Shortly, we celebrate Dream Big Artworks’ first year at Stony Point Fashion Park.
Every new business experiences growing pains. Dream Big Artworks is no different. At my age, time is the enemy—though experience helps keep it in check. I’ve always been early to the next sandbox, often before I fully know it’s there. When opportunity presents itself, I respond quickly—sometimes in nanoseconds. Some might call it jumping the gun. I call it the jump factor. You instantly know. You want it, regardless of the cost.
Stony Point was that way for me.
As a designer now artist, I’ve always known that presentation is key to building artist value through gallery sales. How work is shown matters. Where it lives matters. Context matters.
Our Reborn Originals showroom (Suite 115) and the new Dream Big Originals gallery (Suite 145) present SIP artists well—prime locations in a beautifully maintained, upscale mall reinventing itself after the massive buying shifts brought on by COVID. The big retail winner is Amazon, which has now added luxury brands to its lineup.
Stony Point is my kind of project. I like reinvention. That’s where I shine—as a problem solver and designer.
What I loved most about my art career, which began in March of 2009, was that it relied entirely on me. My time was my own. Art became a daily dedication. At 67, painting gave me a reason to continue. This blog is really about that experience.
That singular focus changed in 2016 when coaching entered my fifteen-year plan—not an easy sell at first. SIP Swimming-in-Paint was born organically from artists who wanted steady progress, professional guidance, and time to work things through—not just paint-and-pack-up workshops. SIP isn’t about quick results. It’s about building stronger work, better habits, and the confidence to finish well.
Looking back, it was a natural move. My career had always involved training craftspeople, developing staff, and building a vertical design business. I was doing it again—only this time it was about art.
And more specifically, about a need senior artists have: sharing our art legacy and protecting it, including the seventy-year copyright that survives us.
Presentation remains the foundation of artist value.
Estates can benefit long-term from an art career—even during the artist’s lifetime. An original painting has one lucky owner. The copyright does not transfer with the sale. That reality caught my attention years ago after a solo exhibition when someone asked, “Do you have prints?”
From that moment on, digital capture became two of my favorite words spoken to artists—second only to more paint.
High-quality digital captures allow original work to be reproduced in many ways, creating passive income through licensing and royalties—what someone recently called “free money.” I call it artist dividends. How valuable those dividends become depends on how well we build value as artists. That takes dedication—and finding your place in a very large creative sandbox.
To build value, art must speak loud and clear to be noticed.
Chuck Larivey OPA
Follow us and join the journey. SIP is all about creating "The Best Wall Painting".
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