C Words

Eighth in the series “Thoughtful Thursdays”

(yes a bit out of order – why WordPress didn’t publish this as scheduled is a mystery to me. Why I didn’t notice is perhaps because I was doing other things – I need people for this!)

Two of the most common ways to earn a living in art are consignment and commissions. They are not at all the same, but I am discussing them here in the same article because those two large “c” words are often confused.

Here are the definitions: consignment is an agreement to pay a supplier of goods after the goods are sold. A commission is an order or authorization for the production of a piece of art.

Consignment means that the artist provides the store or gallery with work that is not paid for until a sale is completed. The advantages to the artist are that she doesn’t lose control of her pricing and can reclaim her work if it is needed somewhere else. The disadvantage is that things can become shopworn, keeping track is added work, and sometimes it can be hard to collect one’s money.

Commissions are orders for custom work. This is a very important part of earning a living as an artist, especially in times when people are spending cautiously. The advantages to the artist is that she is almost guaranteed a happy customer, and there is a check waiting at the end of the job. Two disadvantages are that the artist isn’t freely creating from her own ideas and often there is a deadline. Occasionally a commission customer will say these magic words “You’re the professional!” or “No hurry”.

Since we are learning “c” words here, allow me to add one more: conversation. This word means an exchange of words, not orders and not money. Despite repeated experiences with this reality, my greatest talent still remains counting my chickens before they hatch.  For the first several years of my business, I got so excited when someone told me he’d like me to do a specific drawing for him. I was counting eggs, chickens and dollars, forgetting that until money exchanges hands and there are photographs on the table, it was simply CONVERSATION. It never hurts to remember those chats and even follow up with a phone call or an email. That is also part of the business of art.

Colors in Three Rivers sells some of my paintings on consignment.

A lady of great taste commissioned me to paint this apple.

I’m No Abbey Ryan.

Recently my friend MA sent me some info about painter Abbey Ryan, and I watched a video of her painting. She finishes one painting every day and then sells it for big $ on eBay. It looks so easy.

MA owns these cute little metal birds. She loves these guys, and I understand why!

She asked me to paint one for her on a 6×6″ canvas. I photographed them a bunch of different ways, this angle, that angle, 2 together in different poses, light on this side, light on that side, this one alone, that one alone. Then I deleted the ones that weren’t as appealing, cropped the 4 best ones to a square format, emailed her, and let her choose. She asked for one more angle, so I photographed it that way and sent her favorite along with the new one. She chose the first favorite.

I began mixing the colors while looking at the actual birds. The sun was so bright that I was sure I was getting the colors perfect! Mixing colors is so much fun, and it is sort of magical because of starting out with only 2 blues, 2 reds, a yellow and white.

Finally, it was time to paint. I couldn’t get the angle of light on the bird the way it was in the photo, and the light was too bright to see my computer screen photo well. I moved things all over my work area, and finally decided to just begin. I figured I could try getting MA’s bird finished in one sitting a la Abbey Ryan. I figured wrong. The brush is still not a pencil, no matter how much I practice. Finally I realized that the paint was just smearing around, messing up the colors, and no more progress would be made until it dried. Here is how the little bird looks after one painting session:

Good start, messed up feet, paint all over my hands from holding the canvas!

Odd Jobs

This is a sign for a houseboat. The customer brought me the sign form and I had to design a few choices for her, including a typestyle that she liked. (I didn’t name the boat!) She chose a design that looks as if it is a scene rather than just a strict lettering project. This was a challenge on several fronts – painting on wood, painting on an unusual shape, figuring out how to do lettering without it looking like my own handwriting or looking machine-like. Here is the beginnings of the project:

Here is the finished project:

In case you were wondering, I sort of “bounced” the letters a little for a playful look – with a name like “Fuzzytimes”, it seemed to require a bit of extra playfulness!

Dogwood

My Dad used to refer to this flower as a “fried egg” and it would annoy his Aunt Mary to no end! As a kid, I didn’t understand their low-key teasing; as an adult, I get it. (Isn’t that the case with much of life??) This is a sold piece, but I wanted to share it with you because these flowers are so doggone gorgeous!

Little Green Apples


Kind of weird how that shadow made a slash through the beginning painting – yeah, I know it is ugly at this stage, but a slash??

If the nice lady with impeccable taste wants a green apple painting, perhaps others of similarly impeccable taste might want a green apple painting. Besides, if I’m going to paint one little green apple, might as well paint three. (and a grape cluster)

Green apple

At the show over the weekend, a nice lady (with impeccable taste, of course) asked me to paint a little green apple to accompany her pomegranate and orange paintings. (I mean the painting is little – not to be confused with the Roger Miller song!) I was eager to begin, so I went to the local market and bought a Granny Smith. That was the only variety, which eliminated an unnecessary decision. Morning light is better for still life photography at my house, so this a.m. I took the apple outside. As I hunkered down with my camera on the very cold porch, Perkins wanted to know what I was doing.

Thinking and planning and learning

In a perfect world, an artist would make art with her favorite medium of her favorite subjects when she felt like it. When it was almost finished, people would be clamoring to buy it, and she would rejoice in a sure sale. Dream on, Toots! In reality, if an artist wants to earn a living, she has to make art with the medium that sells best, choose subjects that people love, and be in touch with those people. In addition to making art, an artist has to be able to do a zillion other things. Want cards? Better learn what the best sizes are, where to have them printed, how many to order in quantities that might sell, how to package and where to find the materials, and how to price both resale and retail. Want to teach? Better be able to find, connect with and keep students. (Plus have a place, materials, a plan, and the flexibility of a pre-teen gymnast!) Need more than some paintings, cards and a few students? Better research the world of art and retail to find out what people are buying, gather seeds of information to create something new, practice like crazy, actually make art, and at the same time, learn how to market it. Need places to sell your work? Better get out there and discover shows, shops, galleries and other venues for promoting your work. Want commissions? Better meet people, listen to their wishes, have a price list, know how long it might take and have some samples to show.

Have a look at a recent commissioned piece:

This was fun to paint – new subject, new colors to mix, neat-o square shape, and a happy customer awaits!

Annie’s Things

That is the title of a commissioned painting just completed. A thoughtful supervisor wanted a going-away gift for a seasonal employee. The employee played a role by the name of Annie, and these are the props she used. Actually, she had a different lantern, but it got taken away for a glass replacement. Boy was I ever excited to find one in my cabin that looked very similar. The hard part was that I photographed the items with a different lantern and then had to substitute the new one from reality. Merging pieces from different places is very difficult because determining the appropriate proportions and scale is sort of a guessing game.

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