Tag Archives: creative process

I Wanted to Sell Out!

Leave a comment

But no one was buying. (Warning: Bad art displayed, here)

I always wanted to make a living with my art.  At first, I wanted to design posters.  I assumed that if a subject appealed to me, then it would appeal to other people.  However, I think most artists create with that in mind.

I’ve been given many suggestions by well-meaning people for making money with my art.  Design tatoos?  Most of the work suggested would really make me hate doing artwork. (Note: if you like tatoos, I don’t see anything wrong with it, they’re just not me).

So off I went on a journey to make money with my art.  My first try was portraiture, which I’m still willing to do.  It’s just hard to find enough clients with so much competition.

grandma

I should mention the woman in this portrait was 110 years old at the time.

Then I had a great idea of doing very small pictures that I could do quickly, and sell for cheap.  Limited success there.  Here’s one that actually sold:

417

Then the whole ACEO (Art cards editions and originals).  These are cards that are

2/12 inches by 3 1/2.  Many people collect them, and some artists are very successful with this.  A popular theme is cats.  I thought, I like cats!,and did my best.

I was a little bored with the subject matter, and could not compete with the ones who really could do cats very well.  Here is my sad try:

1048

Also, landmarks on ACEO’s seem to work.  However, I didn’t have the patience to do good drawing of NYC.

grandcentralaceo

So,now I’m back where I started from….doing pictures I like, and hoping to earn money from them on hold.  But not given up, as I learn more about marketing.

Hopefully, my meandering career will be of some help to young creative people out there.  Some will tell you “art is a product”, but in my experience, how you feel about what you’re doing affects the quality of the product you’re producing…..and bad products don’t sell.

Okay, back to work!

Stick a fork in it

Leave a comment

Sometimes, the hardest thing in art is calling it quits.  I don’t mean art totally, but each piece has to have an ending, and it’s usually far short of the perfection that you intended.

So it is with Sunny Chair Paradise.  I like it, but it doesn’t live up to what I’d like it to be.  It’s a quandary that effects all creative people, I think…when is good enough, good enough?

I know if I tried to do another version of this, I would be so bored with it, I’d ruin it.

As for calling it quits, I’m running out of ideas for the paradise series, and getting a lot of ideas, otherwise.  So,while I will revisit paradise in the future, it won’t be my main focus.

So, here, without further ado, is Sunny Chair Paradise.

 

sunnychairfinished72

For those of you in NYC, I will be having a show in the month of September at the Birch Coffee House, at 5 East 27th Street, Manhattan.  There will be a reception Thursday, September 6, from 7:00-10:00 pm, and I welcome all my readers to come./

Hope I see you there!

Where’s my Mauve pencil?

3 Comments

No one will ever accuse me of being a neat freak.  Messiness seems to run in the family.  Here’s a photo of my studio.

messystudio

Somehow, the disorganization hasn’t kept me from efficiently doing art…in fact, I think it helps.  I’ve seen studios where the colored pencils are meticulously kept in color coordinated containers.  I think it would be very inefficient to have to stop one’s creative train of thought, to think of finding the exact spot where the pencil goes.

I keep the pencils out that I need.  There are not too many, I use a a limited palette in order to create a cohesive color scheme.

Just in general, I think creativity is a messy process.  I know some people plan carefully the work they’re going to do.  The work before the planning has got to be messy, and experimental, or else you’re going to end up with a pretty unimaginative work of art.

Even during the times one is not working, one’s creative mind is not turned off.  Creative thoughts intrude on the most organized thought process. I often see ideas for pictures during my off time from artwork.  It’s not compartmentalized.  Sometimes I use the ideas, sometimes not, but they’re always there.

So, welcome to my studio.  I have a friend who also has a messy place and says, “You came to visit me,not inspect my housekeeping”.  So there you go, I hope you come to see my artwork.