Farewell at Dusk, 10×30″, oil on wrapped canvas, $500
There is an ongoing topic among artists about whether or not it is right to paint in order to sell. In general, the two schools of thought are:
- Do Your Own Thing And Express Yourself And If Nothing Sells At Least You Haven’t Sold Your Soul
- You Are In Business So You Had Best Please The Customers And Be Grateful They Like Your Work Enough To Part With Their Hard-Earned Dollars
It is clear that I belong in School #2.
Paint it out
Sometimes I paint something because I love it, and then I have to paint it out because no one in the local market of buyers agrees. The recent conversion of a river scene to sequoia trees is a prime example.
Paint it again
Sometimes I paint something that sells, so I paint it again and it sells again, and so on and so forth. Here is a recent example of that situation. Six times? Seven? I lost count. Because it was so popular, I painted the most recent version in hopes of selling it at the Silver City Store this summer. (Nope. . . is it waiting for you?)
Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint IX, 12×24″, oil on wrapped canvas, $550
Paint what I love
And the best of all is when I paint something just because I want to, and then it sells. But sometimes that feels disappointing because I wanted to keep it. (So what’s the problem? Just paint it again!)
Paint it better
Sometimes I paint something, it doesn’t sell, and then I have to figure out why not. I did that with this painting of redwood and dogwood, and it sold very quickly after the do-over. (I was tempted to name it Red Dog but knew that was a loser from a marketing standpoint.)
The challenge with every scene, but particularly those I’ve painted many times is to make it the absolute best I can every time. No auto-pilot, no “phoning it in”, no sleep-painting. Focus, focus, focus.
As I often tell Nancy of Kaweah Arts, “I came here to earn a living, and I’d rather repaint a scene that bores me than be a waitress.”
The best way to not be bored while repainting a popular scene is to continually challenge myself to find a way to make it the best I can. Because. . .