Sunday Brunch II

10x10 oil on linen panel
$350 (sale price!)
PURCHASE

Last fall, someone from the Academy of Food and Wine Service contacted me from the UK and wanted to use an old image of mine for their membership brochure. Very cool.

I didn't have the original so I thought I'd paint a new one slightly larger and be able to get a hi res image of it for them. Well, they prefered the original so we made do. Perhaps the image is now in use for their organization.

What is next? Well... this is the last of my 2013 paintings and I've been mulling over some new ideas. I have some larger canvases and bigger ideas. Perhaps more "posed" and planned and less serendipitous references materials (models at home and posed family scenes) -- but narrative and inviting. I hope. I'm enjoying the larger canvases too. A LOT. Now a 12x16 seems tight to me.

I am debating the daily painters websites.... shouldn't mention that here I suppose, but I just don't think my work fits the genre. I get some inquiries, but my larger paintings are too much for most buyers on there. And now that I am going bigger still...
I have this constant debate with myself over how much self promotion and marketing to do. Should I bother with direct sales at all? Should I go entirely to direct sales? Should I enter more shows? Join more groups? Be all over ETSY and FineArtAmerica and DPG and DPW and advertise? Should I move my blog to my website? Open a "store" on my site? Keep everything on my own domain? Will I lose all my followers? Sheesh -- 717!?!?! When did that happen? (WOW!)
OR... should I enjoy painting and hope my galleries will do the work for me?

Its a real conundrum. The economy is still lagging, art sales continue to be slow and there are sooo many quality artists producing so much wonderful work that its hard to know how to compete and make my voice heard. Hence my desire to experiment more and move in new directions. Perhaps its just time for growth and I am ready for it. I started blogging in 2006. I started painting larger "gallery" work and dropped the small daily paintings somewhere in 2011. And now I'm ready for a new chapter.

Was this what I hoped this post would be about? No. It took on a life of its own. Its good to meander those unplanned paths once in awhile.
I'm hoping you all will come along with me as I wander.

Morning Stroll

12x12 oil on cradled panel

Available at Gardner Colby Gallery.

Tete a Tete

11x14 oil on linen

Ask Castle Gallery about this painting.

Happy Valentine's Day! For your listening pleasure - the wonderful Edith Piaf - l'hymne à l'amour

Passion Tea and Talk

12x16 oil on linen

Gallery info to come.

I really enjoyed painting all those people on the lawn and this painting is one of the larger ones I painted last week. I wanted to lighten the palette again because I didn't want the shadowy areas to get too heavy or oppressive. On a sunny day, lots of light is reflected into the shadows and I wanted a more glowing look.
I've been taking care of business lately. All those behind the scenes things like catching up with my galleries, redistributing work, bookkeeping (ugh!) and ordering supplies. Today I painted my monthly challenge painting. Check in tomorrow to see the group's project this time. It was a fun one for me.

Tête-à-tête

11x14 oil - linen mounted on gatorboard

Finally following up with my demo painting. I really liked the loose quality I had when I finished at the New Braunfels Art League meeting and didn't want to muck with it too much. So I worked a little more in the faces and gestures of the couple and filled in some of the white canvas... but left the majority alone.

There is a good lesson in that. Stopping before its done. Was it Richard Schmid who wrote something like that? It takes two people to paint a painting... the artist and someone to tell the artist when to stop.

Today I needed that person. I lost my vision, got carried away with too many small brush strokes and ended up with a busy mess. The only good thing about a bad painting is that it makes me anxious to get back to work first thing in the morning and do it right.

Summer Solstice '09

12x16 oil on panel - sold
Ask Castle Gallery about this painting.

Castle Gallery in Fort Wayne, Indiana, will be hosting a summer artist's reception on Thursday evening, Aug. 20th. If you are in the area, you should definitely get over to see the gallery and meet some fabulous artists.
Timing was such that I am not going to be there... until a week later! On the 28th, I will be in the gallery for a visit. More details next week.

Sunday Brunch

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $12 s/h - sold

I've been working, but have been to lazy to post anything. I think the heat is making me pleasantly lethargic or comfortably numb. This little painting I did to try to loosen up after working on a larger painting yesterday. It reminds me of Ken Auster a lot. Must have had him on the mind!