in reality, as I pointed out to them, they were more expensive than theirs proportionally and more importantly: they were selling. To balance it out, I always had a bigger painting on show, proportionally priced again, clearly showing that my paintings were not cheap... they were only small!
As the time go on, I put the prices up slightly every year and I also increase the size by a few inches. And I intend to keep the same strategy as long as it sells.
Some might say that to sell in galleries, the prices have to be higher, it still works my way though; galleries want big paintings anyway!

Sunday 7 February 2016

The once-a-year diary

Oh dear, yes let's hear it, it has been a shameful 8 months+ since my last entry. Apologies, personal life has got in the way and it will probably happen again, but hey, let's enjoy the moment where I remembered I had a blog without making me feel too guilty.

Still a wanna be artist, yes, still excellent at procrastination, absolutely!
At the end of 2015 I was faced with a dilemma that tormented me (ok that might be a slight exaggeration, I don't torment easily), let's just say that I flirted with the idea of going solo. And what I mean by that is I contemplated the possibility of leaving behind the part-time work and putting all I have into the Art business.
I pondered for some months, I did, especially being between contracts, it would have been an easy transition (but I'm sure a rough ride) It is only a couple of weeks ago that, having a job offer I couldn't refuse, thinking of my young children still not in full time school, and also being a bit chicken Maybe!.. Well, I chose the status quo. Suits me for now. I know the same dilemma with visit me at the end 2016, but one thing at a time and I'll paint that bridge once I reach the river.

In the meantime, I have reasonably set my resolutions for this year at only 3:
1-Enjoy every moment with my young ones (so, so cliché. I do love a good cliché)
2-Paint, paint, and paint again.

And most importantly:
3-Weekly entry on the blog, Facebook and webpage! It's all under control, I have it written down in my diary (not this one, well yea this one but also my other diary (very well chosen Christmas present), the one I consult and follow everyday. almost.

À bientôt!!