In its rawest form painting is a bit like cooking.  The ingredients are shapes, lines, masses of color layered over other masses of color.  And you have to assemble these ingredients in a certain order.  You can’t put the cherry on top of the cake before you’ve mixed the batter.  And each element is adjusted relative to how it exists in context to the whole image.

How do I decide what to do next or in what sequence?  The best analogy that I can offer here is that it’s a bit like dancing.  You have to learn the steps to a particular dance and master your technique.  It helps to be physically fit and have some rhythm.  It’s not good if you just can’t hear the beat.  After that you just feel it.  You follow the beat.  There’s really not that much thinking involved.  As a matter of fact, when I’m thinking or tensing, I step back or I leave the painting for days at a time and return with a fresh perspective.  Then I can really see it.

Artist Ann Rea

For many years I only painted small field studies in oils.  There’s limited time available to complete a field study so consequently the canvases are small.  And so for years I believed that I could only paint in a small scale if I wanted to preserve the immediacy of my subject.  How did I get this rule stuck in my head?  I really don’t know but it was stuck.  And a large blank canvas was very intimidating.

Then for a over a year my fiancé would press me and say, “I think you should paint bigger.”  And I would say, “Who’s the artist here?”  But he was right.  And I’m committing this to writing so that he can print it out and revel in the fact that I said, “Honey, you were right!”

One day I just dared myself to do what Monet did. I selected a subject painted in and of the natural environment and inspired by the ambient light.  Then I brought it into my San Francisco beach studio and reinterpreted and refined it on a larger scale.  Wala!  It worked.  I loved the results. I knew what to do all along.  I just had to get out of my own way and challenge what I perceived to be my limitations.

Now I’m running out of space.  My beautiful but intimate studio is crowded with canvases and supplies.  But as I sell more and more large-scale canvases I’ll be opening my own studio and art gallery.

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This past Sunday my fiancé took me to see the Wayne Thiebaud exhibit at the San Jose art museum.  I could have spent all day there.  The title of the show is “Seventy Years of Painting.”  It was amazing to see a slice of my mentor’s work representing his life’s effort.

I sat and watched the 70-minute interview with him and heard him offer the same observations and advice that he offered me.  That as painters we are in the business of creating illusions, that one must use critical confrontation to edit our work, and to be conscious that there is muscularity in a painting, an artist’s movements are reflected in the canvas.

If you look closely, you can see how his close friendships with contemporary painters Willem DeKooning and Richard Diebenkorn left their mark in his history.  And I noticed each of these art giants is an amazing draftsman.  As Thiebaud says, “drawing is foundational” and that’s what I learned from Viktor Schreckengost at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Established in 1882, it is a highly esteemed member the Association of Independent Colleges of Art, a coalition of the leading art schools in the United States.

Go see his “lushly painted glimpses of everyday life—from a slice of pie to a steep San Francisco streetscape—are icons of American Pop Art.”

Theibaud is really a painter’s painter.  He understands the medium; he’s unusually passionate about teaching despite his individual success in the international art scene.  I’m so appreciative that our paths crossed.

Artist Ann Rea

I’m asked if my collectors purchase original oil paintings at annrea.com. The answer is yes and many more of my collectors are acquiring my original oil paintings at annrea.com.  In fact, sales at annrea.com have increased from an average of 8% over the past four year up to 27% last year.

About half of my on-line collectors have seen my work in person.  For those collectors who have not, I can absolutely guarantee one thing.  It’s that if a collector really likes my paintings on their flat monitor, then they will absolutely love it in person.  My work is very textural and layered.  Can’t get that on a computer monitor.

Also your monitor is only capable of displaying a limited range of color.  This range cannot match the range and sensitivity of the human eye.  As an interesting aside, I actually have colorblind collectors.

One benefit that is stated, but not readily apparent, is that my oil paintings come framed.  I’ve chosen not to display my oil paintings on annrea.com framed because this image on-line distracts the viewer from the painting itself.

I also allow collectors to “audition paintings.“  Collectors can acquire my original oils on annrea.com, then they can hang it in their home or office, and live with it.  As long as it’s returned within eight days of receiving it, in the exact condition that it left, collectors will receive a full refund, less shipping.  However, no one has yet to return an oil painting that they’ve acquired at annrea.com.

I invite you to stroll through my virtual art gallery, invite your friends, and enjoy a new convenient way to build your collection.

This evening I taped the edges of the 30” x 40” stretch canvas with blue paint masking tape so that my thick paint won’t bleed onto the sides.  The framer will appreciate this effort.  Then I reached for a Winsor and Newton willow charcoal stick, a fragile 5” piece of thin charcoal used for sketching on canvas.  They’re ideal for large-scale drawings or filling in forms.  I always break them while I’m drawing.

Tomorrow morning I’ll go for a long run in The Presidio to the Lyon Street stairs and clear my head with the ocean air.  When I return I’ll shower and turn off the phones and the computers.  I want no disturbances when I paint.   It’s time to center and engage in an active mediation requiring my full yet relaxed focus.

I long for these times when I can create.  I’m excited to just let the painting flow.  I lose track of time and I’m in the most peaceful place that I can be and still remain conscious.  This high is what draws artists to painting like moths to a flame.

Artist Ann Rea

My collectors often ask how much time I spend engaged in my company’s sales, marketing, and administrative work.  I would estimate that I spend about 50%-80% of my time.

Not so romantic, but it’s vitally necessary.  The good news is that I don’t mind it.  Many years in the corporate cubicle trained me for it.  And its what I must do if I want to build the Ann Rea, Inc., brand so that I can spend more time painting.

Of course, most, if not all, of my collectors own their own businesses or they certainly work, so we can relate on that level.

I’m also asked “Would I rather be painting?”  The answer is, not necessarily. I enjoy business and I particularly enjoy marketing strategy.  Again it’s not an either or proposition.

But yes, when I do paint its like entering another realm.  The time flies, I’m relaxed and engaged in an entirely different and purely creative way.  My thoughts are focused; I’m peaceful and emotionally responsive.  The skills and experience I’m drawing on and developing are entirely different.  A friend of mine who is an experienced astrologer completed my chart.  She said that astrologically I would walk this life with two different personalities.  Others seem to think this is true.

I remember being introduced to my friend Paul Kelly at a business-networking meeting. Paul is an accomplished architect in Napa Valley.  He was later asked if he enjoyed meeting Ann Rea the artist.  He couldn’t believe that I was a fine artist.  He couldn’t put two and two together.  The Ann that he met didn’t seem at all like a painter.  Now he knows that I am and we hope to be working together on a restaurant project in Napa.

The good news is that over the past four years my annrea.com sales have averaged about 8% of my total sales.  These sales are the easiest and most profitable transactions.  But in 2009, that number jumped to 27%.  What does that mean?  I have more time to paint.  And I’m very happy about that.

"Sundown Vines December" Ann Rea

My latest series of Tim Mondavi’s Continuum vineyard has just been uploaded to annrea.com, where you can see the collection now.

My Naples, Florida patrons, who sponsored this series, have just acquired three of the field studies in addition to their commissioned custom large-scale painting. I’ve chosen “Sundown Vines December” as the basis for their canvas.  I’ll develop this image on a larger scale refining the color and composition.

I’m clearing the decks today so that I can devote my undivided attention to creating the final canvas.  I can’t wait to dive into the color and movement of this piece.

I was so heartened to receive Sandi’s response to working with me that I asked if I could share her message.  She agreed, “We are so happy.  You are the first artist with whom we have personally worked.  Although we knew Robert Rauschenberg and know some other contemporary artists, we have only collected prior works of art.  This has been special in many ways.”- Sandi Moran

Beyond the vineyards, the clear California light, and the interesting winemakers that I get to walk the land with, this kind of response from my collectors is what moves me.  I have met the most enthusiastic, appreciative, and delightful collectors over the years.  The finished product is not for me. It’s for them.  It just provides me with a vehicle to live my life’s passion and take this creative journey. I’m grateful to them.

Next I’ll be starting a series of the Russian River for collectors whose Healdsburg ranch runs along the Russian River.  From the top of Prichard Hill in Napa to the Sonoma Valley, inspired color is everywhere.  And I can’t wait to paint it.

Artist Ann Rea

When I met Wayne Thiebaud, a retrospective of his life’s work was traveling the nation’s major art institutions.  We were discussing my decision to commit myself to painting full time.  He mentioned that if I did this, aside from earning a living, I would always be challenged with one issue.  “What?” I asked.  Wayne said that “You’ll be challenged with the nagging thought that your work is not quite good enough.”  I replied.  “You feel this way?  Even with your national retrospective show and with the international acclaim and recognition you’ve received?  Really?”  I was surprised.  I thought, “I’d be on top of the world!”  He said, “Yes.  When I look at a Degas I think my work is just crap.”

Not long after this meeting Wayne Thiebaud wrote me a letter of recommendation.  I picked up the letter from his secretary and as soon as I was outside the door I ripped open the envelope.  As I read the letter aloud on November 19, 1999, my eyes welled with tears.

I am very pleased to recommend Ms. Rea as a practicing artist. She is an extraordinary candidate as she exemplifies a rare combination of very special qualities. Ann Rea has an engaging personal manner of working and relating to varying and challenging circumstances. She has a well-developed confidence and personal inner resources allowing her to use critical confrontation for positive results.

Ann Rea is intelligent and sensitive with a deep capacity for serious and sustained work. She is keen to share this talent I urge you to take her application seriously, and I highly recommend her as someone who can make significant contributions to the community through her art.

Sincerely,

Wayne Thiebaud

Ironically, now it didn’t matter what I thought or what art critics thought.  I had just received a teflon coating against negative criticism.  And I’ve not since suffered from this notion that my work is “not quite good enough.”   I don’t so much look at a painting as “better” than another. I look at each painting that I create as part of a bigger ever evolving effort.  My inner critic is essential, it helps me edit my work. But it must be kept in check.  I listened carefully to Wayne.  I’ll not allow my inner critic to undermine my confidence or prevent me from enjoying success.

Artist Ann Rea

I’m typing on my iMac after a huge data fire.  I’m still sifting through the charred remains of my intellectual property.  The digital images that I reproduce of my paintings are responsible for well over half of my annual income.

When I bought my shiny new iMac last year I thought that I was smart because I bought the computer system that they recommended to me at the Apple store.  I bought an external hard drive to store my huge image files and that hard drive contained another drive that would mirror my data, two backups.

But one morning I was getting ready to print one of my images and my hard drive was not in my finder window.  What?!

Here’s what happened. Despite what they sold me, they did NOT configure the external hard drive correctly. I only had one drive and it was fried.

After a whole lot of valuable time, I’m still discovering what creative assets have been lost, and maybe forever.

Fortunately, most of the unformatted images were backed up on CD but each one has to be painstakingly reformatted to print.  And that’s time that I could be spending painting or selling.

To the credit of the Apple Store on Chestnut they tried their best to make it right.  One of their Geniuses even walked me through setting my system back up after he had clocked out.

What now?  I do have an external hard drive, with two drives, configured properly.  And in case a tsunami comes roaring through my window off of the Pacific Ocean, I’ll be backing up to Mozy, an online data storage site.  For $4.95 per month, I have unlimited storage, which I’ll need for my huge .tiff files.

Learn from my pain.  Take the simple steps necessary to safe guard your files.

Artist Ann Rea

I returned from Hawaii to a wall of emails but with a refreshed and renewed perspective.  And again was reminded again of why I chose this artistic path.  I received a phone call last week from a couple of newlyweds, literally married all of two days.  They were traveling through San Francisco and they wanted to set up a private studio appointment in advance.  They had been following me for two and half years and now they wanted to celebrate their marriage with one of my original oil paintings, their first.  How flattering and fun!

Now I had to ask if they were interested in acquiring an original oil painting or collecting an Exclusive Edition fine art print.  “We can probably only afford a print”, the bride said.

I replied.  “Well, just so that you know, my price range for original oil paintings starts at only $600 and goes to over $36,000, and there are several price points in between.  I’m not sure of your art budget, but I recommend acquiring an original oil painting.  And my private studio appointments are only open to collectors investing in originals.  You can collect my prints on-line. And because my Exclusive Edition fine art prints are made to order there’s nothing to see here.”

“Oh, well we’d like to see the originals then!”  I displayed my best works within their price range before they arrived at the beach.  This couple was really lovely.  Apparently they watched my story on “Fine Living” and had been following my career for over two years.  They walked away from my private live/work studio the proud owners a framed original oil painting, the last one in the Gloria Ferrer series.  And they left me with a big hug and a bottle of Chardonnay from the wedding reception.

I just love doing business as an artist.