Making a living as an artist ~ the roller coaster ride...

Warning: some tooting-of-my-own-horn ahead! (Of course, then there is also the balance to that.)

I had a great weekend at the Mountain Heritage Festival in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. I found new homes for many of my new paintings and met some wonderful people.

Above is a photo taken at the show with the new owners of the first of the three pillars I painted, the one called "The World Determined". Ron and Carol Del Priore couldn't have been nicer or more fun and I'm delighted that my work will be part of their collection (which includes a Rembrandt etching - just sayin'). The Del Priores also took home two of my newest paintings.

And today I found out that I was accepted again into the American Craft Council show (Feb 2017). This is an important show. Both wholesale and retail. I see many of the customers/galleries that will determine what kind of year I will have. So this is a big relief and I'm very happy about it. It is always such a nerve-racking few minutes when I get that email saying the jury results are in and I have to log into the site and remember my password and watch that little wheel turn while my heart pounds and I wait to see if I've been accepted into the show or not. So it's all good.

Well, not all...this is the roller coaster ride part - remember how excited I was when a gallery in Maine bought 13 of my paintings wholesale at the ACC show last February? They notified me recently to say that only the 3 large pieces sold and that their customers don't want the small pieces and they want to send ALL TEN of them back.

This was such a shock. They had been very late in paying in the first place and, as you can imagine I'd been waiting for and depending upon and expecting payment for months. Then they throw this bomb at me. The shocking part is that this was a wholesale purchase, not consignment, so I didn't see it coming. Wholesale generally means that the gallery takes the risk, which is why they pay less for the pieces. And this is a gallery that has been around for a long time, so I had considered them seasoned professionals who knew their customers and no worries, right? Wrong.

So that is the way things happen in the making-your-living-as-an-artist world. I'm sure similar things happen in all professional worlds. But if you are an artist dealing with galleries, please take this example to heart and GET A SIGNED CONTRACT. I'm such a dope. A naive, trusting dope who is out a bunch of money because of it.

Thank you for letting me rant. I'm really okay with it all, especially after having such a nice experience this past weekend. I'm good at looking for the silver lining.

8 small paintings on paper

Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

8" X 12"

                                                           Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

8" X 12"

 Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

5" X 7"

 Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

3" X 5"

  Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

3" X 5"

 Acrylic, charcoal, gouache

8" X 12"

  Acrylic, charcoal, gouache

8" X 12"

 Acrylic, charcoal, gouache

8" X 12"

3 paintings on paper

Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

14" X 20"

Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

14" X 20"

Acrylic and charcoal

20" X 26"

3 paintings on wood panels

Acrylic with black and white charcoal

16" X 20" X 2"

Acrylic with black and white charcoal

16" X 20" X 2"

Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

18" X 24" X 2"

16 Small Paintings 9.14.16

Sixteen paintings (!) You're thinking: Does this woman ever eat or sleep? I do. I eat quite well, three squares a day. I sleep, not so well, usually thinking about how to resolve a painting that is not working. So, I eat, sleep and paint, and not much else. For now anyway. That's because I am motivated to get a whole new body of work together for a show coming up next weekend. I need to do this because everything I have is in another show which will be over 3 days after the show next weekend. But this is okay - the pressure is inspiring, and I'm having fun! 

Acrylic, charcoal and gouache

5" X 8"

 Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel and gouache

8" X 12"

 Acrylic, black and white charcoal, chalk and oil pastel

8" X 12"

 Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

6" X 6"

 Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

3" X 5"

  Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

3" X 5"

  Acrylic, charcoal, gouache

5" X 7"

  Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

5" X 8"

 Acrylic and charcoal

5" X 8"

 Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

5" X 8"

 Acrylic and charcoal

5" X 8"

 Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

5" X 8"

 Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel, gouache

5" X 8"

  Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel, gouache

5" X 8"

  Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel, gouache

5" X 8"

  Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel, paper collage and, most likely, cat hair*

5" X 8"

 *I should probably include cat hair in the materials list for each painting. It is inevitable... every time I varnish the surface I am finding and picking out little hairs. Those cats! (Gotta love 'em)

Eleven small paintings on paper

I've come back to paper after painting on the wood panels for a while. I do like the surface of the gessoed paper. It's just a little bit more receptive than the wood. 

These vary in size. I painted them together on one sheet of watercolor paper. Here are the beginning stages of how the eleven pieces started, with masking tape around the borders of each. 

Just layers of colors to start the surface build-up.

I was interested in experimenting with a "flexible foundation" drawn in charcoal before painting, to work on the composition a bit and not rely so much on spontaneous chance. I actually don't think they came out that differently from my other work, but it was good to try a new approach. This shows the charcoal lines and thoughts about composition. 

Below, the finished paintings with masking tape removed. Some are up-side-down here because I turn the board to get them close and easier to work on. 

Untitled #3067

Acrylic, charcoal and graphite

8” X 12”

 Untitled #3069

Acrylic, black and white charcoal, colored pencil

8” X 12”

 Untitled #3070

Acrylic, black and white charcoal, oil pastel

5” X 7”

 Untitled #3073

Acrylic, black and white charcoal, oil pastel

6” X 6”

 Untitled #3074

Acrylic, black and white charcoal, oil pastel

3” X 5”

 Untitled #3076

Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

3” X 5”

 Untitled #3077

Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel

5” X 8”

 Untitled #3079

Acrylic, black and white charcoal

5” X 8”

 Untitled #3080

Acrylic and oil pastel

5” X 8”

 Untitled #3081

Acrylic, black and white charcoal, oil pastel

5” X 8”

Untitled #3082

Acrylic and oil pastel

5” X 8”

Gallery Talk

Yesterday I had the opportunity to give a gallery talk to the visual arts majors at the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts in Hagerstown, MD. The school is right across the street from the Washington County Arts Council where my work is on exhibit this month. 

A great group of young people. Good questions to answer. Fun to do!