Economic blues

So far I have avoided writing on the economic downturn. Its a tricky subject. Everyone in the artist community wants others to think their sales are impervious to the slowdown. But our art sales are only strong as our collectors' bank accounts. Most artists will admit, at least to other artists, their sales have been affected for a few years now. I began the business of selling paintings around the year 2000, marketing my work in outdoor art shows or fairs. Two years ago there were strong signs that sales were tailing off. Like the economy in general, that trend is more pronounced in the last year or so. At this point show organizers are feeling the effect in the reduced number of artists applying to shows and some accepted artists are no longer able to come up with the hundreds of dollars in show fees months in advance. We are also having to think carefully before committing to a show a thousand miles away.

Artists are hurting but we need to hang on and hope for better times soon. Meanwhile we must promote the work, diversify price points, seek commission work and most of all, produce the very best work we can do to weather the storm.

Today the to do list was a mix of jobs. First there were paintings to pick up that were lent for an art themed corporate event Friday night. Then back to the studio to get in some painting. This afternoon I delivered work to a designer's project where my gallery representative and the designer worked with the homeowner to choose art for the walls. We'll have to wait a couple of days to see if the client wants to keep any of the paintings.

This is the barn piece shown yesterday at it's inception. It measures 33" x 40". It is close to finished but I'll wait to look at it tomorrow and see what it lacks.

Back to the studio

Time to make the donuts. This morning was spent working on a couple of small paintings from last Friday. I feel it necessary to work on several at once as I can get stuck trying to force the end to a piece in a single session.

I also needed to get a large painting underway. The photos show the start to a new barn piece. I love to paint barn structures. I think they are among the most noble of architecture in their simplicity and they seem to resonate with collectors. This is a barn I have painted a couple of other times, once in fall and once in winter. It is on the Stover Myer farm in Bucks County PA.

The image on the right may look finished to some but there is only about an hour and a half invested to this point. Now comes the hard work of tweaking and layering color.

Mardi Gras in a war zone

There is in my past a spring tradition that I have neglected for the past 20 years and this weekend I made amends. I talked about the Sebring 12 Hours sports car race in a March 3rd post. When my friend Steve said he had tickets and asked me if I wanted to go , I enthusiastically said yes. For various reasons, I haven't been in awhile. The Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival is the same weekend and participating in that has sometimes conflicted. Other times just plain old lack of ambition has kept me away.

Going to Sebring demands preparation. If you do it right, it's a camping event. So provisions are necessary possibly including old couches, tents, lights - decorative and utilitarian, an electric generator, a grill, maybe some plywood for a outdoor deck, some astro turf, a potted plant or two and oh, copious amounts of beer and ice. This year was a day visit so a grill, cooler and camera was all that was needed.

Sebring should be on your life list. It is a weekend of dirt dust, noise, and people watching that somehow adds up to a non stop grin. The race is run on a road course spread over about 3.5 miles, and there are few grandstands for the spectators. The fun is in moving from spot to spot along the fences. The cars are racing at different speeds around the circuit and the scenery changes as you move about. Turn 10 is the core of Sebring infield culture and a walk through after dark will - well, bring a camera. I suppose you would call this extreme camping. There are people who brought pool tables, ping pong tables, house plants, japanese lanterns, a lit fish tank - with fish, roofed tiki bars with flooring, easy chairs of every description usually perched atop motorhomes or scaffolding. Satellite dishes are everwhere. Flat screens glow along with campfires as the race is broadcast live. It's not a problem to keep abreast of the leaders as you walk. Most everyone is welcoming and happy to share the tv. Meanwhile a race is screaming by a few yards away. Sebring is an outdoor party for 85,000 people punctuated with racing noise, wood smoke and dust. Think Mardi Gras in a war zone.

On the drive home late Saturday, I was thinking about the experience now and 20 years ago. The racing was still awsome. But honestly, I could have seen the race better in the comfort of our family room. I think I went back because I wanted to see if the party was still on. Darn if it isn't. Maybe next year I'll take the fish tank.

Amelia Island

Another trip to north Florida this morning. This time to the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance at the Ritz-Carlton. There were a couple of reasons to get up so early on a Sunday. I needed to get photo reference to assist in the car painting I'm currently working on, and also visit with the artists of the Automotive Fine Arts Society who were putting on an art exhibition at the event. My hopes are to be juried in at some point and exhibit along with this group here and at Pebble Beach. A member artist explained to me the application steps so I guess the ball is in my court.

Another reason to go was to spend a little quality time with my good friend Duke, who picked me up on his way from Tampa. We had a great time walking among some very unique automobiles spread over the golf course fairway. On the way home we spent the time in the car catching up with each others lives and sharing plans for our anticipated lottery winnings. A fireball out the driver's side glass caught my eye about a half-hour from home. Space Shuttle! We pulled to the side of the highway and shot a few more pictures as we watched the shuttle Discovery power towards space and the booster rocket tanks fall away. It's a spectacle that never gets old.

A good ending to a good day.

Faded Glory

I just returned from my third trip to Jacksonville in a week, my second in the last 36 hours. Three trips were plenty but together they don't approach my Orlando-Jacksonville turn-around record. In 2000 I worked on a mural project there and made the 300-mile round trip eight consecutive days. If you think this speaks to my weariness of hotel rooms after the last 20 years, you would be correct. Although I have had to declare anything more than that distance to be officially out of home cooking range, and socks and underwear must be packed.

My Jacksonville client approved the Porsche racer oil painting sketch shown with the last post. The canvas for the final painting was built and delivered to my studio today so work can begin Monday.

When the client originally called about the painting, he asked if I would be interested in restoring the paint on the hand carved mahogany front door of his house. Paint restoration is not my specialty, and I'm reluctant to work over another artist's work, but she lives in Montana and could not be easily brought to Florida to do the restoration.
Even though the exposure to the sun wasn't direct, the glazed paint and varnish had gotten quite weathered. We took it down to the bare wood and working from photos, I restored the design to it's original colors. I'll go back Monday and add a coat of polyurethane with a UV protector. I think it came out great, but I was merely rescuing someone else's good work.

I wrote on March 3rd about the occasional auto art commissions I receive. I enjoy the opportunities to paint shiny things and value the relationships I have developed with people who collect rare and historic cars. I also wrote about the demands of commissioned paintings. As the artist, I have to first fullfill the vision of the client.

The painting that illustrated that earlier post was a rough for the client to approve. He wanted some changes that sent me back to the sketchpad. The proportions needed to change from a horizontal format to more of a square. Also more landscape as part of the environment the cars were to be seen in. The sliding car to the right of the larger one. Here is the latest version. We'll know Thursday whether this one will make a good final version.