Tuesday, October 9, 2012

SOLD-Outer Banks Skyline-4x6

$OLD
caught this sweet little scene heading to manteo last year. lots of atmosphere in the bright sunlight made everything glow!
 
now to continue the series dispelling myths about painting/painters. Myth: painters get to paint all day, everyday. this is a commonly held belief by many but its just not true. to be in this business there are tons of tasks to be done that take us away from painting. here are just a few.
 travel to and from painting locations/states/galleries we sell in, framing stuff up, calling or running for paint supplies, inventorying work on databases, taking pics of work for publicity purposes, scheduling demos and shows, emails, and on and on. you get the idea. to be honest i spend over half my day doing the marketing side of the business on a good day. some days its all day. some weeks especially when i'm teaching alot, i dont paint but once or twice, except for demos. that has its own inherent problems. sometimes its really inconvenient but i force myself to work in some small painting on super busy days. ever heard the saying "when i go a few days without painting i can tell it in my work. when i go a week without painting the galleries can tell it, and when i go a few weeks without painting the collectors/buyers can tell it! thats definately true. Most of us take bits and pieces of vacations but i dont know many who take a few weeks off, just because it feels so weird (like youre rusty or something) when you start back up again.
 
so we juggle a ton of non-painting related duties with painting and it all seems to work out. i dont know about anybody else out there, but i dont paint nearly as much as i wish i could (or thought i would when i first started). hey i just had a good idea! anybody wanna be my agent? LOL 
 
note: again i'll state that i am in no ways complaining. i love my job! just giving a look into the life, thats all. hope you enjoy!

2 comments:

Marla said...

I figure I spend the equal amount of time on non-painting tasks for each painting. First there's mechanical things like cutting, prepping, and sanding boards. If I'm painting out of the studio there's packing, travel, and set-up time. After I finish a painting, I photograph or scan it; resize it for several different uses; upload it to three different places and enter information about it there. Enter the information about it into my spreadsheet - title, date, medium, etc. I try to be efficient with those tasks but I'm an artist, not an accountant :) When it's dry I finish the back with a coat of paint to seal it; attach a hanger; print and attach a Certificate of Authenticity. Then, if purchased, wrapping, packaging, and mailing it, along with a hand-written note.

I'm not complaining either, because I love all of this, but if anyone is wondering why paintings cost "so much," it's because of all the unpaid labor behind it!

p.s. I'm really enjoying these longer posts you've been writing.

mike rooney studios said...

thanks for adding to the dialogue marla!