Flowers in my Studio Yard

Ever heard of a studio yard? In my case, it is the yard area around my studio, a shabby little shed on the property. I suppose the proper and popular term is “garden”, but that feels wrong to me. The place is only partially planted, definitely not professionally landscaped; I’m not growing tomatoes and zucchini around the studio, and I don’t “putter about”. It is a haphazard yard, and sometimes it has flowers in it.

The iris are little things, a dwarf variety, blooming 3 at a time in an otherwise bare pot. They mostly just look good in photos. This is because I don’t know what I am doing, other than occasionally succumbing to impulse buys at the grocery store. “Hey look, bulbs, I wonder if there are any iris. . . look, here are some iris, must be fate that I buy them”.

ArtSpeak versus Reality

Weeds or wildflowers? Depends on one’s perspective, just as Artspeak can sound like wisdom or baloney.

“Artspeak” is a word I made up for all the stuffy pretentious insider terms used by professional artists. Some of the words are useful, because every profession has its own vocabulary. But for some reason, the way some artists talk just gets up my nose.

One of an artist’s more dreaded tasks is writing an Artist’s Statement. If it was allowed, mine would say “I saw it, liked it, photographed it, and painted it BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT MIGHT SELL!”. Instead, an artist is expected to be articulate, and even fluent in answering questions such as:

What informs the color in your work?

Is the subversion of closure an important element in your work?

What are the paradoxes in your work?

What are the paradoxes in the practice of painting?

How do your cultural roots inform your practice?

I think artists are expected to say things like this:

I’m constructing a framework which functions as a kind of syntactical grid of shifting equivalences.

Imagine the possibility that painting might take root and find a place to press forward into fertile new terrain

Instead, this is more my style of questions and answers:

1. What do you want people to see in your work? reality and the beauty of Tulare County

2. What is a distinguishing characteristic of your art? it looks real

3. Based on your conversations, what do people find delightful or surprising about your art? the level of reality.

That’s me, keeping things real, just an ordinary realist from a real rural place of realistic folks.

Finished Mineral King Oil Paintings For Sale

As promised, here are some finished Mineral King oil paintings from my Phactory Phases. Factory Fases? Too much cuteness for you? I’m sorry. Must be the oil fumes.

They are all oil paintings on wrapped canvas, which means the sides are painted so they don’t need frames. The prices don’t include 8% sales tax; if you live outside of California, you don’t have to pay it, lucky you. If you want to order, you can go to the sales page and use shopping cart and Paypal or you can send me a check in the Real Mail, the US Postal Service, my favorite way to reach out and touch.

Mineral King Trail II, 8×10″, $125
Mineral King Alpenglow, 6×18″, $150
Honeymoon Cabin #30, 6×6, $60
Mineral King Stream, 6×6″, $60
Juniper, 6×6″, $60
Sawtooth XXIII, 8×8″, $100

I love to blog, to post here on my web log, weblog, blog, online journal. Mostly I just run on about the business of art, but sometimes I show you things for sale. I don’t wear plaid pants, assault people, lie or talk fast; instead, I just provide opportunities for my handful of readers to buy the things I make.

It is my hope that you enjoy my blog, and find enough opportunities to buy my work without feeling sold to.

Blog Thoughts

Before I finished working on this blog post, I accidentally hit the Publish button instead of Preview. I immediately took it back down, but those of you who subscribe received the earlier version via email. Oops. Here is the real post.

April 15 will be the tenth anniversary of this blog. That is TEN YEARS of writing five days a week about the business of being a Central California artist.

As far as I can discover, NO ONE ELSE DOES THIS. More accurately, no one I know or have encountered on the World Wide Web has posted five days a week for ten years.

Lots of people start blogs. Lots of people quit blogging.

Many started their blogs with daily posts; as life sped up, bloggery wisdom changed. Five days a week used to be seen as the best method; now posting less often, perhaps once a week, is considered better..

I ignored the advice, because I have too much to say and blogging is just plain fun.

More grow-your-blog advice was to read and comment on other blogs. I did this, and in the process, I made 2 good blogger friends that I stay in touch with, along with some nice virtual acquaintances. This increased my readership by two.

Other bloggery wisdom advised doing guest posts on other people’s blogs; I did that a few times, and while it was fun, it increased my non-art-producing work without increasing my readership.

Another piece of advice is to “monetize” one’s blog. (Since when did “monetize” become a word?) What this weird word means is to sell ad space on one’s blog and to talk about products and books that one uses and likes, in hopes of getting people to click on the links and buy the products. This method is called using “affiliate links”. Feels pushy and sellsy and a little trashy to me. By “trashy”, I mean it clutters up the site and distracts the reader, inviting them to leave the page.

Not my style, although I have tinkered around with this too. Never earned more than about 15ยข.

My readership is low, few readers comment, blogs are considered old-fashioned (gimme a break!!), I don’t have many subscribers, it costs money, and it takes time. Why do I continue to blog? 

BECAUSE IT IS FUN, I LOVE TO DO IT, AND IT IS NOW A DEEPLY INGRAINED HABIT!

Besides, I know most of my readers in real life; we have real friendships and real interaction, not just “virtual” stuff, where people “hang out on social media”. Authenticity is one of my core values in life. I need realism in art, in friendships and in life.

Thank you for reading. Here, have a nice picture as a thank you for listening.

P.S. If you enjoy my blog and know other people who might like reading about earning a living as an artist in a poor uneducated rural area, people who are interested in Tulare County, people who love Mineral King, people who like realism in art and life, then send them the link to my blog.

There. That’s about as sellsy and pushy as I care to be. A bit too sellsy, but I guess it never hurts to ask.

 

Mineral King Oil Painting Factory, Phase II

This year I have set the goal of finishing all the Mineral King oil paintings well before the season begins. The Silver City Store has been selling my oil paintings  since 2010, and it is good for them, for me, and for the customers. The past 8 years have provided a good idea of what sells and in what sizes and quantities. Why not look at this information and make a plan?

Phase I was finishing a large quantity of paintings in the month of January, some that were begun in December. The total was something crazy huge, like 2 dozen or so. I hadn’t planned on buying 4×6″ canvases or painting on 4 little boards that used to contain things like tomatoes, so the number went up. All this production forced me to figure out how to use my painting hours more efficiently, and in February, I am continuing with this plan.

(Do you need a nap yet? A cup of espresso?)

Phase II is filling in the gaps – do I have the right quantities of the best subjects in the most popular sizes? Nope, not yet.  Here is how beginning another 8 paintings looks. It’s not that pretty, but it is not as gross as making sausage, I guess, although I’ve never witnessed that operation.

Wiring and writing titles and inventory numbers.
Buh-bye, sweet little pomegranate that no one wants.
Skies come second, after I have “toned” the canvas, which is Artspeak for smearing the gunk from the bottom of the turpentine jar all over it and letting it dry.

There are about 6 more subjects I want to paint. These are also Mineral King, but they involve new scenes. 

If this seems a little repetitious to you, well, it is. It is a little repetitious to me to. That’s the thing about doing work for a seasonal business – it is repetitious because there are new customers every week, and they haven’t seen my paintings before. Or they saw them last year and want to add to the collection. Or, their friends saw their painting and wanted one too. 

What is Art Administration?

I don’t know what “art administration” means. Doesn’t it sound important?

Most days, Trail Guy asks me what I plan to do. Often the answer is “paint”; about every two weeks or so I say “administrative tasks”. 

What this means is tending to the business of an art business. Going to lovely places and painting is only part of being an artist full time.

This is what an administrative day can look like:

  1. Find boxes and packaging material to ship two paintings. One is almost right, but where is the box cutter so I can make it exactly right? Wait, I need a ruler too. . . where’s the bubble wrap? The packing tape?
  2. Take all the newly dry paintings from the painting workshop to the real studio and scan painting after painting. Oh wait, that one has a weird green spot in the sky – must have been against one that wasn’t quite dry yet. Set it aside to touch up later.
  3. Wait and wait and wait for a scheduled phone call with potential web designer. He said 10, sent an email that had something to do with The Google that said 6, I replied and said no, TEN, and he didn’t call. Then he emailed at 10:15 to ask if he could still call and say he was sorry for the confusion. Too much communicating going on here, but I kept scanning paintings until he finally called.
  4. Long and satisfying phone call; make some decisions.
  5. Put together a bank deposit.
  6. Drive to town (just Three Rivers, a wonderfully self-contained “village”). Drop by the library first and pick up a book with wonderful photos because that is one of the many ways that an artist trains her brain and eye. Visit with the librarian who happens to room with my niece. (Tulare County is small.)
  7. Go to the Post Office to send the packages, run into a friend who needs to find a web designer and  pass along the (as of yet unproven) web designer’s info to her.
  8. Go to the bank and see a former drawing student/friend/neighbor who asks, “Do you have a website?” SAY WHAT?? I clearly haven’t done enough advertising here in my own town!!
  9. Run into the grocery store and see the friend who encouraged me to design and publish coloring books; her business is now closed, but I was able to encourage her in her new job. (no, not a grocery clerk – she was there repping a product to the store owner)
  10. See a friend on the way home, one I help with her vacation rentals from time to time (so far have painted 3 murals for her in those rentals). Stop to catch up a bit.
  11. Get home to a phone message about a messed up order. My supplier messed up the order, I emailed, and the owner of the company called to ask how to make it right. WOW! That’s rare great service! Longish phone conversation.
  12. FedEx arrives with an order of canvases; I unpacked the box, and began to assign inventory numbers and photos to various sizes. I’ve been waiting for this order!
  13. Put hanging hardware and titles on the backs, begin a few quick paintings, and realize that all the newly scanned paintings need to be entered onto the website.
  14. Blog.

There are more things I haven’t finished, but it is almost quitting time. Really?? I could work until 10 p.m., but that would be rude. Besides, there are statistics about working longer than 9 hours; studies show that productivity drops. I think I could keep pushing, but there is no real sense of urgency, other than answering an email inquiry about a pencil drawing commission, and another about the book I am currently editing. 

Since you made it to the end of this blog post about “art administration”, you deserve a treat. How about an ice cream cone?

Worth It, oil on board, 8×10″, private collection (fancy Artspeak for “SOLD”)

Mineral King Oil Painting Factory?

I feel like a Mineral King oil painting factory. Where is the variety? Where is the creativity? What’s going on here??

Part of the business of art is understanding what sells, and producing what one’s customers want to buy. This means painting the same things many many times if necessary. (Or I could become a secretary, or maybe a waitress, or maybe move to a large city and go into full time editing. . . )

The business end involves these steps:

  1. Looking at what has sold in the past in what sort of percentages, both the subjects and sizes
  2. Locating the right photos, which isn’t too hard because I have a decent filing system
  3. Assigning inventory numbers and titles
  4. Recording those on the photos, the backs of the canvases, the written list for the studio and the list on the computer
  5. Putting hanging hardware on the backs of all the canvases
  6. Ordering new canvases because I don’t have enough for the number of planned paintings
  7. Taking photos or scanning the finished work
  8. Blogging about it

The creativity happens at many levels that aren’t visible in this ugly stage.

  1. Taking reference photos (over a series of years)
  2. Editing the photos (keep this one, fix that one, crop these)
  3. Deciding what sizes and shapes to paint (this needs to be rectangular, that might work as a square)
  4. Mixing the paint colors (How many painters do you know who only work from the primary colors, hmm???)
  5. Drawing the image on the canvases (Is this creative? or is it simply a skill? or does it qualify for anything, since I do so much adjusting while painting each new layer?)
  6. Blogging about it.

Wait, what? Blogging about it appears on both lists. Go figure. . .

Writing this all down makes me want a strong cup of coffee.

Art and Reality

Art and Reality is referring to the fact that I earn my living with art and have to be realistic about things.

The economy has definitely picked up. People are buying larger paintings and more of them. Paintings sold very well for me in December (perhaps I’ll do a blog post showing all the ones that are GONE, after I hear definite totals from the galleries.) 

This means it is time to paint new things and be realistic about old ones that haven’t sold. 

I think I have saturated the market for little fruit paintings, with the exception of pomegranates and of course, oranges! Sequoia trees, Mineral King scenery and oranges are my mainstay. Time for a do-over on paintings which I am the only one who likes. Hard truth, but still better than job hunting. . .

It hurts a little to go from looking good to the stage shown below, but it is temporary.

It’s all part of the business called art.

Merchandise and Marketing Sense

Christmas is coming, and if I had any marketing sense, I would have been telling you about merchandise that is available all through the month.

I do have sense, and I sense that it would be irritating for me to keep pounding the sales drum. However, if you need a reminder or an easy idea for a gift, and I said nothing, I would have neglected my duty to serve you, my readers.

Choices and consequences. . . here we go. . .

  1. coloring books: there are 5 designs available. Heart of Agriculture, Heart of the Hills, Heart of the Parks and Heart of Exeter are $15; Heart of Mineral King is thinner so it is $12. They are available here: Coloring Books
  2. The Cabins of Wilsonia: the price has been reduced to $50. They are available here: The Cabins of Wilsonia
  3. 2018 calendar: all gone.
  4. pencil drawings: plenty of these available, both originals and reproductions too, some framed, some not. (Did you know I love to draw?) Pencil Drawings
  5. oil paintings: landscapes, still life, lots of sizes, 27 19 paintings available at last count (which could be fewer by the time you are reading this). Oil paintings
  6. notecards: lots of designs available (I still write by hand and use stamps and the U.S.Post Office – do you?) Notecards
  7. commissions: too late for this year, but there are always gift certificates. You may use the contact dealie or email me using cabinart at cabinart dot net (someone smart in computerizing told me to always write it that way in the blog. . . I just work here.)
  8. ornaments: there is no page to sell these ornaments, but there is a story here. There are 2 that I painted like the one for the White House 10 years ago, as seen in the photo above (the center one is sold). The one on the far left is $150 (plus tax) SOLD, and the one on the right is $75 (plus tax).

P.S. If you live in the area, we can figure out a way to exchange currency for merchandise in person. If you don’t live in the area, I believe in using the U.S. Postal Service, accept checks in the mail, Paypal and can use Square.

Incremental Studio Improvements

I am a big believer in incremental improvements, little changes adding up over time. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to draw in pencil, paint in oil, or even be a knitter.

My Three Rivers studio was just a little storage shed on our property until it got gussied up in December 2001. It was thrilling to have a place to work at home!

Over the years little changes have been made. They all add up, and here I am, 16 years later, with a studio that looks like this:

Next will come new siding.