Career Choices

There are two basic paths with offshoot variations, to a career as a painter. I chose path one as a young painter out of art school. Art school teaches you nothing about business. In fact they steer you toward building prestige and elitism for artists.

 I spent the first part of my career entering competitions, getting to be listed with auction houses, Who’s Who, etc. I worked very hard to be one of the known Florida artists. I did museum shows, art center shows, building my resume, bio, and statement. Later, I did all the big Florida Paint Outs. I consulted on all of them, and I was the project manager for the Epcot Artists in the Garden paint out for 10 years. I belonged to all the southern plein air organizations, Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, of which there were many at the time. Path one is climbing the ladder.

 About ten years ago, I began to despise all of path one. It takes a lot of pointless energy to walk on path one. You do it because you have the false sense that it is the only legitimate path and that you will be marginalized without it. I woke up one day and said I’m done!

 I stopped doing paint outs, stopped doing shows where you must pay to play. I only do invitational exhibits now. I stopped caring about building resumes, bios, statements. No one has asked me for one in 10 years. 

 Path two is very different. It is cozy and very kind. I no longer compete with other artists. Instead, I began to learn to cheer for their successes. I began to make friends with my collectors instead of the artsy-fartsy community. I didn’t need to run around hoping to be seen with the cool people. I began to put my energy into my paintings instead, spending my precious time learning how to paint. 

 Perhaps I have become marginalized by the art community for stepping away, but I’m a better painter now and I have a lot more friends, both artists and collectors. All the paths we take, make us what we are. I wouldn’t change any of it.

 Life is wonderful for country painters.....

 

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Thinking Too Much

 Sometimes thinking too much is dangerous. I have spent a lifetime of thinking about the business of being a painter. I spent years trying to figure out how to sell, how to market successfully and worrying about being marginalized by not hanging around the right galleries, museums and arty people.

 

 I spent years building up my teaching business, running all over the place teaching workshops, teaching locally and coaching students online. Writing tutorials and so forth.  I've been asked many times to write books about painting, plein air painting, and marketing. I even seriously made the effort to sit down and write a painting book but I got too distracted by it and gave up.  I just couldn't settle down to it long enough. My best writing has been on blogs because I think in an adventurous sense. I like to write a few paragraphs and be done. As an ADD artist, that's about all of the attention span I possess as a writer.

 

 After all of this busyness, I find that I like to spend my time painting and hanging around my studio and my nature trail now. I've spent a lot of years acquiring information and learning to paint and I'm far from through acquiring knowledge. In fact I am just getting to the stage where I can study in earnest.

 

 I won't make the mistake of wringing my hands and saying why did I spend all of those years doing all of those busy things? I can accept the fact that they were important at the time and I actually cared about being a known painter then. I've been very lucky to have a good career and to be known to the people who support me in so many ways. I've learned that they are really the only people who I should care about pleasing with my work other than myself. I have learned the art of study and passion for my work as an artist. I'm excited every time I step up to the easel and see that new canvas. The masterpiece painting is just around the corner for me every time. I trust that I will do it someday.

 

 

 Once I began to give up the clubs, organizations, the competitive world of juried competitions and shows, the teaching, I began to have time to focus on the fields and trees, the cattle, rivers and marshes that I love to paint. I stopped worrying about what other painters were doing, what they were painting and where my next collector would come from. I trusted that they would arrive, and they do. I still believe in serious marketing, which I do regularly, but my approach is more focused and toward others who love the same subjects I do.

 Life is good when you are a country painter………

 

Paper Making Growth

 My paper making growth continues. Today I made a batch of 12 pages, 5x7. That is the size of my usual batch. I filled the blender with old papers and newsprint and a bit of white latex paint, making a nice light grey. I did 6 sheets that color and then added a bit of orange dye, which turned the pulp to a tan color. After two more sheets, I added more orange dye to make a warm tan. At the last two pages I added cherry red dye to make a brick colored paper. Nice! The grey of the pulp neutralized all the colors, making them more subtle. I am learning as I go. 

Life is fun for country paper makers….

Who’s Fault?

 Who's fault that some artists can't make a living?  I know a lot of artists who automatically go to the old standard reasons. The economy is poor. Young people don't buy art. People only want famous artists' works. There is little art education in schools anymore. Everything is digital now. If you don't paint abstracts, no one will buy your art. There are really hundreds of reasons why artists have a hard time making a living.

 I am the first to admit that selling art is a difficult task. I've been in the art business all of my life. I do think it is far too easy to self pity and say it can't be done. Making a living as an artist is daunting, but it can be and is a viable way to make a living. Attitude and willingness to succeed are everything. This goes for any occupation.

 I don't spend my time worrying about any of the reasons that art doesn't sell. That is a complete waste of my time and resources. I do instead, spend a heck of a lot of time thinking about what I can do to sell enough art to pay my bills and buy art materials. My goal is not to become wealthy, though that would be lovely. My goal is not to be famous. There are obligations attached to that that I am not willing to carry out. My goal is to continue being an independent self sustaining artist, paying my own way through what is left of my time on this good earth. A simple, doable goal.

 I never for a moment think that I can't succeed. That is out of the question. I will not fail. I work very hard. I depend on others to aid me. My followers on social media are my referral team. I know they will help me and I will help them. I know my collectors want me to be successful, and they help me with referrals. I know that my work is of a subject that appeals to niche collectors. I don't try to appeal to every market. I don't try to be trendy. I don't switch my painting subjects and styles to fit the latest trends. I don't try to fit in to art societies, or groups any more. That is ego driven. I go my own way, secure in that my efforts are truly genuine.

 There is no blame for lack of success, only props that give you excuses to fail! Don’t play the blame game as an artist. Don’t go pro if you are not willing to work very hard. Enjoy a happy and fulfilling hobby instead. 

 Life is wonderful for country painters.......,

Sharing Our Thoughts

 I saw a post about a woman who wrote her thoughts just before her passing. It made me think of all the questions I should have asked my parents when they were still with me. 

 Artists have a specialized skill, as do other career professionals. I have been a blogger/group writer for long years. These blog/group postings are my professional career journal. I wonder at all of the information I and other artists have missed through the years that artists could have written and shared with artists coming behind them? It is not necessary to be an expert writer. 

 What could I have learned from Daniel Green’s musings? Anders Zorn, John Singer Sargent? There are hundreds of other artists, some nearly unknown in the art world who had important words to share. 

 I know some artists like to be mysterious, who don’t like to share information. Perhaps they are afraid to be copied or out done by someone who might have more talent. I never worry about that. In fact, if I help someone to become a master painter, I will have done my job as a mere student of painting myself.

 

Sharing is caring for country painters…….

 Value of Art

 

I've been thinking a lot about value of art. So many unfortunate people don't seem to relate to art as having value. What they don't realize is that art relates to every part of their lives. Industrial design makes the furniture they use, and the tools they pick up every day.

 

Artists are the historians of our culture. We record our time on this planet and interpret our culture's style, tools, and politics, along with the beauty we see. I decided to put into words what I think the value of my art is for my time on this planet. 

 

What is the real value of owning original art?

 

Most of my collectors are not wealthy. They don’t buy art as a speculative investment. Many of the best treasures have true emotional value. My collectors tell me that my paintings speak to them as memories of places and times they have experienced as destinations throughout their lives.

They want to be closer to the natural world. They enjoy the birds, flowers and trees I paint. My paintings take them out of their busy lives, if for only a moment at a time. They are concerned about our environment and long to savor a moment outside of their office, out in the wild spaces where I roam. Through my paintings and stories, they join me.

 

Owning an original painting means owning the only one in the world. I don’t sell copies or reproductions of my work. There is a magic to possessing the only painting like it.  There are many reasons to own original art.

 

Think about starting your collection or giving art to those you love. Start small. Tiny and small paintings are less expensive and still bring joy.  If you already have a large collection, think about gifting art to others who will have the same joy in ownership that you feel with each of your paintings. Paintings last your lifetime and for future generations to enjoy.

 

Artists have a marvelous friendship with their collectors. My collectors mean everything to me. They are my friends, supporters and part of my every day life. Our relationship goes far beyond an exchange of art for income. We develop friendships through mutual interests and deep respect for each other and our families. We don't concern ourselves with hateful political rhetoric or taking sides. Our relationship builds community and all of the positive aspects of our lives. 

 

Artists have a truly wonderful life......

The Flower Studies

 My canvases arrived and I am three paintings in to the flower studies planned. Unfortunately I broke one of the canvases, the stretcher bars. I am going to try to repair it, but I set it aside for now.

 

The great thing I love most about studies is that they seem to wander where they want to. I am not restricted to advancing them into refinement. I don’t have to do anything other than explore. Fast and loose is they way of studies. 

One of the purposes of this particular group is exploration of how positive and negative spaces work out in a square format. The other is a play, between vibrancy of the flowers next to neutrality of the negative space, and neutrality of the flowers, next to vibrancy of the negative space.  It is also a lot of fun playing around with shapes, building some up and flattening out others, simplifying.

 

Life is swell for country painters…..

Series

 I love to do series of paintings. Sometimes the series is based on a subject, sometimes based on a particular palette I want to test for its limits. Sometimes I work intermittently on long term series. I have been working on a series called Night Palms for many years. I might do two or three of the theme a year.

 

Recently I completed a fruit tree series. The first one sold a week ago to a tea party visitor to my studio. 

I am waiting for a group of 12 new 12x12 deep gallery wrap canvases to be delivered for my next series. It is going to be a study series for florals. I want to explore a more primitive, semi abstract exploration of some of my favorite flowers. Getting back to design elements for these studies. 

 

I often do series of paintings during the summer months when Florida slows down for artists. It is so hot here that not much goes on socially between June and October. It is a fine time to explore the art of a series.

 

Life is swell for country painters....... 

Florida Greens

 Painting Florida greens is a true challenge for beginning painters. Florida has every green imaginable. In Spring and Summer they can be overwhelming. The biggest mistake I see for painters is an attempt to match the saturation painters see in the landscape on their canvas. Over saturation is a huge problem. 

 

What you see in the landscape rarely translates well to a painting.  On canvas, these over saturated green look fake and ill conceived. Intensity is pleasing in small doses, but overdone not good. If you want color to stand out, subdue the area around it. Pouring more color on doesn’t work well.

 

My example is the posted painting. I had been looking at this magnificent Flame tree for long years. I noticed that many of the painters who love this subject handled their painting with high saturation of not only the tree, but of all the greens and landscape surrounding the tree. I did not care for that approach. To me the painting screamed to me as the viewer. 

 

I was keenly aware of this when I decided to do this painting. I purposefully subdued the greens and Palms around the flame tree so the tree would be the star. Nothing should compete with a tree like this. It is truly the ⭐️. Everything else is simply a support for it. It turned out to be one of my favorite paintings. I still have it. These trees don’t grow where I live, and many people are not familiar with it.

 

One easy way to subdue greens is by adding a tad of cadmium orange or red to the mixture.

 

Country painters love painting greens.... 

Grace

 Grace is something we sorely need this year.  More and more, competitiveness has become the norm. I am appalled to see most of reality TV is about competition, even with young kid shows.  Winning or losing is all important now.

I believe we need to consider that being gracious winners or losers is more important than the prize. Perhaps we have forgotten that all of us win and lose regularly in life, from small irritations and victories to large and important. 

Most of our differences can be ignored. We all want our families to thrive. We all want respect and dignity. We can start with that without the anger and resentment of defeat or the righteous superior attitude of victory. I know I need to work on this myself, do you? 

I learned about grace from two important women in my life, my mother who was a traditional southern woman on the surface, and made of steel underneath. My other mentor of grace was a woman I worked for and have known for many years. She lives in Kentucky now. She was also made of steel but had incredible grace toward those of lesser means and status. 

It is never too late to reach out to each other, despite our differences. Treat others with grace, though they may not want it.

Life can be grace filled for country painters.......