Having Fun

 While my studio is under construction, I’ve been having a swell time painting 4x6 acrylic paintings on watercolor 140 lb cold press at my design table. I always forget how much fun it is to do paintings on paper. I started with watercolor but soon tired of that. I like doing pen with watercolor but plain WC, not so much. It always seems bland to me and I don’t have the patience to wait for drying between layers. It is just not my game without the ink too.  Opaque is my game and it always has been. I love oils,acrylics,and casein. I don’t mind gouache but it is not my favorite.  

 

Waiting for my studio upgrade is hard. The studio is quite empty and unusable. I know it will be worth the wait, but I sure miss standing in front of my easel, listening to my WW2 and other history podcasts while I paint with joy. It has to be finished by July 14th. Fingers crossed! If not, I will have to put the old studio back together for 2 days. I would rather not do that! I’ve been thinking some about changing some things around in the room when I move back in. 

 

New spaces are fun for country painters…… 

Which Path?

 I’m at the stage of life and career where I need to make decisions on my studio space future. My home town art dealer moved to St Augustine and I do have paintings in his gallery, but no longer have paintings in my home town. 

 I’ve been going back and forth on whether to rent a town studio space or to make gradual cosmetic improvements and stay put in my own studio/gallery space. These decisions need to be made carefully.

 I am not that far out of town, and my friends don’t seem to mind the trip out to my studio. Most of them love being out in the sticks and in the cool months, they enjoy my walking trails. I love having a separate building behind my house and being able to paint whoever I want to. Endless Covid is an issue as well. People know that my studio is a safe Covid free space. I have set it up so visitors sit at one table and I sit  at a different table for safety. 

 I have in mind to have the tea party/gallery room painted a pale gray, charcoal gray baseboards and new laminate gray wood floors installed in that room. Art looks wonderful with gray walls. I don’t need to do the other rooms. I use a smaller room as my working studio space, the hallway and utility room can stay as they are.

I think my current studio is where I belong. I’m saving up for this project. Happily, my contractor told me yesterday she will be able to complete the upgrade before the July Studio tour by GFAA. My theme will be an old fashioned hot dog picnic, with fixings, and veges for my vegan friends. 

 Country painters have great studios…..

Do you

 There are more and more formulas written by so called experts and coaches for selling art, especially for social media. Not a day goes by that I don’t get unasked for advice on how I can become a great influencer and have tens of thousands of followers. I just have to pay them for their advice, or promote soap, underwear or food products. 

 

Then there are the trenders in the art world. Let’s all paint abstracts, street scenes, kids on beaches if we want to sell art. Let’s make sure we are using the Pelatone color of the year. If one artist is using good ideas for marketing their work, we must do that too. Let’s not come up with ideas that work for our own needs. 

 

I say do what is authentically you. Ignore the trends, ignore the new trending color, ignore what the popular artists do, unless you happen to love their colors or style. I have gone my own way through my career. I often stop and check whether an art venue works for me. I do let my emotions guide me. 

 

Most plein air painters in Florida have forgotten that  Cheryl Ritter and I produced the first paint out in Florida and Hope Barton and I started the Epcot Center WDW paint out. I was the project manager for that event for 10 years, and I consulted on the Forgotten Coast, Winter Park, Jax Arboretum, Evinston, New Smyrna Beach, and Wekiva Paint Outs. David Johnson and I created Plein Air Florida.  Yet, a time came when I knew paint outs were over for me. I left that world behind. It did not ruin my career, it was just time to go. 

 

Country painters have a swell life…

Observation

 I have long been fascinated with atmospheric qualities of the landscape. I credit that interest to all my years as a hobby naturalist and years of observation as a professional painter.

I like to think of a canvas as three basic planes of the landscape, distant, middle, and foreground. I am ever aware of those basic planes. They can be adjusted up and down the picture plane, but they are ever present. 

The key is thinking in the way we actually see. Unlike a camera’s photo, everything is not crisp and clear in our natural view. We tend to focus on one area of our view. The painter has the ability to put the focus on a plane, either distant, middle or foreground.  Inexperienced painters make everything sharply focused or everything blurred. They make everything highly saturated or bland, middle range in values or too contrasty. A good painting has variety. 

The painter’s job is to create a beautiful or interesting scene, not to copy nature. We must lead the viewer into the painting and keep them there as long as possible. If everything is the same focus, color saturation, sharp or carelessly finished, it becomes predictable. 

Painting is hard for country painters……

 

Stay Aware

 One of the most important things and artist must do, is to periodically analyze their activities and to be aware of changes in their career. Many artists get into a rote pattern of doing what they have done before just because that is what they always do. I see this very frequently.

 

I constantly think about an event and evaluate its potential for me for sales and marketing. Am I really getting anything out of it besides a few hours of fun? Is the event wearing on my body, my time and resources without return on investment? Am I doing an event because all of the "brand name" artists are going to be there rather than because it really helps me in some way? Does this event take me away from my own market, my studio time, and cost money instead of creating ROI?

 

 Many artists use the excuse that events are fun, so are worth the cost and time management issues. Frankly, I can have fun with a real vacation without the stress of working through a paint out or other event. Why not spend a few hundred dollars to go on a real vacation, where you are free to enjoy all of the fun?

 

 Every artist has to go their own path to success. I'm not suggesting that everyone should analyze the ROI for their time. I am a business woman, not just an artist, so my time must be used wisely as often as possible. 

Country painters have a wonderful life…..