What I liked most about my last painting.... it was the first "BIG ONE" in quite some time. Seems like a good idea keeping the momentum going with another one for the New Year!
Large scale works accomplished an important roll as show anchors. The important paintings to draw you in. The breadcrumbs if you will. These are also the paintings to keep control of until the last possible moment and perhaps beyond.
Large scale works accomplished an important roll as show anchors. The important paintings to draw you in. The breadcrumbs if you will. These are also the paintings to keep control of until the last possible moment and perhaps beyond.
DAY ZERO - canvas on the easel!
Canvas 1190 (66x78)
I'm good to go first thing in the morning. The mailman just delivered a new supply of metal leaf. Remember leaf first. Establish a pleasing pattern, because this stuff reacts off any light source which can easily throw off how your eye moves through a painting!
DAY 1
I'm often asked "Why BIG"? There are several good reasons to paint large scale works. If for nothing else to command wall space, control the room and place the viewer into your work. Large scale works do that remarkably well. They also help sell our smaller work which most collectors will have room for.
Big spaces require appropriate sized work. Think beyond our immediate surroundings. All you have to do is look at art/design history to know if its true or not! It seems to me it is better to try painting for those walls than not.
Big spaces require appropriate sized work. Think beyond our immediate surroundings. All you have to do is look at art/design history to know if its true or not! It seems to me it is better to try painting for those walls than not.
This is the first time for silver metal leaf. So far I like it!
DAY 2
"BIG ONES" can hold the focus in a
room, start a conversation, improve the visual flow and leave a lasting
memory to any gathering or exhibit. Colour statements can also
work and even be smaller. All it has to do is steal your eye and divert
you to the next.
My third colour turned out to be
yellow which is a wonderful compliment to blue and lavender.
DAY 3
The side shot shows the painting better. The full front view shows how silver leaf reacts to light, the left cluster shows up darker than the right. The leaf causes values to shift with the light as a viewer moves by. A cool thing? Perhaps!
Exhibit light plays a major part keeping the viewer moving. It's all about balancing size, colour and light that can make or break any space or exhibit. Or in this case a painting! Well, some wine, cheese and smooth music also help give it much needed animation to make it really successful; another form of art.
DAY 3
The side shot shows the painting better. The full front view shows how silver leaf reacts to light, the left cluster shows up darker than the right. The leaf causes values to shift with the light as a viewer moves by. A cool thing? Perhaps!
Exhibit light plays a major part keeping the viewer moving. It's all about balancing size, colour and light that can make or break any space or exhibit. Or in this case a painting! Well, some wine, cheese and smooth music also help give it much needed animation to make it really successful; another form of art.
Art, big or small needs air to breath, and show off the good qualities of an artist's work. Not crammed in shoulder to shoulder like a bad bus ride....no one wants to stay there long. Upscale marketers know presentation is everything when it comes to selling high ticket items - art is a high ticket! But more importantly, art is special because it is a one of a kind "thing" with limited supply, and hand produced by artists. Art is not manufactured like other luxury items or an artists giclee......made for the masses.
PROBLEM SOLVING
I'm clearly flying by the seat of my pants at the end of day three. A tree reflection turned into a moon.... with Koi fish! Several areas marked in red require a fresh look. The silver leaf is giving me some concern too! I have to change the prospective angle...or something!
DAY 4
Curating and display is more than a basic requirement as a purveyor of art. "BIG" art (good or bad) can stand on its own with or without space. However closer, art has to relate to it's neighbor. Stacked shoulder to shoulder it becomes a mosaic (the whole becomes one). The message is clear... no one is important here...... nothing special for a buyer: except maybe that "BIG ONE" over there:=)
The message here is we don't control how our work is presented to the public! "BIG" is an artists edge!
In some ways that could be changing with more artists selling their work via e-commerce. BTW.....more power to them because selling art is a career in itself. The internet tells us there is a lot of art for sale. In fact, its mind boggling. Laughing...I wonder if Amazon Prime is selling art! I might like to get on that train! All you need is lots of art and a good shipper. Maybe accept a little Bit coin....the current heart throb out there:=)
DAY 5 - COMPLETED CANVAS!
Without Humans 66x78 oil on linen (12-31-17 canvas 1190)
Black & White Cool
How big is big? Depends on the players.... Me, I think this one is clearly a small "BIG"
My not so new art career forced me into marketing. Something I never had to do as a designer...a good project, or word of mouth could easily set you up for years. Art is not quite the same way. Artists are part of an extremely over populated field. We can easily get lost in the stampede to capture any tiny spot in the sun. We help ourselves with a good website, perhaps a blog or two. Although the latter can be a bit dangerous. However, two things I know work well, national advertising and being able to paint on a "BIG" canvas!
I prefer "BIG" canvases over anything to do the job!
"In our time there are many artists who do something
because it is new.... they see their value and their
justification in this newness. They are
deceiving themselves.. novelty is
seldom the essential. This has to do
with one thing only.. making a subject
better from its intrinsic nature." Henri de Toulouse- Lautrec
