OH BOY!!!!! I made it.

This past spring I signed on to participate in the ART HOUSE "The Canvas Project 2".
This project was 5 small canvases with 5 words were sent to each artist. The canvases were 3 x 3 I mean really small. Each artist was to take the words that were given to them and illustrate the word on the very small canvases. The words I received were Lady Bug, Roar, Environment, Imperative and one other, for the life of me I cannot remember the word; but I can visualize the painting.

Once all the canvases were sent back to the ART HOUSE CO-OP..they set up a display in the Atlanta Airport of everything that was submitted and then a selection group came through and selected a few of the canvases that would be used and reproduced into a small visual encyclopedia...

I made it with one of my canvases..Lady Bug.. if you can get a hold of the book it is on page 43. Yeah, this was fun. I would do it again any day.




right there on the lower left hand corner is my little Lady Bug......





ART HOUSE CO-OP has now moved to New York and one of my other projects with them will be a part of their permanent display and collection.

Another project

Lately I have been preoccupied with "slumping" wine bottles. I probably have all ready slumped 3 dozen. This is my daughter's project really but since I have the kilns it has been my part to "slump" them.
This is the end results.....

Cup-O-ART

I have been working on small items for gifts, Christmas,Birthday, anything even just I deserve something for myself day....
I came up with this idea of coffee cups..everyone drinks coffee don't they?
Anyway...the idea was to handpaint the cups with semi-replicas of artist work and call them CUP-O-ART.
These are the tags with text that go on each box and with each cup.
Hand Painted Cups
in the styles of various
contemporary artist.
Each cup is one of a
kind. Food safe and
hand washable.
by
PAKC
this cup is in the style
of

These are some of the ideas I went with....
Jackson Pollock is my favorite, Alfred Gockle, Joan Miro, Peter Max, Rothko, and the great wave by Katsushiki Hokusai.....
The greatest thing about doing these little items..is I am once again familiarizing myself with some of the great artist.

Comes and Goes.

I just realized that the gallery anniversary has come and gone. It now has been 14 years that I have been running the gallery. 14 years of giving artists the opportunity to get their work out there. There has been a lot of ups and downs and a couple of times I cried Uncle, but then I got back up and I reinvented the gallery all over again. Over all, like the anniversary day....each day just comes and goes.

I do not wish to jinx myself but things are smoother and easier with the gallery and right now it nearly runs itself. I credit this with the great artists that are involved with the gallery, they are sincere and very reliable. I find the gallery is a pleasant way to spend the day and a great way to sit around and talk about art.

I think back over the years and realize there have been many, many artists who have gone through here. Some have moved on to really promoting themselves and really living by their art and others didn't quite make it, they haven't stopped painting but they also didn't learn anything about the business of art while in the gallery. Either way, I wish them all well. Living the life of an artist is difficult enough, we all need encouragement and support in all our endeavors. We also need to stay connected to the art community where we live and participate in their activities too.

I would never have thought I would still be doing this after this length of time. I was always under the impression I did not have "stick too it'ness", but then I just had a 40th wedding anniversary so maybe I do. I guess I have surprised myself on both accounts.

Journey's End

It is finished.
With the help of a friend I was able to stayed focused. This one was hard for some reason but it help to have someone ask about the painting and keep me going to the end.
I liked having a male perspective and found it so very interesting how we could view the same painting with different outcomes.
But it is finished....I welcome any comments even those who see something that I missed and might need to be adjusted. It is still here..it has not been varnished so in a resting stage to be framed.

Why?

I have spent several more days working on blocking in the figures. WHY?
I should have left it alone.
The strength and power in the last version versus the after selection, makes me wonder WHY?
I sometimes think I have this "mind's eye" view that I cannot see past all the faults.
I use to take the work and put it in front of a mirror so that I could see the work in reverse and take what my mind thought it saw out of the equation, I didn't. WHY?

This is the third version of blocking in and I find it funny that I am almost back exactly were I was when I started.

OK, to keep asking this particular question will not get me anywhere.
I need to move on and finish this piece.
Add more drama, more power, more passion.....then it will be finished and I will not care WHY?

Jumping over the Hurdles.

Got to a point where I liked the abstracted background and figured it was time to tackle blocking in the figures. It is going slowly and I keep playing around with the positions.

The clients liked this particular image after sending them about 10 to select from. I made it clear that as I worked the actual image would probably have changes.
I guess my biggest fear is that I am not getting the passion from my original 4 pieces and that has now become my hurdle to jump. Here is the preliminary block in...I expect it will have multitude of changes. Hope it doesn't lose the grace or the passion that I am going for.....

Background Noise...

RealLife things have kept me from posting but not totally from working on the commission piece. The clients have decided on the colors as well as the image that they would like to include.

I am working on the back ground and despite a few problems...such as the canvas not tightening up, have been at least getting somewhere with the layers and colors.



you can probably see where the canvas kept hitting the support board, because the canvas was sagging, and that stopped the paint from flowing the length of the board. I restretched the canvas and hopefully will be able to correct that problem.



I worked on this a little more adding color and pattern to the area that broke the painting into top and bottom. I believe the pattern is now a little more cohesive.


I will put a wash over the final layer to reduce some of the patterns and next I will begin to add the figures that were selected..."Tango of Love".

Adding to my series.

I have this series of paintings that I did a little while back, one of the finished pieces in the series is shown here.
The title of the series was Dance of Love and this group of paintings was mixed among another series of dance paintings I did for a solo show at the Crescent Club Gallery. Recently this series was found once again on my internet web site and I have been commissioned to paint a new piece.

I have never met the couple who are purchasing the work and I am working with them on selections of color by email and by snail mail. I sent them cards with color swatches to select the dominate color for me to use on this work. It has been fun to figure out ways to include them in the previewing of the work without the hassle of them traveling here or me there.

This particular series was predominately an abstract background and then oil pastel figures drawn over the acrylics. I used my "Four Sides" of a painting type abstract work in this background and that involves dripping, splashing, layer upon layer of paint to get strong colors and a bit of depth without building up a heavy layer of paint. I enjoyed that series and am now enjoying working on it again.
Along with the color cards, I have produced several images that I will be sending to the buyers to view and allow them to select the one they would like for their original painting. The color they wish for the back ground is once again a red, I hope the new figures are as powerful as the first ones.

I posted a few of the new images here. These are rough works with lots of adjustments but hope you enjoy the process that they will be going through as I complete the painting. I have a dozen more images in the studio but I thought I would rather not overwhelm the clients or any readers here, so I picked out some of the images I felt were the strongest. Leave me a comment if you like, I always enjoy hearing other perspectives.




.

For just a moment.....

I have been so engrossed in my new commission piece that a lot of things have been left undone around here. One such item has been my email. When suddenly, you are called to task and need to take a preview of your to do "lists". This happened when I received a call this morning from a very personable young man who was interested in whether I had read his recent mail to me. I was honest and said NO....so he preceded to give me the information over the phone line.

I was pleased to hear that it was regarding the possibility of my taking advertisement in a magazine titled ARTSMEMPHIS.

I was thrilled to listen and even over joyed in the idea that I might be able to be a participate in a collaboration by art groups here in Memphis. I hope you understand the picture I am painting here, since the painting on my easel was glaring me in the face and reminding me that there was a deadline looming up.

Anyway, this delightful young man and I were inadvertently disconnected at the most vital part of our conversation...the bottom line. LOL

Not to be unrequited in this obvious opportunity I tracked the caller down and continued our conversation. He was very apologetic for the "dropped call" and we continued on with the information I was seeking. This young individual was less enthusiastic in my following up on what I perceived as my much needed information. I got the feeling that he felt like I was wasting his time, not that my time was of any consequence, but so be it. I wanted the information and I preceded to ask my necessary questions to get there.

Finally I let the young ardent marketing individual off the hook and told him...thanks for the MOMENT that you allowed me in the idea that I could be financial stable enough to afford a place in your 3 issues per year at the price of $5k.
LOL


So FOR JUST A MOMENT............

Finally

I am finally working again.
The commission piece is exactly what I need to be doing.
I have sent off color cards to the buyers and getting their input to the colors for the background abstract portion and now I am rendering sketches for the poses.

If you are not up to date on the commission....it is a new section to my DANCE OF LOVE series. These will be all red and earth toned colors with the same passionate poses of the figures.(note painting in earlier post from first series)

I have two new sketches and will probably do at least 3 to 4 new pieces to this series.

The first sketch is somewhat tamer than the first four, but as I go along they are acquiring the same sort of intensity of the first group. I appreciate the challenge in going back to a former series and adding to it and keeping the same degree of feeling I first captured. Well, I hope I am capturing the same degree of feeling. We will see.

Will post the sketches soon.

Time Flies.

Ok so I didn't make it back as promised. Is there a method or a system to being organized or are you born with that gene?

I am so slow....but I mean well

LOL...yes I am slow in posting on this thread and I need to be here at least once a week. Who knows maybe I will actually keep that commitment.

I do have good news......
I was just picked up by a gallery in Mississippi.
So even though I will be busier than ever, I need to stick to my commitments that I previously started and try to get back here and show what I am up to next.

Jewelry.....the rings have sold very well.
I took pictures with intent to post but all have sold, so now I need to craft new ones.

Clayworks. I have added a new item to my clayworks...it is called "Earth Tones"...will get new pictures up of those items as soon as I can.

I got a long distant commission on one of my favorite series. Dance of Love I will be working on that the next couple of weeks....
posting pictures of that series here.

Recently I was asked by the ORPHEUM to submit items with 25% commission going to them for my work that they sell.

I got notice today for a call to artists to submit work once again to the invitational that I entered last January, I am excited I sold 3 pieces at that show and I look forward to getting some new work in for that show.

I am still entering the various events that are hosted by the ARTHOUSE in Atlanta.
I have my five little canvases finished and will be sending them off this next week.
That show will be touring the United States like the Scrapbook #2 did in April.

So that is it for now...thanks for reading.

Another Direction

I recently became interested in designing and making jewelry.
I am now learning different methods of beading and wire twisting.
I am thinking about going further into the jewelry line and actually do some casting.
We will see....it isn't at if I didn't have enough on my plate at the time

Here is one of my rings. This is a crystal rivoli stone with sterling silver wire.

Giving Back-

Life swirls and flashes by so quickly that rarely do we have the chance to give back to those who helped you get to the point you are now. Thank You at the moment is fine, but to actually find a way to do more is rather exciting.

Life has handed me a couple of lemons lately and instead of sitting here on my duff I have thought about taking the time to recognize people who directly influenced me and who supported me during some lean hard years. People went on the ride with me just for the sake of being there. They took on a lot and gave me faith and support when I needed it.

I run a co-operative gallery and for several years the location that I maintained wasn't the best to have for the enterprise I was trying to run.

In those years a lot of artists came to me and we exhibited together through the "lean" times. They trusted my idea and wanted to be involved. They could not always stay too long in the gallery because in a co-operative overhead sometimes out weighed the commissions and sales before it became an additional hardship on them. Again location, traffic and capital to promote were not always available and that did make a difference to people and how long they might be willing to give their support.

I now am in a location that drives traffic to our door, we are experiencing some good sales even in this economic down turn for most of the country. I have thought about those who hung in there with me as long as they could, but never got to ride the upside of the co-operative.

I had this "light bulb moment" of how to share with the former members what is happening in the gallery now and I hope it will work out. I am going to invite each former member to have a chance to exhibit in our new home as a thank you for helping me get there.

I am still in the working stage of this idea, but feel that allowing one artist a month to come hang a few pieces of their work in the new space will be nice; not only for me, so that I can see what they are doing, but maybe a little bit for them too. I think they deserve that moment, it may take me years to get to all of them after running a cooperative for 11 years, but it certainly is worth the try. Some have moved on to better places and larger galleries and they probably will not return, but several I think would enjoy the experience of what they helped me do.

Think I will set a date to get this started and just get it done...I think it is very important to give back whenever you can, especially before you lose the opportunity.

Myth's about Vanity Galleries

There has been a bit of rumblings on the Internet art networks about Vanity Galleries. Lots of discussion. First would ask, what do you think of when you hear the title Vanity Gallery? does it come across as negative?

For most artists it does, but if you look pass that first title and look to the benefits, there is some justification for that sort of space.

Now I would ask how many types of galleries do you think there are?
Let's see if I can list them
Commercial Galleries
Cooperative Galleries
Exhibition Galleries
Vanity Galleries
Regional Galleries
Private Galleries
and Internet Galleries
most of the above list are explanatory.

Commercial Gallery would be the standard 50/40% commission gallery that usually deals with their set "stable" of artists. They are comfortable with the work they exhibit and know it's sales value.

Cooperative Galleries are galleries that have a collective of artists who have grouped together to pool their resources for a venue to exhibit their work. The availability of artists at hand to produce work or even commission pieces directly for clients. It has little or no commissions attached to the art work so the savings is passed on to the customer. Cooperative does handle the artists in a creative manner. It allows the artists to expand their thinking processes by helping them to balance some matters on the left side of the brain. If a cooperative gallery is in a well trafficked area, is managed and handled well, the benefits of artists running the show is doubled, everyone benefits- client and artist

Vanity Galleries and Exhibition Gallery are those that have a space with lights that may be rented by individuals for a fee to host their own shows. There is little or no input from the actual owner of the space. Their fees are directly related to the rent of the space and sometimes to a % of sales made during the event. If an artist wishes to be involved from top to bottom then this for them

I am sure the last two types of galleries are self explanatory.Private and Regional.

Though there is some negativity in calling a gallery "Vanity", there are benefits.

some responses from other artists on www.Painterkeys.com

Joyce Fournier, Or.
While some of these galleries do charge artists exorbitant fees to exhibit work that is of questionable quality, many such galleries would be best referred to as Exhibition Galleries, where artists who have work that is of a high calibre are invited to display their work within a specific theme. The Exhibition Gallery offers a great option to independent artists who are tired of waiting for their submissions to be accepted by traditional commercial galleries and would prefer to spend more time creating. Exhibition galleries also meet the needs of independent artists who may not enjoy doing the ART EXPO's at convention centres due to limited funds, excessive workload, etc

Joy Engleman
I am a curator at a commercial gallery as well as an artist with a long career spanning some 35 years or more. Vanity galleries do have a place in the system and are a great place for artists to showcase what they can do. We need more galleries, co-operative, vanity or commercial, regional and private, more galleries

Don Cadoret
I agree in that these galleries have a place. I would suggest though that we avoid the term "vanity" in the future and allow ourselves the honor of being involved in co-operative galleries where the marketing and potential profit is shared. If serious craft artists can do quite well in the co-operative model than why can't other artists succeed in the same environment? Of course they can! Like any business decision (of which there are many for artists), be wary of pitfalls and be willing to learn from mistakes. That's what makes Painter's Keys so valuable for all level of artists.

Silvia Forrest
I like to think about the changes in the business model we are living through as similar to what occurred in Europe when the Impressionists first organized their own show in response to the rigidity of the "Salon" system which then controlled who could and who could not exhibit and what works of art were considered acceptable.

Change is always unsettling but also unavoidable.

Those of you who are looking for venue's to show your work, heed these words and get out there any way you can.

Running as Fast as I can

Whew!!!!
My new ad came out this week.
I am excited and hope that the possibilities I perceived through getting my name out there will actually come to fruition.

It would be interesting to hear from others and their attempts on getting recognition and how it turned out for them. Sort of a networking of ideas and outcomes.

Well, guess now is just my turn to wait and see.

strangeness of planning

Last weekend I went over to Huntsville Al to participate in the Alabama Clay Conference. They had several topics that I seriously wanted to listen to.
The first was HOW TO CONNECT WITH URBAN ART PROJECTS....interconnections.
Architects, Designers, Sub Contracts and an Artist talked about how to get your work involved. It was a good meeting. I have submitted several times to Urban Art Projects and after listening to this symposium I will continue on, I am going in the right direction. More information about this in future blogs.

The second day I had to make a choice....
Photographing your art work
Web set up and design
Your Art as a Business.

Can you guess which one I selected?

Ah yes, the reason for my title strangeness of planning.
Of course I went to Art as a Business, this is the part which was the planning.
I did not realize that the entire presentation would be based on my very favorite author Alyson B.Stanfield,I found it was interesting to see the whole package in action.

I ordered the book about a year ago from Alyson "I Would Rather Be in the Studio"(you can find a link on www.pakcraig.com) and I have followed several of the helpful guidelines published there. The strangeness part was to be involved, seeing the reactions and actions of others in listening to the suggestions from the book that I have been reading; yes that part was fun.

The strangeness once again is I found I am all ready on track in solving my own problems and finding solutions. The best part of the weekend was the chance to find validation.

Right Brained?

Can a right brained individual really move over to the left side.
Being a business owner I know that I have to, no doubt about it, but it is a hard transition especially if you are wrapped in "blue".
Robt Genn of Painter's Keys talked about blue being a color that inspires creativity.
I guess I need to wear "black" when I wish to think numbers....I believe numbers in black is a good thing...at least that is much better than "red'.

So this week has been decision making points and counterpoints with the left side. I need to swing back soon, I like being right brained creative much more than left brained logical.

I have had trouble downloading my camera after taking pictures of the rings I have been making. I will work on that this evening. I do like making rings.

Two in a Row

I been very busy today at the gallery.
I brought in the new display case and set it up.
Put ceramic pieces on it and a new jewelry case and it looks good.
Now that I know this design is suitable I will be building more.
Makes the place look good, though there is more emphasis on jewelry and small items than the larger paintings right now.
I think it is a good shift at the moment, when the economy settles down the larger items I know will start moving again.
Took photos of the rings that I am putting into the gallery
Will post this evening.

Have 3 new artists who wish to sign up and join in.
Two are jewelry artists and the third is a painter.
I look forward to having them come in.

Changes

Laughing out Loud.
I see that my dedication to blogging is not a strong point.
Though I do believe that blogging is one of the newest communication ports.

So to keep with the theme of this year's political agenda of Changes....I too will be considering changes in all areas of my life.

I have all ready begun a few.
I have thousands of ideas running around in my brain and now it is time to start setting them into action.

I have taken action in my time management. Whoot...that is a surprise, me on schedule, now that is funny.
I have taken action in the gallery and have set up new schedules and new events and agendas. With the economic temperature, art is not necessarily a priority; so to keep all the artists happy and satisfied with sales, I will be putting new steps into place.
I am venturing out further in my own artistic realm, moving to a radius of 450 miles or further.(had a few pieces accepted in Atlanta, GA)
I have Incorporated a new media...jewelry...I am making rings with sterling silver and semi precious stones. Even in this economy who can resist a ring.
I set up an ad for my own work in national magazine.

So after tripping lightly through the tulips...I am off to make further changes.
My website along with the gallery website and even here on the blog pages, I will continue to update, move around, attract, delete anything and everything until people can really see the changes that are taking place.

So thanks for visiting...and staying faithful.
www.pakcraig.com
www.rivertowngallery.net