Help, I'm Drowning in Cyber Pool. I Need Time to Smell the Rose Jam

I’ve studied with and have become a friend of my mentor, portrait artist Carol Stone over these past 20 years. She has a favorite quip. “No one can appreciate or benefit from the passion of your creativity if it stacks up under your bed.” Artists have been given a passion for creative expression. Expression requires another to express to. In a Biblical parable, Jesus said no one who has a light should put it under a bushel.

Most artists struggle with how to bring the very personal light of their creative work out into the light of day so others can share in it. The emotional, physical, spiritual and monetary expense sheet tallies a huge risk. With a struggling economy, venues to bring our creative work to others vanish and the artist is left to redirect some of that creative resource to uncharted, inventive ways of getting our creative work out of our work space and into the lives and experience of others.

Artists often spend a lot of time alone. Social media can hold a common modern danger of resistance to real human interaction. Everyone in society has to take inventory of routines and habits, to assess if any one thing is engulfing how we function. If we don’t we can find some innocently disguised “one thing” diminishing the quality and balance of our life.

We are constantly checking voice mail, text communications, email, blog feedback and social networks on top of all the other basic requirements of work that pays the bills and puts food on the table. Every working person has to make a choice to limit some of all this or be consumed. We have to tell ourselves; yes I will miss some real or perceived opportunity and live a reasonable life because life on this earth is too short.

I made a choice, years ago that I would not let my work become more important than my relationship with God, my spouse & children or my personal health. The result is I’m not a mover and shaker in the fine art or computer graphics communities. But my important relationships are in good shape and my creative work also is not stacking up under my bed.

Art Splash, a succes! Thank you God.

Art Splash went well this weekend. I sold one original, which usually makes or breaks a show for me; as well as quite a few unmated prints and note cards.

Ballet Between Sun Showers, painting in question, oh well.

 However, I once again, had another interesting conversation with a booth attendee during the show. He asked me how I had the nerve to put a price of nearly $1,000 dollars on a painting that was on display. I have gotten similar questions in these 20 years of marketing my work. Usually the question is framed in a less blunt inquiry, pardon the pun. I explained my materials for the piece came to $350 which included a professional grade cotton duck canvas, wholesale custom framing (1/3 the price of retail framing using the same quality molding) and the art fair venue takes 30% of the selling price. For me to receive $300 above those expenses requires me to sell the piece at $950. This was how I calculated price the artwork. This price ignores the ever growing cost of the professional grade oil paints, the show fee to participate and what I pay my aged 20 nothing brute squad to help me set up my booth. If I also included this price, as a responsible business person would, the price would be well over $1,000 which is far more than what the market will bear.

This particular artwork he referred to took me approximately 100 working hours to paint; a very conservative estimate. This rounds down time and also does not include time taken to photograph the subjects and produce my photo references and basic layout. That would bring working hours closer to 120 working hours. The $300 received for my working hours and creative ability is less than what most people would hope to receive as financial compensation for services rendered but an artist has to be cognizant of what the market will bear. I told my both attendee that I did understand why $950 would still produce sticker shock for someone shopping for a luxury item during a brutal economy. His response was $950 is above what anyone can bear in this brutal economy.

I don’t think posting a description of my itemized expenses would go over well with those running the art fair venue or those attending my exhibition booth. I have never seen such an item in any artist’s exhibition. In the past, galleries I have had my work in had a problem with my transfer of ownership – artists receipt document I affix to the back of my artwork that itemizes artist’s percent, consignee’s percent and cost of materials of the total purchase price. I include it because it is hard copy documentation, for tax purposes, of what I actually receive as income within the purchase price of the piece. The gallery curators did not like the broadcasting to the purchaser that they were receiving 30% to 50% of the purchase price. It makes perfect sense because only a truly uninformed purchaser would not understand that a retail establishment needs to cover their overhead and make a profit.

I do understand the dilemma of what an artist considers fair compensation for talent and ability versus what the market will bear. There does come a point when working in a sweat shop in a third world country would provide a better bottom line than what artists are compensated for their creative work. I’m always faced with the harsh reality that if I had continued to work as a closer for a popular fast food restaurant as I had done for 10 years of my 35 year work experience, my family’s financial outlook would be profoundly healthier.

I’m woefully resistant to stop painting. If my sales at least covered my expenses and I broke even, I could justify to myself that I’m, at least paying for sincerely loved hobby. I’m, however, confronted with the reality that at age 53, as my husband and I quickly approach our retirement years, my passion for painting puts us at risk of not having enough money to live independently. My husband has been supportive of my painting ability. I fear we are now at the point where painting, even at an amature level is financially irresponsible. The best way to celebrate his support in the past is to cease the activity professionally and once again get a real job. I'm not sure I would be able to work part time and still produce enough original work to continue selling at art fair venues.

I have been doing some research about other ways to market artwork. Feedback from other artists who have tried venues such as Etsy and other internet selling sites did not produce sales. One option may be to join the Tualatin Chamber of Commerce and participate in their monthly networking opportunities. Almost all of my portrait commissions I've received in the past two years came from recommendations from Tualatin Chamber Coordinator, Linda Moholt. Because of my volunteer work with Tualatin Studio Tour, which the chamber helped sponsor, Linda has continued to pass on my contact information even though I'm not officially a member. I know if God wants me to continue create art, He will show me how to responsibly continue in the future. I have 2 more art shows that I've committed to this year and 2 portrait commissions to complete. In 2012, my plan is to cut back my art show schedule even further than I have this year. I also continue scan the Craigslist, jobs section looking for part time work in computer graphics. Despite the extremely difficult of the past three years, God has provided the blessing of enough sales to bring me close to breaking even. I think that is remarkable given the reality that most of us are struggling to keep above water. I certainly do miss that fruitful bottom line of my years at Burger King and providing child care. There is no dismissing the blessings of good and honest hard work.

Can't Keep the Artist down on the farm unless she's Plein Air Painting Impasto

I owe such a debt of enjoyment to much to my artist friends and teachers Carol Stone and Millie Van Sickle.

Millie introduced me to painting with a pallet knife. It has helped me to approach creating art with a contemporary feel because it prevented me from relying on the tendency to tighten the work into a traditional rendering. Whenever I have a sable brush in my hand my years of classical painting just seem to take over. I blend shape and model like you would expect a traditional portrait artist to do. It’s an enjoyable challenge to use the design, composition and spatial training in my contemporary paintings to make a pleasing image.

God has been gracious to help me come up with work, more excepted in the way people in the Portland area decorate their living spaces in a contemporary style.

I do love the gift of classical portraiture that Carol taught me over these 20 years.  I have been so blessed with the opportunity to paint some portrait commissions, last year and this year. I’ve been able to take the hand of my old friend, portrait painting and have some good times.  I do find the expressiveness and techniques of contemporary painting spilling over into my portrait work. When you experience the spontaneity of pallet knife, it’s a little difficult to keep the artist within the limitations of a classical purist approach. As my good friend Susan Wells often say’s, “It’s kind of like herding cats.”

Advice on how to sell art from a fellow artist is often free but is it good.

Debbie Bunce 2011

Art marketing authors and coaches, rightly, advise artists because of honest feedback by established art sell venues to develop a creative voice. I’ve also heard this reiterated by curators reviewing my work. “A body of work should have a consistent flow in subject matter and style.”

 I was trained in classical portraiture.  I branched out to landscapes and still life as I entered art fair venues. I didn’t get any accepted submissions to galleries or even alternative venues in my back yard market until I started producing more contemporary pieces for submissions. The feedback for my traditional work was, “Nice paintings, not a fit for our clientele.” It was frustrating because I was selling work at art fairs and all the art marketing books said. “Selling experience and a collector’s base is the only way an emerging artist can hope to be considered by more established venues such as galleries.”

Art marketers also, rightly, instruct artists to research their target market and to be sure they know the creative emphasis of a venue before bothering to submit submissions. My problem was I was a classically trained artist who was placed in a contemporary town because of job relocation. There are very few gallery venues in Portland, Oregon that market traditional, representational work. So I concentrated my submissions on the few galleries that offered both contemporary and representational art.

I made the mistake of including my traditional pieces in my portfolio for the 1st few interviews because I thought showing myself to be prolific was most important. I was told my portfolio, and website, though carefully divided in subject matter and style looked schizophrenic because of the varied styles. One curator who’s gallery offered an eclectic variation of styles explained,” While the gallery may offer more than one style, a solo exhibition needs to have coherent flow. The collector wants to purchase in confidence that the artist is a master of their style. Contrasting styles is what one expects to see in a college portfolio as a student is learning and experimenting.” My interpretation of what he was saying is the gallery is hoping to convince their patron that despite the fact that they have never seen or heard of this emerging artist before, the gallery has discovered a master. More than one curator said they don’t want any surprises when receiving work for a solo exhibit.

I had better success in setting up several presentation books of singular style. However, I have not excluded any categories from my website.  There is a strong probability that this will continue to be a problem in the eyes of any curators reviewing my work. The reality is my direct sales have exceeded my gallery sales. 3 of the 4 galleries that exhibited my work have become casualties of the economy and closed their doors. I made the conscious decision to include both contemporary and classical in my portrait presentation book because in the direct sales venues of commissions, the art collector is less concerned about a proliferation of styles. What’s important is a potential client sees something they connect with. Because my website is essential to my direct sales I’m resistant to removing either style.

Even in the direct sale venue of art fairs, I get questions from booth attendees as to why I paint in both contemporary and classical styles. I’m honest with my answer.” I couldn’t get gallery exposure with my initial creative direction, so I worked to find a creative expression that fit how people in my home town enjoyed developing and creating their home sanctuaries. I found I love painting in both styles now and if I had to give up one in would severely stifle my creative expression.”

 There are also several art fair venues in Oregon that dictate that the artist exhibit artwork strictly in the style as their accepted submission. For those venues, I’m careful to comply and leave one or the other at home. No sense in ruining your chances to exhibit for the next year. Galleries are closing left and right in Oregon. There are fewer selling venues for artists so you have to create your own opportunities.

One example is local Chamber of Commerce offer networking opportunities where you can offer presentations of your business service. 3 portrait commissions this year have come in from recommendations from my local chamber. Also, many townships, who offer farmers markets, are now offering artists’ markets. Those require small, quick setups with small originals and impulse items like note cards. I’m currently researching one that has just come to my attention.

 Blessings towards your efforts to share and market your creative gifts. Hopefully some of the mistakes I’ve shared will help you do a better job of hitting the target of earning income from your passion. In the ten years I’ve been selling my art, I’ve yet to see my income exceed my expenses. As successful artist and art marketer Jack White attests, “Better to take advice from and artist who is successful at selling their work then one who isn’t.”

Canon Beach Evening Sentinels

Warm Springs Fortress From the Flames