Postcards from a Painter

Old Saybrook, here we come

2011-07-20T06:45:00.001-07:00

This weekend I'll be at the Old Saybrook Arts and Crafts Festival, near the Katherine Hepburn Center. Without a doubt, the Old Saybrook show has the worst weather year in and year out. From unbearable heat and humidity to torrential show-closing rain, this festival has the worst luck of any show I do on the circuit. And it's a shame because the promoters treat the artists wonderfully, from a welcome barbecue on Friday night to handing out free totes when we check in. This weekend may be a little better, just a little toasty on Saturday but Sunday should be spectacular. Fingers crossed. Anyway here's my latest painting, "Yawkey Way." I'm sure all the Red Sox fans will recognize this street!!

What I learned about selling art from a five-year-old

2011-06-30T07:13:00.001-07:00

It was a chilly afternoon last spring when I drove up my driveway only to see my little neighbor, 5-year-old Sydney come running up to me. "Come see my shell shop," she said.

"Shell shop?" I asked. Translating the speech of a 5 -year-old can still be a little dicey. She took me to her driveway, two doors down, where she had indeed set up a little shop in the cul-de-sac in front of her house. She had used two of her brother's hockey goals set up face to face which made it look like one of those portable gazebos that people set up in the summer in their back yards. Inside, on the asphalt of the road, she had placed a beach blanket. On top of the blanket was a child-size beach chair and laid out very carefully on the seat was an assortment of various beach stones and shell fragments.

"These are from Maine," she announced proudly.

"Ah, yes," I said, recalling her family's vacation last summer to that state.

"This is my favorite one," she said, fingering one of the shell fragments.

"It's very pretty," I agreed.

"And they're four for a dollar."

I got a dollar out of my wallet and asked her to pick out four for me. After the transaction she handed the dollar to her brother who, at 7, is apparently the accountant of the partnership.

As I walked home, I recalled a marketing book (one of Jack White's) that said that children are born salesman and we lose that natural ability as we grow up. And Sydney was living proof of that. I mean, she did everything right. She went out and got her customer ("come see my shell shop"). She was selling broken pieces of shells but she displayed them in a lovely setting that increased their perceived value. She spoke of their uniqueness ("they're from Maine"), described her emotional connection ("this one is my favorite") and asked for the sale ("they're four for a dollar"). Bingo. Transaction complete.

One other thing that I learned. Sometimes people buy from you, not because you're the best around, not because you're the cheapest around, but because they like you.

If you're selling art, learn from little Sydney.

Flowers from my garden

2011-06-28T14:04:00.003-07:00

You just can't beat June in Connecticut. Here are some flowers from my garden.

First show of the year

2011-03-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

I just got back from checking out the new venue for the Lyme/Old Lyme Junior Women's Club art show, to be held April 29-30. It's being held at the Christ the King Church's Our Lady of Good Council Hall, 1 McCurdy Rd in Old Lyme, CT. It a really, really nice place to hold an art show with plenty of parking. A little over 30 artists are exhibiting (yours truly included). Stop by Friday night for their gala (the $30 entrance fee includes wine and beer, hors d-hoeuvres, and dancing til 1 a.m). Or come Saturday 10-2 to purchase art or some nice crafts. Remember, proceeds benefit the Junior Women's Club's charities.

The Flower House

2010-10-29T11:22:00.000-07:00

There is a house in Avon, Connecticut, where the owner has dedicated a significant amount of time to planting and potting hundreds if not thousands of flowering plants. Everybody knows "The Flower House" in Avon. And I of course, being a glutton for punishment, had to paint it.

The calla lilies are blooming...

2010-09-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm having fun painting the calla lilies from my garden. This particular kind is called Crystal Blush which opens white and then turns pinkish around the edges.

A wonderful resource

2010-07-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

For all my artist readers out there--I have a wonderful resource for you:

http://artistshelpingartistsblog.blogspot.com/

Two artists, Leslie Saeta and Dreama Tolle Perry, host a weekly radio show where they share their hard earned knowledge about being a successful artist. Topics include diverse subjects such as using Facebook to sell art to framing your art to marketing your art online. Each broadcast is available as a free podcast on iTunes. It's definitely worth your while to check out.

Old Saybrook Arts Festival

2010-07-27T06:57:00.001-07:00

What an effort for the show this weekend. Rain during setup Friday night. Rain at 4:00 on Saturday (I spent the rainstorm in my tent--at least I know my tent doesn't leak). And rain during breakdown. You have never seen so many artistic drowned rats in your life. And boy was it steamy when it wasn't raining. I spent the weekend covered in a gooey paste that was a combination of sunblock and sweat.

However people came out like they always do at Old Saybrook. Interestingly enough, all my sales of orginal paintings were of calla lilies. Here's one that sold.

More calla lilies and pears

2010-06-05T14:50:00.001-07:00

The show at West Hartford is coming up this weekend and I'm getting busy. Here are the latest paintings.

Dogs I've met that made me smile

2010-05-01T06:25:00.001-07:00

I have a new theme that I'm working on---Dog's I've Met That Made Me Smile. These are little 6x8 inch oil sketches that are really a lot of fun.

At art shows people frequently bring their dogs and when I see a dog that elicits a smile, I usually grab a camera and take a picture. The title says it all.

Calla lilies

2010-04-25T12:48:00.000-07:00

A while back I got the idea to paint calla lilies. They are so austerely beautiful and I had in mind to paint some white ones. Having said that, finding some up here in the north country in March is another story. I had to order some mini-calla lilies online which came in a bouquet of 10 pink and 10 white and cost $50. I also ordered the square vase for another $10 because it looked perfect with the lilies in the picture.

Well, never believe the picture in an ad. When they arrived, the vase was HUGE, way too big for the little lilies. I was scrambling to find a vase before my $50 investment bit the dust. After watching some You Tube videos on flower arranging, one of the presenters suggested Crate and Barrel as a good source of interesting vases. I went down to my local store and came away with a pretty good haul of vases, the most interesting being the Ono vase, which is a round vase with a hole in it. Very interesting and very contemporary. Hope you like them.

2009-07-03T15:50:00.000-07:00

I learned one thing with this painting. Never make a fruit/flower still life larger than life unless it is REALLY huge. If you make it, say, 150% of life, he fruit will appear as Uber Fruit. I originally drew it larger than it is but I had to start all over and make everything smaller. I'll stick to 1:1 in the future.

Gladiolas

2009-07-01T10:40:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I enjoy doing flowers. I originally started this painting for a demonstration at an art league meeting. I came in with the grisaille (gray underpainting) already done and demonstrated the initial stages of layering glaze over it.

Continuing this painting at home, I used for the first time the color Rose Madder Genuine by Winsor Newton. This is one of those oil colors that art stores keep behind the counter. AT $30 a tube, they are afraid of shoplifters. But it's well worth the $30. It is a deep rose color which, combined with the technique of glazing, creates the most incredible color.

Little paintings

2008-07-09T04:54:00.000-07:00

Karin Jurick is a painter who does the most gorgeous small paintings. I read on her blog that she paints on panels that have been gessoed BLACK. I thought I'd give it a try. I bought some 6x8" canvases and gessoed them black. God, it was like I'd never painted before. The first few were tough, but I am pleased with these last three. The first one is of the saddling area at Saratoga racetrack. The last two are of Cocoa Beach in Florida.

West Hartford show

2008-06-16T05:14:00.000-07:00

Thunderstorms. The bane of the outdoor shows. Not just rain, that annoying stuff that drives away customers and makes everything wet. We're talking about cloud-to-ground lightening, howling winds, lashing rain. After a humid morning and afternoon, thunderstorms struck the West Hartford show about 4:00. When you're in a tent with metal rods, the best thing to do is zipper up and head for the nearest shelter. I spent an hour in a minivan with my fellow artists, watching the tents and actually seeing some of them collapse.

When the lightening and rain abated, I made it back to my tent. The roof had collapsed in the corners, spraying every thing with water. It was my own dumb fault. I had brought my light and easy-to-put-up tent top instead of the heavy duty but rainproof one. The mattes on all the prints were ruined where the water had soaked in. However, oil paintings are virtually indestructible, and with the exception of one corner of a frame where the veneer lifted and one linen canvas that needs to be restretched, I was in pretty good shape. After borrowing towels and doing my best to dry off everything, I loaded all the paintings into my car.

I spent Saturday evening rematting all the framed prints (glamorous life being an artist, isn't it?) and headed back to the show Sunday morning and set everything back up. I then had the best show of my entire career!!! Almost double my previous high!

This was a painting that I had just finished, called Tobacco Barns. It was from a scene in nearby Simsbury, just after sunset. Since it was large (30x40") it drew quite a bit of attention. This was the first time I showed it and it sold on Sunday.

Seashells

2008-06-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

This is another of my paintings just completed. It's my collection of seashells in a bowl, collected over the years. Some my hermit crabs have worn. Some I bought at Seashell City. Some just found on the beach as I was walking. All beautiful.

Battle of Three

2008-06-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

In honor of the final leg of the Triple Crown, I'm posting my latest horse racing picture, named "Battle of Three." The reference photo was taken at Saratoga but I've taken some liberties with it.

Start your engines

2008-06-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the show season just around the corner--less than two weeks, actually--and I'm cranking out the paintings. The trouble is that I've got a lot of them going at once. The good thing about that is you get several finished with days of each other and it gives you a good sense of accomplishment. Here's my latest--"Apples and Cherries."

The first show is West Hartford and the amazing thing about that show is the locals show up no matter what the weather. One year it poured and the grassy grounds were so saturated that people were getting their shoes sucked off as they walked by. The grounds people then put down planks of plywood so people could walk up and down the aisles.

Missing it when it's gone

2008-03-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

While I was vacationing in sunny Florida, I was hit with a viral infection whose main symptom was laryngitis. I couldn't talk! I guess you never appreciate something until it's gone for a while. Just think of all the things you can't do if you don't have a voice--from returning phone calls to asking directions in a noisy casino. Luckily I was with family who could answer the phone and order for me in restaurants.

The creative muse is a fleeting thing. We artists sometimes suffer from artists' block. Right now I've got the ideas for 23 paintings lined up. I am grateful that I have the creative muse right now, because I will miss it when it's gone.

Fallow Fields

2008-01-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

"Fallow Fields" is a painting that I recently completed and immediately entered it into the Granby Land Trust's Juried Art Show. It was my great pleasure to receive the Granby Community Fund Award, one of the top awards of the show, for it. It depicts part of the Granby Land Trust in North Granby. I am told that the tree is referred to locally as "Mary's Tree." In the distance one can see Mount Tom on the left and the last rays of the day catch the city of Springfield on the right.

Happy New Year

2008-01-11T18:23:00.000-08:00

My New Years resolution: post pictures of my paintings in progress more frequently. It seems that is what people like to see and I've been very very lax about this. After the outdoor show season ended, I kind of dropped off the blog world--but now I'm back. I promise.

I will also try to set up a RSS feed for this blog. Happy New Year to all!

Translations

2007-09-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

As an oil painter for over 10 years, I have come to the conclusion that the novices on the show circuit do not realize that customers actually speak a different language. In the beginning, this language barrier caused me no end of confusion until I learned to translate correctly. With that in mind, I have prepared a brief listing of the most popular customer phrases with their correct translation. (Thanks to fellow painter Virginia Peake for her contributions.)

Your work is lovely.
Translation: I’ve finished looking. I’m leaving now.

I’ll be back.
Translation: Good-bye. Have a nice life.

I want to talk this over with my husband / wife.
Translation: See above.

These colors don’t match my decor.
Translation: These prices don’t match my wallet.

I love your frames / roof with skylight / table cloths.
Translation: Don’t get up--I’m a fellow artist.

Is that the best you can do?
Translation: Can I talk you into a pay cut?

Hrrrmmmfff. (spoken by man with arms folded across chest standing outside booth in response to wife’s question--”what do you think, dear?”)
Translation: No sale

Is this a watercolor? (spoken while pointing to an oil)
or
Is this an oil? (spoken while pointing to a watercolor.)
Translation: I only came for the crafts.

So, how long did it take you to paint this?
Translation: What are you getting, $300 an hour?

Where’s the crochet lady who was in this spot last year?
Translation: Have they replaced the best thing in the show with you????

Oh dear, everybody’s an art critic.
Translation: My dog just wizzed on your display.

It's always the weather

2007-09-04T05:10:00.001-07:00

Old Lyme was quite an adventure. I was about to head down to set up Friday evening when it started to drizzle a bit. I checked the weather forecast and it said some raining clearing out about midnight. I much prefer to set up the tent and display on Friday night for a weekend show if I can. It's less exhausting than setting up everything early Saturday morning and then start the show.

Anyway, I made the (fateful) decision to go down and set up. There were a few tents already set up and I quickly set mine up with the display panels (not the paintings) and headed home. Old Lyme is a little over a half hour from my home. The sky was already starting to clear up a little.

When I got home, I checked the weather radar and lo and behold a line of vicious thunderstorms was in New York and Pennsylvania and heading this way. They hit about 1 am, and slammed into Old Lyme about a half hour later. I was up all night watching the radar and wondering what was happening to my tent. I went down there the next am, full of trepidation. When I got there, there were dozens of artists setting up but I COULDN'T SEE MY TENT! Even though I had staked it down, it had blown over and all the panels were in a jumble in the parking lot. Believe it or not, the only broken things were two L-stiffeners from my display, which were supposed to be 90 degrees and were bent to 120 degrees. (Thank you, ProPanels!) I was setup and running by the opening of the show. A miracle! The locals said that the wind gusts that had come through that evening were around 40 mph. A few other tents had blown over or disintegrated.

Lesson to be learned: NEVER leave your work in your tent if there is even the slightest chance of thunderstorms. This is the first time in 16 years of doing shows that my tent went over, and I was lucky--nothing destroyed, no work inside. It's not thieves and vandals that you have to watch out for, it's Mother Nature.

Old Saybrook

2007-08-04T06:47:00.000-07:00

Old Saybrook was another good show. Unbelilevably hot and humid but we survived. And again I think the show gods are watching out for us, because just 20 minutes north of the show Saturday evening was an enormously powerful band of thunderstorms, so intense that cars were pulling off the highway because they couldn't see in the blinding rain. It missed Old Saybrook. If that had hit the show, there would have been serious damage to tents, artwork left in them, etc.

The crowds were very good and I sold "Naptime in the Bleachers" to a couple from Darien, which incidently was where the initial pictures of the dog were taken.

On to Old Saybrook

2007-07-27T05:32:00.000-07:00

Again, it looks like we'll be battling inclement weather this weekend. We've had threats of rain almost every show, and have pretty much dodged a bullet. We may not be so lucky this time.

This is my first time doing Old Saybrook Art Show. It's on the town green, much like Glastonbury's show, and I've heard some pretty good reports about it. It all depends on who walks by. As with any show that I'm not familiar with, I bring a lot of giclees so there is something for everyone. I haven't been as productive as I should have been. There is a frequent discrepency between what I want to paint and what people want to put on their walls. I paint puddles, they want pears.