The Market Has NoTaste

As an avid fan of marketing guru Seth Godin, I subscribe to his blog and eagerly read each updated post. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing his short but effective essay that spoke volumes...hey, it's what I've been talking about. How apropos:

When it comes to art, to human work that changes people, the mass market is a fool. A dolt. Stupid.

If you wait for the market to tell you that you're great, you'll merely end up wasting time. Or perhaps instead you will persuade yourself to ship the merely good, and settle for the tepid embrace of the uninvolved.

Great work is always shunned at first.

Would we (the market) benefit from more pandering by marketers churning out average stuff that gets a quick glance, or would we all be better off with passionate renegades on a mission to fulfill their vision?

"I am an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on the way." - Carl Sandburg

BUY ART!

The Mini's

In my lastest newsletter that I just know you read with unabated enthusiasm, I mentioned that my gallery VoilART! is hosting a holiday exhibit of miniature original oils sized 8"x10" and under. Entitled "Marvelous Minis for Merry Making", these little jewels are an affordable means to start a collection, add to a collection, and of course, become a most thoughtful and creative gift.

As promised, I'm posting as they are painted for those of you who can't visit the gallery here in Ocala.

No more excuses of jam-packed walls that simply cannot squeeze in another square inch...these little lovelies will fit perfectly on any tabletop or spruce up a shelf.


Behold - memories of the cold, cold rocky shore of the Pacific when I lived in the bay area in California. It's approximately 5"x7" and framed to boot. Only $50. For an original. That's also framed.

In case you don't subscribe to my newsletter (and I can't imagine why not), here is a link to view it.

Avoid the ho-hum big box...

BUY ART!

"If you work from memory, you are most likely to put in your real feeling." - Robert Henri

Sense of Place

I really, really wanted to finish this painting begun last summer in my vendor booth at Saratoga. It's a warm up, stretching my pigment muscles and feeling the milieu of time and space, intending to transfer that aura to my mounting commission work. When your brushstrokes caress the canvas, you're getting it. Ya just gotta feel it, breathe it and taste it to paint it good.

"Barn Scene, Saratoga", oil on canvas, 16"x20"

It captures those soft mornings on the backside when the sun filters through the many big trees. People and horses are more relaxed and visitors are pleased to be able to tour the barn area. Must be the negative ions of nature. I know this because Michael had a stable there in the early to mid 80's. I so resonate with this place and it took me many years of persistence to get back my foothold.

There are beautiful race tracks across the country but there's only one Saratoga. It's a destination. A place to aspire to. A keeper of history with infamous records and facts and many stories both well known and whispered. Saratoga keeps it's head above the troubled waters. Owners dream of running and winning there. Graveyard of favorites, that it is.

"A man doesn't learn to understand anything unless he loves it." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Ocala Art Festival

I'd like to invite you to attend the Ocala Art Festival this weekend. It's located at the McPherson Government Complex, 601 SE 25th Ave in beautiful Ocala, Florida (my home sweet home). Please stop by and visit me in my booth: E33. The weather will be perfect and you can enjoy a leisurely stroll through the rows of compelling and diverse artwork.

Remember, the holidays loom on the horizon and purchasing a special piece of art is a creative gesture of hip thoughtfulness. Way cool. Avoid the big box stores with the same old repetitious merchandise:

BUY ART

"Each time you purchase a piece of art, you're investing in a piece of history and in another person's life. " - Diane Overmyer (well said, Diane)

Like an Old Friend

This original oil on canvas is back in my own studio, VoilART! in downtown Ocala. I won't share with you the why's, from where or who because I guard the privacy of my collectors and galleries. Suffice to say it's great to see it again and I give my old work mixed reviews. Myriad technicalities I would have confronted differently though I'm impressed with the level of power portrayed. I remember how I felt while creating this piece. There's always that one horse with an attitude who can be relied on to behave badly at the worse time. It's dangerous and exhilarating, maddening and glorious.

"Blue Blinkers" oil on canvas, 60"x48"

If you find it interesting, click here for more info.

"A good picture, any picture, has to be bristling with razor blades." - Pablo Picasso

How long did that take?

Someone is looking intently at an artwork, turns to the artist and innocently asks: "How long did it take you to do that?". Ugh.

It makes an artist cringe. Some artists, feeling defensive, reply with a flippant "My whole life!" To an artist, the question insinuates perceived worth. I used to patiently consider the question an ice breaker, a safe way for the viewer to engage in conversation because they are not sure how to approach otherwise. Now I'm suspect.

Time, labor, materials, size. It's frustrating to deal with so much attention to physicality. I don't mind discussing technique. It's the reference to time = $$$ that increasingly annoys. If I say a canvas took me half a day because the painting session was immersed in a zen-like creativity, the reaction is...polite respect. However, numeration involving pained hours and hours (even months) spent on a piece concurs head-nodding monetary merit. Calculating value by the hours expended in a creation of art is not an indication of what it should cost.

"My whole life" really is. Accrued skill takes a lifetime of patience and persistence. It parallels general life experience and evolves into a total package as the artist becomes the art and the art IS the artist.

"The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run." - Henry David Thoreau

Musings About ArtPrize

Twenty-four hours or so remain in the first round of public voting. The top ten (from over 1,700 artists) are announced this Thursday and the voters will continue to choose winners from that drastically whittled list.

This is the second year for the competition and it has attracted some impressively flashy installations containing all-encompassing shows of light, sound and movement. These extravaganzas seem to be the front runners for attention grabbing (and votes) along with varying pieces of incredible originality. News of the quarter million dollar top prize has spread across the planet and this year's entries are on mega-steroids boasting a cast of collaborators. So, what chance has a 2-D traditional oil on canvas (yawn) even if the format is large and multiple and explores boundaries of speed and spatial relationships?

Not much, even if last year's winner was a gigantic oil painting of open water by Ray Ortner. That was last year...this year's entrants include a 25,000 lb. flying pig, after all.

My experience with ArtPrize has been nothing short of amazing. Being chosen by a private curator to exhibit at the DeVos Place Convention Center was an extreme honor. My piece hangs just inside the front doors and is viewable from the street. It's my personal magnum opus and assures me that I CAN be competitive, especially within genre. Yes, I'm already planning for next year. Oh, and I did get a nice shout out on the local news station's website: see it here.

"Some people don't like competition because it makes them work harder, better." - Drew Carey

Vote Up Code: 41451

If you're in Grand Rapids, Michigan for ArtPrize:
AND you love horses and painting:
For your consideration, please see my piece at the DeVos Place Convention Center:

"Diagonal"

It's nine separate canvases joined together to create a cohesive image. My inspiration came from an old found black and white photo. I developed the flow of the canvases to echo the direction of the horses coming around the turn. Total size, approximately 13'6" x 13'6". For more info, click here.
My vote up code is:

41451

Thank you!!

On My Way to Saratoga

So here's my first racing painting after my self-imposed hiatus. Unfinished and waiting for something. Or someone.

unfinished oil on canvas, 36"x48"

I'm inclined to believe that information is directed to a person constantly and from all manner of sources. As I went into the zone with this one, a voice was incessantly nagging "don't finish it." My intention was indeed to finish in time to take to Saratoga. Fresh off the easel. Michael spurred me on as well.

As time drew close, every manner of interruption manifested to thwart my efforts. Weird. Especially because I'm an over achiever. This painting most certainly should be completed.

I'll hang it on my tent wall and paint "your horse here" or "your silks here".

"There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear." - Buffalo Springfield

Tabletop Art

Here's my answer to the statement: "I don't have any more room on my walls for artwork":

Tabletop art!

These mini canvas giclee fine art reproductions are 5"x7" and suitable for tables, your desk or that tiny wall that just needs "something".


Almost any of my images can be a mini, provided that the size is rectangular in format. Vertical as well as horizontal.

It's not my original idea. My studio partner Jackie sells the heck out of these with images of her Florida landscapes.

Only $25.00. E-mail me if you'd like to add one to your collection. Yes, you DO have room.

Saratoga update: The heavens are conspiring to make my dream a reality. An anonymous donor sent a check off to NYRA for my vendor fee. Another wonderful donor is sponsoring my housing and a couple of angels have provided expense money. I'm SOOO blessed. The $10,000 target I initiated is at $6,500. and I'm confident that I'll realize the balance or pretty darn close through sales, unexpected income, etc. I'm overwhelmed and very, very grateful.

ArtPrize update: The DeVos Place Convention Center has chosen my entered piece "Diagonal" to exhibit in Grand Rapids, Michigan during the ArtPrize competition from Sept. 22nd to Oct. 10th. I'm in great company and honored to be a part of this incredible event.

“What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now.” - unknown