Downsizing opens up oportunities for others

This is an interesting take on downsizing by author Brian Sherwin. Well worth the read. The challenge most artist face is finding "THE MARKET" where we fit and are comfortable in. From my experience, I think it evolves with opportunity and generally sets our market value too. Brian is a constant, who helps artists navigate through the quicksand with wonderful moral support and ideas.

 http://theartedge.faso.com/blog/88234/downsizing-your-art-it-may-pay-to-create-small

It also made me think a bit. Why downsize in the first place? It's a fallback position for anyone including an artist!

Interesting word tho... it has broad meaning when it comes to a persons financial position or age, when point A to B need to be a short straight line. Perhaps all humans find themselves downsizing at some point. I like to think it also means there's another market out there... those on the way up filling those vacant spaces. When my clients downsized, which rarely happened because they most always enjoyed multiple homes, those "other" homes generally fitted particular needs depending on the experience they wanted in their lives. Likewise, square footage revolves around space planning and needs at every economic level. I'm not sure how that equates to art....perhaps affordability or lack of space if you are an avid collector and fill every square inch with art.

As an artist working in the 21st Century, my visual and communication range is global, true of anyone with a computer or I-phone. I'm not sure real-estate trends or even design trends have significant meaning.....unless it's global. What's happening on the East Coast is not the same as the West Coast or Hawaii or for that matter between New York and Miami or London.

Why look at the small picture when it comes to our careers or what we choose to paint and the sizes we'll offer? Somewhere out there is a market either broad or niche that will embrace us.

EYE CANDY - A NEW GICLEE
 

955 Koi and Lilies 56x48 oil on linen wrap (3-9-15)
  
Fine Art America is easy to use, quick delivery with a generous variety of custom options to fit any preference.

PURCHASE FROM FINE ART AMERICA

Working on future dividens

The first step was securing the digital capture. Mine were by "OLD TOWN EDITIONS". I had (12) high resolution images that required Photoshop intervention before anything else could happen..

PROOFING DIGITAL CAPTURES

Last week was busy indeed, proofing digital images for printing. Nice change from painting...actually very detailed and tedious work but interesting. Much of its repetitive use of a blemish tool so it gives you time to think of other things too. One thing is why its so important to do this particular job well, it lasts forever or at least it could. It's the basis for long term returns from a particular painting - making the master perfect is as important as the original painting itself. Perhaps more important in the long run. We artists have been granted a silent gift via our copy rights that is quite significant - few think about it beyond protecting our originals from unscrupulous copying. I personally think that is the most insignificant aspect to it. Our exclusive use of the image is monumental when you really think about it. We can sell reproductions of our originals well beyond our lifetime. Sounds too good to be true but in this case it is true... however, getting it done is a big job. A business unto itself and not something you simply tinker with when the mood strikes.

START MARKETING

Now that I have master proofed images, I have a product to sell! That means getting it out there in the system. After the digital master is ready, you gotta see it in print. I found lots of options there - outside services are abundant, plus we can use online platforms that do the whole thing like FINE ART AMERICA. I decided to start with them. They have been at it for a while; nice people, I used them a few years back....even made some sales. However, I was always having problems with my images not being quite good enough to complete the sale so I lost more than a few. Most digital cameras will do small works well enough, but not anything of consequence, so I moved on.

Today I'm back with FINE ART AMERICA. It's a simple upload, nothing more is required other than linking it up to my website because they do it all, including sales. They also just started an interesting commercial trade platform to accommodate large users, if you will, the wholesale market.

As you can see I already added a link and a slideshow to the blogs side bar at the very top. My website also has a new ARTIST CHOICE - GICLEE collection with a slideshow and a purchase link to FINE ART AMERICA.

I'm not sure how I fit in FINE ART AMERICA'S market, but it is exposure on a global scale and for now that can't be bad. BTW. the buyer or artist can buy non-stretched canvas prints and forgo all the other stuff at very attractive price points.

NEW GICLEE ADDED TODAY!

946 Koi & Lilies 36x36 oil on linen (1-28-15)

Professional digital capture using the large format "Better Light" system

PURCHASE FROM FINE ART AMERICA

This link leads you to the actual painting and all the many options FINE ART AMERICA has to offer including pillows......had to do it LOL!

I also added painting 946 to my website under "ARTIST CHOICE - GICLEE'S"

There are volumes of links and likes that effectively gets the word out. However it takes time to connect up all these different platforms like INSTAGRAM. The one I'm most interested in, but yet to figure out how to do, is a simple upload.... but I will because it's my next little project today or tomorrow.

All this takes time from my new collection - need to get back to it before I forget how to paint! Unfortunately I still have a few images to proof. So, the jobs not quite done yet!

Great week!

Sunday: Yesterday was a good painting day, I even unclogged a bathroom drain, my first ever! The liquid stuff never worked for me and only damaged finished surfaces - nuisance stuff all the way around. I bought a 15 foot drain auger made of coiled steel at Loews for the ridiculous price of $7.98.....worth much more in my opinion. The last plumber charged $168 to do the same job it took me less than 10 minutes to do........and there were (2) guys. I guess the other one was there for encouragement!

Guy's this thing works!

Yesterday was such a good day, I managed a 2nd session after lunch and my drain project. My lily pond is out of control too, I had to chop out some to give the fish a bit of room. The lilies are especially nice this year and blooming profusely, last year they bloomed well into the fall. So I think the fish and lilies have established a perfect ecosystem.

Not much room for pond inhabitants..

None of this has anything much to do with painting or my easel time yesterday. Soooo......my current painting is a seascape on a 56x48 linen wrap. This time it's not gloomy like the last one. I'm after the illusion of 3-D depth of warm sunlight drifting down onto sun drenched white caps. Right now I have the background in place, but my waves still need depth adjustments. I also used W/N Griffin alkyd fast drying white with Neo-Megilp so I could work over yesterdays work if need be. My normal oil white even with Neo-Megilp, which is also a dryer has a tendency to take a few days to setup enough to work over.

 I learned a little trick - the bottom part of the painting is too dark (overhead skylights)

I placed some white gator board at the bottom to reflect light back up on the painting. Now the lower waves are lighter and on target with the upper portion.

963-1 56x48 oil on linen wrap (5-16-15)

9:23am time to paint!

 DAYS END

963-2 partial view (5-17-15)

   
Monday: I was to pickup my digital captures and paintings from Old Town Editions in Alexandria, Va. today but I can't stop in the middle of a painting. I need another session on my waves. My foreground wave is looking pretty good, the 2nd wave is not quite right yet. I studied it for quite awhile last night and it works well in diminished light. That tells me I need to defuse my edges more. However, the trick today is merging the upper atmosphere with warm sunlight filtering down to my surface. In this case its an overlay application and the surface has to be dry for any reasonable outcome. Normally I would do this as a single action at the front-end while painting the sky. So if it should give me any problems there's a way out.

If I get done today, tomorrow I can change gears for a day or so and work on my other project.

7:52am time to paint!

 963 Summer Mists 56x48 oil on linen wrap (5-18-15)

Tuesday: My painting is done, signed off and cataloged...and I'm off to pick up my digital captures this morning in Alexandria...

A CLEVER IDEA

David Cheifetz

DAVID is a young artist I follow and started collecting, we both entered the profession about the same time. Over the top talented, he recently started an online solo exhibit with RSVP invitations and a timed chat room reception to boot. The first one, I couldn't figure out how to enter , but now its easy, just click on the the Un/Realism link on his site. 

Aside from the overall concept, the part I find brilliant is how David presented each painting visually......check it out!

I have starting point - AIR & REFLECTED LIGHT

Monday: Finally some 20x20 warm-ups got the engine going. Basically by revisiting a few 2011 paintings about air, fog and indirect light..... Perhaps mood and effect will be the real object of the collection. Hard to say at this point. The smallest will be 48x44 up to 66x60 - if the occasion arises it could go larger. So, the game's on!

Wednesday: Yesterday morning by the end of the day I had a gloomy, rainy day on the river, silent and damp, rather lonely painting. Not at all what I was after when I started. Then, I didn't have a solid plan either, it was more important to get the process going. So if nothing else, mood was well established!

 962-1 48x44 oil on linen wrap (5-12-15)

The surface light reflection will be the key to any success here. It has to be liquid, intense light that glows vertically. This limited palette or lack of colour is clearly hanging around.

9:24am - Time to turn on the lights!

962-2 48x44 oil on linen wrap (5-13-15)

Thursday: It's the kind of day if you're on the river you want to go home, sit in front of a fire or watch a movie. The indirect light source here causes the landscape to be keyed down to a very early morning gray day effect. I do like that it has an interesting surface glow developing. But, where to stop this thing and how to handle the upper part of the left side trees is on the agenda today. Yesterday I worked on the lower section exclusively so my top had an extra day to dry.

962-3 48x44 oil on linen wrap (5-13-15)

I signed off after working on the trees most of the day... even removed some miss steps before calling it quits. I'm not sure this is what I had in mind doing, but time will tell. The painting at 15 feet is very finished looking but the details below tell another story of loose abstraction.

Friday: After sleeping on it, I could bulk up the tree foliage a bit by following the light down on the foliage with some strong highlights. I took some of this out towards the end yesterday because it was confusing the eye as an additional focal point which I didn't need.

 962-4 Spring Storm 48x44 oil on linen wrap (5-15-15)

Saturday: Will I ever learn? I ended up noodling with this thing for hours yesterday and then later last night removing the same thing I removed the previous day. I don't have the patience for twiggy trees! The left-side still bugs me, but, I'm moving on before I do something nasty to it!

BuyRVAart

A new ARTS platform for Richmond was launched yesterday buyRVAart
the brainchild of Jenni Kirby, owner of Crossroads Art Center and her business partner Cathy Fallin, former owner of Commonwealth Kinko's in Richmond. BuyRVAart will be the website for people living in the Richmond VA Area (RVA), to discover everything that is Art.  BuyRVAart will be the only website in Richmond that focuses on both the Visual and Performing Arts.  

 

 

Meet the Owners

Jenni Kirby

 

With a childhood start in performing arts and later developing a love for visual arts, Jenni Kirby's talents - and business acumen - have been honed to support the RVA arts community.

Her business degree from Mary Washington College coupled with her exposure to many family owned businesses prepared this mosaic artist for the pivotal moment when she realized that her artist friend's needed something: They needed an opportunity to show their work, but not be burdened with the "business details" of enterprise.   With a solid business plan, Jenni formed the Crossroads Art Center in Richmond and opened her welcoming doors to artists - they display it and she handles the business transactions. The center currently houses over 225 local RVA artists in 25,000 square feet and processes over half a million dollars in sales each year.

Possessing a creative mind that is business savvy, Jenni conceived of a way to expand the reach of local artists - beyond Richmond, and beyond Crossroads Art Center. Her vision for buyRVAart is to shine a spotlight on the artists of Richmond, Virginia and to help their sales reach a global market. Jenni has been introducing incredible RVA artists and their exceptional art to collectors and admirers since 2002.  She believes in the local arts community, and that everyone can-and should-collect local art, and that artists should have more opportunities to make a living by creating and selling their work.

Jenni's ingenuity is seldom at rest and she is exhilarated by the prospect of being THE Source for RVA art.

 

 

Meet the Owners

Cathy Fallin

Believing that the local RVA arts should be universally promoted and accessible globally, regardless of the buyer's geography, Cathy has invested in BuyRVAArt to make that belief a reality. As a successful entrepreneur and professional, Cathy recognizes that the power of a central source is a mandate for a successful arts community.

With an early background in performing arts, Cathy has always had a passion for and been an ardent supporter of the arts. Although her career ultimately led her away from a day-to-day involvement in the arts, her desire to bolster them has never waned.

Her 18 year career with Kinko's (now owned by FedEx), with the later 5 years as the President and owner of the local Commonwealth Kinko's, afforded her the opportunity to plan and grow successful businesses. With a keen talent for financial management, Cathy uses her career experiences to underpin the infrastructure of BuyRVAArt to assure artists, art lovers and buyers alike that this will be the resource they will be able to rely upon for generations to come.

THE LADIES HAVE THE DAY! CONGRATULATIONS & BEST WISHES FOR A BLOCKBUSTER IDEA AND MAKING IT HAPPEN!!!

 

The warm-up painting

Saturday: Like a prize fighter or most any activity including sex, we like a little warm-up! I'm not sure painting is any different. I absolutely love these extended breaks between collections, but suspect time off has a consequence. The little warm-up below shakes that out a bit, at least for me. I already know my first few paintings will be about working out a concept before I hit any real stride. Warm-ups generally cover something you already know and this 20x20 is no different. A limited palette of (5) colours and white.....no reason for that. I was never into being clever with a few colours.... colours are out there to be used and I do!

960 Virginia Beach - Spring Storms 20x20 oil on linen (5-8-15)

I spent yesterday looking at all my references..... we even had a spectacular spring sunrise. Not much got my attention other than the very large white canvases surrounding me meant for the "Air Collection".

Air of course is about atmosphere and that means landscapes and such. Last time it expanded into and under the water... another kind of air.  It's pretty clear my references won't be much help other than defining shapes.....making sure things feel right like the warm up painting below done at a different time for a different reason. Venice was just a setting choice. This was (1) of (4) painted using a very nondescript black and white reference pulled from commons in 2011. Just curious where it would lead.....

591 Venice Salute 20x20 oil on linen (9-8-11)

Old reference 

Sunday: The only problem, I don't want to paint Venice or London. Although if I had to choose now,  I would go with London.

8:51 Time to paint.....another seascape

 961 Spring Storms 20x20 oil on linen (5-10-15)

I'm not into seascapes right now either, but I do like the idea of indirect celestial light drifting down reflecting on a surface. Some more 2011 examples below......same view. The small one was the reference for the larger one.

 

 515 James from Belle Isle 8x10 oil on linen (5-20-11)

584 James from Belle Isle 30x30 oil on linen (8-18-2011)

So, I have a little paste-up board here to spring from. It looks like any setting above could be used to achieve my singular focus concept of AIR. I also like the idea of reflected light as opposed to seeing the source, as is often the case.

Back in the art cave

Monday:  I picked up "Singular Focus" Sunday from the Stravitz. They did a wonderful job presenting my new collection and I'm forever grateful to Dick Stravitz and his staff.

I wrote volumes of blog posts in my absence but decided not to publish any of it in favor of a condensed version. My attention was diverted towards the reproduction market and long term benefits from my original art. It's safe to say I'm on a learning curve, if nothing else learning the buzz words. The words that make you sound intelligent about a field you know zip about! I'm especially fascinated with the 3D technology entering the field of fine art canvas reproduction.

If I expect to get anywhere while learning how all this works and paint too, it has to be done in workable segments. So...I need a simple plan to start. I'll use outside services to get the ball rolling, first with "digital captures" of my paintings.

My real plan is to approach this on two fronts.... licensing my images for global distribution and producing a personal collection. I'll use my personal favorites from each collection. For now, those images won't be licensed and the originals will be retained for the long term benefit.

I already have a few professional scans like the one below by Staples Fine Art using a flat bed scanner - the "digital capture" is a whopping 70mb. A small file compared to what I'll use going forward..

669 Koi & Lilies 30x30 oil on linen (6-13-12)

This morning I came across another service a fellow artist uses, Old Town Editions  near DC. It looks like they can handle my large formats and do most of what I want....perhaps eventually 3D services too. Better yet, they are close enough to work with. 

I was able to set up a meeting Wednesday with Old Town Editions to look at eye candy and go over their services. At the same time I'll turn a group of paintings over for "digital capture". Perhaps learn some more "buzz words" too.

Wednesday: The old SUV is loaded and ready to go.......if the eye candy tastes good the game's on!

It turned out to be a good trip. Parking and access in Old Town Alexandria is a serious challenge. They can pretty much do it all so I left a dozen paintings for digital capture. Nice people to work with:=)

Thursday: Happy camper here, other than some 3D printing research there's not much to do until the digital files are ready on the 14th. I have until then to find a 3D service or go conventional. As much as I like the concept it might be smarter to use tried and true in the beginning.

There are some time constraints... my gallery space at Crossroads will be the launching pad for the reproductions. The gallery was loaned out for a benefit until the end of the month. It's a golden opportunity to make a changeover using a combination of originals and reproductions. I might do a 2nd exhibit for "Singular Focus" - Koi and Lilies mixed with a few reproductions, if I can manage it in time.

I want to get back to painting - so this is a good project stopping point. The rest can happen between painting sessions.

6-weeks off..... my 1st painting will be a small 20x20 warmup....time to do it!