"Autumn Candy"

I just finished up 7 new paintings for a Gallery in Laguna Beach. It's been a fun 2 weeks! Here's my favorite painting of the lot. The texture is so thick on these trunks, they literally jut out from the canvas a good 1-2 inches! I 'sculpted' them with a palette knife. It's kind of like frosting a cake!

Budding Artist

Addie-cakes loves to paint with me in the studio. I give her a dry paint brush and she stands on the stool and "paints" all the bottoms of the paintings for me!

about commissions...

I'm currently finishing up a few commissions. The 24 x 24 was for a collector who wanted me to paint her children playing in the garden in the back yard. She emailed me a dozen pictures, and I created a computerized sketch with the ones I thought would work best. Thank goodness for photoshop! Gone are the days when an artist would spend days sketching the layout for a painting in pencil or charcoal for the client to approve. One change, and the artist would have to re-draw the whole thing. Nowadays, everything is done on computer first--well at least it is for me. It helps that I have a computer saavy husband who has taught me everything I know. And if I can't do it, I make him do it for me! In this case, the client did end up making a change, so it was a good thing I had it all on my computer. It was as easy as a click with my mouse!

The other commission was through a Gallery. Most commonly a client will see my work in a Gallery, and need a custom painting with specific requirements, so the Gallery will call me with the details. That is the case with "Land of Promise II". The original "Land of Promise" was a 48 x 48, but the client wanted a 40 x 30. They also wanted grass in the foreground with purple and blue flowers. It's always interesting how specific some collectors can be. But the great thing about Art is...I can add whatever they want to a painting. No so easy with photography!

More on Vegas...

Besides doing the ArtExpo in Vegas...when the show ended at six, it was time to play! Matt and I celebrated our 9th Wedding Anniversary that weekend, so we lived it up! We saw three shows: "Mama Mia", "The Producers", and "O". Two out of the three left much to be desired. "Mama Mia" had great music (love Abba! Lived on them through childhood), but the play itself seemed more like a talented high school production than something found on Broadway. "The Producers" was funny in an odd sort of way. Perhaps if you're in love with Tony Danza, it would have been okay...but it definitely played up to the 50 + crowd. We did "O" (Cirque de Soleil) and that was really neat, if surreal. It was like watching a Salvador Dali painting on stage. There were all sorts of random floating things in the air--like a merry-go-round horsy, and headless costumes. Nothing really made sense, but it was sort of beautiful with the water and dancers. Not sure if it was worth a whopping $250 a ticket though. If my husband goes to a play, he likes to splurge on the really good seats. I'm the cheapo in the relationship. I prefer to call myself "frugal", but "tightwad" I am! :)

Oh, and on the way home, we missed our connecting flight from Pheonix to Medford. Purely our fault. So stupid. We were standing there the whole time, and didn't hear them call our flight number. Well, okay, we were eating at the Burger King 10 feet away from the ticket counter, and I was fighting with the kid at the cash register. He had over charged Matt 3 bucks, so I was getting it back for him. Matt always makes me be the big meanie. So needless to say, our attention was diverted elsewhere, and by the time we hit the flight people, they had already given away our seats! We discovered they like to do that 10 minutes before the flight time. Matt was livid. So after another hour of waiting, they put us on a plane back to Vegas for a 5 hour layover to Medford. Instead of getting home at 6 p.m., we were due to arrive at 3 a.m! Ahhh! And my husband hates flying. Truly he would rather drive. So for him to get back on a plane--back to the destination we had just came from, was almost beyond enduring. But we decided to make the best of it. So when we got back to Vegas, we got a cab and ate at a wonderful Brazilian restaurant ("Pampas"), and walked around the shopping strip for a bit. We walked into a couple of Art Galleries and struck up conversations with the owners. Of course, it helped that the artists they carry I know personally and had just seen at the expo--so that got their attention. It would be fun to get my work in Vegas. And hey, if it hadn't been for the the last minute change in flight plans, I would have never met them! Everything happens for a reason...

Post-Show Update

The ArtExpo Las Vegas Show was a success. There was a different atmosphere than the show in NY. It seemed quite a bit more relaxed--not so cut-throat. I met with a lot of great art buyers and Galleries. I did a show special that worked out well. For every two original paintings (any size) sold, the collector would receive a free 24 x 24 original of their choice! And, order 4 giclees, and receive a 5th one free!

I also felt like I made some key contacts that were important. Being there helped solidify the relationships I had started in NY. Took pictures with Susanne Casgar (wonderful lady--chief editor of Art Business News), Ford Smith, Fabian Perez, Eric Smith, Fred Rogers, Dana Yarger, Tom Zotos, Pete Tillack, HamiltonAguiar, Nan Miller...not to name drop or anything! :) The expos are good for that at least. It gets you out there, and talking to the who's who in the art biz.

I was flattered that Mark from "Progressive Fine Art" felt threatened enough by my work to tell me to find a new subject matter. Ya, that was interesting. He told me if I keep painting aspens, then everybody will start to paint them, and the value for any aspen painting would diminish. He must have been thinking of Maya Eventov whom he reps. She also paints aspens with thick texture (though not as thick as mine, of course!). But I thought that was rather strange for him to be afraid of a little competition. No matter what the subject matter is, wouldn't the style always be different? How long have scenes from Provence and Tuscany been around? If your style stands out from the rest--and is unique enough, isn't that all that matters?