Postcards from a Painter

September 11

2013-09-11T10:44:00.003-07:00

"One World Trade Center"
12" x 12" oil on wood panel, framed

I was recently in New York and took a boat ride around Manhattan. As we came by the southern tip of the Island, it was exciting to see that the new One world Trade Center is almost completed. As a matter of fact, they were putting the "skin" on the antenna (of course I don't know what the inside is like.)

A fitting tribute to the resiliency of New Yorkers. May God bless the victims.

Who doesn't love cupcakes?

2013-07-10T06:57:00.002-07:00

Here's a picture of two new 5" x 5" paintings on my easel. What charming little cupcakes! I'll have these framed and ready for the Wickford show this weekend.

Three types of artwork

2013-07-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

I've determined over the years that there are three types of GOOD artwork:

1. The kind that people love to look at (but not buy)

2. The kind that people love and will buy (once)

3. The kind that people will buy and fill their homes with.

The first kind is the bane of any artist's existence. People love your work, ooh and aah over it at shows, tell you how amazing it is but you don't have get any sales. It's hard to understand why people would love to look at a work but not buy it, but it is a very real fact that we have to accept.

I once saw a painting of a farm tractor that was exquisitely done. I thought it was an amazing painting and the artist did a remarkable job. However, I didn't buy it (price not withstanding) because I have no interest in putting farm tractors on my walls. Jack White says that people must emotionally connect to a painting before they purchase it. He's right.

The second kind of artwork is certainly better than the first but it brings in no repeat customers. These paintings may depict subjects like Fenway Park or Saratoga--places that evoke warm memories for the viewer. However, the vast majority of buyers will be satisfied with one depiction of their favorite subject. One and done. Specialized subjects like equine, sports, or mechanical renderings may very well fall into this category. It takes a lot of effort to get one customer, so repeat business should be the goal of any artist.

The third kind of good artwork is obviously something we all strive for. As artists we hope to attract buyers who purchase several of our paintings and and are delighted to display them in several rooms of their home. This happens when you have a subject matter that resonates with the buyer, have a distinct enough style that they are attracted to and enough variety in your offerings that the collector can achieve some variety on their walls.

The Callas are blooming.

2013-06-19T06:13:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year--the calla lilies are in bloom. Calla lilies, like many flowers, have a short life after they are picked. I have to pick them on the day that I will photograph them. I also need to have all the accompanying "stuff" ready: vases, greenery, supporting flowers, etc. This time I went out and purchased a dozen roses to place in the vase with them. The resulting photographs were quite stunning and I can't wait to get started on the paintings!

I do change paintings

2013-06-14T07:15:00.003-07:00

Sometimes after a painting is finished and posted and even displayed at shows, I decide that something isn't just quite right. Or even that I've changed my mind about the color. Here's an example: it was originally called Pink and White for obvious reasons:

Then I decided that the pinks were too dusty looking and I changed the color of the flowers to red:

I also played with the background, making it darker. And I now call it Red and White. On the whole I think it makes the painting sparkle more.

What do you think?

Ugh, rain!

2013-06-07T04:59:00.001-07:00

I'll be setting up late this afternoon for Celebrate West Hartford. It's pouring out this (Friday) morning and it will continue raining until early Saturday morning. One of the most unpleasant aspects of being an outdoor show artist is setting up in the rain which is only eclipsed by tearing down in the rain. Sham-wows (those orange water-sucking cloths) are in big demand. But the rest of the weekend should be sunny and dry. Stop by if you're in the area.

Branding and other good stuff

2013-06-04T15:14:00.002-07:00

OK, I've been remiss. I promise to post more in a timely manner....

Anyway, I'm in the process of rebranding my art. The first stop was a new logo and website, designed by my good friend and graphic designer, Laura Augustine. So please check out my new website and tell me what you think: www.lindatenukas.com

And here's my latest painting in my new series of New York City paintings. It's called "Nightfall."

It's oil on panel and measures12.5" x 36." Hope you like it.

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.