SOLDthis is one of the what i'm calling "gallery unfriendly" pieces
i loved the way the sun lit up the grass and the bed of the truck. also the window of the second truck is lit up in a cool way. not your typical landscape painting but i loved the scene and i think i did it justice. light is what i'm painting. this one just happened to have some trucks involved. i sold the small one of this to my artist friend in richmond, sue morris.
i loved the way the sun lit up the grass and the bed of the truck. also the window of the second truck is lit up in a cool way. not your typical landscape painting but i loved the scene and i think i did it justice. light is what i'm painting. this one just happened to have some trucks involved. i sold the small one of this to my artist friend in richmond, sue morris.
give me a shout if you'd like one too!
8 comments:
Just being able to look at a flatbed truck and see a painting is what makes you a painter!
Great angles and elements of light and dark.
It's missing nothing. Wonderful piece.
bonnieluria-
thanks for that! i have had a confidence shaking week. you can see by my rant in the post "brave new world" that galleries are giving me crap about bringing pieces like this for them to sell. if its not a beachy, touristy pc. they wont hang it. when the lady whose yard i was in to paint this pc came out, she said "what are you painting" i said these trucks. she says "why?" that cracked me up. we as artists see beauty in the mundane and thats absurd to mr. and mrs. normal person. glad you see the beauty as well and thanks for the kind words. i delved in-depth to your work and i love it. your on my favorites thingy list i check everday.
Good one Mike.
That is kind of lame that your galleries give you so much .... of a hard time.. about this kind of subject matter. I guess that ladies point of view sums up their attitude too.
One day you'll find a place that will hang these or any others you bring them.
frank-
i thought (when i first got into galleries) that when they agreed to let me in and consign my stuff there, that the decision about what i brought was mine. how wrong i was. they act like i work for them. they make me drag around all my paintings, drag them all out and let them pick the ones they want. that is extremely hard on me and the frames!
i figured out what i need to do to solve this "not taking certain subject matter problem" and thats to ONLY hang out at the beach, or in the marsh or near a boat dock. that way i dont see anything else i might want to paint LOL
seriously tho... youre right! i need to find a gallery that wont limit me on what i bring them.
thanks amigo. BTW that is some crew youre going on that paint trip with. i looked at their stuff. thats some talented group,,, hope the weather cooperates with y'all. cant wait to see it!
Mike- seems this is the dilemma of every geographical place.
Yet, I believe and have found to be true, that if you do what you love, and present it in your own style, there is an audience.
When I moved here from NYC, I noticed how so many artists painted palm trees, hibiscus, hummingbirds, and thought, " they're beautiful, yes, but if I want to see a palm tree, I can look out my window ".
I was told when I started showing my work, that people here like Caribbean scenes. Made sense.
I mean , who wants to hang grimy, dark depictions of the underbelly of the George Washington Bridge on the wall of their open air living room.
BUT..... how many of these themes can you sell on one little island?
We cant' get in our car and drive somewhere else, and shipping your stuff is prohibitive.
I related more to people than to green landscapes ( maybe if I was better at them, that would change), but my point is, I did what I felt right about depicting and the response has been really great.
Also, you might want to consider bypassing galleries for one or two exhibits and perhaps team up with another artist, rent your own space, serve some crackers, cheese and wine, and promote yourselves. The dollars you'd spend on that would be a lot less than forking over 50 percent to a gallery that takes no joy in showing you off.
The web has made promotion easy and instant. Postcard mailings too.
I don't know what you have in the way of public space- a botanical garden, a well attended book store, a restaurant, something that can be a one night only to pump up the desire to buy on the spot. And people like meeting the artist.
Just some ideas.
We'll never please everyone and the masses are, well, the masses. But we don't need everyone, we need a few who see what we see.
I really love your new pieces on the later post. The way you caught that sunlight in the front lawn of the house and the cool shadow that created it- really terrific.
I'm touched that you find my stuff something you like- I have such a tough time having just switched from acrylics to oils- I'm realigning my brain.
Probably not a bad thing to do anyway.:-)
Take heart, keep doing what you do- because it sings!!!
bonnieluria- thanks for all your great ideas. i like the one about having an exhibit with somebody else on our own. definately want to consider that.
youre right. everyplace is the same. they only want to hang what has always sold in the past and they dont want to chance anything else. thanks for the nice words about the painting of the yard. it fell off the brush on a really nice sunday afternoon. doesnt get any better than that.
glad you went to the figures
instead of painting palm trees *)
Hi Mike and Bonnie. This is a very interesting topic and I think all artists have to deal with it in one way or another if they sell their work.
Wish I had more time to add to this more.
I think it is important to paint what you want to and feel strongly about, that is how the good art is going to come out of you.
I am in a lucky situation. I found what I wanted to paint then realized there was a market for it.
Galeria Gardner accepts ANY painting that I want to hang. Some are what you might consider not gallery material, but I do sell paintings of old trucks or the old train station etc...
I know that living in a tourism town there is always a bigger draw for the landmarks, but I have done them a lot and dont want to just keep cranking them out. When I have something new to say about that type of subject, I do one or two. Otherwise, I paint what turns me on and hope that someone sees the inspiration in it.
I sell paintings of Boats and Maine or Cape Cod here in Mexico, so it is not just about selling the local stuff either.
Bottom line is that you just got to be true to yourself, which both of you are.
Let the sales find you, don't paint to sell.
Better go, I am running late.
Good topic, I would be interested in hearing from more artists on this.
frank
when you take stuff to your new england galleries will they take your old trucks rusting, cool rundown urban stuff (ala William Wray) or do you have this same problem?
i was wondering if these galleries couldnt take a small portion of them from us painters as a concession.
i see stuff they take from other artists that look like *&((^& and have no more chance of selling for them than a well done "anti touristy" painting. and sometimes these pieces of crap are twice or three times the size (taking up wallspace)
why not. if we sell well for them i'd think they'd go along?
had one gallery fight me on one and she agreed to take it under duress and ended up selling it in less than a week. so that shows they dont know every customer who walks in the door eh?
weigh in frank. the painter/lurkers here are, i'm sure going through the same ordeal in their little corner of the world as well.
Post a Comment