A new series

Don't Ask

 I have had my shop on my website the same for years. I have decided to put out collections of paintings instead of just listing them all together in a random order.

Many of the paintings will be no more. 

This month I'm doing neutrals.

Here are a few of them.

Salient wave

Wrecked

Entropy

These are just a few of what's available in my shop.

Let me know when you stop by and tell me what you think.

A lot can change

In one month, this month, a lot has changed in my art career.

I left Perigold and started to inquire about Chairish. Cherish is a website that sells new and vintage pieces of furniture and artwork to the public and designers. Next I had a phone call with Chairish. They were fantastic!

They took me on right away and now are working on adding me to their featured artists list.

Next Mitchell Hill and I parted ways. I still think everyone there is sweet and professional but it was just not working. I immediately submitted to the gallery, Trager Contemporary in Charleston, and was surprised to get a reply the next day. We set up a meeting and I went downtown with a few paintings and Voila! a new gallery space for me.

I have also been working on a commission for a designer in the Boston area.

So to say a lot can change in very little time is an understatement for me!

Virtual studio visit

I am all unpacked and hard at work in my studio. Actually, I have only had limited hours since school is not in session but my daughter has participated in two fun kid's camps here at Redux.

If you follow me on Instagram this is nothing new but the blog allows a bit more narrative.

I had to wait for a few items to be shipped to me to really get organized.

The long wall in the video will mainly be hung gallery style with a finished series. 

This short wall, behind my easel, is my main work space.  The opposite wall has shelves from the previous occupant and my desk area, which is not especially visually interesting.

The series if work hung on the gallery wall is inspired by spring and summer flora. I am working on figure studies on linen and a new canvas series. It will be edgier, rougher and less feminine like the two below.

I've got a long way to go with this series though.

Also coming later this week are my neckties, clutches and change purses. It began with my desire to have a tie made from a Spoonflower printed fabric for my husband. I used Small Batch Boutique on Etsy and it turned into a larger project. I will be adding these to my website in the next few days.

Tons going on including another possible move (from our horrible rental, hence the lack of interior pictures) but I will let you know more in the future.

My art in 2016

I don't really make new year resolutions but, going forward, I want a renewed commitment to a clear artistic "voice". A continuity in style and feel to my work.

I have not abandoned the neutral palette or color. Lately color has been seeing use in my studio though. I feel like this "voice" is clearer than in the past.

In other news...We had hoped to move to Charleston last Fall but the renovations to our house took so much more time than we thought. We have scaled back the plans. The new plan is for us to do the master bath reno and the kitchen floor and leave. In fact I may leave as early as March leaving my husband behind to finish up. I had a very exciting opportunity pop up and I can't let it pass but I will share details when things are more concrete.

A personal word about my art

Long ago, another artist clearly and obviously used the same title as a painting of mine. The copying of others went far beyond just titles but it still rubbed me wrong because the painting was intensely personal.

This painting, "11 Julys" came from an intensely personal experience, just like the one from several years ago. Some of my work is about the experience of making it and that alone. Some is about my emotions while I am making it and this is one. My original title was Eleven Requiems but I thought it was too sad.

This quote articulates a fraction of what my painting is meant to tell.

Do titles of art intrigue you, bore you or turn you off to a piece???

Organized business for artists

I have been asked about this several times by other artists and that is my cue to write a post on the subject.
Running a tight ship in terms of paperwork and numbers is important to me as a businessperson who happens to be an artist. Artists have a stereotypical reputation for being flaky and disorganized. Let me tell you it is not cute, quirky or interesting to be that artist. It is a mess, both literally and figuratively.

This is a wordy post but I hope it helps some of you that are just starting out.

Here are some of the very simple things I use to stay on top of my business.

This is a screenshot of a sheet that I print out and add up every month. I do not want a program that will do it for me. I am a visual person (duh) and seeing everything in this "big picture" way makes the most sense to me.

In the two left columns I simply write the sale amount or the amount I receive from a gallery. I then write the amount of shipping ( if applicable) in the "shipping in/out column paid by the customer and the amount it actually cost. Let's say they paid $25 and it cost me $21.53 actually. Then I am on track because the cost of packing supplies is in another column.

Each time I purchase shipping supplies, paint, wood for crates etc. I save the receipt and add it to the supply column. This is a negative column and is subtracted from the gross sales at the end.

There are other columns that are part of the cost of doing business and are subtracted. The cost of webhosting and fees from Etsy and Paypal transactions are added in the appropriate columns as would any fee for entering a juried show and other miscellaneous costs related to your business.
Make sense?

Each month I pull out my sales sheets and receipts and enter them all in. Once each column is added up I know my total sales for the month. I also know how much I owe my state for sales tax that I pay quarterly. I add up all of the expenses and subtract it from those sales and I have a net profit. Easy. It is great to know how much you are selling and more importantly how much you are keeping and owe on tax day.

I also have a monthly binder that has folders and pockets for different things. The very front is for those receipts and sales. I also have a place for my commission contracts and contracts with galleries. There is another that holds all of the spreadsheets and SKUs for Serena and Lily. Each month I empty that front section, add up my numbers and place it all in a huge binder that is sectioned by month with this sheet right on top so I can refer to any month easily.

There are other ways to go about doing this. My sister in-law insisted that I get a file box but I know that I'd just stack everything on top and never organize it, so my binders work best for me.

I hope this helps. It took me many months to figure this out and was stressful when I did not know what to do with my sales numbers.

So tell me, business people how do you stay organized... or do you?

Thoughts on becoming a full-time artist

This is literally my first abstract painted when I was about 7

My husband and I were just talking about how things have changed since I have become a full-time artist. It's a question I get asked a lot in many ways; how do you take your art "to the next level", get into galleries, or sell enough work to do it full-time.

I thought I'd broadly answer that question here.

The first thing is that brings most of us to art is the joy and passion we have for the process. As a child I wanted nothing more than to be an artist. Somewhere along the way I decided that I could not do it and did not pursue it but the happiness my painting has brought me is immeasurable. Deciding that this was my path a few years ago meant that I would not reopen my design business that I closed when my daughter was born and we moved to Virginia. So it was a big change of focus for me.

It is odd that I think being a professional artist means that you sometimes have to step away from the need to always be joyful about your work. That doesn't mean that it should suck, just that once it is a business, there are deadlines and requests that mean painting is no longer just a free-for-all of your own desires.

 Developing a regular (or as regular as life will allow) studio practice has been a great thing for me. "Going to work" at 8:30 each weekday has been liberating rather than stifling. It has helped me because having my studio in my home means most people think it's OK to impose on me because "I'm home". I tell people now that I have to go to work even though it's in the other room.  I also know that I work best with a little bit of structure, not too much and not too little. Knowing that I am supposed to work between 8:30 and 4 every weekday plus the freedom to decide that I am not going to work at any given time works for me well. This discipline is a big part of being able to do this as a career and I love this aspect.

After self-discipline I would add that being prepared is most important. Artists need to ask themselves if they are prepared for the workload. After painting you must photograph the work, edit  and organize the images and upload them to a website. Emails need to be answered in a timely manner. Paperwork must be current and the list goes on. This all must be done over and over so that you are prepared when a client or gallery needs images, prices or other information. It is a good idea to put these systems in place before you approach a gallery or decide to make a business of being an artist.

One thing a person needs to "take it to the next level" is a healthy level of confidence. Am I always confident of each thing I paint? No, but it doesn't stop me in my tracks to hear criticism. You need to be able to hear criticism (even if it's mean spirited) and take what you can use from it and keep working.

That brings me to my last bit of advice for those who asked. The criticism that we dish out on ourselves can be the hardest to work through. I can't count how many times I had a painting that was looking promising and one little area took it to a really awful place and then the effort to correct it went even worse. Meanwhile, three days go by and it feels like I have been spinning my wheels with little progress.

Luckily, there are plenty of days when things just fall into place on a canvas exactly how I imagined.

Another aspect that I really love is all of the fascinating, kind and generous people I have met along the way and the friendships that have formed. This was the most surprising benefit to to my work. I doubt many traditional office jobs offer the culture of support and generosity that I enjoy every day.

The freedom to be creative and manage my time as I like really can't be beat. I would not discourage someone who is really passionate about their artwork to continue pursing a career, but rather share what I have experienced so they can consider all of the aspects that it involves.