Five Principles

"Wildflowers, Rabbit Ears Pass"
Oil on Canvas
8x10"




In Robert Genn’s October 24, 2006 newsletter, he talks about his preview of the book The Starbucks Experience, Five Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary by psychologist Joseph Michelli. In the newsletter, he talks about five principles of success, discussed by Michelli:

1. Make it your own
2. Everything matters
3. Surprise and delight
4. Embrace resistance
5. Leave your mark

When I first read this, I glanced over the principles and decided they were a little bit touchy feely and typical of the “feel good” stuff you find in your average how-to-make-your-business-successful book.

Then I took a second look and thought a little bit more about how these principles apply to my art career. I think it was a good way to bring together some thoughts about how and why I approach my art the way I do, and where I see myself going. I’m usually a bit nebulous about my painting – I hate writing artist statements and defining my work – so every once in a while I think it’s a good exercise to sit down and put some of my thoughts about art into words.

1. Make it your own.

This is one of my top priorities as I develop as an artist. Developing a personal style is something that evolves from spending countless hours alone in the studio. I value the critiques of my peers, and can’t put into words how much I’ve learned from the handful of workshops I’ve taken, but nothing has been more valuable than the hours I’ve spent alone in the studio developing my own voice. When I’m at the easel and something isn’t working, it takes some serious problem solving to figure out how to fix it. Combine my personal responses to every moment of difficulty while painting, and the result is my own personal style.

Nothing bugs me more than to walk into a gallery and to see a painting that was obviously done by someone who studied with a particular artist. I make a conscious decision to take a limited number of workshops and classes, and those that I do take are with artists who have a reputation for teaching principles and basics rather than technique. This allows me to learn within the parameters of my own style, and make sure that my paintings are and will always be my own.

2. Everything Matters

I agree – everything matters. When I drop off my paintings at a gallery, quality and consistency matter. Framing matters. Quantity matters. What a client sees hanging on the wall of the gallery influences their overall impression of me as an artist worth collecting. In working with the gallery, responsiveness and professionalism matter, and dependability above all. If I have a good working relationship with the gallery, it will reinforce their commitment to sell my work.

I could go on and on about the all of the things that matter. I’m only one person and sometimes I’m just going to have to prioritize the bigger things over the smaller things, but it’s still good to remember that everything matters. Because selling art is more than a collector falling in love with a painting - people’s opinions are influenced by more than what they see, and everything matters when it comes to presenting collectors with a package that will inspire them to open their pocketbook and buy.

3. Surprise and Delight

This one is tough for me. I paint because I’ve loved art as long as I can remember, but I’m at a point where I’m transitioning to making art my career, and at this stage I view art as work. Making and selling art is soon going to be my job, and I’m devoted to approaching my art business with the same amount of energy, discipline, and professionalism with which I approach my current day job. I think that this commitment has been responsible for the success I have experienced in this, my first year selling my artwork. But sometimes the stress of producing can suck some of the joy out of the creative process.

This principle serves as a reminder to me that I’m choosing to make art my job because I’m passionate about it. One of my goals should be maintain that passion when I get bogged down with deadlines and requests. My love for art needs to be the heart of this business if I am going to be successful in the long run.

4. Embrace Resistance

This is a tough one for everyone, because it’s human nature to respond to criticism with defensiveness. My husband is my toughest critic, and every time he makes a negative comment about a painting, I immediately respond with all the reasons he’s wrong. But every time I complete a painting, I set it up on a shelf in my family room where I can soak it up for a few days, and I never fail to see his point of view eventually. Often, the specific criticism he makes isn’t the root of the actual problem, but when I take the time to figure out what’s causing his response I can almost always use it to make a better painting.

It’s hard to admit when I’m wrong, especially when it comes to my art. I take it personally when it comes to my paintings, and it’s hard to separate hurt feelings from the truth when I’m evaluating criticism. But it’s important to embrace resistance, at least to the point of setting aside time for evaluation. Sometimes resistance is worthless, but sometimes it’s a valuable means of improvement. If you don’t stop to embrace it, you miss the opportunity that lies within.

5. Leave Your Mark

I’m a representational painter, so I don’t have any deep statement to describe what my work is about, and I’m never asked to explain what it all means. Sometimes I feel like I must not be a “real” artist, since I don’t have to put subtitles below my paintings explaining my vision and concept. But my landscapes are my personal response to the world around me, and it’s very important to me that I use my paintings to share that vision with an audience.

I see a lot of beauty in the natural world that I think the average person misses. When a particular scene takes my breath away, I would venture to say that 90% of people respond with “What?” when I say, “Wow – look at that!” The purpose of my art is to take that scene and put it in the face of someone who otherwise might not notice. It’s amazing how something that might escape a person’s notice when they’re driving down the highway can cause them to pause when they’re walking through an art gallery. I’m a bit of a tree hugger, and I just hope my landscapes can remind people that there are places out there that are worth saving.

Expanding

So, I was standing at the copy machine at work yesterday when some man I didn't know walked up and stood right next to me. I was wondering why he was invading my personal space at the copier when he proceeded to pat my belly, then pat his, and say, "You better watch out or your belly's gonna look like mine!!"

Then he paused to think a bit before saying, "Well, except that you're going to lose yours overnight one of these days, and I'm stuck with mine."

I'm glad to know that my body is starting to resemble that of a middle-aged man with a beer gut.

Fabulous.

Actually, I can't deny that I've entertained myself in meetings for the last nine months by imagining how many months pregnant I would be before my belly looked like each man's in the room. What can I say? Male engineers have beer bellys, and it makes for a good way to waste some time when stuck in a boring meeting.













I only dare to post these pictures because I've had a gazillion people request pictures of my rapidly expanding belly, and I figure it would just be easier to satisfy everyone's bizarre fascination with the pregnant belly than come up with more excuses for why I don't have any pictures of me pregnant.

Anyhow, I've come a long way between 7 weeks and 35 weeks pregnant, and I'm at the stage now where I can't quite believe that I still have approximately five more weeks for my belly to grow. Not to mention that I don't remember EVER being the size I am in the 7 week photo above, nor can I imagine ever being that size again.

Momentum

"Colorado Headwaters"
Oil on Canvas
12x16"




After the wasp invasion a few weeks back, I completely lost my momentum with painting. I had completed four paintings that weekend and was excited to keep working, but the nasty wasps in my studio kept me away from the easel for a few days, and then life got in the way again.

I did manage to frame and deliver some paintings to the gallery earlier this month, which at least made me feel like I had accomplished something. Then I got busy wrapping things up at work and trying to find some time to get ready for the baby, and didn't get much else accomplished.

I found out last week that my paintings for the Forbes show need to be done and photographed by November 15th, so that got me going again. I spent some time this weekend working on one of the last two paintings I plan to do for the show, and will hopefully finish the final one this week. Nothing like a deadline to get me going!!! Further evidence that I am officially a procrastinator...

My last day of work is next Friday, and assuming that the baby doesn't come early, that will give me three weeks to get stuff done before my life is taken over by midnight feedings and poopy diapers. During that time, I've got to get five or six small paintings done for a holiday miniatures show. Then I'm planning to be officially on maternity leave for a month or so - I'll fit in painting where I can, when I'm ready.

Simplifying

Okay, so I got sick of the peach color of my blog template, and decided to go back to basics and use something a bit more simple. I don't know html, but that didn't stop me from spending an hour customizing the colors of the plain blogger template to look better with my paintings. I'm such a geek...

Invasion

This sucks.

Nate was out of town this weekend, so I was going to be ambitious and productive and get all sorts of painting done.

I did five acrylic underpaintings last week, and was ready to get to work with the oils on Saturday morning. I headed down to my studio in the basement, and while I was cleaning up my palette, I noticed a huge wasp flying around by the window screen. I closed the window, trapping him between the glass and screen, and continued with my painting, managing to finish two paintings before dinner.

This morning, I headed back down and completed a small 8x10" painting before lunch, then started on another small study. As I started to get into it, I noticed another wasp flying above my head.

Now, my studio is in a walkout basement, and I had assumed that the first wasp just managed to squeeze its way in through a gap in the doggie door. But to have more than one of these things flying around in my basement seemed a bit strange. Just then, I noticed the distinct sound of insects hitting a window, and found that it was coming from the back room of the basement. I went and looked, and there were about 20 yellowjackets flying around the inside of the window!!

So, I turned off the radio, grabbed my dog, and headed upstairs. I'm 7.5 months pregnant, and didn't really feel like pissing off a colony of wasps in my basement!! I figured I'd send Nate down there to fix the situation when he gets home tonight - that's what husbands are for, right?

So much for my productive weekend of painting... Why'd they have to take up residence in my studio, of all places?

I'm Sad Today

I was tired last night, so I spent the evening sketching out some new pieces on canvas in front of the TV. Since we don’t have cable, I was stuck watching the main network channels, all of which were interrupted on the hour for updates and press conferences about the school shooting that took place in Bailey yesterday.

I know that watching the news is never a happy experience with all the crap that happens all over the world every day, but that never numbs me to the stories that hit closer to home. And hearing about this particular story all night just made me sad.

Bailey is a 25 minute drive from my house. It’s a little town in the mountains with maybe one restaurant and a gas station along the highway. It’s the kind of place you’d move if you wanted to get away from the hustle of city and suburban life.

It’s not the kind of place where you would expect this sort of thing to happen.

The parents of the children in the classroom that was taken hostage probably thought they were sheltering their children by living in a rural mountain town. Now, not so much.

It just goes to show you can’t get away from this crap.

I live five minutes away from Columbine High School, and I think the community I live in is still affected by the aftermath of that tragedy. No one thought that sort of thing would happen in Littleton either, yet it did. And now there’s another school shooting that has taken place just a short drive away.

Anyhow, I don’t really have a point – I’m rambling. I’m just sad for the family of the child who died, I’m sad for the law enforcement officers who had to deal with the situation while their own children were inside the school, and I’m sad for the guy who did this.

Another Commission Out the Door!

One of the things that has been stressing me out this summer is the completion of a few commissioned pieces. There's just something about the whole commission process that makes it more difficult than just painting what I want. After all, these are clients who know exactly what they want and go out of their way to request it rather than just buy something off of a gallery wall.

I outlined my process on the commissioned painting that was my biggest challenge here and here. Yesterday I shipped off another that was on the opposite end of the spectrum - no stress at all.

This particular client found my website back in January and contacted me then about my work, before I had any gallery representation. We kept in touch, and in July he asked me to do a larger version of a painting I had recently sold. The original painting was just a 9x12" study, shown here:

He commissioned me to do the same piece as an 18x24". That's about as simple as a commission gets - I still get to paint something that I was originally inspired to paint, and there's not as much stress about whether the client will like the finished product or not since he already has a good idea of what it will look like.

When I do a larger piece from a study, I like to change things up a bit so that the two pieces don't look like carbon copies. In this instance, going from 9x12" to 18x24" required that I enhance the composition a bit, especially in the foreground. In the larger version, I added a road/trail to the foreground to lead the eye into the painting, and pushed the colors a bit to enhance the mood of the piece. Here's the final commission:

It's essentially the same subject as the smaller study, but different enough that they can be considered two different paintings. After all, I wouldn't want to annoy the person who bought the study by doing another painting just like it!

Anyhow, this painting got shipped off yesterday. The client has seen pictures, but has never seen any of my paintings in person, so I'm hoping he's happy with the real thing.

As for the commissioned piece I posted about before, I just dropped it off with that client today at lunch. He was happy with it and I've got the check in hand. Now I'm back to painting things that I want to paint - nice!!

Collectors

"First Light"
Oil on Canvas
14x18"






I’m continually amazed at the cool people I meet through painting, and am always pleasantly surprised at how friendly and helpful people can be in the art world, whether they be artists, dealers, or collectors. One of my favorite things about selling my work is learning more about the collectors who buy it. The gallery I work with in town sends me the name and address of each person who buys one of my paintings, and I usually send them a thank you note or some sort of personal message. Most of the time, that’s the extent of my communication with each buyer, but sometimes I get a little bit more.

One guy sent me a note back about how a scene I had painted looked down on the site of an old molybdenum mine – he had worked on reclamation of the land back in the 80’s, and sent me a note to tell me how pleased he was to see that they had done such a good job that an artist would want to paint the place 15 years later. He had ended up buying a different painting of mine, but took the time to write me a note about this one because it had an impact on him. I do environmental engineering for a living, so I thought his perspective was just as interesting.

The painting posted above recently sold to the man who apparently owns the ranch that makes up the foreground. Apparently he was in Denver and went into the gallery, recognized the mountain and his property in the painting, and bought it right away. I couldn’t think of a better person to buy that particular painting. I loved the scene enough to shoot a picture from the side of the highway on a REALLY cold morning – what better home for the painting than with a person who loved that scene enough to actually own the land?

I love knowing who buys a painting and why they were drawn to it – it’s one of my favorite parts of the business of art. Thankfully I work with a gallery who shares these stories with me – I know a lot of dealers won’t disclose this information to their artists at all.

My Life...

"High Meadows"
Oil on Canvas
9x12"





Well, things have been crazy as usual, so I’ve been trying to restrain myself from spending too much time on the internet and not enough time working and painting. But on the off chance that anyone ever still checks in on this blog, here’s what’s up.

* * * * *

The artist residency at the Forbes ranch was fantastic.

There were about 20 artists there – 10 who got picked by applying to the magazine contest like me, and the rest who were invited. It was a great group of artists to spend the week with. The night we all showed our portfolios to each other was intimidating but inspiring because the quality of work was so high, and there was so much diversity. There were artists that spanned a huge range of ages and styles, and it pushed me to think a little bit harder about what I want my paintings to be about, and where I want to go with my art. There were also a couple of gallery owners there throughout the week, and I got to sit in on a number of valuable conversations about marketing as an artist.

Through the course of seven days painting, I completed twelve plein air studies and managed to start three studio pieces. It rained on and off for much of the week, and I found that I wasn’t able to spend as much time on my feet as I normally can due to my ever-expanding preggo belly, so I didn’t get quite as much painting done as I might have otherwise (normally I’d do three plein air studies a day). When I wasn’t painting, I took hundreds of pictures of the ranch for reference.

There will be a show in NYC in March of 2007, which I have to have painting ready for by November of this year. My plein air studies are mostly just reference, so I’ll be working from a combination of those and photos to do studio paintings for the show. Since I’m due at the start of December, I’m starting to get what I can done now, just in case I’m not up for painting during my last trimester.

Wish I had time to write more about the experience (I’d like to write it down at some point so I don’t forget!), but that’s the summary for now…

* * * * *

I’ve made a rule that I can’t watch TV or get on the internet at home to keep me from wasting time and get me into the studio. In addition to the paintings that have to be done for the Forbes show by November, I’ve got to keep the gallery supplied with paintings, start and finish a new 18x24” commission piece, and complete 5-6 small works for a holiday miniature show at the end of the year.

I feel good now, but I’m worried that as my belly expands into the third trimester I’ll be uncomfortable and tired to the point of not wanting to paint much. I’m trying to prepare for that by getting as much done as I can now, while I’m still comfortable and energetic. So, all my free time goes to painting, and I spend the rest of my time fantasizing about how great it would be to not have a day job.

* * * * *

As for being preggo, I was 25 weeks yesterday, and I’m at the point now where everyone who sees me feels the need to comment on the size of my belly. I’m feeling pretty decent though, and can’t complain about being too uncomfortable. My body feels like a walking freak show – I’m always amazed at the weird things that pregnancy brings (funny looking veins, numb toes, quick growing nails, etc).

Anyhow, I had my 24 week appointment last week and my doc was nice enough to do a second ultrasound for us since they couldn’t coax our little bubble into the right position to tell the sex at my 20 week ultrasound. After 20 minutes, the doc still couldn’t get the little bugger to spread ‘em, so she went and visited another patient and instructed me to guzzle water in the meantime to fill my bladder. When she got back, she put me up on the table again and immediately proclaimed that we’re having a girl, with “99.9% certainty”. So, we can finally start arguing about names and buying things – yay!

* * * * *

As for work, things have been way too busy. I think everyone’s panicking because they know I’ll be leaving for maternity leave in November, so they’re loading me up with work to get done beforehand. I’m not too thrilled about it, but keep telling myself I only have a few more months of this left.

My boss has been bugging me about my maternity leave and when I’ll be back. So far I’ve told them I’m taking at least 16 weeks off, and that I won’t be returning fulltime. In the meantime, my coworkers have discovered my website and figured out that I’m pretty serious about my art. My boss actually came out and asked me the other day if I was going to quit and become an artist fulltime. I laughed it off and repeated that I won’t be back to work fulltime after the baby. That’s all they’re getting out of me for the time being!

Next week I’m heading to Baltimore for a conference on air pollution controls. I don’t particularly want to go at this point, but I figure it’ll be my last business trip for a while, so I’ll try to enjoy it!

* * * * *

Hmmm… not sure what else to say. Guess that’s it for now – my life, in a nutshell!

Oh, wait, one thing I forgot!! I'm featured in the September issue of Southwest Art Magazine as one of their "21 Under 31: The Next Generation" artists. It's a yearly article they do where they interview 21 young artists in the emerging artists issue, and I'm thrilled that they're including me this year. The magazine's out now, and I'm a bit disappointed because the printing made the painting they chose look nothing like it does in real life. The colors look like they're on crack, and the subtlety of the painting is completely lost, but I can't complain because it's really an honor to be chosen. I'm just hoping that the bad image doesn't turn people off from looking into my work.

Anyhow, next time you're at Barnes and Noble or whatnot, pick up a copy and check it out. That's my shameless plug for the day.

And now, I'm really done. Time to go home and paint!!

I'm Outta Here!

"Flatirons from Chatauqua"
Oil on Canvas
16x20"






Well, after months of craziness I finally have some time to really relax. On Monday I'll be driving down the Forbes ranch in Southern Colorado to paint and hang out with other artists for over a week (see this post for the backstory). I'm looking forward to having such a big chunk of time devoted to painting without other distractions. The ranch is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so it will be a nice retreat.

I'm a little bit nervous because I lack the credentials of many of the other chosen artists, but I'm looking forward to meeting new people and learning a lot. And since I'll be completely out of touch, I won't have to answer to my day job (yay!).

I'll probably keep a journal while I'm there and post about it when I get back. In the meantime, I'm outta here!!

The painting above is the other that will go to the client who commissioned the Mt. Evans painting that I've been working on recently. He's already seen photos of this one and approved it. Hope he likes the Mt. Evans one too!!