A Time For Change.
Wood Duck detail on one of my painted trunks.It has been a long summer or maybe not long enough, but for me it has been a time of trial and errors. I have experimented with different marketing strategies and read many books about selling your art only to find I have more questions than answers. I cannot blame the lack of sales only on the economy nor can I blame myself in not implementing a marketing plan. I have had my work critiqued by a person who I greatly respect to either verify my ability as a painter or to tell me to find a day job. That was probably the hardest thing I have done to date. This person encouraged me to keep moving forward with my painting and felt my paintings had strong emotion, good composition and an understanding of technique and style. Also my website did not show the depth of my work which is quite common for online photos of art work. So now what?
I spent the next several weeks looking deep inside myself and tried to reflect on what I wanted and what was important to me. During this time I was approached by a gallery from an area I used to live in and wanted me to come in and talk. Before making the journey I wanted some background on the gallery and what they were willing to do for me. Everything seemed fine and I prepared for the trip. A couple of days before leaving I received a phone call, an out-of-state friend wanted to stop by for a visit and would I be there? It was the same time as my trip but my gut said don't go on your trip stay put. Well I did. I have discovered that to live an artistic life it is certainly not black and white and what is right for a few is not right for the many. I realized that what I had been so desperately seeking, gallery representation wasn't it at all. What I wanted more was to go back to what started me down this creative road in the first place, to build useful things for people and to add my painting to it. I can still paint my watercolors and oils for the elite few but paint and build a family keepsake or treasure gives me far more pleasure. People are hurting today and I want to be able to make the average person’s life a little better.
So I am reinventing myself (again) and will be changing how my etsy shop looks and I am checking into other websites to use. I am going to develop a more contemporary emotional impressionist style that appeals to our times. Bright cheerful wistful flowers animals and shapes will dominate. As I write this I know I have made the correct decision for me. So maybe what you think you want has to be just this or that way, save yourself some time and go deep inside and ask yourself is it really? You might shock yourself and at the same time be pleasantly surprised. I was.
I spent the next several weeks looking deep inside myself and tried to reflect on what I wanted and what was important to me. During this time I was approached by a gallery from an area I used to live in and wanted me to come in and talk. Before making the journey I wanted some background on the gallery and what they were willing to do for me. Everything seemed fine and I prepared for the trip. A couple of days before leaving I received a phone call, an out-of-state friend wanted to stop by for a visit and would I be there? It was the same time as my trip but my gut said don't go on your trip stay put. Well I did. I have discovered that to live an artistic life it is certainly not black and white and what is right for a few is not right for the many. I realized that what I had been so desperately seeking, gallery representation wasn't it at all. What I wanted more was to go back to what started me down this creative road in the first place, to build useful things for people and to add my painting to it. I can still paint my watercolors and oils for the elite few but paint and build a family keepsake or treasure gives me far more pleasure. People are hurting today and I want to be able to make the average person’s life a little better.
So I am reinventing myself (again) and will be changing how my etsy shop looks and I am checking into other websites to use. I am going to develop a more contemporary emotional impressionist style that appeals to our times. Bright cheerful wistful flowers animals and shapes will dominate. As I write this I know I have made the correct decision for me. So maybe what you think you want has to be just this or that way, save yourself some time and go deep inside and ask yourself is it really? You might shock yourself and at the same time be pleasantly surprised. I was.
